Taking care for Adults Teeth.

How Do I Best Care for My Teeth as an Adult ?

The key to keeping a bright, healthy smile throughout adulthood is to practice proper oral hygiene. Even adults can get cavities, as well as gum disease, that can lead to serious problems. Throughout your adult life, it's important to continue to:

• Brush twice a day with a fluoride toothpaste to remove plaque-the sticky film on your teeth that's the main cause of tooth decay.
• Floss daily to remove plaque from between your teeth and under your gumline, before it can harden into tartar. Once tartar has formed, it can only be removed by a professional cleaning.
• Limit sugary or starchy foods, especially sticky snacks. The more often you snack between meals, the more chances you give the acids in plaque to attack your tooth enamel.
• Visit your dentist regularly for professional cleanings and checkups.

What Special Dental Issues Should I Be Aware Of as an Adult ?

Even if you brush and floss regularly, you may face certain oral health issues as an adult. Luckily, your dentist can help you meet most of these challenges quite successfully.

• Gum disease begins as gingivitis, which in this early stage is still reversible. Symptoms of gingivitis include red, swollen or tender gums that tend to bleed when you brush them. If you notice any of these symptoms, see your dentist-before serious problems develop. Advanced stages of gum disease may lead to tooth loss.

What is Dentine Hypersensitivity ?

Dentine hypersensitivity is sensation felt when the nerves inside the dentin of the teeth are exposed to the environment. The sensation can range from irritation all the way to intense, shooting pain. This sensitivity can be caused by several factors, including wear, decaying teeth or exposed tooth roots.


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Dentine contains many thousands of microscopic tubular structures that radiate outwards from the pulp; these dentinal tubules are typically 0.5-2 microns in diameter. Changes in the flow of the plasma-like biological fluid present in the dentinal tubules can trigger mechanoreceptors present on nerves located at the pulpal aspect thereby eliciting a pain response. This hydrodynamic flow can be increased by cold, air pressure, drying, sugar, sour (dehydrating chemicals), or forces acting onto the tooth. Hot or cold food or drinks, and physical pressure are typical triggers in those individuals with teeth sensitivity.

Treatment can consist of amorphous calcium and phosphate, NovaMin, potassium nitrate, strontium chloride, gluma, fluoride therapy, or calcium sodium phosphosilicate.

Potassium nitrate is commonly used in toothpastes such as Sensodyne or Crest Sensitive as a remedy and is approved as a monographed drug by the FDA. Nonetheless, there remains some dispute about its effectiveness. Strontium chloride and strontium acetate are used in Sensodyne Original and Sensodyne Mint toothpastes. The mode of action is linked to their ability to form mineralised deposits within the tubule lumen and on the surface of the exposed dentine that help prevent transmission of the applied stimulus.

Primary Dentition or Decidious Teeth.

Deciduous teeth, otherwise known as reborner teeth, baby teeth, temporary teeth and primary teeth, are the first set of teeth in the growth development of humans and many other mammals. In some Asian countries they are referred to as fall teeth as they will eventually fall out, while in almost all European languages they are called milk teeth. They develop during the embryonic stage of development and erupt—that is, they become visible in the mouth—during infancy. They are usually lost and replaced by permanent teeth, but in the absence of permanent replacements, they can remain functional for many years.

Description :

Deciduous teeth start to form during the embryo phase of pregnancy. The development of deciduous teeth starts at the sixth week of development as the dental lamina. This process starts at the midline and then spreads back into the posterior region. By the time the embryo is eight weeks old, there are ten areas on the upper and lower arches that will eventually become the deciduous dentition. These teeth will continue to form until they erupt in the mouth. In the deciduous dentition there are a total of twenty teeth: five per quadrant and ten per arch. The eruption of these teeth begins at the age of six months and continues until twenty-five to thirty-three months of age. Usually, the first teeth seen in the mouth are the mandibular centrals and the last are the maxillary second molars.

Tooth Eruption or Dental Chronological Order.

Tooth eruption is a process in tooth development in which the teeth enter the mouth and become visible. It is currently believed that the periodontal ligaments play an important role in tooth eruption. Primary (baby) teeth erupt into the mouth from around 6 months until 2 years of age. These teeth are the only ones in the mouth until a person is about 6 years old. At that time, the first permanent tooth erupts and begins a time in which there is a combination of primary and permanent teeth. This stage, known as the mixed stage, lasts until the last primary tooth is lost. Then, the remaining permanent teeth erupt into the mouth.


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Anatomy of Tooth Eruption

Dental Amalgam - Restoration Material.

Dental amalgam is the most commonly used dental restorative material used for dental fillings. First introduced in France in the early 19th century, it contains a mixture of mercury with at least one other metal. Amalgam has been the restorative method of choice for many years due to its low cost, ease of application, strength, durability, and bacteriostatic effects. Factors that have led to recent decline in use are a lingering concern about detrimental health effects, aesthetics, and environmental pollution. The health issue concerns the known toxic affects of mercury and whether these are present in the amounts released from the amalgam. The aesthetic issue is because the metallic colour does not blend with the natural tooth colour. This is especially a concern when used on front teeth, but it can be addressed using alternative dental materials. The environmental concerns are regarding mercury emissions during preparation and from waste amalgam upon cremation of deceased individuals.

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Dental Amalgam Filling


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Dental Amalgam filling of 1^st Molar


Composition:

Currently, dental amalgams are composed of 43% to 54% by weight of mercury and the remaining powder is made up of mainly silver (~20-35%) and some tin, copper (~10%), and zinc (~2%).

Dental Amalgam - Chemistry

An amalgam is a substance formed by the reaction of mercury with another metal. Almost all metals can form amalgams with mercury, notable exceptions being iron and platinum. Silver-mercury amalgams are important in dentistry, and gold-mercury amalgam is used in the extraction of gold from ore.

The origin of the word amalgam is from the Medieval Latin amalgama, "alloy of mercury (esp. with gold or silver)," perhaps an alteration of L. malagma "poultice, plaster," probably from Arabic al-malgham "an emollient poultice or unguent for sores (especially warm)", perhaps from Greek malagma "softening substance," from malassein "to soften" from malakos "soft".

Dental Amalgam:

Dentistry has used alloys of mercury with metals such as silver, copper, indium, tin and zinc.

Dentistry terms for relationship and comparision.

There are numerous commonly used terms of relationship and comparison that refer to different aspects of teeth and are frequently utilized in articles about dentistry. Many of them are included below as a sort of glossary to assist with understanding the many articles that include these types of words.

Anterior refers to the direction towards an individual's lips, as opposed to posterior, which refers to the directions towards the back of an individual's head. The term anterior teeth refers to incisors and canines, as opposed to premolars and molars, which are posterior teeth.

Apical refers to the direction towards the root tip(s) of a tooth, as opposed to coronal, which refers to the direction towards the crown. It may also refer to something relating to the roots, such as apical support. This term is nearly synonymous with both cervical and gingival.

Axial refers to a plane parallel to the surface of a tooth. For example, if a drill bur would be inserted into a tooth from any side (proximal, facial or lingual), the depth of the hole is defined by the axial wall of the hole.

Buccal refers to the side of a tooth that is adjacent to (or the direction towards) the inside of the cheek, as opposed to lingual or palatal, which refer to the side of a tooth adjacent to (or the direction towards) the tongue or palate, respectively. Although technically referring only to posterior teeth (where the cheeks are present instead of lips, use of this term may extend to all teeth, anterior and posterior), this term may be employed to describe the facial surface of (or directions in relation to) anterior teeth as well.

Classification of Caries Lessions - By G.V. Black

Greene Vardiman Black (1836–1915), commonly known as G.V. Black, is known as one of the founders of modern dentistry in the United States.

He researched many important topics to dentistry, including the best composition for dental amalgams and the cause of dental fluorosis. One of his many inventions was a foot-driven dental drill. Black was the first to use nitrous oxide for "extracting teeth without pain." He is also known for his principles of tooth preparations, in which he outlines the proper methods to prepare teeth for fillings. The phrase, "extension for prevention," is still famous in the dental community today and represents Black's idea that dentists should incorporate more grooves and pits than those currently exhibiting decay as a preventive measure against those grooves and pits developing tooth decay in the future.

Further, he organized 'Black's Classification of Caries Lesions' which is still in use today. Since that time, only one more category has been added to his classification system.

Black's Classification of Caries Lesions:

* Class I: Caries affecting pit and fissure, on occlusal, buccal, and lingual surfaces of posterior teeth, and Lingual of anterior teeth.

Basic Understanding about Root Canal Treatment (RCT) - by Colgate.com

Basic Understanding of Root Canal Treatment

Introduction
Endodontics is the branch of dentistry that deals with diseases of the tooth's pulp. The pulp is found in the center of the tooth and in canals (called root canals) inside the root of each tooth. Pulp includes connective tissue, nerves and blood vessels. Pulp nourishes the tooth when it first emerges through the gum. Once the tooth matures, the pulp can be removed without destroying the tooth. That's because each tooth also is nourished by a blood supply in the gums.

Removing the pulp is called endodontic treatment, but it is often referred to as root canal treatment or root canal therapy. Many people refer to pulp removal as "having a root canal." Root canal treatments are quite common. In the United States, they save about 24 million teeth each year.

Why Would You Need Root Canal Treatment?
Root canal treatment is needed for two main reasons. The first is infection. An untreated cavity is a common cause of pulp infection. The decay erodes the enamel and dentin of the tooth until it reaches a root canal. This allows bacteria to infect the pulp. Antibiotics can't get to infections inside teeth. The inflammation caused by the infection reduces the blood supply to the tooth. The reduced blood supply also keeps the pulp from healing.

The second reason for a root canal is damage to the pulp that can't be fixed. Trauma or a fractured tooth can damage the pulp. So can a lot of restoration, such

Introduction to Dental Anatomy.

Below video explains complete dental anatomy in very attractive and simple manner.Brought to you by University of Michigan.
Video Length: 35:55 mins.

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Seven major branches of Dentistry.

Dentistry is divided into 7 departments, namingly : Oral Medicine, Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, Periodontics, Orthodontics, Pedodontics, Prosthodontics and Conservative Dentistry. Lets have a brief look on them.

1. Oral Medicine : Oral medicine is the dental specialty placed at the interface between medicine and dentistry.
Oral medicine is concerned with diagnosis and non-surgical management of non-dental pathology affecting the oral and maxillofacial region, such as oral lichen planus, Behçet's disease and pemphigus vulgaris. Moreover, it often involves the diagnosis and follow-up of pre-malignant lesions of the oral cavity, like leukoplakia or erythroplakia. Another aspect of the speciality is managing the oral condition of medically compromised patients. For example, cancer patients who suffer from related oral mucositis, bisphosphonate-related osteonecrosis of the jaws or oral