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Tooth Contouring and Reshaping
Sometimes little defects in teeth can attract more than their fair share of attention. The eye often seems drawn to the tiny chip in a front tooth; the slight mismatch in tooth size among adjacent teeth; the extra-pointy canine. If you find yourself staring at these subtle yet distracting features in your own smile, help is available — often with a minimally invasive, relatively inexpensive procedure known as tooth contouring (reshaping).
Tooth contouring involves removing a tiny amount of tooth enamel with a drill to sculpt a more pleasing shape and make the tooth fit in better with its neighbors....
Gum Injuries
When dental emergencies and pain occur, our attention is often focused on diseases and injuries related to the teeth. However, it's important to remember that the soft tissues of the mouth — the gums, tongue, lips and cheek lining — may also be affected. While they are tough enough to stand up to the oral environment, these tissues can be damaged by accidental bites, falls, sports injuries, and scalding liquids. They may also suffer injury from foreign bodies that become lodged below the gum line, and they can develop painful and potentially serious abscesses.
First Aid for Soft Tissues
Soft...
Endodontics
Endodontics is the dental specialty that deals with tissues and structures located inside the tooth. One of the most common endodontic treatments is root canal therapy, a procedure which effectively eases the pain associated with a bacterial infection deep within the pulp of the tooth. Of course, root canal treatment doesn't just relieve pain — it also stops the infection by removing dead and dying tissue from the tooth's pulp. Plus, it helps to save the tooth, which is in danger of being lost if left untreated.
Yet root canal therapy isn't the only treatment endodontics offers. This field also...
Combined Root Canal and Gum Problems
When you experience pain in your mouth, it's sometimes abundantly clear which tooth is causing it. At other times, the sensation of discomfort is more diffuse, generalized or hard to pinpoint. On occasion, it can even be challenging to determine exactly what problem or combination of problems is causing the symptoms you're experiencing. This may be the case when an infection exists in the root canals of a tooth as well as the gum tissue adjacent to it.
In this situation, the infection may have begun in the pulp of the tooth itself; or, it may have started in the...
Periodontal Flap Surgery
When advanced gum disease (periodontitis) develops, your teeth are in danger: At this stage, the ligaments and bone tissue that surround them are being destroyed, and you could even begin losing teeth! If the disease can't be controlled by non-surgical treatments like cleaning and scaling, then periodontal flap surgery may be your best treatment option.
Flap surgery is today's leading method for treating and repairing periodontal pockets. What are these “pockets?” They are areas below the gum line where gum tissue has detached from the teeth, resulting in an uncleansable space where harmful bacteria can proliferate. These bacteria cause inflammation...
Headaches and Migraines: The Dental Connection
People don't generally think of a dentist as the healthcare professional to see for recurring headaches or migraines; yet dentists can play a role in diagnosing and even treating your condition. That's because quite often, recurring pain that is felt in the area of the temples on the sides of the head is actually caused by unconscious habits of clenching and/or grinding the teeth. These habits, which often manifest during sleep, put tremendous pressure on the muscles that work your jaw joint, also called the temporomandibular joint (TMJ).
The fan-shaped temporalis muscles located over your temples on either side of...
Root Canal Surgery (Apicoectomy)
Occasionally, root canal treatment proves unsuccessful at resolving an infection in the tissues near a tooth's roots. That's when a minor surgical procedure called an apicoectomy may be recommended. Because this procedure is often performed with the aid of a microscope and other small specialized tools, it's considered a type of endodontic microsurgery. Probably the most common type of root canal surgery, an apicoectomy involves removing a small portion of the apex (tip) of the tooth's root, along with any surrounding hard or soft tissue that may be infected.
What would cause you to need an apicoectomy? There could be...
Root Canal Treatment for Children
Root canal treatment is a safe and effective way to stop many kinds of tooth pain, and to keep a tooth from being lost due to decay or injury. But if a root canal is recommended for your young child, you may wonder why: Isn't that baby tooth going to fall out in a few years anyway?
That's true — the primary (baby) teeth typically are shed between the ages of 6 and 12 years. Yet there are some good reasons for trying to save baby teeth for as long as possible with root canal treatment, rather than simply extracting...
Whitening Traumatized Teeth
Teeth whitening is one of the most popular cosmetic dental treatments — and it's easy to see why. Having whiter teeth can make you look years younger, and the procedure itself is among the most conservative (and cost-effective) cosmetic treatments dentistry offers. Sometimes, however, achieving a pleasing, even shade of lightness can be challenging; this is particularly true when a tooth that needs to be lightened has been subjected to an injury (dental trauma) in the past.
Dental trauma encompasses any damage to the tooth that's caused by an external agent, whether accidental or intended. It may be due to...
Common Dental Problems
Just as you go through different stages in life, you may have different concerns about your dental health at various times. Some problems — tooth decay and dental injuries, for example — may be an issue at any time; others tend to occur more often at certain ages. Let's look at some of the most common dental concerns, from childhood through the golden years.
Children
Tooth decay, caused by oral bacteria, remains the most prevalent chronic disease of childhood (and adulthood). Yet it is highly preventable with good oral hygiene, a diet low in sugar, and regular checkups at the...
Dental Bridges
Missing teeth can cause a whole host of problems, from difficulty eating and speaking, to poor nutrition and self-confidence. Fortunately, we have several excellent ways of replacing lost teeth. One of the most time-tested techniques is the dental bridge.
A bridge is a prosthesis (replacement part) that relies on support from healthy teeth surrounding the gap left by a missing tooth or teeth. The artificial replacement tooth is called a “pontic” after the French “pont” for bridge. The healthy adjacent teeth, called abutments, provide support on either side — just like a bridge spanning a canyon.
In order for the...
Holistic Dentistry
Over recent years, as health awareness in general has increased, many people have become more concerned with what they put in their bodies and how that affects their health. Some desire a more egalitarian partnership with their doctors and dentists, so that they can make the most informed healthcare decisions based on the latest information. For those who are seeking an approach to dental healthcare that takes the whole person into account, holistic dentistry offers many benefits.
What Is Holistic Dentistry?
It's not about what exams you've taken, what degrees you hold, or what groups you join. Holistic dentistry is...
Types of Braces (Fixed Appliances)
For the vast majority of orthodontic patients, wearing fixed appliances (commonly called braces) will be a major part of treatment — and those braces, for the most part, will be the familiar silvery-metal type. But while they're still quite popular, traditional-looking metal braces are no longer the only game in town! Let's have a look at some of the options available in orthodontic appliances.
First, we should distinguish between fixed and removable appliances. Fixed appliances like braces are attached to the teeth by metal bands or special cement. They aren't normally taken off until treatment is complete. Removable appliances, such...
Facial Trauma and Reconstructive Surgery
When you were a youngster, did you ever get a black eye, chip a tooth or bruise your cheek? If so, you may have experienced a case (let's hope, a mild one!) of facial trauma. In many situations, however, facial trauma can be severe. Among its major causes are auto accidents, sports injuries, work-related mishaps, falls, and acts of violence. When serious facial injury occurs, it's important that you receive immediate and comprehensive care. That's why oral and maxillofacial surgeons are on call at most emergency and trauma centers.
Facial trauma in general involves injuries to the soft- or hard-tissue...
Top Reasons to Choose Dental Implants
The dental implant is today's state-of-the-art tooth replacement method. It consists of a very small titanium post (the actual implant), which is attached to a lifelike dental crown. The crown is the only part of this tooth-replacement system that is visible in your mouth. The implant itself rests beneath your gum line in the bony socket that used to hold your missing tooth. Two, four or more implants can be used to support multiple crowns, or even an entire arch of upper or lower replacement teeth. Whether you are missing one tooth, several teeth or all your teeth, dental implants...
