The Dentist - The Story of tooth & toothbrush

As per Wikipedia the Dentists is a surgeon who specializes in dentistry, the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of diseases and conditions of the oral cavity. But that’s complicated, isn’t it?

So the Dentists take care of your teeth and ensure that you have a healthy smile…always.

Teeth (enamel) are the hardest substance in human body!!! But as we keep on eating different kind of food, different kind of hot and cold sweet drinks there are chances that some of these material keeps on sticking to tooth structure. So we need to clean it. How? By Brushing. Brushing is most effective if done in the night before going to bed.

So here comes the Dentist’s role in your life? Ideally The Dentist should be the person who demonstrates Tooth Brushing to you (or your kids). Wrong tooth brushing technique often leads to damage to tooth and gums in addition to poor oral hygiene.

Damage to tooth structure leads to issues of hot and cold sensitivity. It is treated by medicated toothpastes and appropriate Dental Fillings.

Poor oral hygiene will lead to deposits near the gum line. It is known as Plaque. Eventually plaque hardens to form calculus. This may lead to infection in gums, Bad breath (halitosis) and bleeding gums. To remove calculus, professional dental cleaning is required which is called scaling.

Poor oral hygiene will also lead to formation of cavities. Cavities are treated by removing the decayed tooth structure and filling up the hole so created using tooth colored material.

Cavities if left untreated will progress and reaches the pulp causing toothache. The tooth at initial stages can be preserved by performing Root Canal Treatment. In which the root canals are cleaned and are sealed up with an inert material.

Still ignored the tooth will decay to such an extent that it would have to be extracted. But the story doesn’t end here.

The space created once the tooth is extracted if left vacant as such, will start to resorb i.e. because the underlying bone doesn’t feel regular pressure on biting as it was feeling earlier it starts to diminish. Moreover the tooth form the sides start tilting in to this space and this leads to ineffective chewing which may lead to pain in jaw joint. Lost tooth are replaced via either Removable Partial Dentures, Dental Bridges or Implants. And if all the tooth have been lost a Complete Denture is required.

Apart from all of this sometimes Kids develop habits (like Thumb Sucking) which may affect the dentition. Such cases require Habit Breaking Dental Appliances which are temporarily fixed in kid’s mouth and help in getting rid of the habit.

In cases where there is crowding of teeth, some of the teeth are removed and rest all are pulled in to alignment by way of wires, the Orthodontic Treatment.

So about 90% of all this can be avoided by simply brushing your teeth Twice Daily. Once in the Night before going to bed and second time at the coming morning preferably after breakfast.