Anthropologic evidence suggests that archaic dentistry, mostly dental drilling, was practiced even 7000 BC. Of course there have been many of developments in the field of dentistry since then. It’s the 21st Century, after all! Technology has enabled us to find new techniques and materials. These include dental prosthesis, dental fillings, and even dental surgery.
How would you feel if your teeth are being dilled using crude stone implements? Ouch!
If your tooth gets knocked out of place, don’t throw it away or put it under your pillow for the toothfairy to see, instead get some milk. According to the American Dental Association (ADA), there is still a chance your tooth may be re implanted back into your gums.
There is one important rule to consider before you try this procedure. It is EXTREMELY important that you don’t clean the tooth nor handle it by its roots. Instead, hold it on its crown or chewing edge. Once you’ve done this, immerse the whole tooth in milk. Then bring the it to the dentist or emergency room and pray that it’s going to be successful.
After the direct restorations, we move on the indirect ones starting with dental inlays or onlays. These are used to repair teeth with mild or moderate amount of cavity or decay, or restore cracked or fractured tooth.
Usually these things are made of porcelain, composite resin, or gold. For those who want to look normal they go for the first two, those who want to stand out take the last one. As mentioned, last time, indirect restorations happen in a lab of sorts. Therefore, there will be a lot of trips to the dentist to make sure that the in or outlay is correctly done.
We will discuss the advantages of inlays and onlays on the next post.
Or risk having worse teeth than you started treatment with. That is a stern warning many dental associations agree upon for statistics are showing that kids and teens who have undergone orthopedic adjustments through braces are skipping wearing their retainers. This leads to a recurrence of their condition which has taken months to achieve only to have them re-set with another round of treatment.
Dental braces work on teeth for months to adjust and align them properly. After the right positions of teeth have been achieved, they are removed and replaced with removable braces or retainers that hold the teeth in the exact location for the time it takes the body to grow new bone, stabilizing the teeth into their proper place. Skipping braces gets the teeth back into their wild side, reverting to their original locations or even compounding an already successful procedure leaving them crooked as before. So dentists are getting tough on kids after treatment reminding them repeatedly to wear their retainers, for their smile’s sake(and their parents pockets too)
That is for dental restoration for there is nothing better than all natural teeth. Which might be the case why dentists nowadays try to preserve it as much as possible instead of simply pulling them out as they used to. From root canals to bridges that utilize existing teeth as anchors, they all work around existing teeth they can save but not to worry.
Tragically lost teeth can be replaced by dental implants with a great chance of success.
New materials are the basis of today’s dental technology from imaging to exotic materials hot out of the research labs, they all play part in the advancement of dental technology. From extremely resilient plastics, epoxy and other resins used to bond and coat teeth to tough metals the body does not reject and recognize as foreign we should be thankful to molecular biologists and other scientists for.
According to docshop.com, dental inlays and onlays have other benefits besides treating dental decay. We’ve listed some below that you maybe interested in:
It helps eliminate tooth sensitivity and eventual tooth loss It’s virtually invisible It won’t contract nor expand It strengthens teeth up to 75 percent It lasts up to 30 years It prevents the need for more extensive treatment later on
However, these porcelain inlays and onlays have a drawback: the price. The price ranges from $650 to $1,200 each, with an average cost of $900. We would suggest you get a list of available dentists within your area and ask for the prices.
After tackling a controversial issue in the dentistry world, let’s go to something more safer: dental composites. As mentioned in an earlier post, this is just one of the direct restorative materials used today. Unlike the dental amalgam, this does not contain mercury, rather it’s made up of high molecular weight misnomers that when cured create a rigid cross-linked polymers: plastic.
Plastic needs a lot of support, for this reason certain modifiers and fillers have been added in to improve its basic components. Just some of the add-ons are: quartz, zinc, glass, zirconium, silica, barium, and stronium. Without these your teeth will break apart while chewing gum.
It’s not as tough as the amalgam, but it’s safer.
As mentioned in the previous post, we will first discuss materials used for direct restorations. An amalgam is a mixture of different metals; wherein the primary one used is mercury. As of present, amalgams are 40% mercury and 60% powder of the following combined metals (Silver/Copper/Zinc).
It is truly considered as one of the excellent and versatile restorative material around. Here are the pros of amalgam:
inexpensive; can pack any irregular volume; water moisture tolerant; and lasts more than any direct restorative material;
It is for these reasons that an amalgam is considered as an effective and superior direct restorative material.
We will discuss the dental amalgam controversy in the next post.
Evaluating tools when it comes to teeth diagnostics includes a composite resin mock-up as well as dental reconstruction. These types commonly make use of incise putty matrix.The American Dental Association, due to its promotion of dental surgery for aesthetic purposes, or what we know as dental cosmetology, has given led to the rise of people being self conscious with their teeth structure, The person’s set of molars for one, is largely responsible for the way his or her moth twitches every time he or she attempts to smile.
Metal implants made of titanium had their fair share of problems such as non-osseointegration wherein they failed because the bone wasn’t able to grip the implant, enough to make a firm foundation. Researchers then found that a new new generation of ceramics that were not only tougher but have a structure that is similar to real bone may provide better implants that are shorter but stronger.
On the other hand, more traditional implants were quite large and tends to result in a hole that has to be drilled quite precisely to accept it, enter mini-implants. These were quite similar to the standard implants that were previously used to provide temporary anchors for dentures and were smaller in size that made them easier to put in. Newer materials proved to strengthen them enough for permanent use and initial tests allowed them to become more cost effective in attaining that perfect smile.