The most common dental issue for which usually people approach or plan on visiting a dental clinic is for dental caries i.e. decay. Often people experience mild sensitivity to severe pain once a tooth gets decayed that forces them to seek treatment. One should not get confused between decay and stain present on teeth formed due to…
Early signs of oral cancer may be mistaken for other problems, such as a toothache or cold. If symptoms persist for several weeks or months, it is important to see your doctor so that, if oral cancer is present, it may be diagnosed as soon as possible. Many symptoms caused by oral tumours may be due to other, less serious conditions or other cancers. More than 90 percent of mouth cancers are squamous cell carcinoma.
Halitosis or bad breath can affect anyone, regardless of their age. Often, bad breath is blamed on the foods we just ate. However, chronic bad breath in children could indicate a deeper root issue than eating stinky foods. Halitosis is ultimately caused by bacteria that live in the mouth. These bacteria colonies feed on leftover food, fluid and plaque — as they eat, they produce hydrogen sulfide, which leads to a bad smell in the mouth. As with adults, bad breath is most common in children in the morning, after they wake up. During the night, bacteria multiply in the mouth, leading to a case of “morning breath.” However, if your child’s bad breath persists throughout the day, it probably indicates a larger issue.
Baby teeth are also called primary teeth or deciduous teeth. Teething is a process when a child’s baby tooth goes through the gums and becomes visible above the gum line. This process occurs when the child is just a little baby, and it continues through childhood and the teenage years. Baby teeth are smaller in size and whiter than the permanent (adult) teeth. By the time a child is 2 to 3 years old, all of the primary teeth should have erupted. When your baby starts the phase of tooth eruption, there will be certain signs and symptoms that you’ll notice. The signs and symptoms include:
Mouth ulcers are painful, clearly defined, round or oval sores that form in the mouth. They are sometimes also known as aphthous ulcers which are very common. Most people will have at least one during their lifetime. They affect at least 20% of the population. Mouth ulcers are more common in women and young adults. Usually, a single mouth ulcer is due to damage caused by biting the cheek or tongue, or by sharp teeth, brushing or poorly fitting dentures. These ulcers are called ‘traumatic’ ulcers. If you have a number of mouth ulcers, and they keep coming back, this is called ‘recurrent aphthous stomatitis’. Traumatic ulcers are usually on their own, are next to the cause of the damage and go away once the source of the problem is removed.
Dental veneers (sometimes called porcelain veneers or dental porcelain laminates) are wafer-thin, custom-made shells of tooth-colored materials designed to cover the front surface of teeth to improve your appearance. These shells are bonded to the front of the teeth changing their color, shape, size, or length. A dentist replaces the part of the tooth that is lost with a material called composite. Composite is a material used for the restoration of a patient’s teeth.
An impacted wisdom tooth is a condition where the third molars (wisdom teeth) are prevented from erupting into the mouth. This can be caused by a physical barrier, such as other teeth, or when the tooth is angled away from a vertical position. Partially erupted wisdom teeth can develop cavities or pericoronitis. Third molar extraction is one of the most frequent procedures in oral surgery. To prevent potential future problems, some dentists and oral surgeons recommend wisdom tooth extraction even if impacted teeth aren’t currently causing problems.
Laser dentistry is the use of lasers to treat several different dental conditions. LASER stands for “light amplification by the stimulated emission of radiation.” The instrument creates light energy in a very narrow and focused beam. This laser light produces a reaction when it hits tissue, allowing it to remove or shape the tissue.
Dental scaling is the most common non-surgical way to treat gum disease, which is also known as periodontitis. This will remove plaque and tartar from your teeth and help your gums regain health. But if you have severe periodontal disease and your condition may require gum surgery, the periodontist may recommend scaling and root planing before the surgery. If gum disease is caught early and hasn’t damaged the structures below the gum line, professional cleaning should be done. If the pockets between your gums and teeth are too deep, however, scaling and root planing may be needed.
