Category: Health


Apr
2015

Gum Recession: Causes,Treatment & Maintenance

categories: Health

Gum recession is the loss of gum tissue that surrounds the teeth. Due to the progression of gum recession the softer part of the tooth is exposed to elements. A continual wear of the tooth makes the nerve within the tooth more susceptible to inflammation. In few cases receding gums acts as a precursor to more serious conditions such as periodontal disease.

How to identify gum recession:

  • It is not possible to identify receding gums visually alone. Identification of gum recession should start with regular check ups. However following are few signs mentioned to identify receding gums:
    • Sensitivity of the tooth: increased sensitivity is one of the primary symptoms of gum recession and other conditions. Never ignore a sudden raised tooth sensitivity for granted.
    • Longer teeth: if your teeth seem longer, then that may be an indication of recession.
    • Cleft at the gum line: a minor indentation or notch often detectable by touch indicates receding gums.

Main causes of gum recession:

  • Mal-positioned teeth, aggressive tooth brushing habits and periodontal disease or any orthodontic treatments can be the contributing factors for gum recession.
  • People with inherently thin gums are also at an increased risk.
  • Hormonal changes can make gums more vulnerable and sensitive to gum recession
  • insufficient dental care such as improper flossing and brushing makes it easy for the plaque to turn in to tartar thus leading to gum recession.
  • clenching and grinding your teeth can put too much force on teeth causing them to recede.
  • Tobacco users are more prone to sticky plaque on their teeth causing the gums to recede.
  • People with diabetes are three times more likely to develop gum recession than those without diabetes

Treatment options:

  • With new developments 955 of the gum recession cases can be treated with regenerative matrix(tissue like material).
  • These matrices were developed to treat burn victims. But today it is widely used for reconstructive surgery in both dentistry ad medicine.
  • This procedure eliminates the requirement to do surgery in the mouth for harvesting the patients own tissue and the possibility of bleeding gums.
  • These matrices deliver a predictable treatment with faster and better healing.
  • The donor tissue undergoes rigorous screening processes similar to those of implantable organs or tissues.

Maintenance:

  • In order to maintain healthy gums after the treatment, one need to follow home care instructions which are provided by the dentist.

Gum recession might occur slowly and sometimes over a period of years. This can make it difficult to spot if you don’t experience sensitivity or pain.


Apr
2015

Vistaproof: An Outbreak in Plaque and Caries Detection

categories: Health, Uncategorized

Dental plaque is harmful to teeth. It’s a thin film of food residues on the outer surface of the tooth. Plaque looks pale yellow and happens naturally on teeth by colonizing bacteria on tooth’s smooth surface. While Dental caries are cavities in the teeth due to a bacterial infection.

The need for vistaproof over other conventional equipment
It is often for fissure caries, although the tooth seems healthy outside, its real condition underneath the surface is hardly detectable, with the usual diagnostic methods. Recent Surveys have revealed that the classic visual caries diagnostic, tactile sensors offer only a very limited degree of detection safety. Even X-ray images do not yield a positive finding for occlusal lesions up to 3 mm.

Vistaproof has a structure similar to a conventional intraoral camera and can be operated just as easily and ergonomically where they ensure a steady camera position and block out external light, leading to reproducible measurement results. The documentation of the results in a patient database offers new opportunities for successful caries management.

The image processingsoftware DBSWIN quantifies the diagnosis in color scheme from blue to yellow is ideal for compact diagnosis, prophylaxis etc of current surgeries. It enables reliable detection of fissure caries after a professional cleaning, as fast as inspection with the mirror.

Use of vistaproof for detection of bacteria
“Fluorescence technology“ may sound complicated, but it is a big plus, simple and well-approved in human medicine. Special light-intensity LEDs, similar form from intraoral cameras, impart high-energy violet light onto the tooth surface. Light of this wavelength stimulates porphyrins, special metabolites of cariogenic bacteria, to emit red light, which contains less energy.

Enamel, in contrast, sends out green light. On the monitor the fluorescent image of the porphyrins the cariogenic bacteria appear in a bright red color, and are easily detected. The denser the colonization, the more intensive the signal, and the more significant the caries finding. Even visually undetected caries are also recognized. The software highlights the caries lesions in different colors and defines the activity on a scale from 0 to 5 providing orientation for the first evaluation: observe, mineralogist or treat invasive.

Plaque and caries diagnostics with VistaProof

  • Visualization of plaque provides very demonstrative proof of the status of the oral hygiene
  • Motivates the patient to carry out a professional tooth cleaning.
  • Cleaning of the tooth surfaces, make even the invisible carious lesions detected fast and safely.
  • If treatment is required, intraoperative detection of remaining bacteria in the fluorescent
  • image.

Benefits provided by vistaproof

  • VistaProof provides safer
  • Reliable detection of initial enamel caries with high reproducibility
  • Accurate analysis through intelligent automatic image processing
  • Demonstrative plaque diagnostics without any coloring agents
  • Visibly convincing communication
  • Fast caries diagnostics
  • Easy connection to the surgery software

Dec
2014

Types of Intraoral X-Rays

categories: Health

Do you have dental problem that is very minute and is not diagnosed with the normal X-ray? Then, you need to make an intraoral X-ray of your mouth. Through this intraoral X-ray, it is very easy to identify various dental problems from different aspects of the teeth. This X-ray film gives out the detailed image of inside mouth and helps in finding cavities, teeth problems and condition of the teeth etc. To identify these aspects, there are various types of intraoral X-rays that are listed below.

Bite-wing X-rays
These X-rays are called as bite-wing, because while taking the X-ray, you need to bite on a wing shaped device that holds the film in place. These X-rays show the details of the upper and lower molars (back teeth), and also the teeth in-front of the molars. Usually, the dentist will take one or two bite-wing X-rays on each side of the mouth. Here, each bite-wing will show the teeth from the crown to the level of supporting bone. It mainly highlights the crowns of the back teeth. These X-rays are mainly used for diagnosing the tooth decay and also the changes in the bone density, which are caused by the gum diseases. They also help in determining the soundness of fillings and proper fitment of the crown.

Periapical x-rays
These X-rays look similar to the bite-wing X-rays but, this is mainly used for highlighting one or two teeth at a time (or) a portion of teeth of upper or lower jaw. It shows the entire length or full dimensions of the teeth from crown to the end of the root, till where the teeth is anchored in the jaw. These X-rays are used for detecting any kind of abnormalities in root and its surrounding bone structure. Based on your oral health, the dentist may recommend you either for the bite-wing X-rays or else for the periapical X-rays.

Occlusal X-rays
These X-rays are large when compared to most of the X-rays. Each X-ray will reveal nearly the full arch of the teeth either in the upper jaw or lower jaw. These X-rays highlight the teeth development and placement in children. This X-ray is made by placing a film on the occlusal surface of one of the arches.

These are various types of intraoral X-rays taken to see the different aspects of the teeth. These X-rays are very helpful to have a detailed look of your teeth and to identify the minute teeth problems.
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Sep
2014

Types of Jaw Disorders

categories: Health

Normally jaw is formed by the set of bones that hold teeth. Jaw consist of two parts. Upper part is called maxilla and lower part is called mandible. The changes in the positioning of jaw or misalignment of jaw is called jaw disorders.

There are several types of jaw disorders that include:

  • Temporo mandibular joint disorder (TMJ disorder)
  • Prognathism
  • Malocclusion
  • Bruxism

Temporomandibular Joint Disorder
Temporomandibular joint is the joint where mandible meets the skull. Misalignment of jaw is due to the dis-functioning of temperomandibular joint. There are three categories of TMJ disorders. It includes:

  • Myofacial pain: Discomfort or pain in the muscle involves in the control jaw movement.
  • Internal disarrangement of joint: It involves in the dislocation of jaw, injury to the condyle.
  • Arthritis: Inflammation of joins that affects the temporomandibular joint.

Prognathism
Prognathism is the condition in which protrude of either of the jaws beyond a predetermined imaginary line in the coronal plane of the skull.

  • Alveolar prognathism: Protrusion of the portion of the maxilla where teeth are located in the upper jaw. It is due to the habit of thumb sucking or oral thrushing.
  • Maxillary prognathism: It is also called over bite. In this, upper jaw protruding beyond the lower jaw causes upper front teeth to overlap on lower front teeth.
  • Mandibular prognathism: It is also called under bite. In this, lower jaw protruding beyond the upper jaw causes lower front teeth to overlap on upper front teeth.

Malocclusion
It is the misalignment of teeth between the two dental arches. Improper fitting of upper and lower teeth when biting and talking.

  • Cross bite: Upper teeth fit into the wrong side of the lower teeth.
  • Transposition: Eruption of tooth in another tooth position.
  • Open bite: In this upper and lower teeth do not overlap and creates straight opening into the mouth. This can be treated by wearing braces, removal of teeth if over crowding of teeth takes place. If it cannot be treated by the above methods, it can be treated by undergoing surgery called orthognathic surgery.

Bruxism
Bruxism is the excessive clenching or grinding of teeth and jaw and leads to jaw pain. This is due to the non functional repetitive contact of upper and lower teeth.

There are two types of bruxism:

  • Sleep bruxism is the clenching and grinding of teeth or jaw during sleep.
  • Awake bruxism is the clenching of teeth while awake.

Bruxism can be treated by wearing mouth guards and night guards to prevent clenching and grinding of teeth and jaw during day or night time.
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Aug
2014

How Gum Problems can be Treated?

categories: Health

Gum disease is a condition in which inflammation of the gum tissue and the loss of bone that supports the teeth takes place. This is mainly due to the formation of plaque. The formation of plaque is called gingivitis and if it is untreated it becomes hard and spreads to all over the mouth and destruction of gum tissue leads to periodontitis.

Treatment for gum diseases
There are several ways to treat gum diseases depends on the severity. It can be treated by:

  • Oral hygiene: Maintaining oral hygiene is the best way to treat gum diseases. Maintain oral hygiene by brushing twice daily, flossing regularly, using tooth paste that contains fluoride.
  • Medications: Medications like antibiotics, pain killers and mouth washes are used to treat gum problems along with surgery or cleaning methods.
    • Antibiotics: Antibiotics are available in tablet and gel forms. Antibiotics like metronidazole and amoxycillin are recommended for short term treatment of gum diseases. Antibiotic gels are used to apply over the gums after root planning and deep scaling.
    • Pain killers: Pain killers like paracetamol and ibuprofen are recommended to reduce pain.
    • Mouth washes: Mouth washes containing chlorhexidine or hydrogen peroxide are used to rinse mouth. Some mouth washes need to be diluted with water before rinsing mouth.
  • Deep cleaning methods: Plaque and tartar is removed by the dentist using deep cleaning method. The methods include deep scaling and root planning. Scaling means scraping the tartar on the teeth and then polishes the teeth. Root planning is deep cleaning under the gums to avoid bacterial growth. Local anesthesia is given to numb the area. Loss of blood, swelling for sometime, discomfort takes place in deep cleaning method. This can be avoided by using laser to remove plaque and tartar.
  • Surgical treatment: Gum diseases can be treated by surgery if the problem is severe. Surgery is done to reduce the deep pockets below the gum line. The surgical treatments include, flap surgery and bone and tissue grafting.
    • Flap surgery: In flap surgery, the infected gum tissue is removed and repositioned and shaping of the gum tissue to support teeth. The surgical procedure vary depending on the severity of gum disease. In this the gum tissue is lifted up from the teeth and cleans the bone to remove plaque and then positioned in the place and sutured to minimize the pocket depth.
    • Bone and tissue grafting: This method is used to regenerate the lost gum tissue and bone which supports the teeth. In bone grafting, the lost bone is replaced with artificial or natural bone. Guided tissue regeneration is a technique used along with bone grafting. In this a small mesh like material is placed between the bone and gum tissue and allows the tissue to grow along with the bone. In tissue grafting, the lost tissue is replaced with the tissue taken from the other parts of the mouth or synthetic material is used to cover the exposed teeth.