Dentalnews (en)

Should milk teeth be pulled or shouldn’t they?

Parents are not the only ones who ask themselves this questions, but quite a lot of dentists do as well!

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Milk teeth are not only needed to chew and talk, but they also stimulate the growth of the jaw. But if parents do not teach their children proper dental care, it is sometimes necessary to remove milk teeth ahead of time.

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This is necessary when:

• the next tooth cannot come out (guided extraction)
• there is a chronic infection, e.g. a fistula has formed at the tip of the root causing problems
• the tooth has been so severely damaged by cavities that it can no longer fulfil its function as a placeholder.

Milk molars play a very important role in the development of a child’s jaw and should be kept intact until the first permanent molar (six) comes out. If the milk tooth in front of a permanent tooth has a filling, then it is crucial to run a thorough cavity check! – –

Chipped tooth – what now?

Whether incisor or molar, there are two things you need to consider.

If only the enamel was chipped, then it is usually enough to smooth out the sharp edges. Larger defects may require reconstruction using plastic.

If there is an enamel/dentine fracture, then check whether the dental nerve is exposed.

If so, then you need to go a dentist right away, and you may just be able to avoid getting root treatment! If only the dentine is exposed, but not the dental nerve, you should still go to a dentist as soon as you can, because the dental nerve could still be damaged. The chipped dentine can be repaired using plastic, ceramic filling, or a veneer.

Moreover, the dentist can check whether you have a fracture in your root, or the joint head of your jaw and/or alveolar appendage – these complications can still be painful, especially if e.g. a small child hurts its chin, the jaw should be examined very carefully!

More on the topic of teeth at our video portal checkdent.com!

Toothache 2/5

One root canal after the other, but the toothache won’t go away?!
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Going to a dentist helps – doesn’t it?
„You have a bad tooth“ whatever that means – it’s something patients hear all the time.
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A tooth can’t help being “bad”, after getting „poisoned“ by the monomers injected into it. Good root treatment is performed using a coffer dam, a magnifier and a lot of patience – here you can see how it’s done.
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Sometimes things don’t run that smoothly, sometimes the root canal is not thoroughly cleaned to the tip, sometimes the instruments are not well-sterilized, and sometimes the tooth is not filled up.
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Pain after root treatment?!

Badly performed root treatment means that problems persist, and this is where it gets complicated, because it’s hard to tell whether the pain is the result of a badly performed operation on a specific tooth, or whether it’s coming from the tooth right next to it, which also got some plastic filling. Are you allergic to this type of filling?
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This is not an allergy!
An allergic reaction requires the presence of immune cells and therefore blood. But the tooth is a mineral, and although monomers can seep through it and damage the nerve, the dentine does not contain any blood. At most, you may have a contact allergy, which will make itself felt in the membrane, but this is a different kettle of fish.
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One root canal after the other!
Because dentists don’t know what to do in cases like these, they just keep performing root canal treatment. But the toothaches continue, so they go on to perform root tip resections. Normally the ordeal should be over, but then even more problems may appear:
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If the resection was not properly performed, and the canal not cleaned, either from above (orthograde) or from below (retrograde)!

• Are there still any teeth left which have plastic fillings?
• Has the inflammation/ have the monomers spread even further?
• Was faulty root treatment performed at some point, and is only now starting to cause problems?
• Was root tip resection performed correctly  – using sterile instruments in a sterile environment?

Stay tuned for: Once upon a time there was the tooth III

Bleaching is not harmful to your teeth, assuming no halogen lamps or laser are used!

Old techniques:
Bleaching gel, which used to be (and still is) applied to teeth, is dried using laser or halogen lamps. This supposedly „activates“ the gel. But this is not true!

The light dries out the tooth,which looks whiter for a very short period. The whitening effect only holds for about 1-2 days, once the tooth starts absorbing moisture, it turns darker.
Drying out a tooth can damage it and the tooth nerve.

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This is why bleaching should always be performed without lamps or lasers.
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Watch a video film on this topic here!

Receding gums can have many causes, but cleaning alone won’t help!

Some things that may cause your gums to recede are

* untreated periodontitis
* faulty tooth positioning
* anomalies in dental enamel (protrusions, bubbles)
* generally any kind of illness such as HIV, diabetes, or nicotine dependency
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During the second trimester of pregnancy, hormonal changes also make a woman more susceptible to illnesses of the gums.  But proper therapy can help to prevent receding gums during pregnancy!

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Depending on the cause, receding gums can be treated using the appropriate therapy. Watch the videos on these topics – simply follow the links below:

Periodontitis

Periodontosis

Recessions

Recession treatment