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FAQ


EMERGENCY INFORMATION

Link for symptoms and advise concerning your discomfort.


Bleeding Continues

After an extraction, if you start bleeding again, take a used teabag, place it at the site and bite hard for five minutes. The pressure will stop the bleeding.
  • If the bleeding continues, call your Dentist.

Bleeding Spontaneously

If you start to bleed spontaneously from your nose, it is possible that after a recent extraction from the upper jaw and some sneezing, you could have dislocated the clot or broken the Schniderian membrane (membrane that forms the floor of the sinuses). Your dentist will be able to evaluate the situation.
HEART PROBLEM: If a patient is on medication for a heart problem or hypertension, the anticoagulant drugs taken can produce spontaneous bleeding.

DEFECTIVE LIVER: If a patient has a defective liver due to disease or alcoholism, some clotting factors could be not functioning properly.

BLOOD DISORDER: If a patient has a blood disorder (hemophilia, leukemia, sickle cell) any opening will trigger a hemorrhage.
  • If bleeding continues and your dentist is not available, go to your local hospital.

Your "Cap" Has Fallen Off

If you have a temporary cap which falls out, try first to snap it back in. If unsuccessful, you can sometimes buy over the counter temporary cement. Follow the directions strictly.
  • Do not use ordinary household glue!! Preferably see a dentist immediately.

Chipped Tooth

If part of a tooth breaks off, keep the piece, sometimes the dentist will be able to reuse that piece with bonding techniques.
  • If you do not have the broken piece, call your dentist for an appointment.

Gum Surgery

After a gum surgery, warm salt water rinses will help you with possible discomfort you may be experiencing. Also, taking extra vitamin C will help it to quicken the healing period.
  • SMOKING WILL DELAY ALL HEALING.

Knocked Out Tooth

Teeth can be put back until you reach a dentist!!
Advice: If you or your child falls and a tooth pops out of the mouth: Rinse the tooth and try to hold the tooth in place in your mouth (best) or a glass of milk (better) or water and get to a dentist within 20 minutes.
  • If you are out of reach of a dentist, rinse the tooth and gently put the tooth back in the socket it came out of, and call a qualified Dentist.

Pregnancy

When pregnant, your gums will swell up and bleed. This is due to the high hormone level.
  • Keep your mouth clean by brushing and flossing after each meal.

Jaw is Sore

When you wake up in the morning, if your jaw muscles hurt and feel sore, place a warm compress on and off (ten seconds at a time,) for five minutes, every day for one week.
  • The soreness may occur from grinding your teeth at night. See your dentist to adjust your occlusion or get a night guard.

Still Unhealed

If you recently had a tooth taken out and the area has not healed after one week, your dentist should take an x-ray to see if a root tip or fragment is still embedded in the area.
  • Do not wait to see your dentist.

Numbness Continues

If you had a tooth extracted on the lower back areas, it is possible that you may not regain full sensory feelings immediately.
  • After 24 hours contact your Dentist and let him know your symptoms.

Tooth Ache or Abscess

If you have a tooth ache or an abscess: do not place an aspirin directly on the sore area as commonly done. This will cause an aspirin burn and the pain will increase later. Take the aspirin, then place a nice compress on the cheek. The abscess is producing heat, therefore the cold compress will keep the swelling down and the inflammation in check.

You can also buy a over-the-counter topical anesthetic with 5%-20% benzocaine which will help alleviate the pain temporarily.
  • Relief is only temporary. Pick up the phone and schedule an appointment with your dentist.

A

Abrasion: wearing away of a tooth due to abrasives.
Abscess: the formation of a sac of bacteria. Symptons are swelling pain, throbbing, and a sensation of heat.
Anaesthesia: drug to block off any pain impulses from the nerves.
Analgenic: pain killer.
Ankylosis: teeth that do not fully erupt because they are attached to the bone..
Antibiotics: medication to fight off bacteria causing infection.
Asepsis: sterilization of the surroundings and instruments to prevent infections.
Attrition: wearing away of a tooth due to the opposing tooth and grinding.

B

Bleaching: oxygenating and conditioning the teeth with an acid based gel
Bridge: when missing teeth, a dentist can use two or more teeth present to "bridge" the space.

C

Calcification: the pulp is hardened due to calcium and phosphorous salts.
Calculus: hardened plaque.
Cavities. when acids decalcify the tooth enamal and disintegrates the dentin.

  • Caused by acids produced by microbialenzymatic action on ingested carbohydrates.

Cementum: the dull yellow surface of a root.
Cingulum: an enlargement or bulge on the lingual aspect of the front teeth.
Contact point: area where two adjacent teeth touch each other. You floss the contact point.
Crossbite: when the lower back teeth overlap the upper back teeth when closing the mouth
Crowding: lack of space produces teeth that are overlapping
Cusp: a point or peak on the top surface of a tooth.

 

D

Deciduous dentition: (Baby Teeth) the primary dentition, also known as the milk teeth (20).
Dentin: the hard tissue under the enamel and cementum.
Denture:

  • Full denture: when the patient has no teeth (edentulous).
  • Immediate: getting a denture at the time the patient gets teeth extracted.
  • Partial: when the patient has a few teeth (partially edentulous).

Diastema: the space present when the central incisor are separated.

 

E

Edgewise: orthodontic appliance
Enamel: the hard shiny surface of a tooth.
Erosion: a dissolution of tooth due to reason unknown.
Excision: cutting and harvesting the tissue usually for study of possible pathology
Extraction: removal of a tooth.

F

Fistula: tract made by infection exiting often through the gingiva and resembling a pimple.
Full denture: when the patient has no teeth (edentulous).
Fusion: tooth appears double but a separation is present due to two teeth fusing together.

G

Gemination: tooth appears double due to splitting of a single tooth germ.
Gingiva: the soft tissue that surrounds a tooth (the gum).
Gingivitis: inflammation of the gingiva (bleeding gums).
Graft: a piece of tissue taken from one area and placed at another.
Groove: a sharply defined linear depression.

H

Hutchinson's teeth: screwdriver shaped teeth due to prenatal syphilis.

I

Immediate denture: getting a denture at the time the patient gets teeth extracted.
Impacted Tooth: a tooth that is blocked fully or partially from exiting the gum line by an adjacent tooth.

  • Full bony extraction: the tooth is submerged in the bone, full bone removal is necessary.
  • Fully soft tissue extraction: the tooth is submerged in the tissue, full cutting is necessary.
  • Partly bony extraction: partial bone must be taken out to be able to reach the tooth to be extracted.
  • Partly soft tissue extraction: partial cutting of the tissue is needed to reach the tooth to be extracted.
Implant:
  • A substitute for a lost tooth. It functions as additional support, most often providing the very important option of esthetics, non removable rather than removable tooth replacement. Implants are fabricated from body compatible bio-materials, most often titanium or one of its alloys. It can vary in shape from a blade-like shape to a screw type shape.

Incision and drainage: cutting of tisue in order to allow the infection to flow out and reduce pain and the swelling.
Incision: cutting.
Inlay: restoration used when less than 3/4 of a tooth is present and the cusps are not missing.
Intravenous sedation: putting someone to sleep with an IV.

 

L

Laminate Veneer: fingernail like restoration made of porcelain or composite.

M

Mandible: the lower jaw.
Maxillae: the upper jaw.

N

Nightguard: occlusal guard.

O

Occlusal guard: appliance used to prevent grinding (nightguard).
Onlay: restoration used when 3/4 of a tooth and part of the cusps are missing.
Open bite: due mostly to thumb sucking, the front teeth do not touch when closing the mouth
Overbite: when the upper front teeth overlap the lower front when teeth when closing your mouth
Overdenture: denture made over existing teeth or root tips that have had root canal. These roots are left there in order to reduce bone loss.
Overjet: the distance between the upper and lower front teeth, when the upper are bucked out and the lower are more refracted inside towards the tongue.

P

Palate, Hard: the front part of the roof of the mouth.
Palate, Soft: the back part of the roof of the mouth.
Paraesthesia: lack of sensation at the sensory level.
Papillate: gums between the teeth.
Partial denture: when the patient has a few teeth (partially edentulous).
Pericoronitis: gingival tissue area of an empty tooth that is inflamed. Most often the Wisdom Tooth.
Periodontitis: inflammation of the bone (bone loss).
Pin and tube: orthodontic appliance
Plaque: film of materials made up of saliva, molds and bacteria. Dead cells, blood cells, food particles and bacterial residues.
Post and core: used in order to build up tooth to be able to place a crown on it.
Pulp: the center of a tooth made up of vessels and nerve tissue.

R

Recontouring: reshaping the teeth.
Retainer: appliance to hold the teeth in a certain position.
Ribbon arch: orthodontic appliance
Root canal: removal of the nerve tissue due to infection from cavities or trauma, and filled with gutta percha.
Root planning: scraping root below the gums.

S

Scaling: scraping of the tooth above the gums.
Sinus: air spaces above the upper teeth.
Space maintainer: appliance used to allow teeth to come into a certain area.
Splint: appliance used to stabilize loose teeth.
Succedaneous dentition: the permanent dentition (32).
Suture: stitches.

T

TEETH

  • Canines: the cornerstone of the mouth, the fangs or the cuspid (upper and lower).
  • Incisors, Lateral: the next teeth on either side of the central incisors (upper and lower).
  • Incisors, Central: the two front teeth, the cutting teeth (upper and lower).
  • Molars: the back teeth, the chewing teeth (upper and lower).
  • Premolar: the middle teeth or the bicuspid (upper and lower).

TMJ(TMD): temporomandibular joint(disorder), the place near the ear where the lower jaw "joins" the skull. A defect of the disc or other parts are involved. A clicking is most common.

 

U

Uvula: a small fleshy structure hanging from the center of the soft palate.