Incipient Occlusal Myth: A Case Study

Limestone Smiles allowed me to witness the technical aspects of dental assisting. With being a newer establishment, they were not as busy as the previous. In this extra time is was educated on some key concepts a dental assistant would need to know. The tooth numbering system was explained to me so that I would understand what was being mentioned during each appointment. Teeth are labeled from one to sixteen on the top row from left to right: this is assuming one is looking into a client’s mouth. The remaining bottom row is the labeled from seventeen to thirty-two going from right to left. I was also taught some key concepts pertaining to labeling the mouth. The buccal (facial) surface is the side of teeth that touch the mouth. The lingual surface in the back side of one’s teeth. The median line divides the mouth in half between upper teeth eight and nine and lower teeth twenty-four and twenty-five. The side of each tooth facing towards this line is the mesial side while the side pointing away is the distal surface. The biting surface of each tooth is referred to as the occlusal surface. Knowing this information helped me to better understand the procedures I witness. I also learned about two prevalent instruments used during appointments, the explorer and the PF5. With the explorer, the explorer end is used to find cavities while the perio probe end is used to measure bone lose. An older African American male

She asked the patient if she was experiencing any pain, and with confirmation from the patient, Dr. Douglas took a look at her sore throbbing area later in the appointment. After taking the blood pressure, the intraoral and extraoral exam was done rather quickly with no abnormal findings. I have never had my teeth probed before, so I enjoyed seeing her probe each tooth to get a better feel of what the procedure will entail. The patient had excellent teeth, and Dr. Douglas did not find any caries. Radiographs were not taken since she had them done in our clinic six months ago.

Any of these indications may flag a significant issue, which ought to be checked by a dental practitioner. At your dental visit: The dental specialist will get some information about your medicinal history to recognize fundamental conditions or hazard elements, (for example, smoking) that may add to periodontal illness. The dental practitioner or hygienist will inspect your gums and note any indications of irritation. The dental specialist or hygienist will utilize a little ruler called a "test" to check for periodontal pockets and to gauge any pockets. In a sound mouth, the profundity of these pockets is more often than not somewhere around 1 and 3 millimeters. The dental practitioner or hygienist may take a X-beam to see whether there is any bone misfortune, and

Bacteria adhere to the tooth surface and is often missed due to incorrect brushing or lack of flossing. Another common mistake is flossing after brushing. This action will only release more bacteria in the mouth, rather than flossing before brushing. Most patients are unaware that flossing can be a more complex action than assumed. Commonly missed spots when flossing is the proximal space between the mesial and distal of teeth. This is when the dental hygienist begins to educate the patient on the correct form of flossing and brushing in order to contribute to a cleaner mouth. The use of a Waterpik can also help with patients who often miss the proximal spaces when flossing. A Waterpik uses a range of different speeds to force water between the teeth and loosen up any debris. Also, the dental hygienist must correlate to the patient and attract the patient into learning greater details towards oral hygiene to better their health. Asking open ended questions will bring the patient more into the conversation. For instance, engaging the patient by asking or having the patient show their home health habits. In return, giving additional suggestions will help with developing good home health habits for patients. Another helpful tool is to assess caries risk factors and manage caries, based on preventive and curative clinical procedures. “One protocol, termed Caries Management by Risk Assessment (CAMBRA), is an evidence-based approach to preventing, reversing and, when

Improper use of abrasives can lead to roughening and reduction of the tooth and restorative materials. The dental hygienist should be able to distinguish between tooth structures, and restorative materials and must use the proper procedure for finishing, polishing, or cleaning each surface. It is also imperative for the clinician to understand the relative hardness of various intraoral materials and

At the initial visit the patient’s plaque index was 43% and the plaque score was 55%. The most amount of plaque was present in the posterior regions in both the maxillary and mandibular quadrants. The anterior teeth suffered from a fair amount of attrition. Plaque was being retained in the grooves and pits of the damaged teeth. The patient also had slight interproximal plaque. Number 18 was chipped measially and was missing half of the large amalgam restoration. It had the most biofilm build up covering almost every aspect of the tooth, including the inside portion, which was exposed to oral cavity. When asked why she felt this was a problem area for her she responded that food constantly gets trapped inside and it’s painful, it hurts to brush. A large interproximal lesion on number 8 adjacent to porcelain fused to metal crown retained a considerable amount of biofilm also. The large and old amalgam restorations posteriorly were wearing away at the margins creating grooves and fissures on the occlusal surfaces also retaining plaque. I asked her if she felt like her diet or habits may be contributing to any oral pain or problems she is having. She answered honestly by saying she knows she harming not only her teeth but also her body. She wants to eat better and quit smoking, but she still gets pleasure when indulging and just isn’t ready to give up things she loves yet. She did agree to try and change some of her oral hygiene

A medical and dental history will be taken. Your mouth, teeth, and gums will be examined. Your dentist will look for soft, swollen purple-red, irritated gums. There may be deposits of plaque and tartar at the base of the teeth. Your gums will be looked at for the degree of redness, puffiness, and bleeding tendencies. Your dentist will see if any of the teeth are loose. X-rays may be taken to see if the inflammation has spread to the supporting structures of the teeth.

The main goal of endodontic treatment is to prevent or heal apical periodontitis. The cleaning and shaping procedures are adversely affected by the highly variable root canal anatomy. The presence of additional canals needs to be detected in to avoid incomplete instrumentation and preservation of bacteria and their toxins, which can compromise the outcome of the root canal treatment. Therefore, the knowledge of the internal anatomy of teeth is a prerequisite for successful endodontic therapy(1).

Using the CariVvu cavity detection system, Dr. Ricciardi will scan your mouth for cavities. CariVuThis works by shining a special light onf your teeth that will causeand any signs of decay towill shine a different color than the rest of your healthy teeth. This is a very effective way toin catching a cavity before it fully develops.

Some studies have been conducted but the World Workshop on Periodontics stated that controlled clinical trials that evaluated the role that occlusion had on the progression of periodontal disease in humans, was unethical. To avoid unethical situations, patient records from a private practice facility were collected and studied to see if there was a connection between occlusal discrepancies and the progression of periodontal disease. The records that were studied were from patients that had periodontal evaluations as well as occlusal assessments. All of the patients studied had periodontal disease but only some of them had occlusal decencies. After a twelve month period some patients returned and had another periodontal evaluation and occlusal assessment and the data was compared to the data that was collected twelve months prior. The data collected was compared. Patients without occlusal discrepancies and patients with occlusal discrepancies both had worsening periodontal disease after twelve months of no treatment but, the progression of periodontal disease and increased pocket probing depths

Besides staying clear of unhealthy consumption of tobacco and alcohol, it is very important to have an oral examination at least once a year, to catch any newly developed lesions that may have gone unnoticed. The dentist will look for any abnormal lumps and sores and red or white patches. Survival rates are higher when cancerous cells are found at early stages (Cutter). Unfortunately, most oral cancers are not discovered early enough. Once the dentist examines the mouth, the dental hygienist, who cleans the teeth, has the opportunity to re-examine the mouth. It is the hygienist's duty to notice any peculiar areas in the mouth and bring them to the attention of the dentist. Having both the dentist and hygienist examine the mouth adds a cautionary step in the process of oral examination.

We use the latest dental technology to help you get the best results possible. We employ digital X-rays, a 3-D CT scanner, CEREC same-day crown milling technology, before and after imaging system, DIAGNOdent laser cavity detection, and more. We are expertly trained to use this equipment to help you get accurate diagnoses and results.

All the wisdom teeth and false teeth that were to be used in the experiment were rinsed thoroughly to prevent any interference during experimentation. In order to achieve results, they were weighed on an extremely sensitive scale that is able to pick up very tiny changes in mass as decay was being measured as a loss in mass. The extent of discolouration could not be measured scientifically and so was measured using the colour scale to provide the most accurate results possible for this type of small scale research. All human teeth were boiled beforehand to ensure that they were sterile and that there was no formalin remaining on them. Each tooth and artificial tooth was left placed in it sown container with the applicable liquid for the predetermined time frame and was weighed and “coloured” at each time interval.

Today in the clinic I worked on my patient Evelyn Serrano. I started her a month ago, but could not see her again until now because she is a stay home mom and is hard for her to find who babysit her kids. For today, her boyfriend did not go to work to stay home with the kid. Also, she lives in Danbury and do not drive, so she come to her appointment with me. The dental office where she had her last dental radiographs taken two years ago, was not able to send us her radiographs, and we decided on taking vertical bite wings (VBW) because she while doing her periochart she had some pockets depth between 6-8 mm. However, taking the VBW resulted very challenging experience because my patient Evelyn had difficulty biting down on the sensor. Her teeth never reached the bite block and she was trying holding it in place with her lips. In addition, she had a bad gagging reflex. At the end, I was able to take 4 horizontal bite wings and 4 periapical for the Mx/Mn anterior. The radiographs allowed me to corroborate my probing findings on her extensive bone loss. My patient had active sings of periodontal disease since she had generalized bleeding with minimum manipulation of the gingivae tissue and some of the pocket depths readings were higher today than on her last visit (which is an indicator the gingivae tissue is more inflamed than the last visit). Her diagnosed was a generalized chronic moderate periodontitis with localized chronic advanced periodontitis; and due to the presence of generalized calculus and inflammation, we decided that she will benefit if we first did a power instrumentation cleaning in her teeth to help reduce the inflammation. With the cleaning and the OHI

her jaw. I explained to patient that an impacted wisdom tooth is a tooth that has failed to grow in the correct position that her tooth was lying sideways and pushing against the other teeth which was causing the pain along her jaw. When the