Teeth

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Teeth

Human teeth are composed of two parts: The crown, which is visible in your mouth and the root, located in the jaw bone beneath the gums.

The crown : The tooth crown is covered by a very hard protective coat, enamel. Beneath this protective coat, lies the dentin, which is softer and significantly more fragile than the enamel. It is dentin, visible by transparency that gives the tooth its color.

At the center of the tooth, runs a small canal that goes from root to crown. This canal contains the dental pulp. The pulp is a tissue composed mostly of blood vessels. It contains the nerve that gives the tooth its sensitivity.

The root : It is surrounded by the alveolar bone. This bone is responsible of the tooth’s immobility. The gums covers and protest the alveolar bone, it also insures the sealing of the buccal environment
La carie et la prévention

The Dental cavity : It is a disease provoked by specific bacteria (dental plaque) that attack the tooth’s surface and progress to reach the pulp. According the WHO (World Health Organization), the dental cavity is the third most frequent pathology worldwide. The bacteria feed on sugars and release harmful acids that attack the enamel than the dentin, creating thus a cavity in the tooth. The more the cavity is deep, the more the tooth is fragile and the more the bacteria is close to the pulp. Whenever the cavity reaches the tooth pulp, surgeon-dentists speak of pulpits. It is the famous toothache.

The prevention of cavities

Oral Hygiene:It is the most efficient way to avoid cavities. By brushing the teeth regularly, you eliminate dental plaque and thus the bacteria it contains. A cavity cannot develop in the absence of microbes. Teeth brushing must be performed after every meal; the average duration must be at least three minutes. You should use a small headed toothbrush with soft synthetic hairs. Used normally, a tooth brush lasts about three to four months. You should change it as soon as the hairs start to curl. You should use a small amount of toothpaste on your brush since it is the mechanical action of the brush on the enamel that eliminates dental plaque and not the toothpaste! You can round off your brushing by using dental jets, inter-dental mini brushes, dental floss, dental plaque revelator, and mouthwash, before or after the brushing.

Alimentation :A considerable part of the foods we eat contains cariogenic sugars that promote the apparition and development of cavities. You should privilege a balanced diet that is rich in dairy products, fishes, fruits and vegetables and is poor in sugars. What is important is not what you eat but your alimentary behavior. When eating sweets, your mouth’s acidity rate increases naturally. This acidity combines with the one produced by microbes, hence multiplying the risk of the appearance of a cavity on the teeth surface. Nibbling is therefore harmful to your teeth.

Fluorine :

It has been well established, years from now, that fluorine reinforces tooth enamel, helping it to resist acid attacks. Furthermore, fluorine has a disturbing effect on the development of dental plaque and harmful bacteria. It is present in almost all toothpastes. It is also administrated to small children via fluorine droplets and to adults via a fluoride gel placed in dental gutter. This fluoridation is completed in a dental cabinet.

The annual consultation : The annual consultation permits a clear evaluation of the risk of cavities. It will help you define, along with your dentist, the frequency of your ulterior visits. Some people will need close visits, while others need less frequent visits.

The sealing of inter dental paths:It is a technique that protects premolars and molars, by sealing the inter-dental paths with a resin. This technique allows a more efficient protection since paths are generally the objects of carious attacks since they are deep and taut. They cannot be easily reached by using a toothbrush.

Descaling : Dental scale is a hard calcareous deposit that builds up on your teeth. (Especially on the inside of the incisors and the canines) Scale is formed by a calcification of the dental plaque, constantly in contact with the minerals of the saliva. Tobacco is not at the origin of dental scale; however, tobacco gives previously formed dental plaque a dark brown color. As far as that goes. A calcareous drinking water doe not provoke scale since it only stays in your mouth for a few seconds. Accumulated dental scale must be eliminated by a dentist on a regular basis since it can provoke an inflammation of the gums, also called gingivitis. A professional descaling must be performed regularly; your dentist will determine the frequency of this operation according each patient.

Dental prosthesis

Dental prosthesis allows you to reinforce an existing tooth (crown) or to replace one or several missing teeth. (Bridge, implant or braces…)

The crown: The crown is a protective cap that has the same shape as the tooth that needs to be reconstituted. It is fixed on the affected tooth that should be previously trimmed. Actual dentistry uses four different types of crowns:

The Cast metal crown : It is made entirely of metal, either non precious (nickel chromium), semi precious of precious metal (Gold mix or Palladium). This prosthesis is referred to as cast metal, because it requires a technique of casting the previously melted metal.

The Inlay vestibular crown : It follows the same basic principle as the first prosthesis, but it has an esthetic advantage since it has the same color as the adjacent teeth. The external visible facet of the metal is covered with a coat of white resin or better yet ceramic.

The ceramic metallic crown : It is made of casted metal, but the final shape is entirely recovered with dental ceramic (or porcelain) for esthetic purposes.

The ceramic-ceramic crown : It is entirely made of dental ceramic.

In addition to these four types of prosthesis, we can also find the “pivoting tooth” or the “tenon tooth”. It is a crown containing a pivot (or tenon) that serves as an anchor inside the root. It is used when the tooth is broken flush with the gum.

The Inlay core: Also called” false stump”. It is composed of a small metallic prosthetic piece that is fixed as a sealed anchor in the root of the broken tooth. The Inlay core technique is usually used to reconstitute a very dilapidated tooth (that cannot be reconstituted through a simple amalgam) before fixing a crown above it.

The bridges: Bridges are fixed prosthesis destined to replace one or many missing teeth. They are made with two types of elements:
- Crowns covering the natural teeth, used as a support to the dental bridge: They are also called “ Bridge pillars”,
- Crowns replacing the missing teeth also called intermediary bridges or simply inters.

A bridge can be composed of the same elements as the individual crown: They are consequently four types:

Cast metal
Inlay vestibular
Ceramic-metallic
Ceramic-Ceramic

Dental implants: Dental implants are false roots placed by your surgeon in the maxillary bone. They are destined to replace a missing root, and will be used as a support to the future dental crown.
Sometimes, dentists prefer to perform a single dental implant instead of a bridge, since the bridge requires trimming the adjacent teeth that can be perfectly healthy.

Dental braces or mobile prosthesis : As its name indicates, this prosthesis is not fixed. It is maintained on the remaining teeth using hooks. This typical kind of prosthesis requires an adaptation period since it is slightly more voluminous than a regular bridge but it allows replacing all missing teeth, whatever their number is. This prosthesis comes in two categories:

Resin based braces: They are entirely made of artificial resin or porcelain teeth. The resin base must possess an important thickness in order to resist the mastication force. This explains the prosthesis‘s important volume in your mouth.

Metal based braces:They are similar to the resin bases braces but possess a metallic infrastructure that allows an important resistance and less volume.