At your routine dentist visit, you may receive an oral exam and dental cleaning. But have you ever considered what other procedures a professional dentist performs?
Knowledge is power! Being informed on common dental procedures will make your visits go more smoothly, read on for five of the most common procedures done at dentist offices.
Dental Fillings
Dental fillings are an effective solution to decayed teeth. Left untreated, tooth decay can result in an abscess or worse. When fillings are performed by your dentist, he/she will use a drill to extract damaged portions from each tooth, fill them in with an anti-corrosion material such as composite resin that hardens quickly before sealing with sealants that harden more slowly.
If a tooth requires more extensive repairs, your dentist might suggest indirect fillings like inlays or onlays as the solution. These restorations often take two or more visits to complete and are most commonly used on molars that have sustained extensive damage that cannot be fixed with direct fillings. When this type of restoration is employed, your dentist will numb the area, remove existing material, make an impression before creating this indirect restoration.
Dental Crowns
Dental crowns are caps designed to cover damaged teeth. Dentists may use crowns after root canal therapy or large fillings as well as to repair disfigured ones.
Before beginning their crowning procedure, dentists will first numb the area around the tooth they will crown, before reshaping its chewing surface and sides to make room for it.
After selecting the ideal material for the crown, they’ll select its appropriate form. An all porcelain or ceramic crown provides the most natural appearance while being lightweight and not placing as much stress on teeth than harder metal crowns; thus making them suitable for front teeth but less so with back molars.
Root Canals
Root canal therapy – more commonly referred to as endodontic treatment – is used to address painful teeth that have inflamed or infected tissue, with removal of damaged nerves inside of them and cleaning and disinfecting surrounding areas before sealing with dental fillings and dental crowns.
An uncomfortable tooth may be the telltale sign of irreversible pulpitis, while a fistula on the gum could indicate pus, blood, and other inflamed materials are trying to escape an infected tooth. Oozing reddish-yellow pus can also signal infection, suggesting a root canal procedure is required immediately.
Your dentist will administer local anesthetic before creating an access hole in the tooth to extract bacteria, blood vessels and any inflamed tissues from its soft centre (pulp). After cleaning with water or sodium hypochlorite solution, they’ll seal off and seal off the area around it to complete this procedure.
Extractions
An extraction is performed to extract broken or damaged teeth in order to address their health. Extractions may be necessary if they cannot be repaired with fillings, crowns, or in cases where wisdom teeth cause issues.
Dental cavities (also referred to by dentists as caries) are holes in the outer shell of a tooth which allow food acids and bacteria from plaque deposits to enter and damage its enamel surface. One treatment option available to treat cavities is having it filled by your dentist – typically this involves placing fillings to repair the hole created.
Extraction of pore plugs (blackheads and whiteheads) involves using a tool to carefully remove hardened sebum, keratin plugs, dead skin cells and any inflammation from a pore. While this two-visit process may cause some mild discomfort, it should not be overly uncomfortable.
Dentures
Visits tо the dental practice can be daunting experiences, but learning more about what tо expect can help soothe nerves and prepare patients for the procedures ahead.
Root canal therapy is an increasingly common procedure to save damaged teeth from becoming irreparably infected, which could otherwise lead to pus accumulation and the subsequent destruction of surrounding bone structure. If left untreated, an infection could spread and lead to pus build-up that destroys its surrounding structures – including teeth!
Dentures can make eating and speaking easier for those missing teeth, making the transition much smoother. Conventional full dentures are made from acrylic while removable partial dentures use both materials – acrylic or combination metals can be used – in their construction and fitting process to ensure correct occlusion, proper bite alignment and a natural look.
Comments are closed.