Dental Topics

There are ten sections of dentistry that deal with certain dental health conditions and treatments:

  • Pediatric dentistry: Pediatric dentists treat children and adolescents and focus on teaching children healthy oral hygiene habits.
  • Orthodontics: Orthodontics deals with tooth and oral structure development. Orthodontists treat irregular and abnormal dental development. An orthodontist also treats problems with dental bites with dental braces.
  • Dental public health: Dental public health is a type of dentistry that treats a community rather than individual patients to prevent and control periodontal diseases.
  • Periodontics: Periodontics focuses on diagnosing and treating diseases of the oral mucous membranes, gums, and bones that support the teeth.
  • Endodontics: Endodontics deals with nerve diseases and diseases of other dental tissues. An endodontist is trained to treat infections and perform root canals.
  • Oral surgery: Oral surgery corrects and treats diseases and injuries in the mouth and jaw. Oral surgery can also help problems such as temporomandibular disorder or TMJ.
  • Prosthodontics: Prosthodontics focuses on tooth restoration and replaces missing natural teeth (dentures, dental implants, dental crowns, and dental bridges).
  • Oral pathology: Oral pathology deals with diseases of the mouth, and studies the diseases to identify the causes, effects, and progression. An oral pathologist can determine if a patient has oral herpes, oral cancer and other oral conditions.
  • Cosmetic Dentistry: Cosmetic dentistry is an area that deals with the appearance of the teeth and usually involves a smile makeover.
  • Oral radiology: Oral radiology focuses on the radiologic identification and interpretation of diseases of the mouth, face, and jaw.

Other Dentistry Procedures

People who visit dentists may need one or more of these common dental procedures at some point in their lives. With new technological advances and methods in dentistry, such as sedation dentistry, these procedures are performed more quickly and comfortably than ever before.

  • Dental Implants: Missing teeth from injury or poor oral hygiene can affect a person’s smile and self confidence. However, dental implants offer people with missing teeth a solution to improve their smiles.

    Dental implants are metal cylinders (they look like screws) that act as roots for replacement teeth. Once the cylinder is implanted, an abutment is attached and an artificial tooth (dental crown) is fixed to the abutment. The crown looks like a real tooth and completes the smile. Dental implants are an alternative to dentures and dental bridges.
  • Dental Fillings: Dental fillings remove decay in teeth and filling in the area where the decay was removed with composite or porcelain materials.
  • Bonding: Bonding repairs cracked and chipped teeth. A composite material is applied to the tooth surface and then molded and shaped to fit the tooth. It is then polished to disguise the crack or chip in the tooth.
  • Root Canals: Root canals are performed to remove diseased or damaged tissue within a tooth.
  • Dental Bridges: Dental bridges are used to replace missing teeth with artificial tooth that is held in place by material that warps around other supporting teeth.
  • Dental Crowns: Dental crowns are used to repair decayed teeth. Crowns cover the entire surface of the decayed tooth to add stability and strength.
  • Dentures: People often get dentures to replace missing or damaged teeth that can not be repaired or restored with other common dentistry procedures. An important role in maintaining denture functionality and oral health care is denture cleaning.
  • Dental Braces: Dental braces help to correct a person’s bite and teeth alignment for a straight smile and improved chewing.

For more comprehensive information about cosmetic dentistry, laser dentistry, dentists, or other dental procedures, visit yourdentistryguide.com.