Yearly Archives: 2010

How to Replace Silver Dental Fillings

Transition from an old silver filling to a new one…

What is a silver dental filling?

amalgam filling

“Silver” dental fillings or commonly known as amalgam fillings contain 50% mercury, silver, tin, zinc and copper. It is inexpensive, easy to use and manipulate during placement into cavities as it is soft, moisture tolerant, less technique sensitive and forms a hard material on set. Amalgam has greater longevity as long as 10 years or more compared to other restorative materials and is wear resistant. Amalgam is condensed and packed into prepared cavities. They lack the bonding mechanism when compared to bonded fillings which restore 85% of strength that the tooth had before the first filling. Continue reading →

Important Vitamins and Minerals for Dental Health

One of the very important and essential factors to good oral health is the intake of proper nutrition and diet. Nutritional problems can manifests when there is inadequate dietary intake of a nutrient, which can affect our entire body including our dental health. Continue reading →

Which Vitamins are essential to cure Gingivitis and reverse its damage

Vitamins and minerals play an important role in our growth and development. If any of the vitamins are deficient, we may develop a deficiency disease which might cause permanent harm to our bodies.  Besides providing essential nutrients to maintain healthy cells in our bodies, vitamins may also be used to prevent or, to some extent, reverse the damages cause by gingivitis. Continue reading →

Thumb Sucking and Development of Teeth

Suckling vs. sucking

Suckling

Suckling is a normal physiological reflex in infants, which consists of small nibbling movements of the lips. The movements stimulate the smooth muscles surrounding the milk ducts of the lactating mother to contract and squirt milk into the infant’s mouth. When the milk is squirted into the mouth, it is only necessary for the infant to groove the tongue to allow the milk to flow back into the throat. The tongue, however, must be placed front to contact with the lower lip, so that the milk is in fact deposited on the tongue. The tongue-to-lip apposition is so common that it is usually adopted at rest, and it is frequently possible to gently move the infant’s lower lip and notice that the tongue tip moves with it, almost as if they were glued together. The suckling reflex normally disappears during the first year of life.

Sucking

Nearly all modern infants engage in some sort of habitual non-nutritive sucking– thumb- or finger-sucking or sucking of a similarly shaped object. A vast majority do so during the period from 6 months to 2 years or later. Continue reading →

Are Mercury Dental Fillings Safe?

Mercury dental filling, or best known as dental amalgam is an alloy of silver, tin, mercury, and copper as it’s constituent. The term amalgam is also used as a synonym by the dental profession. Among all, silver and tin have the highest composition within an amalgam.

The use of mercury in the oral environment has raised concerns regarding safety. Currently, several countries have banned the use of dental amalgam because of environment concerns, as well as alleged side effects that may be sustained by patients who receive dental amalgam restorations.

Continue reading →

Shark Teeth in Children

Have you ever seen permanent tooth coming in behind baby tooth in children? Is this a normal situation? Many parents become panic when this happens and the child is stressed unnecessarily.  We sometimes called this condition as “Shark teeth”. It is simply when the permanent tooth comes in before the baby (milk) tooth is shed.

What is shark teeth?

It is a common situation during two periods in a child’s development. First, when the child turns 6 years old and the permanent lower incisors erupt behind the baby tooth and then the upper back molars appear when the child is around 11 years old. Some kids develop two rows of teeth or seen in pairs at times. These can appear very unsightly. It earns its name from sharks as they have double row of teeth. Continue reading →

Pros and Cons of Invisalign Braces

Invisalign – The Ultimate Choice

Seeking a beautiful smile but metal braces seems to be the stopper? Now there is a solution for your problem with the advancement in the field of orthodontics – the invisalign braces. No more ugly metallic braces and wires for people to see, no more pain torture episodes, no more funny speech problems. It is a dream come true for adults to straighten their teeth especially for those working in professional fields. Continue reading →

Nerve Damage Symptom in Teeth


nerve damage symptoms

When infection damages the nerves inside the teeth, the symptoms are easy to notice and often painful. But that’s a good thing, because untreated nerve damage can lead to severe pain and even tooth loss. Dental surgeons can fix the problem before it becomes serious, so knowing when you have nerve damage can help you avoid its complications.

What is a tooth nerve?

The oral cavity is made up of an average of 32 to 36 teeth. Each tooth has its own function: grinding, masticating, cutting, shearing, and so on. The tooth nerve is called and referred to as the dental pulp. It is a complex organ composed of connective tissues, blood vessels, and nerve axons. It is pinkish in color and soft in nature. Its original function is in the development of and formation of the teeth themselves. These nerves are relatively large at a young age, but they slowly shrink and become narrow over the years of adult life. They serve the purpose to keep the teeth hydrated and allow the dentin to retain a certain amount of elasticity. It lies within the tooth and extends from the crown to the tip of the root in the jaw bone.

Continue reading →

How to Clean a Temporary Tooth Crown?

© Orangevale Dentistry

Crowning or “capping” is a dental procedure which involves reducing the entire surface of the tooth and replacing the surface with an artificial material. During the crown procedure, there will be a stage whereby you will be given a temporary tooth crown to wear while waiting for the actual crown to be made. Continue reading →

How to Identify Risk Factors for Gingivitis


gingivitisWhat is gingivitis?

Gingivitis or generally known as gums (gingiva) disease is defined as an inflammation of the gums surrounding the teeth. Gingivitis is commonly initiated by dental plaque formation, termed as plaque-induced gingival disease. With continuous plaque irritation and severe inflammation to the gums, this condition will progress into periodontitis, a destructive form of periodontal disease.

However, non-plaque-induced gingival lesion is an oral manifestation of systemic conditions that produce lesions in the gums; which are in very rare occurrence. Continue reading →