Blogs

You won't notice much sensitivity and pain until tooth decay moves throughout the enamel and into the dentin layer, the Academy of General Dentistry notes.

Dentin is composed of tiny nerve endings that become irritated and cause increased sensitivity when exposed to cold, hot, sweet, sticky, and sour foods. You might also feel pain when biting down, and quickly discover that meals are frequently getting trapped between your teeth. Decay spreads quickly through our dentin because it's quite a bit softer than enamel. Decay throughout the tooth root also spreads rapidly, since the cement coating on the root isn't near as heavy and thick as enamel. 

Be cautioned that as tooth decay continues, your pain can be more frequent and extreme. It's important to keep in mind that infection develops when decay and bacteria reach the pulp of your tooth, which contains the vast majority of nerves and blood vessels. The pain of an abscessed tooth is persistent, severe and will probably keep you up at night. Other symptoms include fever, swelling of the face, and a bad taste in your mouth. You might see pus draining from a red swelling along your gum line and near the root tip. Consequences might be serious if the infection spreads into your jaw or through your entire body.

Tooth decay treatment

If your Nu Dentistry detects a little field of erosion along with your enamel before it reaches the dentin, they might suggest an approach that will help repair the area. This process could include using potent mouthwash, kinds of toothpaste, or filling materials that contain fluoride, calcium, and phosphates. Ask your dentist about using specific products for the treatment of early cavities, as well as cavity prevention. When tooth decay reaches the dentin, there's no turning back. A small cavity might be repaired with either an amalgam filling or a tooth-colored resin material. In case the tooth has lost too much of its original structure, however, your dentist might need to do a crown.

Crowns strengthen and restore form and function to your tooth, but they can end up costing quite a bit more than a simple filling. An abscessed tooth is a worst-case scenario, and the treatment options are limited. You may either choose a root canal treatment or extraction, although our Nu Dentistry will usually only pursue tooth extractions when there is no other way to save the tooth. Should you need a root canal, your dentist or endodontist in Nu Dentistry will remove the infected pulp before cleaning and sealing the pulp chamber. After receiving root canal treatment, the tooth can sometimes become more brittle and break easily. If you have lost a great deal of external structure due to tooth decay, your dentist can also recommend a crown for your tooth.

Veneers and crowns are both dental restoration techniques which will improve the appearance and function of the teeth. The primary difference is the fact that a veneer addresses only the front side of the tooth, and a crown covers the whole tooth.

Dental restoration procedures can be costly, so it is crucial that you know which one might be ideal for you. While the methods are different, both have exceptional success rates. Here is a glimpse of the differences between crowns and veneers, the advantages and disadvantages of each, and how they are used.

What is the big difference between a crown and a veneer?
A veneer is an extremely thin layer of composite materials or porcelain, approximately one millimeter (mm) for thickness, that is bonded to the front side of your current tooth.

The actual inner thickness of the crown is about 2 mm, covering the entire tooth. A crown is placed in order to recover the form and function as well as in order to strengthen the tooth affected by cavities, only after root canal therapy, or even to go over the abutment of an implant.

Whether a crown or a veneer is right for you, you are going to depend on the state of the teeth and what you are attempting to correct.

Common reasons for restoration are:
· Discolored teeth
· Chipped, cracked, or broken teeth
· Decayed or weakened teeth
· Crooked tooth

What's a veneer?
A veneer addresses only the front surface area of the tooth. About half a millimeter of this enamel on the front side of the teeth is ground down to roughen the surface area for bonding the veneer. You might need a local anesthetic for this, due to the fact that the grinding could be bothersome.

What's a crown?
A crown covers the whole tooth. With a crown, much more of the teeth has to be filed or may be ground down to get ready for the crown placement. If you have tooth decay, the dentist is going to remove the decayed element of the teeth prior to making the crown.

How can you know which one is appropriate for you?
When your tooth is intact as well as the restoration is actually for aesthetic purposes, a veneer could be the most effective choice. Veneers may also be used for small shape corrections.

What's better: a crown or even veneer?
A crown encases the whole tooth. It may be made of metallic, porcelain, or maybe a mix of both. It's typically around two-fold the thickness of a veneer, which makes it resistant and durable more to cracking compared to a veneer. Veneers are regarded as a far more traditional treatment than crowns. Veneers are also a bit easier to replace since they don't cover your whole tooth

Do crowns & veneers look exactly the same?
Crowns and veneers aren't the same, though they work in ways that are similar. They both present an artificial covering for an actual tooth, which was damaged. Veneers handle the front side of the teeth and could wrap around based on the method used as well as the patient's requirements, while crowns protect the whole tooth.

Are crowns much costlier compared to veneers?
While veneers are less expensive than crowns, keep in your mind that they're a lot more apt to chip, break, or perhaps wear out compared to a crown.

Pros and cons of Veneers and Crowns

Veneer Pros
· They might be a lot more visually pleasing compared to crowns in the long run since they do not demonstrate a gum margin after several years, as crowns sometimes do.
· Some veneers do not need a great deal of trimming, so a lot more of your healthy organic tooth stays.
· Teeth with veneers have little movement.

Veneer Cons
· Veneers leave additional aspects of the tooth subjected to brand new decay.
· Composite veneers cost much less but might only last 5-7 years. Other components run longer but might have to be swapped out.
· Veneers are not reversible.

Crown Pros
· All the teeth are covered, so the tooth is much more protected from decay.
· Porcelain crowns look as well as feel the same as your natural tooth.
· Dental insurance might cover a percentage of the price of a crown.

Crown Cons
· More of one's healthy tooth is actually extracted to make space for the crown.
· Your crowned tooth could be much more vulnerable to heat and cold at first and you might feel gum pain.
· Porcelain is delicate and could be harmed over time.
· Porcelain fused to a metallic alloy (PFM) crown may reveal a slim dim line between your organic tooth as well as the crown.

Article Source:- https://houston-texas-dentist.blogspot.com/

The demands of pregnancy can lead to particular dental problems in some women. You are less likely to have dental problems during pregnancy if you already have good oral hygiene habits. With proper dental hygiene at home and professional help from your dentist, your teeth should stay healthy during pregnancy.

The Need For Dental X-rays During Pregnancy:
We know about different gum diseases that occur in pregnant women because of hormonal imbalance, they may be pregnancy gingivitis or pregnancy-related gum disease. So it's a common problem for pregnant ladies. For that or for other causes of diagnostic purposes, or any for emergency tooth pain or any trauma, sometimes we need dental radiography.

Common causes of dental health problems during pregnancy can include gum problems, vomiting, and cravings for sugary food. Does the question arise that if the exposure of dental radiography is safe for the unborn baby, is it safe for the pregnant mother herself? Read further to know the answer.

What are the typical fetal doses in dental radiographic procedures?
Spoiler Alert: You may be surprised to know that the dose we use in dental radiography is much less than the normal environmental day-to-day radiation. So the fetal dose is 0.009 µSv to 7.97 µSv. This is usually less than the estimated daily natural background dose received by the fetus. And if we use an apron with lead shielding and a thyroid shield, they can reduce the dose to the fetus even further. However, the use of shielding should be done with proper care to show that the radiograph is of adequate diagnostic quality (keeping the shielding outside of the X-ray beam) and that it does not lead to overexposure (for equipment using some form of automatic exposure control).

Why is it recommended that pregnant women wait to get dental x-rays?
The developing fetus in the first and third trimesters is very sensitive to radiation. The second trimester is slightly less sensitive. In most dental offices, especially those using digital radiography or F speed film, the radiation dose to the patient is very low. However, we still recommend that there should be very little exposure to pregnant women and the developing fetus. In certain cases, such as an emergency case where the mother may have a toothache, sometimes radiographs are necessary and in this case, it is important to ensure that you have the lead apron and thyroid collar on.

What is the risk to the fetus if a dental X-ray has been performed on a pregnant woman?
The risk to the fetus from a few µSv of radiation exposure arising from a dental radiographic procedure is extremely small. The cancer risk to the unborn child resulting from a 10 µSv fetal dose is several thousand times less than the background risk of childhood cancer. The risk of inducing a genetic abnormality is an even smaller fraction of the background risk of a genetic disorder. Hence, patient doses received in the normal practice of dental radiography would never cause harm to the fetus, and patients with concerns in this regard should be counseled accordingly.

How should one deal with the possible pregnancy of a woman before performing a dental radiological procedure?
Information on possible pregnancy should be obtained from the patient. A female of reproductive capacity should be considered pregnant unless proven otherwise. If the patient is pregnant the possibility of obtaining information from a non-radiological investigation should be considered. If the radiological examination is considered essential it should be performed and due consideration should be given to optimization. Because of the widespread fears of radiation-induced damage to the unborn child, it is reasonable to counsel the woman on the level of radiation exposure and associated risks prior to performing the procedure. It is essential to have pregnancy warning signs in the waiting rooms.

Dental Treatment vs. Dental X-ray, During Pregnancy:
Same as dental radiography, dental treatment, if it can be avoided during pregnancy should be avoided. If there is any dental problem that needs to be treated, then we can do it in the safest time, the second trimester. In the first trimester and the second half of the third trimester, elective dental treatment is to be avoided because that is the time when the growth and development of the child have to be without any disturbance.

All expectant ladies should inform the dentist beforehand that they are pregnant so that the procedure can be handled properly.

Article Source:- https://houston-texas-dentist.blogspot.com/