Dentistry

Dentistry is an area of medicine that seeks to prevent, diagnose, and treat oral diseases and conditions associated with the mouth and teeth. In general dentistry, dentists diagnose, treat, or restore missing or damaged and diseased teeth and provide preventative oral care. In some instances dentists treat only adults while others practice family dentistry and treat individuals of all ages.

These nine areas of dentistry deal with specific dental conditions and treatments:

    > Endodontics pertains to nerve diseases and diseases of other dental tissues.

    > Orthodontics deals with tooth and oral structure development, treating irregular and abnormal dental development.

    > Oral Surgery corrects and treats diseases and injuries in the mouth and jaw.

    > Oral Pathology deals with diseases of the mouth, and studies the diseases to identify the causes, effects, and progression.

    > Oral radiology involves radiologic identification and interpretation of diseases of the mouth, face, and jaw.

    > Prosthodontics replaces missing natural teeth (dentures, dental implants, dental crowns, and dental bridges).

    > Periodontics focuses on diagnosing and treating diseases of the oral mucous membranes, gums, and bones that support the teeth.

    > Dental public health is a type of dentistry that treats a community rather than individual patients to prevent and control periodontal diseases.

    > Pediatric dentistry treats children and adolescents.

Laser Dentistry

Laser dentistry uses dental lasers to perform a variety of dental procedures, instead of using traditional dentistry tools such as brush heads, suctions, or rinse heads.

Dental lasers use a precise beam of light and make no actual physical contact with a person’s mouth. Dental lasers are thought to produce less pain and faster recovery than traditional dentistry procedures. Laser dentistry can be used for traditional dentistry procedures such as dental crowns and dental fillings, and cosmetic dentistry procedures such as teeth whitening.

Cosmetic Dentistry

Cosmetic dentistry focuses on improving the appearance of a person’s teeth, while traditional dentistry focuses on treating and preventing periodontal diseases. A cosmetic dentist can give a person a whiter, straighter, and healthier looking smile. Through the use of dental veneers, dental implants, teeth whitening, and other procedures, a person can improve the appearance of his or her teeth.

Common cosmetic dentistry procedures include:

  • Dental implants have artificial roots that a dentist implants into a patient’s jaw to hold a bridge or tooth. Dental implants are an ideal option for people with good oral health who have lost teeth to injury or to disease. Dental implants can provide natural looking teeth.
  • Dental veneers are thin, porcelain or composite material shells designed to cover the front tooth surface to improve the color and shape of the teeth. The veneer shells are bonded to the front of the tooth changing the shape, size, and color. Veneers are ideal for patients who have gaps in their teeth or for patients for whom whitening is not successful.
  • Teeth whitening is a common cosmetic dentistry procedure. Teeth whitening bleaches stains and discolorations on one or more teeth. Though teeth whitening is not permanent, teeth whitening can dramatically improve the appearance of stained and discolored teeth.

Other Dentistry Procedures

One or more common dental procedures may be necessary at some point in life. With new technological advances and methods in dentistry, such as sedation dentistry, these procedures are performed more quickly and comfortably than ever before.

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, which look like screws, that act as roots for replacement teeth. Once the cylinder is implanted, an abutment is attached and an artificial tooth, or a 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 remove decay in teeth and fill in the area where the decay was removed with composite or porcelain materials. Meanwhile, 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 are performed to remove diseased or damaged tissue within a tooth.

Dental bridges are used to replace missing teeth with an artificial tooth that is held in place by material that warps around other supporting teeth. Dental crowns are used to repair decayed teeth. Dentures are used to replace missing or damaged teeth that can not be repaired or restored with other common dentistry procedures.

For more comprehensive information about cosmetic dentistry, laser dentistry, cosmetic dentists, or other dental procedures, visit The Consumer Guide to Dentistry.