In this post, we will present to you two interesting and useful news snippets on dental care.

“Scientists have discovered that the humble cranberry harbors several anti-oxidants (flavonoids) that show the ability to counteract the damaging effects of the bacterium Streptococcus mutans, which causes dental caries (tooth decay).

“Dental caries is the most common oral infectious disease that afflicts humans. More than 95% of all adults have experienced this disease. It is more common than asthma, hay fever, or chronic bronchitis in 5- to 17-year-old children. The American public spends close to $40 billion per year to treat this disease or its consequences.”
(Science Daily, June 29, 2006)

“Caregivers should beware that young children who skip breakfast might be fattening their chances of experiencing tooth decay, according to a study in this month’s Journal of the American Dental Association.

“Using data from the third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, study authors investigated the relationship between healthful eating practices (such as breast-feeding, eating breakfast and consuming five servings of fruits and vegetables a day) and dental caries in the primary teeth among children two to five years old.”
(Science Daily, Jan 15, 2004)

Happy smiling!

What is bruxism?

Bruxism is a habit of grinding one’s teeth, especially during sleep. It is said that most people experience bruxism at least once in their lives. Mild bruxism is not harmful. Severe bruxism not only harms the teeth but also becomes a disorder. Ask your dentist for the right kind of treatment for bruxism.

What is edentulous?

If a person does not have any teeth in either the upper jaw or the lower jaw, he/she is said to be edentulous. This not only disrupts normal eating habits but also affects speech significantly.

What is dentition?

The term, dentition is used to refer to the arrangement of teeth in the mouth. Human beings have three kinds of dentition in their lives: primary dentition, consisting of deciduous or milk teeth; combination of primary and permanent teeth; and permanent teeth. The teeth arrangement in the mouth is assigned a numbering to identify different types of teeth.

What is mastication?

Mastication is the process of eating food involving the teeth, the tongue, and the jaws. Simply put, it is the process of chewing food. Mastication is the first step towards food digestion; improper mastication can lead to digestive problems.

What is parasthesia?

Parasthesia is usually a temporary damage to the sensory areas of the skin or teeth. Thus, a person affected by parasthesia may not feel anything in parts of his/her body when exposed to heat, cold, pricking etc.

Ask your dentist for more information on these.

Happy smiling!

What is oral irrigation?

Oral irrigation is part of the extended dental care routine. Oral irrigation implies cleaning the teeth by means of rinsing using an apparatus called the oral irrigator. The instrument is filled with water, which then is directed to you mouth. The water is released at a high speed to clean hard-to-reach places like the gaps between the teeth.

What is odontalgia?

This fancy term refers to the pain in the tooth or in the area around it.

What is barodontalgia?

Barodontalgia is a type of toothache. The term comes from the words ‘barometer’ and ‘odontalgia’. This type of dental pain arises because of a sudden change in the barometric pressure. This pain is common among scuba divers and high-flying pilots. Barodontalgia is also known as aerodontalgia.

What are deciduous teeth?

Deciduous teeth are nothing but the primary teeth or the ‘milk teeth’. These teeth are replaced by a permanent set of teeth. People often do not pay much attention to the care of these teeth; this may cause severe problems later in life. It is important to take care of the teeth of infants and children as much as it is critical to take care of adult teeth.

What is Gemini tooth?

A Gemini tooth is the one that starts to part and develop two crowns. Consult your dentist to rectify the problem.

What is halitosis?

Simply put, halitosis means bad breath. The foul smell does not necessarily originate from the mouth. If you are unable to get rid of bad breath even after following a proper dental care routine, seek you doctor’s advice.

Happy smiling!

• Do you know which teeth you use to bite into the burger? The teeth in the upper set are used to bite into food while the teeth in the lower set help chew the food.

• About 0.0005 percent of human beings are born with a tooth. That makes it one person in 2,000!
• Guess which living creatures are not only born toothless but also die toothless. Turtles and tortoises are toothless! Can you imagine how they eat?
• Did you know that if you licked somebody, they would find out it was you? Like finger prints and signatures, each of us has a different tongue print.
• Did you know that once upon a time, teeth were also decorated and accessorized like the rest of the body? Yes, years before Christ was born, between 900 BC and 300 BC, people in the Mayan civilization decorated their teeth. They use to adorn their teeth with gems and precious stones. They also used to file their teeth so that each person had a different, unique set of teeth.
• When George Washington became the President of the United States, in 1790, he was left with just one original tooth in his mouth. He had dentures for the rest. His dentures were an assortment of ivory, gold and tusks of hippopotamus.

Unlike some other animals, you and I get only one set of permanent teeth in our lifetime. Visit your dentist regularly to ensure that the teeth last a lifetime.

Happy smiling!

Whenever we refer to the mouth, we refer to the lips, the teeth, the inner cheeks, the gums, and the tongue. The mouth of ours is responsible for more things than we give it credit for.

• It helps us smile.
• Along with the jaws, it gives our face its structure.
• It enables us to speak.
• It helps us chew and shallow, thus eat.
• It equips us with expressions.
• And, it helps us kiss!

In today’s post, I will share information about one of the most integral part of the mouth – the teeth. What else can the dentists be obsessed with?

The 32 teeth that adults have are classified under four different categories:

• Incisors: These are also known as the cutting teeth. If you divide the mouth into four quadrants: right upper jaw, left upper jaw, right lower jaw, and left lower jaw, we have two incisors in each quadrants, totaling to eight. These teeth are very sharp and usually used to bite into food. These are the most visible teeth of all, building your smile.
• Canines: Each quadrant has one canine, making it a total of four. Canine teeth are conical in shape and very strong. If you have ever used your teeth to tear off something, you must have used one of these teeth. The canines are the immediate neighbors of incisors. These stand out from the rest of the teeth in the mouth because they appear a little taller than others.
• Pre-molars: There are eight pre-molars in our mouth, two in each quadrant. They are located immediately after the canines. These teeth help in chewing our food.
• Molars: There are three molars in each quadrant of our mouth. The molars complete the chewing process before the food is swallowed and passed down into the body. The molars are the last teeth to come into the mouth. The molars are the strongest of all teeth. These teeth are recognizable because of their width.

While all the four types of teeth have different functions, they are all prone to plaque and decay. Thus, apart from following a proper dental care routine at home, visit your dentist once every six months.

Happy smiling!

We thought we will make your Sunday interesting by sharing with you some trivia about teeth. Let’s look at the information we gathered.

If mice didn’t gnaw, their teeth would outgrow them! Yes, a mouse’s teeth never stop growing. This is the reason why they keep gnawing at any and everything.
(We didn’t say we will give you information only on the human teeth. This post strives to increase your general knowledge!)

Human teeth start forming even before we are born. Like bones, their foundation is laid in the womb. The teeth starts forming around six months before you are born!

The enamel of our teeth is the hardest part in our bodies! It is said that human teeth are almost as hard as rocks!

A 100-inch long tower was built comprising of 28,000 diseased human teeth. This was built by a Chinese dentist.

The first toothpaste ever made was a mixture of wine and pumice! It was made almost 5,000 years ago in Egypt.

The earliest toothbrushes had bristles made from the hair of cows and hogs!

While we get two sets of teeth in our lifetime, sharks get a minimum of forty sets of teeth! Make sure you visit your dentist to take care of your precious teeth.

The only living being that does not have teeth as well as jaws is the anteater. It uses its tongue to eat.

While we worry about losing our teeth, the crocodiles keep growing new teeth replacing the old ones!

Dentures were made from teeth of dead soldiers till the early nineteenth century. Later, porcelain dentures replaced them.

Till the next post, happy smiling!