Dentistry

Dentistry is a field of medicine that works to prevent, diagnose, and treat oral diseases and conditions associated with the mouth and teeth. Many dentists practice general dentistry and diagnose, treat, or restore missing or damaged and diseased teeth and provide preventative oral care. Some dentists treat only adults while others practice family dentistry and treat individuals of all ages.

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

• Orthodontics: Orthodontics deals with tooth and oral structure development, treating irregular and abnormal dental development. An orthodontist incorporates dental braces and retainers to correct a bad bite (malocclusion). Orthodontic braces of today boast advanced therapy that can reduce treatment time and improve esthetics.
• Endodontics: Endodontics pertains to nerve diseases and diseases of other dental tissues. Endodontists are adept at providing treatment for serious infections of the root canal (root canal therapy).
• Oral surgery: Oral Surgery corrects and treats diseases and injuries in the mouth and jaw.
• Pediatric dentistry: Pediatric dentistry treats children and adolescents.
• Oral Radiology: Oral radiology involves radiologic identification and interpretation of diseases of the mouth, face, and jaw.
• Prosthodontics: Prosthodontics 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. Oral pathologists diagnose diseases and conditions of the oral cavity, including oral cancer and oral herpes.
• Periodontics: Periodontics focuses on diagnosing and treating diseases of the oral mucous membranes, gums, and bones that support the teeth.
• 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.

Cosmetic Dentistry

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

Common cosmetic dentistry procedures include:

Dental Veneers: Dental veneers are thin, porcelain (porcelain veneers) 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.

Dental Implants: 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.

Teeth Whitening: 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. Zoom teeth whitening and Britesmile are two of the more common in-office treatment options, though availability may vary between dentists.

Laser Dentistry

Laser dentistry is a technologically advanced field of dentistry that 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 offer a precise beam of light and make no actual physical contact with a person's mouth. Dental lasers may 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.

Other Dentistry Procedures

People who visit a dentist 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 (tooth decay). Crowns are manufactured from a number of materials, including gold, ceramics and porcelain. Porcelain crowns and ceramic crowns are more popular options than the more traditional gold crowns.

Dentures: People often get dentures to replace missing or damaged teeth that can not be repaired or restored with other common dentistry procedures. Denture cleaning is integral in the maintenance of the functionality of dentures.

For more comprehensive information about cosmetic dentistry, dry mouth syndrome, teeth grinding, TMJ, bad breath, laser dentistry, cosmetic dentists, or other dental procedures, or to find a dentist or a dentist directory, visit The Consumer Guide to Dentistry.