Dental Problems May Affect Overall Health

For many people, the relation between oral health and systemic body conditions is abstract at best. Few of us know that dental problems have consequences that extend far beyond the mouth.

Most of us think that dental problems would result at worst in a few fallen teeth or some painful hours in the dentists’ chair. Yet, bad oral health can result in long-term health issues such as heart disease and stroke that can be potentially fatal. This article reviews the possible effect of oral health on general body health.

Dental problems arise as a result of poor oral hygiene. The accumulation of harmful bacteria in the dental cavities can result in formation of plaque and tartar. Tartar provides a very conducive environment for the development of bacterial populations, which as a consequence rise dramatically.

An infection arises, leading to conditions such as root decay and gum disease. If the bacterial growth is not checked, the infection can reach the bloodstream. This is when the real complications occur.

Dental Problems and Heart Disease

Harmful bacteria entering the bloodstream attach to fatty plaques already present in the arteries of the body. This hastens the formation of arterial blockages (blood clots) that result in thrombosis. The bacteria can also reach the chambers of the heart where they get lodged and start an infection. The result is infective endocarditis. After some time, this infection produces growths that break off into the bloodstream and attach to other critical organs, resulting in a generalized infection.

Dental Problems and Diabetes

Diabetes and dental problems are mutually reinforcing diseases. Dental problems result in the production of cytokines, which increase the body’s resistance to insulin and make blood sugar difficult to control. Diabetes, on the other hand, reduces the capacity of the body to heal itself and therefore increases the likelihood of dental infections and abscesses.

Dental Problems and Low Birth Weight

Internal infections in pregnant women, originating from the mouth, have been known to cause low birth weights and premature birth. Cytokines produced during infections cause the production of the hormone prostaglandin. This hormone acts as a trigger for labor and thus results in premature birth. Pregnant women with oral infections have up to seven times greater risk of giving birth to a premature baby than those with normal oral health.

Other conditions that have been linked to oral hygiene include Alzheimer’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis, and osteoporosis. So be very cautious with your dental health.

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Dental Problems Affect Overall Health

Dental Treatment Tips on Gum Disease

Gum disease has a two-fold effect on your life. Firstly, unchecked, it can cause plenty of pain and discomfort and eventual tooth loss and secondly, it can hurt your hip pocket and cost you thousands of dollars in treatment and maintenance costs.

The irony is gum disease doesn't have to be a major factor in your life. Proper dental hygiene and care with regular visits to your dentist can keep it under control.

Preventing Gum Disease

Effective tooth brushing techniques combined with a regular routine of flossing is a great start in keeping gum disease at bay. Plaque build up which is untreated will eventually lead to gum disease however, regular brushing and flossing can remove most of this plaque. Plaque build up between the teeth is hard to reach with a tooth brush. Dental floss can reach these areas and remove most of the plaque.

For complete peace of mind, schedule regular dental visits; these can be every three to six months and will involve clearing those plaque deposits which are unreachable by brush or lossing techniques and which settle under the gums.

What's The Cost Of Not Practising Good Dental Hygiene

It's amazing how quickly gum disease can wreak havoc on your teeth. Without regular brushing and flossing, gum disease can lead to major tooth loss in a matter of just a few years. The loss of teeth is bad enough but the pain and discomfort associated with it is an ugly price to pay for performing simple dental due diligence. Bleeding gums and the formation of abcesses are part and parcel of the process of gum disease however, the effect on your health should also be considered.

Another factor to consider is when gum disease is rampant and you decide it's time to take action the damage may have already been done. A dentist will certainly begin effective treatment methods to clear up infection however, for some teeth, it could be too late.

Gum Disease Prevention And Control Tips

It's not rocket science in maintaining good dental hygienge. The following four-step checklist will give you a good platform in which to keep gum disease in check.

1. Daily oral hygiene is a must. Regular brushing and flossing at least twice a day.

2. If you notice bleeding from your gums don't ignore it. Schedule an appointment with your dentist who will recommend a treatment program. Bleeding is usually the first sign of gum disease and if acted on quickly, can usually be cleared up without long, on-going treatment.

3. Regular dental visits at least twice a year should be maintained. Your cosmetic dentist will perform cleaning involving clearing plaque and calculus build up around and between the teeth and below the gum surface.

4. Gum pockets are an area most people are not aware of. Build up in gum pockets can lead to abcess formation and infection and only you dentist can identify and treat the areas affected

Source: How To Prevent And Control Gum Disease | Glasgow botox

Latest Tooth Jewellery comes in Dental Crowns

Computers have altered many professions; now it's dentistry's turn. Yes, frightened patients will still face the drill. But when it comes to designing and manufacturing a crown, implant,

bridge or dentures, computers are beginning to replace painstaking manual methods. The basic design of the typical crown - metal bonded with porcelain - dates from the 18th century. This is a sector ripe for reinvention.

Most patients probably have no idea how much individual labour goes into restoring even a single tooth: each piece is bespoke. Take a crown. Traditionally, once the tooth has been repared, the dentist pours gunk into two jaw-shaped trays into which the patient bites down to create impressions. These are sent off to a lab along with the dentist's instructions.

The die is cast

On arrival, dental stone is poured into the impressions and left to harden. A pin is placed at the tooth being worked on (the "die") and others in the underside of the stone model, and a base is then poured on to it. Once set, the model is cut with a split saw or fine diamond disc so that the die can be removed for working. The pins mean it can be put back in precisely the same place. The technician then uses the die to build up a wax pattern 0.4mm to 1mm thick, in the shape that will ultimately be cast in metal. "The first thing I had to do as an

apprentice," says Chris Everingham, the retiring founder of Creative Dental lab in London, "is wax tooth-carving, so I learned the anatomy."

The finished pattern, embellished with a prong, or "sprue", is placed into a metal casting ring, which is filled with material called "investment". Once that's hardened, heating the ring to 850C burns off the wax, leaving the pattern's empty shape behind. The ring is mounted in a spinning machine, and centrifugal force pushes molten metal into the empty space, recreating the wax pattern in metal. Knock away the investment, remove the sprue, and there's the basis, or "coping", for your crown.

From there, the crown is hand-painted with porcelain, first with an opaque layer to blot out the darkness of the metal, and then with successive layers of shades chosen to match the patient's own teeth. The finished crown is fired at 930C and sent back to the dentist for installation.

You hope. Anything destined for a patient's mouth must be precisely made to within 20 microns. Gaps attract saliva, which can wash out the cement holding the crown in place, turning the gap into a haven for bacteria and decay.

But even a lab that can afford lengthy finishing times - Everingham estimates his maximum output at 60 crowns a month - can't be perfect; impressions may have tiny bubbles or smears.

It is these imperfections that computer technology is beginning to address.

About 18 months ago, labs such as Creative and nearby Ken Poland, which supplies cosmetic dentistry to the Channel 4 TV show 10 Years Younger, began buying 3M's Lava system.

Poland's Steve Pope makes the traditional stone model, but then scans the model and creates the coping digitally using a virtual "wax knife" and automated software. When Pope, a former aircraft engineer, builds a bridge on screen, it looks as hard as working in wax; this profession is being reskilled, not deskilled.

The data file is sent to a milling centre, in this case, Poland's own. There, the Lava software takes the file and assigns it to a barcoded block of zirconia. Cured at 1,500C, it becomes a hard, strong material that can be tinted by soaking and to which porcelain will bond. Pope says it's better than metal: zirconia is bio-compatible and used in hip and knee replacements.

The block is placed in the milling machine, and the computer translates the data file into cuts to produce the actual coping. Then the coping is cured for more than 11 hours. From there, the porcelain is applied by hand. Pope is particularly impressed by the software's ability to calculate precisely how much extra to allow to compensate for shrinkage in the curing process - between 23% and 26%.

Magic wand

The next stage is eliminating the impressions. At the New York offices of Dr Steven Alper, an oral scanner reads the movements of a wand inside the patient's mouth. The wand captures 3D video of the patient's upper and lower jaw, as well as the outside bite pattern. "I can see if I need to fix something," says Alper. "For example, for a crown prep you have a margin around the tooth, and it's hard to see on the patient. You only have one or two views, and they're all white and small. On the screen you can look really close."

Turning the image to various angles on his touchscreen, Alper found a hole. He rescanned that section, filled out an onscreen prescription, and sent the file to the lab electronically.

Simultaneously, the data goes to a facility that uses it to generate the physical model in resin. The die is sectioned in manufacturing, eliminating the imprecision of saw cuts.

All of this eliminates time waiting for materials to harden, cure or cool. More importantly, everyone agrees the software does a better job of getting as tight a fit as possible. "It won't cure

everything," says David Coppen, chairman of the Harley Technician Study Club, which saw the scanner demonstrated in London last week, "but this is the future."

Resource: A new jewel in dentistry's crowns | Glasgow dental implants

BDA backs No Smoking Day 2009

The British Dental Association (BDA) has given its backing to No Smoking Day 2009. The organisers of the day, which takes place on 11 March, work closely with local stop smoking services to organise events to help smokers quit and promote the health benefits and financial gains of giving up.

Professor Damien Walmsley, Scientific Adviser to the BDA, said:
“Smoking has a significant negative impact on oral health. It can discolour teeth, contribute to bad breath and cause gum disease. Even more seriously, along with heavy consumption of alcohol, tobacco use is a risk factor for oral cancer, a potentially fatal and disfiguring condition.

“Dentists see the effects of smoking first hand and can play an important role in helping those who wish to quit do so. The BDA shares No Smoking Day’s vision of reducing tobacco-related illness and death, and is pleased to lend its support to this valuable campaign.”

Further information about No Smoking Day 2009 is available from: http://www.nosmokingday.org.uk/

Source: http://www.bda.org/dentists/news-centre/press-releases/22518-bda-backs-no-smoking-day-2009--.aspx | Glasgow Teeth Whitening

Villagers waiting for a Dentists after NHS Practice Opened

The parlous state of NHS dentistry under Labour was exposed last night after it was revealed 1,000 people in a village ended up on a waiting list for a dentist.

Nearly one in ten of the 11,500-strong population of Tadley were forced to wait after a single NHS practice opened in the Hampshire village.

Their alternatives were paying privately, travelling miles to another NHS dentist - or going without treatment.

Local councillor Nigel Quelch said: 'When I phoned, they said they had a waiting list of 1,000. It shows what a huge demand there is for Health Service dentistry.

'But we're very grateful to the dentist for opening in Tadley.'

In 1999, Tony Blair promised that within two years everyone would have access to an NHS dentist.

Eight years later he admitted failure. A new contract, introduced three years ago to increase numbers of NHS dentists, has also been judged to have made the situation worse - with 1,000 dentists fleeing the NHS.

It means the remaining NHS dentists are overwhelmed and can't take new patients - as the Tadley case shows.

LibDem health spokesman Norman Lamb said: 'We cannot continue with a postcode lottery where people like the Tadley residents can't have access to NHS dentistry.'

Hampshire primary care trust confirmed the list had hit 1,000 in December but has since been cleared.

It said the practice now has 7,000 patients and can't take more - meaning over 4,000 have no dentist in the village.

Source: 1,000 villagers wait for a dentist after just one NHS practice opens

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