Dr. Deepak Dhapekar

Do you have a dental phobia? if yes then you are not alone many adults skip going to dentist just because of dental fear. Fear among kids is very common. 

Today we will find out the reasons and possible causes of dental fear among the adults and the ways to deal with them.

You might have faced following situations before dental appointment:-

Nervousness a night before when you plan a visit to a dentist next morning. Anxiety in waiting room at dental clinic before starting your dental treatment. Scary instruments make you feel uneasy like injections and the drill machine. Good thing is there are ways to deal with above said expressions and they are not really hard to implement.

What causes the dental fear?

Fear of pain. Fear of dental injections in mouth. Embarrassment to face with bad looking teeth and may be mouth odor. Fear of scary instruments and their noises.

So here are some tips you can help yourself to deal with the dental phobia:

Discuss:– discuss your fear with your dentist. Tell him openly what exactly your are worried for. This will help your dentist to modify the treatment modalities. He may explain you the course of treatment in more details to relieve your anxiety and you will exactly come to know what is going to happen in your mouth next time when you visit your dentist.

Desensitize: this is the commonly used method to reduce dental fear in kids. Desensitizing here means exposing to the same environment more frequently than before. This can work in adults too. Visit your dentist more often. That should make you acclimatized with the sounds atmosphere of the dental clinic.

Plan smartly: after discussing your fear with dentist he himself can advise you to start with simple treatment options where no anesthesia is required like teeth whitening, polishing, teeth fillings etc.

Be Positive learner: we all are tend to attract all negatives which are running on the web. Restrain yourself from negative feeds try to find positives. Ask your doubts to the expert (dentist) than to rely on someone who is not. Stop hiding: no dentist will charge you more just because of your bad oral hygiene or mouth odor. They are use to this on daily basis. Delaying the treatment won’t improve your current hygiene level in fact you are inviting the more complex treatments by doing this. They may take longer to treat and may cost your pocket harder.

 

We often opt for dental treatments when it hurts you somewhere. We do the treatment, pain subsides and we forget to visit again. This is a common practice where we aim to treat the pain but not the root cause.

It is very much possible to prevent 80 to 90% of dental problems to progress to advanced stage by just doing Regular Follow ups with your dentist.

Today we will discuss the importance why you should visit your dentist as advised by him/her.

1) Pre-treatment/ Preventive Dental Follow ups:

This is regular check up of your overall dental health/condition of the gums and your oral hygiene status.

This checkup should ideally be done twice a a year or at-least once a year for every individual including kids. These follow-ups will detect the progression of any cavities/gum problems in early stage. The treatment in early stages are less complex, less expensive and less time consuming.

So it saves your level of discomfort, money and time.

On a contrary without followups your cavities, gum problems and other serious oral problems grows silently and when they reach to advanced levels. They start showing the symptoms.

Majority of the oral cancers are well known for their silent killing nature. It is difficult to check your own mouth for early sings for cancers.

2) After treatment / Post Treatment Dental Followups:

Every individual have a different response to the same treatment. It is utmost important to check responses in many cases depending on the nature of the treatment. Some treatments needs followup on next day..some needs in  3 days some in weeks and so on…These followup helps the doctor to see the outcome of the treatment and it becomes easier to find out if any modifications or corrections are required or not.

Some treatments like root canal treatment and implants require follwups for several years to keep watch on the outcome of the treatments. Your dentist will best advice the time duration and frequency of the followups. Never ignore them.

We at “Dhapekars Dental Care ” maintain the follow up records and watch closely the progress of the treatment given. It helps us to give our patients the best possible treatment options and take corrective measures before its too late.

You can put your queries in comment box below.

Dental Implants:

We all are prone to lose our teeth at some point of time..Sometimes in young age due to periodontal disease we lose our tooth/ teeth. Once we lose it has to be replaced within specific time period. We have discussed this in our earlier blog http://dhapekarsdentalcare.com/missing-teeth-never-ignore/.
Timely decisions not only save your time and money but also the outcome of the treatment becomes more predictable. After tooth removal always follow-up with the doctor for the replacement options which are best suitable for you. Teeth can be replaced by various means as removable dentures, fixed bridge etc.Dental implant is the most natural way to replace teeth. It has numerous advantages over the traditional dentures and bridge that are used to replace the teeth.

Why Implants?

Dental bridge and acrylic dentures needs support from the adjacent teeth or gums. This needs the trimming of healthy adjacent teeth to gain support for bridge or dentures.
It has been proved that bone under dental bridges losses faster than in case of implants. Bone loss can create a gap between bridge margin and gums. This causes food entrapment in the space. Dental implant mimics the replacement as a natural tooth and maintains the blood supply of the jaw bone.
Dental Implants restore the chewing functions far better than those of conventional dentures. It doesn’t have bulky dental flanges as in other dentures so they are quite comfortable with greater acceptance.

How Long It Will Last?

They Are For Your Rest Of Life! Yes it is true.
Dental implants are made  of pure titanium which is a biocompatible material. If placed properly with experienced hands and with nice post operative care they can last for your rest of life. Accidents or any major bone disease are the exceptions.

Am I Too Old To Get Implants In My Mouth?

With lots of research it has been proved that the elderly patients even in their 80s can have successful implant placement in long run. They improve their nutrition by regaining their chewing abilities as they were when natural teeth were present. It improves their quality and longevity of life.

Cost Effective Test.

It is a myth that the implants are costly in fact on a contrary they are very pocket friendly in long run. A implant with regular follow-up and proper hygiene maintenance it can last for your entire life. Bridge or other denture needs replacement depending on the quality used. So, repeated replacements incur additional cost in long run. At times cavitations starts under the crown and you may have to loose your additional teeth making it more costly. Being made of titanium there are no chances of cavity formation in case of dental implants.

Single Tooth And Full Mouth Implants

Implant can replace the single fallen tooth or it can replace your complete set of tooth. Replacing the single tooth requires the tooth trimming of neighboring tooth to gain support whereas in implants there is no need of support from the adjacent teeth. Implants are placed in bone and get its required support from the jaw bones.
The number of implant which is required to replace the teeth depends on the quality of bone you have.

Earlier The Better

Once we lose the tooth the maximum amount of bone we lose naturally due to no activity is more in 1st year. An implant makes the bone active and helps in maintaining the bone in healthy state. In some cases it is possible now to place the implant on the same visit scheduled for removing of the tooth.

Tooth paste:-

• When we were growing up, everyone certainly brushed their teeth with toothpaste, and this was considered one of the good habits required to have a clean mouth and prevent cavities.
• You may have been repeatedly advised that if you brush, floss, and go to the dentist twice a year, you will have good dental health.
• Even so, many people discovered that regardless of their good habits, they still had dental problems such as cavities, gum bleeding, unpleasant breath, and more.
• If toothpaste is the magic cleaner for our teeth, why is the incidence of cavities at an all-time high? And why do most brands of toothpaste come with a big warning label that reads, “may be harmful if swallowed”
• The chemicals used in commercial toothpastes are not among those things you want in your mouth. These synthetic ingredients are more appropriate for industrial purposes than for cleaning the delicate tissues of the body or cultivating oral health.
• There are several chemicals present in the tooth paste which can harm you in many ways.Some of them are Sodium Lauryl Sulfate,Triclosan,Hydrated Silica..But that doesn’t mean you should stop using toothpaste.This is a caution message for toddlers and adults to use it wisely.

Solutions
1) Use minimum required quantity of toothpaste which is required to brush.Use only pea sized amount of tooth paste which should be enough to perform its cleaning action.
2) Always check with your kids if they are spitting the paste and rinse the mouth thoroughly.

3) Do not prolong the brushing time more than required.

The most exciting thing about our oral cavity is your teeth are alive and not a dead bone. They grow just like your other organs and they do respond to many factors like nutrition, injury and bacteria.

It is important to understand what teeth, saliva, gums are all about. Lets have a quick overview of all the important structures in our mouth.

The anatomy:-

• There is a structure in the center of the tooth known as pulp. This pulp contains blood vessels that provides nutrition to the tooth and nerves that carries sensation to the tooth.
• This pulp is extended till the root tips at the bottom through root canals. This pulp is very fragile. Two protective coverings are there to en box the pulp i. E dentin which is yellow in color and it is closer to pulp. Second and outermost layer is enamel which is white in color.
• The enamel decides the final color of tooth. Stronger the enamel structure the brighter the tooth looks.
• Then comes the gums (gingiva), it gives the enveloping and protective covering to your tooth. It even acts as barrier and protects the intrusion of bacteria from outside. There are more than 400 species of bacteria that are trying to enter your blood stream through our mouth. Healthy gums provides the protection from all of them.
• The roots of the tooth is attached to the jaw bone with the structure called as cementum and attachment fiber. This acts as shock absorb er and protects the tooth from biting forces.
• Every tooth structure has its own role and importance.
• Apart from gums dentin and other tooth structures serves important role to maintain it into a healthy state.
• In coming blogs we will discuss the process of cavity formation and other problems in oral cavity.
• The most exciting thing about our oral cavity is your teeth are alive and not a dead bone.They grow just like your other organs and they do respond to many factors like nutrition, injury and bacteria.
• It is important to understand what teeth, saliva ,gums are all about.Lets have a quick overview of all the important structures in our mouth.

The Anatomy :-

• There is a structure in the center of the tooth known as PULP.This pulp contains blood vessels that provides nutrition to the tooth and nerves that carries sensation to the tooth.
• This pulp is extended till the root tips at the bottom through root canals.This pulp is very fragile. Two protective coverings are there to en box the pulp i.e dentin which is yellow in color and it is closer to pulp. Second and outermost layer is enamel which is white in color.
• The enamel decides the final color of tooth. Stronger the enamel structure the brighter the tooth looks.
• Then comes the gums (gingiva), it gives the enveloping and protective covering to your tooth.It even acts as barrier and protects the intrusion of bacteria from outside.There are more than 400 species of bacteria that are trying to enter your blood stream through our mouth. Healthy gums provides the protection from all of them.
• The roots of the tooth is attached to the jaw bone with the structure called as cementum and attachment fiber.This acts as shock absorb er and protects the tooth from biting forces.
• Every tooth structure has its own role and importance.
• Apart from gums dentin and other tooth structures serves important role to maintain it into a healthy state.
• In coming blogs we will discuss the process of cavity formation and other problems in oral cavity.

Brushing is a daily routine of everyone’s life.Many among us do not know how to brush the teeth in correct manner.There are many aspects other than brushing alone which cannot be overlooked.

There are several methods and techniques which are recommended by the dentist for tooth brushing.Some of them are,

A. Charter method B. Bass method C. Stillman method D. Fones method.

These are meant for particular cases depending on his/her oral condition. Though these techniques are not meant for every individual there are certain common mistakes we must avoid while doing brushing. Today I will tell you the most common mistakes we make while brushing,

1) The wrong angle:

The angle of the brush should be 45 degree to the gum line for to have greater efficiency in cleaning. This angle ensures the safe brushing without wearing of tooth and injuries to gums.This is the first step.

Second step is moving the brush on vertical (upside down/downside upward) cleans the food debris between the two teeth. Horizontal rubbing to the front surface of tooth leads to faster tooth loss and less efficient cleaning.Repeat the same direction from both the surfaces of all the teeth.

2)The time spent on brushing:                              

 Ideal time for to spend on brushing is 3 to 7 minutes. In less than 3 minutes the hard plaque( food debris) doesn’t get soften enough to get removed by brush. Tooth paste have softening agent in it which requires at least 3 minutes to act on the food ruminants inside our mouth.       

3)The Wrong Consistency  Of  Brush:

 Have you ever looked for the consistencies while buying your tooth brush? Hard,Medium,Soft,Ultra soft. These are written on the tooth brush.Depending on your gum and teeth condition your dentist will advise you to use appropriate consistency. Using wrong consistency can injure your gums and teeth.Too hard brush will damage your gums and too soft will not do efficient cleaning.

4)Using same brush for months:                     

Do not get too attached to your tooth brush, change it periodically. If your tooth brush gets worn before two to 3 months it means you are too hard on your teeth. Change your brush every 3 to 4 months. If you follow the ideal protocol and correct brushing technique your brush should last for 3 months.

5)Not Cleaning your tongue :

Tongue cleaning is the last but one of the important part of your oral hygiene maintenance.

You can clean your tongue either by brush by giving soft strokes on the tongue or you can buy the tongue cleaner available in the market.Being a soft and rough texture it becomes good habitat for the bacteria.