Prevention and higiene
Prevention of teeth and gum illnesses is the easiest and most inexpensive method of treatment. The most popular teeth illness is of course caries. For the caries to appear four factors are needed.
The first one are bacterias which live in the mouth, the second one are substrates necessary for their nutrition, another one is the right period of time in which the reaction takes place and a susceptible tooth. The reaction causes the glaze’s demineralization and further deposition of bacterial plaque, which leads to caries. One needs to eliminate one of the factors so as not to let caries come into existence. One possible way to prevent the reaction is not to allow the bacterias use substrates provided by the food, which most of the times consists of monosaccharides and polysaccharides, and disposing of them in the right period of time.
Coating
The procedure of coating is conducted by a dental doctor in a dental cabinet with the use of preparation with a high concentration of fluorine. Regardless the high concentration of fluorine, these are safe preparations, because they combine fast and adhere well to the tooth’s surface, letting out small amounts of fluorine. Before applying the coating, the doctor carefully cleans all surfaces of the tooth with a brush. The preparation is spread with an applicator onto dry and cleaned teeth. Usually the coating becomes hard in the mouth’s environment creating a transparent membrane. The advantage of fluorine coatings is long persistence on the tooth’s surface and long-lasting releasing of fluorine.
Recommendations :
- high risk of caries in children above the age of 6,
- bad dietetic habits in grownups,
- wearing orthodontic apparatus,
- using moveable prostheses,
- tooth necks exposure,
- initial carie
The procedure of coating is conducted according to one’s susceptibility to caries. With average susceptibility the procedure is conducted twice a year, that is every 6 months. With greater susceptibility to caries it is conducted 4 times a year, every 3 months. Still, one must remember that it is the doctor who decides about every treatment and its recommendations.
Sealing
 |
The procedure of fissure sealing has been a routine preventive procedure. It concerns premolar and molar teeth, because the anatomical structure of their occlusion surface with the presence of deep fissures and furrows is favorable to bacterias, which colonize the furrow at the moment of the tooth’s eruption.
These deep and twisted furrows are not rinsed by saliva, as well as not sufficiently cleaned during hygienic procedures. The toothbrush’s bristle usually has a larger diameter than the furrow’s diameter, which is why reaching a deep furrow is not possible. In connection to such structure of teeth, bacterial retention causes uncontrollable development of caries. |
For the purpose of securing the erupting tooth against the invasion of caries a preventive procedure is used, based on fissure sealing. The procedure is conducted by a dental doctor, it is completely painless and comfortable for the patient. Before sealing the doctor cleans the tooth from all residue, after which he isolates the tooth from saliva. When the tooth is completely dry, the doctor slowly introduces the sealing. To conclude, the sealing is polymerized by halogen light and in case of need adjusted to the contact of teeth. In some individual cases extended sealing based on subtle opening of the fissures by a drill is used. This technique is used in cases, where earlier sealings fell out or the furrows were diagnostically uncertain
Recommendations for sealing :
- completely erupted frontal molar teeth (most of all first permanent molar - 6, which erupt as the first permanent teeth and are supposed to serve us for the longest period of time)
- molar and premolar teeth with deep furrows,
- molar and premolar teeth in disabled children (problem with maintaining proper oral hygiene)
The efficiency of sealing procedure depends on many factors, among which are: the technique of the procedure’s conducting, preparation and responsibility of the person conducting the procedure, but also anatomical conditions of the tooth, the tooth’s level of eruption, type of occlusion, the tooth’s moisture during the procedure.
