NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

Nature gives the human body a set of 32 teeth of which there are 28 important working teeth. The four third molars, more commonly known as the wisdom teeth can be discounted. When individuals smile, the teeth most standardly seen in what is known as the “Smile Window” These are the anterior teeth, which could mean the front six to ten teeth. These comprise of one pair of central incisors, lateral incisors, canines and two pairs of premolars. When an individual smiles, this smile window will display these teeth with the upper teeth generally covering about 2/3rd of the lower teeth. Smiles are appealing and aesthetic when certain broad principles are fulfilled. The teeth have to be in the right proportion, they have to be correctly aligned, they have to be of the right shape, the right color and in harmony with the rest of the face.

The factors that mainly influence smile design

• • Your facial shape. For example, a long face may need to accentuate width to appear more oval. Someone with attractive features in the center of the face may need bold central incisors to draw attention to that center.
  • Your image aspirations. How do you want to appear to others? A sophisticated smile gives the appearance of more intelligence, maturity and judgment. A sexy smile gives the appearance of more warmth, energy and boldness.
  • Your age, or how old you want to appear. Longer central incisors make you appear younger. Also, whiter teeth make you appear younger. Conversely, a flatter smile or a more subdued color to the teeth make you appear more mature.

Along with the teeth, the gums, technically known as the gingiva also play a significant role. There is certain proportion of pink to white, which has to be maintained for the smile to be pleasing and beautiful. At times, the only difference between an excellent smile and a run of the mill smile can be heavily pigmented gums. If there is discrepancy in any of the above listed factors, the smile tends to get unaesthetic. It is not that if any one of the above conditions is not met, the looks will be totally hampered. Many a time, totally out of position teeth or disproportionate teeth may still exhibit a very pleasing smile. When the smile does get unaesthetic, the dentist can play a large role in correcting these discrepancies.

We perform all kinds of Oral Surgeries and Gum Surgeries.
Oral and maxillofacial surgery is surgery to correct a wide spectrum of diseases, injuries and defects in the head, neck, face, jaws and the hard and soft tissues of the oral and maxillofacial region. It is a recognized international surgical specialty.

Surgical procedures

• Treatments may be performed on the craniomaxillofacial complex: mouth, jaws, neck, face, skull, and include:
• Dentoalveolar surgery (surgery to remove impacted teeth, difficult tooth extractions, extractions on medically compromised patients, bone grafting or preprosthetic surgery to provide better anatomy for the placement of implants, dentures, or other dental prostheses)
• Diagnosis and treatment of benign pathology (cysts, tumors etc.)
• Diagnosis and treatment (ablative and reconstructive surgery, microsurgery) of malignant pathology (oral & head and neck cancer).
• Diagnosis and treatment of cutaneous malignancy (skin cancer), lip reconstruction
• Diagnosis and treatment of congenital craniofacial malformations such as cleft lip and palate and cranial vault malformations such as craniosynostosis, (craniofacial surgery)
• Diagnosis and treatment of chronic facial pain disorders
• Diagnosis and treatment of temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorders
• Diagnosis and treatment of dysgnathia (incorrect bite), and orthognathic (literally “straight bite”) reconstructive surgery, orthognathic surgery, maxillomandibular advancement, surgical correction of facial asymmetry.
• Diagnosis and treatment of soft and hard tissue trauma of the oral and maxillofacial region (jaw fractures, cheek bone fractures, nasal fractures, LeFort fracture, skull fractures and eye socket fractures.
• Splint and surgical treatment of sleep apnea, maxillomandibular advancement, genioplasty (in conjunction with sleep labs or physicians)
• Surgery to insert osseointegrated (bone fused) dental implants and Maxillofacial implants for attaching craniofacial prostheses and bone anchored hearing aids.
• Cosmetic surgery limited to the head and neck: (rhytidectomy/facelift, browlift, blepharoplasty/Asian blepharoplasty, otoplasty, rhinoplasty, septoplasty, cheek augmentation, chin augmentation, genioplasty, oculoplastics, neck liposuction, lip enhancement, injectable cosmetic treatments, botox, chemical peel etc.)

Patients can go for an Oral Implant if they do not want to have adjacent natural teeth to be shaved off, which is required in making a conventional Dental Bridge.For many patients due to loss of bone, Dentures do not fit properly and rock while eating, laughing or yawning. Here with a Dental Implant the Denture fits snugly on the implant. It works like Clip-In-Clip-Out.When the patients do not want to wear removable dentures, they can opt for a whole set of permanently fixed teeth supported by multiple implants. The artificial teeth need no extra care, just brushing twice a day like how natural teeth are being maintained, is enough.

A dental implant is an artificial tooth root replacement and is used in prosthetic dentistry to support restorations that resemble a tooth or group of teeth. There are several types of dental implants. The major classifications are divided into osseointegrated implant and the fibrointegrated implant.

Earlier implants, such as the subperiosteal implant and the blade implant were usually fibrointegrated. The most widely accepted and successful implant today is the osseointegrated implant, based on the discovery by Swedish Professor Per-Ingvar Brånemark that titanium can be successfully fused into bone when osteoblasts grow on and into the rough surface of the implanted titanium. This forms a structural and functional connection between the living bone and the implant. A variation on the implant procedure is the implant-supported bridge, or implant-supported dentures.

Composition of Implant

A typical implant consists of a titanium screw (resembling a tooth root) with a roughened or smooth surface. The majority of dental implants made out of commercially pure titanium, which is available in 4 grades depending upon the amount of carbon and iron contained. More recently grade 5 titanium has increased in use. Grade 5 titanium, Titanium 6AL-4V, (signifying the Titanium alloy containing 6% Aluminium and 4% Vanadium alloy) is believed to offer similar osseointegration levels as commercially pure titanium. Ti-6Al-4V alloy offers better tensile strength and fracture resistance. Today most implants are still made out of commercially pure titanium (grades 1 to 4) but some implant systems (Endopore and NanoTite) are fabricated out of the Ti-6Al-4V alloy Implant surfaces may be modified either by plasma spraying, anodizing, etching or sandblasting to increase the surface area and the integration potential of the implant.

The materials used for the bridges include gold, porcelain fused to metal, or in the correct situation porcelain alone. The amount and type of reduction done to the abutment teeth varies slightly with the different materials used. The recipient of such a bridge must be careful to clean well under this prosthesis.

When restoring an edentulous space with a fixed partial denture that will crown the teeth adjacent to the space and bridge the gap with a pontic, or “dummy tooth”, the restoration is referred to as a bridge. Besides all of the preceding information that concerns single-unit crowns, bridges possess a few additional considerations when it comes to case selection and treatment planning, tooth preparation and restoration fabrication.

Crown refers to the restoration of teeth using materials that are fabricated by indirect methods which are cemented into place. A crown is used to cap or completely cover a tooth.

Traditionally, the teeth to be crowned are prepared by a dentist and records are given to a dental technician to fabricate the crown or bridge, which can then be inserted at a subsequent dental appointment. The main advantages of the indirect method of tooth restoration include:

• Fabrication of the restoration without the need for having the patient in the chair
• The utilization of materials that require special fabrication methods, such as casting
• The use of materials that require intense heat to be processed into a restoration, such as gold and porcelain.

The restorative materials used in indirect restorations possess superior mechanical properties to materials used for direct methods of tooth restoration, and thus produce a restoration of much higher quality.

As new technology and material chemistry has evolved, computers are increasingly becoming a part of crown and bridge fabrication, such as in CAD/CAM technology.

A root canal is the space within the root of a tooth. It is part of a naturally occurring space within a tooth that consists of the pulp chamber (within the coronal part of the tooth), the main canal(s), and more intricate anatomical branches that may connect the root canals to each other or to the surface of the root. The smaller branches are most frequently found near the root end (apex) but may be encountered anywhere along the root length. There may be one or two main canals within each root.

Some teeth have more variable internal anatomy than others. This space is filled with a highly vascularized, loose connective tissue, the dental pulp. The dental pulp is the tissue which forms the dentin portion of the tooth. The formation of secondary teeth (adult teeth) is completed by 1-2 years after eruption into the mouth. Once the tooth has reached its final size and shape, the dental pulp’s original function ceases for all practical purposes. It takes on a secondary role as a sensory organ.

Root canal is also a colloquial term for a dental operation, endodontic therapy, wherein the pulp is cleaned out, the space disinfected and then filled.

At the center of a tooth is a hollow area that houses soft tissue, known as pulp or nerve. This hollow area contains a relatively wide space in the coronal portion of the tooth called the pulp chamber. This chamber is connected to the tip of the root via narrow canal(s); hence, the term “root canal”. Human teeth normally have one to four canals, with teeth toward the back of the mouth having more. These canals run through the center of the roots like pencil lead runs through the length of a pencil. The pulp receives nutrition through the blood vessels and nerves carry signals back to the brain to warn of adverse events and circumstances.

For a person who feels tooth pain or discomfort, a root canal may be indicated, and a qualified dentist or more preferably an endodontist (root canal therapy specialist) should be consulted in a timely manner.