Young Adults

Young Adults - From Birth 13 to 16 years of age

1. Cleaning

It is very important that you brush your teeth at least twice a day. Of these two times brushing before going to bed is of tremendous importance because it removes all the food particles remaining in the mouth . It is the dangerous combination of left over food particles & bacteria that usually results in most gum problems , bad breath and  tooth decay.

It is quite advisable to visit your dentist twice a year (once in 6 months) for a check up because there are areas of the mouth like the inside surfaces of teeth or the back teeth that are difficult for you to see yourself in a mirror. Your dentist can very easily examine these with a tiny mirror called a mouth mirror can show you your teeth using an intraoral camera. If you are interested you could purchase a mouth mirror & learn to see such areas using a normal mirror along with the mouth mirror (ask your dentist how).

If you have a build up of tartar or calculus (sediments of salivary salts , food particles , bacteria & plaque - 'hardened plaque') a professional cleaning ( scaling, polishing -'oral prophylaxis') is required. Your dentist removes the deposits using a combination of mechanized instruments (that vibrate at Ultrasonic frequencies) & hand instruments without damaging your tooth surface.

2. Fillings

One of the main causes of tooth decay is food particles remaining in the mouth for long hours when you are asleep either during an afternoon nap or at night. It is mandatory to brush before sleeping or better still after eating anything at anytime to ensure that food particles do not remain in the natural pits & grooves (fissures) of the teeth. These grooves are ideally sealed off at a young age with pit & fissure sealants

If a tooth is decayed it may be restored with a filing using a wide range of materials the most recent of which is the use of tooth colored 'composites'. If an X-ray reveals damage or decay that is too deep a root canal treatment may be required.

3. Root Canal treatment

A tooth that requires to be extracted may be 'saved' by this procedure as long as the patient realizes that the success of the 'saving' may not always be the 'lifelong' the patient expects as is commonly asked ("Will this ensure that my tooth will remain lifelong?")

In this very skillful procedure the pulp which is the innermost soft portion of the tooth which has tissue , blood & the 'nerve' supply is gently removed under local anesthesia (the patient is awake but can't feel pain). The inside of the tooth now resembles a tube with a rough inner surface.

The inside surface of the tooth is cleaned & made smooth using tiny files & then the entire length of the inside of the tooth from the root tip till the top is filled up.

To ensure that the tooth has enough strength a crown is placed over the tooth to protect it.

4. Extractions

Teeth that are considered beyond 'repair' either by the patient who is not keen on a root canal treatment or similar treatment or by the dentist are usually condemned to extraction.

Although an extraction is made painless by the anesthetic injection & the healing ensured by a couple of sutures to close the socket one must remember that is tooth lost is a TOOTH LOST and no substitute is as good as your own. One recent option is to insert an IMPLANTimmediately after the extraction so that a false tooth can be placed subsequently.

The most ideal situation is one where the patient is under antibiotic cover during the extraction and has an opportunity to relax or even sleep for a few hours after the extraction. Considering this late evenings are probably best for extractions if the patient can return home afterwards and straight away go to bed. The few hours of relaxation/sleep after your extraction ensure that the initial (most important) part of healing occurs UNDISTURBED.

 A soft diet free from too much heat & spices is best for a few days . Smokers or tobacco chewers should abstain till the sutures are removed. In short the patient must take care that the extraction site is kept clean & undisturbed. The sutures are removed after a week.

 Soon after a false tooth MUST be placed to restore normalcy. If a tooth is extracted & not replaced the adjacent teeth tend to shift & the opposite tooth tries to grow into this space. All these events can cause jaw joint problems & future difficulty in chewing.

 

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