ALIGNMENT OF TEETH- CORRECTING IRREGULAR TEETH

ALIGNMENT OF TEETH

 Teeth that are irregular, that overlap or stick out in odd directions, can present problems. Sometimes there is malocclusion-failure of upper and lower teeth to meet (occlude) properly. Heredity may account for this. Irregularity also may stem from early loss of baby teeth because of decay or accident or from failure of the baby teeth to fall out at the right time. 

When there are regular visits to the dentist, he can, in the case of a pre- maturely lost baby tooth, insert a "spacer" to help maintain the space so that permanent teeth will have the opportunity to grow in properly. And if a baby tooth is being retained too long, he can, with the help of x-ray examination, determine the presence and developmental state of the permanent tooth that is to replace it and can take appropriate measures. Some dentists believe that irregular teeth may be the result of excessive thumb and finger sucking at the time the second teeth are coming in.

Since a healthy, happy child usually has given up sucking his thumb by the time he is six, it is advisable to discuss this habit with your doctor if it persists. Another factor in irregular tooth alignment and faulty bite is insufficient chewing because the diet is overloaded with soft foods.

CORRECTING IRREGULAR TEETH 

Poorly aligned teeth are likely to do more than detract from appearance. Often, food tends to collect behind them and the gums may become irritated. When only a few teeth meet properly in chewing, the force of the bite falls entirely upon them and may loosen them. Your dentist can check to determine whether a child's bite is poor. He can detect the first signs of serious malocclusion and advise whether and when orthodontic treatment to correct it should be undertaken. 

The earlier a potentially serious case of malocclusion is detected and treated, the less time may be needed for its correction. o An irregular tooth or two does not necessarily mean malocclusion and may not really be disfiguring. Your dentist can tell you whether it is advisable to have treatment. Orthodontic treatment takes time, patience, skill. It can be expensive. If your child really needs orthodontic care and you cannot afford it, discuss the matter with your dentist and investigate dental clinics. 

ABOUT BABY TEETH - Dentistry

ABOUT BABY TEETH 

Nature provides two sets of teeth in a lifetime: the 20 deciduous (baby) teeth, and the 32 permanent (second) teeth. This is no extravagance, for the jaws of an infant are hardly large enough to accommodate the teeth needed later. Make no mistake about the importance of proper care of the first teeth. Even though they are to be replaced, if they become badly diseased and fall out, the permanent teeth may not come into place properly.

A child's first set of teeth begins to form before birth, and their proper formation and structure are influenced by the diet of the mother. She need follow no special diet for her baby to have good teeth; the balanced, nutritious diet prescribed by her physician for her general health will provide for good teeth in her child. Usually, by the age of two and a half years, the child's complete set of baby teeth will have erupted. Shedding will usually begin when the child is six or seven years old. At that age, the first permanent teeth, the first molars, also appear. 

 Proper nourishment is required for healthy development of both the first and second teeth; important, too, are cleanliness and dental super- vision and, when necessary, dental treatment. 

PICKING THE PREVENTIVE DENTIST

 As we have indicated, dentistry today is in a new era-of prevention rather than mere mechanical repair. As in medicine, there are tremendous differences among men in the dental profession. They differ in personality, and your family needs a dentist whose personality is attractive to you and with whom you feel compatible.

You need a skilled dentist, of course. But you also need one, in our opinion, whose interests are along the lines of prevention rather than merely of good treatment. There are still some otherwise excellent dentists-men capable of remarkable repair work-who have not quite caught up with the modern trend of dentistry. But increasingly there are men dedicated to the idea that total mouth care is vital, that what has to be corrected must be corrected and, going beyond, patients must be helped to avoid need for correction. 

There may well be such a man available to you even if you live in a small community. Your family doctor or your pediatrician will help you find him. It is important in terms of dental health-and, in the end, it is economic in terms of family budget-to make regular visits to a dentist practicing prevention.

And it is important to introduce your child to him at an early age, even as young as two years. 

At that point, he can check the child's dental development; he can, if necessary, make corrections to prevent trouble; he can provide detailed instructions for you in the care of the child's mouth and in how to introduce the child gradually to caring properly for his mouth. Chances are that no treatment will be needed and the child's first-and very important-experience with the dentist will be a pleasant one, which will stand him in good stead all his life. 

DISCLOSING WAFERS in Dental care

DISCLOSING WAFERS

 Disclosing wafers, containing a harmless red vegetable dye, are invaluable aids in helping you to establish effective cleaning habits. For the first week, you can use one before and another after each nightly cleaning. In the second week, clean first, then use a wafer to check on whether any areas have been missed. Once proper cleaning habits are established, use a wafer about once a month for checking. 

Place a wafer in the mouth, chew slowly to help dissolve, then swish around as if it were a mouth rinse. You may then swallow it. Any bright red stains you see on the teeth (use the mouth mirror to The Teeth I 281 Here is a rough guide to when the different teeth may be expected -rough in the sense that there is some variation among individuals:

 PERMANENT TEETH UPPER LOWER (AGE IN YEARS) help view the tongue side of the teeth) indicates areas of plaque and bacteria. Pay particular attention to brushing and flossing these areas. The dye will color the tongue and the lips. It is readily removed from the lips with a wet cloth. Brush it from the tongue and you will simultaneously remove bacteria that grow on the tongue's furry surface and may contribute to bad breath. 

As the bacteria are brushed off, much of the dye color goes with them; the rest is gone, dissolved in mouth fluids, by morning. Cleaning themouth thoroughly this way does take time and patience. But you will find the experience refreshing and pleasantly habit-forming. There will be a cleaner taste in the mouth and a cleaner "feel" to the teeth as plaque is kept off. 

You should have no difficulty using the suggested home care methods. If, for any reason, you do, your dentist can help. He may also have suggestions for adapting the techniques to make them more valuable for you if you have any special problem. Visit your dentist regularly for checkup examinations, for topical fluoride applications, and for advice. 

Dental care tools and how to use?

Dental Care TOOLS

 A toothbrush, preferably soft-bristled, never hard, since it will be used at the gumline as well as on the teeth

 Dental floss

 An irrigator, or water spray, attachable to the bathroom faucet

 Many types are available. Your dentist may recommend one.

A small, inexpensive, plastic-handled mouth mirror, available from your dentist or drugstore

How TO PROCEED

BRUSHING

 Properly used, a toothbrush can clean three of the five surfaces of the teeth-chewing, cheek side and tongue side. Note: A critical, often missed zone is the last one-sixteenth inch of the tooth at the gum margin. Plaque and bacteria near the gum as well as on the rest of the tooth must be removed. Direct the brush bristles gently into the crevice between gum and teeth. 

Mildly vibrate brush handle so bristles do not travel and skip about but can dislodge material in this area. A soft-bristle brush gently used will do no damage to gum tissue; a stiff bristle brush may. Next, move brush, applying gentle but firm pressure, so bristles travel over surface of tooth. Brush upper teeth with a downward motion; lower, with upward motion. 

Brush surfaces next to tongue and surfaces next to cheek. Then clean the chewing surfaces, brushing across tops of teeth. Brush at least half a dozen strokes in each area.

FLOSSING

 Plaque must be cleaned away from the other two surfaces of the teeth-the sides, or interdental surfaces. Floss can accomplish this. Cut off a piece of floss 18 to 24 inches long. Wrap the ends around the forefinger and middle finger of each hand, leaving the thumbs free. To floss between upper teeth, use thumbs as guide; hold thumbs about 1 inch apart, keeping floss taut. For lower teeth, use forefingers as guide, keeping them 1 inch apart.

 Slip the floss between each pair of teeth. Do not try to snap floss through a tight area; work it gently back and forth until it passes through. Carry the floss to the base of one tooth, stopping when it is just under the edge of the gum. Scrape the floss up and down against the side of the tooth until you get a rough or "squeaky" feeling, which indicates you have broken through the plaque and are actually touching the tooth. After cleaning the side of one tooth, clean the side of the adjoining tooth.

 RINSING

 After brushing and flossing, vigorous rinsing will remove dislodged food particles, plaque, and bacteria. An irrigating spray also helps clean under any bridges or braces and in gum pockets where brush and floss cannot reach. Place the spray tip in the mouth pointing toward the tongue and adjust water flow until pressure and temperature feel good. Move tip so warm water washes spaces between teeth and between gums and teeth. The spray should not be painful at any time. 

HOW CAN YOU USE PREVENTIVE TECHNIQUES for Dental care?

HOW CAN YOU USE PREVENTIVE TECHNIQUES?

A cardinal rule is to see your dentist for regular checkups. Get your children to him early, even at age two. Encourage your dentist to use preventive measures in the office-fluoride topical applications once or twice a year, or oftener if needed, and not only for children but for adults in the family. 

If your dentist is too busy or not interested, you can find one who will be interested, happy to take the time for the applications and for instruction.

Make use of the following guide for mouth care which details, step by step, the home oral hygiene measures advocated by many dentists who are leaders in the preventive approach. You can check the guide with your dentist for any special suggestions he may have that could make it even more valuable for you.

A GUIDE FOR EFFECTIVE MOUTH CARE

This is a guide to thorough cleaning of the mouth, not just brushing of the teeth, as a means of helping to prevent both decay and gum disease. It is important to remember that decay occurs when bacteria attack food particles and produce acid which eats away at the tooth structure. The bacteria cluster on teeth in a film called plaque. 

Plaque also fosters tartar formation and, in turn, gum inflammation and infection. Whenever possible, brush after eating to remove food particles.

But remember: one complete cleaning of the mouth, preferably at night before retiring when you can take time to be thorough, is essential. Because it takes 24 hours for plaque to form anew, one such cleaning daily can help eliminate this prime factor in both gum disease and decay.

Dental care

Dentists take the time to show patients exactly how to break up and clean away plaque with toothbrushing methods not the same as those most of us use; and they demonstrate the use of dental floss, not as most of us use it to merely dislodge food particles from between the teeth, but also to get plaque off the sides of the teeth. 

They send patients home with a supply of wafers and a little dental mirror to be used for self-checking on home cleaning. They take the time to recheck with wafers in the office on subsequent visits to make certain home care is effective. Ideally, the mouth should be cleansed immediately after a meal or snack. Practically, that is a difficult goal for many people. But these dentists emphasize that, because it takes 24 hours or more for plaque to reform, even a single thorough cleansing of the mouth at night before retiring can go a long way to minimize decay and gum disease.

And these dentists can point to patients, children andadults, with long histories of severe decay brought under control by educated home care. Among these dentists are periodontitis, specialists in gum diseases, who get only the worst cases referred to them-so far advanced that surgery to eliminate the deep gum pockets is necessary. But, typically, they will not operate until the patient is shown how to care for his mouth at home and goes on a prevention program for several weeks or even months. In virtually every case, these periodontitis report, they are able to demonstrate that the patient himself, with proper home care, can bring even the most advanced periodontal disease under control so that, once surgical repairs are made, there will be no recurrence.

 Under way today is a vast amount of research seeking additional preventive measures. Before long, anti-decay agents may be going into foods. Recent studies with children suggest that a chemical, sodium dihydrogen phosphate, added to breakfast cereals, can help reduce decay. Other work indicates that adding phosphate to chewing gum can be similarly helpful. In a dozen laboratories, scientists are busy trying to develop a vaccine that may immunize against decay-causing bacteria. Much other research is going on. But the preventive measures available right now can drastically reduce dental disease. 

Dental diseases

The Navy has experimented further-with a "self-preparation" program. Before they go to the dental clinic, servicemen get a cup of pumice paste containing fluoride and are shown in groups how to brush it on their teeth for 10 minutes to achieve a thorough cleaning and burnishing. 

After that, a dentist has only to apply a fluoride solution for 15 seconds and the treatment is completed. The self-preparation technique has been extended to children of naval personnel, and Admiral Kyes is convinced it has broad implications for the civilian community. 

As Navy children scrub their teeth at home under their mothers' supervision and go todental clinics for brief and inexpensive treatment, so schoolchildren can scrub at home and receive their topical application at home. Self-preparation is a dental Pandora's box because it breaks through dentistry's two restraining bonds-time and lack of manpower.

 The Armed Forces' work has provided a clear-cut demonstration on a massive scale that decay prevention techniques are highly effective for adults as well as children and that they may be widely and inexpensively applied.

Dental diseases are directly responsible for general poor health, affecting patients of all ages. Rampant dental cavities in children not only result in facial deformities in adulthood but contribute significantly to bacterial contamination of the blood and may be quite important in the development of certain forms of heart disease. 

The elimination of decay ... is most urgent in the treatment of bacterial endocarditis [a heart infection] and rheumatic fever. Elimination of dental disease is essential in preventing certain forms of kidney disease in children and adults.