15 Dental Advancements You Need to Know

1) Adhesive Dentistry
Contemporary term for dental restorations that involve "bonding" of composite resin or porcelain fillings to natural teeth.

2) Air Abrasion
Removal of tooth structure by blasting a tooth with air and abrasive, a relatively new technology that may avoid the need for anesthetic.

3) Block Injection
Anesthesia of a nerve trunk that covers a large area of the jaw; a mandibular block injection produce numbness of the lower jaw, teeth, half the tongue.

4) Bonding
Adhesive dental restoration technique; a tooth-colored composite resin to repair and/or change the color or shape of a tooth. A procedure to adhere tooth-colored resin to the tooth's surface, creating a bond. The composite resin bonding process is where a resin (similar to an enamel) is bonded to a tooth's surface, but then sculpted into shape, hardened, and polished.

5) Cavitron
Dental tool that uses high frequency ultrasonic waves to clean teeth.

6) Composite Resin
Material composed of plastic with small glass or ceramic particles; usually cured with filtered light or chemical catalyst.

7) Cosmetic Dentistry
Treatments performed to enhance appearance.

8) Cosmetic Contouring
A McMinnville Cosmetic dentist will sculpt and reshape the natural teeth to make them straighter.

9) Dental Implant
A (usually) titanium cylinder surgically placed in the bone of the upper or lower jaw to provide support for a dental restoration or appliance.

10) Intraoral Camera
A small video camera used to view and magnify oral conditions;
images may be printed by your McMinnville cosmetic dentist.

11) Laughing Gas
Nitrous oxide; odorless inhalation agent that produces relative analgesic (sedation); reduces anxiety and creates a state of relaxation.

12) Porcelain Fused to Metal (PFM) Crown
Restoration with metal coping (for strength) covered by porcelain (for appearance).

13) Porcelain Inlay or Onlay
Tooth-colored restoration made of porcelain, cemented or bonded in place.

14) Sealants
Thin resin material bonded in the pits and fissures of back teeth for the prevention of decay. Sealants are used almost exclusively on the biting surfaces of posterior, or back, teeth. These areas are especially vulnerable to cavities because these teeth see the bulk of chewing duty, and their surfaces are so irregular. They are usually covered with pits, fissures, indentations, and small cracks which tend to retain food and conceal plaque deposits.

15) Veneer
Plastic or porcelain facing bonded directly to a tooth to improve its appearance. Porcelain or composite very-thin, special laminates bonded to teeth. Typically, Veneers are used for repairing chipped, cracked, or worn teeth


By Dr. Saurabh Singh