Description

False. Sometimes a medical condition can result in tooth pain. Referred pain from your muscles can result in referred pain to certain teeth. Neuromuscular issues need to be eliminated as the actual cause prior to considering teeth related diagnosis.

Issue

Patient had herpes simplex virus infection which resided in the nerve ganglia. The issue is that due to stress at work and current temperature change including a dental cleaning patient is having a HSV event. He came with vesicular lesions on his palate and gums. Interesting enough the infection vessicles only showed up on one side of the face, coincides with how nerves are separated in terms of your left and right sides.

Treatment

Patient given acyclovir and felt better the same day.

Description

Yes and No.
Yes, if the persons bite is balanced and the area affected does not have excess forces.
No, if they have grinding/bruxism issues that resulted in the first place. Fixing with filling only does not take care of the real cause which is the exceptional high forces and irregular bite dynamic that will cause it to fracture again.

Issue

How teeth relate and the unique function of the lower jaw as it is moved by your muscles and joint is not taken into consideration. All bites are unique and again must be assessed by your dental professional.

Treatment

Could be anything from a simple composite filling to veneers, crowns, orthodontic repositioning prior to any dental restoration.

Description

Yes but there is no guarantee it will last. Most importantly it is NOT as strong as it was when it is first fabricated.

Issue

Dentures are made by pressure cooking a material to remove porosity thus generating a denture that is homogeneous. When you break a denture, it is only strong as the weakest link, hence the area of fracture as it is NOT homogeneous.

Treatment

Unfortunately a new denture is needed.

Description

Your filling is bonded to an existing tooth surface. If you did not have a tooth it would have been an implant. Hence, all restoration on existing teeth can still get a cavity because the rest of your tooth as well as bone is still susceptible to bacterial attack.

Issue

All teeth surfaces are susceptible to decay, back teeth in particular as they are the hardest to clean. Having a crown or filling placed makes it easier for bacteria to try to adhere to that surface. Underneath a microscope, you will always see a difference, signified as a ledge between any 2 different surfaces. Bacteria are tiny, less than 10 micros (10 thousands of a millimeter).

Treatment

Oral hygiene at home is critical, prevention through rinses and dental agents, regular dental checkups.

Issue

Home care is the most important but many factors such as nutrition, genetics, and ….
All influence the incidence of caries. Dentist may only see you 1 day out of 180 days (6 months)

False. Certain conditions warrant early intervention and should be addressed early to prevent and possibly avoid long extensive treatment. Crossbites, excessively worn teeth, parafunctional habits.

Mostly True. It depends on the amount of remaining tooth structure, less tooth structure will require full crown coverage. In all cases a buildup or post however is always required prior to placing a crown.

False. Everytime a tooth is prepped or fixed its never as strong as compared to the original tooth. Everything attached to that tooth is now dependent on the bond strength layer between the existing sound tooth and new restoration.

False. There have been studies that prove that your dental radiation dosage is equivalent for being alive for about 7 to 8 days. We constantly get background radiation from just being alive, people just don’t know it. You can get more radiation from taking an airplane flight but you do not think twice.

False. Everybody has different thresholds of pain and each person’s specific tooth anatomy dictates the level of response.

False. This is the most asked question in any office. There are soo many facets to consider and find out whether your insurance will cover any procedure. First and foremost is the TYPE and LEVEL of your coverage, not all insurances are the same, even health plans have bronze, gold, platinum, and even higher levels of coverage. Second, Dental insurances groupings such as preventive, basic, or major treatment determines percentage of coverage. Third, you have a cap of insurance coverage whether it be $1,000 or $10,000. Most plans fall around $1,500 max for the year. Lastly, there are exclusionary clauses such as when and how long you have to wait to qualify for treatment. As an office we do this on your behalf and it is not required. It is solely the responsibility of the patient to followup with your insurance as you own your plan. Approvals may take anywhere from 2 weeks to 6 weeks, and once approved you may have months to possibly a year before approval expires. Each individual insurance verification has the possibility to consume over 1 hour for followup. Thus patients need to really take action once they are approved and informed of their treatment needs.