Dental Wisdom

Plastic Surgery

gumresq — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 04:18:16 +0000

Some of the popular plastic surgeries include breast augmentation, nose reshaping, eyelid surgery, tummy tuck and liposuction. These plastic surgeries are becoming more and more popular thanks to Hollywood and TV shows. These plastic surgeries provide dramatic changes to the recepients, especially those who are left with deformities after trauma, burns, breast cancer and birth defects. For those wanting to look younger, plastic surgeries can give confidence and youthful appearance that will enhance their influence at work.

When selecting a plastic surgeon, there are some things that you want to ask yourself and the surgeon. Some of these questions are common sense but none the less important. Ask these questions to the surgeon.

Am I a good candidate for the procedure?
What results can I expect?
What are possible complications or risks of the procedure? (infection, anesthesia, excessive bleeding…)
What are the alternatives?
How long will I need to stay in the hospital and when will I be able to return to work or normal daily routine?

You may check the American Board of Medical Specialties online for more information and check credentials of your surgeon.

Dental Implant: immediate placement

gumresq — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 20:06:08 +0000

Dental implants have been around for many years and most patients find dental implants very satisfying. Instead of grinding down adjacent teeth for a bridge to replace a missing tooth, a dental implant can be placed on its own to support an artificial crown. In the past, dental implants were placed at least 3 months after a tooth was removed from the jaw, to allow adequate healing of the bone. It is still recommended to wait 3 months in some areas of the jaw. It is better, sometimes, to place a dental implant right after removing a tooth.

Replacing a front tooth would be better if a dental implant was placed right after the removal of the tooth, provided that there is enough bone to receive a dental implant. By placing a dental implant right away in the front areas, the usual bone resorption is prevented. Better aesthetics of the final crown and soft tissue can be achieved by placing a dental implant immediately. In the back areas of the mouth, bone resorption after a tooth extraction is minimal and aesthetics is not important. Also, in the back, the extracted socket is usually not suitable for an immediate placement of dental implants. Here is a nice case published at lomalindaimplant.com to help you understand what a dental implant can do.

Ask your dentist what is best for you. Not all front tooth replacement can be done with an immediate placement of a dental implant.

Tooth Extraction

gumresq — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 05:51:33 +0000

Modern dental treatment can save teeth that were routinely extracted decades ago. However, you may have a badly decayed or fractured tooth that needs to be extracted or pulled out. Don’t just have the tooth pulled out without a plan. Will you replace that tooth with a bridge or implant? Is the tooth a front tooth? If the tooth that needs to be pulled out is a front tooth, speak to your dentist about possible ridge collapse after the extraction. Teeth are held in place inside bone called alveolar ridge. Alveolar ridge is a functional structure. In other words, if there are no teeth in the ridge, the ridge (the bone inside the ridge) will gradually resorb. You will see the ridge getting thinner over time.

When a tooth has been missing for a long time, the ridge will look very thin and short. However, this ridge resorption can occur rather rapidly in cases involving front teeth. When a back tooth is extracted, the remaining walls of the sockets are usually quite thick and will last long enough for bone to fill the extracted socket where the tooth used to be. When a front tooth is extracted, the thin outside bone, or bone wall on the outside, will resorb too quickly for bone to fill in the extracted socket. The result is that the outside of the ridge will collapse. When a bridge is made over this collapsed area of ridge, the fake tooth (pontic) will need to be made longer and will affect the smile. When an implant is planned in the area, there may not be enough bone to receive an implant, making a grafting procedure necessary.

There may be a reasonably simple way to prevent this ridge collapsing seen after the extraction of a front tooth. If the outside bony wall of the socket is thin and is likely to resorb quickly, a socket preservation procedure may be done to prevent the ridge collapsing. Only your dentist can tell if a socket preservation is needed with some special radiographs or by visual exam right after the extraction. Socket preservation procedures are usually done immediately after the extractions. Remember that socket preservation procedures are not always necessary and may not be applicable to all front tooth extraction cases. There may be cases where nothing can prevent the ridge from collapsing.

This post is not intended to be professional dental advice. Only your dentist can tell you what is best for you.

NOTE: This post was originally published in http://lomalindaperio.com and has been published here with permission.

Did you know…

gumresq — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 20:43:11 +0000

that Andrew Jackson made all his own clothes while he was living in the White House?

that it takes 663,522 spiders to spin 1 pound of web?

Blind Girl

gumresq — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 18:02:40 +0000

There was a blind girl who hated herself because she was blind. She
hated everyone, except her loving boyfriend. He was always
there for her. She told her boyfriend, ‘If I could only see the world, I would marry you.’

One day, someone donated a pair of eyes to her. When the bandages came off, she was able to see everything, including her boyfriend. He asked her,’Now that you can see the world, will you marry me?’

The girl looked at her boyfriend and saw that he was blind. The
sight of his closed eyelids shocked her. She hadn’t expected
that. The thought of looking at them the rest of her life led her to refuse to marry him.

Her boyfriend left in tears and days later wrote a note to her saying: Take good care of your eyes, my dear, for before they were yours, they were mine.’

Food for Thought II

gumresq — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 19:48:49 +0000

lilbear

Did you ever stop and wonder……

Who was the first person to look at a cow and say, ‘I think I’ll squeeze these pink dangly things here, and drink whatever comes out?’

Who was the first person to say, ‘See that chicken there… I’m gonna eat the next thing that comes outta it’s bum.’

Why do toasters always have a setting so high that could burn the toast to a horrible crisp, which no decent human being would eat?

Why is there a light in the fridge and not in the freezer?

Why do people point to their wrist when asking for the time, but don’t point to their bum when they ask where the bathroom is?

Why does your Obstetrician, Gynaecologist leave the room when you get undressed if they are going to look up there anyway ?

Why does Goofy stand erect while Pluto remains on all fours? They’re both dogs !

Can blind people see their dreams? Do they dream ??

If quizzes are quizzical, what are tests?

If corn oil is made from corn, and vegetable oil is made from vegetables, then what is baby oil made from ?

If electricity comes from electrons, does morality come from morons ?

Why do the Alphabet song and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star have the same tune?

Stop singing and read on . .. . . . .. . . .

Do illiterate people get the full effect of Alphabet Soup?

Did you ever notice that when you blow in a dog’s face, he gets mad at you, but when you take him on a car ride, he sticks his head out the window?

Does pushing the elevator button more than once make it arrive faster?

Food for Thoughts I

gumresq — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 14:44:03 +0000

pix by lilbear

Why is it that people say they ’slept like a baby’ when babies wake up every two hours?

If a deaf person has to go to court, is it still called a hearing?

Why do we press harder on a remote control when we know the batteries are flat?

Why do banks charge a fee on ‘insufficient funds’ when they know there is not enough?

Why does someone believe you when you say there are four billion stars, but check when you say the paint is wet?

Why do they use sterilized needles for death by lethal injection?

Why doesn’t Tarzan have a beard?

Why does Superman stop bullets with his chest, but ducks when you throw a revolver at him?

Why do Kamikaze pilots wear helmets?

Whose idea was it to put an ‘S’ in the word ‘lisp’?

What is the speed of darkness?

Are there especially reserved parking spaces for ‘normal’ people at the Special Olympics?

If it’s true that we are here to help others, what are the others doing here?

Do married people live longer than single ones or does it only seem longer?

Do you cry under water?

How is it that we put man on the moon before we figured out it would be a good idea to put wheels on luggage?

Why do people pay to go up tall buildings and then put money in binoculars to look at things on the ground?

You know you are grown up when…

gumresq — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 04:34:35 +0000

Photo by Dan Guisinger

you hear your favorite music in the elevator.

you go from 3 months of vacation time to 2 weeks.

you don’t know what time Taco Bell closes anymore.

your car insurance goes down and your car payments go up.

you realize that eating a basket of chicken wings at 3:00 a.m. would severely upset, rather than settle, your stomach.

you actually eat breakfast food at breakfast time.

sleeping on the couch makes your back hurt.

90% of the time you spend in front of a computer is for real work.

…

Do you have any more to add to the list? Leave a comment.

102 Years Young and Exercising!

gumresq — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 03:32:34 +0000

Check out this video of a 102 year old Iranian man working out at the gym. He gardens and enjoys his life. Who would expect to see a 102 year old man this active. Amazing! I am not sure if I want to live that long, but I want to have clear mind and be healthy when I am old. Take care of your health.

YouTube – Hedayat Razman.

Mexico Trip

gumresq — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 06:22:13 +0000

Today was my second trip to Tijuana Mexico. I and my sons along with others left our little city pretty early in the morning and rode in vans and then crossed the border to Mexico some time around 11:00. When we got to this town near Tijuana, our vans drove down a steep hill and then up the ravine and arrived at this small church. Then we got to work and set up a portable dental unit. This dental unit was specially designed by a retired dentist who no longer practices dentistry except when he goes overseas on volunteer trips (more details on this dental unit will follow later).

The people that I treated were mostly women and young children. The types of dental treatment that we can do at a setting like this are fillings and extractions. Today’s work was mostly extractions. Children who needed their baby teeth removed to make room for the permanent teeth were well behaved. I suppose those that were defiant or too scared probably did not even bother to line up for the free dental treatment. Often these children only have just tips of roots remaining. No regular visits to the dentist. These root tips usually come out pretty easily. Women that require extractions will go to a free mobile dental clinic after suffering many nights of toothache. These extractions are often difficult because, the teeth are so broken down that some molars (back teeth) come out bits by bits, each root coming out one by one. After just a couple of hours of working, my face gets covered with sweat and my back hurts.

However, It feels most rewarding after a day like today. I am glad that I am a dentist and I can do something for these people. Each day as I go about doing the things that I need to do, I rarely think about anything else than my work, my children and making ends meet with what a full time dental school faculty member makes. Then, after a day like today, I realized that the world is more than what’s around me. The world is much bigger and different than what I am used to.