Glossary

As anesthesia can be described as a loss of feeling or the inability to feel pain and an anesthetic is a method of pain prevention a local anesthesia can be described as the loss of feeling in a small area of the body as a method of pain prevention. Candidates for local anesthesia are u ...Continue Reading

A jacket is a crown for a front tooth that is usually made of porcelain. It is also called a cap. A crown or jacket can be required for a number of reasons. Most commonly, a tooth that needs a large filling or has been subjected to a fracture will need a crown. The crown is required to maintain the ...Continue Reading

A laminate is a thin plastic or porcelain veneer produced in a dental laboratory and then bonded to a tooth to improve its appearance. These laminate/porcelain veneers are thin shell-like slices of ceramic bonded to the front of the teeth. They are used to cover gaps reshape chipped teeth ...Continue Reading

An intraoral camera is an indispensable diagnostic and educational tool. The tiny device is a video camera that moves around inside the mouth and generates a tooth by tooth video exam of the teeth. The images can be stored and later enlarged and printed. As it is nearly impossible to s ...Continue Reading

Incisors are teeth with straight cutting edges whose function is to bite and shear food articulate speech and support the lips. The human mouth contains 32 teeth 16 upper and 16 lower. The teeth are arranged in upper maxillary and lower mandibular arches. Each arch is divided into two qu ...Continue Reading

An indirect filling is very similar to white filling with the difference being that indirect fillings are only made in a dental lab then sent back to your dental office and bonded on the prepared tooth. There are two types of indirect filling an inlay or onlay. An inlay restores normal too ...Continue Reading

Incision and drainage is a dental procedure that is required when a cavity or tooth infection spreads causing a dental abscess. Dental abscesses occur when bacteria from a cavity grows and extends into the mouth face jaw or throat. A dental abscess is generally quite painful and the pain ...Continue Reading

Inlays are indirect fillings pre-made in a dental lab and must be permanently cemented by a dentist. Fillings are different from indirect fillings in that they are soft to begin with and set in the mouth. As opposed to an onlay (the other type of indirect filling) which sits on the tooth ...Continue Reading

Your teeth are at risk because of periodontal disease. Plaque and tartar on your teeth resulting from insufficient brushing and flossing can build up over time and lead to the loss of the supporting tissue around some of your teeth. When plaque builds up on a tooth bacteria in the plaqu ...Continue Reading

Hyperemia is an increase in organ blood flow that occurs when organ or tissue metabolic activity increases. Hyperemia of the teeth indicates increased blood flow to pulp tissue (inflamed tissue) can cause dental sensitivity and may lead to an abscess. Hyperemia causing tooth sensitivit ...Continue Reading