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Monday, August 29, 2011

Cosmetic Dentistry Procedures

Cosmetic dentistry refers to a host of dental treatments designed to enhance the smile and correct chipped, cracked, discolored, and unevenly spaced teeth. From porcelain veneers to tooth-colored fillings, patients can choose from a variety of cosmetic dentistry solutions to restore the health and vitality of their smile.

Cosmetic Dentistry Procedures

Cosmetic dentistry treatments can be performed to correct everything from minor flaws in the smile to severe tooth discoloration, missing teeth, and uneven spacing between teeth. The following is a list of common aesthetic dentistry options:
  • Teeth Whitening - there are two methods for whitening teeth: laser teeth whitening (performed in the cosmetic dentist's office) and at-home teeth bleaching (involving the use of take-home bleaching kits).
  • Porcelain Veneers - ceramic shells applied to the front of the teeth to conceal cracks and chips, overlay gaps, and create a whiter appearance to a person's smile.
  • Dental Implants - artificial roots that are embedded in the jaw and are each topped with a prosthetic tooth. Dental implants are a restorative and cosmetic dentistry solution for missing teeth.
  • Dental Bonding - the application of tooth-colored composite to the teeth. The bonding material can then be polished and shaped to look like the rest of the teeth.
  • Tooth-Colored Fillings – a composite resin material matched to the natural shade of your teeth. Tooth-colored "white" fillings are an attractive alternative to silver amalgam fillings.
  • Porcelain Inlays/Onlays – durable and attractive restorations used to repair cracked or otherwise damaged teeth. Inlays and on lays require less tooth reduction than fillings or crowns.
  • Dental Crowns - a cap used to repair badly decayed or damaged teeth. The crown is created from a mold of the original tooth, and then applied after the decay is removed and the tooth is prepared.
  • Dental Bridges - a sturdy structure composed of two crowns and a prosthetic tooth. Dental bridges are used to "bridge" the gaps where teeth are missing.
  • Invisalign® - a cosmetic dentistry solution for unevenly spaced, overlapping, or gapped teeth. Invisalign® is a popular teeth-straightening solution for adults who want to avoid orthodontic braces.

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Computer Imaging-Aided Cosmetic Dentistry

Cosmetic dentistry procedures have the goal of improving the appearance of a person’s smile. However, not everyone would readily go through an unfamiliar dentistry procedure without knowing what the outcome will look like. Computer imaging helps both dentists and patients have a clearer idea of what specific cosmetic dentistry procedures would result to, and what the improvement in appearances will actually be afterwards.

Computer imaging starts with a digital photograph of a patient’s smile; this image will then be altered to show the patient (and the dentist as well) what the chosen cosmetic dentistry procedure will result to. Computer imaging makes it easier for a patient to decide on the best option when it comes to his or her appearance, since the end-result can be viewed even before any cosmetic dentistry treatment is started.

Every person deserves to have a great-looking smile that can confidently be flashed whenever and wherever the desire to do so comes. Computer imaging can help you decide on the result you want to have with a cosmetic dentistry procedure – so you only have to look forward to results that both you and your dentist will be proud (and happy!) about.

Cosmetic dentistry can do a lot of things to improve the appearance of a person. Cosmetic dentistry treatments and procedures do not stop with just aesthetic improvements – they can also give people the chance to change their lives for the better, along with an overall improved dental health care.


Thursday, August 25, 2011

Stem cell therapy in Dentistry

The long-term goal of dental treatment is to preserve teeth and prolong their function. In dental caries an efficient method is to cap the exposed dental pulp and conserve the pulp tissue with reparative dentin.researchers examined whether growth/differentiation factor 11 (GDF11), a morphogen could enhance the healing potential of pulp tissue to induce differentiation of pulp stem cells into odontoblasts by electroporation-mediated gene delivery. Recombinant human GDF11 induced the expression of dentin sialoprotein (Dsp), a differentiation marker for odontoblasts, in mouse dental papilla mesenchyme in organ culture. The Gdf11 cDNA plasmid which was transferred into mesenchymal cells derived from mouse dental papilla by electroporation, induced the expression of Dsp. The in vivo transfer of Gdf11 by electroporation stimulated the reparative dentin formation during pulpal wound healing in canine teeth. These results provide the scientific basis and rationale for gene therapy for endodontic treatments in oral medicine and dentistry.