What Tools do Dentists Use?

As prosthodontists, we at The Oyster Bay Family Dentists have a wide variety of tools in our office. They allow us to handle just about every problem a patient might come in with, but to our patients, they may seem mysterious. We want our patients to feel comfortable with their dental care, so we thought it would be a good idea to briefly describe what the most commonly used dental instruments are and what names we might use for them.

Dental explorers are metal wands with hooks at the end. You’ve doubtlessly seen hygienists use them to break up tartar. Explorers in different shapes might be called probes or scalers when they’re being used to test the depth of gum pockets and remove plaque from beneath the gum line. They’re also used to test the hardness of each tooth’s enamel, which helps us to determine if there’s an active infection. We use explorers in combination with handheld mirrors to see the backsides of patients’ teeth and move their cheeks out of the way. As we break up tartar, we’ll suction it out with a tube called an evacuator or an ejector.

Larger evacuators are used when we need to drill away decayed enamel. The drill emits water so it won’t overheat the patient’s mouth, and the patient is numbed with medication delivered through a syringe. Fillings are applied with pluggers and polished with burnishers. When a tooth needs to be extracted, we’ll use a flat spoon called an elevator to loosen it by rocking it back and forth. We may also use reverse-action forceps to lift a tooth out once it’s loose enough to avoid harming the surrounding soft tissues..

Drs. Denise VeyVoda and Robert G. West operate The Oyster Bay Family Dentists at 123 South Street, Oyster Bay, New York, 11771. To schedule an appointment, call 516-922-5730 or visit Oyster Bay Dentists and fill out a contact sheet.

 

What is Pericoronitis?

We don’t take tooth extractions lightly at The Oyster Bay Family Dentists. Although we are expert prosthodontists, providing extensive dental and facial restorations, we only recommend tooth extractions when a patient’s health would be endangered otherwise. One of the situations that may necessitate a tooth extraction is pericoronitis. A fancy word for inflammation around a dental crown, pericoronitis is one of the main reasons dentists commonly remove people’s wisdom teeth, so let’s take a closer look at what it is.

Dentists say that a tooth is “impacted” when it is unable to fully erupt. This happens most frequently to the wisdom teeth, which are the largest teeth, and which erupt long after the others. Most people do not have enough room in their mouths for them, and the wisdom teeth often get stuck partially exposed and partially underneath a flap of gum tissue called an operculum. Food debris can easily get caught under the operculum, where it will be difficult for a patient to dislodge it. There, it will fuel the growth of infectious oral bacteria, leading to inflammation. Pericoronitis is often painful and may lead to discharges of bad-tasting pus. The infection might also spread, causing the airways to become swollen, as well.

The first step of treating pericoronitis to clean out the operculum and apply antibiotic rinse. Unfortunately, this does not prevent more food debris from being trapped under the operculum later. We may recommend surgically cutting the operculum away. But if the tooth is no longer erupting and we don’t think orthodontics could help to align it, we might advise the patient that the tooth should be removed. In those cases, we would extract it in as uninvasive a way as possible and provide the patient with guidance to ensure a quick recovery.

Drs. Denise VeyVoda and Robert G. West operate The Oyster Bay Family Dentists at 123 South Street, Oyster Bay, New York, 11771. To schedule an appointment, call 516-922-5730 or visit Oyster Bay Dentists and fill out a contact sheet.