What is that blue light that shines in my
mouth?
This is a curing light that sets a
filling’s state from a moldable “plastic’ state into a hardened state. This
makes the filling immediately set and useable. This only applies to white
composite fillings. Amalgam silver fillings will set by themselves, usually by
24 hours.
What are the funny magnifying glasses my
dentist wears?
These would be dental loupes. These magnify
everything within a certain field of view. This is usually around x2-3
magnification.
What is the putty material used to take a
mould of my teeth?
This will either be a material called
alginate or a silicone putty material. Both are used to capture all the details
of your teeth and surrounding gums and soft tissues. They are used for
different situations which I wont go into in this article.
What is the instrument used to clean my
teeth?
This would be an ultrasonic scaler. This
vibrates at a very high, sonic, frequency and efficiently but gently removes
the tartar and stains from your teeth. They will then use an abrasive paste to
polish the surface of the teeth making feel very smooth.
When I had root canal treatment they was a
machine used that kept bleeping?
That would have been an apex locator. This
machine will tell your dentist where the very tip of your root is. This allows
them to clean all the way down the root and not beyond. This avoids leaving
behind any harmful, infected tissues and also prevents traumatizing the tissues
beyond the tip of the root.
What are the strange numbers and words used
when my dentist is looking at my teeth?
These are the numbers we give to teeth so
internationally all teeth are numbered in the same way to avoid confusion
amongst the profession. The words will be identifying any fillings or oddities
in teeth and the surfaces of teeth they are affecting.
If you can think of any other questions you
would like to ask please reply to this post.
David Hurst BDS (Lon)
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