Definitions Of General Dental Terms
Parts Of A Tooth And Your Mouth
- Alveolus
- A opening in your jaw-bone in which a tooth
is attached.
- Apex
- The very bottom of the root of your tooth
- Buccal
- The tooth surface which is next to your cheeks.
Usually only posterior teeth touch your cheeks, so people usually use the
term "buccal" only when talking about your back teeth.
- Cementum
- A bony substance covering the root of a
tooth.
- Crown
- The part of your tooth above your gum.
- Cuspal
- The chewing or tearing points of the cuspids,
bicuspids, and molars.
- Dentin
- The calcium part of a tooth below the enamel
containing the pulp chamber and root canals.
- Enamel
- A hard ceramic which covers the exposed part
of your teeth.
- Frenum
- Small pieces of pink colored skin that attach
your lips, cheeks and tongue to your mouth. Examples include the piece
of skin under your tounge which sticks out when you pick up your tongue,
and the piece of skin which sticks out when you pull out your lips.
- Gingivae
- Another name for your gums
- Gums
- The pink areas around your teeth
- Pulp
- The soft inner structure of a tooth, consisting of
nerve and blood vessels
- Pulp Chamber
- The very inner part of your tooth
containing nerve cells and blood vessels.
- Pulp canal
- Another name for the pulp chamber
- Root
- The part of your tooth in your gums
Other dental terms
Abutment - The teeth on either side of a missing tooth.
- Amalgam
- A silver/mercury mixture which is used for
fillings.
- Anatomy
- 1)The arangement of the bones in your skeleton
2) The study of the arrangement of the bones in your skeleton.
- Antiseptic
- A chemical agent which can be applied to
living tissues to destroy germs.
- Anesthetic
- A drug which a doctor or dentist uses to put
you, your mouth, or some other part of your body asleep so you do not
feel any pain during dental or medical procedures.
- Anterior
- An adjective used to describe things pertaining
to your your Centrals, laterals and cuspids (your front teeth).
- Arch
- Collectively, either the teeth or the basal bone of
either jaw.
- Articulator
- A special holder for models of your teeth.
The articulator holds the models in the same alignment as your jaw so the
orthodontist can look carefully at your bite.
- Asepsis
- The avoidance of potentially pathogenic
microorganism. In practice,it refers to those techniques which aims to
exclude all microorganisms.
- Aspirator
- A tube like a straw which the dentist puts in
your mouth to suck up all the saliva.
- Aspiration
- Removal of fluids from your mouth with an
aspirator.
- Bruxism
- Clenching or grinding of your teeth especially
at night.
- Calculus
- A hard deposit that forms when you do not
brush your teeth so the plaque hardens. Calculus is also known as tartar.
- Caries
- Another name for a cavities (tooth decay)
- Cavity
- A small hole in one of your teeth caused by tooth
decay.
- Cross contamination
- Passing bacteria, viruses or AIDS
indirectly from one patient to another through the use of improper
sterilization procedures, unclean instruments, or "recycling" of orthodontic
products.
- Crown
- 1) An artifacial tooth, 2) an artificial replacement
for the covering on a tooth.
- Curettage
- A periodontal procedure where your gums are
scraped to remove bacteria.
- Decalcification
- The loss of calcium from your teeth.
This weakens your teeth and makes them more succeptable to decay
- Denture
- A synthetic replacment for all of your teeth in
either your upper or your lower jaw.
- Diagnosis
- the process of identifying the nature of a
disorder.
- Direct contamination
- Direct contact with impurities or
germs. (for example by a Patient sneezing on the assistant.)
- Disinfection
- A cleaning process which destroys of most
microorganism, but not highly resistant forms such as bacterial and
mycotic spores or the AIDS virus.
- Disinfectant
- A chemical agent which is applied onto
inanimate surfaces, for example chairs, to destroy germs.
- Disposable materials
- materials intended for one use and
discarded. (e.g.: Gloves, paper gowns, cotton rolls, sponges, etc.)
- Distal
- Behind towards the back of the mouth. For
example you might say that the first bicuspid is distal to the cuspid.
- Edentulous
- Someone is said to be edentulous whene all
of their teeth are missing from either their upper or lower jaw.
- Endodontist (Endo)
- A dentist who specializes in root
canals and the treatment of diseases or injuries that affect the root tips or
nerves in your teeth.
- Erupt, Eruption
- When a new tooth comes in, the tooth
is said to erupt when the tooth breaks through the surface of your gums,
so you can see the tooth in your mouth.
- Exfoliate
- to fall out. (Your Deciduous teeth exfoliate and
permanent teeth erupt into the space.)
- Extraoral
- Outside of your mouth. For example, neck
pads are sait to be extra oral products since they go outside of your mouth.
- Filtrum
- the dimple or indentation under the nose directly
above the upper lip.
- Fluoride
- A chemical solution or gel which you put on
your teeth. The flouride hardens your teeth and prevents tooth decay.
- Gingival hypertrophy
- The abnormal enlargement of the
gingiva surrounding the teeth caused by poor oral hygiene.
- Gingivitis
- The inflammation of your gums caused by
improper brushing. The first sign of periodontal (gum) disease.
- Impacted tooth
- An unerupted tooth that somehow has
gotten stuck and cannot come in.
- Implant
- A replacement for one of your missing teeth. The
implant is different than a bridge in that the implant is permenantly
attached into your jaw.
- Incisal
- The biting edge of your centrals and laterals.
- Interproximal
- the space between adjacent teeth
- Intraoral
- Inside your mouth. For example, orthodontic
rubber bands are called intraoral products since the rubber bands are
designed to go in your mouth.
- Irrigation
- the technique of using a solution to wash out
your mouth and to flush debris.
- Labial
- The tooth surface next to your lips or things
mounted on the tooth surfaces next to your lips.
- Lingual
- The tooth surface next to your tongue or things
mounted on the tooth surfaces next to your tongue.
- Mandible
- Your lower jaw
- Mandibular
- Pertaining to your lower jaw
- Masticate
- To chew your food and mix the food with
saliva
- Maxilla
- Your upper jaw
- Maxillary
- Pertaining to your upper jaw
- Mesial
- Forward or front. For example your cuspid is
mesial to you bicuspid. The mesial surface of your bicuspid is the part of
the bicuspid closest to your cuspid.
- Midline
- A plane through the very center of your mouth
perpendicular to your nose.
- Mixed dentition
- The situation when both deciduous and
permanent teeth are present.
- Occlusal
- the chewing or grinding surface of the bicuspid
and molar teeth.
- Occlusal plane
- the imaginary surface on which upper and
lower teeth meet.
- Occlusal radiograph
- the only x-ray that is taken without
a precision(tm) x-ray holder. The x-ray film for this procedure is shaped
like a large oatmeal cookie. You are asked to bite on the x-ray film and
the top of the x-ray machine is positioned over your nose for a maxillary
occlusal x-ray or under your chin for a mandibular occlusal film. The x-
ray shows the whole arch.
- Oral
- pertaining to the mouth.
- Osteoblasts
- Cells which aid the growth and development
of teeth and bones.
- Osteoclasts
- Cells which help create the sockets in bones.
For example osteoclasps create the openings in your jaw bone to hold your
teeth.
- Pathogens
- disease producing organisms that can exist in
many different places. (e.g.: Air, dust, counter top surfaces, the body,
etc.)
- Pathology
- the study of abnormal (diseased) tissue
conditions.
- Pedodontist (Pedo)
- A dentist who specializes in the
treatment of children's teeth.
- Periapical
- x-ray of individual teeth or groups of teeth.
- Periodontist (Perio)
- A dentist who specializes in the
treatment of diseases of your gums.
- Plaque
- is a colorless, odorless, sticky substance
containing acids and bacteria that causes tooth decay.
- Periodontal
- Pertaining to your gums. For example
periodontal desiese is gum disease.
- Periodontist
- A dentist who specializes in the treatment
of gum disease.
- Posterior
- An adjective used to describe things pertaining
to the back of your mouth or your back teeth.
- Prophylaxis
- Cleaning your teeth
- Prosthodontist
- A dentist who specializes in the
replacement of missing teeth.
- Proximal
- Refers to the surfaces of teeth that touch the
next tooth; the space between adjacent teeth is the interproximal space.
- Radiograph
- Another name for an x-ray
- Root canal
- A procedure where the nerve of a heavily
decayed tooth is removed from the tooth replaced with a filling material
- Sagittal plane
- The longitudinal vertical plane that divides
the mouth into two halves (left and right.)
- Sanitization
- A cleaning process which reduces germs to
a "safe" level.
- Space maintainer
- A gadget used to maintain a space in
your mouth. You would use a space maintainer when you lose one of
your baby teeth. The space maintainer will keep a space in your mouth
until a permenant tooth comes in to fill the space.
- Sterilization
- A process where a medical material is
treated to remove all possible germs and other forms of life
- Supernumerary teeth
- Some people have extra teeth.
These are called "supernumerary teeth".
- Tartar
- Another name for calculus
- TMJ
- An abreviation for the "temporomandibular joint"
The "temporomandibular joint" is the joint where your lower jaw connects
to your skull.
- Treatment card
- a sheet of paper or special index card
used to record your treatment progress.
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