Modern Britons Have More Gum Disease than Roman Britons

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A study of skulls at the Natural History Museum by King’s College London has shown that the Roman British population from 200 to 400 AD appears to have had less gum disease than we have today. Gum disease is also known as periodontitis and has been covered before numerous times on this blog. The researchers examined 303 skulls from a Roman-British burial ground in Dorset for evidence of dental disease. Around 5% of the skulls showed signs of moderate to severe gum disease compared to today’s population which shows around 15 to 30% of adults have gum disease. Many of the Roman-British skulls showed signs of infections and abscesses and around half had caries (cavities). In addition the skulls showed extensive tooth wear from a young age likely due to their diet. The researchers say that Roman-British population did not … Read more

People With Missing Teeth May Not Need Dentures

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Interesting research from the University of Adelaide questions whether or not all of those people who have dentures really need them. The research was conducted by the University’s Australian Research Center for Population Oral Health in the School of Dentistry and found that people with tooth loss do not have their quality of life interfered with if they still have a certain type and number of teeth left. These patients are considered to have shortened dental arches which enables them to maintain functional use of many teeth. The researchers says there is a cut off point at which tooth loss contributes to loss of quality of life where dentures can be used to improve dentures. However, the researchers feel that dentures are only needed once that cutting off point is reached. The study was based on data of 2,700 Australians. … Read more

The Benefits of CAD/CAM Technology in Dentistry

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This is a sponsored post designed to get you excited about CAD/CAM technology in dentistry. In today’s world, CAD/CAM technology has made it very easy for dental patients. CAD stands for Computer aided designing and CAM stands for computer aided manufacturing. The technology has been implemented recently into dental laboratories and made it smooth and simple for dentists to treat their patients within the shortest period of time. In this way, CAD/CAM Technology has gained a lot of popularity. This technology is utilized the best due to the less amount of time used for the procedures. The prosthesis can be designed and developed on the same day itself. A digital impression is taken by the dentist after correcting the particular teeth. The picture is created in the computer and then accordingly the manufacturing unit receives the information in the form … Read more

Monitoring the Periodontal Status of Wisdom Teeth

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An interesting article titled “Monitoring for Periodontal Inflammatory Disease in the Third Molar Region,” appears in the April 2015, issue of the Journal of Oral and Maxilofacial Surgery written by Brent A. Golden and et. al. (vol. 73, issue 4). The study looked at participants who had asymptomatic wisdom teeth and sought to assess the periodontal status of those wisdom teeth at 2 year intervals for 6 years. The participants in the study were taken to have healthy periodontal status of their wisdom teeth if the probing depths were less than 4 mm. A total of 129 such patients were included in the study. In actuality the study participants were a subsample of another larger study were patients had 4 asymptomatic wisdom teeth. The subsample included all participants with a healthy periodontal status (all probing depths less than 4 mm) … Read more

A Study of 185 Coronectomy Procedures of Wisdom Teeth

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An interesting article titled “Coronectomy of the Mandibular Third Molar: A Retrospective Study of 185 Procedures and the Decision to Repeat the Coronectomy in Cases of Failure,” appears in the April 2015 issue of the Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery written by Boaz Frenkel and et. al. (vol. 73, issue 4). The article seeks to evaluate the success rate of coronectomy and if failure occurs, retreatment. Coronectomy is an alternative extraction technique of wisdom teeth to prevent inferior alveolar nerve (IAN) injury in cases of root proximity to the IAN or complicated root anatomy of the mandibular wisdom teeth. The technique seeks to extract the crown of the mandibular wisdom teeth and leave the roots intact. Coronectomy is not without risks and complications and things such as infection, dry socket, and pain can occur in addition to healing that … Read more