History
Doctors studying and practicing this branch of medicine are referred as Dentists. The science of dentistry is not new to the human race. There are strong evidences that dentistry was practiced as early as 7000 BC during the Indus Valley civilization. During the excavation of the Indus valley civilization, several forms of dentistry equipments like bow drills were found with which tooth related disorders were cured. During that age, bead craftsmen performed the duties of a dentist, as they are referred today.
The science of dentistry makes use of several practices, which are related to the oral cavity. Over time, oral diseases have emerged as one of the major health problems and are affecting the human beings at large. Most of the dental treatments are basically carried out for preventing or treating the most common oral ailments, which lead to tooth decay and gum problems, which is referred as periodontal diseases or pyorrhea.
The basic dental treatments is to restore the teeth by treating the dental cavities with fillings, surgically removing the affected tooth that cannot be restored, extraction of the teeth, teeth scaling for the treatment of gum problems, and carrying out the root canal for treating the abscessed teeth.
Study of Dentistry
If a person wishes to practice dentistry, then as per the United States medical standards, he must complete his undergraduate studies, followed by a four year course in a dental school for qualifying as doctor of dental medicine or doctor of dental surgery. Apart from this, for carrying out other complex processes like dental implantation, sedation, oral surgery, maxillofacial surgery, etc. a dentist needs to undergo other additional trainings and classification.
Thus, by undergoing such specialized treatments, a dentist can perform restorative surgeries like crowns, bridges, fillings, endodontic or root canal therapies, exodontias or teeth extraction, gum or periodontal therapies, etc. Dentists also prescribe sedatives and antibiotics for curing various oral disorders.
Apart from this, dentists always stress on the famous old adage “prevention is better than cure” and advise proper maintenance of the oral hygiene for avoiding the occurrence of oral disorders. Regular oral checkups are prescribed by dentists, with a minimal of at least twice a year. Moreover, many times, the oral disorders are pinpointing several other ailments in the human body. Hence, regular checkups are extremely important for curbing their growth.
Services
Oral cleaning is extremely important for the maintenance of the sound oral health. It not only caters the needs of oral health, but also helps in upholding the beauty of your teeth, which adds a lot to your personality. With time, due to the consumption of different food products and other eating/drinking habits, a yellowish pale layer gets formed on the teeth, harming both the external appearance and complete oral health. Through dental cleaning, dentists actually scrap off this unwanted layers and impart a new shine to your teeth.
Moreover, during the process of dental cleaning, all the related oral problems like cavities, gum problems, etc. are inspected and treated, if there exist any. One of the most painful oral experiences, which every individual undergoes in his life, is the growing of the wisdom tooth. While traditionally, growing of the wisdom tooth is attributed as a mark of getting mature and growing up, in reality it is not so when explained in the medical terminology.
Wisdom tooth is nothing but just another tooth belonging to the lot of 32 teeth, which grows up quite late in life, unlike the incisors and other molars, which start growing up right from the early age of 3 years. Wisdom tooth actually refers to the third set of molars that appears after a person attains the age of 20 years. So, next time if someone teases you saying that you aren’t wise because you haven’t got the wisdom tooth yet, trash him back with this medical truth!
Dentists are undoubtedly the protectors of oral health. With teeth serving a very important purpose in the working of the human body, it is extremely important to look after them and maintain sound oral health. Moreover, they add a lot to the overall personality of an individual, and this is the reason why cosmetic dentistry is gaining huge popularity these days.
A number of new techniques such as teeth polishing, teeth implantation, teeth tattooing, etc. have been developed, in view of aligning the profession of dentistry with the latest trends. Though, the basic focus point of dentistry is still fixed at maintenance of sound oral health, it won’t be wrong to say that new dimensions are getting added to the domain of dentistry with each passing day!
