Dental A-Z

Blood anticoagulant used for patients who have suffered a thrombosis. Patients on Warfarin must tell the dentist before any treatment is carried out. Special precautions are needed for tooth extractions. Surgical treatment may need to be carried out in hospital.

A material used very extensively in dentistry, especially in prosthodontics. There are so many dental applications that a variety of waxes are made each with specialised properties. Different melting points and strengths are required for various tasks e.g. making replica dentures, or crown forms. The 'lost wax' process is the foundation of dental casting techniques.

A process that will result in a change in the appearance of a tooth. The treatment required will depend on the underlying cause. Tooth discoloration can be a result of either external factors (surface stain) or internal factors (internal stain). As a general rule our teeth become darker as we become older - it is a normal ageing process.

Large teeth at the back of the mouth (third molars or 8's). They are usually the last to appear, normally in the late teens and early twenties. Wisdom teeth can cause problems because they erupt at the back of the mouth after all the other permanent teeth have erupted and there is very little space left. Wisdom teeth have a habit of slowly breaking through the gum tissues at the back of the jaws. These tissues can then become infected and swollen. It is often the lower wisdom teeth that become the most troublesome. There can be serious facial swelling and a raised body temperature and fever. In these circumstances professional advice should be sought immediately. Other wisdom teeth may never come through but remain buried and impacted at an angle in the jaw.