Myths in Dental Practise

Does an idea of visiting a dentist scare you? Do you have a belief of your own or heard from your elders , friends, relatives which make you scare visit a Dentist.

Are you one among them those who believe that getting a scaling done loosen your teeth or getting an extraction makes you blind. Let me tell you that, these are the "Untrue facts" which many people in society believe on, scares themselves and their nearby and ultimately leads to negligence of their oral hygiene. 

I have often encountered with many patients who have such beliefs of their own Or heard from someone. Many times my patient tend to ask me "Madam, if you remove my tooth I will loose my eye sight" Or  "if I brush hard, my tooth will turn white" and many more like these. 

So let me make you all clear that these are just "Myths" Or false believe that is running in society and needs to stop so that people won't neglect or deteriorate their oral health following the myths. 

In this blog, I will discuss the various Myths and the truth behind them. I am sure this blog will help you stop fearing or practicing false believes and help you maintain you health. So guys please do read it till end and share with your elder and others you know who are scared of dentist and dental procedures due to myths.

Myth - After oral prophylaxis/ scaling / cleaning our tooth start to loose. 

Truth - Have you ever seen a dentist performing extraction. Do you know how much leverage is needed to pull out a tooth from socket.Even a loose tooth requires a little pressure to remove them. It is not possible for a scaler tip with vibrations which barely touch the tooth for few seconds to remove tooth. Scaling is the procedure of removal of hard deposits such as plaque and calculus performed using electric scaler possessing vibration. It is quite impossible for a vibrating instrument to run across your teeth and lossen it.

 Plaque is any solid deposit which harbors numerous bacteria which harms your gingival health. If your oral cavity posses calculus for a longer time, these bacteria in plaque and calculus results in the inflammation of gums and ultimately eat up the bone and weakens tooth support. This condition is known as periodontitis. However, because the tartar is so tightly stuck around your teeth- they feel firm. When we remove the large chunks of calculus holding them together - naturally they will be loose. The tartar made them loose and then held them together ironically. So a lot of patients say - at least its holding them together so why not leave it in? The reason is - the longer the tartar is in your mouth - the disease is continuing to progress. The gum bleeding, bad breath continues, bone will completely be eaten up by bacteria in calculus and eventually it will result in teeth falling out on their own. Therefore to stop the disease it is essential to remove the cause.

This reminds me of another myth people possess.

Image depicts with and after removal of tartar (calculus) 

Notice, the amount of bone loss and inflammation in gums which was hidden below tartar. 

Myth - Many people believe that like you loose a baby teeth at particular age, you are supposed to loose your adult teeth as well. 

Truth - Well No, it's a myth. There is no age of permanent teeth to shed. It can last for your life time if managed properly. It is the gum disease - "periodontitis" that makes you loose your tooth as explained above. If your gums bleed while brushing, if you have a bad breath, you must visit a dentist. We will surely discuss about Oral hygiene maintenance to prevent such condition in our upcoming blogs. 

Sometimes while scaling, it bleeds heavily. This is due to the infection in gum and not due to harm done by scaling. This is another fear of patients with scaling that "it make our gums bleed". so remember its the infection and not the procedure.

Myth - Scaling results in tooth sensitivity
Truth-  Some of you do feel sensitivity after scaling is done but it is temporary and goes off after few days. it occurs because earlier you were carrying chunks of calculus over your teeth and after it is removed, your teeth is exposed to the oral fluids again. 

Like you feel sensitive to the area when a bandage has been removed after a long period. It's the same. 

Myth - Scaling removes the upper protective layer of tooth. 

Truth - As explained earlier, scaling is performed using sonic or piezo electric scaler tips which possess vibration. Enamel, the outer protecting layer is hardest substance of our body. Harder than bone. It cannot be easily rubbed off by using a vibrating instrument for seconds. You do feel sensitivity but it is not because of exposed dentin but the removal of plaque , calculus and exposure of previously covered tooth surface which are now sensitive for few time. 

Well, I think I covered all the myths regarding scaling. Scaling is the most basic and important procedure of dentistry and it has many myths associated with it among patients. I hope I made all your worries go away regarding scaling. 

Myth - Tooth extraction/removal results in loss of eyesight

Truth - The nerve supplying the eye and teeth are different and they have different course. The teeth are mainly supplied by the branches of trigeminal nerve. In dental practice, for upper anterior tooth extraction, Dentist give an infra-orbital nerve block which is given close to infra-orbital foramen (near eye) and this anaesthesise the extraction area and also create numbness in lower eyelid close to site of injection. Probably, this makes people believe that it affects the eye sight. 

Myth - Only white teeth are healthy and Yellow teeth are considered as bad teeth.

Truth -  Yellow teeth are equally healthy as the white teeth. It's like the inherited skin color, like we have different fairness of our skin, the tooth also has its natural color. Some may have white sparking teeth while other may have dull white, or yellowish teeth. If you try to rub off the yellowish color of tooth, you might end up abrading the tooth surface i.e, Abrasion or Abfraction. 

Having yellow teeth and yellow deposits are different. If you have any confusion, you must visit your dentist. 

Myth - Placing clove, chhuna, supari (betel nut) Or zarda relieve from pain and treat the disease. 

Truth - Well this is partially correct in regard to clove or clove oil. Yes, Placing a clove may help reduce your pain but it has some limitations. 

• Clove doesn't treat the disease (Let's say caries) 
• Helpful only in initial stage of pain associated with disease
• After eradication of pain, disease still progress behind

Clove has substance called "Eugenol" which has antibacterial and anesthetic effects. You might be relieved from pain leaving the untreated cause behind which later progresses and do more harm. So, it is OK to use clove only until you visit a dentist but not OK to become reliable on clove. 

 

Chhuna, zarda, supari or any other tobacco substance contain chemicals (nicotine) which again has anesthetic effect and suppress the pain but these in turn affects your oral cavity. 

• Not only Workers and labours but many other people place tobacco in corner of mouth (as habit or adjacent to the tooth having pain) ,which later affect oral cavity resulting in "tobacco pouch keratosis" - white mucosal lesion. 
• Consumption of betal nut for a longer period results in precancerous condition known as "Oral Sub mucous fibrosis". OSMF is a condition where the opening of mouth is reduced making oral cavity stiff and presence of ulcers.
• Tobacco result in many precancerous lesion. 
• Tobacco contains abrasive particles which results in "tooth attrition"
• Tobacco slow down the healing ability of body
• Tobacco Stains the tooth badly
• May result in Oral cancer

Relieving from pain is not our major concern, it is to treat the disease effectively

Image depicting
oral submucous fibrosis (OSMF) 

Myth - Acrylic dentures or other prosthesis like Bridge can be fixed with a glue or feviquick. 

Truth - Acrylic dentures (Partial) are removal dentures. I have seen many pateints visiting Quacks where they glue the denture directly to the gum of pateint with support of adjacent tooth. It is unethical.!! It deteriorate the gingival health leading to adjacent tooth loss. 

Prosthesis like bridge are fixed using a special Dental cement. If fixed at home using fevicol or feviquick, you are left with undiagnosed cause of prosthesis failure leading to progression of disease , if any and in cases where one of the tooth was vital, it may cause "Tooth sensitivity".

One of my patient tried to fix his/her bridge with M-seal and kaju katli (Indian sweet) !! Please don't do that..! 

Myth - In Root Canal, nerve is taken out that can damage you and your body in various ways. Dentist kills the tooth. 

Truth - Dentist doesn't kills the tooth. The tooth was already dead and contained the necrotic tissue within it which is necessary to remove as it could result in Dental and oral infections. Like, in biology we read that body expels out the dead or contaminated substance. Similarly, it needs to be cleared out but body cannot do on its own. So dentist make a path and remove the dead nerve. Since, its solely the nerve and vessels of a single tooth,it does not affect your systemic health or other neighbouring tooth. 

Myth - Only Sweet results in dental caries

Truth - From your childhood your parents stopped you from eating much chocolate. So, Does it proves that sweet causes tooth decay/ caries. NO, its not only the sweet which causes tooth decay. Decay occurs due to prolonged sticking of food on your teeth. Food like chocolate have a tendency to remain stick on tooth resulting in bacterial colonization. Bacteria use this sugar from foods and produce acids that results in tooth decay. You must practice proper oral hygiene maintenance. 

Myth - Oral health is not connected to rest of the body (systemic health). 

Truth - A mouth with severe tooth decay and periodontal disease is more likely to cause bacteria to enter into the bloodstream and result in other health issues. Studies have found a link between periodontal disease and heart disease, diabetes, low birth weight, bacterial pneumonia and much more. We will discuss the "Correlation between systemic and oral health" Later. 

Effects of poor oral hygiene
(Image available on our Instagram page) 

Myth - No need to brush baby teeth

Truth - Baby teeth are equally important as adult tooth. They serve in maintaing space for the permanent tooth to erupt below them. Premature/early loss of tooth will result in space closure and this crowding of teeth. Also, proper cleaning of teeth and gums is needed to prevent plaque accumulation preventing from tooth decay, bad breath and gum infections in your child. 

You should clean oral cavity of baby even before the tooth erupts

Myth - Braces are just for kids

Truth - People usually believe that braces are meant for childrens as youngsters cannot prefer wearing metal wire on teeth. They look unaesthetic. Orthodontics is now advanced with clear transparent braces and Invisalign with proper functioning abilities. 

Metallic braces 

Myth - Root Canal is just for adult and not for kids. 

Truth - Root canals can be done in your baby's tooth as well. It is done only when tooth has few years before it will shed itself. The procedure in pedodontics is known as Pulpectomy. 

Know the shedding time of deciduous or milk tooth from our Instagram page

Myth - Have a baby, loose a tooth

Truth - It is believed amongst many that you are destined to loose a tooth if you are going to have a baby. Pregnancy brings many systematic changes in women's body due to hormonal imbalance. It also affects the gingival health of women. Pregnant women needs to take extra care of their oral health as well. If they loose a tooth during gestational period, they might be suffering from periodontitis even before she got pregnant. 

You must consult a dentist before you plan or in early pregnancy

Myth - If nothing is bothering you, no need for a dental check up. 

Truth - Some dental issues are asymptomatic but can still cause infection and need treatment. If you were to wait too long, the treatment needed may be more expensive than if the disease were caught before it worsened. Also, the tooth has a lesser chance of being saved at a later point in time. Therefore, as a dentist I would advice you to visit a dentist for regular oral examination or dental cleanings at least twice a year. "Regular appointments, A necessity.!! "

Prevention is better than cure

I hope I made all your myths and worries go away. For further query or help contact us at email or Instagram page. 

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Dr. Divyani Chawla
(Dental and Oral surgeon) 

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