Myth of Instant Orthodontics, Heart and Alcohol

Myth of Instant Orthodontics
With the advent of cosmetic and esthetic dentistry the concept of instant orthodontics gained popularity. Some practitioners got lured by quick buck, or was it. Now there is a paper in JADA 2008 April issue by Jacobson etal.

Background. There is a clinical trend of using porcelain veneer restorations (PVRs) for the correction of malaligned anterior teeth. Use of PVRs for this purpose raises clinical and ethical dilemmas.

Results. The optimal preparation for a successful PVR may have dentin exposed in the body of the preparation. However, most of the preparation must be in enamel, and all the margins must end in enamel. The strength of a dentin bond varies greatly owing to a multistep, technique-sensitive cementation process and is weaker than an enamel bond. It is not possible to correct atypical gingival esthetics (uneven gingival margins, uneven papillae, short papillae and bulbous gingivae) resulting from malaligned teeth through use of PVRs.

Conclusions and Clinical Implications. Aligning a healthy tooth with a PVR is not a conservative procedure and more conservative treatment options (such as orthodontics, bleaching, direct bonding and enamelplasty) should be offered to the patient. In addition, the inability to restoratively improve gingival relationships with PVRs may result in achieving less-than-optimal esthetics. A clinician should present only treatment options that involve predictable, conservative restorations or that preserve healthy tooth structure. Aligning teeth with PVRs may create ethical dilemmas that can be resolved with the help of the American Dental Association Principles of Ethics and Code of Professional Conduct.

Alcohol and Dental Health

This interesting paper published in Journal of Clinical periodontology, March 2008 by Leif Jansson. What is the impact of Alcohol consumption on Dental health?

Results: The group of subjects with the highest alcohol consumption (>5 cl pure alcohol per day) had more tooth surfaces with caries, more calculus and more teeth with apical lesions compared with those who reported an alcohol consumption 5 cl of pure alcohol per day. Alcohol consumption was not associated with periodontal disease.

Conclusion: The observations do not support any association between alcohol consumption and periodontal disease. However, individuals with high alcohol consumption had significantly more teeth with decayed surfaces and apical lesions indicating that lifestyle-related factors may influence dental health. more HERE

Bad Teeth Screw up your HEART

This study by leading researchers from Boston Clearly shows that bad teeth will damage your heart. Boston University researchers show conclusively periodontal disease is a risk factor for coronary heart disease in men less than 60 years-old independent of established cardiovascular risk factors in a study released April 1 in Circulation, a publication of the American Heart Association.

Who would be stupid enough, let us all take good care of teeth, it is simplest of the things and see your dentist every 6 months.

The full text of the study, "Age-Dependent Associations Between Chronic Periodontitis/Edentulism and Risk of Coronary Heart Disease," is available online at here.

To read all about mouth body connection click HERE

And friends research is useful but we need to be cautious too, here is a beautiful paper to enlighten you, HERE