ORAL AND DENTAL HEALTH

The unit responsible for the necessary medical intervention in diseases related to the mouth, teeth, gums and jaw area is called the oral and dental health unit. Oral and dental health problems can be experienced in a wide variety of ways. Oral and dental health problems can be experienced due to many factors such as genetic structure, age, lack of attention to personal care and hygiene rules, and diet. This situation has led to the emergence of many sub-units of the oral and dental health department. These departments are classified as orthodontics, periodontology, pedodontics, oral and maxillofacial surgery, endodontics and aesthetic dentistry. While each of these units deals with a separate disease, cooperation between sub-units can sometimes be established in complicated cases.

Preventive Dentistry Practices

Preventive dentistry applications are applications aimed at protecting the existing oral and dental health in general. In addition to not providing proper hygienic care for many years, not taking the necessary preventive measures also plays an important role in the deterioration of oral and dental health. For this reason, today, with preventive dentistry practices, necessary precautions are taken while oral and dental health has not yet deteriorated and problems such as dental caries that may be seen in the future are prevented. Preventive dentistry is especially important in childhood and adolescence. Generally, preventive dentistry applications in these age groups can be listed as topical fluoride applications and fissure sealants applied especially to molars.

Endodontics

The endodontics unit is involved in the treatment of the problem of loss of vitality of the teeth as a result of damage to the pulp tissue, where the nerve and vascular packets in the teeth are located. If the treatment is neglected, health problems such as tooth loss and lesions in tooth roots may occur. Root canal treatment, dental trauma treatment, post placement in the root canal cavity (for crown restoration) and similar endodontic applications are handled under the roof of this unit. As a result of neglect of endodontic treatments, lesions may occur in tooth roots and even tooth loss may occur. Therefore, endodontic treatments are of great importance in oral and dental health.

Periodontology

Although the deterioration of gum health sometimes consists of simple gum bleeding, it can sometimes cause serious problems that can lead to tooth loss. The branch of dentistry that includes the diagnosis and treatment of gum diseases is called periodontology, and dentists specialising in this field are called periodontologists. Periodontological treatments are applied for tartar cleaning, cleaning and surgical curettage of tooth root surfaces, and removal of gingival recession. In addition to these, the diagnosis and treatment of diseases such as diseases of the gum tissues around the implant, gingival bleeding, tooth sensitivity and bad breath are performed in the periodontology department. The symptoms of gum diseases are listed as follows and people with these symptoms should apply to the periodontology unit:

Bleeding gums,
Redness and swelling of the gums,
Teeth wobbling, elongation,
Inflammation between the tooth and gum,
Displacement of teeth,
Gingival recession and the sensitivity seen on the root surfaces exposed due to this,
Bad smell and taste in the mouth,
Black areas caused by calculus between the teeth or on the edges of the gums.

Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery

Oral and maxillofacial surgery is a branch of surgical science that deals with all surgical interventions involving teeth and oral tissues as well as jaw bones and joints. All surgical procedures related to the mouth such as impacted tooth operations, treatment of cysts and lesions in the jaw bones, implant treatments, graft, i.e. bone powder applications to eliminate the dimensional loss of jaw bones, treatment of jaw fractures, apical resection and similar surgical procedures are performed under local anaesthesia by specialist oral and maxillofacial surgeons.

Orthodontics

Orthodontics is the branch of dentistry that deals with tooth crowding, disorders in tooth closure and disorders in the relationship between the upper and lower jaws, and dentists who specialise in this field are called orthodontists. Teeth with crooked and irregular appearance are one of the most disturbing situations in people's smiles. In addition, other factors such as gapped teeth and incompatibility in the position of the bones of the jaws with each other badly affect both the appearance of the teeth and facial aesthetics. On the other hand, such disorders can also impair chewing function. The healthiest solution to all these dental appearance and jaw structure problems is possible with orthodontic treatment, also known as wire treatment.

Prosthesis

The solution of problems such as tooth deficiencies, decayed teeth with material loss that cannot be repaired by filling methods, tooth fractures, aesthetic problems due to the structure of the tooth is possible with dental prostheses.

Prosthesis treatments have a very wide range of applications. The first of these is tooth deficiencies. There are two types of applications in the elimination of tooth deficiencies with prosthesis methods. The first of these is removable prostheses applied to mouths with toothless or very few teeth, and the other is veneer treatments in cases where the loss of material in the tooth is high and bridge applications in case of a small number of tooth deficiencies, ie fixed prostheses. Veneers and bridges can be made with many different alternative methods and materials.

In addition to tooth deficiencies, prosthesis applications are also used in cases where the teeth have aesthetic deficiencies that cannot be eliminated by other methods. Lamina porcelains are examples of aesthetic prosthetic applications applied in such cases. The structures on the implant are also created with various prosthesis methods and these are called implant prostheses.

Aesthetic Dentistry

Today, smile aesthetics related to teeth and gums are of great importance. Causes such as tooth decay, excessive colouration, crowding, defects in the surface and form of the teeth, and the position of the gums relative to the teeth negatively affect dental aesthetics. Situations where smile aesthetics are not good enough cause negative effects on people both socially and psychologically.

Situations that disrupt smile aesthetics can be corrected with modern aesthetic dentistry applications. Applications such as whitening treatments, composite or porcelain lamina applications, porcelain venner applications and gum arrangements are among aesthetic dentistry applications.