Glossary

Dry mouth occurs when a person's mouth lacks sufficient saliva to keep it moist. We all get dry mouth at times but a person who experiences dry mouth all the time suffers from a condition called xerostomia. Saliva is more than just a mouth moisturizerﾗit also aids chewing swallowing an ...Continue Reading

Molars are the “chewingâ€? or “grindingâ€? teeth at the back of your mouth. Wisdom teeth are the third molars at the very back of the teeth. There is one third molar in each of the four corners of the mouth. Wisdom teeth are the l ...Continue Reading

Veneers are thin shell-like slices of ceramic or resin bonded to the front of the teeth. They are used to cover gaps reshape chipped teeth or whiten stained teeth. At $700 to $1200 a tooth they are one of cosmetic dentistry's costlier options. However they are also natural-looking long-l ...Continue Reading

A torus mandibular A torus is a bony elevation that creates a hard visible mass in the mouth, usually appearing in the premolar region. Typically, it does not appear until late teen or adult years. A t ...Continue Reading

An unerupted or impacted tooth is a tooth that has formed but not emerged into the mouth. Teeth that fail to erupt can damage surrounding teeth gums and supporting bone and lead to the formation of tumours and cysts that can severly disrupt the jaw. Because of this risk unerupted teeth a ...Continue Reading

'Caries' is Latin for 'rot' or 'rotten'. Dental caries is the term used to describe rotten teeth or tooth decay which results in cavities or holes in the teeth. It is an extremely destructive disease and occurs more often in children and young adults. It is the most important cause of to ...Continue Reading

Enamel is the outer layer of the exposed tooth. It is a hard thin translucent layer of calcified substance that envelops and protects the dentin (the main portion of the tooth structure) of the crown of the tooth. Enamel is the hardest substance in the body and is almost entirely composed ...Continue Reading

Trench Mouth or Acute Necrotizing Ulcerative Gingivitis (ANUG) is a highly painful form of gingivitis or gum inflammation. Under normal conditions a balance of microorganisms fills the mouth. An overabundance of normal mouth bacteria leads to gum infection. If this gum infection leads to ...Continue Reading

A tooth abscess is a collection of infected material (pus) that collects in a pocket of bone at the end of a tooth root. This infection always begins in the pulp (the nerves blood vessels and connective tissue inside the tooth center) and results from bacterial infection. When the nerve ...Continue Reading

A tooth bud is a mass of tissue that can eventually form the parts of a tooth. Every tooth passes through three developmental stages: growth calcification and eruption. By the seventh week of fetal development epithelium cells skin cells of the mouth thicken along the ridge of the devel ...Continue Reading