A Good Day to Smile - Understanding the Law beyond Just a Beautiful Smile...

Not everyone is born with a perfect set of teeth, beaming white and crystals glowing as they smile. A good smile comes from a beautiful lip line, high cheek bones and an attractive set of teeth. But what happens if you were blessed with such a fortune of a smile, but with defected teeth??

Smiles are just mesmerising when it feels right...

Rampant caries is a very common disease of the dentition. It is an aggressive, devastating type of  decay of the teeth due to invasive bacteria, and the lack of  protective mechanism to the teeth itself. Very simply, we prevent decay  (demineralization of the enamel and dentine) by our day to day routine of brushing and flossing. What we do not realize is that there are more than just this 2 methods to restore balance to your oral hygiene. Its connected to our daily activities and lifestyle, which plays a big role in keeping our teeth healthy and protected.

Study the list of options below. Interesting as it may be, these might just enlighten us on the complexity and the dynamics on how tooth decay can be prevented.

1.              Proper diet – less sugar and starchy food, flruoride

2.              Proper brushing method

3.              Brushing frequancy – 2 times daily

4.              Flossing

5.              Mouth rinse

6.              Eating timing

7.              Eating frequancy

8.              Adequate rinsing

9.              Water intake

10.          Frequant visits to the dentist

Lets take number 8 for instanse. Adequate rinsing simply means cleansing the teeth with a form of liquid ( water,mouthwah,saliva ) to remove any reminants of food particles or pelicle layers over the tooth surface.  Any cause of deficient rinsing, or inability to rinse efficiently would be a major causative factor for decay to form. So could you imagine a child with impaired salivary production sufering the consequences of rampant caries due to his/her inability to produce adequate saliva to wash away all the food particles? The impact to the child is severe, as while he suffers from lack of confidence to smile and interact with children of  his age, his teeth is undergoing damage every second. Such cases require good dental intervention and a proper treatment plan for the child.

We had a patient, 19 year old male from Perth who had similarly suffered from xerostomia (inabillity to produce saliva) and faced issues with his teeth. He had generalized caries, some of which has caused his teeth to be non-vital and presented with dental abcess. It was quite sad to see a young individual sufering from multiple carious lesions due to his natural inability to produce adequate saliva.

 He has a good long future ahead of him. However looking at his current condition, he might not even pass 25 before all his teeth are fully damaged. This young man needed help, and the sooner he received it the better it would be. So we designed a treatment plan for him, bearing in mind about his diet, hygiene level and most importantly his inability to produce enough saliva. It was not an easy task as if also involved smile designing. Our team had initially proposed veneers and fluoride therapy.

 However we realised that his with state of tooth decay, the palatal and lingual surface where the veneers end were at risk of having recurrent caries- thus causing the veneers to vulnerable to failure. Despite being the best and most minimally invasive treatment, veneers were perhaps not the best option for him. Well, given the limitations at this point, the only option left were Zicornia crowns. This is simply due to their nature of being compatible with his  gums, which were going to help him in the long run, and as well as securing his teeth from any further damage due to lack of salivary flow.  The saliva acts as a source of lubricant to wash away food particles and sugar that might adhere to the tooth surface, as well as providing the first line of defence against regular oral bacterias. It was absolutely necessary to now protect the whole tooth for this reason. 

teeth with normal salivary flow

teeth with limited or no salivary flow

Mr. Marten Stroh, our German technician was designated with the job task to design a precise set of Zicornia crowns for our patient. It was constructed to match his teeth profile, size and shape. These new crowns were measured and fabricated from the Zicorn core, then later adjusted with the overall occlusion for the patient. Finally, they were given a superior polish touch with a glaze to it that made the crowns very smooth - ideally for easy cleansing. 

When the crowns were finally fitted in for the patient, the results were satisfying. He looked amazing, with his new set of white crowns dominating his smile. A job of such precision, deserved a moment of joy for both the patient and our team. We were just glad we were able to make a difference to a persons life. 

... before and after ...