Dental Work Starts with Knowledge of a Healthy Tooth
Too many people choose to relegate the responsibility of dental care to a medical practitioner. With such an attitude, many live as though dental work starts and ends with the dental office. This is not true as the true responsibility for your teeth’s health starts with you. The first stage of all dental work begins with your understanding of the anatomy of a healthy tooth. When you know what a healthy tooth is, you do your part of brushing and flossing regularly, and maintain the services of a dentist for medical conditions, emergencies, and routine treatments.
The Parts of a Healthy Tooth
The mouth has four types of teeth, namely the cuspids, the bi-cuspids, the molars, and the incisors. All healthy teeth arranged along your gum have four basic components: the enamel, the dentine, the pulp and the root. The outer and visible exterior is the tooth enamel. Tooth enamel is the hard and white outer coating of the tooth. In a healthy tooth, the enamel enables you to bite and chew food comfortably.
On the front sharp teeth, the act of biting into food is a lot easier as they have a specially designed sharp edge for biting. The teeth further into the mouth are designed for chewing and link into each other when you chew on food like a grinder. The enamel in these teeth helps you bite into food and grind it to a soft mush necessary for optimum digestion in the stomach. The enamel on a healthy tooth is white in color or slightly off white, but never yellow or brown.
More Parts of a Healthy Tooth
The tooth enamel covers the dentine, which is the next layer of a healthy tooth. The dentine is much softer than the tooth enamel, and protects the inner layer, the pulp. The pulp hosts nerves and blood vessels enabling communication between the healthy tooth and the rest of the body. The root of a tooth connects it tightly to the skeleton in a healthy tooth.
A healthy tooth is not sensitive to cold or heat in foods, and it can bite comfortably into most foods. In defense of their budgetary allocation to dental health, many argue that their teeth are not shaking or hurting and they therefore do not need to see a dentist. This is a dangerous trend as problems in the teeth go undetected, eventually leading to hefty dental fees. The best dental care is to have a regular check up at least twice a year. This is the true safety net for your health budget.
When to Seek the Help of a Dentist for Your Teeth
In case of an emergency, medical practitioners will call in a dentist if your teeth are cracked or broken. However, except for people in dangerous sports who specifically take insurance for such eventualities, tooth-cracking accidents are rare and happen to a very small percentage of the population.
Majority need routine services of a dentist to maintain healthy teeth. However, if you have pain or bleeding gums, sensitivity to cold or heat in foods you previously enjoyed, then it is important to seek the services of your dentist as fast as possible.