I - Maxillary dental arch

II - Mandibular Dental Arch

Dental Arches: The bones, soft tissue aggregates in our oral cavity which form an arc like form to support the teeth of our oral cavity. 

Mouth is divided into 2 Arches Mandibular & Maxillary arches.

Maxillary dental arch: The bigger arch of the 2 arches, it bears 16 teeth and is comparatively larger than the mandibular arch, it lies just below the nasal cavity, it forms the base of the nasal cavity with its hard palate which is a junction between the alveolar ridges which are the supporting structures for teeth, in this arch we cannot see any movement as it is an integral part of the skull.

Mandibular Dental Arch:The lower arch is also known as the mandibular arch it is the smaller of the two and so the teeth are arranged narrower together than that of the maxillary arch, this arch does not have the extension between the alveolar ridges which support, in place of the palate there lies the tongue so the mandibular arch is a ‘U’ shaped structure clinging on to the skull by a joint(TMJ) which attaches it to the skull, with the help of this joint it shows movements and it also helps in the chewing movements

 Third molars are the last teeth in our oral cavity to erupt, They are more popularly known as wisdom teeth as they erupt after the age of 18 yrs, so they are referred to as the wisdom teeth as people consider it the age a person becomes more mature mentally.

We cannot see the 3rd molars in all the people in some people the teeth erupt and in some they are buried under the soft tissue.

Research: Scientists who are doing research are saying that the dental arches in the humans are shrinking and as a result the 3rd molars are being discarded as the humans are evolving with nature, we can notice that the size of our teeth in oral cavity have not changed, still some of us do not have room for the 3rd molar so we can see that they are not formed as a part of evolutionary process .

But we cannot totally forget about them if they do not appear in pour mouth, they sometimes lie unerupted under the tissue, which can cause infection in the oral cavity and will have to be removed through surgery, So my advice is that if you are above 25yrs and your wisdom teeth have not erupted then you should have a check on them every few years.

In case of Infection: As you can see in the above picture sometimes the 3rd molars grow sideways(impaction) in many patients which makes them to rub against the adjacent teeth roots and causes trauma & infection to the adjacent tooth as well and causes excruciating pain in the mouth, so in these cases they are best removed to protect the other tooth as well. So it is best to keep a regular check with X-ray, and should not be neglected if pain is felt around that area.

Vestigial tooth: These 3rd molars are termed as vestigial teeth as they are of no particular use in our oral cavity as they are in a corner of our mouth and food cannot reach to those corners, so they are termed vestigial

Oral cavity is divided in two major arches and each of these arches are divided into 2 Quadrants each.                                                                                

The dental archs are divided into 4 Quadrants:

Maxillary Quadrants:       Right Maxillary Quadrant ( I ) 

                                                    Left Maxillary Quadrant  ( III )

Mandibular Quadrants:   Right Mandibular Quadrant ( II )

                                                    Left Mandibular Quadrant  ( IV )

Each Quadrant has 8 teeth- 3 anterior & 5 posterior teeth.

The Quadrants are divided by an Imaginary line which passes through the central Incissors of both the maxillary and mandibular arches 

General Human Anatomy in the first year consists of the following :

Introduction:

Detailed Anatomy and Osteology of Head and Neck

• Paranasal Air sinuses
• Lymphatics and Air Sinuses
• Gross Anatomy of Brain
• Study Of Cranial Nerves- in detail extra cranial course 5th, 7th and 9th nerves and upper cervical nerves

Embryology:

Embryology of head and neck with emphasis on the development of face, tongue, palates, salivary glands, pharyngeal arches, and pouches.

Histology:

The following topics are discussed and practically shown on slides, specimens which are stained are showed, this helps us in knowing the structure of the particular structure at a cellular level :

• Epithelium including glands and Gastro-intestinal tract.
• Muscle
• Periosteum
• Bone
• Cartilage
• Adipose tissue
• Fibrous tissue
• Elastic tissue
• Lymph tissue
• Blood
• Blood vessels
• Nerves
• Lung
• Kidney
• Spleen-liver-thymus-pancreas
• Endocrine gland

PRACTICALS:

Dissection of head and neck excluding opening of skull and demonstration of wet and dry specimens including brain.

Bad breath(Halitosis) is mainly due to the commensal bacteria present in our oral cavity, Bad breath can be usually noticed early in the mornings just after you get up known as ‘Morning Mouth‘, all the changes occur in the mouth during sleep as there is no chewing or intake of water the bacteria get sufficient time to settle down and undergoes metabolism and produce waste products of the metabolism which give out such a bad odor that our mouth stinks when we get up in the morning.

The bad odor coming out of our mouth is mainly due to the excreta of the commensal bacteria present in our oral cavity, they produce many organic compounds during their metabolism, these end products cause the bad breath in mouth.

Bad breath can be caused due to:

• Poor dental hygiene- Poor brushing habits where people skip brushing
• Illness- during illness the immunity of he body decreases so the bacteria take advantage and increases in number
• Infections in the mouth- Painful sores in the mouth, mouth ulcers all these can be a rearing ground for the bacteria so the odor increases during these conditions
• External agents: some external agents like Garlic consumption, cigarette smoking, chewing tobacco etc, repeated consumptions cause bad breath.

Prevention of the disease is better than its cure:

• Bad breath is prevented by normal people by following the given steps without fail,
• Brushing your teeth atleast twice a day or brushing after each meal
• Flossing daily
• Rinsing with a mouth wash
• Drinking pleanty of water daily is best prevention technique to most of the diseases.

 Few home made medication tips for bad breath:

• Dry coriander can be chewed throughly.
• After meals chew one clove for 5 mins this really helps.
• You can chew ani seeds after meals.
• 2 spoons of mustard oil and salt mixed together and put in mouth and pass it from one end to the other and spit the saliva after sometime.