Gingivitis: It is the Pathological condition  of the gingiva(soft tissue surrounding the tooth). It is caused by the bacteria which causes plaque. It is a type of Periodontial deisease.

Symptoms: Gingivitis is mainly seen with the following conditions

• Swollen gums
• Bleeding gums
• Normal hard pink gums turn to reddish soft
• Foul smeel starts emmiting from mouth

Theory behind Gingivitis: The symptoms seen in gingivitis is inflamatory response of our body towads the bacteria which have invaded the soft tissue, Macrophages are the main cells which act on these bacteria by increasing in number rapidly and engulfing the bacteria and killing them, which causes the gums to swell.

Preventing Gingivitis: As i always say “Prevention is better than Cure”

• Good oral hygiene
• Regular dental checkups
• Preventing plaque formation by doing regular brushing and flossing.

Braces-These are the corrective appliances used to bring the teeth,
jaw bone, jaw joints and lips and musculature into proper
alignment mainly to improve the aesthetics of a person.
Basically the word braces is a layman’s term used for orthodontic
braces which are made of medical grade stainless steel metal totally       harmless to our oral cavity.

 Orthodontics- It is a branch of dentistry dealing with prevention
and correcting of irregular arranged teeth with malocclusion,                   Retrognathism, Prognathism of the jaw and teeth, by means of braces.

There comes the need for orthodontic treatment when one has crooked
and overlapping teeth or in case of wide gaps or in people with
malocclusion as they cause destructive dental plaque, cavities
and gingivitis etc..
Many people simply go for braces to look good when they are not satisfied with their teeth and want to look better.

Used when- crowding, overlapping, malocclusion, gaps,
thumb n finger sucking, mouth breathing, Prognathism, Retrognathism etc

Other Information-They are usually suggested at the age of 10-12
after all the deciduous teeth are shed off
but teeth can be pulled together at any  age hence people of all age
group can undergo the treatment, but most preferably the lower the age the better.

Types of braces: There are many types of braces according to the patients requirements

Metal braces, ceramic(aesthetically tooth colored), lingual braces.

Components- It deals with brackets which are fixed on
tooth labial surface and wires connecting the brackets and molar brackets
molar bands providing support to the wires as the treatment proceeds the
weight of wire goes on increasing starting from a light weight wire, the brackets are pulled together with the help of elastic rubber bands which are used based on the amount of pressure required.
Now a days ceramic braces are being used which are tooth coloured and made of
translucent material due to their cosmetic appeal.

How Braces Work: When the braces are put on the teeth they apply some amount of pressure which enables the bone present in our mandibular and maxillary arches to adjust to the change in the position, as there are osteoclasts which resorb the the bone on the side the teeth are moving  and the osteoblasts which lay down new bone on the side where the pressure is being applied, so the teeth move approximately 1mm per month but it depends on the patient oral condition and the efficiency of the orthodontist, So we can see a noticeable change in the positioning of the teeth overtime.

Treatment and Post treatment:  During treatment the most important problem is oral hygiene which leads to the formation of plaques in teeth as food is accumulated in  the metal braces, so proper brushing and flossing should be done daily and most preferably after each meal brushing is required.

Sometimes the metal in the braces or the latex material act as an irritant to the patient if he or she is allergic to it, During treatment some types of food are avoided which cause inconvenience to maintain hygiene and can cause damage to the braces, Sticky substances like chewing gum, toffee, hard substances, carrots are avoided.

Post treatment that is when the braces are removed from the mouth of the patient, Retainers are used to prevent the teeth from moving back to their original position(Relapse), So it is better to follow the instructions of the doctor or else the treatment will be prolonged and will be inconvenient to the patient.

The duration of the treatment varies according to the severity of the deformities and  the efficiency of the doctor.

 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

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.