Dental products are specially fabricated materials, designed for use in dentistry. There are many different types of dental products, and their characteristics vary according to their intended purpose.
Pozzolana or pozzuolana, also known as pozzolanic ash, is a natural siliceous or siliceous-aluminous material which reacts with calcium hydroxide in the presence of water at room temperature. In this reaction insoluble calcium silicate hydrate and calcium aluminate hydrate compounds are formed possessing cementitious properties. The designation pozzolana is derived from one of the primary deposits of volcanic ash used by the Romans in Italy, at Pozzuoli. The modern definition of pozzolana encompasses any volcanic material, predominantly composed of fine volcanic glass, that is used as a pozzolan. Note the difference with the term pozzolan, which exerts no bearing on the specific origin of the material, as opposed to pozzolana, which can only be used for pozzolans of volcanic origin, primarily composed of volcanic glass.
Endodontics is the dental specialty concerned with the study and treatment of the dental pulp.
Dental restoration, dental fillings, or simply fillings are treatments used to restore the function, integrity, and morphology of missing tooth structure resulting from caries or external trauma as well as to the replacement of such structure supported by dental implants. They are of two broad types—direct and indirect—and are further classified by location and size. A root canal filling, for example, is a restorative technique used to fill the space where the dental pulp normally resides.
Deciduous teeth or primary teeth, also informally known as baby teeth, milk teeth, or temporary teeth, are the first set of teeth in the growth and development of humans and other diphyodonts, which include most mammals but not elephants, kangaroos, or manatees, which are polyphyodonts. Deciduous teeth develop during the embryonic stage of development and erupt during infancy. They are usually lost and replaced by permanent teeth, but in the absence of their permanent replacements, they can remain functional for many years into adulthood.
A root end surgery, also known as apicoectomy, apicectomy, retrograde root canal treatment or root-end filling, is an endodontic surgical procedure whereby a tooth's root tip is removed and a root end cavity is prepared and filled with a biocompatible material. It is an example of a periradicular surgery.
A glass ionomer cement (GIC) is a dental restorative material used in dentistry as a filling material and luting cement, including for orthodontic bracket attachment. Glass-ionomer cements are based on the reaction of silicate glass-powder and polyacrylic acid, an ionomer. Occasionally water is used instead of an acid, altering the properties of the material and its uses. This reaction produces a powdered cement of glass particles surrounded by matrix of fluoride elements and is known chemically as glass polyalkenoate. There are other forms of similar reactions which can take place, for example, when using an aqueous solution of acrylic/itaconic copolymer with tartaric acid, this results in a glass-ionomer in liquid form. An aqueous solution of maleic acid polymer or maleic/acrylic copolymer with tartaric acid can also be used to form a glass-ionomer in liquid form. Tartaric acid plays a significant part in controlling the setting characteristics of the material. Glass-ionomer based hybrids incorporate another dental material, for example resin-modified glass ionomer cements (RMGIC) and compomers.
Cement clinker is a solid material produced in the manufacture of portland cement as an intermediary product. Clinker occurs as lumps or nodules, usually 3 millimetres (0.12 in) to 25 millimetres (0.98 in) in diameter. It is produced by sintering limestone and aluminosilicate materials such as clay during the cement kiln stage.
Root canal treatment is a treatment sequence for the infected pulp of a tooth which is intended to result in the elimination of infection and the protection of the decontaminated tooth from future microbial invasion. Root canals, and their associated pulp chamber, are the physical hollows within a tooth that are naturally inhabited by nerve tissue, blood vessels and other cellular entities. Together, these items constitute the dental pulp.
Dental cements have a wide range of dental and orthodontic applications. Common uses include temporary restoration of teeth, cavity linings to provide pulpal protection, sedation or insulation and cementing fixed prosthodontic appliances. Recent uses of dental cement also include two-photon calcium imaging of neuronal activity in brains of animal models in basic experimental neuroscience.
Pulpotomy is a minimally invasive procedure performed in children on a primary tooth with extensive caries but without evidence of root pathology. The minimally invasive endodontic techniques of vital pulp therapy (VPT) are based on improved understanding of the capacity of pulp (nerve) tissues to heal and regenerate plus the availability of advanced endodontic materials. During the caries removal, this results in a carious or mechanical pulp exposure (bleeding) from the cavity. During pulpotomy, the inflamed/diseased pulp tissue is removed from the coronal pulp chamber of the tooth leaving healthy pulp tissue which is dressed with a long-term clinically successful medicament that maintains the survival of the pulp and promotes repair. There are various types of medicament placed above the vital pulp such as Buckley's Solution of formocresol, ferric sulfate, calcium hydroxide or mineral trioxide aggregate (MTA). MTA is a more recent material used for pulpotomies with a high rate of success, better than formocresol or ferric sulfate. It is also recommended to be the preferred pulpotomy agent in the future. After the coronal pulp chamber is filled, the tooth is restored with a filling material that seals the tooth from microleakage, such as a stainless steel crown which is the most effective long-term restoration. However, if there is sufficient remaining supporting tooth structure, other filling materials such as amalgam or composite resin can provide a functional alternative when the primary tooth has a life span of two years or less. The medium- to long-term treatment outcomes of pulpotomy in symptomatic permanent teeth with caries, especially in young people, indicate that pulpotomy can be a potential alternative to root canal therapy (RCT).
Bioceramics and bioglasses are ceramic materials that are biocompatible. Bioceramics are an important subset of biomaterials. Bioceramics range in biocompatibility from the ceramic oxides, which are inert in the body, to the other extreme of resorbable materials, which are eventually replaced by the body after they have assisted repair. Bioceramics are used in many types of medical procedures. Bioceramics are typically used as rigid materials in surgical implants, though some bioceramics are flexible. The ceramic materials used are not the same as porcelain type ceramic materials. Rather, bioceramics are closely related to either the body's own materials or are extremely durable metal oxides.
Dental compomers, also known as polyacid-modified resin composite, are used in dentistry as a filling material. They were introduced in the early 1990s as a hybrid of two other dental materials, dental composites and glass ionomer cement, in an effort to combine their desirable properties: aesthetics for dental composites and the fluoride releasing ability for glass ionomer cements.
In dentistry, the smear layer is a layer found on root canal walls after root canal instrumentation. It consists of microcrystalline and organic particle debris. It was first described in 1975 and research has been performed since then to evaluate its importance in bacteria penetration into the dentinal tubules and its effects on endodontic treatment. More broadly, it is the organic layer found over all hard tooth surfaces.
The pozzolanic activity is a measure for the degree of reaction over time or the reaction rate between a pozzolan and Ca2+ or calcium hydroxide (Ca(OH)2) in the presence of water. The rate of the pozzolanic reaction is dependent on the intrinsic characteristics of the pozzolan such as the specific surface area, the chemical composition and the active phase content.
Regenerative endodontic procedures is defined as biologically based procedures designed to replace damaged structures such as dentin, root structures, and cells of the pulp-dentin complex. This new treatment modality aims to promote normal function of the pulp. It has become an alternative to heal apical periodontitis. Regenerative endodontics is the extension of root canal therapy. Conventional root canal therapy cleans and fills the pulp chamber with biologically inert material after destruction of the pulp due to dental caries, congenital deformity or trauma. Regenerative endodontics instead seeks to replace live tissue in the pulp chamber. The ultimate goal of regenerative endodontic procedures is to regenerate the tissues and the normal function of the dentin-pulp complex.
Pulp capping is a technique used in dental restorations to protect the dental pulp, after it has been exposed, or nearly exposed during a cavity preparation, from a traumatic injury, or by a deep cavity that reaches the center of the tooth, causing the pulp to die. Exposure of the pulp causes pulpitis. The ultimate goal of pulp capping or stepwise caries removal is to protect a healthy dental pulp, and avoid the need for root canal therapy.
Biofilling, also known as orthograde canal grafting technique or 4D sealing, is an endodontic root canal obturation technique with a Bioceramic material after root canal preparation and enlargement procedure.
In the dental specialty of endodontics, periradicular surgery is surgery to the external root surface. Examples of periradicular surgery include apicoectomy, root resection, repair of root perforation or resorption defects, removal of broken fragments of the tooth or a filling material, and exploratory surgery to look for root fractures.
Apexification is a method of dental treatment to induce a calcific barrier in a root with incomplete formation or open apex of a tooth with necrotic pulp. Pulpal involvement usually occurs as a consequence of trauma or caries involvement of young or immature permanent teeth. As a sequelae of untreated pulp involvement, loss of pulp vitality or necrotic pulp took place for the involved teeth.
