I have a wearing away of enamel on one of my teeth that is sensitive. My dentist told he he will probably just desensitizes it. I am wondering if anyine can tell me what exactly he will do to my tooth and if it is painful.

Hi! I’ve been in dentistry for over 20 years. And NO it is not painful. However, you have several options. The dentist can place a filling type material over the area, or apply a fluoride solution that will adhere and reduce sensitivity or you can try a higher concentration of fluoride yourself. All this means it that he makes you a thin tray that you place the fluoride in and wear for 30 minutes. This oftens "soaks" into the dentin and reduces sensitivity. Go with his suggestions first. And again, no pain what so ever once he covers the area and seals it. You will be fine. If you have any other questions, please ask. Marie D~

Hey guys i dipped for about a month and than stopped and i wanted to know if my dentist could tell and under one of my teeth my gum is recceeding (getting lower)… do you think this is from the dip or is my tooth getting bigger?

If you only dipped for a month, it is doubtful that that was long enough to cause your gum to recede. It may well be that the tooth has erupted a bit.

Can a dentist clean the pores of teeths which are caused due to eating tobacco?How often can a person visit a dentist in a year?

The normal dental visit is twice a year. And yes a Dentist can remove stains from teeth.

You eat tobacco? Actually eating tobacco is not really good for your teeth or your lungs. I saw on Discovery channel about elderly people from asian countries eating dried tobacco leaves. And they have stained brownish teeth.

My daughter had a bad experience with a dentist. She was a dentist among others in a dental group. I would like to write a letter and complain, but wonder who or what I could write it to.

You need to find out if the dentist is an associate or partner. If she is an associate, I would recommend scheduling an appointment with the practice's owner to discuss your concerns. If she is a partner, there's not much to do at the level of the practice. If it was a matter of something REALLY bad, you can always file a formal complaint with your state's dental board.

Im doing a assignment for health about smoking. It asked if smoking 1 cigarette could result that a dentist could find out if it was smoked a long time ago. Say, 5 months after it was smoked. So can they?

No. A single cigarette will have very little impact on your mouth. It won't noticeably stain your teeth and after that length of time they most certainly won't be able to smell it on your breath or your clothes.

I find that when people ask this question it usually means that they had a smoke yesterday and their have a dentists appointment today and are worried that their dentist will tel their mom about it.

To all of those people, if you smoked 24 hours ago and have cleaned your teeth then the dentist won't be able to tell, not unless you're a regular smoker in which case your teeth will be stained and then he will be able to tell, and he may tell your mom.

So I went to the dentist last week and they told me I have to see an oral surgeon because the tooth is curved or something like that. What is the difference? Also will they do anything different to pull the tooth or do they just have different tools to use? I'm confused, someone please tell me the difference.
BTW it's to get a tooth pulled.
When you say general anesthesia do you mean just the regular needle they give you in the gum or do you mean they would have to put me to sleep, because I really don't want to be put to sleep.

A dentist does general work like cavities, crowns, root canals, etc.

And oral surgeon is more educated and perform surgeries such as removing wisdom teeth and things like that. (more complicated procedures.)

I'm not to sure at all but if it is extremely curved the oral surgeon many have to cut the gum and give you stitches, normal dentist don't do that. Blah, I hope i didn't scare you. And sorry if i am wrong.

I have a cavity that started out as what looked like a chip on one of my back molars but it's progressively getting worse and looking like a little hole. My dentist is really backed up and I couldn't get an appointment until early June. I brush and floss everyday but just have a tendency to get cavities no matter what. Any advice on how to slow it down? I've never needed a root canal and plan to keep it that way..

No, there's not any way to slow it down.

You said you get cavities easily - watch and control all your sugar sources -
don't sip on sodas,
don't sip on coffee,
no chewing gum (unless it's sugarless)
no sucking on hard candies or chewing sticky caramels, or raisins, etc
don't snack

Brush and floss after every single meal and make sure your technique is correct. Tell your dentist so that they can give you a prescription-strength fluoride that can protect your teeth much better than toothpaste.

I recently had all four of my wisdom teeth out. After about a week, I went back for a check-up and the dentist put this disgusting brown moss-like stuff in one of the gums to help it heal and prevent infection, I guess. It was really gross, and I was just wondering if anyone else has had this experience?

I think that stuff is cloves or some herbal type remedy. They usually do that if you have lost your blood clot, which would protect you from getting "dry socket" That nasty clove stuff is supposed to act like a pain reliever. Look up "dry socket" and they call that 'packing'.

I had a crown made, paid for it and decided I wanted another dentist to install it. Can another dentist do it skillfully? Or would only the dentist who made the impression be able to skilfully do it?

Wow what a strange question. Why don't you want the dentist who made the crown not to finish up the job? To answer your question, yes another dentist would be able to finish the placement of the crown,but to find one willing to do it may not be easy. There could be some ethical and/or legal problems involved. For example, what if they crown did not fit and had to be remade? What if a problem develops years later on that tooth? who is responsible if anyone? Of course the second dentist would not do the finishing for no charge even if you had already paid the first dentist.

At 30K/year of tuition, I am thinking about joining the military for a scholarship. But "realistically", how much can a dentist make the first four years? Is private practice even feasible right out of D school? Is the military scholarship worth it, given that they pay for all tuition and fees and give you a monthly stipend of about $1900/month while in school in exchange for 4 years of service after graduation?

Dentists make over 100,000 out of college. Best thing is not start your own practice. Apply for a dentist position at a group practice or chain dental office.