ITT: Ask a dental student anything

>i really just want a cleaning and a cavity check, what should i do
Go to a dental school if you can. It's going to be muuuch cheaper than your local dentist. Otherwise look around for local deals on new patients.
It's called "calculus" and typically isn't drilled. It's what happens when your plaque starts to deposit minerals and calcifies into basically stone. You can't remove it at home to be honest. Your dentist is going to use some kind of instrument to scrape it off. It's a procedure called scaling. The best thing to do is after having it removed, making sure you brush and floss really well to get the plaque out of there before it has a chance to calcify.
Sounds like it. From what you're telling me it's a periodontal problem like gum inflammation, not an issue with previous fillings.

My wisdom tooth on the right side is coming out, how long till the tooth is completely out? doctors>dentists sorry brah

They sound like calculus. See this
It might have been sensitive due to inflammation of the gums, and your improved home health care got rid of the inflammation. Without looking at it personally that's my best guess.

It probably won't come out all the way, and will lodge itself halfway out and be a trap for bacteria and food. And I'll still be Dr. user so it's cool brah.

Hi dental man
I see some other niggas asking about wisdom teeth and I wanted to ask too.
I have two of them, one literally grew into a normal tooth and the other one though appears to be stuck and has been for like 2 years, no pain ever, doesn't seem to inflict on other teeth or anything.
Should I be worried? I just dismissed it as I never had any problem, right now its like twice as short as my standard tooth

get black spots on my teeth. don't smoke (do vape weed though). dentist thinks it's because I don't have much saliva in my mouth but I do (just had a dry mouth on one appointment and he went with that). what is the cause?

they must have implanted the jew in u without k knowing it OP

gum line dude
I don't think that's it, I'll be more specific.
Its at the gumline actually on my tooth, at both of my upper premolars?(whatever the tooth after the canine is).

You'll probably fine. From what you're telling me, the worst case scenario is that the shorter one will be more prone to cavities but if you keep up with brushing and flossing you won't have problems.

Might be a cavity then, I'd get it checked out if you can.

Uh about that pic I have erosion and infection on different sides . I dont feel like just brushing gives me a fresh breath wat do ?

I have a lot of yellow shit on my tongue that I brush off every morning but returns quickly after I eat. Only brush once in the morning.

tongue scraper ?

I brush my teeth twice/day and floss every day, but still get cavities sometimes. My dentist says I have extremely soft enamel and there's nothing I can do about it. What should I do about it?

Would brushing immediately after eating any type of sugar help me?

Will my teeth fall out if I don't brush?

Any comment on the high suicide rate amoung dentists?

How do you like it user? I'm a Canadian trying to get into dent but its pretty shit since I can't take any classes focused on dent so I'd hate to have spent all this time trying to get in only to realise it makes me wants to kms

yeah I've had one for at least a year and one for probably 4 months, aside from the sensitivity issue there was no problem. I just want to get an infection from a cavity and it travel to my brain and kill me.

Are those Crest 3D white strips+ Crest whitening toothpaste+ 3D whitening mouth wash worth it? Do they really fuck your enamel?

I'd shadow a dentist and see if you like it or not first. The classwork in the first year is mostly the same stuff as the medical students because you have to prepare for boards. Second year is more dental related stuff.

I think it's an old statistic that keeps getting cited for some reason.
yes
Brush before eating to get rid of the bacteria, and then drink water after eating. You don't want to brush after because the bacteria are making acids that will erode your enamel if you brush while it's present.
Brush your tongue.

Is eating pussy bad for my teeth? I've heard it's slightly acidic.

How good is Invisalign or similar alternatives to braces? I'm 22 and my teeth are all fucked up. But I dread the idea of wearing braces.
Help

I'm thinking of swapping in from engineering.

Convince me not to by telling me some relatively unknown stuff.

Already shadowed dentist a bunch of times

It's case specific. It won't move your teeth as much as braces can, but it's great for something minor like crowding.

Idk man. I have almost nothing bad to say about it to be honest. The worst thing is probably dealing with people, and it's especially bad while you're in school because most people who come to dental schools for their dental care are going to be poor socioeconomic people who can be really fucking rude and their teeth are all sorts of fucked up (think meth mouth), but if you can get past that it's fine.

I have white tongue and no matter how much I brush (u scrap my tongue too) it sort of goes away and comes back within an hour or two. I went to the dentist's once and she told me to just keep brushing it but that didn't get rid of it. I think I have a natural tendency to have bacterial overgrowth on my tongue. But i dont know where it comes from.Help user, I have spent years battling this shit to no avail.

Does it grow anywhere else in your mouth? If it does, you might have a fungal infection in your mouth.

Why do I need to brush my teeth when I wake up if my mouth is clean from last night and I only drink water?

My stupid wisdom tooth brioche my molar. Lazy dentist just sealed it and then I had to get a root canal. I had to go to an endodontist who told me that I wad in top 5 in length and the curvy-est she had ever seen in her 15000 operations

Because your mouth was dry overnight and bacteria that survived your nightly brushing were growing/depositing waste products in your mouth.

Yeah don't ever go to that fucker again. He could have figured that out by looking at an x-ray for 5 seconds. If he was that lazy about it, I wouldn't ever give him my money again.

21 currently, used to neglect proper care of my teeth when I was younger. Started taking proper care at 18, but my teeth still have a slight yellow stain to them.
Can I get them back to pearly white on a college budget? If so, how?

I would also like to know very much

...

You might be able to snag a free whitening with a cleaning coupon or something. Check around to see if any of your dentists are running specials. You might not get them pearly white but they'll be whiter. Or you can just get over how yellow they are if it's not too bad.

Thanks

So i went to a dentist to take out my wisdom teeth about 3 years ago, my wisdom teeth are impacted, that day i took out only 2 of 4 wisdom teeths which is all on my left side. Anyways my top left molar hasnt been the same since because it was using the wisdom teeth as a 'support' so it feels weaker and gets inflammed if food gets stuck in there. Needless to say i haven't went back to get them removed the other two on my right. Is this a bad idea? I also noticed more that my right side of the face looks 'wider' than compared to my left, as if my masseter has more mass on the right. It has been constantly on my mind since, i went to a highly trained orthodontist for consultation and he said its just due to my bone structure.

Anyways should i finally just stop being a pussy and get it removed? The expense, the downtime and the possibility of having a weaker molar bothers me.

My teeth naturally have a yellow tinge to them. How do I make them whiter that won't require a ton of maintenance ($) are teeth whitening sessions covered by work benefits?

I think you gotta lay off the cock my man

>natural yellow ting
That's not a thing mate, brush your teeth with fluoride toothpaste, floss regularly and thoroughly, and use mouthwash. Also, stop drinking so many sodas.

Does chewing gum after meals really help cut down on plaque?

Kind of sort of. It'll cut down on the acids produced by bacteria digesting the nuggets of food that are between your teeth which will help prevent tooth decay. But plaque itself needs to be brushed off.

Actually it kind of is. That's why baby teeth are called "milk teeth". They're naturally whiter than adult teeth.
Tooth whitening probably wouldn't be, but like I mentioned before in the thread, you might be able to find a dentist who does some kind of cleaning + whitening deal, and get the insurance to cover the cleaning + get the whitening thrown in there for free.

Any tips for the pearliest whites you can get?

how do i get my breath to stop smelling like shit? i brush my teeth at night and in the morning, but every day i wake up with that disgusting taste in my mouth. then it smells like shit

That's when I went to a discount dentist because I had crappy state insurance, I've since gone to a better dentist

I had my wisdom teeth taken out two and half weeks ago and I still can only open my mouth one narrow finger width open.

Should I call back the surgeon to see if there is anything I should do?

The jury is out! Some dentists believe that but were not entirely sure!

Good idea about the insurance thing. How many times is it recommended to get your teeth whitened a year professionally?

Your mouth is dry overnight. All you can do is stay hydrated and deal with it. Chew gum during the day to keep your mouth moist.
Holy fuck yes, he might have damaged your joint. I'd even get a different guy to check it out for a second opinion

Lmao

You can get it done as often as you want, but you really shouldn't because it can make your teeth more sensitive over time. It's not a medical intervention so there's no board approved guideline or anything.

I would like to know the verdict on crest white strips

this

Any good tutorials on how to floss? Sounds like a stupid question, but it never feels right when I do it.

Just make sure you go up and down and not back and forth. It's okay man, most people don't know how to floss and brush properly to be honest.

They seem to work. The guiding principle behind them is the same thing that dentists have been using for a while to whiten teeth.

What are the effects of urine consumption on teeth?

Asking for a friend.

I have a small hole in one of my underside canines, and what looks to be a yellow spot around it, and last time I asked my dentist about it, they said it was just a hole in the enamel, with some discoloration, and not a cavity; however, now the hole and the area in tooth around it has gotten darker, and is more sensitive to things like cold beverages than my other teeth, and I'm wondering if maybe because I haven't been able to properly clean out the area of the tooth inside the hole itself by brushing, that I'm starting to or have already developed a cavity inside of it.
What do you think?

It's acidic and therefore is generally bad for them.

I think you should go get that filled now. Sounds like decay that has undermined your tooth enamel layer.

Okay just tried again. It's like the width of my thumb but I don't have particularly big hands/thumbs.

I'm nervous because I've always struggled to open my mouth wide, to the point one dentist even discussed surgery with my Dad when I was a kid. Will I ever get my regular mouth back. I don't want to die with a narrow mouth. How am I going to fit in my bfs cock in my mouth?

I went to a dentist and they said I had 10 cavities. I got a second opinion and that said I had 4. It's been 2 years and I don't have any issues. What's up with that?

1.thoughts on oil pulling? i genuinely feel like it whitens my teeth and makes my breath better.
2.how bad is it to be grinding/gnashing your teeth consistently in your sleep? how can you tell its happening?

Whenever i bite something like bread i can see blood on it, am i going to die op?

>6 teeth fell out in the time between seeing the first dentist and the second opinion.

How do I floss with braces?

You ever meet a dentist or dental student with really bad teeth?

>thoughts on oil pulling?
It's generally considered to do nothing for you that a mouthwash wouldn't
>how bad is it to be grinding/gnashing your teeth consistently in your sleep? how can you tell its happening?
Pretty bad. You can wear down your teeth and even crack them. Some symptoms are having a sore jaw, pained jaw, headaches, hypertrophy of your jaw muscles
Depending on the dentist, he might be seeing decay that isn't as bad but is still there and is recommending fillings for it before it gets bad (and the other doesn't think they're bad enough to need fillings yet). Or he's trying to jew you. Either way if you can control the cavity from getting any deeper you won't notice any symptoms for years.

I always wanted to be an orthodontist when I was young. Took a whole bunch of AP classes in highschool and did biology for my undergraduate at a fairly good University. Then I ended up taking the LSAT for shits and giggles and am currently enrolled in law school.

dude go to the fucking dentist before your teeth fall out. You have severe perio issues.
You can get this needle-looking thing that you use to thread the floss through your braces. You can find them at any drugstore really.

No it doesn't. I'm almost sure it's bacterial. I think I have naturally long tongue hair(papillae?) and there's a large tendency for food and bacteria to stick in between them.Anti bacterial medication is probably the thing that will keep this problem at bay. Any recommendations?

>gtfw grinding through my dental splint again

fuck bruxism. I've just had two teeth capped cuz of this nonsense.

How did your application for dental school look? Did you do a shit ton of clubs/volunteering? Did you get a high DAT score? Did you do dental related research and shadow a dentist? Was your GPA really high?

Mouthwashes would be a good start. Also you can chew xylitol gum like Trident (just look for xylitol on the label). Xylitol is an antimicrobial compound.

I had a bunch of cavities filled almost 3 weeks ago on the right side of my mouth. I'm going back on Tuesday for the left side, but I'm scared because it still hurts like fuck to chew anything on the right side. I don't want to only eat soup for 3 or more weeks.

Could the dentist have had to drill too deep and a root canal is needed? Like, even chewing something soft like a gummy vitamin or special K pastry crisps hurts.

Physicist here, lol dentists.

Dogshit desu senpai. I was a shithead in undergrad and didn't get it together until the last quarter of my 3rd year so I ended up getting a 3.2 GPA leaving undergrad. I did a 1 year master's to bump up my academics and graduated with a 3.6 for my master's degree. My DAT was something like

>Ochem 22
>Bio 20
>Chem 19
>Math 18 (im even asian kek)
>Reading 25
>PAT 21

So it's on the higher end of average but not one of those crazy scores you see sometimes. I didn't get in on my first try, even with that DAT though.

As far as extracurriculars, I shadowed a dentist and he padded the hours for me without me really asking. I had a few strong letters of recommendation and very little volunteering because I was spending most of my time researching or working.
The important thing is your GPA to most schools. No letter or extracurricular will save you if you're below a 3.0 GPA unless you score a perfect on the DAT or something.

I have three questions all related. First, how painful and expensive would it be to replace both rows of teeth with implants. Second, can they be made of metals and if so what kind. Thirdly, can you form the teeth in a way they fit perfectly and kinda "lock" together. Sorry for the strange questions.

I dont have smelly breath or anything, but when I smell mydried saliva for whatever reason it's smells like shit.
Usually when I wake up mymouth doesn't really smells bad but the saliva is pretty bad, I also salivate afucking LOT, sometimes I choke on my own saliva.

How do I get good smelin saliva?

>not back and forth
>image says back and forth

Thanks for the reply famo

>Could the dentist have had to drill too deep and a root canal is needed?
Yeah, that's possible but unless your dentist is retarded it's unlikely.

But it's more likely that your occlusion (the way your teeth contact) is too high and your teeth are hitting each other really hard. Basically what happens after a filling is done is that the dentist has you bite down on a black strip of marking paper which will show him high spots so he can file them down. He'll also ask you how it feels, but oftentimes since you're anesthetized you won't be able to judge how it feels until the anesthesia wears off and then you suddenly find out it hurts. Just give him a call and if he's not a shit dentist he'll happily bring you in to file it down.

someone say something?

How many times have you had sex? Are there a bunch of qts in dentistry school?

I get a bit if irritated gums near right in between my front 2 teeth

I wore braces as a kid cause I had big buck teeth with a nice gap. It sort of compressed the gum there. While it doesn't hurt, it often bleeds if I don't floss. Dentists have noted the gums themselves seem irritated but no sign of infection.

Occasionally it does seem to get slight gingivitis and can spread a slight bit, but I brush, floss and use mouthwash regularly so that goes away quickly. Overall its just a minor annoyance. Should I just opt to get the little fucker cut out?

Oh sorry. When you move it back and forth the way the picture describes, it's to ease the floss out from between your teeth. If your contacts are tight it might be difficult otherwise. But when you're actually rubbing your teeth with pressure you should be going up and down.

Motherfucker, I'll earn more than you in a few decades.

>How many times have you had sex? Are there a bunch of qts in dentistry school?
I've had the same gf since undergrad so I get laid regularly. My dental school has some okay looking girls. The 3rd and 4th year girls are hotter IMO. And the students in other programs (Nurse anesthesia, physical therapy, pharmacy) are a whole lot hotter.

Sorry I still can't hear you over the sound of the handpiece working at the 2nd of my 4 practices.

i had a 2 wisdom teeth removed a few years ago, now the right side where it used to be, has a small hole in the gum and its hitting my top wisdom tooth from the swelling, wtf is going on? left side is fine. also can i pull my top wisdom teeth out on my own lol

Your top wisdom tooth is probably just irritating the tissue, making it constantly minorly inflamed in a vicious cycle. And no, don't remove it yourself. It'll hurt like a motherfucker and if you fuck up and break the tooth inside your mouth it's a much more expensive surgery.

its been breaking away on its own over the years. same with the top left