Oral Hygiene and the Prevention of Dental Disease

Most dental disorders arise directly or indirectly from two basic diseases of the teeth and their supporting tissues — caries and periodontal disease. Prevention of dental disease includes elimination of food stagnation, as this is the primary cause of caries and periodontal disease. Food stagnation causes plaque formation, which in turn¹ leads to acid production, in the case of caries; and to bacterial irritation and calculus in periodontal disease. The methods of prevention are oral hygiene, which is the patients' responsibility; preventive dentistry that is the dental surgeon's contribution; dental health education and increasing the resistance of teeth to disease, which are public health measures. If everyone realized it, a lot of tooth problems would be avoided.

Oral Hygiene

Oral hygiene consists simply of keeping the teeth free of food debris,² thus preventing plaque formation which leads to dental disease. It can be achieved by cleaning the teeth regularly after meals and not eating between meals. Cleaning is best performed by brushing as this is the only way³ of removing plaque. If brushing is not possible, food debris can be removed by finishing the meal with a detergent food. Such foods are raw, firm, fibrous fruits or vegetables, e.g. apples, pears, carrots, celery, etc. Because of tough fibrous consistency they require much chewing and clean the teeth of food remnants.

Although it is easy enough to brush the teeth or eat an apple after meals at home, it may often be inconvenient elsewhere. On such occasions a plain water mouth rinse, which can be swallowed afterwards, is better than nothing. Of all these methods of cleaning teeth, tooth brushing is the most effective. When properly done⁴ it removes plaque, whereas detergent foods can only clean away loose food particles. Thus the role of detergent foods or mouth rinsing is not that of a satisfactory alternative to brushing; but an additional measure at the end of a meal, or a substitute when brushing is not possible.

Notes

¹ which in turn —яке, в свою чергу

²keeping the teeth free of food debris —підтримка зубів чистими від залишків їжі

³ the only way — единий щлях

⁴ when properly done — коли воно правильно здійснено

Exercise 8. Answer the following questions:

1. What do most disorders arise from?

2. What does food stagnation cause?

3. What methods of prevention do you know?

4. How can plaque formation be prevented?

5. What is oral hygiene?

6. Why is cleaning best performed by brushing?

7. How can food debris be removed if brushing is not possible?

8. What detergent food can you name?

9. What one must do if brushing or eating an apple is not possible?

10.What is the most effective method of cleaning teeth?

Exercise 9. Translate the following words putting each of them into the appropriate column of the table according to the part of speech they belong to:

Dental, basic, rinse, particle, debris, to substitute, free, to remove, periodontal, simply, primary, to clean, brushing, bacterial, to brush, oral, possible, оn, regularly, can, cleanin , to rinse meal, detergent, after, raw, firm, tough, mouth, at, fibrous, measure, inconvenient, effective, of, clean, consistency, from, satisfactory, additional, properly, to do.

Exercise 10. Find 5 words formed by conversion:

E.g. play – to play

Exercise 11.Give English equivalents of the following word combinations:

прямо чи посередньо; зубной наліт; призводить до ... ; уникнути; залишки їжі; сирий; полоскання рота водою; краще, чим нічого; чистка зубів зубною щіткою; тверді продукти; додаткова міра; профілактика карієсу; резистентність тканин зуба; видалення зубних відкладень; дія етиологічних засобів.

Exercise 12. Read the passage filling in the missing active words.

1. One of the most important functions of ... lies in its ability to neutralize ... and maintain an alkaline environment in the mouth for much of the time.

2.This is due to the presence of calcium and phosphate in the ... secretion.

3. This reservoir of calcium and phosphate also serves to reduce to some extent the demineralization of the ... during acid attack and to remineralise them when the normal pH at the ... surface is restored.

4. This remineralization process is greatly facilitated by the presence of ... ions.

(acid, salivary, saliva, fluoride, tooth, teeth)

Exercise 13. Explain the following terms in English:

Oral hygiene, alveolar abscess, pulpitis, normal occlusion.