Wisdom Teeth

Stress and anxiety are in the air as we enter spring semester exam period over here in Cambridge, Massachusetts ... BUT it was even worse for a close friend of mine, whose wisdom teeth were causing her a ton of pain and distracting her from studying for exams!

After 2 full days of enduring pain in the back of her gums (our group of friends was fairly certain that her wisdom teeth were the sources of her discomfort), she got her x-rays taken at Mass General Hospital, and here are the results! Isn't this a stunning image? (click to enlarge)

Impacted wisdom teeth

The following day, she got three of her wisdom teeth removed. Take a closer look at the x-ray -- you can probably guess which tooth was NOT removed. If you guessed the one on the upper right-hand side of the image, you're right! As you can see, this tooth appears to be coming at an angle and at a different position than the other three teeth.

The x-ray shown here is called a Panoramic Film, which was taken extra-orally. This is in contrast to the typical Periapical and Bitewing x-rays that are normally taken annually or once every two years. In a Panoramic film, the film is placed outside of the mouth on the opposite of the head from the X-ray source. The result is an extra-oral radiographic view, as shown above.

Anyways, I'll be sure to add an update if and when my friend's final wisdom tooth is removed!

Back to exam-studying ...

Eric

Human Evolutionary Biology 1421: Teeth

As mentioned previously, at the 2011 Boston Pre-Dental Conference hosted by Harvard's very own Pre-Dental Society (which was a tremendous success by the way, see my previous post!), there were a number of fantastic speakers and presenters. One of whom, Dr. Tanya Smith, Assistant Professor in the Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, gave a truly fascinating presentation not only on her research on dental development and 3D fossil tooth structure, but also on her course to be offered next Fall semester!

Her course is aptly named Human Evolutionary Biology 1421: Teeth. Although the course name may sound ridiculously boring and sleep-inducing to some of you (my friend Judith says this sounds potentially worse than Plant Biology), to the few of us enlightened folk out there - isn't this really exciting? Seriously though ...

Anyways, the last time the course was offered, which was in Fall of 2009, the class received near perfect ratings (4.8 out of 5 on the Harvard Q Guide). Plus, the research seminar-type class is capped at 6 students, and you spearhead your own independent research project. That's right, SIX students! I guess there is life after those humongous general chemistry and organic chemistry lectures.

Here's the course description from the website:

"Teeth are one of the best preserved and most commonly-recovered elements in fossil assemblages. This seminar will focus on ways in which dental remains may inform studies of primate growth and development, ecology, and social structure. Students will read and discuss current scientific literature, engage in histological studies in the Dental Hard Tissue Laboratory, and conduct pilot research projects."

So that probably sent the rest of you packing. BUT to me and a couple of my friends this is amazing!

Another friend says that there might as well be a course titled Human Evolutionary Biology 4321: Eyeballs for people interested in optometry school. What's next, an English department? Ahhh let's pretend she didn't say that ...

See you at shopping week!

This hygiene is acceptable ... if you've been dead for a few centuries.

Eric

Sink your teeth into something (idioms #4)

Sink your teeth into usually precedes a noun, which may or may not be something edible.

Typically, to sink your teeth into something is to really muster your powers and/or energy either to understand something or to get a good grip mentally, emotionally, and perhaps even physically of something. Similar idioms include digging deep as in digging deep for the solution.

i.e. She finally sank her teeth into the crux of the problem and was able to find a resolution that satisfied both parties.

On the other hand, to sink your teeth into something may also imply having a rather voracious appetite, and consequently the quick and plunging sinking of your teeth into whatever food hits the spot.

i.e. My sister sank her teeth into the brussel sprouts (weird), while my brother sank his teeth into durian fruit (weirder).

Durians. Spiky, eh?

Hedgehogs. Cute, right?

Dur-hog or Hedge-ian, otherwise known as a Durian-Hedgehog hybrid. (weirdest)

Eric

The Shark Dentist

I stumbled across this gem and thought I'd share.

The Shark Dentist, digital illustrations by Rich Werner.

See the complete set of illustrations here

Eric

Kim Clijsters won the Aussie Open ... with the help of a Dentist!

For those of you who don't follow tennis, earlier today Kim Clijsters of Belgium won the 2011 Australian Open women's singles title, her fourth Grand Slam title. She defeated Li Na of China 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 to win her first Grand Slam in the land down under, and will be looking to retire within the next year after having come out of a previous retirement back in 2007. Interesting. And exciting! But you may have already gathered that from the thousands of articles about her hard-fought win today.

But what you probably didn't hear ... was that Clijsters had chipped her tooth when she landed at the airport before the tournament even began! Some say - and by 'some' I mean myself - that it's possible she wouldn't have won the Aussie Open had a dentist not come to her aid in this oral emergency! In fact, she may have had to withdraw from the tournament completely due to the excruciating pain ... (just kidding here)!

So it turns out most chipped tooth situations aren't that painful. But it IS important to see a dentist as soon as you can after you realize your tooth has been chipped. Depending on the severity of the situation, you may need a filling or even a crown. Besides potential pain, increased sensitivity to cold and heat, and perhaps a small hole in your smile, an obvious reason to visit a dentist immediately is so your gums or tongue don't suffer any damage from a sharp, jagged-edged tooth. This is not unlike a shark, but sharks probably don't think about these issues.

Anyways, here's the quote from her press conference after her win:

"Q: What happened to your teeth at the airport?


Kim Clijsters: To my tooth? Yeah, it chipped off. That's what happened. I was eating a rice cracker, actually, nothing hard. Just a nice, soft rice cracker. I thought there was like a piece of rice that wasn't cooked well or something, and I just spat it out. I felt my tooth not being there completely, so I was like, Oh boy."

Oh boy indeed! Who knew that an innocent rice cracker could win a battle of strength against your tooth?

"I went to a dentist here in Melbourne and he fixed me up really quickly ... He just said that me if you get to the final ... so I promised him 'OK, for sure, I'll do that.' So, thank you."

That's very sportsmanship-like of you Kim - congrats on the win!

But anyways, case in point, dentists are more important than you might think! Although a chipped tooth is probably one of the best worst things that could happen to you from a sports injury or any injury whatsoever, more damage could have easily been done. If Kim was a high school tennis player with braces and suffered a 35 meters/second (or 80 mph) tennis ball to the face, the situation would have been much different. An oral surgeon may have been involved!

Oh, and here's my favorite bit from Kim:

"Q. Are you going to name the mystery dentist?

Clijsters: I actually don’t remember his name. He was somewhere near Chapel Street."

:)

Kim's pearly whites

What was the dentist's name??

Eric

Why do you fear the Dentist?

Are you afraid of the dark? Are you afraid of the dentist? The former may have been a favorite TV show of yours from childhood (Nickelodeon, anyone?), but unfortunately the latter is a negative no-brainer to many. We all know of some friends or family members who really despise their visits to the the dentist and will do anything in their power to make these bi-annual visits as brief as possible.

Since writing my post last week on the new device that eliminates the sound of a dental drill, I've been doing a lot of thinking on why some people have such an extreme fear of the dentist. Let's just call this dental phobia. And as I've been continuing my shadowing and work at my awesome dentist's office this month, although I haven't encountered any patients who seem to have any apparent dental phobia, I do notice some general trends including hand-clasping, eye-closing, legs-crossing, and (just once) chair gripping - even during general cleanings! These behaviors are usually secondary to some of the things you might expect a patient with dental phobia to exhibit.

A fear of dental visits may pose a major issue in achieving and maintaining good oral health. Often, it just takes one negative experience, usually from childhood, for an individual to develop a dental phobia that may last a lifetime. If you had to have seven baby teeth pulled out when you were in the second grade because of the cavities that formed due to your bad childhood brushing habits (and because of all those Hershey's, Reese's Pieces, and Kit Kat bars you gulfed down in one sitting that day after Halloween), it makes sense that your dental phobia likely has its roots in the unpleasant and painful dental experience that ensued. A few numbing shots to your gum and a fountain of your own tears probably didn't help your newly developed phobia either.

But for adults, a number of other factors besides the physical often explains a dental phobia.

The sky-high costs of certain procedures (especially if you don't have insurance or if your carrier doesn't fully cover certain procedures), the disruption of your normal work day, the need for control (especially of a part of your body where you otherwise have 100% control of what goes in and out), and even antiseptic odors can contribute to such anxieties. Self-consciousness and general anxieties may also be possible factors contributing to this fear, in addition to a combination of higher order social and psychological factors.

As you can imagine, a modern-day dentist also assumes the role of a psychologist in ensuring that patients have a pleasant experience while receiving the utmost oral care. Interestingly, some dental schools like UCLA and UCSF dental actually require that all applicants take an introductory psychology course.

Ultimately, while a comfy chair and your favorite TV show playing on the screen may help you temporarily forget about your dental phobia, the most important step in overcoming your fear of the dentist's office begins with good communication between you and your oral care professional.

Never be afraid to ask questions before, during (procedure-permitting), and after a procedure!

For those of you who are more cosmetically-inclined, just imagine how great your teeth will look when all's said and done!

Eric