What's the "Perio"---What's the "Dontal"?-TOOTHSOME TALK--BLOG-Skerpan

What's the "Perio" ---What's the "Dontal"?

2/23/2018

TO LAST BLOG---1-10-2018--'Can a Crown Crown a Crown?'

OR CLICK 'ALL' UNDER CATEGORIES & SCROLL TO BOTTOM

MUSCLES:
' The word "PERIODONTAL" is a big word that you
mentioned in our last blog. You keep talking about
the "bone". Well---"are we there yet?" '

Dr. Skerpan:
Yes, we can talk about the bone--but there is not just "bone" involved in the
"periodontal" aspect of dentistry. Let's break it down and OVER-SIMPLIFY
concepts for clarification of the bigger picture. Believe me, these concepts
will be important for a better understanding of TOOTH-BRUSHING which
will be a topic of a future blog.

Basically, the word "periodontal" can be broken into PERIO and DONTAL.
The Greek prefix "PERI" (or "PERIO") refers to "around" (or "surrounding")---
"DONTAL" (or "ODONTAL") refers to involving the "tooth" itself. So the simplest
definition of PERIO-DONTAL would be "around (or surrounding) the tooth"---
which actually refers to the structures involved in "surrounding the tooth".

MUSCLES:
' When I look in my mouth, I see the "crowns" of my teeth and I know that
their roots are below the gum-line. But I'm still not sure where the "bone"
comes in. Is the "bone" the only structure important "around the tooth"? '

Dr Skerpan:
NO!!! And that is exactly what we will try
to explain and clarify. Remember in the last
blog, the WHOLE-TOOTH anatomy was
explained as the CROWN (or top-part-of
the-tooth) PLUS the ROOTs (click here to
see the whole previous blog). That being
said, the healthy-TOOTH must be sur-
rounded by two totally healthy structures
---the healthy-BONE AND the healthy-
  GUM.

First, consider the BONE that the teeth are
actually "standing" in. Think of a skull.
There is no gum on that skull. The teeth
are positioned in individual bone-sockets.
If there is no bone surrounding the teeth,
they would not be SOLIDLY supported by
anything and would just wiggle around in
the gum. The nicest looking teeth in the
world are useless if they only "stand" in
soft gum!

Drawn image of the a Tooth with the crown,root, gum & bone labelled

The TOOTH anatomy of the CROWN & ROOT--and the TOOTH positioned within the BONE & GUM.

Lower jaw image showing teeth in bone-sockets with no gum (gingiva) covering & sealing the bone yet.

The bone must still be covered and sealed by an outside layer of gum (gingiva).

MUSCLES:
' If my teeth are surrounded by bone, they can "stand" solidly and rigidly for
chewing and everything else they do. But isn't there a small space between
the bone-socket and the tooth? And how does the GUM work to cover and
protect the bone and tooth? '

Dr Skerpan:
There does exist a tiny space between the tooth and bone-socket---like a
space exists between your hand and a glove. A TOOTH in a BONE-socket
is not stable enough to "stand" alone in the socket, because of this space.
Nor is there protection  from the saliva, bacteria and other "mouth-junk"
that might slip down into it. That's where the GUM and connecting
   attachments come in---and we'll get "around-to-that" in our next blog.

MUSCLES:
' Let me do a simple "doggy-summary" about what I understand so far. The
word PERIO-DONTAL essentially refers to the supporting structures involved
"around (or surrounding) the tooth". The TOOTH must be surrounded by
healthy-BONE AND healthy-GUM to be of any use for functioning. The
TOOTH "stands" in a BONE-socket which makes it solid and rigid, but the
TOOTH and BONE must be connected, stabilized and protected from the
outside "mouth-environment". That's where all the gum and connecting
fibers come in! But more on this topic in the next dental-blog.'