Myth Buster

                                                                                        By:- Dr. Ankit Yadav and Dr. Shruti Singhal

 Hello, my fellow readers! We (I hope so) all do brushing and maintain our oral health. And some of us are even bit more curious than others when it comes to maintaining our oral hygiene. When we talk about routine dental check-up by a professional, only few of us consider it as a healthy regimen. A lot of questions run in our mind when we talk about dental health. Is the dental health really important to us? Or we could just drag the problem till the tooth really aches? Brushing 2 times a day is tedious, can’t we just make it to 1 time a day. And whenever there is a problem, there is a home remedy waiting out there to cure it. Am I right or I am right? Today let’s just debunk some infamous myths.

1.     Lose tooth after scaling, making the gum problem even more worse.

Ans. It’s a false claim. Scaling is a simple procedure wherein a dentist just removes the stains and deposits of teeth and gums. As a dentist I think it is better to get rid of that tartar deposited over the years than to have lunch with it.

2.     Children don’t need any dental treatment.

Ans.  Children have milky teeth which after a time shed off and permanent ones take their place. If the tooth becomes infected due to any xyz reason and isn’t treated early it might cause damage to its permanent successor. Early removal of foul tooth can lead to irregular dentition.

3.     No need of dental screening for pregnant woman.

Ans. Usually a toothache is felt in third trimester of pregnancy. The best time for dental treatment is second trimester but under proper precautions. Brushing is must along with other oral hygiene aids. Regular consultation with your dentist can make your entire journey relatively easy.

4.     Eye sight weak or loss of eyesight after tooth extraction.

Ans. Many of us have heard this myth by our elders. There is no relation between removal of teeth and weak eyesight. In ancient times, extractions which resulted in numbness near eyes were due to pressing of the nerve coursing around it (which was done deliberately by the quacks to anesthetize the nerve supplying the offending tooth). Aren’t we grateful that today real anesthesia exists? Think about it.

5.     Brushing too hard make your teeth whiter.

Ans. Brushing hard might one day remove your teeth and not those yellow chunks. So please readers do not follow these stunts without supervision. Our professional suggests that brushing is to be done with gentle strokes for 2 minutes only.

6.     Dental caries is equal to a worm.

Ans. It’s a layman word for real caries.