4hw.com.cn: with people's increasing demands on diet, our oral problems are more and more prone to occur. Dental calculus is one of the most common oral diseases. When it comes to dental calculus, many people may have only heard about it but didn't have a deep understanding of it. In fact, there will be calculus in teeth, but people haven't paid attention to its existence. They don't know how harmful it is until it causes oral diseases such as caries and periodontal diseases and causes serious consequences, so people can't repent. So what is dental calculus? Let's take a look at it with Xiaobian~
What is dental calculus?
Dental calculus, also known as calculus, usually exists on the tooth surface at the salivary gland opening. The calculus starts as a milky white soft scale that hardens by gradual calcification. It will show yellow, brown, or black, some of which are similar to the color of natural teeth, some of which are obviously different.
Causes of dental calculus
There are many reasons for the formation of dental calculus, including:
1. The concentration of carbon dioxide in saliva decreases, which makes inorganic salts precipitate on the surface of teeth.
2. Phosphate enzyme of degenerated cells can hydrolyze organic phosphorus and produce phosphorus to precipitate on the surface of teeth.
3. The bacteria make the acid-base value of saliva rise and become alkaline, which causes the protein in saliva to decompose, release calcium salt, and precipitate on the surface of teeth.
4. It is related to the concentration of saliva. The higher the concentration is, the easier it is to precipitate.
The harm of dental calculus
Once the calculus calcifies, it is equivalent to rooting in the oral cavity, establishing a survival base. With the passage of time, it accumulates more and thicker, and gradually develops to the cervical part, forming a more invisible and more terrible 'subgingival calculus'. The calculus gradually spreads from the crown to the bottom. Every time the calculus improves, the alveolar bone shrinks. As time goes on, the teeth become loose and the calculus gradually spreads to the root.
For the oral cavity, stone is a kind of foreign body. Its existence will constantly stimulate periodontal tissue and compress the gingiva, affect the local blood circulation of the oral cavity, cause periodontal tissue bacterial infection, cause gingival inflammation and atrophy, and form periodontal pocket. When the periodontal bag is formed, food residues, plaque and stones are more likely to accumulate, further damaging the deeper periodontal membrane. As a result of such a vicious cycle, the periodontal support tissue is completely destroyed, and gum bleeding, periodontal diseases and so on are followed. In a word, if it can't be removed in time, the teeth wrapped with calculus can't escape the fate of decay and falling off.
Removal of calculus
It is difficult to clean the calcified calculus by traditional methods such as brushing teeth, but oral cleaning can be done, which is commonly known as tooth washing. There are two kinds of teeth washing: manual curettage and ultrasonic cleaning. At present, most hospitals and clinics use ultrasonic cleaning. Manual curettage is used to remove the calculus and plaque attached to the teeth with a fine subgingival curette. The ultrasonic cleaning machine is transmitted to the special working tip by high frequency vibration, which concentrates the energy on the working tip and releases it. It has a great impact on the stubborn and hard dental calculus, and breaks it up, making it fall off from the attached tooth surface. At the same time, the water mist produced by ultrasonic vibration will surround the working tip and wash away the debris of dental calculus.
Dental calculus is very harmful and difficult to remove. It should be noted that the tooth surface will become rough after tooth washing. If you don't pay attention to develop good oral hygiene habits, even after thorough cleaning, the calculus is still easier to deposit on the tooth surface again and come back.