The Secret to Successful Dental Procedures That You Didn't Realize

This time I want to explain why restorative dentists at Aesthetics Dental Care use rubber dams. You often don't realize that when undergoing dental procedures, you need more protection than you think. At the end of the article you will also know how much you will lose as a patient if you never know this. If you don't already know, the biggest enemy of some dentists' jobs is saliva. Yes, you read that right. "Even though the mouth is full of saliva. How could that be??" That's why we have to use rubber dams when working. A rubber dam is a piece of rubber that dentists use to separate the work area from the rest of the mouth. This tool has many benefits. Even in the United States, the use of rubber dams in root canal treatment is a mandatory standard. They have the slogan No Rubber Dam, No Endo (No rubber dam, no root canal treatment)

7 Reasons Why Dentists Use Rubber Dam to Care for Your Teeth

1. Avoid contamination of saliva (saliva) and blood

One of the causes of sensitivity after a dentist performs a filling is bacterial contamination during bonding of the filling material. This not only makes the tooth hurt, but reduces the durability of the filling. Saliva contamination (saliva) can cause fillings to come off easily, so you have to go back and forth to the dentist to have the filling repaired. What's worse, working on a filling without a rubber dam can increase the risk of leaks and secondary caries - namely caries/cavities that occur under the filling. What are the consequences if this happens? Your teeth could hurt again. Often, because it is not visible, caries suddenly reaches the roots/nerves of the teeth, causing the teeth to need nerve treatment. Likewise, in root canal treatment, saliva contamination can result in infection and treatment failure.

2. Protects the lips, tongue and inner cheeks from burs

The burs that dentists use to repair caries can rotate 360 thousand times per minute (360,000 RPM) so that when they hit soft tissue they can cause injury. This is where the advantage of rubber dams is because when worn, rubber dams attract and protect the lips, inner cheeks, tongue and even gums. So, it can reduce the incidence of you being injured by a bur. Another benefit is reducing the risk of errors. Because using a rubber dam helps the dentist to concentrate on repairing your teeth. When working, dentists and dental assistants must protect your tongue, which may move due to reflex. By using a rubber dam, the doctor and assistant can concentrate more on your teeth and the procedure they are undergoing.

3. Gives the dentist a better view

• When the soft tissues of your mouth are well protected, the doctor can also access a better view. This allows him to work more freely

• Your breath often makes the mouth mirror the doctor uses become foggy, which interferes with the doctor's vision. With a rubber dam, this does not happen

• Apart from that, the contrasting color of the rubber dam and teeth also makes the view better. This is very important when carrying out aesthetic work, where the doctor must really pay attention to the smallest details

Every step of a dental treatment requires attention to detail , and rubber dam helps the doctor to do this.

4. Makes you relax

When using a rubber dam, some of your mouth muscles are automatically pulled and help you open your mouth. Therefore, many of our patients fall asleep because they are treated using a rubber dam. Don't you want comfortable dental care?

5. Makes you free from unpleasant feelings

When rubber dams were not used before, patients had to experience medicines and materials that often tasted unpleasant. Even swallowed it. With rubber dams these risks can be minimized. This reduces the risk of disease or allergies arising later because of these drugs.

6. Prevent amalgam from entering your body

Many patients want to replace their amalgam fillings. Amalgam is a silver/grey filling material that many dentists used before the 2000s. However, many people don't know that amalgam contains mercury. This is a metal that is dangerous to the body when ingested. The effects may not be immediate, but long term. Therefore, it is mandatory for dentists to use a rubber dam when removing amalgam.

7. Prevent instruments from being swallowed

Using a rubber dam can protect you against the risk of swallowing instruments or materials. In treatments such as Root Canal Treatment (root canal treatment), for example, dentists use small instruments that have a risk of being swallowed. In addition, there are root canal irrigators/cleaners that can irritate parts of your mouth if they come into contact with them. This material is also dangerous if swallowed.

Therefore..

Seeing the many risks that can occur when carrying out several procedures, we at Aesthetics Dental Care choose to use rubber dam as a standard of care. Even for root canal treatment , rubber dams are mandatory for our dentists to use. Considering the risks that the patient must bear if they don't use it.

Conclusion

Rubber dam is a simple tool that has many benefits . The two biggest benefits are: making dental treatment more comfortable and overcoming the risks of the procedure. Of course, if as dentists we can make you more comfortable, you can love your teeth more and you won't need to go to the dentist anymore. On the other hand, when we can overcome the risks of the procedure, long-term treatment success will be achieved.