Clinical experience, misunderstood concepts and frequently asked questions. Notes from many years of practice.
Failure is not the end of the tooth: reported failure rates run at 10 to 15 per cent, and a meta-analysis of endodontic microsurgery reported pooled success of 91.3 per cent across 453 teeth in randomised trials. Why treatments fail, and which route recovers them.
Dental trauma is common rather than rare: a meta-analysis of 102 primary studies covering 268,755 people estimated prevalence at 15.2% in the permanent dentition and 22.7% in the primary dentition. What to do in the first minutes, including why milk matters.
The need is common rather than exceptional: pooling 31 population studies covering 72,577 adults, 15.3% reported dental fear and anxiety, 12.4% at a high level and 3.3% at a severe level. Where conscious sedation ends and general anaesthesia begins.
Early orthodontic treatment starts at seven to eleven years; in trials, early functional appliances cut new incisal trauma to 19%, against 30% treated late.
Wisdom teeth are the third molars, erupting at 17 to 25; across 98 studies, 36.9 percent of people had one impacted. A fully erupted, cleanable one can stay.
Age is less of a barrier than assumed: pooling 11 studies covering 2,969 adolescents and 1,380 adults found no significant difference in the duration of comprehensive fixed appliance treatment (mean difference -0.8 month). What orthodontics corrects beyond appearance.
The baseline is not folklore: the European workshop consensus on preventing gingivitis recommends brushing twice daily for at least two minutes with a fluoridated toothpaste, plus daily interdental cleaning. What each step is actually for, and where the evidence thins out.
Bleeding is the early warning of a condition with global scale: severe periodontitis showed an age-standardised prevalence of 11.2% across 72 studies covering 291,170 people, making it the sixth most prevalent condition worldwide. Why gums bleed, and what stops it at the reversible stage.
A night guard is a resin device worn in sleep that separates the teeth; in a 60-patient trial, splint therapy cut jaw muscle pain at three and six months.
