oral prophylaxis

oral prophylaxis

Etymology: L, oralis, pertaining to the mouth; Gk, prophylax, advance guard

the science and practice of preventing the onset of diseases of the teeth and adjoining mouth tissues. It involves removing bacterial plaque, food debris, stains, and calculus from the crowns and roots with hand scaling or ultrasonic scaling instruments and hand or electric polishers.

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prophylaxis (prō´filak´sis),

n the prevention of disease.

prophylaxis, oral (adult/child),

n a series of procedures where plaque, calculus, and stain are removed from the teeth. This procedure is not the same as coronal polishing because the clinician can work subgingivally if needed. Only a licensed dental hygienist or dental professional is qualified to determine the need for oral prophylaxis and to perform the procedure. The colloquial term is
prophy. See also coronal polishing.

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Patient discussion about oral prophylaxis.

Q. Is it possible to prevent appearance of oral aphthae? I get these a lot and lately I've heard it comes as a result of stress or weak immune system. Is that true? Is there a way to make it go away forever????? anyone who has ever had this annoying thing in his mouth knows what I'm talking about... I know all the possible curing ways- I'm looking for prevention now...thanx!

A. welcome to my life! every time the air get's a little dry i get 1-3 aphthae and can't eat for the next 4-6 days. so i investigated a little, and i'm sorry but right now no one really knows what causes them. they know that from some reason the body get's an immune reaction in the oral mucosa and that causes an ulcer. but a friend of mine went to an Ayurveda therapist that told him to stop eating tomatoes and eggplants (in any way, cooked,baked,fried) and he says he stop getting aphthae. so you might try Ayurveda for prevention. it could help...