Monisha P. Khatri

By Monisha Khatri, Shreya Kishore, S. Nagarathinam, Suvetha Siva and Vanita Barai

As all practitioners are aware, the prevalence and incidence of dental caries keep increasing constantly and therefore early diagnosis and cessation of further progression would greatly help in maintaining the sound tooth structure. One of the earliest signs of dental caries is a white spot lesion, which is mostly missed, and only treated when the condition worsens. WSL are areas of demineralized enamel that occur due to a prolonged period of retained microbial biofilms most commonly associated in patients with poor oral hygiene and fixed orthodontic appliances. If caught early and intervened, WSLs can be reversed. Therefore, the diagnosis and treatment of WSL are of outmost importance, and this chapter will explain in detail various methods of diagnosing WSLs, its treatment protocol with the significance of remineralization of the same.

Part of the book: Oral Health Care

By Monisha P. Khatri, Shreya Kishore and Srujana Hemmanur

‘Smile is a universal language, shared by people all over the world’. It conveys a lot without saying anything at all. Our smile is of utmost importance and dental aesthetics play a vital role to create it. Smile designing (SD) consists of various components that aim to develop the overall personality of a patient. To create an aesthetic, smile is an organised and systematic approach that is required to evaluate, diagnose and resolve the problems associated with it. The ultimate goal of an aesthetic make-over is to ensure a stable masticatory system, where the oral hard and soft tissues remain in harmony. Hence this chapter aims to focus on various aspects of SD that includes its goals, components, procedure and future prospects.

Part of the book: Human Teeth