| dental porcelain | <chemical> A type of porcelain used in dental restorations, either jacket crowns or inlays, artificial teeth, or metal-ceramic crowns. It is essentially a mixture of particles of feldspar and quartz, the feldspar melting first and providing a glass matrix for the quartz. Dental porcelain is produced by mixing ceramic powder (a mixture of quartz, kaolin, pigments, opacifiers, a suitable flux, and other substances) with distilled water. Chemical name: Dental materials and fillings, porcelain (12 Dec 1998) |
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| dental process | That portion of bone in either the maxilla or the mandible which surrounds and supports the teeth. (12 Dec 1998) |
| dental prophylaxis | Treatment for the prevention of periodontal diseases or other dental diseases by the cleaning of the teeth in the dental office using the procedures of dental scaling and dental polishing. The treatment may include plaque detection, removal of supra- and subgingival plaque and calculus, application of caries-preventing agents, checking of restorations and prostheses and correcting overhanging margins and proximal contours of restorations, and checking for signs of food impaction. (12 Dec 1998) |
| dental prosthesis | An artificial replacement for one or more natural teeth or part of a tooth, or associated structures, ranging from a portion of a tooth to a complete denture. The dental prosthesis is used for cosmetic or functional reasons, or both. Dentures and specific types of dentures are also available. (12 Dec 1998) |
| dental prosthesis design | The plan and delineation of dental prostheses in general or a specific dental prosthesis. It does not include denture design. The framework usually consists of metal. (12 Dec 1998) |
| dental prosthesis, implant-supported | A prosthesis that gains its support, stability, and retention from a substructure that is implanted under the soft tissues of the basal seat of the device and is in contact with bone. (12 Dec 1998) |
| dental prosthesis repair | The process of reuniting or replacing a broken or worn dental prosthesis or its part. (12 Dec 1998) |
| dental prosthesis retention | The retention of a dental prosthesis in place by design, device, or adhesion. (12 Dec 1998) |
| dental prosthetics | A dental specialty concerned with the restoration and maintenance of oral function by the replacement of missing teeth and structures by artificial devices or prostheses. (12 Dec 1998) |
| dental pulp | <dentistry> A richly vascularised and innervated connective tissue of mesodermal origin, contained in the central cavity of a tooth and delimited by the dentin, and having formative, nutritive, sensory, and protective functions. (12 Dec 1998) |
| dental pulp capping | Application of a protective agent to an exposed pulp (direct capping) or the remaining thin layer of dentin over a nearly exposed pulp (indirect capping) in order to allow the pulp to recover and maintain its normal vitality and function. (12 Dec 1998) |
| dental pulp cavity | The space in a tooth bounded by the dentin and containing the dental pulp. The portion of the cavity within the crown of the tooth is the pulp chamber; the portion within the root is the pulp canal or root canal. (12 Dec 1998) |
| dental pulp devitalization | The destruction of the vitality of the pulp of the tooth. (12 Dec 1998) |
| dental pulp exposure | The result of pathological changes in the hard tissue of a tooth caused by carious lesions, mechanical factors, or trauma, which render the pulp susceptible to bacterial invasion from the external environment. (12 Dec 1998) |
| dental pulp necrosis | Death of pulp tissue. When the necrosis is due to ischemia with superimposed bacterial infection, it is referred to as pulp gangrene. (12 Dec 1998) |