You've Got Something Stuck In Your Teeth! Oddities Found In Patients' Mouths

If you are worried about going to the dentist with unclean teeth, and you are very anxious about it, do not be. You would be surprised at all of the stuff your family dentist sees in a day or week. There are even a few stories your dentist could probably tell you about the oddities he or she has removed from patients' teeth. If it makes you feel better, you can consider the following strange things other dentists have found in their patients' teeth, and how their dentists managed these situations.

Broken-off Bits of Wooden Toothpicks

If you are a frequent user of wood toothpicks, it probably should not surprise you that wood toothpicks break off and get stuck in your gums. Usually, the irritation of the piece stuck in your gums is enough for you to take some dental floss and go fish it out. However, if the bits of toothpick are small enough, and if the pieces are so embedded that you cannot see them, you may be inclined to think that you just have a really bad toothache. Of course, you will know otherwise when your dentist manages to dislodge the bits of the toothpick.

Bone Chips

If your dentist finds bone chips wedged between your teeth or stuck in your gums, the first thing your dentist has to do is determine if the bone chips are from your own teeth, or from your recent meals. Hopefully, the bone chips are not from your own teeth, but the alternative is equally unpleasant. Bone chips from what you consumed means that either the ground up meat was ground up with bone, or that bone chips made it into the meat during some other part of the meat-processing process. Regardless of how the bone chips got stuck in your teeth and/or gums, your dentist has to remove all of them to prevent a major infection.

Tonsilliths

Tonsilliths, or "tonsil stones," are nasty, smelly, semi-hard accumulations in the back of your throat. When these deposits ease their way out of your tonsils, they will either slide down your throat, or they will attach to your very back molars and hang out there. As they continue to rot and smell, your breath will also be foul. 

Thankfully, your dentist will recognize the source of your halitosis when he/she sees that you have done an excellent job caring for your teeth. Upon examining the tonsils, your dentist will discover the accumulating and hardening secretions pushing their way out of your tonsils' crevices. He or she can flush your tonsils with water while you are in the dental chair, thus ending your bad breath.

If you are ever feeling discomfort in your mouth and are unsure of the cause, talk to a dental practice, like Clendenon Kirby DDS.