CONTENTS
v
Introduction by David Werner
Part One: Learning and Teaching about Teeth and Gums
Chapter 1: Your Own Teeth and Gums . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Eat only good healthy foods. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Sore bleeding gums. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Clean your teeth every day. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 More serious gum disease. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Cavities, toothaches and abscesses . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Chapter 2: Teaching Family and Friends in Your Community . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Chapter 3: Teaching Children at School. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Chapter 4: School Activities for Learning about Teeth and Gums. . . . . . . . . . . 35
Why do we need teeth and gums?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 How do germs make holes in the teeth?. . . . . . . . . 50
Why do some teeth look different?. . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 What makes the gums feel sore?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
What holds the teeth?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 What does it mean if a tooth is loose?. . . . . . . . . . 54
How often do teeth grow in?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 How can we prevent cavities and
What makes teeth hurt?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 sore gums?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Chapter 5: Taking Care of Teeth and Gums. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Part Two: Treating Dental Problems
Chapter 6: Examination and Diagnosis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Where to examine. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 A good diagnosis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
The instruments you need. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 Learn to tell similar problems apart. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Chapter 7: Treating Some Common Problems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
The first rule of treatment: stay clean! . . . . . . . . 86
Problems you will see most often . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Cavities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Abscess . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Infected sinus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Tooth injuries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Loose tooth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
New tooth growing in . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .100
Gum disease . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .101
Fever blisters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Thrush . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .105
Canker sores . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .106
Some special problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Broken bone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Dislocated jaw . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Pain in the joint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Swollen gums and epilepsy . . . . . . . . . . . . .115
Blood in the mouth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .116
After you take out a tooth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Swelling of the face . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Pain from the socket . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Bleeding from the socket . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .118
Tetanus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Infection in the spit (saliva) gland . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Sores on the face . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Noma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Tumor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Cancer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .125
“Meth Mouth” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126