Dentistry Guide

A mouth prop (also “Bite block”) is a wedge-shaped implement used in dentistry for dentists working with children and other patients who have difficulty keeping their mouths open wide and steady during a procedure, or during procedures where the patient is sedated. It has a rubber like texture and is typically made from Thermoplastic Vulcanizate (TPV) material. They come in several different sizes, from pediatric to adult, and are typically ridged as to use the back teeth to hold them in place.

Kukident is a German brand for denture maintenance products, owned by Procter & Gamble.

In 1785, Leon’s great-grandfather, Jacob Williams, a U.S. Army captain during the American Revolution, settled in Maine. A native of Massachusetts, he had a son, Richard, around the year 1794. On May 25, 1829, Richard had a son, Calvin, who would be Leon’s father.[2]

Sometime around 1879, J. Leon Williams began a two-year apprenticeship by a Dr. Roberts in North Vassalboro, Maine and later began practicing in the same town. Williams later passed examinations for the DDS degree at the Baltimore College of Dental Surgery and the equivalent LDS degree in Ireland.[3] He joined the Maine Dental Society and used the opportunity to borrow their microscope to study the histology and pathology of tooth enamel.[3]

In the early 1880s, common crown and bridge techniques were not well-known or widespread. Williams sought to make information on these techniques available to all dentists through the pages of The Dental Cosmos.[3] In 1885, he embarked on a journey to improve the state of dental prostheses by designing more aesthetic artificial teeth that better matched the overall facial dimensions of the patient. He convinced an American artificial tooth manufacturer to take up his cause and produce his designs, on the condition that other dentists would embrace the new forms.[3]

Williams also practiced dentistry in London and was one of the founders of the International Association for Dental Research.[3]

He also was the author of The Home and Haunts of Shakespeare[4] and had an interest in anthropology, including the Piltdown Man.[5]

James Leon Williams (April 18, 1852 – February 23, 1932) was an American prosthodontist and a pioneer dental histologist.[1] He discovered dental plaque

If needle is positioned too posteriorly, anaestetic may be put into parotid gland (dangerous systemic effects), or paralyze Cranial Nerve VII (7), resulting in Bells Palsy-like symptoms.

Surgeon approaches the nerve from the opposite side to which they intend to block. They then pierce the buccinaotr mucle between the palatoglossal & paltopharangeal folds, lying lateral to the medial pterygoid at the mandibular foraemen.

Inferior alveolar nerve anaesthesia is a local anaesthetic technique used by dentists and physicians. This procedure attempts to anaesthetise the inferior alveolar nerve where it enters the mandibular foramen.

The inferior alveolar nerve is also known as the infra-alveolar nerve and the inferior dental nerve. The nerve is sometimes abbreviated (by doctors) as IAN or (by dentists) IDN. The inferior alveolar nerve is a branch of the mandibular nerve, which is itself the third branch of the trigeminal nerve.

The inferior alveolar nerve is a common target for anesthesia during dental procedures involving the mandibular teeth.

Administration of anesthesia near the mandibular foramen causes blockage of the inferior alveolar nerve and the nearby lingual nerve (supplying the tongue). This is why the numbing of the lower jaw during dental procedures causes the patient to lose sensation in:
their teeth (inferior alveolar nerve block)
their lower lip and chin (mental nerve block)
and their tongue (lingual nerve block).

Administration of anesthetic solution more superior to the mandibular foramen (usually in the vicinity of the ascending ramus of the mandible), will cause a more profound anesthesia on that particular side of the mandible, also involving the buccal nerve, which branches off the inferior alveolar nerve superior to the mandibular foramen and supplies sensation to the buccal side of the mandible. This is often referred to as the V3 block or the Gow-Gates block.[1]

Before traversing the mandibular foramen, it first gives off the nerve to the mylohyoid, a motor nerve supplying the mylohyoid and the anterior belly of the digastric. It then enters the mandible via the mandibular foramen.

While in the mandibular canal within the mandible, it supplies the mandibular (lower) teeth with sensory branches that form into the inferior dental plexus and give off small gingival and dental nerves to the teeth.

Anteriorly, the nerve gives off the mental nerve at about the level of the mandibular 2nd premolars, which exits the mandible via the mental foramen (supplying sensory branches to the chin and lower lip).

The inferior alveolar nerve continues to innervate the mandibular canines and incisors.

The inferior alveolar nerve (sometimes called the inferior dental nerve) is a branch of the mandibular nerve, which is itself the third branch (V3) of the fifth cranial nerve, the trigeminal nerve (cranial nerve V).