Nanomaterials in Preventive Dentistry
dental treatment necessary to maintain a healthy mouth. The two major causes of tooth loss are decay and gum disease. The better we prevent or deal with these two problems, the more chances people have in keeping their teeth for life. The combined efforts of the dentist, the hygienist and the patient, can help to prevent the need for treatment, and so to avoid the traditional pattern of fillings and extractions of teeth. Tooth cleaning and polishing and fluoride application are all part of prevention program. Preventive dentistry has a wide range of opportunities for studies [1, 5, 15, 16] There are interests in child dental health, geriatric dental health, fluoride and dental health, dental health services research, and dental labor force. Nanotechnology will change preventive dentistry and healthcare [7, 9, 10, 29, 30] Current work is focused on the recent developChapter 11