Alignment for minor tooth movement.

Tooth Movement

Orthodontic techniques used to correct the malposition of a single tooth.

Tooth Mobility

Horizontal and, to a lesser degree, axial movement of a tooth in response to normal forces, as in occlusion. It refers also to the movability of a tooth resulting from loss of all or a portion of its attachment and supportive apparatus, as seen in periodontitis, occlusal trauma, and periodontosis. (From Jablonski, Dictionary of Dentistry, 1992, p507 & Boucher's Clinical Dental Terminology, 4th ed, p313)

Crown Lengthening

Technique combining controlled eruptive tooth movement and incision of the supracrestal gingival attachment to allow for proper restoration of a destroyed or damaged crown of a tooth. Controlled eruption of the tooth is obtained using ORTHODONTIC APPLIANCES. During this eruptive phase, repeated incisions are made at the junctional epithelium of the sulcus and the supracrestal connective tissue to prevent coronal displacement of the gingiva and of the attachment apparatus.

Tooth Abrasion

The pathologic wearing away of the tooth substance by brushing, bruxism, clenching, and other mechanical causes. It is differentiated from TOOTH ATTRITION in that this type of wearing away is the result of tooth-to-tooth contact, as in mastication, occurring only on the occlusal, incisal, and proximal surfaces. It differs also from TOOTH EROSION, the progressive loss of the hard substance of a tooth by chemical processes not involving bacterial action. (From Jablonski, Dictionary of Dentistry, 1992, p2)

Tooth Attrition

The wearing away of a tooth as a result of tooth-to-tooth contact, as in mastication, occurring only on the occlusal, incisal, and proximal surfaces. It is chiefly associated with aging. It is differentiated from TOOTH ABRASION (the pathologic wearing away of the tooth substance by friction, as brushing, bruxism, clenching, and other mechanical causes) and from TOOTH EROSION (the loss of substance caused by chemical action without bacterial action). (Jablonski, Dictionary of Dentistry, 1992, p86)