Occupational Jargon - Dentistry

Jargon
Within dentistry, there is a variety of Jargon used by dentists in order to deliver care too patients. The dentist and dental nurse will communciate with eachother using this Jargon. People from other occupations and maybe even the patients won't know what this Jargon means as it is only used in the dentistry discourse community.  

Some examples of this Jargon are:

Alveolar Bone – the bone that surrounds and supports the tooth and associated structures

Cementum – calcified connective tissue that covers the outside surface of a tooth’s root.

Edema – swelling

Gingiva – that part of the oral masticatory mucosa that surrounds the necks of the teeth and is attached to the teeth and the alveolar bone (the gum)

Interdental Papilla – Gingiva (gum tissue) that fills the space between two adjacent teeth (the space is called interproximal). Papilla is usually pointed or pyramidal in anterior teeth and somewhat flatter between posterior teeth. If teeth overlap papilla, it may be tapered and narrow; if teeth do not touch, the papilla may be flat or saddle-shaped.

Maxilla – top jaw

Periodontal Ligament – the fibrous connective tissue that supports, surrounds, and attaches the roots of the teeth to alveolar bone.

Sulcus – the space or crevice between the surface of a tooth and the epithelium lining the unattached or free gingival.

Abbreviations

Many abbreviations for patient treatment records are used in dentistry in order to decrease the amount of time spent on paperwork. Records are legal documents meaning that the abbreviations and their meanings should be the same in every record. So that everyone uses the same abbreviations and understands what they mean, it’s good to have a key to the abbreviations so anyone reading or writing a record can understand exactly what is being said. Patients can also look over their medical records and understand the various notations if they have a key of the abbreviations available.

Some examples of these abbreviations are:

ant – Anterior

D – Distal

EIE – Extraoral intraoral examination

imp – Impression

LR – Lower right quadrant

PSA – Posterior superior alveolar

STAT – Immediately

WNL – Within normal limits

 

 

Root Words, Prefixes and Suffixes Used in Dental Terms

There are specific rules for combining words and for the order of the root words within a word, so it’s good to study further to really understand how dental/medical terms are put together and read. When words are combined, they often acquire an “o” to make the word flow better and be more pronounceable. A prefix is a word, letter, or number placed before another and a suffix is a morpheme added at the end of a word to form a derivative.

Examples of prefixes and suffixes used are:

Prefix/Suffix	Definition	Example
-algia	pain	odontALGIA = tooth pain
-emia	blood	hyperEMIA = above normal amount of blood in a tissue
-hyper	over, excessive, above	HYPERmobility = more mobility than normal
-inter	between	INTERcellular = between cells
-neo	new	NEOplasm = new growth
-peri	around	PERIoral = around the mouth
-supra	above	SUPRAgingival = above the margin of the gums

Colours

The list of word parts and the colour associated with the word:

alb, albin, leuk – white

chlor – green

cyan – blue

eryth – red

melan – black

Spoken/written interactions

Dentists would be constantly involved in spoken interactions as they have to communicate with the nurse to ask for equipment and get them to write down the patient’s problem and notes. The dentists would need to also communicate with the patients to tell them what treatment they will need etc. They would also use written interactions as they have to write letters to patients for appointments and referrals. They may also need to email across notes to the other members of staff. Other written texts include filling out forms and claims for patients.