Longmeadow Family Dental Care Longmeadow Family Dental Care

Glossary

Our glossary features any dental term you need to know, from A to Z. Still confused about something? Give us a call — we’re happy to help.

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  • The teeth in the dental arch.
  • An artificial substitute for some or all of the natural teeth and adjacent tissues.
  • That part of a denture that makes contact with soft tissue and retains the artificial teeth.
  • Generally spouse and children of covered individual, as defined by terms of the dental benefit contract.
  • Plaster or stone model of teeth and adjoining tissues; also referred to as study model. Primarily for use in extra-oral examinations of relationships existing between oral tissues so as to determine how those relationships will effect form and function of a dental restoration or appliance(...)
  • A visual display of structural or functional patterns for the purpose of diagnostic evaluation. May be photographic or radiographic
  • A space, such as one between two adjacent teeth in the same dental arch.
  • Procedure in which the exposed vital pulp is treated with a therapeutic material, followed with a base and restoration, to promote healing and maintain pulp vitality.
  • A self-funded program in which the individual is reimbursed based on a percentage of dollars spent for dental care provided, and which allows beneficiaries to seek treatment from the dentist of their choice.
  • A restoration fabricated inside the mouth.
  • Excision of the intra-articular disc of a joint.
  • A partial evulsion of a tooth; may be mesial, distal, facial, lingual or incisal.
  • Surface or position of a tooth most distant from the median line of the arch.
  • A practice of third-party payers in which the benefit code has been changed to a less complex and/or lower cost procedure than was reported, except where delineated in contract agreements.
  • Medication, bandages or other therapeutic material applied to a wound.
  • A system of classifying hospital patients on the basis of diagnosis, consisting of distinct groupings. A DRG assignment to a case is based on the patient's 1) principal diagnosis; 2) treatment procedures performed; 3) age; 4) gender; and 5) discharge status.
  • Localized inflammation of the tooth socket following extraction due to infection or loss of blood clot osteitis.
  • A benefit package from which an eligible individual can choose to enroll in either an alternative dental benefit program or a traditional dental benefit program.