Patient Education

If you never had gum disease; if you have perfect dental restorations, no bad contacts, a healthy diet; if you understand all the hows, whys, and whens of oral hygiene and are faithful to your hygiene program — you may never need to floss. Only a few percent of the population fall into this category. Flossing removes food, breaks up plaque formations, cleans the teeth, and massages the gum.  All other parts of the teeth

Dental Disease is not an obscure and mysterious ailment.  You didn’t inherit dental disease from your parents.  Dental disease is not only a disease of the mouth but also a disease of the body. Any time part of your body becomes diseased, it stresses  your entire body’s immune system.  The stress can be most harmful when the disease is a chronic one, which is the form of dental disease from which most patients suffer. Dental

Electric toothbrushes have been a valuable addition to toothbrush technology. There are a number of these on the market, and although they come in different sizes, shapes, and colors. They all have one thing in common: they rotate the bristles faster than any human hand can. Whether they they rotate four thousand times a minute or a thousand, go clockwise or counterclockwise, you still have to control them. This means you have to use them

Wisdom teeth are the number two cause of dental emergencies. Most wisdom teeth end up being extracted. The reason for this is they rarely come in properly. And there are two main reasons for that. One: because we no longer eat the type of diet our ancestors ate, over time our jaws have become smaller, but we still have the same number of teeth trying to fit into a smaller space.  Genetics is the other

Although the ingredients, and their proportions, of many toothpastes are closely guarded secrets, most toothpastes ( including therapeutic pastes) contain all or some of the following substances:Abrading, polishing, and bleaching agents. Abrading and polishing agents comprise as much as 50% of most dentifrices. The abrasive ingredient actually grinds off enamel and dentin, much like rough sandpaper abrades wood. The polishing agents are included to help smooth off the roughened areas, like using a fine sandpaper.

Whether it takes two visits or six, you will eventually get to the point where your hygienist will establish your personal recall program, a schedule of hygiene appointments. This is another moment when your good work habits pay off for you in time and money. Your hygienist will decide how much time you can go between hygiene recalls based on a number of factors: — Amount of gum recession and bone loss.  If you have

The periodontist is the dentist who treats periodontal disease after it has gone beyond what you and the hygienist can treat with in-office hygiene therapy and home care. He may be the only one who can help you save your teeth if you have reached that stage. The periodontist can perform the various types of periodontal surgery that may be necessary to remove infected gum tissue, to remove infection from the bone, and to recontour

If you’ve lost a filling, you will still be able to eat many foods, talk, and do just about everything else you could do before you lost it. That’s the good news. The bad news is that if you don’t have it replaced you will lose much, or all, of that tooth’s chewing function, along with the function of the tooth above or below it.  Thus, you will have lost the use of two teeth. 

There are a surprising number of people, whether they are aware of it or not, who have at least some problems resulting from malocclusion, or a bad bite. Bite problems can range from minor ones involving only an improperly placed filling ( easily corrected), to those caused by lost teethm, to generic ones ( overcrowding and jaw misalignment) involving most or all your teeth. If you have difficulty opening your jaw fully this could be

Many children have a hard time when it comes to tooth eruption,or teething, and some have a very, very hard time of it. Teething can be so traumatic and painful to your baby that you may think there’s something wrong, especially if you’re a first-time mom. But teething is a normal part of tooth development and growth. If your baby is irritable, has a slight fever, has congestion, and cries excessively for no apparent reason, you should

When the hygienist gets down to the business of hygiene therapy, the procedure will consist of most of the following steps: — Plaque and calculus (tartar) removal— Removal of infected gum tissue— Teeth desensitization before cleaning— Cleaning and polishing— Monitoring your recall program— Expanded periodontal therapy. Most advanced periodontal disease will require some treatment by the dentist or the periodontist, but hygienists are qualified to handle the disease until it reaches a certain severity. She/he

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In dental lingo, a restoration refers to any material or device ( fixed or removable) that is used (1) to replace lost tooth structure and restore the tooth to function or (2) to replace a lost tooth.  There are many types of restorations, including fillings, crowns, bridges, partial dentures, and full dentures, all of which will be discussed below. Filling – A filling usually refers to a restoration that restores part of a tooth.  Types

All toothpastes fall into one of two categories. They are either therapeutic or cosmetic. Therapeutic toothpastes contain ingredients that have been shown to prevent of significantly reduce tooth decay and gingivities. The makers of cosmetic dentifrices ( dentifrice refers all kinds of tooth cleansers, from pastes to gels to powders) promote these products for their ability to make your teeth whiter and brighter. These products either bleach the tooth itself or remove stains through abrasion

Periodontal disease is an infected condition involving the gums and bone surrounding the teeth. The word “perio” means “support”. Hence indicating the condition affecting the hard and soft tissues “supporting the teeth”. Gingivitis versus periodontal disease: We all develop a layer of sticky white and yellow substance called “plaque” within minutes of tooth brushing. Throughout the day, this layer tends to get thicker. Routine tooth rushing and flossing keeps this layer to a minimum. When

Once plaque begins to form in the pocket, it is protected against most forms of oral hygiene. As plaque moves into the once healthy gum pocket, the infection begins to involve the place where the ligament attaches the gum to the tooth surface.  Infection here is bad enough by itself, but the whole process is made even worse by the formation of subgingival calculus.  As the calculus grows and spreads, it pushes against the swollen

The orthodontist is trained in the highly specialized branch of dentistry called orthodontics. Orthodontics deals with straightening out teeth that are not in proper alignment( are rotated, tilted, etc.), correcting bite problems, and aligning jaws. For the most part, this treatment is done to restore your mouth to normal health and function, but it can also be done for purely cosmetic reasons. Having properly aligned teeth that close together in the right way is very

At or around the age of six, two things happen to a child’s mouth:

Cosmetic dentistry is pretty much what the name implies, dentistry that makes you look better. More accurately, cosmetic dentistry makes your teeth look better. Recently there have been tremendous advances in materials and techniques, and cosmetic dentistry has now become one of the most innovative and exciting fields of modern dentistry. Cosmetic dentistry can correct a variety of problems — some of which could have been prevented, and others that could not. For example: Many

All periodontal disease begins with plaque formation.  In other words, without plaque formation you wouldn’t get gum disease. Plaque is initiated when millions of disease-causing germs attach themselves to the tooth by releasing a gluelike substance. These germs can attach to what appears to the naked eye as a perfectly smooth tooth surface but, to the plaque, is actually not smooth at all. They especially love areas of the tooth that don’t get cleaned properly,

Facial contours, the size of the jaw, and tooth size are all hereditary ( or, in rare cases, disease-related).  An orthodontist may talk to you about the relationship between jaw and tooth size.  For example, if a child inherits her mom’s small jaw and her father’s large teeth, the end result may be teeth that are too big for the jaw. This overcrowding is a serious problem. It can prevent some teeth from erupting and

Over 90% of the population have some form of dental disease, ranging from a little decay to severe bone loss.  Less than 10% of those over sixty-five still have all their natural teeth. Some sources say that as many as 40 million will not see a dentist at all because of their overpowering fear of the dental office. Regardless of what you have been led to believe, there is absolutely no reason for you to

After the plaque is formed, the portion of the plaque that lies next to the tooth begins to mineralize.  You now have the beginning of calculus. The mineralized layer of calculus bounds to the tooth even more powerfully than plaque. More plaque becomes calcified and starts to spread in all directions, pushing outward against the gum tissue, while simultaneously making its way into the extremely vulnerable gum pocket. New plaque is constantly being formed on

Cavities are a result of a breakdown in the tooth structure. That breakdown can occur due to various reasons. The commonest reason is bacteria, causing a disease of the dentition called dental caries. Bacteria reside in our bodies, and in the mouth in their natural habitat. It is only when the environment of the mouth and of the body changes, that these bacteria get an opportunity to proliferate and attack the teeth. Those conditions can

Any time is a good time to brush, but some times are better times than others. The most crucial times are after eating and in the morning. Brushing immediately after eating, especially if the meal or snack contained processed food and refined sugar. By “immediately,” I mean as soon as possible, but absolutely within four to six hours after any meal. The damage caused by food left in your mouth is directly proportional to how long

Very few parents have been able to keep their kids away from sugar. It seems to be found in everything, kids literally become addicted to it, and parents feel they are fighting a hopeless battle. But there are strategies you can use that work. The three best ways to counter their sugar addictions, if you can’t withdraw them from it, care:

How to stop bleeding gums? Gum bleeding, other than tooth pain, is one of the commonest motivating factors for a person to seek dental care and advice. Most people will notice bleeding from gums while tooth brushing or flossing. While gum bleeding is usually not severe or heavy in nature, it can be concerning enough, given the wealth of common information on the internet about all types of cancers and infections. The commonest reason for

If your gum disease is more advanced than you and your hygienist can handle, you will need to have periodontal surgery. This means you will require the services of your dentist, or periodontist ( a dentist who specializes in the treatment of advanced periodontal disease). If you are a candidate for minor selective periodontal surgery, your hygiene efforts, along with treatment by your hygienist, could very well eliminate the need.  However, if you eventually end

If you have this type of periodontal disease, you are at the stage where the infection has broken through the first line of defense, the gums, and has begun to attack the ligaments and bone supporting the teeth.  This is the stage where bone loss occurs, causing the pocket, the space between the gum and the tooth, to deepen. Periodontitis, like gingivitis, occurs in different forms and can involve parts of, or all of, one

There are two main stages of periodontal disease. The first is a disease of the gums, or gingivitis. The second is called periodontitis, which is a disease of the ligament and bone that hold your teeth in your jaws. Although these two forms of periodontal disease are the most serious forms of dental disease, they’ve never been given enough recognition by the public for the destruction they can cause.  Tooth decay wounds, but the real killer

It’s easy for the layperson to confuse a stain with decay, but most stains have an external cause and are generally harmless, though they can be an eyesore. You can also mistake a stain for the discoloration caused by an amalgam filling, which can darken the surrounding tooth structure. Normally, routine hygiene therapy will remove self-imposed stains, but if any stain remains after the cleaning have the dentist check it out. Stains come in all

Composite veneers, usually simply called composites, are bonded to the tooth in a totally different way than the porcelain or acrylic veneers.  Whereas the other veneers are like false fingernails placed on top of the real ones, the composite veneer is like fingernail polish that is painted on the nail. The same initial etching process takes place, but after the tooth has been roughened, the paste-like composite resin is applied directly to the tooth.  Then

All tooth decay must be removed and the tooth repaired.  Every day you postpone treatment will end up costing you more money, more time, and more of your tooth. It would be great if filling a tooth meant  you only had to remove the decayed part.  unfortunately, that’s not the case. The decay, once it gets into the dentin, often spreads out in all directions.  Many times the decay will undermine the enamel that supports

With time, if even one tooth is missing, the space may cause: — teeth in front of space to drift back creating spaces in between front teeth. — teeth behind space to tilt forward. — tooth above space to erupt down. Because these teeth drift out of position, several conditions may occur: — severe occusal (bite) problems that could lead to clicking of the jaw, headaches and jaw pain. — hard to clean areas are

• Immediately following a tooth extraction, keep pressure on gauze until bleeding stops, 30-45 minutes. Repeat if necessary. If heavy bleeding continues, call your dentist. • Do not smoke, rinse your mouth vigorously, or drink through a straw for 24 hours. These activities will disturb the healing blood clot. • Do not suck on extraction site. • Immediately after a tooth is extracted, you may experience some discomfort and notice some swelling. • To reduce swelling, place

Burns of the mouth are very common, and some can be serious enough to require immediate treatment. Generally, after the cause of the burn is removed or the affected area flushed with water(if the burn is caused by a chemical such as aspirin or Clorox), the wound will heal by itself, although it may be tender for a while. Hot food, hot liquids, or chemicals — Often you’ll be more aware of burns from heat

A partial denture, commonly just referred to as a “partial”, is a removable appliance used to replace missing teeth. Along with implants, it’s the only choice left if you’ve lost all the back teeth on either or both sides of your jaw, upper or lower. Also, a partial can be used to replace missing teeth if you can’t afford a bridge. The main differences between a fixed bridge and a removable partial are:

As soon as the germ-laden plaque starts to form at the gum line, your body musters its defensive forces to battle the bacteria. The germs that come in contact with the gum tissue release toxins that irritate and inflame the tissue. Soon the inflammation stimulates the release of germ-fighting cells in the immediate area of the plaque formation, causing in increase of blood flow to the surface of the gum tissue, which causes the gums

A number of very good filling materials are available these days. New materials and improvements on the old ones are being introduced all the time. In just about every case, there’ll be the right filling material for that particular job. Price is usually the only obstacle to getting the best filling possible. But if  you can’t afford the very best, there will always be a less expensive choice that will do the job until you

Charting pockets is the dental term for the procedure used to measure the depth of the gingival sulcus, or gum pocket. It’s a standard procedure that is accepted and used by all dentists and hyginenists. Although additional methods are also used to evaluate the condition of your gums, charting the pockets is a great way for you to get a clear picture of the extent of your periodotal disease. To measure the pocket depth, your

Third molars or “Wisdom” teeth  Third molars get their unique name as “wisdom teeth” from the Greek words “odontos sophias” which loosely translates to teeth of wisdom. As legend goes, it was believed most people would attain these teeth at a “mature or wiser” age – between the ages of 12 – 30. That is not to be taken seriously though, as there are plenty of wise people who congenitally miss third molars!  Most wisdom

Wisdom teeth aren’t really so smart. If they were, they wouldn’t be the number two cause of dental emergencies. Most wisdom teeth end up being extracted. The reason for this is they rarely come in properly. There are two main reasons for that. One: because we no longer eat the type of diet our ancestors ate, over time our jaws have become smaller, but we still have the same number of teeth trying to fit

There are surprising number of people, whether they’re aware of it or not, who have at least some problems resulting from malocclusion, or a bad bite. Bite problems can range from minor ones involving only an improperly placed filling (easily corrected), to those caused by lost teeth, to genetic ones ( over crowding and jaw misalignment) involving most or all of y our teeth. If you have difficulty opening your jaw fully this could be

This device is one of the newest additions to dental diagnosis and patient education. In essence, it’s like having a TV camera take pictures inside your mouth. It can assist with treatment planning, and do cosmetic imaging.  It takes you inside your mouth, in color, and allows you to see things you may never have seen before.

What are veneers? The word veneer means a “layer” or a “thin cover”. While the word may have various meanings, within the realm of dentistry, it indicates a thin covering of porcelain or a tooth colored filling material bonded on a tooth. Veneers are categorized as a cosmetic procedure to enhance the shape, size or color of teeth. Hence, veneers are a huge component of any cosmetic makeover a person maybe looking for, in order

If you want to restore your mouth to health and function, missing teeth must be replaced. (There are some exceptions, like wisdom teeth.)  If you don’t have them replaced you will be creating many problems. These range from a loss of chewing function, a bad bite, and possibly temporomandibular joint ( TMJ) problems, to the increased probability of decay and periodontal disease.  Your dentist will provide you with all the options regarding the best and

When you feel confident that you’ve found a dentist who is right for you, it’s time to deal with the practical side of dental repair. To make sure you get the best treatment plan possible, tell the dentist, during your initial visit, that you want the same treatment plan he would use if he were treating his own mouth instead of yours. After the examination, X rays, and hygiene therapy, you’ll have a consultation with

Gingivitis is the most common form of periodontal disease. In simple terms, it is an inflammation of the gum tissue.  Uncared for, the inflammation turns into more serious forms of infection and eventually evolves into periodontitis. The most common way to classify gingvitis is by cause and severity.  Generally, it’s enough to know that it has three phases, and if, for example, you are in the third phase you have the most serious form. Your