These episodes can happen only few times a night or hundreds. Sleep apnea hugely affects your overall health, but fortunately, your dentist can help treat the problem. Here’s why you shouldn’t ignore sleep apnea and what your dentist can do about it.

Sleep Apnea Increases Risk for Chronic Disease

Sleep apnea is a dangerous, life-threatening condition. This is because your body is being deprived of necessary oxygen during the periods that you can’t breathe. Among its many health effects, sleep apnea can:

Put you at higher risk for high blood pressure
Increase your risk for heart problems including heart attacks and stroke
Raise your risk for depression and mood swings
Increase your risk for diabetes
Cause headaches

Since sleep apnea deprives the brain of oxygen, it can also impact your cognitive skills and ability to remain awake throughout the day. This increases your risk of being involved in an accident and your overall risk of death.

Not Getting Enough Sleep Impacts Your Entire Body

In addition to increasing your risk for serious health problems, sleep apnea also impacts your day-to-day life. This condition can cause weight gain, asthma, and acid reflux. Sleep apnea has also been found to be responsible for weakening the immune system, therefore making your body more susceptible to illness.

When it comes to cognitive performance, sleep apnea greatly impacts memory. It could lead to memory loss much earlier in life. When your body isn’t able to get a deep, restful sleep, it isn’t able to store and catalogue information as well as it might have if you’d not been woken up repeatedly.

Your Dentist Can Provide a Simple Solution

The good news about sleep apnea is that it usually has a simple solution, especially if you have the most common type, which is obstructive sleep apnea. During obstructive sleep apnea, your airway is suppressed by one or a combination of several different factors, including muscles that relax too much, being overweight, or the structure of your head and neck. Regardless of what’s causing your obstructive sleep apnea, you can combine oral sleep appliances with the necessary lifestyle changes your doctor recommends for treatment.

An oral sleep appliance is a custom-made, small device that fits easily in your mouth to keep your airway open while you’re sleeping. Patients usually find it much easier to wear than the traditional sleep apnea breathing mask. The best part is that it can alleviate your sleep apnea symptoms!

If you’re experiencing symptoms of sleep apnea, don’t ignore what could be a life-threatening condition. Your dentist can talk with you about your symptoms and refer you to a sleep specialist for diagnosis. You can continue treatment at your dentist office to start feeling good again!

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Can I Get by with Brushing Once a Day?

Yes, provided you’re brushing correctly and at the right time. Brushing every tooth surface and even your tongue is important. The best time to brush is first thing in the morning. Although brushing twice a day is certainly recommended to keep plaque away, once a day is better than not at all!

Are My Silver Amalgam Fillings Dangerous?

Unfortunately, yes, they can be. Over 50% of these fillings are made of mercury, which can actually escape into the mouth and the body, causing adverse health effects and even disease. If you have silver fillings, talk to your dentist about replacing them, especially if you grind your teeth or drink hot beverages often.

Is Flossing Really That Important?

You bet it is! Flossing helps you clean every tooth surface, not just the ones you can reach with your brush. In fact, it’s been estimated that you’re missing about 40% of your mouth when you skip flossing. All you need is once a day to remove plaque and experience the benefits!

I’m Too Old for Braces, Right?

Nope. As long as your teeth are healthy, you’re likely a candidate for braces or Invisalign. There’s no time limit for getting your smile fixed. Whether you have an overbite, crooked teeth, or just want your smile to be a little straighter, talk to your dentist about recommending an orthodontist who can discuss how to make your smile its best.

Does My Baby Really Need to See the Dentist?

Absolutely. Children are more prone to tooth decay now than ever before. We recommend that babies see the dentist right around the time that their first tooth comes in, which is right around their first birthday. Your children’s baby teeth set the stage for their adult teeth, so their placement in the mouth is important. We can help you set your child up for dental care success for life! Getting your child used to the dentist will also save you lots of work later.

What Type of Toothbrush and Toothpaste Do You Recommend?

For your toothbrush, choose one with soft bristles. Hard bristles and hard brushing can damage teeth more than you think—they can actually remove enamel over time, therefore increasing your risk for tooth decay. For toothpaste, it really doesn’t matter as long as you’re using it!

We hope this helped to answer some of your most common questions about oral health care. Keeping your smile healthy and bright is simple—just brush, floss, and visit your oral health care professional. They can help you prevent tooth decay and gum disease and keep you smiling for life!

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This inflammatory process essentially affects your tooth’s structure—it can begin on the inside, but typically this process starts on the outside. Your body begins to absorb the outer layer of your tooth’s root, called cementum. Then the inner layer of your tooth, called dentin, is affected. Eventually the ligaments that help secure your tooth are affected. Root resorption is easily seen on an x-ray as a dark spot, but without an x-ray, it can be difficult to identify.

Risk Factors for Root Resorption

There are numerous factors that could increase your risk for root resorption, but it’s important to remember that the risk factors won’t always lead to resorption. In fact, many patients with these risk factors don’t experience root resorption, while other patients with no risk factors may experience this condition.

Risk factors include:

 Trauma to the tooth. This could be from an accident or decay, but if the tooth has experienced trauma to the ligaments, this could begin the resorption process.

 Teeth grinding. Bruxism, better known as teeth grinding, causes damage to your tooth’s ligaments due to excessive pressure. This can cause inflammation and damage to the teeth.

 Cavities, genetic factors, or nutritional deficiencies. All of these can be considered risk factors for root resorption. It’s always important to visit your dentist so that he or she can notice root resorption before it progresses!

What Treatments Are Available?

Catching root resorption early is crucial to its successful treatment. Unfortunately, many patients are too late getting to the dentist to diagnose this problem. Fortunately, dentists can try to save your tooth should root resorption be a problem. You have several options to correct root resorption and repair the damage.

If the destruction is minor, your dentist may be able to remove the affected portion of your tooth and repair the affected area with a filling. If your root resorption is extensive and has affected the dentin (inner layer) of your tooth, you may need root canal therapy in order to save your tooth and remove the affected pulp. In some advanced cases, the tooth may not be able to be saved and will require extraction. If an extraction is necessary, you can talk with your dentist about cosmetic dentistry options like dental implants to replace the tooth.

Root resorption can be alarming, but if caught early, your dentist can initiate successful treatment to save your tooth. Schedule bi-yearly visits at your local dentist’s office to ensure your teeth are healthy and catch root resorption before it become a big problem for your smile. You can save your teeth and smile big despite root resorption in adult teeth!

The post Root Resorption: What Is It, and What Can Be Done? appeared first on Your Dental Health Resource.

Protect your child from tooth decay by knowing your child’s risk. Which children have the highest risk for developing tooth decay?

Those Without a Regular Brushing Routine

You can start brushing your child’s teeth as soon as they have teeth! Similarly, you can also start flossing your child’s teeth as soon as they have two teeth that touch together. As your child grows and is able to take over brushing and flossing, you should still supervise to ensure they’re doing a proper job.

Children without a regular brushing routine are putting their mouths at risk for development of plaque and tartar, overgrowth of bad bacteria that can cause enamel erosion and cavities, and even gum disease. It’s vital that your child brushes properly at least once a day, preferably twice a day for the most benefits. Flossing also helps to remove plaque and bacteria that can cause tooth decay!

Children Who Eat Lots of Processed Food

It’s easy to have your child eat a prepackaged snack or to make dinners from packaged foods. However, children who eat lots of processed food—namely carbohydrates and sugars—are at an increased risk for tooth decay. Your child’s body needs an abundance of nutrients, most of which can be found in fresh, whole foods.

Making the switch from processed foods filled with simple carbohydrates and sugars to whole foods is easier than you think. Instead of snack bars, buy apples and bananas. Instead of soda, buy seltzer water. For dinner, make at least half of their plate with fresh, colorful vegetables. This can give their smiles the nutrients they need to be strong and resist tooth decay.

Kids Whose Parents Have Cavities

If you have several cavities, your children are more likely to have cavities. This is because the bacteria that’s in your mouth was likely passed to them during infancy, whether through kissing or sharing utensils. This allows their own unique oral bacteria to grow with your bacteria—if you have lots of cavities, it’s likely that your child will be at a higher risk for them as well.

What Can You Do?

There are many things you can do to protect your child from tooth decay! Firstly, visiting your pediatric dentist for checkups every six months is crucial. Your dentist may also recommend dental sealants, which is a clear, protective barrier for your child’s back teeth, which are the hardest to clean.

You can also buy toothpaste with fluoride in it, which will help to strengthen your child’s teeth and prevent cavities. Your dentist may also recommend a fluoride treatment if your child needs it. Talk to your dentist about how much fluoride your child is getting, as too much or too little will be a problem.

What’s your child’s risk for tooth decay? Children who fail to brush and floss regularly, eat lots of simple carbohydrates and sweets, and have parents with cavities are at the highest risk for tooth decay. Visit your dentist to talk about your child’s risk and what you can do to minimize the chances that they’ll develop cavities. Your child’s teeth should be healthy for life—you can help make that happen!

The post Which Children Are at Highest Risk for Tooth Decay? appeared first on Your Dental Health Resource.

The plaque that plays a crucial role in oral diseases such as gum disease and tooth decay causes inflammation in your mouth. This same plaque has actually been found in the plaque that’s responsible for clogging the arteries—a condition also known as arteriosclerosis. These bacteria can not only cause hardened arterial plaque and inflammation, but it can also be taxing on the heart, making it work harder to pump blood through restricted arteries. This increases your risk for heart disease, which could lead to a heart attack or a stroke!

Diabetes Increases Risk for Gum Disease

If you have gum disease, this means your gums are inflamed and you may experience symptoms such as bleeding or tender gums, bad breath, and loose teeth. When diabetes is present and unmanaged or poorly managed, blood sugar levels can increase your risk for gum disease and tooth loss. The better controlled your diabetes is, the less risk you have for gum disease. If you have undiagnosed diabetes or blood sugar problems, see your doctor—diabetes treatment could help your oral health and prevent gum disease!

Inflammation Influences Cognitive Decline

The same bacteria that are involved in the inflammation of the gums that is characteristic of gum disease can end up in your brain and influence cognitive diseases such as Alzheimer’s! Researchers have linked rapid cognitive decline with the presence of gum disease in patients with Alzheimer’s. This research supports the notion that chronic inflammation in the body can affect the entire system—even the brain and cognitive performance in people with preexisting cognitive decline.

Bacteria Cause Upper Respiratory Illness

Upper respiratory infections such as pneumonia or the common cold are more common in people who have poor oral health! Experts reason that the introduction of poor mouth bacteria into the lungs from breathing could cause the inflammation and illness associated with upper respiratory problems. Keeping your mouth clean and free of plaque could result in less instances of the cold or upper respiratory illness throughout your life!

One part of your body is not separate from the other. By taking great care of your mouth, you can help to influence a healthy body! Simply by brushing, flossing, and visiting your dentist can improve your chances for avoiding diseases such as heart disease, Alzheimer’s, and sicknesses like pneumonia. You can also help keep your mouth healthy by better managing your diabetes. Your dental health affects more than just your smile—visit your dentist to learn more about how you can keep your mouth and body healthy for life!

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Wisdom teeth themselves often aren’t the problem: it’s their location in the mouth that can be troublesome. Wisdom teeth may not have enough room in the mouth, so they come in at odd angles or push against the second molars, which can cause pain on the adjacent teeth and shifting of the top and bottom rows of teeth. These are called impacted wisdom teeth and they often need to be removed.

Wisdom teeth can also create tight spaces where plaque and bacteria love to hide, therefore leading to tooth decay or gum disease. Finally, wisdom teeth tend to be painful and may be removed to prevent pain as well as problems in the mouth.

When Should Wisdom Teeth Be Removed?

This will depend on the patient, but wisdom teeth are generally removed as they erupt or before or after eruption, so between the ages of 17-21. You may still choose to get wisdom teeth removed later, after they’ve fully erupted.

What Should I Expect During the Procedure?

Your dentist can extract your wisdom teeth with mild sedation, but if you want IV sedation, he or she will likely refer you to an oral surgeon. You’ll be asleep during the procedure and your teeth will be extracted. You won’t feel anything, and you’ll be quite numb for a few hours following the procedure.

Is Getting Wisdom Teeth Removed Painful?

Getting your wisdom teeth removed is not painful, but you may experience some pain in the days following the procedure as your mouth heals. Your dentist will prescribe you pain medication as well as advise best practices for taking care of your healing mouth!

What Should I Eat Following the Procedure?

Your dentist will likely advise you to not eat until the numbness of your mouth goes away. After this, you should only eat soft foods for a few days. These include foods like ice cream, yogurt, soup, smoothies, eggs, or soft fruits such as mangoes and kiwi. Be prepared with these foods at your home so you’ll be ready to eat while you rest and heal.

How Long Will It Take to Heal?

Healing from your wisdom tooth removal generally takes several days or up to two weeks. Your mouth needs to heal the sockets that your wisdom teeth were removed from. It’s important to take great care of your teeth during this time so your mouth can heal fast and you’ll be eating regular foods again in no time!

Wisdom teeth removal is a very common procedure that many people get to prevent future problems with their wisdom teeth. Your dentist can tell if your wisdom teeth are on their way in with a simple x-ray and advise if they’ll cause future problems. Talk with your dentist about wisdom tooth removal!

The post Your Top Questions About Wisdom Tooth Removal: Answered appeared first on Your Dental Health Resource.

Oral Cancer

During your professional cleaning, your dentist may conduct an oral cancer screening. An oral cancer screening involves both a visual and physical exam of your mouth to ensure no signs of oral cancer are present. If you have a sore in your mouth that won’t go away or a lump around your face or neck, you could have oral cancer. A dentist can help identify potential oral cancer. When you skip your cleanings, you miss this important screening that could save your life!

Gum Disease

The symptoms of gum disease can be sneaky: bad breath even after brushing or using mouthwash; bleeding while brushing once in a while; gums that look red or irritated. Many people don’t know that common symptoms like bad breath, bleeding while brushing, or red gums could be symptoms of gum disease! Gum disease can progress and eventually lead to tooth loss if not treated. Your dentist can examine your mouth for gum disease during your cleanings—but if you skip these, gum disease could be progressing and be much more difficult to treat!

Physical Health

Research links oral health to physical health! The amount of plaque in your mouth has been linked to the amount of plaque in your arteries. The healthier your mouth, the healthier your heart! Getting professional cleanings twice a year ensure that your mouth is clean and healthy. Your dentist can identify spots you’re missing while brushing or the proper techniques for flossing. When you miss your appointments, these spots keep getting missed and plaque builds up.

Tooth Decay

Cavities are very common and like gum disease, can progress if left untreated. Cavities can be difficult to notice, especially since they usually start out small. By the time you can see a cavity, it likely needs to be treated with a filling. Skipping your bi-annual teeth cleanings could leave cavities to progress in your mouth. If you consistently miss your dentist appointments, you could have cavities that get so large they’re unable to be treated with a filling—an extraction, root canal, or other form of treatment may be needed.

Scheduling an appointment at your dentist office for a teeth cleaning is easy and the appointment generally doesn’t take long. By keeping up with your oral health, you can ensure your body stays healthy as well as your mouth. You can also prevent tooth decay, gum disease, and catch oral cancer before it progresses. Keep up with your teeth cleanings— they could save your life!

The post The Impact of Skipping Your Bi-Annual Teeth Cleanings appeared first on Your Dental Health Resource.

Plaque Needs to Be Scrubbed Away

Plaque is that fuzzy feeling you get on your teeth after waking in the morning and generally a few hours after brushing. Bacteria in our mouths as well as foods can cause this substance to build up on our teeth. Plaque typically doesn’t pose a risk to our teeth and gums as long as it’s sufficiently removed every day via brushing and at the dentist office during regular professional cleanings.

Mouthwash by itself can’t remove plaque—plaque needs to be gently scrubbed away with your toothbrush as well as with proper flossing. Swishing mouthwash around in your mouth can compliment your oral hygiene after brushing and flossing, but it won’t help to remove harmful plaque after an entire day of not brushing!

Mouthwash Can Help Remove Food

Mouthwash is beneficial to your smile in addition to brushing because it can help remove food that’s stuck between your teeth as well as make your breath fresher. Although getting food particles out from between your teeth is important, this is something that’s best done physically with floss rather than general rinsing—flossing will actually help to scrape plaque away as well!

Before bed, flossing to remove those food particles can be beneficial along with mouthwash. Mouthwash can help prevent buildup of food particles as well as the bad bacteria that can contribute to bad breath and gum disease. If you have chronic bad breath even after brushing and using mouthwash, visit your dentist—this is a symptom of gum disease!

An Occasional Substitute

We all forget to brush our teeth once in a while, or else we find ourselves in a situation without a toothbrush. When this happens, using mouthwash is better than not doing anything at all. If you’re without a toothbrush, swish with mouthwash as you normally would—overuse of mouthwash is just as damaging as not using it at all!

If you’re without floss, mouthwash can help with that as well. It can help remove that stuck food and kill bacteria associated with oral disease. However, remember that mouthwash is best used in combination with these practices—but if you forget your toothbrush once in a while, some mouthwash can help you make it through the night!

Mouthwash might seem like a quick and easy solution instead of brushing and flossing before bedtime, but the truth is that it’s just not an effective replacement to actually cleaning your teeth. Mouthwash can help prevent harmful bacteria and give you fresh breath, but you should never stop brushing your teeth in favor of mouthwash before bed!

Image provided by nenetus at Freedigitalphotos.net

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Veneers

Veneers are an excellent long-term solution for gaps in your teeth. You have the option of getting either partial veneers or full veneers. Full veneers would cover your entire smile, while a partial veneer would only cover the gap in your teeth. Partial veneers are typically more popular as they cover a small area of your teeth and allow your natural smile to remain radiant! Veneers are extremely sturdy and can withstand the everyday wear-and- tear that your teeth experience. Porcelain or ceramic veneers are excellent cosmetic dentistry options for larger gaps in your teeth.

Dental Bonding

Also known as teeth bonding or composite bonding, this option is usually the most cost-friendly of your cosmetic dentistry options for gapped teeth. This treatment lasts between five and ten years and allows your dentist to use composite resin to help improve the appearance of the gap in your smile. Your dentist will use the resin, which seamlessly matches the natural color of your teeth, to essentially fill in the gap and make your smile appear smooth and beautiful! The resin will be applied to the teeth on either side of the gap to help close the space. This type of treatment is typically used for smaller gaps.

Invisalign Orthodontics

If you’d like to close a gap in your teeth via orthodontics, Invisalign can be a great option for you. Invisalign is different from traditional braces because people can’t see that you’re straightening your teeth or closing the gap in your smile. Invisalign uses custom-fitting clear trays that slowly and precisely move your teeth into place. This option can help close the gap in your beautiful smile and make your treatment virtually invisible! Talk with your dentist or orthodontist if you’re a candidate for Invisalign to fix the gap in your smile.

Dental Bridges

Dental bridges can also be effective options for gaps in your smile. A dental bridge consists of an artificial tooth that is effectively anchored to the teeth on either side of your gap, therefore effectively filling in the gap with a tooth that looks just like your other natural teeth. This option is best for people who are missing a tooth that’s creating the gap, as it can help prevent the shifting that often happens when your smile has missing teeth.

Gapped teeth can hurt more than just your self-confidence— missing teeth can cause shifting, and natural gaps can be difficult to clean, hurt your self-esteem, and lead to you avoid smiling and showing your beautiful natural teeth. Talk to your dentist about which cosmetic dentistry options for gapped teeth you qualify for— you’ll be amazed and pleasantly surprised with the results!

Image courtesy of nenetus at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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Encourage Your Child to Wiggle the Tooth

Before you do any work, encourage your child to do it for you. Many children are fascinated by loose teeth and want to be involved in the process of losing them—so let them! Teach your child how to gently wiggle the tooth back and forth with their tongue or a clean finger. Show them how to be gentle and never forceful with the tooth.

Use a Clean Material and Anchor the Tooth

Once the tooth is extremely loose (and maybe even hanging!), it’s time to consider pulling it. Before attempting to pull, choose a clean material such as some gauze or a clean cloth and gently feel the tooth with it. You’ll be able to feel how loose the tooth actually is, and ask your child if he or she feels any pain—pulling the tooth shouldn’t be painful for the child, and if it is, don’t move forward with the pulling!

Pull with a Twisting Motion

If your child’s tooth is extremely loose and ready to be pulled, grasp the tooth firmly while still holding the gauze or cloth around the tooth. You want to pull the tooth firmly and quickly with a twisting motion. Your child’s tooth should come right out with some bleeding. Your child might be frightened at first, but this is a good opportunity to teach him or her how to hold gauze over the area and stop the bleeding—good skills for future use!

When to Pull and Not to Pull

It’s important to remember that baby teeth shouldn’t be taken out prematurely if it can be avoided—best to let them come out on their own! However, some baby teeth won’t come out and will need to be pulled by your dentist. Never force a pulling, and it’s always best to consult your dentist before attempting any at-home pulls with your child!

You can attempt to pull your child’s loose tooth when:

 The tooth is very loose.

 The tooth is dangling in the socket.

 The tooth poses a risk for choking as it’s so loose it could fall out while the child is sleeping.

You should not pull your child’s tooth if:

 Your child complains that touching or pulling the tooth hurts.

 The tooth is still firmly in the socket.

 The tooth is somewhat loose, but not very.

Losing teeth can be a fun time for children, so schedule a visit with your dentist to talk about best practices when it comes to losing teeth. This is an excellent time to teach your children how to take proper care of their smiles and learn about how important their future adult teeth are!

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