Dental Anxiety

Are you one of the millions of people who hate going to the dentist? If so, are you scared to go for some reason or the other? Many people have been negatively affected by someone or something that now causes them to dislike going to the dentist and only going when they are in severe pain. Maybe you were at the dentist and they made fun of you or you had a terrifying experience. Maybe you have heard from someone else how scare it is. Or maybe you just a nervous about people working in your mouth.
     These are all legitimate reasons to be fearful. However, not every dentist is the same and I have heard time and time again, horror stories of what some of our patients have experienced and that in turn horrifies me. When I hear of the experiences some people have had, I am grateful to work in a place where we literally, I know this sounds cheesy, "Turn those frowns upside down." It is one of the perks of my job where I get to see people leave happier and more confident that when they came in.
Here at our office, we work with our patients to help them with their nervousness and discomfort. There are several different techniques that we use to help.

• Using Local Anesthetics. When we do a filling, extraction, root canal, crown, or any other procedure that we don't want you to feel, we simply numb the tooth.
• Nitrous Oxide commonly referred to as laughing gas. This definitely works and can have a variety of effects on different people. Some people simply get very calm and sleepy while others cannot stop laughing. 
• Triazolam or Valium: these we will call into a pharmacy which you will take before you come in. You will need someone to drive you to and from the office as you will be so "out of it", that you can sometimes barely walk in a straight line.
• IV Sedation: This is for patients who are extremely, extremely nervous and none of the options above has helped. This process takes longer as we need to line up a day for the anesthesiologist and our Doctor to have specific time set aside to work on your mouth. 

     At our office, we have you raise your LEFT Hand only if you need us to stop for any reason. Left hand only as the doctor is to your right and when he is working in your mouth, you may bump or jostle him and the effects of him being jostled while using a drill in your mouth can be painful. 

     We also offer a variety of complimentary services to help you enjoy your visit to our office, Water, jewelry cleaning, paraffin hand wax (your hands become incredibly soft), and movies. 

     Please keep in mind that by communicating your fears to your dental professional will help them be able to see you and work with you. If you don't let us know how you feel, we cannot help you as we are not mind readers. 

Oral Cancer

Approximately 40,000 Americans will be diagnosed with oral or pharyngeal cancer this year and it will cause over 8,000 deaths. The death rate associated with this cancer is particularly high because it is usually discovered late in its development. Oral Cancer is often discovered when the cancer has spread most of the time to they lymph nodes of the neck.
Diagnosis. You should contact your doctor or dentist if you notice one of the following on you or a loved one:

• A sore or lesion in the mouth that does not heal within 2 weeks.
• a lump or thickening in the cheek.
• A white or red patch on the gums, tongue, tonsil, or lining in your mouth.
• A sore throat or feeling that something is stuck in the throat.
• Difficulty swallowing and chewing or moving the jaw or tongue.
• Numbness of any area of your mouth.
• Swelling and a hoarse voice.

Treatment: Once the diagnosis has been made and you do indeed have oral cancer, there are a couple of different options for you to treat it depending on the severity of the situation. The most common one is surgery and radiation, with chemotherapy added to decrease the possibility of metastasis. There are also more natural ways to approach healing your body of cancer. You can start with seeing a nutritionist or herbal doctor. It is important to remember the saying "Let your medicine be your food and your food be your medicine." Eating right will keep your body in good condition and especially can determine your fate of life or death. Your body is fighting so hard during this time that it needs all the help it can get so maintaining a healthy immune system is vital in overcoming the sickness. 

If you are a smoker, chewing tobacco, and drink alcohol, your chances of getting oral cancer are greatly increased. It is important that you gain as much information as you can on what to beware of and also you need to see your dentist professional at least every 6 months and have him or her do an oral cancer screening. 

How to boost your oral health with diet

So many people nowadays forget the saying "Eat to live, and don't live to eat." It is so easy to eat food products that are so unhealthy for our bodies and oral health combined. Although it may taste good and is fast to get a hold of, the many fast food restaurants don not keep their food filled with the supplements your body needs to replenish and keep a healthy body and mouth.
The foods that are good for your oral health is:

• Dairy Products such as cheese, yogurt, and milk. They are excellent sources of calcium to help strengthen your teeth and bones. 
• Fresh fruits and vegetables definitely help keep you out of the doctors office. 
• Protein such as meats, beans, and nuts add minerals to your body and protect the enamel on your teeth as well.
• Water is a necessity for your overall health. 

Thumbsucking

Does your child still suck their thumb? Are you getting tired and a little embarrassed? Maybe your child still sucks their thumb and you are just now realizing that they should be stopping and want to know more. There are many reasons why sucking their thumb is detrimental to the growth of their mouth, jaw, and teeth. It can also lead to speech problems.
Some babies develop the thumb sucking habit while in the mother's womb while others start after their birth. It is a natural instinct for survival and can be attributed to psychological needs as it gives comfort to them. It can quickly become a habit and most tend to stop at around 1 year old but research shows that if they still are in the habit beyond the age of 5, it can be very detrimental.
Thumb sucking can create a variety of problems:

• The upper front teeth are pushed forwards and the lower front teeth are pushed backwards.
• the roof of the mouth will be pushed upwards causing a range of problems including speech problems.
• It narrows the dental arches, reshapes the jawbone, and mis-aligns the teeth.
• Infection of the thumbnail, pinworms, and other infections arise.

How to stop: Lets look at the approach we want to use. Shouting at children, punishing, or mocking them is not the way for them to quit and will most likely, they will go deeper with the habit. Here are some remedies:

• Admit the problem in front of them. Let them know it is a habit that he should do away with. Relay it in a casual manner.
• Try finding the cause of thumb sucking as it is usually either a casual habit or stress related.
• Offer a reward for not sucking.
• Wrap a cloth around the child's thumb, put some bitter material on it.
• Make the child sit in front of the mirror daily for a few minutes while they suck on their thumb, eventually, the child will feel embarrassed and want to quit themselves.
• An orthodontist can place an orthodontic appliance that will deter thumb sucking.
• You can also get a thumb guard 

Bottom line is this though, unless the child really wants to quit, he will find a way to suck his or her thumb. Small steps can be taken such as only sucking while they are at home and then only at nap time. Then only right before bed and slowly but surely, they will grow out of the habit. 

Bad Breath

Halitosis, commonly referred to as Bad Breath affects a large number of people throughout the world. There are many causes to this but there are at least seven most common ones:

• Accumulation of Food Debris: this is the most common reason of bad breath. The food is acted upon by bacteria which in turn gives off the rotten egg smell.
• Tooth Decay: this is an important cause of bad breath because it is active disease sitting there rotting your tooth from the outside in. 
• Dry mouth or Xerostomia: Saliva is an active bacterial fighter and when there is reduction of saliva, bacteria grows faster creating bad breath.
• Gum Disease and Periodontal Disease: these are active causes of bad breath as there is also active bacteria and infection at work in the gums and bone levels. Until you see a health care professional to clean it out and treat it, the bacteria will continue to grow giving off once again, bad breath.
• Smoking: this leads nicotine, tar, and other chemicals found in cigarettes to accumulate in your mouth and gums giving off "smokers breath".
• Severe Dieting: It is important to have a health diet for a number of reasons and this is just one of them. When you are malnourished, your mouth, teeth, and gums are affected and prolonged starvation or poor diet is a huge factor in this. 
• Extra-oral sources: Stomach problems, infections in the respiratory system, diabetes, and kidney dysfunction are just some of the few issues that also have a side affect of bad breath. 

The cure for bad breath: 

1. First and foremost, brush and floss everyday to keep the food that you eat everyday from attacking your teeth and gums and allowing the bacteria to grow. 
2. Second you need to brush your tongue, you can brush with your toothbrush or you can buy a toothbrush that has a tongue cleaner on the back of it. 
3. Keep your mouth wet with activating saliva. Drink plenty of water throughout the day, suck on a sugar free mint or chew sugar free gum. 
4. Don't rely on mints to cure your bad breath. It will only mask the odor for a certain period of time and when it wears off, you bad breath will still be there. 
5. Check your diet. If you have been eating garlic or onions, there is a huge contributor to your breath. However, when you eat meat, if there are any leftover particles in your mouth, those will give off odor until you get them out. Also you need to make sure that you are eating enough carbohydrates a day to stay out of Ketosis, a metabolic state that causes your body to burn fat instead of sugar. Ketosis is notorious for bad breath.
6. If you can't brush and floss after every meal, at least rinse your mouth after eating and drinking anything other than water. 
7. You can use natural resources to help keep bacteria down. Examples would be drinking green tea and also eating anything with mint, parsley, basil, cilantro and dill will work to temporarily mask odors. 
8. Eat sweet foods such as citrus, melons, and berries. They are packed with Vitamin C and the more C laden fruits you eat, the more oral bacteria you will kill. 
9. Stop the nicotine, smoking or chewing. No one likes to smell cigarettes or chewing tobacco and especially if you plan on kissing your partner, it would be in your best interest to stop the nicotine. 
10. Visit your dentist. If you notice after all of these other cures that you still have bad breath, go see your dentist and see what he recommends. 

Veneers versus Crowns

Veneers or Crowns... Many people want to get veneers or crowns on their front teeth to transform their smile. With veneers, there is very little tooth structure removed where as with crowns, you are taking away more tooth structure. Here at our office, we prefer to do veneers instead of crowns if we can to help save as much tooth structure as we can. The prices are usually the same for either one but it depends on whatever office you go to. Insurance will not cover veneers though so you do need to keep that in mind.

• A Veneers is a very thin piece of durable, tooth shaped porcelain that is custom made, by shape and color, by a dental professional. 
• A Crown is a covering that encases the entire tooth surface restoring it to its original shape and size. It protects and strengthens tooth structure that cannot be restored with fillings, Veneers, or any other type of restoration.

Benefits of veneers:

• Cosmetically, to create a uniform, white, beautiful smile
• Crooked teeth
• Misshapen teeth
• Severely discolored or stained teeth
• Teeth that are too small or large
• Unwanted or uneven spaces
• Worn or chipped teeth

Benefits of a crown: 

• Broken or fractured teeth
• Cosmetic enhancement
• Decayed teeth
• Fractured fillings
• Large fillings
• Tooth has a root canal

At your appointment, we prepare the teeth by lightly buffing and shaping the surface. We then take an impression and send it in to the dental laboratory. We give you a temporary crown or veneer for the next 2-3 weeks while the lab is making your permanent ones and then we bring you back for the final visit of permanently seating the crowns or veneers. 

TMJ, Grinding your teeth, Bruxism...

     When you wake up in the morning, do you often have a headache or tension in your jaw? Does your spouse or partner complain about you grinding your teeth in the morning when you both awake? If so, you are grinding your teeth experiencing bruxism.
Bruxism can lead to many problems:

• Extreme Toothaches
• Sensitivity to chewing food and biting down
• Sensitivity to hot and cold
• Tooth fractures and breaking down
• Tooth loss

     How can we tell if you are grinding your teeth? Your teeth get obvious wear from grinding away at each other just as you would if you take 2 like objects and rub them together constantly. There is a good prevention technique that we use and that is a night guard. There are 2 kinds of them. One of them will cover either the entire upper or lower arch and when you do close your jaw, your teeth are not rubbing. The other one is a small one that goes on the front upper 6 teeth and does not allow your back teeth to touch at all, leaving a nice small gap between all teeth when you have it in. 

     In advanced cases, after you have been seen by your general dentist, if he is unable to treat it due to the severity of the situation, he may refer you to a specialist. If you are experiencing any of these problems, please go in to your dentist and have him evaluate your jaw and see if a night guard would benefit you. 

Oral Piercings

      If you are one of the many people who loves oral piercings, there are several factors you need to be aware of. Your mouth contains millions of bacteria and infection is a common effect of oral piercings. So you will need to know the side effects, how to keep it clean, and how it effects your oral health.

• Infection: your risk of obtaining an infection will increase drastically due to the jewelry, the amount of handling it, and the bacteria in your mouth already.
• Disease transmission: there is a high risk factor for the transmission of herpes and Hepatitis B and C.
• Nerve Damage with excessive bleeding: depending on where you get pierced and how well the professional pierces you, swelling and prolonged bleeding may occur if blood vessels are punctures. If this happens, the swelling may block your airway and make breathing more difficult.
• Gum Disease: people with oral piercings have a higher risk of gum disease as the contact of the jewelry and gum tissue can cause injury and recession, resulting in tooth loss if not treated. 
• Damage to teeth: any teeth that come in contact with oral jewelry have a high risk of breaking, chipping, or cracking.
• Reaction to the metal: if you have a hypersensitivity reaction to the jewelry, this may be considered allergic contact dermatitis and you would need to see a doctor.
• Choking: there is always a chance that you may choke on this if it comes loose or if swallowed, can pose an injury to your lungs or digestive track.
• Function of speech: you will notice that at first, the jewelry in your mouth will cause you to produce an excessive amount of saliva. Taste alteration and drooling are to be expected as well. 

How to choose where to go. Visit the place you are going to. 

• Is it clean? 
• Do they use hospital grade autoclaves for sterilizing their instruments? 
• Do they use disposable gloves? 
• Do they have health certificates?
• Are their instruments kept in sterilized packages?
• Are all staff members vaccinated against Hepatitis B?

     If they do not have all of this information available for you, move on to the next piercing studio until you do find one that meets these qualifications.