As we age, we face a growing number of health issues, oral health among them. While it’s commonly thought that losing our teeth is normal as we age, this doesn’t have to be the case. With persistent oral hygiene and regular visits to the dentist, it’s possible to keep our teeth into our golden years. No matter your place in life, maintaining a healthy smile is important. Neglecting the health of your gums and teeth can cause serious consequences down the road. One of the biggest risks seniors face regarding their oral health is the onset of infections, dental pain, and tooth loss.
Studies done on the oral health of seniors show that maintaining their oral health can be a significant struggle. This is due both to the wear and tear of time, declining physical abilities, and reduced economic affluence after retirement. It’s common for those who lack proper insurance to have failing health, and this can contribute to oral health issues as well. Those who are over 65 demonstrate an increased risk of dental health problems. Common factors involved in declining health in the elderly include:
An inability to receive sufficient oral health care is a major contributor to dental problems in seniors. This, when combined with difficulty performing proper oral hygiene, creates numerous problems. These factors, along with those mentioned above, are involved in the prevalence of the following conditions in seniors:
Avoiding these problems as we get older can be difficult. After ensuring that you maintain a proper oral hygiene routine, the best preventative is bi-annual visits to your dentist. They’ll provide guidance on how to protect your teeth as you age. They can also provide preventative care options, such as dental sealants, that can help prevent decay.
Getting your braces off to see the final results of your orthodontic treatment can be an exciting time, but for some people, white spots can develop along the front of your teeth. These white spots, known medically as white spot lesions, are demineralized spots of enamel that don’t come off no matter how much you brush. For some, it can be disheartening to find that after their treatment that these lesions occur, but don’t worry – there are many ways that white spot lesions can be treated and why it’s important to treat them.
White spot lesions are demineralized spots of enamel that can occur on anyone’s teeth but are especially more prominent for those who have had braces or other forms of orthodontic treatment. Those who have had orthodontic treatment have an increased risk of developing white spot lesions, and this is due to the amount of plaque development that can easily occur along with the brackets of orthodontic appliances. Oral bacteria have the ability to deteriorate the enamel layer of the teeth, and orthodontic appliances can cause higher concentrations of acid along with the teeth, making it easy for white spot lesions to form. Over time, white spot lesions can also develop into cavities, and it’s important to get white spot lesions treated to help prevent ongoing enamel loss and cavity growth.
The best ways to treat white spot lesions are to prevent them from occurring altogether, but many orthodontists have other methods for treating enamel loss caused by white spot lesions. To help get rid of white spot lesions, here are some ways to treat and prevent them:
Your orthodontist may have more treatment options than listed to help remove white spot lesions and provide you with a healthier smile. While white spot lesions are a potential complication that can arise from braces, maintaining good hygiene and seeking treatment can be the best ways to prevent and remove these lesions for a healthier-looking smile. The best resource for learning more about your treatment options is to schedule an appointment with your orthodontist.
Many patients often experience feelings of nervousness and unease while visiting the dentist. This is a normal experience for many but can often be overcome during your appointment through consistent communication and quality care. However, consistent feelings of fear and worry at each visit can worsen over time and can cause delays in visits and potentially harmful diseases such as tooth decay and gum disease. When this occurs, it’s called dental anxiety. For people with this condition, it’s important to find ways to help manage feelings and fear and worry, and our job as dentists means that we need to provide alternative solutions to combat these fears. One way that dentists have been offering to patients with dental anxiety is laser treatments.
Laser dentistry incorporates the use of lasers in everyday procedures. These lasers are designed to deliver waves of energy in the form of light to help remove signs of bacteria. Laser dentistry has been an ever-growing niche over the last decade because it’s begun being used as a way to mitigate symptoms of fear and anxiety in patients, thus creating a more pain-free experience for them. By using these lasers, many dental procedures that are commonly performed can be done just as efficiently without impacting the patient and their emotional health, including:
Lasers can provide a gentler touch to normal, everyday dental procedures, but most of all can help people with dental anxiety get the treatments they need for healthy smiles. This painless, silent method can help remove any feelings of intensity and provide a reassuring experience that helps them build trust in their dentist. Researchers cite that lasers can provide a more accurate and effective method for cavity preparation than more traditional methods, especially for children and young teenagers with cavities.
Removing dental anxiety takes work and dedication, and for dentists, laser dentistry provides numerous growth opportunities. To learn more about laser dental treatments and how they can help you, finding a qualified laser dentist in your area is the best way to do so.
If you’ve recently visited an orthodontist and gotten braces, then you’re probably aware of how difficult it can be during the first few weeks of adjusting to your new treatment. Orthodontists can provide numerous methods for treating orthodontic pain, but what about your primary dentist? Your primary dentist can help relieve orthodontic pain through numerous strategies, and in this article, we’ll be sharing some of our secrets for helping patients adjust to their new orthodontic treatment and provide pain relief.
Primary Dentists and Orthodontic Pain Management
Pain is often a part of orthodontic treatment, especially when fixed appliances are used to correct the patient’s jawline and tooth formation. Orthodontic pain is often influenced by age, gender, pain tolerances, appliance type, and other factors, and it can vary from patient to patient. Orthodontists have a huge output of orthodontic pain management techniques under their belt, including both pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical methods. In these cases, orthodontists need to judge their cases individually to select the appropriate treatment for them and understand their patient’s threshold.
For primary dentists, however, while it may appear that our resources for pain management are limited, we also have a selection of pain management techniques to help patients with their orthodontic treatment. For many dentists, researchers are able to provide the latest methods for treating orthodontic pain and give them better resources for individual cases. Some of these findings include:
It’s important that, as dentists, we are aware of every factor involved with our patient’s pain levels, oral history, and other factors that may influence their pain management. Your orthodontist will most likely be able to provide other forms of treatment, such as oral numbing gel and orthodontic waxes, but for orthodontic pain when adjusting to braces, in some cases, the best remedy for pain relief is giving your mouth time to adjust to the treatment.
Seeking Dental Treatment For Orthodontic Pain
If you’re experiencing any form of dental pain, it’s important to see your dentist help negate the risk of cavities, gum disease, and other oral problems that may affect your health. By contacting your dentist today, you’ll be protecting your teeth and gums for life!
If you’ve recently visited an orthodontist and gotten braces, then you’re probably aware of how difficult it can be during the first few weeks of adjusting to your new treatment. Orthodontists can provide numerous methods for treating orthodontic pain, but what about your primary dentist? Your primary dentist can help relieve orthodontic pain through numerous strategies, and in this article, we’ll be sharing some of our secrets for helping patients adjust to their new orthodontic treatment and provide pain relief.
Pain is often a part of orthodontic treatment, especially when fixed appliances are used to correct the patient’s jawline and tooth formation. Orthodontic pain is often influenced by age, gender, pain tolerances, appliance type, and other factors, and it can vary from patient to patient. Orthodontists have a huge output of orthodontic pain management techniques under their belt, including both pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical methods. In these cases, orthodontists need to judge their cases individually to select the appropriate treatment for them and understand their patient’s threshold.
For primary dentists, however, while it may appear that our resources for pain management are limited, we also have a selection of pain management techniques to help patients with their orthodontic treatment. For many dentists, researchers are able to provide the latest methods for treating orthodontic pain and give them better resources for individual cases. Some of these findings include:
It’s important that, as dentists, we are aware of every factor involved with our patient’s pain levels, oral history, and other factors that may influence their pain management. Your orthodontist will most likely be able to provide other forms of treatment, such as oral numbing gel and orthodontic waxes, but for orthodontic pain when adjusting to braces, in some cases, the best remedy for pain relief is giving your mouth time to adjust to the treatment.
If you’re experiencing any form of dental pain, it’s important to see your dentist help negate the risk of cavities, gum disease, and other oral problems that may affect your health. By contacting your dentist today, you’ll be protecting your teeth and gums for life!
Restorative and cosmetic dentistry highly values its products – many of the tools often used at the office represent a huge investment into the practice itself and overall success rates for treatments. Many of the products used to provide us with the positive outcomes we’re looking for when treating patients from whitening treatments to composite bonding procedures. As the new year reigns in, we’re here to look at some of the top recommended products, what they offer in terms of innovation, and how they can be best applied in any practice for your care.
When you visit a cosmetic dental office, many of the procedures used to help correct your smile often rely heavily on the applications used. While the other parts of any procedure consist of technique and educational skill, having the right composite resin or whitening kit makes all the difference when it comes to caring for your teeth. Ultimately, the best cosmetic and restorative dentists will always be on the lookout for products that have a high success rate, a unique formula/application, and have been clinically studied and approved of by organizations such as the ADA and FDA for use.
So, let’s get started! Here’s a breakdown of the latest cosmetic and restorative products that dentist use and should use in their practice:
Overall, the world of dentistry presents a fascinating venture into how teeth are cared for and treated, and for us, it’s quite exciting! If you would like to learn about how your cosmetic procedures are performed, visiting your local dentist can help you gain more information about their products and services.
When your tooth is exposed to bacteria for long periods of time, cavities often develop due to the breakdown of enamel and poor enamel strength. However, some people may experience dentin hypersensitivity, a condition that causes constant tingling, sharp pain sensations to the pulp inside the tooth. The dentin is the inner layer of the tooth that’s more porous and lies directly beneath the enamel, and when hypersensitivity occurs, it can have a serious impact on a person’s quality of life.
Dentin hypersensitivity is typically caused by dentin exposure. Dentin exposure is usually caused by other preceding dental conditions such as cavities and gum recession caused by periodontal diseases. When recession of the gum line or enamel occurs, the dentin layer becomes directly exposed to hot or cold temperatures. It also comes directly in contact with foods that are excessively sweet, and from these places of exposure, extreme amounts of discomfort occur and, in some cases, excruciating pain.
However, there can be plenty of other underlying causes that can cause dentin hypersensitivity, as this condition primarily revolves around the exposure of the dentin layer. These other cases can include:
Some treatments that can be used to treat dentin hypersensitivity include lifestyle changes, dental restorations, and changes in dental products. In the meantime, you can also reduce the amount of acidic or sweet food you eat, change the products you use, and other methods to have better pain management. Your dentist will be able to offer you more advanced treatments to help address this discomfort and help lower your tooth sensitivity overall.
When it comes to treating dentin hypersensitivity, your dentist will need to diagnose the condition based on its severity and other presiding factors, such as cavities, gum disease, and tooth clenching. Connecting with your dentist to learn more about your treatment options can be the best way to find relief from this condition.
If you’ve been looking into some unique alternatives to fluoride, then xylitol has been known to help reduce the risk of cavities for both children and adults. Although this sucrose shows some amazing benefits for those sensitive to fluoride, many other studies have been looking into the effects of combining other ingredients with xylitol to see if we can improve our ability to fight off cavities and have healthier teeth for longer. One essential ingredient being studied lately is the effects of magnolia bark. To dive into this topic further, we’re here to help explain why xylitol and magnolia bark may have potential benefits for people’s oral health.
For those unaware of what xylitol is, xylitol is an artificial sweetener derived from plant materials and is most often extracted from birch bark, and is considered as sweet as sugar without the caloric intake. It’s a type of sugar alcohol that’s processed in our bodies similar to a carbohydrate, and when used in dental products, it provides some amazing benefits towards cavity prevention. Xylitol works to protect our teeth against cavities by reducing the growth of bacteria along with the tooth’s enamel. Because cavity-causing bacteria such as Streptococcus mutans often feed off of carbohydrates and sugars, xylitol’s molecular components ultimately prevent the growth and production of these strains of bacteria and thus result in fewer cavities.
So, what’s magnolia bark all about? Magnolia bark was traditionally used in Chinese medicine and is derived from the Magnolia tree bark. Researchers engaged with finding new methods for cavity reduction have found that magnolia tree bark oil may potentially reduce cavities due to its antibacterial effects to help protect the gums from gum disease and our teeth from cavities. This ingredient has begun being tested in chewing gums and toothpaste combined with xylitol, and it’s been found that magnolia tree bark helps reduce the enzymes produced by the Streptococcus mutans bacteria strain and thus preventing the growth of harmful bacteria.
While researchers are still looking into the long-term effects of magnolia bark, xylitol toothpaste is considered a highly recommended toothpaste alternative for children and those sensitive to fluoride. You can easily find xylitol toothpaste at your local store or supermarket, and if you want more information about how you can better improve your oral health, the best resource out there is your local dentist. Through your dentist, you can receive personalized information about how to best care for your teeth to keep them healthy and clean.
For dentists, bonding materials are the blueprint to any successful restoration. Bonding materials, also called bonding agents, are, in its simplest terms, sticky material that’s used to bond to the tooth’s surface and help attach restorative devices such as porcelain veneers and crowns to freshly treated teeth. Bonding agents, in particular, are wide and many among dentists, and for many practices, the search for the best bonding material is what keeps their practices going and their patients happy! But what’s the deal with bonding materials, how do they work, and what types are there that your dentist may use?
Luckily, we’re here to give a quick summary to help you understand the basics behind bonding materials, how they work, and why we use them to treat your teeth.
As one of the most basic procedures, dental bonding uses bonding materials to blend into the enamel and reshape the tooth back to an aesthetically pleasing form. In other methods, dental bonding is used similarly to glue, working to attack different restorations to the affected tooth to restore it back to health. When it comes to dental bonding, the basic steps of almost every dental bonding material operates through these approaches:
Through these techniques, dentists are able to manipulate the tooth’s surface and inner workings, but it’s essential for dentists to focus on removing the chance of tooth sensitivity as much as possible while working on bonding techniques for restorations. All three of these procedures are successful if done correctly, and these procedures all depend on the bonding agents to determine the technique used.
The world of bonding materials is complex and ever-expanding, especially as dental companies continue to innovate their products to cater to the needs of their practices. Bonding materials are often classified by generations, where the first and second generations began during the 1960s to 1980s, evolving over time into more complex but accurate forms of technique that today reduce the rate of failure and help save people’s teeth. The goal of bonding techniques is to use materials that have higher enamel bond strengths, less risk for tooth sensitivity, and create a smooth, clean surface that lasts for years.
For dentists, choosing the right bonding material is all up to their personal preferences. Their preferred techniques help determine the types of products they’ll use, and most of all, they’re able to help patients like you better through the right products.
Parents often face some unique challenges when it comes to maintaining their children’s oral health. Parents with special needs children often face uphill battles with their children’s dental care, as many children with special needs cannot perform their dental care on their own. Because of the assistance needed to brush and floss their teeth, giving them the encouragement and understanding they need to care for their oral health can leave many parents lost and feeling helpless in their struggles to care for their children. As family dentists, we’re here to give you the help you need by facing those challenges with you.
Children with cognitive disabilities, including autism, cerebral palsy, and Down syndrome, often face challenges with daily activities. Self-care activities can be impossible to perform on their own, and these children often need help to maintain good health. One of the biggest issues that arise from these situations is that children with special needs or disabilities are more likely to develop dental problems and thus require more extensive medical and dental care due to these limitations. However, many of the dental issues children with special needs face can also result from various factors not normally considered by parents, including:
Even with these challenges, your family and pediatric dentists can offer many ways to help you care for your children’s teeth and encourage them to brush and floss. Creating a positive experience for your children is vital when it comes to their dental care, and some of the ways that you can help encourage your child to brush their teeth are through options such as:
When it comes to oral health, it takes time, planning, and an immense ability to help manage the challenges with their needs, and while oral care isn’t always easy, your dentist can help you make it work.
Those who have children with ADHD know how difficult it can be to keep them on a routine. They can instruct their child to take care of their oral hygiene and find them still at play fifteen minutes later. Repeated requests result in the same result, with nothing changing until the parent oversees. This aspect of life with a child with ADHD repeats itself in every aspect of the child’s life. This can have enduring consequences for the child’s oral health, as it isn’t always possible to stand over them.
The above scenario may sound familiar if you have a child with ADHD. You’ve probably seen some of the long-term consequences of these behaviors. Even still, you may not be aware of the potential risks your child faces. You may also be unaware of some of the symptoms your child is experiencing that are associated with their condition. Some of the consequences for an ADHD child as it pertains to their oral health includes:
These symptoms can make maintaining the oral health of a child with ADHD difficult. The most effective step you can do to help your child is to work closely with your dentist. New techniques in care are developed each day that help dentists work with children like yours. They can also offer options like dental sealants to minimize the damage they experience.
There are a variety things parents can do to help their child with ADHD keep up their dental health. Some dentists will give children tours of the facilities or interact with the child more directly throughout their care. Important step parents can take providing the child with their medication before the visit. It’s also important that you communicate your child’s condition to the dentist before the visit. Ensuring they know about your child’s ADHD means they can properly plan their visit to make it successful.
