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.
Dentistry is an ever-evolving field, and many dentists have gone ahead to revitalize their services and give patients new opportunities for restorative treatment. Many dentists often try to use modern innovation and technology to improve their practices and provide the latest methods for crowns, implants, and dentures. However, to provide these improved methods, dentists working to improve their services for their patients by following the latest trends, studying the research behind them, and getting the training and certification needed to qualify and administer the treatment. But what treatments are there, and why do dentists more often than not try and go for the latest treatments?
Restorative treatment is all about repairing and replacing damaged, chipped, or decaying teeth. These treatments aim to restore the function and appearance of people’s teeth to the point where those teeth can remain healthier longer. Thousands of dentists often specialize in restorative dentistry because there is a significant increase in the demand for these treatments. Why do people need restorative treatments? It’s often due to the high prevalence of oral health issues within the United States.
According to the CDC, adult oral health is at a significant decline due to varying factors, such as aging, poor diets, insufficient oral hygiene, financial difficulty, and misaligned teeth. When it comes to observing these issues:
As a result of aging and its effects on our oral health, restorative treatments work to retain and restore healthy teeth. Ultimately, it’s considered a multi-faceted challenge that needs innovation to truly enhance people’s oral health and prevent diseases.
So, what are the latest trends dentists have been following? Some of those trends include:
For more information on these trends, the best place to learn about them is through a visit with your dentist.
Smoking causes significant dental problems and is considered one of the largest causes of tooth decay, gum disease, and tooth loss among adults. Dealing with the symptoms of quitting smoking can be extensively long and challenging, and many people have begun moving towards vaping as an alternative solution to their smoking addiction. However, because vaping is still being researched and debated upon, there have been reports of vaping products and e-cigarettes being just as bad a tobacco products and other reports that show that vaping products could have some side effects on people’s oral health.
Studies from multiple sources, including resources such as the CDC, John Hopkins University, and other research journals, cite there are both potential harms to people’s overall health and oral health. Vaping can be seen as a tempting activity for young adults and adults wishing to quit smoking, but while it may sound enticing, there are certain factors people should be aware of when it comes to vape, including:
When it comes to the effects on oral health, those side effects are still being researched. However, according to studies from the Journal of Esthetic and Restorative Dentistry, the components of most vaping products, which include sucrose, sucralose, and other flavorings, can significantly accelerate the development of cavities and periodontal disease. In other studies, these sweet flavorings are often found in vaping products; it has cariogenic potential due to the physicochemical properties it has similar to high-sugar candies, acidic drinks, and gelatinous candies, and thus increases the risk of cavities in young adults and adults.
Quitting smoking can be especially hard, but the truest place to begin is by reaching out, finding resources that can help you, and speaking with your doctors about your addiction. Even when vaping presents fewer risks, the risks of nicotine addiction and cavities from vaping liquids can still exist. Speak with your doctor about these issues with programs, find better tools to help you quit smoking for good, and make sure to speak with your dentist about the potential effects of vaping and what you should do to keep your teeth and gums healthy.
One thing that you can say about avid exercise lovers, it’s hard to slow them down. Rain or shine, they’re out there sticking to their routine. Many of them love the struggle and challenges they face. If there’s anything that brings exercise fans and everyone else together, it’s tooth pain. Those who are genuinely driven to keep to an active routine often experience dental pain. This point is especially true among runners. If you’re one of those experiencing this and want to know what’s causing it, read on.
The exact reason that teeth hurt while exercising depends on your routine. The reason a runner’s teeth hurt is usually different than someone who loves the weight room. There’s some overlap, of course. We’re going to explore each of the reasons that exercise can make your teeth hurt and what you can do to help put a stop to it.
These are the most common oral health problems experienced by athletic individuals. The list above isn’t comprehensive. The nature of your exercise routine can have a definite impact on what you experience. One important thing to remember is that it’s always a good idea to wear a mouthguard while being active.
If you have a strenuous workout routine or are intending one, speak to your dentist. The insight they provide can help you prevent problems like the above. They can also provide custom mouth guards and other suggestions for lasting oral health. Don’t ruin your teeth while honing the rest of you! Call your dentist for help today.
As summer comes to an end, you and your family may want to try and get a few outdoor swims into your vacations. Getting into the pool and swimming is a great activity because it encourages exercise and is a fun way to bond with loved ones. It’s also an excellent activity for sports, especially for children and teenagers while growing up. Swimming, overall, is one of the easiest ways to exercise your entire body and have fun at the same time. However, there’s always a caveat with activities such as these. Swimming pools, depending on the chlorination levels, can harm our teeth and gums over time without proper care. Daily exposure to chlorinated water can increase the risk of tooth discoloration, enamel erosion, and toothaches over time.
So, if you want to be able to swim and care for your teeth, we’re here to provide this small guide for the rest of the summer on how to best care for your teeth while swimming.
Swimming is an excellent way to improve your cardiovascular health, endurance levels, and muscles over time. It’s an all-around body workout that improves lung capacity, muscle tone, and muscle strength, all while keeping you slim and fit. For children, it’s a great way for children to keep them exercising, help get any excess energy out of their system, and give them a great social avenue for playtime and friends. But when it comes to your teeth and gums, they’re most often susceptible to the amount of chlorine found in those swimming pools we all know and love.
Even swimmers that swim competitively will go out of their way to protect their teeth because studies have shown that competitive swimmers experience dental erosion and various other dental issues over time. This is most often due to the amount of chlorine exposure they experience while swimming competitively. Chlorine has various components that can lead to dental problems, such as:
When caring for your teeth this summer, the best place to start is to have you and your children wear mouthguards, especially if you all intend on swimming competitively throughout the summer or throughout the year. If you’re worried about the amount of chlorine in your pools, checking the pH levels can help you become more aware of what you’re swimming in and help you take care of your teeth this summer.
Having an occasional drink once in a great while can be an excellent way to relax and enjoy your evening, but consumed on a regular basis can be disastrous to your oral health. Consuming large amounts of alcohol three to four times a week has created clear physical and psychological patterns that are more harmful than good. For your teeth and gums, alcohol combined with poor oral hygiene is not a good combination. As extensive research looks into the effects of alcohol on the body and mind, we’re here to look at these drinks’ effects on our teeth and help you have better oral health.
For those who know how to drink alcohol, occasional drinks and drinks for celebrations can be an excellent way to spend time with friends and family. In moderation, alcohol consumption can be managed and enjoyed responsibly. However, the stages of alcoholism can occur quickly. The effects of consistent drinking are considered a biological issue rather than a moral one because it’s inheritable, and it creates a physical dependency by altering the brain’s chemistry and functioning, impacting the brain’s impulse control and decision-making process. By releasing these pleasure chemicals in response to alcohol, then it also creates a psychological dependency that’s difficult to remove and result in alcohol dependence.
As for how it affects oral health, having some form of alcohol dependency can impact our teeth and gums. These risks include:
Having alcohol dependency can be a struggle, but know there are resources out there that can help your recovery from your addiction and have a more fulfilling life. Find local recovery programs near you to help with your addiction, and if you have any oral problems, seek an appointment with your dentist to learn more about how to care for your teeth.
Many people agree that having a good night’s sleep can help us function better and have good health overall because this valuable time gives our bodies the time it needs to replenish our bodies and restore our immune system, body circulation, and respiration. It helps reduce stress, keeps our hearts healthy, and, most of all, restores our brain function to keep us awake throughout the following day. However, did you also know that sleeping can impact our oral health as well?
In fact, sleeping can be considered just as important as brushing and flossing your teeth each day. But sadly, not many of us get enough sleep to get all these benefits, either by choice or by intensive life schedules. For some, sleeping is considered a luxury, especially for those who have sleep apnea or intensive work schedules. With poor quality sleep, there are many negative side effects that can impact your oral health. We’re here to outline the benefits of a good night’s sleep and help educate you about some of the side effects of poor sleep.
As oral health specialists, our careers involve looking into how each and every aspect of our lives impacts our teeth and gums, and that includes something as small as sleeping. Sleeping and oral health are intricately connected because our sleep quality ultimately determines how our immune systems respond to various diseases present throughout our bodies. Our mouths are highly susceptible to diseases, serious infections, and conditions that need to be taken seriously.
If you constantly suffer from a poor night’s sleep, many problems can occur and develop, affecting your oral health and putting your teeth and gums at risk. These problems can include:
When it comes to sleep and your oral health, we recommend trying to get at least 8 hours of sleep each day. If you can’t abide by the full 8 hours, try and take naps throughout the day to supplement that loss of sleep. You can also seek out a sleep specialist to assess your health and help give you better sleep for longer. For symptoms of bruxism or TMJ disorder while sleeping, visit your local dentist or orthodontist to find the solutions you need for better sleep.
