This 8-part series provides an in-depth look at seven different habits, addictions and behaviors that are deadly to your oral health.

Welcome back to our 8-part article series on the different habits, addictions and behaviors that are deadly to the health of your teeth and gums. In our previous installment, Part 3, the Rutherford dental implants specialist discussed deadly dental sin # 2: tobacco-use. In this article, the fourth installment of the series, the focus will be on deadly dental sin # 3: avoiding those essential bi-annual appointments with the dentist!

When Last Did You See Your Dentist?

Did you know that “odontophobia” – fear of the dentist and of dental treatment – is one of the more common fears experienced by Americans? Just about everyone has a horror story they’ve heard from a friend of a friend and with popular scary movies depicting dentists as crazy-eyed, drill-wielding maniacs, it’s no wonder we harbor a little anxiety around our bi-annual check-ups. What it shouldn’t do is keep us from regular scheduled appointments with the dentist and dental hygienist.

Do you avoid taking your child for his or her vaccinations because they hate needles? Nope!

Avoiding the dentist because you’d rather not deal with the fear, anxiety or insecurities you may have is one of the most counter-intuitive things you can do. Why? Because avoiding the dentist allows illnesses, infections, decay and cavities to go undiagnosed and untreated. These problems seldom “go away on their own.” In fact, they tend to progress and before you know it you’ve got a serious oral health problem that cannot be ignored:

For example: A surface cavity left without treatment can lead to decay of the entire crown of the tooth. If a root canal procedure cannot save the tooth, then it will need to be extracted and replaced with a dental implant.

By this stage you actually can’t ignore your oral problem anymore, you’ve not only risked doing permanent damage to your teeth and gums, perhaps even resulting in tooth loss, but the treatment required to fix the problem is far more complex. And by “complex” we mean invasive, possibly surgical, and expensive.

Prevention is Better Than Cure

Going to the dentist once every six months is essential for the maintenance of great oral health via prevention. Your dental healthcare professional will cast a trained eye over each and every tooth – looking for signs of infection, cavities or decay. Should he or she find any, they can provide quick and effective treatment that can generally be done within an hour’s appointment. A professional cleaning will remove any accumulations of plaque and tartar, leaving your pearly whites feeling squeaky clean and looking great.

If you do suffer from an actual phobia of dental treatment or some other associated factor, such as needles, ask your dentist about sedation, rather than avoiding your appointments all together. Remember these two things: (1) when it comes to the health of your teeth and gums, prevention is always better than cure and (2) the media may portray dentists to be bloodthirsty lunatics, but the reality is substantially less exciting, although there may be a lollipop in it for you if you behave well… just remember to brush after enjoying it!

Stay Tuned for Part 5

Stay tuned for the fifth installment of this 8-part article series in which Stratford dental implants specialists discuss the number four transgression against good oral health: a bad diet that’s high in sugar and low in nutrition.

This article explores three important lessons to learn about oral health and hygiene. By changing the way one thinks about these things, habitual improvements can be made.

There are a number of things every Rutherford dental implants specialist and general dentist wishes their patients knew. Perhaps then, we might stop making the same silly mistakes and actually take proper care of our teeth and gums! But above all of the lessons our dental healthcare professionals wish we would learn are the following…

Lesson # 1: It is not normal for your gums to bleed.

Typically there are only two reasons why gums bleed:

1. They have become weakened by bacterial infection and therefore tear more easily when brushing and flossing.
2. They have sustained some kind of trauma, for example, biting down on something sharp or via brushing too hard.

“If you are gentle when you brush and floss and your gums still bleed, then you should go and see your dentist,” say Rutherford dental implants specialists. “It’s possible that you have a mild to moderate bacterial infection of the gums.”

The bottom line here is that your gums should not bleed when you brush or floss them.

Lesson # 2: Flossing is AS important as brushing

Brushing is simply not effective in removing the accumulation of plaque and food debris from between your teeth, so if you don’t floss you are permanently leaving all this junk there to sit and fester. In fact, if you don’t floss your teeth, you are leaving 35% of your tooth surfaces unclean! The places that floss reach – between the teeth and under the gums – are the most likely to harbor disease. Brushing alone is ineffective, so start flossing every night before you go to bed.

Lesson # 3: Believe it or not, but your mouth is a part of your body!

Most patients fail to appreciate the link between the health of your mouth and the health of your body. This is strange because your mouth is a major gateway into your body. If it is riddled with bacteria and infection, the rest of you will become exposed to some pretty harmful pathogens! Not only will you be repeatedly ingesting oral bacteria, you’ll also be breathing it in, which can make you pretty sick.

To highlight just how poor people’s regard is for the mouth-body connection, ask yourself this question: why are there separate medical insurance types/schemes for dental and medical care? Your oral health is inextricably linked with the health of the rest of your body; a point that is illustrated by the connection between gum disease and the following serious and in some cases, potentially fatal conditions:

• Heart disease
• Gastric problems
• Respiratory disease
• Liver and kidney disease
• Diabetes
• Rheumatoid arthritis
• Osteoporosis
• Alzheimer’s disease
• Risk of stroke
• Oral cancer
• Pre-term labor and low birth weight babies

“The important message for all Americans to learn is that disease and infection in the mouth affects the rest of the body and in a potentially devastating way,” say All On Four implants specialists. “This is not even to mention the effect oral disease and tooth loss has on quality of life, bite function and the appearance of your smile.”

What You Can Do

What you can do – what we can all do – is try to look after our teeth and gums a little better. This means regular and thorough brushing and flossing and regular visits with the dentist and oral hygienist. And if your gums bleed when you floss… speak to your dentist!

This article discusses the various possible causes of tooth sensitivity and the habits patients can try to avoid in order to lessen gum recession and enamel erosion.

Sensitive teeth are remarkably common. Have you ever taken a sip of hot coffee and winced at the stinging ache in a tooth or teeth? Or perhaps you’ve tried to enjoy your favorite pistachio ice-cream only to find eating it an exercise in some serious tongue acrobatics as you try to avoid the ice-cream touching a sensitive tooth.

“If you’ve noticed one or more of your teeth reacting badly – experiencing any kind of pain and discomfort – in response to foods and beverages that are either hot or cold, you probably have sensitive teeth,” say Rutherford dental implants specialists.

What Causes Teeth to Become Sensitive?

There are a great variety of factors that can cause teeth to become sensitive. But what usually happens to make them react badly to temperature extremes is the exposure of the tooth root structure.

“The roots of your teeth are usually covered by gum tissue and only the crowns are visible above the gum line,” explain Rutherford dental implants specialists. “Should the roots become exposed – and this can happen in a number of ways we shall get to momentarily – the part of the tooth that is riddled with tiny pores or tubules (the dentine) comes into direct contact with whatever’s in your mouth, be it hot coffee or cold ice-cream. Your tooth aches in response to this exposure because each of these tiny tubules is connected to a nerve ending, so it feels extremely sensitive. Exposure of the dentine can also happen via the erosion of the enamel covering your tooth crown.”

What causes this to happen?

“Gum recession or erosion of the dental enamel,” explains an All On Four implants specialist. “The more porous and sensitive tooth root can become exposed by gum recession and the dentine underlying the protective enamel of the tooth crown can become exposed through erosion.”

Essentially, whatever process leaves the dentine exposed can render your teeth sensitive. This may include:

• Bruxism or teeth grinding,
• Overaggressive brushing,
• Consuming too many acidic beverages,
• Over-use of tooth whitening products.

Habits to Change

Brushing too hard and too aggressively is a major cause of enamel erosion, especially if you brush immediately after a meal when the pH levels in your mouth lean towards being acidic. Acid softens your enamel making it more vulnerable to erosion. This is why Rutherford dental implants specialists recommend that you wait 30 minutes after a meal before brushing your teeth. Alternatively, you can chew sugar-free gum with Xylitol to help remineralize your teeth or wash your mouth out with plenty of water.

‘If the bristles of your toothbrush become frayed after only a few weeks’ use, then you are pushing down too hard when you brush,” say Rutherford dental implants specialists. “Your choice in beverages is also important. A diet high in fruit juice, alcohol, soda, coffee, tea and energy drinks can exacerbate erosion of the enamel, leading to heightened sensitivity.”

If you have already suffered advanced erosion or gum recession, you should speak to your dentist about your treatment options. You may require a gum graft to cover the exposed tooth roots or bonding to cover up regions of the tooth where the dentines – and delicate nerve endings – have become exposed.

This 8-part series provides an in-depth look at seven different habits, addictions and behaviors that are deadly to your oral health.

Welcome back to our 8-part article series on the different habits, behaviors and addictions that are deadly to your good oral health. In our previous installment, Part 2, we began our journey through the different sins that could end you up in the Rutherford dental implants specialist’s chair requiring new teeth. Deadly dental sin # 1 is poor oral hygiene and neglecting to brush and floss your teeth regularly and thoroughly. In this article, we’ll be focusing on deadly dental sin # 2: tobacco-use.

The Dangers of Smoking and Tobacco-Use

Smoking is terrible for your health. Virtually every body knows this. But why smoking is bad for your oral health is quite an interesting story to tell and understanding the various mechanisms behind this deadly dental sin may just provide smokers with the encouragement (or shock and horror) they need to quit. So, why is smoking bad for your oral health?

1. Smoking Irritates the Soft Oral Tissues

The chemicals in tobacco smoke, as well as the sheer heat of the smoke itself irritates and inflames the delicate soft tissues in the mouth – the inner cheeks, gums, tongue and soft palate. It also inflames the salivary glands.

2. Smoking Causes “Dry Mouth”

Tobacco-use retards the natural production of saliva in the mouth, which leads to a greater production of plaque and tartar. Saliva is your body’s natural defense against oral bacteria. It not only helps to flush out food debris, it also contains natural anti-bacterial properties. Therefore, when there is a chronic shortage of saliva, the mouth is far more likely to succumb to infection and periodontal (gum) disease, caused by excessive bacterial activity.

3. Smoking Interferes with Normal Cell Function

Smoking actually interferes with the normal functioning of gum tissue cells, rendering smokers more susceptible to infection, gum disease and potentially fatal cancer.

4. Smoking Slows the Rate of Healing

Tobacco-use thickens the blood, slowing the rate of healing in the mouth. This means that a smoker who has accidentally, for example, cut their gum, is at a higher risk of infection than a non-smoker. The same applies to post-operative healing. Smoking can reduce the success rate of surgical procedures, such as dental implant placement, and prolongs healing. Norwalk dental implants specialists generally recommend that patients cease smoking a few weeks prior to surgery.

There’s No Way around It…

Tobacco-use is just plain terrible for your general and oral health. Whether you smoke it, chew it or snort it and whether you smoke cigarettes, light cigarettes, infinite light cigarettes, cigarillos, cigars, cheroots or any other imaginable tobacco product… it’s bad for you and it causes:

• Chronic bad breath
• Tooth discoloration and staining
• Inflammation of the gums and oral soft tissues
• Inflammation of the salivary glands
• “Dry mouth”
• A greater risk of oral infection
• The faster build-up of plaque and tartar
• Periodontal (gum) disease
• A lower chance of surgical success, especially with implant placement
• Oral cancer

Stay Tuned for Part 4

Stay tuned for the fourth installment of this 8-part article series in which Rutherford dental implants specialists discuss the number three transgression against good oral health: avoiding the dentist.

"This article explores the effects tooth loss has upon our self-esteem and confidence. It then continues to discuss what dental implants are and the many benefits they offer."

Rutherford dental implants offer patients presenting with single and multiple missing teeth a comprehensive and long-term tooth replacement solution. Our teeth, as strong and resilient as they may seem to us, are vulnerable to general wear-and-tear, decay, dental caries and of course, accidental trauma. Consequently, as we age (although trauma received to the face and mouth is not age-discriminating), we may find that we start losing some of our original adult teeth. Now, we need not think long and hard about the impacts missing teeth have upon the aesthetics of the smile, not to mention the overall functionality of the oral cavity as a tool for chewing and articulation in speech. It can be socially crippling. Not only are you painfully aware that you have a ‘gappy’ smile, but struggling to eat and speak properly also has severe impacts upon your confidence and self-esteem. The most important advancement dental science has made in recent decades is Rutherford dental implants, which are capable of completely restoring oral aesthetics and functionality!

Rutherford Dental Implants: How They Work

Rutherford dental implants are artificial ‘tooth roots’ made from the incredibly strong, durable, non-corrosive and lightweight metal, titanium. The choice of this metal in dental implantology dates back to pioneering work done by Swedish professor and orthopedic surgeon Per-Ingvar Brånemark, who found that titanium displays the unique property of ‘osseointegration’. This is the process whereby a strong biological bond with bone is established, thus enabling Rutherford dental implants to remain ‘anchored’ in the bone of the jaw without the support of surrounding teeth and gums. This finding completely revolutionized the field of both medical and dental science as it essentially enabled surgeons and implantologists to repair and replace bones and joints (and of course, teeth) in the human body. So, the conception of Rutherford dental implants in the early 1950’s led to massive technological and scientific developments in subsequent decades to the point we are now; capable of replacing single and multiple missing teeth, even in one day:

• Rutherford dental implants function much like the tooth/teeth they are replacing so that you may return to your normal eating habits once healing has properly taken place. They facilitate a much stronger bite force than traditional tooth replacement technology, such as dentures.

• Rutherford dental implants are virtually indistinguishable from the tooth/teeth they are replacing: One of the main reasons patients seek out Rutherford dental implants is to restore the aesthetics of their once full and beautiful smiles! As a result, a great amount of precision, effort and time goes into the fabrication of each implant so that it not only fits snugly in the jaw bone, but it is also virtually indistinguishable from the tooth it is replacing.

• Rutherford dental implants feel similar to natural healthy teeth: after healing, typically there is absolutely no pain or discomfort in the mouth. Furthermore, being anchored in the jaw allows them to feel as secure as their original tooth/teeth when they were in a healthy condition.

A Final Note…

Rutherford dental implants offer patients a long-term solution to single and multiple missing teeth that, if looked after, can last as long as 20, 30 years or more! Don’t opt for inferior dental technology when a much improved quality of life is afforded by these ingenious dental devices.