Cosmetic Dentistry Blog

Now that Halloween has come and gone, your ghouls now have bags full of candy that they want to eat all the time.
   
Relax parents, The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry says Halloween comes once a year and children can enjoy their treats without harm to their teeth, if the snacking is done sensibly.

Believe it or not, candy is no more likely to cause cavities than most other foods. What is important is how often a child eats. When food is eaten, bacteria living in the mouth produce acid. The acid remains in the mouth for 20 minutes after eating. Children who snack or eat frequently then have multiple acid attacks on their teeth that can lead to tooth decay.

Here are some Halloween candy eating tips for your kids:

Limit how much Halloween candy your children eat. Don’t allow them to store their candy in their room, this makes it less tempting.  

Serve Halloween candy right after meals. Allow children to choose one or two pieces of candy after lunch and/or dinner since an acid attack is already underway due to the meal. Also, increased saliva production will help naturally wash away sugary candy particles and reduce the risk of tooth decay.

Offer your children sugarless gum after they enjoy their candy. Sugarless gum, approved by the American Dental Association, increases saliva production and helps wash away candy particles.

Practice good oral hygiene, including brushing teeth  twice daily and flossing once daily.

Visit your child’s pediatric dentist for regular checkups. Pediatric dentists have specialized training and experience caring specifically for children’s teeth.

Following simple dental hygiene, your children can enjoy the treats from Halloween without the dangers of tooth decay. Help them enjoy Halloween candy in moderation while continuing good oral hygiene and regular dental checkups. Contact Dream Smile Dental for a pediatric dentistry appointment.

Invisalign can help with many cases from simple to more complex, including crowded teeth and underbites to jaw problems to teeth misalignment.  And they're basically invisible so most people won't even notice you're wearing them.

The dentists at Dream Smile will determine if Invisalign is right for you. If so, we will take x-rays and impressions of your teeth, which Invisalign will use to create a digital 3-D image. With these images we will create a precise treatment plan, including the exact movements of your teeth. Then a series of custom-made, clear aligners are created specifically for you and your mouth. These are made of a smooth, comfortable plastic.  You wear Invisalign throughout the day, and as you wear them, your teeth gradually shift gently into place.

Similar to braces, in cost, Invisalign also helps with problems like spaced teeth, cross bites, underbites, and crowded teeth. However, there are many advantages to invisalign over braces. While the results are the same, a new and confident smile, when comparing options there are many benefits to invisalign. With invisalign you can eat any foods; the aligners are removable making eating and brushing and flossing easier for better periodontal health; and the smooth comfortable plastic is easier on your cheeks and gums than metal braces. Additionally, there are less office visits than with braces. Invisalign visits range from every 4 to 6 weeks. Contact Dream Smile Dental for a consultation. See if Invisalign is right for you.

Halitosis is the technical name for bad breath. Halitosis is the third-most-frequent reason for going to the dentist, behind tooth decay and periodontal disease. The intensity of bad breath changes during the day, because of eating certain foods, obesity, smoking, and alcohol consumption. Bad breath may be transient or persistent. Transient bad breath disappears after eating, brushing, flossing, or rinsing with mouthwash.

Persistent or chronic bad breath is a more serious condition, affecting 25% of the population in varying degrees. At Dream Smile Dental, we have some tips for you to rid yourself of bad breath.

Tongue scraping- Bacteria collects on the tissue of your tongue and causes a bad odor. To avoid this, brush your tongue while brushing your teeth with your tooth brush or a tongue scraper.

Regular flossing- Bacteria can colonize in the gums between the teeth and if not removed at least once per day, an unpleasant odor can result. The solution: Floss at least once per day!

Regular hygiene visits- The hygienist uses special instruments to remove plaque and calculus leaving your teeth biologically sound. A toothbrush and floss alone, no matter how frequently used, cannot reach areas that the dental hygienist can. It’s important to attend regular hygiene visits to stop periodontal disease from developing.
 
Regular Dental Exams- Tooth decay is also a form of disease. Bacteria cause the tooth to erode which releases a foul odor. To detect any untreated decay it’s important to come in for a dental exam at least twice per year.

Regular use of alcohol-free mouthwash- Mouthwash helps lower the level of bacteria that causes bad breath. We recommend using alcohol-free mouthwash to prevent from dry-mouth.

Chewing sugar-free gum with xylitol- Chewing gum helps loosen soft depositing that may accumulate on your teeth after eating and in between brushing.

The right toothbrush- An electric toothbrush is far superior in removing the bacterial layer than a manual toothbrush. Use an electric toothbrush and make sure to replace the head every 3 months.
 

Kids should be taught all about good dental health, beginning with brushing and flossing, and ending with visits to a pediatric dentist twice a year.  Most children understand that they need to brush morning and night. But getting them to go to the dentist may be an entirely different story.

At Dream Smile Dental, we know how hard it is for parents to convince their child to go to the dentist. Inherently, many kids are afraid of the dentist, most likely because they hear adults worrying about it. If your child does not want to go to the dentist, please don’t put it off. Oral health is very important in children and neglecting oral health can lead to other health problems as well as serious oral problems as an adult. Help your child overcome their fear of the dentist.
 
Firstly, don’t let them hear you complaining about going to the dentist, or overhear your fears of the dentist chair. Talking to them about the importance of dental health can have very positive results. Talk to your kids and tell them why it is important to visit the dentist.

Try to make the visit as fun as possible. In fact, at Dream Smile Dental, we have a WII which your child can play as they wait. This may be encouragement enough! Talk to them about our Cavity Free Club. There are many benefits to joining, not the least of which is great oral health. But even better according to the kids, is getting their picture on our website, along with an initiation certificate. If they become the member of the week, they will even have their picture in the newspaper!

Pediatric Dentistry is very important for good oral health. At Dream Smile Dental we want to help you foster this in your children. Contact us with questions or for an appointment today.
 

Open communication with your child is the best way. Talk to your child about your personal experiences with dentists, proper brushing, and other oral hygiene practices so your child can relate to what you're saying. Your child's oral health sometimes depends on the attention you give so make sure that you give your child enough time.

Most people only visit the dentist when there is a problem with their teeth. The mentality is "My teeth don't hurt. Why go to a dentist?" However, visiting a dentist regularly can actually help to prevent tooth pain before it becomes a problem.

The American Dental Association recommends that you visit your dentist every six months. During these regular checkups, your dentist will perform an oral cleaning, X-rays, and a physical examination of your teeth. These measures are taken to prevent tooth decay and catch potential problems early on, before they get out of hand.

You may be saying, "But I take good care of my teeth". This may be true, but despite your efforts to keep your teeth clean by brushing, flossing, and using mouthwash, there are still areas of your teeth that you cannot effectively clean. Visiting a dentist regularly can help to ensure that these areas are cleaned properly preventing tooth decay that often leads to tooth pain.

Tooth pain is an unnecessary situation. The dentists at Dream Smile Dental can ensure that your teeth are healthy and well cared for. However, tooth pain can sometimes be the least of your worries if you continuously skip visits to your dentist. Tooth pain is usually a sign of tooth decay. Although you may not realize it, this can be a very serious situation. Decaying teeth often develop pus-filled pockets called an abscess. An abscess, if addressed early on, can be cured by either antibiotics or by treating the affected tooth. If left untreated, you may risk losing your tooth which can lead to an unhealthy bite as well as digestive problems

Visiting your dentist twice a year can help to prevent problems with your teeth in the future. It also ensures that any existing problems are addressed before they become serious. If you have not seen your dentist recently, consider making an appointment today.

Most dental problems can be avoided by educating your children on the importance of dental hygiene at an early age. Teaching them to brush regularly is just one part of the education process. We need to teach our kids the importance of brushing and flossing, but we need to teach them how to look after their teeth in other ways as well.

We all know that sugar is bad for the teeth, unfortunately it also tastes great. It is not possible to just cut sugar out of the diet. Kids and sweets just attract each other like metal and magnets. What we can do though is teach the kids to moderate the amount of sugar they eat. We need to provide alternatives in the lunch box and teach them that fruit is also a snack.

When the kids do snack, show them that a drink of water after the snack will help remove the sugar from the mouth area. Make it a condition of the snack that they drink a glass of water after they have finished eating. Try and get them to swish it around the mouth before swallowing. It is about minimizing the time the mouth is in contact with the sugar.

Be careful of the chewy sweets as they often stick in the small gaps of the teeth causing problems. It is advisable to avoid these types of sweets, especially if it will be a long time until the next brushing and flossing. If the kids insist on these treats then get them to brush their teeth afterwards as a condition, kids will do just about anything for sweets. Encourage your kids to drink juices and milks rather than fizzy soft drinks and cordial. By drinking milk they will also get the benefit of calcium, an essential mineral to healthy teeth and bones.

The key here is to teach our children that sugar is fine, as long as we eat in moderation and take the proper steps, like drinking water after a snack. Again it is the younger kids that will pick up on this faster, but with persistence and some advice you can easily teach your children the importance of diet and how that links to healthy teeth.

Have you had your dentist ask you questions like, “Are you snoring or sleeping bad?' or “Do you suffer from halitosis no matter what you eat or do?' or “Do you suffer from acidity?' This is usually the dentist trying to figure out if you have other health problems due to bad oral health. Very often poor dental health is actually a pointerknowing about.

Mouth odor which is so terrible and everyone hates, could be the result of poor digestion, bad eating habits, gastroenteritis, and many other similar problems. High acidity also causes yellowing of teeth, plaque and even cavities. Snoring is another example where oral health points to underlying health problems - in this case it is respiratory disorders.

Recent studies show that even heart diseases could be detected through the analysis of the condition of your oral health. Tooth infections and abscesses can influence the immune system to such an extent that the heart would be affected as well. When there are acute and continuous recurring infections of the jaw bone in particular, it is often a pointer that the heart is under threat as well.

This is why it is important to visit us at least every six months so you would not only ensure the health of your teeth but also your health overall. Our professional dental staff would be able to tell you whether what you are suffering from is due to poor dental hygiene or poor eating habits.

There are a few things that you should always do to ensure that your teeth stay healthy and disease free.

1. Brush your teeth two to three times a day - generally the best habit is to brush immediately after a meal. However, brushing 2-3 times a day would suffice. Brushing usually helps to remove any remaining food particles from in-between teeth and also wash away any acidic remnants.

2. Flossing is a must - flossing is once again a very important daily activity which you should never ignore.

3. Avoid sugary foods - Generally speaking this creates acidity and gastric problems. When sugary matter remains on the teeth it weakens the enamel and causes cavities.

It is very important that you pay attention to the health of your teeth and mouth in general for neglecting this aspect may impact negatively the rest of your body.If you are experiencing bad oral health  problems or haven not visited us in the last six months contact us and set up your schedule today.

Proper flossing technique is a must for good oral health as it removes plaque and food particles in places where a toothbrush cannot easily reach — under the gum line and between your teeth. Because plaque build-up can lead to tooth decay and gum disease, flossing properly each day is highly recommended.  To receive maximum benefits from flossing, use the following proper technique:

• Starting with about 18 inches of floss, wind most of the floss around each middle finger, leaving an inch or two of floss to work with
• Holding the floss tautly between your thumbs and index fingers, slide it gently up-and-down between your teeth
• Gently curve the floss around the base of each tooth, making sure you go beneath the gum line. Never snap or force the floss, as this may cut or bruise delicate gum tissue
• Use clean sections of floss as you move from tooth to tooth
• To remove the floss, use the same back-and-forth motion to bring the floss up and away from the teeth

The are two types of floss and both are ADA approved care products:

• Nylon (or multi-filament) floss
• PTFE (mono-filament) floss

Nylon floss is available waxed and unwaxed, and in a variety of flavors. Because this type of floss is composed of many strands of nylon, it may sometimes tear or shred, especially between teeth with tight contact points. While more expensive, single filament (PTFE) floss slides easily between teeth, even those with tight spaces between teeth, and is virtually shred-resistant. When used properly, both types of floss are excellent at removing plaque and debris from your teeth.

It is imperative to learn to floss correctly at a very young age.  Our Dentists are skilled at communicating and teaching your children solid dental hygiene techniques.  Take advantage of our special offer for new pediatric patients that includes exams, x-rays, cleaning, and of course floss education all for $99, a $325 dollar value. Our offer is good through October!