WE’VE BEEN HEARING for decades how dangerous smoking is to many aspects of our health. As dental professionals, our focus is particularly on the dangers to oral health, including unsightly stains on teeth at the less serious end of the spectrum, to a massively increased risk of tooth decay and gum disease, to life-threatening oral cancer. …
THE REASON DAILY brushing and flossing are so important for keeping harmful oral bacteria populations under control is that they reproduce very quickly. In a healthy, clean mouth, there might be anywhere from a thousand to a hundred thousand bacteria on each tooth surface, but that can quickly become as many as a hundred million to …
IF EVERY BITE of ice cream or every sip of coffee gives your teeth a nasty jolt, then you know what it’s like to live with tooth sensitivity. At least one in every eight Americans (including kids) has sensitive teeth. Why does this happen to so many of us and what can we do about it? …
HERE’S A HANDY GUIDE that can help parents navigate the toothbrush aisle the next time they need to replace a child’s toothbrush (which should be every few months — certainly by the time the bristles look bent). Start out by choosing from toothbrushes with the ADA’s Seal of Acceptance. Manual or Electric Toothbrush? Next, electric or …
HAVE YOU EVER HEARD of “Mountain Dew Mouth”? It’s what happens to our teeth when we drink too much soda. The term comes from rural Appalachia, where that particular drink has long been the carbonated beverage of choice and tooth decay is alarmingly common. But this doesn’t just happen in Appalachia, and Mountain Dew isn’t the …
GROWING BODIES NEED a lot of fuel, and that means a lot of after-school snacks. The nature of those snacks can have a big impact on a child’s oral health during this critical period when they’re losing baby teeth and growing in their permanent set. So which snacks are the best ones if you’re trying to …
YOU MAY HAVE heard the insult “mouth-breather” in recent years thanks to the popularity of the show Stranger Things. There are actually many good health reasons to avoid breathing through your mouth if nose breathing is possible. We should consider mouth breathing an emergency backup, not our main way to breathe. In both the short term …
“SWIMMER’S CALCULUS” SOUNDS more like advanced mathematics than anything to do with teeth, but it’s actually the term for yellow or brown stains a swimmer can develop on their teeth after prolonged exposure to acidic chlorine ions in pool water. Tooth enamel is so vulnerable to acid that even mildly acidic pool water can increase the …
MOST MEDICATIONS come with a list of possible side effects, including side effects that impact oral health. These side effects are common even when the medications have nothing to do with your teeth or gums, so it’s helpful to know what you can do to balance necessary medications with maintaining a healthy smile. Oral Chemistry and …
A COUPLE OF the biggest rites of passage in childhood are the first baby teeth coming in and the first adult teeth coming in. We’re here to give parents a brief guide on the general timeline to follow. The Baby Teeth Schedule Baby teeth tend to arrive in pairs, alternating between the lower and upper arches. …
