To those of you that are always on top of your oral health routine we applaud you. Our office would like to make some suggestions for your after-meal routine.

Brushing and flossing after a meal can definitely be good for your mouth. It’s picking the right time to brush to be most effective that some need a little help with.

Your Teeth and Acid

During the course of eating and drinking, your teeth become coated with food particles and acid from the meal. It is important to remove the food particles, but the acid on your teeth makes that a problem. Following your meal, the acid softens the tooth’s enamel for about 30 minutes.

If you immediately start brushing, you run the risk of brushing the tooth’s protective layer right off of the tooth. By waiting about a half an hour to start brushing your teeth, you allow time for the enamel to harden back up. 

Cavity Fighting Tips While You Wait

Now that you understand the purpose of giving your teeth some time before you give them a good brushing, there are some other things to do to reduce the bacteria’s effects in your mouth. Immediately following a meal, rinse your mouth with tap water. Tap water contains fluoride that fights decay.

Follow it up by drinking a glass. This removes acid and bacteria lingering around. By chewing a piece of sugar-free gum, it is also effective at removing food particles and bacteria by causing your mouth to salivate.

By practicing these small tips you can ensure that the enamel on your teeth stays protected. The American Dental Association recommends that you only brush twice per day, for two minutes. Brushing too often can cause dental abrasion.

The removal of protective enamel. If you are going to brush following a meal, use a soft-bristled brush and light pressure. Our office is here to assist in all your oral care needs. For further questions or information, contact us today. 

Taking good care of your teeth isn’t just about having a killer smile and looking good; it could literally save you from cancer. A study by the Lancet Oncology found that men who have a history of gum disease face a higher risk of getting cancer than those who don’t.

The study was done on American men between the ages of 40 and 75. While the studies didn’t have any similar findings for women and other populations, that doesn’t mean you should slack.

Link Between Cancer and Poor Oral Health

One of the reasons why people with frequent gum infections face a higher risk of cancer, according to the study, could be the increased number of inflammations they suffer. The exact link, however, is still unknown.
It’s good to point out at this point that the overall increase in risk of getting cancer was 14%. That might sound low, but it is only the average of cancer as a whole. When considered individually, some cancers actually had a 30% higher than normal risk of occurring in men with a history of gum disease.

It was found that men with a history of gum disease had a 36% risk of getting lung cancer, a 49% risk of getting kidney cancer, and a whopping 54% percent risk of getting pancreatic cancer.

Why you Should Take Care of Your Oral Health

As you can see, your mouth is more closely linked to your body than it may seem at first glance. Ailments that start in the mouth can easily find their way into the rest of the body and wreak havoc. You should therefore take care of your mouth so that the rest of your body has something to be grateful about.

Make sure you brush and floss regularly and schedule regular visits to our offices. We’ll be able to identify most of the issues facing your oral health before they get serious and solve them immediately.

When getting veneers one of the key factors to take into consideration is the health of your gums. When veneer teeth are put on you still need to practice good oral care or it can cause issues with your gums that are much more difficult to resolve compared to your original teeth.

Your gums play a key role in protecting the veneered tooth as well as the root of the tooth. When getting veneers, the goal is to have a healthy sealed gum line even with your teeth. If the gum line possesses pockets or areas that are unbalanced high or low, we will correct it. 

Gum Contouring

After having veneers put in, occasionally, people can have gum lines that are too high, too low or even misshapen gums. This can affect the overall look of the veneered teeth, making them look skinny, small, or too large. Gum contouring is where the gum is reshaped by our dental office using scalpels and lasers to perform the contouring procedure.

A laser is used to re-contour and then seal the gum tissue, creating the ideal shape and preventing ongoing bleeding. Our dentist can also use the laser to eliminate hollow areas between your gums and teeth that trap bacteria.

Gum Disease with Veneer Teeth

If you do not practice good oral care or you come down with gum disease. The gums can recede, making them look overly long and put you at risk of receiving a cavity down under the gum line. If the root becomes exposed, either the gums will need to be contoured or we must place a new veneer.

If not fixed quickly, cavities can occur and burrow into the tooth and root.
When deciding to get veneers, our staff will need to address any issues that come up with your gums. The veneered teeth should seal perfectly with your gums.

We do gum contouring when needed to avoid any infection and to ensure the teeth look balanced and even. If it interests you in getting veneers but were cautious because of gum problems, call us today to schedule an appointment. Let us look and go over options available to you.

When your teeth become sensitive to hot and cold foods, it’s important to understand what’s causing it. Sweet and sour foods are a common trigger behind sensitive teeth. Understanding this will help you find a solution to your tooth sensitivity.

Why Your Teeth may be Sensitive to Sugar

It’s actually quite common for someone to say that their teeth are sensitive to sweet, sugary foods. This really isn’t much different from any other type of tooth sensitivity that someone may be suffering from. Regardless of the cause, your teeth become sensitive when you’ve lost at least some of the enamel that makes up the inner layer of your teeth.

This is where the nerve center of your teeth resides. You may also be eating too many foods that have a high acidic content – something that will also cause damage to your enamel. Once you’ve damaged your enamel, you’ll feel a sharp pain any time something comes into contact with the nerves in your teeth.

Keeping Your Teeth from Becoming Sensitive to Sugar

Once you notice that your teeth are sensitive to sugar, there are a few things you can do to help yourself feel better. First, make sure that you’re using a soft-bristled toothbrush so you’re not scrubbing your teeth too hard, which will make them feel worse.

Secondly, choose a toothpaste that’s specially designed to help with tooth sensitivity. These will typically contain stannous fluorides – an ingredient that’s been clinically proven to protect your teeth against sensitivity so you can enjoy sugary food without the pain.

Having sensitive teeth isn’t enjoyable. In fact, it can be downright painful. This is why you should contact our office right away to set up an appointment to discuss your sensitive teeth and what we can do to help them. We look forward to helping you feel better soon.

If you’ve been under a lot of stress lately, you may have noticed that you’ve been clenching your jaw more often than normal. If you’re clenching your teeth a lot, you may also be grinding them at night. That means you’re dealing with bruxism, a type of stress outlet that can greatly damage your teeth. Very few people grind their teeth simply to grind them.

Normally, it’s a sign of something else. While we may not necessarily be able to help you with the stress that’s causing your bruxism, we can help you deal with the grinding of your teeth.

Why Is Bruxism and Teeth Clenching Dangerous?

When you clench your teeth tightly together, you’re putting a lot of pressure on them. This isn’t normal pressure like the type you exert when you’re chewing food. Instead, it’s often much stronger, and that can cause your teeth to crack.

If you’ve been grinding your teeth a lot at night, you may have already weakened them because the grinding can wear down your enamel. Without this strong enamel to protect your teeth from pressure, you can cause serious damage when you clench your jaw.

What Can We Do?

One of the ways we can help you deal with bruxism is to give you a special mouthguard to wear at night. This will prevent you from grinding your teeth, so you won’t damage them. Once you’re aware of what you’re doing, you can also make a conscious effort to unclench your jaw if you find yourself doing it while you’re awake.

We will also work with you to help restore the enamel of your teeth and protect your mouth from further damage. If you know you’re clenching your jaw a lot or if you believe you’re suffering from bruxism, call us today. We’ll set up a consultation and help you deal with this damaging condition. 

Making sure you are hydrated is important for your body and for your oral health. Your body needs water to do its job and your oral cavity needs water to do its job. So, what does your oral health have to do with being hydrated? We can tell you in one word; saliva.

Saliva is crucial to your oral health. Without it, you will not only have gum problems, but problems with your teeth as well. If those two reasons aren’t enough to convince you, we will give you one more reason. If you don’t produce enough saliva you will have bad breath. No one wants their co-workers backing away from them when they talk.

What Does Saliva Do for Me?

Saliva is a crucial part of keeping your teeth strong and your gums healthy. When you eat or drink, remnants of the food or drink, stay on your teeth.

This is what you brush away with your toothbrush. But you can’t brush your teeth constantly. That is why you have saliva.

Saliva is like your body’s own mouthwash. It cleans the acids away from your teeth and gums until it is time for you to brush again. It has properties that neutralize the effects of the bacteria that live naturally in your mouth.

Most people at some time or another have experienced dry mouth. That is what we call it when you don’t produce enough saliva. You may also have noticed that when you have dry mouth your teeth may feel a little slimy and your tongue may feel strange. The roof of your mouth may also feel a little sticky.

You don’t normally feel like this. That is because normally you have sufficient saliva to clean away all of the gunk accumulating in your mouth over the day, in between brushings. If you stay sufficiently hydrated, you won’t have these problems.

What to do if you have dry mouth

Dry mouth can occur even if you drink plenty of liquids. Medications and diseases like Sjogrens syndrome and diabetes can cause dry mouth. There is an over the counter spray we recommend for our patients called Biotene. It can freshen your breath and alleviate some of the symptoms of dry mouth. People who suffer from dryness should also visit their dentist more frequently. The risk of decay increases dramatically in people with dry mouth.  We routinely put our patients at risk for decay on prescription fluoride.  This reduces the risk of decay by making your teeth stronger.

If you have to take medication that causes dry mouth, you should drink more liquids than usual to compensate for the medication.Please contact us at if you have any questions.

You may find the idea of eating seaweed fairly gross, but there are a few different reasons why consuming this type of algae is actually really good for you. Seaweed comes in a number of different forms, so it’s not like you’re pulling it directly out of the ocean and putting it on your plate.

In fact, you can add seaweed to a number of dishes so that you don’t realize you’re even eating it. Here are a few of the benefits you’ll enjoy if you do so.

It Contains a Good Amount of Vitamins

Adding a tablespoon of dried seaweed to a dish gives it extra flavor and texture, but it also gives you a good amount of vitamins. One tablespoon contains four grams of protein, some fiber, vitamins A, C, E, and K, and zinc, folate, magnesium, and calcium. Eating certain types of seaweed also provides your body with the essential amino acids it needs to function as well as omega-3 fatty acids. Your gums, mouth, and teeth need many of these nutrients to remain strong and healthy.

It Helps Control Blood Sugar

Diabetes can affect your oral health by creating a horrible cycle in which the diabetes lowers your body’s ability to battle infection, your gums become infected, and that infection then makes it difficult to control your blood sugar. This cycle makes both your gums and your diabetes worse over time. Eating seaweed can help manage your blood sugar levels better, allowing you to break this cycle and have healthier gums.

It Contains a Large Amount of Antioxidants

Seaweed also contains a good amount of antioxidants. This helps battle free radicals and can even help prevent certain diseases and digestive issues. While seaweed will certainly help improve your overall diet and help with your oral health, it’s not a miracle food. You’ll still need to make sure you brush regularly and visit us every six months for a checkup. Call today to schedule one if you haven’t already.

When you practice good oral health, you receive many benefits. Your breath smells better, your teeth are whiter, your gums are healthy, and you simply feel better about yourself. What many of our patients don’t realize is that bad oral health can also contribute to your general health.

This is particularly rued if you are obese. Recent studies indicate that obese people have more periodontal disease than the general population. The study theorized that it is because obesity causes inflammation and inflammation is associated with gum disease.

It is also an underlying the reason for other diseases such as certain cancers and also cardiovascular disease. It is important to keep your weight down to an acceptable medical level for many reasons, but us more research is completed, the connection between oral health and obesity will become clearer. In the meantime, keeping your teeth and gums clean can help you with your weight.

How Can Clean Teeth Make Me Lose Weight?

When your teeth are clean and your breath smells fresh, you are less inclined to eat food that may destroy that good feeling. But you still like the flavors to which you’ve become accustomed to and you may also have a habit of snacking at certain times during the day. That is fine.

None of the snack habit needs to stop except what you snack on has to change. Start with not eating hard candy anymore.

If you want something that needs to be crunched on and will also give your teeth a little cleaning, try eating carrots or apples. Both of these are hard enough to scrape your teeth as you chew them This is like eating your toothbrush. They also contain antioxidants.

These will help to destroy the free radicals that, combined with your mouth’s bacteria, decay your teeth or inflame your gums. Eating fruits and vegetables that help clean your teeth, will also help you to watch your weight.