Having sensitive teeth stinks. Plain and simple. It hurts to eat, drink, and sometimes, even venture outside in the wrong kind of weather. Thankfully, there are some things that you can do to help protect your teeth from extreme sensitivity. First, you need to speak with your dentist. He or she can help you figure out the best treatment to help decrease your tooth sensitivity. Second, you need to follow their advice. The only way their advice is going to do you any good is if you take it, right?

Your Dentist Can Reduce Tooth Sensitivity

When you come in and see your dentist with sensitive teeth, they are going to want to examine your teeth. There are quite a few things that can lead to sensitive teeth. Typically, the culprit is erosion of your enamel or gum recession.  If this is what your dentist finds, they can figure out how to treat the problem with you. Often areas of exposed root can be treated with desensitizing medications. This can often offer immediate relief. If you have deep groves on the root of the tooth  bonding can be an answer to eliminate pain. However, if your dentist sees a cavity causing the sensitivity, then the fix is obvious – you will get the cavity filled and that should help greatly.

It is very possible that a bad bite can contribute to tooth sensitivity. Traumatic bites can cause stress in the teeth as the teeth tend to collide instead of gliding during chewing and grinding. This can lead to bone and gum recession as well as the grooves on the neck of the teeth which is incorrectly attributed to brushing. Clear aligner therapy such as Invisalign can improve bad bites and keep your teeth healthy for many years to come.

When your teeth are incredibly sensitive, you will likely be switched over to a sensitive formula toothpaste and possibly a mouthwash too. You may also be advised to get sealants on your teeth, as this can help keep some of the sensitivity down, depending on what you are most sensitive to. You may only be sensitive to one thing, such as hot or cold, or you may be sensitive to a wide variety of things, including bitters and sweets, too.

Talk to your dentist if you notice that you have sensitive teeth. They can help you figure out what is causing the problem. Then, they can work with you to figure out what the best treatment options are.

If you have any questions or would like to schedule an appointment, please call us today.

Right now, there is no sure-fire way to reverse tooth decay. There are a few things that have shown promise in some, but they aren’t a guarantee nor do they work for everyone. However, with each passing day, we get closer to a day where tooth decay may be something fixable.

If you do what you can to take care of your teeth now, should the day come in our generation where tooth decay can be reversed, you will have teeth healthy enough to only need minor restorations, if any at all.

Stopping Decay is Possible

It should be noted that we have the ability to stop decay today but there is a major downside to this. Children and adults who have rampant decay can be treated with a rinse of silver diamine fluoride. This chemical halts the decay process but it also turns the decay jet black. As undesirable as this sounds it is a fast and easy way to help a patient with a quickly deteriorating mouth.

How to Best Care for Your Teeth

So today it’s easier to prevent decay then fix it. There are four things you have to do to really care for your teeth. Each of them take a bit of time, but not a ton. They do, however, take forethought. First, you need to brush two times each day. This should be first thing in the morning, and right before bed at night. This keeps your teeth clean. Second, you need to floss at least one of those times as well, I prefer before bed. This keeps the areas between your teeth healthy, too.

Third,  you need to eat a healthy diet. Your entire body needs this, not just your teeth. Finally, forth, you need to see your dentist every six months or sooner for an examination. How soon depends on your decay rate. Fix the small stuff and you will never have big stuff. This needs to happen to keep your teeth their healthiest.

If the day does come where tooth decay can be reversed for everyone, hopefully your teeth will be so healthy they won’t need it. However, even if they aren’t, you should only need minor work done to correct the problem. Speak to your dentist about anything else they’d like you to do to keep your mouth healthy.

If you have any questions or would like to schedule an appointment, please call us today.

Some people think that a bad oral habit is not really going to do much other than maybe hurt a tooth. However, there are some really bad oral habits that people need to stop doing, as they can have much larger consequences. If you do any of these bad habits, you need to stop doing them right away. It could be the best way to protect yourself from long-term harm.

Bad Habits to Stop Doing Immediately

Chewing on a toothpick is one of the worst habits that you can have. It may not seem like a big deal, but it can actually be not only dangerous, but also deadly. More than 9,000 people each year get injured from chewing on toothpicks, and some of those people have even died.

Chewing on ice is another bad habit that people need to stop doing. Not only can it fracture your teeth to chew on ice, but it can also splinter into sharp shards that cut into your cheeks or other oral tissues. Chewing on ice is also known to cause increased dental sensitivity and make your mouth more prone to cavities. Ice chewing can be a sign of low iron levels in the body. See your physician if you have this urge.

Using your teeth as a tool to open something, such as to open a bottle, can significantly damage your teeth. It often causes teeth to crack or break, which can lead to pain, infection, or even choking on the tooth.

If you consistently do any of these things, then you need to make sure to stop doing them. Plus, you also need to make sure that you talk to your dentist. They need to make sure that your mouth is in good health, and that your teeth are also strong. Doing any of these things could leave your teeth with hairline fractures that could become painful down the line, or even cause your teeth to break off.

Please contact our office for more information on breaking bad oral habits.

Have you ever noticed that when you get a lot of rain and are forced to stay indoors more than normal, your breath tends to get worse? It’s not just in your mind.

When there is a lot of rain, people tend to struggle more with bad breath than during any other type of weather (not including emergency situations, obviously). If you get a lot of rain, or are worried about bad breath, you may want to know what you can do to combat it.

How Wet Weather Influences Your Breath

When the weather is wet, it tends to increase the amount of mold spores floating around the air, even the air in your house. When breathed in, people tend to get stuffed up from these spores. The stuffy nose leads to breathing through the mouth, which then leads to dry mouth.

Unfortunately, dry mouth is one of the leading causes of bad breath because it increases how many bacteria are alive and well in your mouth. This means that you are more prone to cavities, and you are likely to struggle with bad breath.

If you are worried about your breath, then you want to make sure that you are taking care of your teeth. Despite the weather, you need to make sure you brush twice daily, floss one of those times, and drink lots of water.

This can help you receive less damage during those times where the weather is making you more susceptible to damage. You also need to make sure to regularly see your dentist, as that can make a huge difference in your overall oral health.

If you have trouble with dry mouth or weather-induced bad breath, make sure to contact our office. We know the best things you can do to keep bad breath at bay!

Do you struggle to sleep at night? If so, it could be doing a number on your teeth. The inability to sleep can do a lot of damage to your teeth. Your mouth does its best healing at night. When you don’t sleep, your mouth struggles to heal.

This means your mouth may go from being relatively healthy to struggling to maintain its health all because you couldn’t sleep.

If you can’t sleep, you may want to get help, if nothing else, then for the sake of your teeth.

What Lack of Sleep Can Do to Your Teeth

During your sleep, your mouth heals. That’s when it is able to work best. The saliva you produce in your sleep helps to lower the pH from acids you ate all day long, and it coats your teeth in calcium. This lets your teeth get strong, and avoid damage caused by acid.

If you aren’t sleeping, this healing process doesn’t happen as much, sometimes not at all. This can leave your teeth exposed to a wide range of problems, including gum disease, tooth decay, and even tooth loss.

If you are struggling with the inability to sleep, you need to call both your doctor and your dentist. Your doctor needs to know what is going on so that changes can be made that may help you sleep.

Your dentist needs to be informed so that he or she is able to monitor the health of your teeth. They may want to see you more often so they can watch your teeth until you start sleeping regularly again.

Contact our office today and find out from them what you can do to protect your teeth from insomnia. They may have a few tips that can keep your teeth from suffering the brunt of this ailment.

When you find yourself facing a dental emergency, it is important that you remain calm. When you are calm, you think more clearly and you are able to function better. When facing a dental emergency, if you panic, you could hurt the person more who was already in pain, and make things worse.

Making yourself remain calm is not always easy, but if you know what to do before the moment hits, it can make things easier on you. Here are a few things that you can do to help remain calm if you ever find yourself facing any type of dental emergency.

Helping Yourself Remain Calm to Function During a Dental Emergency

The first thing that you can do to avoid the freak out that comes with a dental emergency is by having a regular dentist that you can trust. If you don’t have a dentist to turn to when a dental emergency pops up, it can cause you to panic even more, trying to figure out what to do.

Next, make sure that you remember that an untreated emergency is only going to get worse. Many times, people know that worrying is going to slow things down. If you can focus on getting help as soon as possible, this can help alleviate some of the fear and allow you to stay calm and get help.

Finally, remember that the more you worry, the higher your blood pressure goes. This can increase bleeding, swelling, and pain. Make yourself stay relaxed until you are in a dentist’s chair, then you can let the dentist worry for you.

Contact our office today. We want to have a good relationship with you and build up that rapport. Let us show you that we will be there, no matter what, by turning to us when you really need it.

Most people don’t know the term bruxism, but are familiar with the idea. When you get stressed out, you tend to bite down and clench your teeth, or grind them back and forth. This is common, but it is also dangerous to your teeth.

If you have been struggling with clenching, then you need to figure out ways of keeping your teeth protected. One way you can do that is by learning to relax so you don’t keep causing damage to your teeth.

Nighttime grinding can also be a result of breathing problems such as sleep apnea. If you are experiencing grinding along with daytime sleepiness see a physician who specializes in sleep medicine. If you do have sleep apnea we can fabricate a dental sleep appliance to keep you breathing during the night.

Simple Relaxation Options to Keep Your Jaw Relaxed

Taking a moment to stop and take a deep breath can do a lot when it comes to keeping yourself calm and relaxed. Just stopping, inhaling deeply, then exhaling through pursed lips can help you relax and refocus on whatever is going on, allowing you to regain control.

Getting regular massages can help you remain more relaxed. It allows you to remain in control, and it keeps your body looser, making it to where you clench your jaws less.

Exercise can help you get your mind focused without the need to tense up any part of your body. It helps to keep you healthy, but it also allows your body to relax more between times that you exercise.

Meditation also gives you the opportunity to remain relaxed, more often than not. You can meditate during different parts of the day, and then still remain relaxed during the rest of the day.

Making a note whenever you begin to clench is another way of keeping that from happening as much. Once you recognize that you are clenching your jaw, you can contact our office. The mouth guards they can provide can go a long way towards protecting your teeth from the damage that clenching can cause.