Coffee and donuts: beware this quick fix

www.pinterest.com/tjroses3/877drteeth-town-center-dental

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Coffee and donuts: beware this quick fix

Donuts and coffee may be bad for your teeth

You're late for work and skip breakfast, so during the commute, you pick up a donut and cup of coffee and you're on your way. This common quick fix breakfast scenario can lengthen your time spent in the dental chair, reports the Academy of General Dentistry.

The sugars in donuts have been identified as a risk factor for gum inflammation and cavities. The Academy reported findings from a report that compared the sugars found in plain donuts with sugars found in oatmeal cookies. The study discovered that the sugars in oatmeal cookies amount to only one-fifth of the sugars in plain donuts.

The amount of sugar and cream in your coffee also can have a direct effect on the amount of cavity-causing bacteria. Tannins found in coffee etch into the pits and grooves of the tooth enamel, producing a rough stained surface.

What can we do to lessen the sugar bath our teeth receive from this common breakfast combination?

Don't nurse your coffee or pick at that donut throughout the morning. When you eat your donut quickly, it limits the exposure time to the sugar bacteria attack.
Rinse your mouth with water or brush your teeth with fluoride toothpaste immediately after finishing your breakfast.
Cut back on the amount of cream and sugar in your coffee.
Instead of a sugary breakfast, try picking up fruit, yogurt or a cup of oatmeal for your portable morning meal.

Coffee and doughnuts: a disastrous combo for teeth? Academy of General Dentistry.

877-Dr Teeth- (360) 740-6212

Town Center Dental

3 Locations - Chehalis, Wa -- Rochester, Wa -- Rainier, Or

phamdent@msn.com

www.pinterest.com/tjroses3/877drteeth-town-center-dental

Thursday, November 6, 2014

Flossing for oral health

You can't reach the tight spaces between your teeth and under the gumline with a toothbrush. That's why daily flossing is important. When you floss:

Don't skimp. Break off about 18 inches (46 centimeters) of dental floss. Wind most of the floss around the middle finger on one hand, and the rest around the middle finger on the other hand. Grip the floss tightly between your thumbs and forefingers.
Be gentle. Guide the floss between your teeth using a rubbing motion. Don't snap the floss into your gums. When the floss reaches your gumline, curve it against one tooth.
Take it one tooth at a time. Slide the floss into the space between your gum and tooth. Use the floss to gently rub the side of the tooth in an up-and-down motion. Unwind fresh floss as you progress to the rest of your teeth.
Keep it up. If you find it hard to handle floss, use an interdental cleaner — such as a special wooden or plastic pick, stick or brush designed to clean between the teeth.

As long as you do a thorough job, it doesn't matter if you brush or floss first. However, flossing before brushing might allow more fluoride from your toothpaste to reach between your teeth.

-877-Dr Teeth- (360) 740-6212

Town Center Dental

3 Locations - Chehalis, Wa -- Rochester, Wa -- Rainier, Or

phamdent@msn.com

www.pinterest.com/tjroses3/877drteeth-town-center-dental

Monday, October 27, 2014

Tips for a MouthHealthy Halloween

Halloween is around the corner, which for most children means bags of free candy and a chance to build a stockpile of sweets for the winter. No surprise, Halloween can also present parents with a variety of health and safety challenges.

Here are 10 ways you can help your children stay mouth healthy during Halloween and year-round.

Eat Halloween candy and other sugary foods with meals or shortly after mealtime. Saliva production increases during meals and helps cancel out acids produced by bacteria in your mouth and helps rinse away food particles.
Avoid hard candy and other sweets that stay in your mouth for a long time. Besides how often you snack, the length of time sugary food is in your mouth plays a role in tooth decay. Unless it is a sugar-free product, candies that stay in the mouth for a long period of time subject teeth to an increased risk for tooth decay.
Avoid sticky candies that cling to your teeth. The stickier candies, like taffy and gummy bears, take longer to get washed away by saliva, increasing the risk for tooth decay.
Drink more water. Drinking optimally fluoridated water can help prevent tooth decay. If you choose bottled water, look for kinds that are fluoridated.
Maintain a healthy diet. Your body is like a complex machine. The foods you choose as fuel and how often you "fill up" affect your general health and that of your teeth and gums.
Avoid beverages with added sugar such as soda, sports drinks or flavored waters. When teeth come in frequent contact with beverages that contain sugar, the risk of tooth decay is increased.
Chew gum that has the ADA Seal. Chewing sugarless gum for 20 minutes after meals helps reduce tooth decay, because increased saliva flow helps wash out food and neutralize the acid produced by dental plaque bacteria.
Brush your teeth twice a day with an ADA-accepted fluoride toothpaste. Replace your toothbrush every three or four months, or sooner if the bristles are frayed. A worn toothbrush won't do a good job of cleaning your teeth.
Clean between teeth daily with floss. Decay-causing bacteria get between teeth where toothbrush bristles can't reach. Flossing helps remove plaque and food particles from between the teeth and under the gum line.
Visit an ADA member dentist. Regular visits to your ADA-member dentist can help prevent problems from occurring and catch those that do occur early, when they are easy to "treat."

Source: http://www.mouthhealthy.org/en/az-topics/h/halloween-tips

-877-Dr Teeth- (360) 740-6212

Town Center Dental

3 Locations - Chehalis, Wa -- Rochester, Wa -- Rainier, Or

phamdent@msn.com

www.pinterest.com/tjroses3/877drteeth-town-center-dental

Monday, September 29, 2014

Top ways to prevent cavities during the holidays..

Winter is here which means holiday treats are everywhere. Most of the seasons’ favorite traditions revolve around enjoying cookies, candy and gingerbread men.

Eating all the extra sugar can cause harm to your teeth, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that you will get cavities. Although sugary foods can damage your teeth, here are some tips to keep you smiling bright through the holidays while preventing cavities.

Simple tips for good Holiday oral care

You can avoid getting cavities and still enjoy holiday indulgences by making sure you practice great oral care.

• Avoid foods that take a long time to chew
Sticky food such as gummy candy, dried fruit and even caramel can damage your teeth. The hard to chew foods, hold an acid against the teeth longer than most other foods. Which prevents plaque build up. One of the easiest ways to prevent cavities is to reduce and limit the amount of these foods consumed.

• Rinse before brushing
You can still enjoy your favorite holiday wine and fruit juices but an easy trick we tell patients is to rinse your teeth with water before you start to brush them. This will wash away acid and any stains that have built up from the consumption of these acidic beverages and foods.

• Brush your teeth on the go
Taking time to brush your teeth in the morning when you wake up and at night before you go to bed is important. But we encourage patients to carry a travel size toothbrush with them and brush more often throughout the day, especially during the holidays. Brushing your teeth after eating big meals and holiday treats will help remove unwanted food that sticks around in the mouth. Plus, when you brush your teeth right after holiday parties you are less likely to eat more food. The natural sweetness of the toothpaste helps the body when it is craving something sweet. You are less likely to eat after you brush your teeth. So you could consume less overall at the holiday gathering.

• Chew sugar-free gum
Gum is a great product to keep in your purse or glove department, especially during the winter months when sweet treats lurk around every corner. Chewing gum helps wash out food particles and produces natural saliva to help balance acid in your mouth. An added bonus is chewing sugar-free gum will help your breath smell nice after a holiday meal so rest assured you will be ready when you are found standing under the mistletoe.

• Stress Less
The holidays can cause an increase amount of stress and anxiety. We see patients come in with incidents of grinding or clenching their teeth. This causes immense jaw pain and can lead to more severe issues like chipping and even headaches. We can recommend a custom night guard but it is important to prevent the pain by finding ways to alleviate your stress.

• Floss More
Everyone loves to hear his or her dentist say you need to floss more, but during the holidays we really recommend it. Flossing helps to prevent gingivitis and periodontal disease. Your teeth and wallet will thank you come the new year if you floss more through the season. One of the main complaints we here about flossing is that it is inconvenient. Floss Picks are easy to use and they are portable. The wonderful invention is a toothpick with floss on the other end. You can floss anytime anywhere, driving your car, shopping, watching television, these little handy guys make flossing fun, easy and clean. You can buy them at any supermarket in the pharmacy section. Plus they make great stocking stuffers. Even Santa wants you to have a healthy mouth.

We want to ensure that you enjoy your holiday season.

-877-Dr Teeth- (360) 740-6212

Town Center Dental

3 Locations - Chehalis, Wa -- Rochester, Wa -- Rainier, Or

phamdent@msn.com

www.pinterest.com/tjroses3/877drteeth-town-center-dental

Source: http://www.downtowndentalcare.net/top-ways-to-prevent-cavities-during-the-holidays/

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Flossing for oral health

You can't reach the tight spaces between your teeth and under the gumline with a toothbrush. That's why daily flossing is important. When you floss:

Don't skimp. Break off about 18 inches (46 centimeters) of dental floss. Wind most of the floss around the middle finger on one hand, and the rest around the middle finger on the other hand. Grip the floss tightly between your thumbs and forefingers.
Be gentle. Guide the floss between your teeth using a rubbing motion. Don't snap the floss into your gums. When the floss reaches your gumline, curve it against one tooth.
Take it one tooth at a time. Slide the floss into the space between your gum and tooth. Use the floss to gently rub the side of the tooth in an up-and-down motion. Unwind fresh floss as you progress to the rest of your teeth.
Keep it up. If you find it hard to handle floss, use an interdental cleaner — such as a special wooden or plastic pick, stick or brush designed to clean between the teeth.
1-877-Dr Teeth- (360) 740-6212
Town Center Dental

3 Locations - Chehalis, Wa -- Rochester, Wa -- Rainier, Or

phamdent@msn.com

www.1877drteeth.blogspot.com

www.1877drteeth.com

www.facebook.com/877drteeth

www.pinterest.com/tjroses3/877drteeth-town-center-dental

Friday, August 15, 2014

Understanding Cracked Tooth

As the name implies the cracked tooth has a crack, which can be because of trauma or if the tooth becomes weak due to some reason. The crack is not visible and diagnosis is very difficult to make. All we have are the symptoms. Patient complaints of sharp pain while chewing from the specific area but cannot pinpoint the tooth. If the dentist tries to diagnose the problem he cannot find anything clinically or by taking X –Ray’s. Either the tooth is absolutely normal or if it has any filling, no problem with the filling is found but patient feels sharp pain when pressure is applied on that tooth. If the patients have these kinds of symptoms with mostly normal looking tooth then it is called as Cracked Tooth Syndrome.

What cause a tooth to crack

A tooth may crack due to various reasons:

Chewing on hard objects or foods like ice,nuts or hard candy.
Trauma or blow to the mouth
Grinding and clenching of teeth/Bruxism
Uneven chewing pressure
Stress on a tooth
Loss of a significant portion of the tooth structure through wear,large restorations/fillings.
Exposure of tooth enamel to extreme temperatures,such as eating hot foods and then drinking ice water.
Brittleness of teeth that have undergone root canal treatment.

Crack Vs Craze

There is another condition in which vertical crack like lines are seen. These lines are mostly seen in elderly patient and that too on the front tooth, but they do not have any symptoms of the cracked tooth syndrome. These are called CRAZE lines. Unlike crack these lines are very much visible to the naked eye. These craze lines are considered to be normal, though the patient is very much concerned about these. These craze lines are there because of the difference in the coefficient of thermal expansion between the enamel, which is the outer most layer of the tooth and the dentin which is inner to enamel. The enamel and dentin are joined together molecule to molecule, so they don’t separate only the lines appear and they cause no harm to the tooth.

Prevention

If you grind or clench your teeth, talk to your dentist about treatment. Grinding can increase your risk of cracked tooth syndrome.

1-877-Dr Teeth- (360) 740-6212

Town Center Dental

3 Locations - Chehalis, Wa -- Rochester, Wa -- Rainier, Or

phamdent@msn.com