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My Blog
Posts for: May, 2014
Though it's been a while since Olivia Newton-John sang her way into our hearts in the movie Grease, her smile is as radiant as ever. Today, Olivia is still singing, acting and busy with new ventures such as authoring a cookbook and raising money for the cancer center that bears her name in Melbourne, Australia. Whichever part of the world Olivia finds herself in, she protects that beautiful smile with an oral appliance that many find beneficial.
“I wear a nightguard to prevent wear on my teeth, custom-made by my dentist,” Olivia recently told Dear Doctor magazine. “I love it!”
Olivia's device, also referred to as a bite (occlusal) guard, is designed for people who clench or grind their teeth at night, or during stressful periods. Made of thin, wear-resistant plastic, it is custom-made to fit exactly over your top teeth. This allows the bottom teeth to slide gently across the top teeth without biting into them. Not only does this prevent excessive tooth wear, it also helps relax the muscles of the jaw.
Grinding or “bruxing,” as it's also called, can affect virtually any part of the oral system: the jaw joints or muscles, resulting in spasm and pain; the teeth themselves, resulting in wear, fractures or looseness; it can even cause an aching in the ears, head, neck or back.
If you are a teeth-grinder, you might not even know it unless a sleeping partner hears it or your dentist notices signs of wear. These habits are called “parafunctional” (para – outside, function – normal), meaning the biting forces it generates are well outside the normal range — sometimes as much as 10 times normal. So it's no wonder that damage to teeth can occur if they are not protected.
If you have any questions about grinding habits or nightguards, please contact us or schedule an appointment for a consultation. If you would like to read Dear Doctor's entire interview with Olivia Newton-John, please see “Olivia Newton-John.” Dear Doctor also has more on “Stress & Tooth Habits.”
Your children’s health is a major concern for you, even before they’re born. That concern should include their dental health and, yes, even before they’re born — a baby’s primary teeth are already forming just a few weeks into pregnancy.
Here, then, are some important tips for keeping your child’s dental health, before and after birth, on track.
Eat healthy during pregnancy. Your baby’s teeth actually begin to mineralize around the third or fourth month of your pregnancy. You can aid this process by eating a diet rich in calcium, phosphorous and protein.
Fight tooth decay by limiting sugar. Sugar is a major contributor to tooth decay, especially in primary teeth. To reduce this risk, limit sugary snacks as much as possible, and avoid bottles filled with sugar-filled liquids (including breast milk) during your baby’s sleeping hours.
Begin good hygiene early. When teeth first appear in the mouth you should begin to wipe around the teeth and gums with a water-soaked gauze pad right after feeding. As teeth develop, begin to gently brush them with a soft-bristled brush with just a smear of fluoridated toothpaste. Teach your child beginning around age 2 to brush for themselves with a pea-sized amount of paste on the brush. By age 6, they should be able to brush on their own and ready to learn flossing.
Schedule regular dental visits and cleanings. Dental checkups should begin around their first birthday and continue semi-annually. Your dentist is a key resource in monitoring tooth development, preventing disease and developing future treatment strategies.
Make your home “tooth-friendly.” Your home environment can be a danger to your child’s mouth. Check for hard or sharp surfaces your child could fall on and eliminate the danger — it’s estimated half of dental injuries to children under seven occur near home furniture. Check your drinking water as well — does your system add fluoride, a proven cavity fighter, or do you need to find other sources?
Taking a few precautions and establishing good life-long dental habits will help ensure your child’s teeth and gums remain healthy right into adulthood.
If you would like more information on oral health for children, please contact us or schedule an appointment for a consultation. You can also learn more about this topic by reading the Dear Doctor magazine article “Top 10 Oral Health Tips for Children.”
If you were a well-known actor, how far would you go to get inside the character you’re playing in a movie? Plenty of stars have gained or lost weight to fit the role; some have tried to relate to their character by giving up creature comforts, going through boot camp, even trying out another occupation for a time. But when Jamie Foxx played a homeless musician in the 2009 film The Soloist, he went even further: He had part of his front tooth chipped out!
“My teeth are just so big and white — a homeless person would never have them,” he told an interviewer. “I just wanted to come up with something to make the part unique. I had one [tooth] chipped out with a chisel.”
Now, even if you’re trying to be a successful actor, we’re not suggesting you have your teeth chipped intentionally. However, if you have a tooth that has been chipped accidentally, we want you to know that we can repair it beautifully. One way to do that is with cosmetic bonding.
Bonding uses tooth-colored materials called “composite resins” (because they contain a mixture of plastic and glass) to replace missing tooth structure. The composite actually bonds, or becomes one, with the rest of the tooth.
Composite resins come in a variety of lifelike tooth shades, making it virtually impossible to distinguish the bonded tooth from its neighbors. Though bonding will not last as long as a dental veneer, it also does not require the involvement of a dental laboratory and, most often, can be done with minor reshaping of the tooth.
Cosmetic Bonding for Chipped Teeth
A chipped tooth can usually be bonded in a single visit to the dental office. First, the surface of the tooth may be beveled slightly with a drill, and then it is cleaned. Next, it is “etched” with an acidic gel that opens up tiny pores. After the etching gel is rinsed off, the liquid composite resin in a well-matched shade is painted on in a thin layer, filling these tiny pores to create a strong bond. A special curing light is used to harden this bonding material. Once the first layer is cured, another layer is painted on and cured. Layers can continue to be built up until the restoration has the necessary thickness. The bonding material is then shaped and polished. The whole procedure takes only about 30 minutes!
If you have questions about cosmetic bonding, please contact us or schedule an appointment for a consultation. You can also learn more by reading the Dear Doctor magazine articles “Repairing Chipped Teeth” and “Artistic Repair of Chipped Teeth With Composite Resin.”