Given the fact that baby-boomers are now reaching the age of retirement, understanding senior healthcare is becoming a top priority to many people. Discover your level of expertise in the area of oral health by taking the following true/false test.
If you feel you missed too many of the above questions, read the Dear Doctor article, “Oral Hygiene Behavior.” Or, contact us today to discuss your questions or to schedule a consultation.
If you like soft drinks and carbonated colas, beware. Acids in these drinks may be dissolving the minerals in your teeth — a process called chemical erosion. And don't think that natural fruit juices or sports and high energy drinks are any better than sodas. They also contain acids that dissolve the surface enamel of your teeth. Once your enamel is lost, it is gone forever. It cannot naturally recover.
Sadly, teeth in children and teenagers — an age group most likely to drink large quantities of soda and juices — may be more easily eroded by acids. These youngsters have not had long-term exposure to fluorides which harden tooth enamel and protects them from acid erosion.
The Difference between Erosion and Decay
Chemical erosion is not the same as tooth decay (cavities). In chemical erosion, acids in your mouth react directly with minerals in the outer enamel of your teeth. In the case of tooth decay, bacteria in dental plaque (a bacterial film that forms on your teeth) utilize the sugars in the drinks and produce acids that attack your teeth.
After Acidic Exposure, Wait 30 Minutes to an Hour before Brushing
You may think that the solution to chemical erosion is to brush the acidic solution from your teeth as soon after drinking them as possible. But tooth brushing immediately after can actually accelerate chemical erosion and make it worse. After they are bathed in an acidic solution, minerals in the tooth surface become partially dissolved. Brushing at this time may brush away the affected layer. If you wait a half hour to an hour, your saliva will have time to neutralize the acids and harden the tooth surface by adding minerals back into it.
Drinks Less Likely to Cause Dental Erosion
Instead of drinking colas and sports drinks, stick to water and/or milk, which have the added benefit of supplying calcium to help add minerals back to the tooth surface.
If you must sip on juices or soft drinks, try to do so only at mealtimes. This is preferable to drinking them all day long, which leaves your teeth constantly bathed in an acid solution. Avoid swishing the drinks in your mouth, and sip them with a straw to reduce contact between acidic drinks and your teeth.
Contact us today to schedule an appointment to discuss your questions about acid erosion of teeth. You can also learn more by reading the Dear Doctor magazine article “Dental Erosion.”
Ensuring that your children have good oral health is (or should be) the goal of every parent or caregiver. But how confident are you about this topic? The following true/false quiz will help you evaluate your expertise while learning more about keeping your child's teeth healthy.
If you feel you missed too many of the above questions, read the Dear Doctor article, “Oral Hygiene Behavior.”
Because our main goal is to help you maintain optimal oral health, we use the latest proven technologies, techniques, and treatments to ensure we achieve them. One tool, radiographs or x-ray pictures, has been around for a long time with an inordinate amount of scientific research backing up both its safety and value. Here's a brief summary of why.
X-rays are a form of electromagnetic radiation just like natural daylight, except that they can easily penetrate soft bodily tissues, such as skin and muscles, without causing any harm if used properly. And as you may have guessed, we use them to examine what we can't see with the naked eye. For example, they enable us to see inside tooth structure, bones, and joints of the jaws. This ability makes x-rays a critical tool that we rely upon to monitor your oral health.
How often you need x-rays really depends upon your individual health needs and often is different from family member to family member given their age and oral health. During adolescence, we may need to take x-rays more often, so we can closely monitor the development of the teeth and jaw to check for normal growth and abnormalities, which can be corrected with early diagnosis. We may also need to use x-rays to diagnose trauma if you or any family member has experienced injury or disease. This will enable us to ensure the correct treatment is given and, in fact, is working and that there are no other related concerns.
Today's ultra-sensitive technology uses extremely low dosage x-rays and ensures early diagnosis and monitoring of your oral and dental health in safety and with confidence.
Learn more about the safety of x-rays by reading the Dear Doctor magazine article “X-ray Frequency And Safety.” If you need to schedule an appointment, contact us today.
Yes, dental x-rays are a safe and vital tool we use for measuring and monitoring your oral health. We feel it is imperative to ensure that our patients have the facts — especially when it comes to their oral healthcare. This is why we want to respond to this important question about the safety of dental x-rays.
We want you to know what they are, how they are used, what makes them a safe and effective tool, and why they are so important to dentistry and your health. X-rays are a form of electromagnetic radiation, in fact, just like natural daylight, except they have a much shorter wavelength. And because they are a form of ionizing radiation, they can easily penetrate bodily tissues without causing any harm when used properly. The reasons we use them are obvious; they help us literally see what is unseen. For example, they enable us to see bone structure and roots of teeth among other things, and are commonly used for diagnosing tooth decay. Furthermore, today's x-ray machines and other image capturing techniques are so sophisticated and sensitive that the amount of radiation required for diagnosis is almost nothing when compared to what you get from the background radiation present in everyday living. In fact, the average single digital periapical (“peri” – around; “apical” – root end of a tooth) film is equal to 1/10 the amount of everyday natural environmental exposure. These facts make it clear that dental x-rays are completely safe and, thus, are nothing you need to be concerned about.
Learn more about this topic by reading the Dear Doctor magazine article “X-ray Frequency And Safety.” If you need to schedule an appointment, contact us today.