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My Blog
Posts for: June, 2018
You know the basics of great oral hygiene: Brush and floss daily; see your dentist at least twice a year for cleanings and checkups; and watch your diet, especially sweets.
While these are the basics for maintaining healthy teeth and gums, there are a few lesser known things you can do to enhance your hygiene efforts. Here are 4 extra tips for better hygiene.
Use the right toothbrush. As the old saying goes, “There's a right tool for every job.” Brushing your teeth is no exception. Most people do well with a soft-bristled, multi-tufted toothbrush with a head small enough to maneuver easily in their mouth. Toothbrushes wear out, so switch to a new one every three to six months or if the bristles become too soft or worn.
…And the right brushing technique. Hard scrubbing might apply to housework, but not your teeth. Over-aggressive brushing can lead to gum recession. A gentle, sustained effort of about two minutes on all tooth surfaces is sufficient to remove plaque, the bacterial film most responsible for dental disease.
Wait a while to brush after eating. Before hopping up from the meal table to brush, consider this: eating many foods increases mouth acid that can erode your teeth enamel. Fortunately, your body has a solution — saliva, which neutralizes mouth acid and helps restore minerals to your enamel. But saliva takes thirty minutes to an hour to complete the buffering process. If you brush before then you could brush away miniscule amounts of softened minerals from your enamel. So wait about an hour to brush, especially after consuming acidic foods or beverages.
Drink plenty of water. Your mouth needs a constant, moist environment for optimal health. But smoking, alcohol and caffeine can cause dry mouth. Certain drugs, too, can have mouth dryness as a side effect. A dry mouth is more susceptible to plaque formation that can cause disease. To avoid this, be sure you drink plenty of water during the day, especially as you grow older.
If you would like more information on taking care of your teeth and gums, 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 “10 Tips for Daily Oral Care at Home.”
A few days before the Oscars, Vanity Fair magazine asked Academy Awards host Neil Patrick Harris to name his most treasured possession. Was it his Tony award statuette for best leading actor in a musical? His star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame? The stethoscope he wore while playing teenaged doctor Doogie Howser on TV? No, as it turns out, the 41-year-old actor’s most treasured possession is… his wisdom teeth. Yes, you read that correctly. “Oddly, I still have my four wisdom teeth,” Harris said. “I refuse to let them go or I’ll lose my wise parts.”
How odd is it for a 41-year-old to have wisdom teeth? Actually, not that odd at all. While it is true that wisdom teeth are often removed, there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to this. It all depends on whether they are causing problems now, or are likely to cause problems in the future.
The trouble wisdom teeth cause is related to the fact that they are the last molars to come in, and that molars are large in size. By the time wisdom teeth appear between the ages of 17 and 21, there often is not enough room for them in the jaw. Sometimes it’s because you may have inherited a jaw size that’s too small for your tooth size; and generally speaking, the size of the human jaw has evolved to become smaller over time.
If room is lacking, the adjacent molar (that came in earlier) can interfere with the path of eruption — causing the wisdom tooth to come in at an odd angle. The wisdom tooth can hit up against that other tooth, possibly causing pain or damaging the adjacent tooth. This is known as “impaction.” Sometimes the wisdom tooth breaks only partway through the gum tissue, leaving a space beneath the gum line that’s almost impossible to clean, causing infection. A serious oral infection can jeopardize the survival of teeth, and even spread to other parts of the body.
If a wisdom tooth is impacted, will you know it? Not necessarily. A tooth can be impacted without causing pain. But we can see the position of your wisdom teeth on a dental x-ray and help you make an informed decision as to whether they should stay or go. If removal is the best course of action, rest assured that this procedure is completely routine and that your comfort and safety is our highest priority. If there is no great risk to keeping them, as Neil Patrick Harris has done, we can simply continue to monitor their condition at your regular dental checkups. It will be particularly important to make sure you are reaching those teeth with your brush and floss, and that you keep to your schedule of regular professional cleanings at the dental office. All healthy teeth are indeed worth treasuring.
If you would like more information about wisdom teeth, please contact us or schedule an appointment for a consultation. You can learn more by reading the Dear Doctor magazine articles “Wisdom Teeth” and “Removing Wisdom Teeth.”
Cleaning your teeth daily is crucial to ensuring that teeth decay and gum disease stay far away from your smile. However, it is easy to fall into bad habits which could have a detrimental effect on your teeth. How do your daily oral hygiene habits measure up to your dentist’s recommendations? Will your routine help your teeth stay free from teeth decay and gum disease? Find out more about keeping your smile healthy with a strong oral care routine with Dr. Peter Jost in Eastpointe, MI.
Which habits should make up my daily oral care routine?
Your daily oral care routine is a crucial part of keeping bacteria, plaque, and tartar off the teeth. These elements cause teeth decay and, if removed from the teeth, prevent the decay process from ever beginning. If allowed to remain on the teeth, they begin eating through the enamel and forming a cavity. Daily oral health routines, regardless of the patient’s age and dental condition should consist of brushing twice a day and flossing between each tooth at least once. These daily tasks should always go hand-in-hand with routine dental examinations and professional cleanings with your dentist.
How often should I see my dentist?
Seeing your dentist is crucial to keeping your smile clean and healthy. If allowed to remain on the teeth, plaque, which you can remove with brushing and flossing, hardens into tartar, which can only be removed by the techniques used during a professional dental cleaning. The American Dental Association recommends seeing your dentist at least twice a year for examinations and cleanings. During these appointments, your dentist will have the opportunity to find and treat issues like cavities or gum disease early, with less invasive procedures than if they were more advanced. A professional cleaning also ensures that all evidence of plaque and tartar is gone from the teeth, allowing you a clean slate until your next biannual appointment.
Routine Examinations and Professional Cleanings in Eastpointe, MI
Your oral habits are an important facet of your overall oral health. For more information on keeping up with your oral hygiene or to learn more about routine dental examinations and cleanings, please contact Dr. Peter Jost in Eastpointe, MI. Call (586) 771-1460 to ask about your next examination and cleaning today!
Once they learn to walk, there's no stopping most children. Sometimes it can be a little jarring, as when you discover your toddler on top of the kitchen counter reaching in the cupboard on tip-toes for a snack!
Fortunately, children are fairly resilient. Unfortunately, they're not invincible — some of their adventures could result in physical injuries, especially to the highly vulnerable area of the mouth.
Even if you've carefully “child-proofed” your home, it's still best to be prepared for mishaps. Here are 3 common dental injuries and how to handle them.
Soft tissue injuries. Making contact with the ground or hard objects like furniture can injure the lips, tongue, cheeks or gums and cause bleeding, cuts or bruising. First, clean the area with clean water and a cloth or gauze as best you can, making sure there aren't any trapped pieces of tooth or dirt. Apply gentle, continuous pressure with a clean cloth to control bleeding, and apply ice packs or cold compresses for swelling. Don't apply bleach, aspirin or similar medications to open wounds. If the bleeding won't stop or the wounds look serious or deep, go to an emergency room.
Chipped or displaced tooth. A blunt force mouth injury can chip or push (displace) teeth out of position. In this case try to save any chipped pieces you find — your dentist may be able to re-bond them to the tooth. A displaced tooth is a dental emergency, so contact your dentist immediately. Don't try to re-position the tooth yourself unless it's completely knocked out.
Knocked-out tooth. Actions to take with a knocked-out tooth depend on whether it's a permanent or primary (baby) tooth. If permanent, rinse the tooth with clean water. Handle it by the crown (never by the root) and gently place it back in the empty socket. If that's not possible, place the tooth between your child's cheek and gum (if the child is old enough not to swallow it by mistake. You can also place it in a glass of cold milk. Get to a dentist or an emergency room as soon as possible — minutes count for a successful reattachment. Conversely, don't try to put a primary tooth back in its socket — you could damage the developing permanent tooth beneath the gum line. But do see a dentist as soon as possible for an examination.
If you would like more information on responding to mouth injuries in children, please contact us or schedule an appointment for a consultation.
