My lower front teeth are loose! What do I do? Some patients experience a loosening of their lower front teeth. There are a couple of key causes of this. Many times the teeth are crooked which makes them very difficult to keep clean. With this alignment of teeth, periodontal disease is easier to develop leading to…
DetailsPain on Chewing: It Could Be Occlusal Trauma When an emergency patient comes into my dental office with some unwanted dental pain, it is important to listen carefully to the patient. I ask them what is going on, try to isolate where the pain is coming from, find out how long they have had…
DetailsTonsil Stones I just had a patient come to my dental office for a cleaning. She asked me if I knew anything about tonsil stones. I had seen what they look like: it looks the same as the tartar (calculus) that you get on your teeth, and probably has a similar composition. But just…
Detailshealthy babyDental Work and Breastfeeding There is some concern that during breastfeeding some of the chemicals or materials can get into the mother’s system and then into her milk, thereby causing a problem for the baby or infant. Most studies show that all dental work is totally safe for the baby. I do have some…
Details“My Crown Popped Off! What do I do?” A crown can fall out. This can happen from eating something very sticky like taffy or caramel, or the cement seal can just loosen and not very sticky food can help pull the crown out. So how much time do you have to get the crown…
DetailsInteresting case: Fractured Tooth I have a patient who was experiencing mild pain on chewing on one of his lower second molars. He is a grinder, but the first molar on that side shows most of the wear. There is no restoration (filling) on that tooth. The tooth started bothering him to the point…
DetailsDentists love to save teeth. That’s what we are trained to do. But sometimes, out of necessity, treatment takes another path. Case in point: A new patient, in her early 50s, with no medical problems came in recently. Her X-rays and an examination of her mouth, showed multiple broken teeth, generalized gum disease, and not…
DetailsForeo Toothbrush: A New Electric Toothbrush Recently a patient informed me she had purchased a Foreo Toothbrush from Nieman Marcus. I hadn’t heard of it, so it was time to do some research. The toothbrush boasts of having a sonic pulse and a silicon design. There is also PBT (Polybutylene Terephthalate), a thermoplastic polyester. In…
DetailsProbiotics for Dental Health One of my dental patients, in his mid to late 70s, brought in a bottle of “Florassist Oral Hygiene” a probiotic blend for teeth and gums by “LifeExtension.” I have heard of probiotics but have never done anything with them. And what are probiotics? According to dictionary.com, the definition of…
DetailsObsolete Dental Dental materials http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23829005Materials Dental materials have come a long way. If you can look back to the 1950s, so much of what is taken for granted now didn’t even exist then! Dependable tooth colored composite materials, which now comprise the bulk of dental fillings, had not been developed. On posterior teeth, the…
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