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Dental Health Is Easy!

1. BRUSH YOUR TEETH

You should brush your at least teeth two times a day to remove food and plaque. Plaque forms on your teeth, gums and tongue.  Don’t forget to brush your tongue, too! This keeps your breath fresher and makes your food taste better. Always use proper brushing techniques, as recommended by the American Dental Association:

• Place bristles along the gum line at a 45-degree angle. Bristles should contact both the tooth surface and the gum line. Gently brush the outer tooth surfaces of 2-3 teeth at a time, using a vibrating back & forth rolling motion. Move brush to the next group of 2-3 teeth and repeat.
• Maintain a 45-degree angle with bristles contacting the tooth surface and gum line. Gently brush using a back, forth, and rolling motion along all of the inner tooth surfaces.
•  Tilt brush vertically behind the front teeth. Make several up & down strokes using the front half of the brush.
• Place the brush against the biting surface of the teeth & use a gentle back & forth scrubbing motion.
• Brush the tongue from back to front to remove odor-producing bacteria.
• Remember to replace your toothbrush every three to four months, and after an illness.

2. FLOSS YOUR TEETH

Floss your teeth daily to ensure strong and health gums. Gently guide the dental floss between the teeth. Pull the floss against the sides of the tooth, forming the letter "c". Carefully scrape each side of the tooth by gently guiding floss between each tooth, using a zigzag motion. DO NOT SNAP FLOSS BETWEEN YOUR TEETH, since this could injure your gums. Contour the floss around the side of the tooth, down against the tooth surface AND under the gum line.

3. SNACK ON NUTRITIOUS FOOD

Avoid tooth decay by eating healthy foods for snack time, meal time, anytime.  Avoid foods with added or natural sugars: the higher the sugar content, the greater the chances of developing tooth decay. Don’t forget to avoid sticky food: all the sticky food with all that sugar helps promote tooth decay. Some healthy snacks are:

• Raw fruit or vegetables cut into bite-sized chunks so even the youngest snacker can have easy access.
• Cubes cheese and crackers
• Unbuttered popcorn or pretzels
• Yogurt with fresh fruit

4. VISIT YOUR DENTIST

Visit your dentist two times each year for a dental health check-up and a dental cleaning. This preventative measure will keep your teeth, gums and mouth healthy and happy. You should expect the following to occur on your regular dentist visits:

A thorough cleaning

• Checkups almost always include a complete cleaning, either from your dentist or a dental hygienist. Using special instruments, a dental hygienist will scrape below the gum line, removing built-up plaque and tartar that can cause gum disease, cavities, bad breath and other problems. Your dentist or hygienist may also polish and floss your teeth.
• A full examination. Your dentist performs a thorough examination of your teeth, gums and mouth, looking for signs of disease or other problems. The dentist’s goal is to help maintain your good oral health and to prevent problems from becoming serious, by identifying and treating them as soon as possible.
• Depending on your age, risks of disease and symptoms, your dentist may recommend X-rays. X-rays can diagnose problems otherwise unnoticed, such as damage to jawbones, impacted teeth, abscesses, cysts or tumors, and decay between the teeth. Your dentist may ask for a Panoramic X-ray, or Panorex. This type of film provides a complete view of your upper and lower jaw in a single picture, and helps the dentist understand your bite and the relationship between the different teeth and your arch.

5. ALWAYS REMEMBER TO SMILE!

Gum treatment is an important part of your overall dental care. Even the healthiest teeth are only as strong as the gums that hold them. Many of us develop a condition known as gingivitis, in which our gums begin to recede and decay. This exposes the teeth to a variety of risks, including increased decay, looseness and shifting of the teeth, tooth loss, and TMJ/TMD.

Some early symptoms of gum disease include:

• Receding gums
• Soreness and pain in the gums
• Bleeding of the gums
• Loose teeth
• Teeth that have begun to shift
• Bad breath

If diagnosed early enough, however, these symptoms can be halted and even reversed.

No matter what the stage of periodontal gum disease, it is important to seek treatment as soon as possible to address existing symptoms and to prevent further degeneration.

In some cases, you may be prescribed a course of drugs to address underlying causes of gum disease, in addition to any office procedures. Your gum disease treatment depends on your specific case.

Early stage gum disease

In very early stages of gum disease, we can often completely reverse the effects of periodontal degeneration through a simple cleaning procedure. These very early stages of gum disease, called gingivitis, can often be treated completely by simply removing accumulated plaque from the visible portion of the teeth, and sometimes slightly below the gum line.

Gingivitis is an inflammation of the gums surrounding the teeth. Gingivitis is one of many periodontal diseases that affect the health of the periodontium (those tissues that surround the teeth and include the gums, soft tissues, and bone).

Bacteria can cause inflammation of the gums. The mouth is a great place for bacteria to live. The warm, moist environment and constant food supply are everything bacteria need to thrive. Gingivitis is an infection that occurs when bacteria invade soft tissues, bone, and other places that bacteria should not be. For gingivitis to develop, plaque must accumulate in the areas between the teeth. This plaque contains large numbers of bacteria thought to be responsible for gingivitis. But it is not simply plaque that causes gingivitis.

Regular dental visits to remove plaque build-up are necessary to combat gingivitis. Once a dentist removes plaque, regular brushing and flossing will minimize plaque formation. Even with good dental hygiene, plaque will begin to accumulate again.

Moderate gum disease

If the damage to the gums is moderate, extending below the gum line, a procedure called a root scale and plane is usually performed.

Moderate gum disease is known as Periodontitis. Infection continues to worsen and damages the supporting bone and fibers that hold your teeth in place. Gums may have begun to pull away from your teeth forming a "pocket" below the gum line, which traps food, bacteria and plaque. Immediate treatment can stop further damage and tooth loss.

 In this procedure, the plaque is removed from the teeth, both above and below the gum line, and the surface of the tooth is gently abraded to prevent further accumulation of plaque and bacteria. This procedure is designed both to treat existing gum disease, and to prevent gum disease from recurring in the future.

Severe gum disease

The difference between gingivitis and periodontal disease is that in gingivitis the infectious disease attacks the connective tissue around the tooth. In Advance Periodontitis the infectious disease has gone PAST the tissues into the supporting bone of the tooth causing spontaneous and severe tooth movement which may lead to permanent tooth loss if not professionally treated by your dentist.

If you're suffering from advanced stages of gum disease, we offer a range of treatment options to treat and prevent further problems. These treatments may involve surgical procedures including bone and soft tissue grafts for patients who have experienced severe damage.

GUM DISEASE IS THE MAIN CAUSE OF TOOTH LOSS!
Mouth tissues reflect symptoms of other problems.

80% or more of adults have some form of periodontal disease
99% of those have no signs that indicate they have a problem

Gum maintenance and disease prevention

We do thorough gum examinations for all of our patients to prevent gum disease and to diagnose any present problems as early as possible. We assess the health of your gums during your office visit and provide you with the tools and the information you need to ensure that your gums are healthy for the rest of your life!

Beautiful, healthy gums free of periodontal disease

Improve Your Smile, Enhance the way you look!

The appearance of our teeth can say a lot about us to others. Researchers have shown that we make snap judgments about a person's social and intellectual abilities, just by the appearance of their teeth. 

Did You Know that Most Americans believe:

Improving your smile is easy.

Today there are dental procedures that are works of art, hand-crafted and designed to look natural.  Some ways of improving your smile are:   

1.   Whitening

The quickest way to improve your smile is to whiten your teeth.

This can easily be done with a trip to the dentist’s office for take home whitening trays, or chair side laser whitening.

Tray whitening: The dentist takes a mould of your teeth and makes custom trays that are extremely thin and fit to your teeth.  Usually gel is place in the trays and they are worn at night for a period of one to three weeks. 

Chair side whitening: This process involves sitting in the dentist’s chair for one to two hours, while the dentist places several applications of 30% hydrogen peroxide to your teeth. In order to receive optimal results, a laser light is used during the application of hydrogen peroxide.

2.   Bonding.  

Do you have misshapen teeth, rotated teeth or a shape to your teeth which creates a smile you don’t like? A trained dentist can change your smile painlessly by adding a bonded composite material. Teeth that have been minimally bonded look great and do not reduce tooth structure.  When people see your new smile, they usually notice your own, natural teeth, not the small altered portion.  Bonding, combined with a prior bleaching treatment, is one of your best options for teeth that look wonderful for years. The longevity of your bonding is highly dependent on your daily, homecare practices.

3.   Crowns or implants. 

These options are used to fix any individual unsightly or missing teeth. All porcelain crowns cover a tooth and tend to strengthen it, while remaining extremely esthetic.  Crowns do require reduction of the tooth.  If you need a single tooth replacement, an implant is often a terrific choice, assuming you have enough bone to hold an implant.  To receive an implanted tooth, your dentist first inserts an implant in the bone where you lost a tooth.  After the implant has been in your mouth from 4-6 months it is ready for your dentist to place a post and fabricate a crown. Sometimes implant sites need to be grafted with bone prior to implant placement to improve cosmetics and the function of the final implant crown.

4.   Dentures.

If you are missing a lot of teeth or your teeth have severe gum disease, dentures are another option. They are economical and great esthetic results can be achieved with dentures.  There are times when a denture does afford the best cosmetic option for patients. Dentures can easily replace missing gum tissue with pink acrylic and allow more flexibility in placing teeth so that they look good.

5.    Porcelain laminates. 

This is truly one-stop shopping. Teeth are whitened, straightened and made to look younger in about a week or two. This treatment option works by resurfacing your front teeth with a thin veneer of bonded porcelain. Porcelain laminates (porcelain veneers) are best for improving smiles in which teeth are worn, poorly positioned or discolored. If done well they often last for 10 years or more and porcelain doesn’t show wear as much as bonded teeth do, so that they keep their glossy surface indefinitely. Also a major advantage porcelain laminates vs. bonding is that laminates are created away from the mouth, in a lab by highly trained technicians.

6.   Keep teeth clean.

Use an electric toothbrush, if possible. They are extremely affordable and are available anywhere dental products are sold. Then start flossing! Healthy gums are definitely part of a beautiful smile. No matter how nice your teeth look, if your gums are red and not healthy-looking your smile is unappealing.  If you take care of your teeth at home by brushing and flossing and are sure to have regular dental checkups and cleanings,  you are less likely to lose any teeth.

7.   Smile, smile, smile!

Smile and you will look as beautiful as you feel!

 Fun Smile Facts

The average woman smiles about 62 times a day whereas a man smiles only 8!

Kids laugh around 400 times a day; grown-ups just 15!

Smilers in school yearbooks are more likely to have successful careers and marriages than their unsmiling peers.

Great ideas to get that million watt smile!

1.  Relax: Unloosen all those tense muscles and your smile will be radiant!

2.  Plump lips: Moisturize, moisturize, moisturize!  Those well-hydrated lips will look fuller.

3. Instant Whiteness: Try a lipstick in true red and those teeth will look pearly white. Avoid coral or orangey shades: they bring out the yellow.

4.  Go white:  Ask for a softer, more translucent shade of white when your dentist whitens your teeth.  

5. Put sparkle in your eyes: Use a touch of shimmer cream under your brows and in the inside corner of your eye. Instant brightness for your face!

6. Smile as if no one is watching: That’s the brightest, widest smile you’ll ever have! 

Sunrise Dental © 2008