Tag: oral health

Smoking and Oral Cancer

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At this point, everyone in the world knows that smoking is incredibly bad for your health. It causes cancer, leads to shorter lifespans, and permanently stains your teeth a nasty shade of nicotine yellow.

Smoking does more than that, though. One of the aspects of smoking that’s often overlooked is the role it plays in causing oral cancer. If you, or a loved one, has a smoking habit and are looking to quit, these facts about smoking and oral cancer might just do the trick.

What types of cancer?
Oral cancer refers to any type of cancerous growth in the mouth. This includes your teeth, gums, and cheeks. A [dr_type] treats oral cancer, though they’ll work in conjunction with your oncologist.

Dr. Michael Long and Dr. Matthew Thurman have seen many different types of oral cancer. Unfortunately, all cases lead to severe and devastating long-term effects.

What does it cause?
Oral cancer isn’t necessarily fatal if treated early. However, it still presents a huge infection risk to the rest of your body. If oral cancer starts in your gums, it can eat away at that tissue, killing your teeth along with it. Then, you’re left with nothing but an infected mouth.

And where will all that infection travel? You’re right – everywhere else in your body.

Prevention
Even if you don’t smoke, you can still get oral cancer. Luckily, every appointment here at the practice of [practice_name] in [city], [state], includes an oral cancer screening. This ensures that you’re not developing any issues.

Of course, the best thing you can do to avoid oral cancer is to avoid smoking tobacco at all. To learn more, or to schedule an appointment, call us today at [phone].

How to Brush Your Smile with Style

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Caring for your smile is crucial to good oral health. You want to protect your teeth and gums from tooth decay and gum disease. At [practice_name], we have some tips to share with our patients in [city], [state], and the surrounding communities, on how to properly brush those pearly whites!

 Your Toothbrush

First, you want to make sure you brush your teeth every single day, twice a day, using a soft-bristled toothbrush. Using medium or firm strength bristles can damage gum tissue and tooth enamel. Now, whether or not you choose a manual toothbrush or a powered one, is your choice. The goal is to make tooth brushing an event you do faithfully, and whichever one makes you want to brush, do that. Just be sure that the size and shape of your toothbrush fits into your mouth comfortably, letting you reach all your teeth. Aim for replacing your toothbrush as the bristles wear down and become worn, this usually means 3-4 months. Worn bristles can’t effectively clean tooth surfaces and in between teeth and gums.

Brushing Correctly

Once you have your toothbrush, you want to aim for brushing for two minutes each time, using an ADA approved fluoride toothpaste. Generally speaking, if your toothpaste carries the ADA Seal, it will have fluoride in it to protect your tooth enamel. Why do you want to use ADA approved products? Because ADA-approved products have been proven to be both effective and safe to use. Any claims made on the packaging have been proven to be true so you know that the product works exactly as it claims to do.

To begin brushing your teeth, hold your toothbrush at a 45-degree angle to your gums. You will want to gently brush back and forth in short movements. Clean the outside of your teeth, the inside areas, and the tops or chewing surfaces. For the inside of your front teeth, hold the brush vertically and use up-and-down movements.

Caring for Your Toothbrush

Once you finish brushing your pearly whites, rinse your toothbrush thoroughly to remove food particles and toothpaste residue. Let your toothbrush air out between use, so be sure to store it uncovered and upright, and avoid letting it touch another toothbrush to prevent contamination.

Lastly, don’t forget to floss between teeth and under the gumline to remove plaque and food particles that your toothbrush can’t clean, limit snacking between meals, and come in for professional cleanings.

Dr. [doctor_name] and the rest of our dental team in [city], [state], are happy to help you with all of your oral care needs. Call us today at [phone] if you have any questions or need to schedule your next checkup!

Implant Your New Smile Today

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Are you thinking about a smile restoration, but not sure the best way to do it? If so, you are not alone. Cosmetic dentistry has exploded across our nation thanks to the fantastic results from thousands of beautifully restored smiles! Dental implants are a huge part of that success restoring thousands of smiles and boosting self-esteem.

However, like any dental procedure our team here at [practice_name] in [city], [state], understands many people may still have questions about dental implants. That is why our staff is happy to provide you with some basic information on them and how they can give you the new smile you always hoped for.

Dental implants are a strong and reliable dental restoration that replaces your lost or missing teeth and goes deep into the bone giving support like a root of a tooth. It is a surgically placed product that gives you natural-looking results and makes eating, talking, and even singing easier. Dental implants can also be used to have restore multiple teeth and also secure dentures.

There are many benefits of dental implants including improved appearance, speech, comfort, self-esteem, bone health, and smile function. Implants are also very durable. They generally have a success rate up to 98 percent. That is a huge amount of successful treatments! No wonder they have become a popular form of smile restoration. If you take good care of your implant, it can last a lifetime.

In order to restore your smile with a dental implant, you need to have strong jaw bones and healthy gums. Your oral health also needs to be strong enough to undergo tooth extractions and oral surgery. However, once you have a dental implant, it is easily cared for. Caring for an implant is as simple as caring for your natural teeth. All you need to do is brush twice a day, floss once a day, rinse your mouth daily with mouthwash, and visit your dentist every six months.

If you would like to learn more about dental implants and would like to see if they are right for you, please call us today and set up an appointment at [phone]. We are always happy to take your call and address any of your oral questions and concerns. So, call us today and let us restore your smile in time for the holiday season.

Can You Keep Your Mouth Clean Without Toothpaste?

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What do you do to keep up your oral health? Do you make a point of brush and floss every day? If so, good for you—but what would you do if you found your toothpaste tube empty one day and weren’t able to get more right away? As you can probably guess, you shouldn’t just avoid brushing. Fortunately, there are a few things you can do in a pinch.

Mouthwash is one option you should consider. As you may know, mouthwash can fight off cavities, bad breath, gingivitis, and even wash away food particles. However, please remember that, while using mouthwash is better than nothing, please don’t plan on replacing brushing.

Similarly, if you find yourself out of toothpaste and mouthwash, you can also rinse out your mouth with hydrogen peroxide. However, please remember to mix the hydrogen peroxide with equal parts water. Also, please do not swallow hydrogen peroxide. If you would like to brush, you can also use baking powder—which is a safe alternative that is also included in many toothpastes.

However, if you aren’t interested in any of these options, you could also try chewing on a mint or on chewing gum. You see, chewing gum can help because chewing promotes saliva production. As you may know, saliva is actually vital to the health of your mouth, as it gets rid of bad bacteria. If you don’t have chewing gum handy, you can also chew on herbs such as mint, rosemary, sage, and thyme.

Finally, to enjoy a healthy smile, please remember to visit a dentist once every six months for a routine cleaning and checkup. If you would like to learn more, or are interested in scheduling an appointment with Dr. [doctor_name], please don’t hesitate to contact [practice_name] at [phone]. We will gladly answer any questions you may have. We look forward to hearing from you soon.

Thrush: The Infection That Can Harm Your Smile

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There are many dental issues in the world today that can take over your smile and alter your oral health, and one of those issues is thrush.

Thrush in [city], [state], is a dental issue that typically begins when stress, illnesses, or medication disrupt the balance of bacteria and microorganisms in your mouth. When this happens, your oral fungus, also known as candida fungus, grows out of control.

These are the causes, symptoms, and treatments of thrush:

Causes

The causes of thrush generally include:

-Medications, like corticosteroids, antibiotics, and birth control pills

-Stress

-Illnesses or medical situations, like uncontrolled diabetes, HIV infection, cancer, dry mouth, and hormonal changes during pregnancy

Symptoms

The main symptom of thrush is the appearance of a creamy white lesion on the inside of your mouth. The lesion will appear suddenly and persist for a long period of time. It might be painful and it might bleed when you scrape it or brush your teeth.

Treatments

Sometimes prescribed medication, like antifungal medication, is needed to treat thrush. Your dentist will also provide a specific treatment that is designed for your age and cause of infection. However, sometimes thrush is caused by other medical issues. If this is the case for you, you will need to visit your physician.

To learn more about thrush, please call [practice_name] at [phone]. We also encourage you to schedule an appointment with your dentist, Dr. [doctor_name], if you’ve noticed any signs leading to thrush. We are here to help you in any way we can, and we look forward to hearing from you!