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Soft Tissue Grafts
Periodontal procedures are available to stop further dental problems and gum recession, and/or to improve the esthetics of your gum line.
Exposed tooth roots are the result of gum recession. Perhaps you wish to enhance your smile by covering one or more of these roots that make your teeth appear too long. Or, maybe you’re not bothered by the appearance of these areas, but you cringe because the exposed roots are sensitive to hot or cold foods and liquids.
Your gums may have receded for a variety of reasons, including aggressive tooth brushing or periodontal disease. You may not be in control of what caused the recession, but prior to treatment your periodontist can help you identify the factors contributing to the problem. Once these contributing factors are controlled, a soft tissue graft procedure will repair the defect and help to prevent additional recession and bone loss.
Soft tissue grafts can be used to cover roots or develop gum tissue where absent due to excessive gingival recession. During this procedure, your periodontist takes gum tissue from your palate or another donor source to cover the exposed root. This can be done for one tooth or several teeth to even your gum line and reduce sensitivity.
What are the benefits of this procedure?
A soft tissue graft can reduce further recession and bone loss. In some cases, it can cover exposed roots to protect them from decay. This may reduce tooth sensitivity and improve esthetics of your smile. Whether you have a soft tissue graft to improve function or esthetics, patients often receive the benefits of both: a beautiful new smile and improved periodontal health – your keys to smiling, eating and speaking with comfort and confidence.
Source: perio.org
Periodontal Disease and Diabetes
Individuals who seek treatment for periodontal disease may be good candidates for blood tests for diabetes. There is a known correlation between the two conditions, and new research suggests that blood samples taken from the mouth may accurately detect the presence of diabetes.
For the study, researchers from New York University took blood test samples from the mouths and fingertips of individuals seeking treatment for periodontal disease. Fingertips are generally the standard location from which to draw samples.
The results showed that samples drawn from pockets of inflammation in the mouth were as accurate at diagnosing diabetes as ones taken from the fingers.
Given the high number of people with undiagnosed diabetes, the researchers said their findings could be useful in identifying those who may benefit from treatment. This may help improve the health of those suffering from the condition without knowing.
“In light of these findings, the dental visit could be a useful opportunity to conduct an initial diabetes screening – an important first step in identifying those patients who need further testing to determine their diabetes status,” said Dr. Shiela Strauss, who led the study.
Source: privatelabsmd.com
Teething
Teething generally starts between 3 and 9 months of age, when your infant’s baby teeth will begin to erupt or emerge into the mouth. Since teething can make your child irritable or fussy and may cause restlessness, drooling or loss of appetite, it is safe to assume that it causes the gums to be sore or painful at the spot where the tooth is trying to break through. As your child grows older, and adult teeth erupt, teething pain can be experienced again. Adults can also experience teething pain and sore gums years later, when their wisdom teeth try to emerge into the mouth. Sometimes this can be a long process, with episodes of soreness where the wisdom tooth is trying to push through the gum tissue.
Since teething is a normal process which results in injury or stress to the gums, it is generally self limiting and self healing. Teething rings for infants or applying pressure over the gums by rubbing them with a clean finger can help relieve symptoms. For older children or adults, a variety of over the counter remedies to relieve symptoms, are readily available at health food stores.
Source: drpgilbert.com
Sore Gum Causes
Canker sores, also called apthous ulcers, are painful, round, sores that show up
in several places in the mouth, such as on the inside of the lips, inside the cheeks, on the tongue, and at the base of the gums. Canker sores are easily confused with cold sores caused by the herpes virus. One way to distinguish
between the two is that canker sores occur inside the mouth, whereas herpetic
sores are generally seen on the outside of the body, including the lips.
Canker sores usually last about two weeks and fortunately, the period of discomfort when your gums are sore is often only a few days for most people.
Canker sores generally heal with out any intervention or scaring, although larger
ones, a half inch across or bigger, may leave scars.
Source: drpgolbert.com
A Health Drink for Your Teeth
Which is better for your teeth — orange juice or tea?
Turns out that OJ ranks right up there with soda in terms of its enamel-damaging potential. But tea’s effect on teeth is like water’s: It leaves enamel unscathed.
Guard Your Teeth
Think of enamel as armor for your teeth. Once that armor gets worn down or damaged, it can’t repair itself. That’s why acidic beverages — soda, citrus juice, sports drinks — are so bad for your pearly whites: They contain enamel-stripping acids (phosphoric, citric, malic, and tartaric acids, to name a few). But green and black teas don’t attack enamel, and they even have a bit of tooth-friendly fluoride to boot.
Source: Realage.com
When to brush your teeth
Is there a time that’s best to brush your teeth? After certain foods?
Answer
At a minimum, the American Dental Association recommends that you brush your teeth twice a day; one time should be before sleep. But if you snack and drink throughout the day, it may be helpful to brush your teeth more often.
When you brush your teeth, you help remove plaque — a sticky film that forms on your teeth because of bacteria in your mouth. The bacteria in plaque causes the two major tooth-related diseases, cavities (dental caries) and gum disease (periodontitis).
It’s important to brush your teeth after you eat, because certain food and drinks cause bacteria in your mouth to release acids that are harmful to your tooth enamel. When you eat food or drink beverages containing sugar or starch, the bacteria in your mouth produce acids that can attack your tooth enamel for 20 minutes or more. Choosing nutritious foods that are low in carbohydrates and sugar and drinking plenty of water also can help reduce harmful acid production.
One caveat to brushing after you eat is if you’ve eaten an acidic food or drink — for example, orange juice. Avoid brushing your teeth for at least 30 minutes after acidic foods and beverages. These acids weaken tooth enamel, and brushing too soon can cause damage to the enamel. If you know you’re going to eat or drink something very acidic ahead of time, you may want to brush your teeth first.
Brushing your teeth alone can’t remove all of the decay-causing plaque. The American Dental Association also recommends using an antimicrobial mouth rinse plus flossing daily between your teeth to get rid of food particles and minimize plaque and bacteria.
Source: mayoclinic.com
What is a tooth fracture?
Tooth fractures can range from minor (involving chipping of the outer tooth layers called enamel and dentin) to severe (involving vertical, diagonal, or horizontal fractures of the root). Enamel and dentin are the two outer protective layers of the tooth. The enamel is the outermost white hard surface. The dentin is a yellow layer lying just beneath the enamel. Enamel and dentin both serve to protect the inner living tooth tissue called the pulp. The visible one-third of the tooth is called the crown, while the remaining two-thirds of the tooth buried in the bone is called the root. Dental X-rays are necessary in most instances to diagnose, locate, and measure the extent of tooth fracture.
Source: Medicinenet.com
Dental Injuries
Trauma to the face or teeth can be caused by auto accidents, falls, and injury from sports such as football, hockey, soccer, volleyball, basketball, and baseball, etc. Patients suffering significant head, neck, or facial trauma should be evaluated and treated in hospital emergency rooms. Such trauma may involve bleeding from the nose or ears, concussion, dizziness, lapse of memory, disorientation, severe headache and earache, or breaking (fracture) of the skull and/or jaws. Most hospitals have on their staff oral surgeons who can treat fractures of the upper or lower jaw and perform emergency tooth removal (dental extractions) and reconstruction of the dental arches.
Wear and tear due to cavities and chewing hard objects, such as pencils, ice cubes, nuts, and hard candies, can also lead to tooth fractures. Dental injury without associated head and neck trauma can be evaluated and treated in a dental office. Such dental injuries include broken (fractured) teeth, teeth totally knocked out of the mouth, or teeth displaced by unexpected external forces. These dental accidents may be associated with swelling of the gum and oral tissue. Cold packs or ice cubes placed either inside the mouth directly above the injured tooth, or outside on the cheeks or lips, can reduce pain and swelling before the patient reaches the dentist.
Source: Medicinenet.com
What is smokeless tobacco?
Smokeless tobacco is sometimes known as chewing tobacco or spitting tobacco. It is available in two forms, snuff and chewing tobacco. Both types of smokeless tobacco are held in the mouth inside the cheek or between the cheek and gum.
Smokeless tobacco is known to contain at least 28 cancer-causing chemicals, medically known as carcinogens. The main carcinogens in smokeless tobacco are the tobacco-specific nitrosamines (TSNAs). Some of the other cancer-causing agents found in smokeless tobacco are formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, arsenic, benzopyrene, nickel, and cadmium.
Nicotine is also found in smokeless tobacco, like all tobacco products. Although nicotine is absorbed more slowly from smokeless tobacco than from cigarettes, 3 to 4 times more nicotine is absorbed from smokeless tobacco than from a cigarette, and the nicotine from smokeless tobacco remains longer in the bloodstream. Nicotine is the substance responsible for tobacco addiction.
- In 2007, about 3% of U.S. adults aged 26 and older were users of smokeless tobacco, while around 5% of people aged 18 to 25 reported using smokeless tobacco. Rates of use among young people (under the age of 18) are higher than those of adults.
- In 2007, more than 13% of male high school students and more than 2% of female high school students reported using smokeless tobacco.
Smokeless tobacco is not the same thing as smokeless cigarettes. Smokeless cigarettes (also termed e-cigarettes) are designed to provide nicotine in vapor to the user without burning tobacco. However, the smokeless cigarettes still provide addictive nicotine to the user and secondhand nicotine to others.
Source: Medicinenet.com
Dental Injuries
Introduction
Trauma to the face or teeth can be caused by auto accidents, falls, and injury from sports such as football, hockey, soccer, volleyball, basketball, and baseball, etc. Patients suffering significant head, neck, or facial trauma should be evaluated and treated in hospital emergency rooms. Such trauma may involve bleeding from the nose or ears, concussion, dizziness, lapse of memory, disorientation, severe headache and earache, or breaking (fracture) of the skull and/or jaws. Most hospitals have on their staff oral surgeons who can treat fractures of the upper or lower jaw and perform emergency tooth removal (dental extractions) and reconstruction of the dental arches.
Wear and tear due to cavities and chewing hard objects, such as pencils, ice cubes, nuts, and hard candies, can also lead to tooth fractures. Dental injury without associated head and neck trauma can be evaluated and treated in a dental office. Such dental injuries include broken (fractured) teeth, teeth totally knocked out of the mouth, or teeth displaced by unexpected external forces. These dental accidents may be associated with swelling of the gum and oral tissue. Cold packs or ice cubes placed either inside the mouth directly above the injured tooth, or outside on the cheeks or lips, can reduce pain and swelling before the patient reaches the dentist.
Source: Medicinenet.com
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