When a patient has a cavity that runs exceptionally deep into the tooth, exposing the tooth pulp (never), a root canal is most often required to correct this painful problem. However, a recent study has shown that the tooth can be recovered and rehabilitated by capping a small portion of the exposed pulp with calcium hydroxide and sealing it.
The study has found this method to have a high rate of success: fourteen studies had success rates reaching 90%.
The procedure of pulp capping is nothing new, but outside of this study, pulp capping is only used in certain situations. If the exposed pulp is slight with light bleeding and the tissue surrounding the exposure is healthy, then a dentist can opt for a pulp cap. For any other, more serious situations–such as a tooth abscess (which indicates that the nerve has been dead for some time) or a wide exposure of the pulp–a root canal or an extraction are the only options.
However, if additional research proves that pulp capping is successful in most patients, then many patients could have not only a less painful procedure, but also a less expensive and less time consuming one as well. Those who have abscesses, though, still only have two options: a root canal or an extraction. The pulp cap tries to recover and restore the damaged nerve, but if the nerve is already dead, the cap will have no effect.
So the next time you’re at the dentist and you’re told that you need a root canal, ask if you qualify for pulp capping. As the technology continues to improve and more and more research is gathered, there’s a great chance that you will only need a pulp cap.
Source: Hilton T, Keys to Clinical Success with Pulp Capping: A Review of the Literature, RCDSO Peak Publication, May/June 2010, pg 1-16.
Don’t dismiss this blog post from the title alone. You may not be thinking about getting your tongue ever pierced, but that doesn’t mean that your kids won’t. If they do, then you and they have plenty other things to worry about other than appearances and self-doubt about your parenting skills (please note parents, it’s not your fault).
A typical habit that comes with tongue piercing is playing with the stud, which means that you push the stud against the upper front teeth and catch the ball in the gap, as demonstrated in the image to the right. Who knows how it starts, but virtually everyone with a tongue piercing has at least once played with the jewelry. Over time, playing will create a larger and larger gap between the front teeth, eventually creating something quite noticeable. A gap between the front teeth that is only a fraction of an inch wide can cost thousands of dollars in orthodontic bill to correct.
A recent study from the University of Buffalo found that not only does “playing” with the stud forces the teeth to move, it happens in over 70% of all those who get the piercing.
People with the piercing don’t want to remove the stud, because the tongue will heal over the hole in a matter of hours. So the playing is often constant for months and years, leaving no real surprise that it will affect your front teeth.
Tongue piercings have also been found responsible for chipping and fracturing teeth (biting down on the stud while eating, for example), gum trauma, mouth abscesses, and infections. Worst case, an infection in your mouth from the piercing could cause other problems in the body, as mentioned in one of our earlier posts that explained the link between oral health and overall health.
Of course, there is a simple way to avoid all of these risks and protect your wallet from extraneous dental bills: don’t have your tongue pierced.
Many foods and beverages we all enjoy can stain our teeth, such as coffee, red wine, and spaghetti sauce. As a result, most of us want to be able to whiten our teeth and gain a whiter, brighter smile. One of the easiest whitening methods is to use a teeth whitening toothpaste. It seems simple enough, right? Just replace your regular toothpaste with a teeth whitening one, and brush the stains away. However, before you get too excited about whitening your teeth with this method, there are some things everyone needs to know about whitening toothpastes.
All whitening toothpastes contain abrasive ingredients to help scrub away the stains, and over time, these can cause your teeth to lose their natural gloss and shine. In addition, these ingredients will make your teeth more and more sensitive as more enamel is brushed away. If you already have sensitive teeth, your sensitivity will worsen greatly. Some patients have even reported that merely sucking in their breath inflicts sensitivity pain. If you’ve ever experienced such pain, you know how quickly it can bring you to your knees.
Since it takes at least six months for the toothpaste to show any results, you have to use it over an extended period of time. Therefore, by using it just until your teeth are as white as you want still puts your teeth at risk.
There are some things you can do to minimize your risk with whitening toothpaste. First, always use a soft-bristled brush when using the whitening toothpaste. Do not use the whitener every day; instead, switch it out every other day with a non-whitening toothpaste. When using the whitener, brush your teeth and gums with tap water only. Floss, and then brush a second time with the whitening toothpaste. When done, rinse your mouth thoroughly with water.
If you already have sensitive teeth, avoid using whitening toothpastes completely, even if the paste claims it’s for sensitive teeth. It’s just as damaging as the others, and it actually cancels out the desensitizing affects it is supposed to offer.
The best method is to avoid whitening your teeth yourself completely. Brush regularly with a non-whitening paste, avoid smoking, and cut down on the amount of coffee and red wine consumption. As always, be sure to talk to your dentist about the best home whitening plan and dental health plan for you before using any whitening treatment.
Courtesy of DentalZone.org
Dental pain never comes at a convenient time. To make matters worse, it usually occurs over the weekend or after dental offices are closed. If this unfortunately happens to you, here are ten home remedy ideas that have proven to help alleviate the pain and will help you get through it until you can see your dentist.
All of these remedies are natural and safe, and some may work better for you than others. However, even though these are safe, this does not mean that you should experiment on your own and create potential remedies. If all else fails, there is always Ibuprofen, Tylenol, and of course, Orajel.
- Use a cucumber – Cut up a refrigerated cucumber in pieces that will fit on the tooth. You can try this with unchilled cucumber, but the cold will soothe the pain even more.
- Dried peppermint, salt water, and oats - Surround the tooth with either oats or dried peppermint (peppermint will relieve the pain as well), and then spit them out after a few minutes. If you do this several times a day, it will draw out the abscess. After each treatment, rinse with salt water.
- Raw potato – This is the same idea as the cucumber remedy. Cut a piece of cold potato and fit it to the tooth.
- Real vanilla extract – Dab some real vanilla extract on a cotton ball and place it on the tooth. For more excruciation pain, swish some real vanilla extract in your mouth, focusing on the side of your mouth that hurts. The vanilla will numb your mouth fairly well.
- Tea bag – Place a wet tea bag on the sore tooth. For extra assistance, freeze the bag.
- Ginger root – Shaved pieces of ginger root will help relieve pain, and sometimes it will also help with tooth infections.
- Iodine – Place a single drop of iodine on a tooth for both pain relief and stopping abscesses. Do not swallow the iodine, and always brush immediately afterward.
- Table salt and warm water – This is probably one of the oldest remedies for oral pain in the book. Gargle with warm water and salt several times a day.
- Oil and oregano – Mix some oregano and oil and apply it directly to the painful tooth or gums.
- Hot, wet washcloth – Apply a hot, wet washcloth directly to the site of the mouth pain as many times as you need. This has shown to even work for extreme dental pain.
None of these will cure you what’s ailing you, but it should provide some comfort until you can see your dentist. Just remember to never let dental pain go unchecked for long. If you’re experiencing any tooth pain, call your dentist or contact us as soon as possible.
Courtesy of tea-sources.com
According to new research from the Medical College of Georgia, black tea, the world’s most popular beverage contains higher concentrations of fluoride than once thought, which could present problems for heavy tea drinkers.
Dr. Gary Whitford, Regents Professor of oral biology in the School of Dentistry assures black tea drinkers that drinking two to four cups of tea a day is not harmful. However, those who consume more than that could be in trouble. Previous reports showed that black tea contains 1 to 5 milligrams of fluoride per liter, but this latest study shows that the number is sometimes as high as 9 milligrams.
Fluoride does help prevent dental cavities, but consuming over four cups of tea for long periods of time can cause bone problems. The average person consumes about 2 to 3 milligrams of fluoride a day through drinking water, food, and toothpaste, which will cause no harm. Ingesting 20 milligrams a day for over ten years, however, can pose a significant risk to bone health.
Whitford started this study when he discovered four patients afflicted with advanced skeletal fluorosis, a bone and joint disease caused by consuming excessive amounts of fluoride. All four patients had one thing in common: they drank 1 to 2 gallons of tea daily for the last 10 to 30 years. His team first tested the patients’ tea brands with the traditional method, which consists of measuring fluoride but not measuring the amount that combines with aluminum within the tea leaves to create aluminum fluoride, a compound not detected by the traditional method. Whitford then used a diffusion method that severs the aluminum fluoride bonds, therefore allowing all fluoride to be accurately measured.
Whitford’s team tested seven brands of black tea commonly found in stores with the diffusion method and discovered that the amount of fluoride in each was 1.4 to 3.3 times higher than the traditional method detected.
While this study does raise some concerns, it should not stop tea drinkers from consuming their favorite beverage. In moderate amounts, it’s very safe and many teas have additional health benefits. This is just yet another example of consuming everything in moderation.
Courtesy of CartoonStock.com
Electric toothbrushes have come a long way since their original incarnation in 1960, and some dentists are even recommending their patients to use an electric toothbrush over regular toothbrushes. Many have found that patients who use them have cleaner teeth, minor plaque build-up (which results in shorter cleanings during check-ups), and healthier gums.
This isn’t to say that patients who use regular toothbrushes can’t have similar results, but electric and sonic toothbrushes offer extra advantages that give them a bit of an edge over manual toothbrushes.
Electric toothbrushes move 3,000 to 7,500 rotations per minute (RPMs), which mimics the RPMs the muscles in your arm and hand if they were manually brushing your teeth. In addition, the heads rotate or move back and forth to further cut down the amount of plaque build-up. The extra movement against the gums also massages and strengthens them. Both of which will reduce the risk of gingivitis.
Sonic toothbrushes move nearly ten times as much, from 30,000 to 40,000 RPMs. This larger number is really only the difference between the two types of power toothbrushes (aside from price), as they both have the same goal: remove plaque and improve the health of the gums.
So how important are these RPMs? Manual brushing typically averages 300 RPMs, but only if you are brushing properly. If you brush for two minutes – the recommended time – then you’ve brushed your teeth with 600 strokes. An electric toothbrush, with the same time, will yield around 8,000 strokes and the sonic toothbrush will produce 70,000 strokes. Unless you plan to brush your teeth for several minutes to an hour, it’s nearly impossible to achieve the same number of strokes with manual brushing.
No matter what type of toothbrush you choose, remember that the recommendations for maintaining good oral health are the same.
- Brush twice a day, for at least two minutes.
- Do not brush too hard, as it will erode the gums.
- Floss at least once a day.
- Get your teeth cleaned every six months.
If you’d like more information regarding power toothbrushes, visit WebMD’s recent article on the subject. If you have personal questions about if you need an electric toothbrush and which type is best for you, please contact us for toothbrush advice.
The fear of the dentist’s drill is what keeps most patients from visiting the dentist. It’s noisy – kind of scary sounding – and the anesthetic shots that accompany it are painful. Even though you can’t feel any pain with the drill due to the anesthesia, the drilling sensation against your teeth isn’t that pleasant, and there’s always some residual pain from the procedure afterward.
So the idea of painless cavity removal sounds rather nice, doesn’t it?
The new technology is called air abrasion, and it’s been proven to be a virtually pain-free procedure. As another bonus, it’s also less time consuming. The procedure does not require any anesthesia; only air pressure is needed to quickly remove the decayed portions of the tooth.A simple blast of air, and it’s over. No needles and no drill.
Several dental clinics now use air abrasion, and fortunately for you and your dental insurance company, they cost just as much as traditional drill procedures. Some dental clinics will charge a little more, but if you factor in the costs of less pain, less time, and quicker recovery, the extra cost is well worth it.
So before you go in for that cavity removal procedure, remember to ask your dentist for the air abrasion procedure and discuss with him or her the pros and cons of the operation. Won’t it be nice to not dread your dental visits and actually be comfortable in the dental chair? Be sure to talk to your dentist or contact us regarding air abrasion cavity removal.
For clean, decay-free teeth, go for air abrasion and experience the air of being comfortable while being inside the clinic you once dreaded coming to. What’s more, you can now finally get rid of your cavities and show off that perfect smile.
A few weeks ago, I discussed how your dental health affects your overall health. A new study from the Case Western Reserve University School of Dental Medicine and University Hospitals Case Medical Center has uncovered yet another possible link between dental health and your overall health; this time the link connects oral health and prostate health, specifically prostatitis (prostate gland inflammation).
The researchers compared the clinical attachment level (CAL) marker that indicates periodontitis with the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) marker that measures inflammation levels in prostate disease in patients diagnosed with prostatitis. They found that the patients who had high CAL levels also had higher levels of PSA. Nabil Bissada, the Chair of the Department of Periodontics from Case Western said that this discovery could explain cases where the low severity of prostatitis cannot account for the high levels of PSA.
In addition, the researchers found that patients who had the most severe cases of prostatitis also showed signs of gum disease.
Granted, prostatitis only affects 8% of all American men, and the research doesn’t try to claim that gum disease causes prostate disease, but this study is another example of how your dental health will affect your overall health. It can worsen other health conditions, lower your immunity, and of course, cause bad breath and a smattering of other dental problems.
Talk to your dentist (or us) about the condition of your gums to ensure that your own oral health isn’t a detriment to the rest of your body.
If you’re interested in the full report of this study, visit the Journal of Periodontology.
Courtesy of Anthony Falbo
The root canal is probably one of the most if not THE most dreaded dental procedures. No patient wants to hear that they need a root canal, and believe it or not, dentists do understand the pain and anxiety patients go through, which makes them not exactly eager to perform the procedure. However, according to the American Chemical Society, scientists are on their way toward developing the “next big treatment revolution in dentistry” that could provide a less painful alternative to root canals.
The goal of root canal therapy is to bring a damaged and diseased tooth back to life instead of removing the tooth. This is currently done by hollowing out the tooth, removing the damaged pulp and nerve, and then refilling the tooth with synthetic material to keep it anchored in place. This really doesn’t bring the tooth back to life, but it’s worked well for what it was supposed to do. Now scientists are reporting that they have developed a completely original, nano-sized dental film, and this film has been quite promising in its early stages for actually revitalizing the tooth.
The potential procedure, called regenerative endodontics, could possibly become an alternative to removing the pulp and nerves in a root canal. The film, which is only 1/50,000th the thickness of a human hair, is multilayered and includes a substance that may help regenerate tooth pulp. The substance, called alpha melanocyte stimulating hormone (alpha-MSH) has anti-inflammatory capabilities, but when it is combined with a commonly-used polymer, they produce a substance that deters inflammation in dental pulp cells. The films that contained the alpha-MSH also increased the number of dental pulp cells. According to the scientists on this research, “this could help revitalize damaged teeth and reduce the need for a root canal procedure.”
If this becomes a reality, dentists and patients alike will gladly greet the nano-film with open arms. Anything is better than a root canal, right?
So often you’ll hear parents refer to their baby’s new teeth as just “practice teeth,” so there’s no real reason to be concerned about dental problems at an early age. After all, the teeth will just fall out and be replaced, right? While this is true, think of this logic in another way. Your fingernails and toenails will grow back if one of them falls out, but does that mean you won’t take care of them because they’ll just be replaced? Of course not.
Taking care of baby teeth is just as important as taking care of the permanent adult teeth for numerous reasons. For starters, it helps deal with bad breath. Even if your six-month-old is still breastfeeding, he or she will develop bad breath as the budding teeth ensnare the milk between them and the gums. However, bad breath is really the least of the child’s problems.
Like adults, improper dental care with children can cause not only tooth decay but gum disease as well. If gum disease develops, then there are the risks of losing baby teeth early, the permanent teeth not growing correctly, and the expensive specialized, pediatric dental bills that will tag along.
Plus, without a rigorous dental routine in the early stages, it will be harder for children to adapt to regularly take care of their teeth when they get older. Then when the permanent teeth make their grand entrances, well, they will grow into a child who has never properly learned good dental hygiene, which of course will lead to even more dental problems (and hefty bills).
As soon as your child starts the teething process, put them on a regular dental routine of brushing twice a day. Make sure you use toothpaste that is fluoride-free and safe to swallow. When your child develops all 20 of his or her baby teeth, talk to your family dentist about when would be best to start the twice-a-year check-ups. If you need a family dentist, please contact our office so we can talk to you and your child about his or her dental health.
