Your Stinky Floss

… and the debate continues

 

Even though it was last year that the Associated Press report suggested that flossing was overrated and unnecessary, we are still being asked by patients whether flossing is necessary or not.

 

The simplest answer seems to be answering their question with another question: “What do you suggest for cleaning plaque and food from in between teeth and under the gums?”

 

Although there are other effective interdental aids for cleaning in between teeth, flossing is the only device that can actually get into the tight area between teeth – assuming there is not already a space or gap.

 

With the toothbrush only able to reach 3 of the 5 tooth surfaces,
what does this AP report suggest people do to clean the other 2 surfaces?

 

People will have to excuse their dental care providers for getting a little defensive when the health benefits of flossing is called into question. At Your Smile Dental Care, we’ve seen the value that flossing brings to our patients’ oral care over the past 30 years and we will continue to dig in our heels on the subject.

 

We only need to use our common sense about flossing. If you have something in a body part that is causing a foul odour and inflammation that can lead to loss of surrounding tissue, infection and loss of said body part, would you not want to get it cleaned out?

 

Dental neglect is preventable and flossing is an inexpensive addition to
your oral care routine to help you take care of your teeth and gums.

 

Practicing the best oral care you can with the tools available is important when it comes to your overall health. The link between gum disease and a number of other serious health conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, respiratory infections, and immune system disorders has been well established.

 

Most of us are already making changing in our lifestyles so that we can live healthier and longer. A daily 2 minute routine seems like one of the easier changes we could be making.

The bottom line is this: There is research and studies that both sides of this argument can cite to continue their claims. No doubt, the debate will go on and on while the plaque and tartar build up and up!

 

Note to the Associated Press: For all those people that are able to remove meat and popcorn caught between their teeth using their floss – Is that evidence enough? How about how stinky our floss is after use – Is that evidence enough?

 

Yours in Better Dental Health,
The Your Smile Dental Care  Team
(905) 576-4537
(416) 783-3533
www.yoursmiledentalcare.com

What is a Periodontal Screening?

Does your smile pass the Test?

No doubt, you have heard how important it is to take care of your gums for the health of your teeth, but it can also affect your overall health. Gums, also known as gingiva, is a barrier tissue that covers and protects your teeth and the bone that surround and support your teeth.

When gums become tender, swollen and begin to bleed, it is usually a sign that the body’s immune system has been triggered.

Our mouth is home to a complex ecosystem of microorganisms. While much of the bacteria is our mouth are beneficial in preventing disease, there are some that are harmful if allowed to take over. The proper balance of these germs is critical for a healthy mouth. Certain processes take place everyday to keep this balance from being disrupted so that a response from our immune system is not triggered.

Some patients become aware that something is going on when they begin to notice bleeding when they brush their teeth. Others have had progressive gum disease for a long time and are surprised to learn of it.

Periodontal Screening

Watchful Eyes

Your dentist and dental hygienist are trained to not only help you maintain healthy mouth and teeth, but they are always monitoring your mouth for signs of the onset of gum disease. By routine – usually once a year – they will perform a gum evaluation called a periodontal screening.

During this screening, they are assessing the health of your supporting gum and bone structures and evaluating the look of your gums.

Healthy gums are pink and firm. Unhealthy gums are red, swollen, spongy-looking and may bleed. They also look for signs of gum loss (recession) and use a tiny instrument called a probe to measure the depths of the pockets between the teeth and gums. The pocket is a free space located around each tooth. In between each tooth it is where your floss enters for cleaning.

In a healthy mouth, this free space becomes attached gum about 2-3 mm of the way down. When bacteria is allowed to accumulate in this space inflammation occurs that triggers the immune system to send white blood cells. Unfortunately, the WBC not only destroys bacteria but gum tissue also. When the attachment portion of the gum tissue gets destroyed, the pocket become deeper and more bacteria, dental plaque and food can accumulate.

If left untreated or unnoticed, this pocketing will lead to bone loss. Eventually, enough bone is lost that the tooth becomes loose and cannot be saved.

Early detection is key

This is why it is important to identify this pocketing early in order to prevent further gum and bone loss. There are various treatment options available for gum disease and your dentist may refer you to see a gum specialist (Periodontist) for ongoing care.

Unfortunately, gum disease is called a “silent disease” that often goes unnoticed until a significant amount of damage occurs. This is usually the case for people who do not see a dentist routinely where the health of their teeth and gums can be monitored on a regular basis.

Periodontal disease has long been the leading cause of tooth loss in adults which is why every patient should have a periodontal screening performed annually. Early detection is key and can make all the difference.

The good news is that gum disease is an easily preventable disease. By simply brushing your teeth twice a day, flossing daily, and attending to regular dental check-ups and cleanings you are already helping your mouth and teeth.

To keep them in tip-top shape you need to start looking at your other habits:

1. Meal frequency – Reduce snacking in between meals to allow your saliva to repair damage done by acid attacks. Read here

2. Do not sip on sugary drinks or coffee/tea with milk, cream and/or sugar frequently or all day long.

3. Use an antiseptic mouth rinse once a day

4. Ensure that other medical conditions like diabetes and heart disease is monitored by your physician regularly and is under control.

5. Consider a smoking cessation program as smokers are almost three times as likely as nonsmokers to have periodontitis

6. Eat a healthy, nutrient-rich diet that  helps to control inflammation.

Suggestions:

• green leafy vegetables such as spinach, kale, and collards
• fruits such as strawberries, blueberries, cherries, and oranges
• fatty fish like salmon, mackerel, tuna, and sardines
• nuts and legumes
• olive oil

7. If you suspect gum disease, never ignore the signs and see a dentist.

Signs:

• red, swollen gums
• tender and/or bleeding gums
• loose gums that have pulled away from your tooth
• sensitive teeth
• pain when eating
• receding gums; tooth appears longer
• spaces between tooth and increased food impaction
• loose fitting partial dentures
• persistent bad breath

 

Keeping your gums healthy and strong is the simplest way to maintain your overall health and help to ensure you keep your teeth for life. If it has been a while since you have been to the dentist for a check-up or suspect you may be having problems with your gums please contact our office today at 905 – 5SMILES (905.576.4537). You’ll be glad you did!

Your in better dental health,
The Your Smile Dental Care team
(905) 576-4537
(416) 783-3533
www.yoursmiledentalcare.com

A Partial Glimpse into Dentures

Mithing some Teeth?
Here’s a Partial Solution!

It is unfortunate when you are missing several teeth and eating and smiling has become difficult – even embarrassing.

Finding a solution that is the right fit for you involves a number of considerations and your dentist will help you understand the factors involved in your specific-to-you situation.

Although implants are the most advanced tooth replacement, are cost-effective and are available for even the most complex cases, not every patient is an ideal candidate or can afford them at the time needed.

So, what are your other options then?

Perhaps, the idea of dental implants can be revisited at a later date. Until then, the spaces can be filled with bridges or dentures. Today, let’s take a look at your partial denture options:

 

Dentures are classified into 2 main categories: Full or Partial dentures.

 

Full Dentures – Are available for patients who have all of their teeth missing in the upper or lower arch or both. They are removable, but fortunately, full dentures can be secured to dental implants for added support and confidence while still being removable. They are made of acrylic and can be relined with more material as your jawbone changes in size and height due to missing roots.

 

Partial Dentures – Are designed for patients who are missing several, but not all the teeth in the upper or lower arch or both. There are several different types of partial dentures depending on design and materials used. They are supported by teeth and gum tissue, so the health of these are considered during selection. Each type of partial denture has their own set of pros and cons with some dentures using a combination of materials.

 

 

Cast Metal:

– thin, metal alloy framework and claps

– more expensive

– metal not very aesthetically pleasing

– biocompatible metal, so hypoallergic for most people

– not usually harsh on health of gum tissues

– soft liner can be added to increase gum comfort

– preferred type of partial denture in terms of strength, durability, retention, thickness and fit.

– can have coloured plastic added that look like gums.

– more difficult to reline as gum and jaw changes unless soft liner added.

– more teeth can be added as needed.

 

Flexible

– made of nylon or another type of composite material

– moderate cost

– very aesthetically pleasing and can be colour blended to match gums

– very flexible and thin

– more comfortable in the mouth for chewing and speaking.

– hypoallergenic

– better on gum health than acrylic

– more damaging to natural teeth than a metal denture

– very good retention using clasps and undercuts

– more teeth can be added as needed, but some flexible material do not bond together well making the addition of new teeth ans relining more difficult and expensive.

 

Acrylic:

– made of a rigid plastic material

– much more affordable option as they are less expensive and easier to make.

– gum-coloured plastic is more pleasing than metal

– weaker and less durable than metal.

– plastic can pick up odours and stains

– can break more easily than Metal or Flexible

– plastic can be allergenic for some people

– more damaging to natural teeth than a metal denture

– can have more plastic material added if jaw/tissues change shape

– more teeth can be added as needed.

 

What You Should Know

In general, partial dentures:

1. can interfere with speaking
2. are less stable than natural teeth, bridges or dental implants
3. may have supporting clasps that can break or bend, but they usually can be fixed readily
4. need to be relined as jaw dimensions change
5. need to be removed nightly to keep mouth tissues healthy
6. prevent shifting of adjacent teeth until a more long-lasting, permanent solution is selected
7. can wear down over time by natural teeth
8. can be lost since they are removable
9. need maintenance or repair of framework and components as they wear
10. can be relined to accommodate changes to the underlying bone. Expense depends on type of material used to make partial denture.
11. can have their fit impaired by any changes to the existing teeth because of decay, repair or loss.
12. have artificial teeth that can be easily repaired or replaced.

 

 

Tendering in Tradeoffs

 

Nothing in life is as good as the real thing. There are tradeoffs that are made when we have to repair or replace our natural teeth. This is why caring for your teeth properly your whole life will increase the likelihood of “Teeth for Life!”

Every dentist has heard a patient say that they are just plain sick and tired of having to care for their teeth and think that by removing and replacing them with dentures they will become worry free of dental problems.

Wrong! They are trading one problem for another. Dentures come with their own set of issues, and, like teeth, they still require care yo prevent damage and prolong their life. Speaking, eating, comfort, mouth sores, and stability are just some of the issues you will likely face with dentures at one time or another.

How long a partial denture will last also depends on the proper care of existing teeth. There is no 100% perfect replacement for your natural teeth. The time and effort you put into caring for them is never a waste as it can make a huge difference in your dental health.

Furthermore, it is important to understand that dentures and bridges do not replace the missing tooth roots – only the visible tooth crown. Eventually, the jaw bone that once supported the roots will begin to shrink and reduce in overall size. This is an important consideration as dental implants need healthy jaw bone height and volume into which they are placed and eventually integrate into. The jawbone can be augmented using bone grafts, but this increases the complexity and cost of the dental implants.

 

Short Term vs Long Term

 

Everyone knows the feeling of being faced with options. Decisions are not always easy and the more options available, the harder the decision. Your dentist is there to help you sift through all of the information, weigh all the factors and understand the tradeoffs you may have to make. Do you opt for an affordable solution that has limitations, a shorter lifespan and will require more on-going maintenance or do you invest now in the premium permanent option?

Being an informed patient who understands fully the pro and cons of each dental treatment option helps you move forward to the day when you can eat and smile with confidence.

Lastly, it’s Your Smile. Dental care is necessary for your remaining teeth. The function of chewing is meant to be distributed amongst many teeth. Expecting a few to do the job of many will result in wear and breakdown and you will run the risk of losing your remaining teeth through disease and dental collapse. If you are missing one or more teeth, see your dentist today to discuss your treatment options today. You’ll be glad you did!

 

 

 

Your in Better dental health,
The Your Smile Dental Care team
(905) 576-4537
(416) 783-3533
www.yoursmiledentalcare.com

Alzheimer’s Drug in Dentistry

Alzheimer’s Drug may be sinking it’s teeth into dental care!

 

Needless to say, tooth aches have plagued humans for years, but a recent discovery may soon sink it’s teeth into this age old problem.

 

Scientists have been looking for ways to repair rotten teeth for years. Now it seems that a team of researchers at Kings College in London may have found a way to regenerate tooth dentin using a drug that is usually used to treat people with Alzheimer’s.

 

The outer layer of the tooth, called enamel, is the hardest substance in the human body. It is very densely calcified and contains no stem cells. Currently, the only way to repair enamel is to hope that a person’s mineral-rich saliva can reverse the very early stages of enamel demineralization cause by bacterial acids.

 

There is always a daily battle during and after meals between the mouth bacteria and our mineral-rich saliva. Simply put, the bacteria metabolize the sugars we eat and create a erosive acid that can dissolve and break open enamel rods allowing minerals to leech out. Our saliva plays a reparative role by then depositing minerals into this surface damage to try to harden the weakened area of the tooth. This repair process takes upwards of 4-5 hours in between meals which is why frequent eating/snacking interferes with our saliva’s reparative ability. Unfortunately, when the amount of demineralization far outweighs the restorative work of saliva and the damage is deep enough, repair is irreversible and the tooth must be cleaned out and filled with a dental material.

 

However, researchers at Kings College were concerning themselves with very large areas of decay – cavities that ate through the enamel and into the next tissue called dentin. Dentin is roughly 50% less harder (calcified) than enamel, but unlike enamel, it  is capable of some regeneration to protect the pulp. Just like bone, dentin is able to acquire more calcified tissue in the event of repair. We call this secondary or reparative dentin and the stem cells needed to produce extra dentin comes from the pulp. That repair is limited, however.

 

Until now….

 

Dentistry already has dental products that attempt to soothe and protect the more vulnerable pulpal tissue from deep tooth decay, but it can only do so much,  especially if the decay is very close or has reached into the pulp. What these scientists have done essentially is found a more natural way for dentin to repair itself. Using a biodegradable collagen sponge soaked with the Alzheimer’s drug called “tideglusib”, they placed it on the dentin where the decay had reached the pulp.

 

Essentially, Tideglusib switches off an enzyme called GSK-3, which is known to prevent dentin formation from continuing.  The testing was done using mice, but the results were very promising. Not only did their body defence systems begins growing natural dentinal tissue, but testing showed the damaged tissue replaced itself in as little as six weeks – much more quickly that the body’s current natural ability. And, unlike the dental materials currently used in dentistry that remain after placement, the sponge eventually dissolves over time after the new dentin replaces it.

 

A Great Step Forward

Image B shows exposed dentin. When drilling continues the pulpal tissue is eventually reached as in Image C. CREDIT: KING’S COLLEGE

This discovery is exciting because, not only do we, as dentists, try to repair decayed teeth, we try to stop it in it’s tracks before it reaches the pulpal tissue. Once the pulp chamber is exposed to the oral environment, we use dental materials designed to cap the exposure and encourage the growth of dentinal stem cells to preserve the health of the pulp, but it’s success rate is not what we’d like it to be.

Many factors play into the repair process and if the body does not cooperate and form a sufficient layer of dentin to seal the pulp, then the vitality of the pulpal tissue will become compromised and eventually begin to rot. Once this happens root canal treatment is necessary to save the tooth from extraction. In addition, tideglusid is not a new pharmaceutical. It has undergone testing and is already being used as a drug for patients with Alzheimer’s.

 

“In addition, using a drug that has already been tested in clinical trials for Alzheimer’s disease provides a real opportunity to get this dental treatment quickly into clinics.”

Professor Paul Sharpe, lead author of the study
Dental Institute of King’s College,  London  UK

 

At Your Smile Dental, we know that, “Not all that glitters is Gold”, but with more than 30 years of dental experience, we also know that many of the technologies we use today in dentistry were the impossible dreams of yesterday. The dentin is a very important protective layer between the enamel and the vital centre of the tooth. Once decay gets into this layer, it can advance quickly. Finding a way to regenerate this tissue faster, before it poses a threat to the nerve, will be a great step forward in the treatment of dental disease.

 

It may not be the end of fillings since enamel cannot grow back, but we’re happy to stick around a little longer to help you with all of your dental care needs!

 

 

The Your Smile Dental Care Team
(9050 576-4537
(416) 783-3533
www.yoursmiledentalcare.com

 

Hopeless teeth

The Audacity of Hope…

Most dentists will tell you that the last thing they ever want to have to do is to remove a permanent adult tooth. In fact, they will fight tooth and nail to try to save one (sorry, tacky pun?)

When a patient presents us with a tooth that has severe decay, infection, badly broken down restorative work or has been injured from trauma, the first thing we must do is evaluate the health of the remaining portion of the tooth and its surrounding supportive bone.

To us, it’s not so much what we can see above the gum line that determines treatment options, but the quality and health of what is remaining below the gum line. To that end, our goal is to preserve what remains then develop a sound treatment plan to replace what is missing.

Although treatment may also involve healing nerve and gum tissue, patients are always amazed to learn that as long as their tooth has sound root structure and enough supporting bone surrounding it, we can save it!

Survial

Without the benefit of a crystal ball, there will always be uncertainties, but a good dentist makes treatment recommendations based on all the clinical and x-ray evidence concerning the compromised tooth while giving considerable thought to predicting the likelihood of long-term survival.

At Your Smile Dental Care, we also know from experience that a patient who is willing to care as much about and for an affected tooth as we do is more likely to keep the tooth for as long as possible. Many conditions that the patient may regard as “hopeless” can actually be fixed and the tooth can last for many more years once successfully treated.

Sometimes, a patients will ask us to remove their teeth because they are tired of frequent discomfort and wish to avoid future dental maintenance and associated costs. Others, surprisingly enough, have told us that they’d rather have false teeth (dentures) than have to deal with ongoing dental problems. While no two cases are ever alike and each patient has their own unique set of circumstances, we are bound to explain that removing teeth unnecessarily does not solve the issue of discomfort and dentures bring with them their own assortment of issues.

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Removing a tooth may bring immediate relief from pain, but, unless you replace it with a suitable alternative tooth, a silent breakdown process begins that starts to destabilize the dynamics of the mouth (Dental Collapse).

 

But what happens when a tooth cannot be saved?

The hopeless tooth…

Sadly, there are times when conventional therapies fail or a tooth  is so badly infected, fractured or is so loose from inadequate bone support that we must decide if the dentition is better off without it.

We call this prognosis hopeless. Nowadays, however, modern dentistry has treatment options that can replace your tooth with one that looks and functions almost as well as healthy, natural ones do. Dental implants have revolutionized the way we replace missing teeth without having to resort to dentures or remodeling adjacent teeth to accommodate a fixed bridge.

Helping our patients understand the thought process that goes into our treatment recommendations is crucial so that they can weigh the information and make well-informed decisions.

If you think that your teeth are in a “hopeless” state of disrepair, you may be surprised to learn that you have more options than you think.

Give us a call at (905) 5SMILES to book a consultation today!

Yours in Better Dental Health,
The Your Smile Dental Care team
(905) 576-4537
(416) 783-3533
www.yoursmiledentalcare.com