Getting older impacts your whole life. Your body changes, including your mouth. Dental care is important for maintaining overall well being. Many seniors struggle with tooth loss and other dental health issues, like dry mouth or gum disease. Keep your teeth and gums healthy by remembering these helpful hints. Those individuals caring for aging parents or relatives can also benefit from the following tips:
• Make home care a priority. If you have trouble remembering to brush and floss, try posting little reminders in your bathroom near the sink. Caregivers can encourage this process as well.
• Choose a soft toothbrush. If the bristles are too hard, you can irritate gums and damage tissue.
• When you have dentures, clean them daily and use the special cleaners designed for this purpose, not just toothpaste.
• See the dentist twice a year. These appointments allow the doctor to check your teeth and gums for any problems. Depending on the state of your oral health, the dentist may suggest more frequent visits.
• Tell the dentist about any medications you are taking and any side effects that could affect your dental health. For example, some people experience dry mouth with certain medicines.
• Contact your dentist right away if you notice any unusual symptoms in your mouth. Letting issues like gum disease or tooth decay go can cause bigger problems in the long run.
• Maintain a healthy diet. What you eat influences your whole body health, including your teeth and gums.
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Having a teenager can be challenging. They have school work, multiple activities, and attitudes. This hectic time in life can also impact your teen’s dental health. Proper care and good oral hygiene will make sure that your teenager enjoys a lifetime of vibrant smiles.
• Encourage your teen to brush after each meal. Remind your son or daughter about the importance of flossing to remove plaque and promote gum health.
• Explain the consequences of not caring for your teeth, which can include bad breath, stains, and cavities.
• Make sure you stock up on the necessary supplies so that your teen has the right tools on hand. Purchase plenty of fluoride toothpaste, dental floss, and extra toothbrushes.
• Schedule regular checkups with the dentist. These appointments allow the dentist to assess your teen’s oral health and handle any problems right away.
• If your son or daughter has braces, get floss threaders from the orthodontist or buy them at the local drug store. Keep up with appointments for adjustments so that your teen’s treatment stays on track.
• For teens that play contact sports, including soccer, football, or volleyball, ask your dentist or orthodontist about a custom mouth guard. This oral appliance is designed to protect their teeth and mouth from potential injury.
• Limit your teen’s consumption of junk food by having health snacks like vegetables, fruits, and low fat dairy options readily available.
• Model good behavior. Showing that you believe oral health care matters will help your teen take your advice and warnings to heart.
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You only get one set of teeth, so you need to protect them. Good home habits, like routine brushing and flossing, help keep your smile and mouth healthy. Regular checkup appointments allow your dentist to monitor your oral health and address any issues before they escalate.
To enjoy a beautiful, vibrant smile, keep these points in mind:
Don’t wait for pain
Many people believe that their teeth and gums are fine because they don’t have any discomfort. Certain conditions, like gum disease and tooth decay, begin with mild symptoms and don’t cause pain until they have progressed. Schedule exams twice a year so that your dentist can assess your current dental health.
Have a plan
Even if you can’t take care of everything on a proposed treatment plan, prioritize the items on the list and address the problems one at a time.
Choose wisely
Though addressing your oral health issues can be expensive, putting off treatment or choosing an under-qualified provider will cost you more in the long run. Find an experienced dentist that you can trust and establish a good relationship with this provider.
Maintenance matters
Just like you have to change the filters in your air conditioning and the oil in your car, you need to make time for routine care appointments. With regular checkups, you are less likely to need restorative services such as crowns, fillings, and implants.
Oral health relates to total wellness
What happens in your mouth impacts the rest of your body. Research has linked gum disease to more serious health concerns such as cardiovascular disease, risk of stroke, osteoporosis, and low birth weight.
We look forward to seeing you in our Toronto dental office
There are many misconceptions about root canal treatment. This process is recommended when your tooth pulp is infected or damaged, and the treatment is needed to save your tooth. The damaged pulp is removed from your tooth and filled with a material that prevents future infections. A crown is often recommended to be placed over the tooth to complete the procedure and preserve the tooth. If your dentist recommends this treatment for you, it may save you some worry if you know the truth about the procedure.
Truth about the pain
Root canal treatment has advanced over the years, making it much less painful than its previous reputation. Anesthesia is used during the procedure, and most patients say it is no worse than getting a filling.
Truth about office visits
The procedure can usually be completed in just one or two office visits. Several factors impact the number of appointments, such as the extent of infection, complexity of the procedure, and need for referral to a different health care professional. Your dentist will be able to advise how many office visits are needed for your treatment.
Truth about symptoms
Your tooth does not absolutely have to be painful to indicate the need for a root canal. A dentist may diagnose a serious problem even when you don’t feel discomfort. That’s one reason regular checkups are important, so that issues can be caught.
Truth about cause
It is a myth that root canal treatment is caused by illnesses like heart disease, arthritis, or kidney disease. Medical research has proven these long-time myths to be untrue.
Truth about success
The benefits of root canal treatment can last a long time, even permanently. Sometimes patients experience broken teeth after treatment, but dentists attribute this to failure in the restoration or tooth construction instead of the root canal treatment itself. Patients who do not opt to get crowns tend to experience tooth breakage more often.
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Depending on the degree of gum disease you have been diagnosed with, treatment can vary extensively. It can range from having a regular teeth cleaning and paying more attention to dental hygiene, to complex and often painful surgery. If you’ve been told you have a problem with your gums, seek treatment immediately.
Your dentist will perform a gum exam to decide the best treatment plan. This includes measuring the gum pockets around your teeth, noting inflammation, and checking gum recession. If gum pockets are extensive, it may mean you have bone loss. In that case, your dentist might refer you to a gum specialist called a periodontist.
Gingivitis is the earliest stage of gum disease. All that may be required is a thorough professional cleaning, better oral hygiene, consistent checkups, and allowing time for gums to heal. If gum problems have advanced, a deeper professional cleaning called scaling and root planning may be needed. Medications might be prescribed to treat infection. If the areas don’t respond to these treatments, gum surgery can be performed to remove diseased tissue, save the remaining gums and bone, and allow a better environment for good future oral health.
Receding gums sometimes are not severe enough for any treatment, but cosmetic concerns may warrant a gum graft procedure. It involves surgically removing tissue from another area of the mouth and grafting it onto the receded area. Another issue might be a gum abscess, which requires deep cleaning to remove diseased tissue and any pus that is present. Antibiotics will likely be needed for the infection. Once the abscess is cleared, further treatment may be needed to avoid a recurrence.
As you can see, there are a variety of possible treatments depending upon the severity of your gum problems. Of course the best solution is to avoid gum issues in the first place by maintaining good oral hygiene and regular dental checkups.
We look forward to seeing you in our Toronto dental office
The traditional silver fillings that patients have been getting for many years have come into the spotlight in recent years. Some people wonder if these silver, or amalgam, fillings are safe because they contain small amounts of mercury.
Background
Amalgam fillings contain a mixture of half liquid mercury and half a blend of silver, copper, and tin. This material is soft and malleable, which makes it easy to be sculpted to fit well into the tooth and not affect the patient’s bite. Amalgam fillings have been used to fill cavities for over 150 years.
Risks
The concern about mercury as an ingredient in amalgam fillings is due to the health risks of toxicity or allergies associated with exposure. Significant mercury exposure can cause chronic illnesses, autoimmune disorders, birth defects, oral lesions, and mental disorders. The FDA has investigated the safety of amalgam fillings, however, and determined that the mercury levels are too low to present adverse health risks for adults or children over age six. It has also been deemed safe for nursing mothers to have amalgam fillings. Both the FDA and the American Dental Association maintain that these types of fillings are safe.
Alternatives
Patients who are uncomfortable with amalgam fillings may choose composite resin material instead. This newer type of filling is used in about 70 percent of fillings performed today, and many patients prefer the tooth-colored resin because it is less noticeable in the mouth than silver fillings. Patients who have concerns about amalgam fillings already in place may ask the dentist about switching to composite resin instead.
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