How to Prevent Dental Diseases

Maintaining proper oral health is important. There are some common ways to keep your mouth healthy, such as visiting the dentist, flossing, and brushing your teeth regularly. Here are some extra precautions you can take to prevent oral and dental diseases.

Tooth Protection

Protecting your teeth is hugely important to keeping your smile looking pretty. Certain activities and participating in contact sports puts your mouth at risk for injury that can contribute to dental diseases. Mouth guards protect teeth from getting knocked out and from teeth breaking.

Mouth guards are also helpful to patients who grind their teeth at night. Bruxism is common and many people do not even know they grind their teeth. Signs may include waking up with a headache, face pain, and fatigue. While it may seem insignificant, grinding teeth can cause broken teeth, loss of tooth enamel, and potentially overtime, loss of teeth.

Eating Habits

A healthy diet with plenty of calcium and vitamin D and other necessary nutrients is important to bone health and strong teeth. Eating the proper amount of dairy, calcium-fortified foods, and green vegetables is sufficient for children and young adults. Food like broccoli, kale, milk, and orange juice are healthy ways to get the proper amounts of calcium.

Avoiding carbohydrates, candy, and sticky foods can stick on the teeth and remain on the surface of the tooth, unless you brush your teeth soon after eating. The complex sugars in carbohydrates turn into bacteria that lives in the mouth, and when mixed with saliva, it turns into acid which eats at the teeth.

Limiting sugary drinks like soda is important to protecting teeth and preventing oral and dental diseases. The acid in soda eats away at the enamel and can create cavities. It also leaves stains on the surface of the tooth that can erode the structure of the teeth. Cavities can cause long-term dental damage if they go untreated.

Dental Visits

Seeing a dentist regularly for cleanings is important to your overall oral health. Taking certain precautions like having X-Rays performed at routine cleanings can monitor your oral health and check for early signs of decay.

Getting your teeth professionally cleaned can also help prevent gum disease and inflammation and bleeding by removing built up plaque. Your dentist may use fluoride treatments and sealant to help your teeth fight tooth decay.

Proper Brushing Techniques

While it is important to brush your teeth, improper brushing can do damage to your teeth. Over brushing can damage the tooth enamel and if you brush for longer than 4 minutes total each day, you run the risk of wearing down the enamel and exposing the dentin (the inside layer of teeth).

Brush your teeth like you are polishing an eggshell – gently and carefully. If your toothbrush gets flattened after brushing, you are brushing too hard. Flossing your teeth with each brushing helps remove any debris or food stuck in between your teeth.

Brushing at least twice a day with a fluoridated toothpaste, before and after bed is a great way to help prevent any oral issues and dental diseases.

If you would like to learn more, please do not hesitate to give us a call or contact us to book an appointment.

How Your Dental Health Can Be Affected By Osteoporosis

Keeping your bones healthy has a great affect on the health of your mouth.  It seems odd, but when you think about the bones that construct the jaw and hold your teeth in place, it makes sense to care for your bones just like you care for your teeth. Bone diseases like osteoporosis have a significant affect on your oral health and dental bones. 

Dental Bone Loss

The jawbone supports our teeth, and that bone is known as the alveolar process. There is a correlation between the loss of alveolar bone and increase in tooth loss. This is because when the bone starts to weaken, the teeth become loose and can even fall out.

Periodontitis is an oral health infection that affects gums and the bones that support the teeth. Bacteria eats away at the bone and connective tissue that hold the teeth in place. Loss of the alveolar bone and the break down of the mineral bone density leaves the bones more prone to tooth loss.

The break down in bone density can be caused by chronic diseases. There is a clear relationship between periodontitis and other diseases that affect bone density, such as osteoporosis. Although osteoporosis affects everyone, women with osteoporosis are more susceptible to have issues with oral surgical procedures or have poorly-fitting dentures.

Osteoporosis and Oral Health

Osteoporosis is a chronic disease that causes bones capable of breaking easily and can trigger low bone density, causing a major impact on the jawbone that supports the teeth. The main causes of osteoporosis are aging, menopause, and lack of nutrients like vitamin D.

Because of this, osteoporosis can have a direct negative effect on gum and periodontal disease, leading to loss of teeth. Osteoporosis has a huge impact on the jawbone that supports the teeth.  When the jawbone is affected by chronic bone diseases, other dental issues are eminent. In fact, studies show that osteoporosis is an aggravating factor in periodontal destruction. 

Women’s Health and Dental Health

Because women are more susceptible to suffering from osteoporosis, it is no surprise that women also have a higher likelihood of having dental issues and oral health problems.

This is especially true for women who are entering, or already in, their menopausal phase because of hormone imbalances. Menopause can trigger the resorption of bones, triggering a decline in bone density. This increases bone loss and can even be the cause of bone disease like osteoporosis. The bones can become porous and increase the bones’ risk of fractures or breaks. Women can help lower their risk by taking supplements, increasing their calcium intake, or by undergoing hormone therapy to encourage a healthy hormone balance.

Women who suffer from osteoporosis are more likely to experience difficulty with healing after oral surgeries, dental procedures, or have ill-fitting dentures.

Risk Factors Associated with Osteoporosis and Periodontal Disease

There is a direct correlation between osteoporosis and periodontal disease due to a number of risk factors.

  • Smoking – Smoking is a leading cause of oral health issues that can trigger bone diseases and increase the risk of osteoporosis.
  • Diet – A diet lacking proper nutrients like vitamin D and calcium can eventually lead to bone disease and periodontal disease.
  • Hormone imbalance – The use of corticosteroids due to a hormone imbalance caused by menopause or low estrogen levels have been known to cause medical disorders that lead to poor bone health and dental issues.
  • High caffeine intake – A high intake of caffeine can lead to immune dysfunctions, increasing the likelihood of bone disease.

Prevention

A high-calcium diet is key to preventing osteoporosis and oral health issues. Taking a supplement is not sufficient in providing the body with enough nutrients that come from calcium-rich foods. Foods such as broccoli and kale have fortified calcium, as well as dairy products such as milk and plain yogurt.

Patients who rely on supplements oftentimes experience negative side effects such as constipation, indigestion, and an increased risk of kidney stones. A study by JAMA’s Internal Medicine shows that more than 11,000 deaths can be related to heart diseases caused by continual use of calcium supplements.

If you have oral health issues due to osteoporosis, speak to your doctor today.

If you would like to learn more, please do not hesitate to give us a call or contact us to book an appointment.

6 Common Oral Infections

One of the most important parts of the body is your mouth. It has a variety of functions and allows you to like eat, breathe, sing, speak, and begins the digestion process. That’s why when you have a problem that affects your mouth, it’s important to see a dentist right away.

Oral infections are not uncommon – in fact, many only last a few days and can go away from simple at-home treatments. They are most common in small children and older adults who are more susceptible to infections due to weak immune system. Some of these oral infections are preventable with proper oral hygiene in place. However, other oral infections require the help of a dentist and professional treatments.

6 Common Oral Infections

  1. Gingivitis: Gingivitis is caused by a variety of bacteria in the mouth. It is the early stage of gum disease – when bacteria settles into the gum line and produces toxins. Gingivitis causes gums to become inflamed and swollen, which is why your gums may bleed when brushing. If left untreated, gingivitis leads to periodontal disease. It is very common – 50-90% of adults will experience gingivitis at some point in their lives.
  2. Periodontal Disease: When gingivitis goes untreated, it will worsen and cause periodontal disease. Bacteria spreads below the gum line and affects the bone and supporting tissue. This causes severe inflammation and bone loss, causing the teeth to loosen. Periodontal disease is the leading cause of tooth loss in adults – 8-10% of adults suffer from periodontal disease. Because the bacteria lives in your mouth, when you inhale, it can affect your lungs and cause pneumonia or make chronic lung conditions worse.
  3. Oral Herpes: Between 50 and 80% of adults carry the herpes simplex virus. The infection can cause flu-like symptoms, blisters and ulcers on the tongue and gums, or it may not display symptoms at all. With proper care, the infection can stay dormant, but once infected, the virus has a permanent presence in the body. Outbreaks can last from a week to 10 days. Kids who carry the simplex virus occasionally develop a condition called herpes gingivostomatitis – a condition where the gums swell and create small blisters. Children may run fevers, feel fatigued, or become irritable. Like adults, the virus will remain in their bodies, with flare ups caused by stress, trauma, or exposure to a lot of sunlight.
  4. Herpangia: Herpangia is most common in children aged three to ten. It is frequently seen during the summer and fall. The infection generally lasts 3-5 days and causes blisters to form at the back of the mouth. When the blisters rupture, large ulcers form. It is related to Hand, Foot, and Mouth disease.
  5. Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease: Hand, Foot, and Mouth disease is most common in toddlers and school-aged children. The “Coxsackie A16” virus is responsible for this infection. Hand, Food, and Mouth disease causes a sore throat and a fever, with painful blisters appearing inside the cheek and tongue. These blisters also appear on the palms, soles of the feet, and on the buttocks. The infection and symptoms typically disappear within three days.
  6. Canker Sores: Canker sores – aphthous ulcers – are small lesions that develop on at the gumline or on the soft tissue in your mouth. Canker sores are not contagious and do not appear on the surface of your lips. They can make eating and talking difficult, but most canker sores go away on their own within a week or two. Canker sores can cause tingling or burning before they are visible as round, yellow or white sores.

Treatments for mouth infections vary, depending on the problem, but it is important to care for your mouth and keep it clean by adopting an at-home oral health routine. Brushing, flossing, and being mindful about what you eat can help prevent oral infections. Brushing twice a day with a fluoride toothpaste helps prevent tooth decay, gum disease, and other oral infections. Combined with this routine, be sure to visit your dentist regularly.

If you would like to learn more, please do not hesitate to give us a call or contact us to book an appointment.