The Blog

If you’ve always visited your dentist every six months like clockwork, you may be feeling a little nervous with your dental office closed for non-emergency care during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. We want our patients to be able to maintain their optimal level of oral health at this difficult time, and we also want to protect the health and safety of every member of our community.

Tooth enamel erosion and wear weakens the overall structure of your smile, exposing you to an increased risk for tooth decay (cavities), dental chips and cracks, and infection in or around the tooth. In this blog, we discuss the most common causes of tooth enamel erosion and how we can help you protect and repair damaged smiles.

Conventional bridges offer a tooth replacement solution for one or a few consecutive missing teeth. However, there are several reasons that these restorations may not be ideal for every patient, including the potential for the supporting teeth to be damaged, decayed, or infected.

Bleeding when you floss can occur for a number of reasons. You may be moving the floss a little too aggressively, which can injure the soft tissue.

If you brush your teeth twice a day, floss daily, and visit your dentist for preventive dentistry appointments every six months, you’re already doing a lot to keep your smile healthy, but if you’re not using the right oral hygiene products, you still may not be doing enough to keep your smile, and whole body, healthy. The American Dental Association recommends changing toothbrushes at least once every three months to ensure the toothbrush works well and you avoid unnecessary damage to your smile.

New Year’s resolutions may actually go all the way back to the time of Julius Caesar. It makes sense that, at the beginning of a new year, we would want to start fresh with a clean slate, and while many people in the US focus resolutions on improving their health, few consider making changes to keep their smiles healthy.

If you’re working with a physician to get your diabetes under control, you have probably already heard about the whole body health issues that can occur due to uncontrolled blood sugar levels, including organ failure and severe infection. What many doctors neglect to tell their patients is that diabetes can also lead to numerous oral health concerns that dramatically increase risk for tooth loss.

When you visit the dentist and receive an oral exam, your dental hygienist and dentist will evaluate the health of your gums and teeth. If there are signs of gum disease, most commonly gingivitis or periodontitis, you will need a complete periodontal exam which includes evaluation of plaque, marginal bleeding, gum attachment loss or dental pockets and number of teeth present.

For decades, the link between poor oral health and heart disease has been a subject of extensive research. While even the most recent research is still inconclusive, there are some indications that maintaining your oral health could decrease risk of heart disease.

When we decide to incorporate a new dentistry technique or technology into our dental office, we look for tools that make dentistry easier, faster, more comfortable, and more affordable for our dental patients. The Glidewell Fastmill.io same-day dental crown system offers all of these benefits and more.

Dentists field questions regularly about pacifier use, thumb sucking, and other self-soothing toddler habits that can negatively impact a child’s oral health. It’s important for parents to remember that most thumb sucking and other self-soothing behaviors are not damaging, and they may be helping your child to feel safe and secure.

There’s no better way to celebrate Dental Hygiene Month each October than to share a healthy, happy smile! If you’re struggling to maintain the optimal level of oral hygiene, your dentist can recommend steps you to improve your daily at-home routine for effective dental hygiene in Greenbelt.