Dentists in Silver Spring MD: Top Recommendations for a Cleaner Mouth, PART 3

Welcome back to our three-part article series on maintaining a high standard of oral health and hygiene. This may sound like an uninteresting topic until you consider the intimate link, or rather inseparable nature of good oral hygiene and the appearance of your smile, say dentists in Silver Spring MD. Everyone wants the social benefits of having beautiful white teeth and pink healthy gums, but just like every other aspect of your appearance, it takes work! Looking after your teeth, however, is important for more than just the maintenance of smile confidence; it’s an integral part of good, healthy living.

In the first installment of this series, dentists in Silver Spring MD discussed good brushing habits and techniques. In the second installment, flossing was explored as an essential component of every home oral hygiene routine and one that is too commonly neglected. In this article, the final of the series, dentists in Silver Spring MD shall present a few other essential recommendations everyone should follow in order to minimize the bacteria in your mouth and maximize your oral health.

Your Bi-Annual Appointments with Dentists in Silver Spring MD

You’ve heard the expression many times before and in few other disciplines does it apply more rigorously than in dentistry: prevention is better than cure. What this idiom doesn’t directly convey is that prevention is also cheaper! Many people cite non-problematic dental health as the reason for missing their bi-annual appointments with dentists in Silver Spring MD: “There’s nothing wrong with my teeth, so why spend the money?”

One of the biggest health problems in the United States is gum disease, say dentists in Silver Spring MD. In fact, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an incredible 80% of all Americans present with some stage of this terrible oral affliction. The reason so many people have seemingly severe oral problems and know nothing about it is because the symptoms of gum disease can quite easily be ignored for several years, explain dentists in Silver Spring MD. Bacterial infections of the gums don’t tend to cause pain, which is generally the one symptom that will prompt patients to seek medical attention. Another reason is ignorance. People actually believe that gums that bleed when brushed are normal, say dentists in Silver Spring MD. It’s something they’ve experienced and ignored for so many years, they don’t regard it as a sign of bad oral health.

By going for a check-up and professional cleaning twice a year, dentists in Silver Spring MD can identify problems in their infancy before they have a chance to do permanent damage. What you may regard as normal and healthy may, under the strict scrutiny of dentists in Silver Spring MD, be a severe and potentially tooth-threatening bacterial infection or disease!

Dentists in Silver Spring MD: Other Important Recommendations

Regular and thorough brushing and flossing is the only way to bust bacterial activity in your mouth. Regular check-ups and professional cleanings are also an integral part of the preventative healthcare necessary to keep your pearly whites in tip-top condition. But there’s more! Here are some other important recommendations from dentists in Silver Spring MD:

• Eat a balanced meal three times daily
• Avoid snacking
• If you grind your teeth, wear a mouth guard
• Minimize your intake of sugary, carbohydrate-rich foods
• Minimize your intake of sugar-packed acidic fruit juices, sodas and energy drinks
• If you’re thirsty, drink water, advise dentists in Silver Spring MD
• Drink LOTS of water!
• Enjoy alcohol in moderation: it’s high in sugar and enamel-eroding acids
• Rinse regularly with an anti-bacterial mouthwash (alcohol-free)
• Don’t overdo tea and coffee, they contain staining tannins
• Stop smoking! Chewing tobacco is just as bad, warn dentists in Silver Spring MD
• Wear a mouth guard if you play contact sports
• Never use your teeth as tools or for chewing ice
• Eating disorders and drug addictions don’t only wreck your teeth, say dentists in Silver Spring MD; they will wreck your life. Seek immediate professional help.

Dentists in Silver Spring: Top Recommendations for a Cleaner Mouth, PART 2

Welcome back to our three-part article series on oral health and hygiene! This series is dedicated to helping everyone understand what it takes to really keep your teeth and gums in excellent condition, which, as we have already discussed, requires so much more than just twice-daily brushing. In this article, the second installment of the series, dentists in Silver Spring shall move on from talking about proper brushing habits and techniques and examine the next fundamental component of any home oral healthcare regime: flossing!

Dentists in Silver Spring: Floss Those Pearly Whites!

99% of all the patients’ dentists in Silver Spring see have some strange hang-up about flossing. It’s such a short and simple exercise, yet the vast majority of Americans simply don’t do it! One can only conclude from this that parents aren’t teaching their children from an early age that flossing is just as important to keeping your teeth clean and your gums healthy as brushing. Let’s look at it rationally…

Bacteria are tiny, tiny creatures that are visible only through the lens of a microscope, say dentists in Silver Spring. What you may see as the tight and impenetrable spaces between your teeth, they see as great big open voids. Better still, these spaces are sheltered from the sweeping bristles of your toothbrush. This is why you absolutely need to floss your teeth at least once a day, stress dentists in Silver Spring. All of the gum disease cases dental professionals attend to involve patients that simply haven’t given lifelong oral health and hygiene maintenance the time and effort it deserves.

Here are some important and useful flossing tips from dentists in Silver Spring:

• Floss each and every tooth, working the dental tape gently down into the gums between the teeth. You will be utterly shocked at the gunk you excavate from between your teeth, even AFTER you’ve given them a good brush, say dentists in Silver Spring.

• Floss every day and preferably before you go to bed at night. Dentists in Silver Spring floss twice a day, so if you wanted to follow their example…

• It can be dreadfully boring staring at yourself in the mirror while you floss. Keep a canister next to your bed or within reach of your favorite TV-viewing chair. If your family doesn’t mind you sending bits of your dinner all over the living room, then you can get your oral grooming done while watching Oprah. If they do mind, then remind them firmly who pays the bills (and who cleans the house.) If your significant other REALLY minds it and he or she happens to be responsible for cleaning the house, then floss in the bathroom like everyone else, say dentists in Silver Spring. Your attention span really can’t be that short.

Keep this in mind: if you’re new to flossing, or haven’t been good about doing it regularly in the past, then you may notice that your gums bleed a little bit, say dentists in Silver Spring. Many patients cite this as the reason they don’t floss, which is really a bit of a cop-out. After a few days, your gums should toughen up; however, if they continue to bleed, or do so copiously, then you may require professional treatment. Bleeding gums are never normal, stress dentists in Silver Spring. They’re indicative of a weakening of the soft tissue, which, in turn, is attributed to bacterial infection and conditions such as gingivitis and periodontitis (gum disease.)

Dentists in Silver Spring: Stay Tuned

We’ve covered brushing and now flossing. But there’s so much more you can do to keep your teeth in beautiful life-long shape. Stay tuned for the final installment of this article series to find out what dentists in Silver Spring recommend for an optimally clean mouth and a beautiful smile!

Dentist in Silver Spring Maryland: Six FAQs about Root Canal Therapy, PART 2

Has your Dentist in Silver Spring Maryland told you that one or more of your teeth require a 'root canal?' Has everything you've ever heard about this procedure got you packing your bags for Ibiza or the far side of the moon, rather than face the musical whine of the dentist's drill? Then listen up, says the dentist in Silver Spring Maryland. Root canals, or endodontic therapy, is one of the most misunderstood of all procedures and certainly doesn't get the recognition it deserves.

In our previous article post, we answered three of your frequently asked questions ending with perhaps the most important one: "does it hurt?" To recap briefly, the dentist in Silver Spring Maryland explained that the procedure itself doesn't hurt owing to the use of local anesthesia, but post-operative recovery can be quite uncomfortable. This discomfort can thankfully be effectively managed. In this article, the final installment of the series, the dentist in Silver Spring Maryland shall address your final three FAQs.

FAQ: What can cause the need for root canal therapy?

Answer: Root canal therapy is generally recommended for teeth that have sustained substantial damage or decay; so much so that the insides of the tooth have become contaminated by bacteria. When this occurs, says the dentist in Silver Spring Maryland, the pulp has to be removed, the inner chambers and canals sterilized and the entire tooth filled with an inert cement so that the future risk of contamination is minimized.

What can cause this kind of damage to the tooth? A number of factors, explains the dentist in Silver Spring Maryland. One of the top causes is accidental trauma, which has resulted in a deep fissure, crack or chip in the dental enamel and the subsequent infection of the pulp chamber. Advanced tooth decay caused by poor oral hygiene can also necessitate endodontic therapy, explains the dentist in Silver Spring Maryland. Actually, anything that exposes the insides of the tooth allowing it to become infected can necessitate root canal therapy.

FAQ: Are there any other treatment options for damaged teeth?

Answer: The only way to find out what your treatment options are is to consult with your dentist in Silver Spring Maryland. He or she will explain what is required in order to save a tooth from the damage or decay it has sustained. Generally, when endodontic therapy is recommended, you are looking at that or losing the tooth entirely.

FAQ: I've heard that root canal therapy causes a tooth to become 'dead.' Is this true?

Answer: This really depends on what your definition of an 'alive tooth' is, says the dentist in Silver Spring Maryland. If it's a tooth that is functional, looks like a normal tooth and is independently attached to the jaw just like the rest of your healthy teeth, then no, root canal therapy does not cause your tooth to die. On the contrary, root canal therapy can be all that stands between you and losing the tooth entirely! In this event, you'll be looking at needing a dental bridge or implant to replace the missing tooth, explains the dentist in Silver Spring Maryland.

A Final Note from the Dentist in Silver Spring Maryland

It always serves to bear in mind that root canal therapy, as scary as it sounds, is performed to help you achieve better oral health. No amount of sophisticated hardware, not even dental implants, can rival the long term benefits of your own biological technology, says the Dentist in Silver Spring Maryland. You have to do what you have to do to save it! This is exactly what endodontic treatment is geared at achieving.

Dentist in Silver Spring Maryland: Six FAQs about Root Canal Therapy, PART 1

Have you ever heard the expression, "more painful than a root canal?" As in: "that family reunion was more painful than a root canal?" Of course you have! It's the reason you felt that atavistic urge to run screaming from the examination room when the dentist in Silver Spring Maryland mentioned you needed one! Root canal therapy has a terrible reputation for being a miserable and painful procedure for patients to go through. Actually, says the dentist in Silver Spring Maryland, root canals, or endodontic therapy, are quite misunderstood.

If patients really understood that root canal therapy could save a tooth from getting flushed down the porcelain express and that, with the aid of anesthesia and sedative medications it rarely causes any pain and discomfort, there wouldn't be so much anxiety and fear surrounding the procedure. This is exactly what we resolve to do here today, says the dentist in Silver Spring Maryland. In this article and its sequel, we shall answer six of your frequently asked questions about root canal therapy and hopefully dispel many of its surrounding myths!

FAQ: What is a root canal?

Answer: A 'root canal' has become the common term used for a procedure designed to sterilize the insides of a damage or decayed tooth that would otherwise require extraction. Its name is derived from the part of the tooth anatomy involved in the procedure, explains the dentist in Silver Spring Maryland. The root canal is actually the tiny space in the roots of the teeth where the blood vessels and nerves that connect your tooth to your jaw.

FAQ: What does endodontic therapy involve?

Answer: Endo means 'inside' and dont refers to 'tooth,' explains the dentist in Silver Spring Maryland. The procedure involves the following steps:

• The tooth and gum are completely numbed using a local anesthetic.
• The dentist in Silver Spring Maryland will remove any damaged and/or decayed tooth structure.
• The dentist in Silver Spring Maryland uses very precise tools to remove all the infected nerves and blood vessels from inside the inner chamber and roots.
• Once the dentist in Silver Spring Maryland is 100% satisfied that the tooth has been rigorously sterilized, he or she will fill the root with a special rubbery filling.
• The dentist in Silver Spring Maryland will then rebuild the tooth with an internal filling topped with a ceramic crown. This is generally done at a separate appointment.
• You will be sent home with strict post-procedural instructions for the care of your restored tooth and a follow-up appointment scheduled.
• See image below for procedure sequence.

FAQ: Be honest doc, does root canal therapy hurt?

Answer: This is a controversial question because no dentist in Silver Spring Maryland finds it easy to tell their patient that the procedure they have recommended will be uncomfortable for them in any way. But think about it: often, a tooth that needs a root canal is already extremely painful. The anesthetic administered just prior to treatment renders the procedure pain-free. Once the infection has been eliminated, patients are typically in a lot less pain, although they may need to take some standard over-the-counter headache painkillers in the day or two following their appointment.

Remember, says the dentist in Silver Spring Maryland, a timely root canal procedure can actually save damaged and decayed teeth, so it's always worth it!

Stay Tuned For More!

To read the next three FAQ and the answers provided by the dentist in Silver Spring Maryland, stay tuned for the second installment of this article series.