How does your dental hygienist know when you aren’t brushing a flossing properly? Magic?  Of course not.   Columbus Dentist offers magical teeth cleaning in Columbus Ohio.  I can see the headline now! It’s the gunk man!

She knows when you’ve been flossing… she knows when you don’t brush, she knows when you’ve been bad or good…. so just brush and floss for goodness sake… OH!  You better watch out…..

A dental Hygienst has a very up close and personal relationship with your teeth when she is doing your professional teeth cleaning.   She see things you can’t see and she cleans “gunk” off your teeth that regular brushing can’t.  I mean she literally has a tool where she can gently scrape the tartar and plaque(aka gunk) off your teeth in a big strip.  Bad brushing = a big strip of yech stuff! 

In addition, when she flosses your teeth, if there is bleeding…. she knows you haven’t been flossing.  No magic there. 

Many people stop flossing because they see blood when they rinse.  Don’t stop flossing.  Keep it up for a few days and it will go away, unless you have a more serious condition like gum disease.  See a dentist if you have questions about the bleeding.

Some patients think we are just joking when we ask if they have had trouble brushing  their back teeth.  Or that we ask every patient “How often do you floss?” or “How often do you brush?”  Watch our videos on how to brush and floss.

I hate to spoil the mystic but we are just trying to start the conversation because we know you haven’t been doing an adequate job because of the gunk!  Just like Santa… we know if you’ve been bad or good!

If you are looking for a dentist in Columbus Ohio, we invite you to make an appointment today.  We’ll take care of you and your smile and keep your mouth gunk free.

Oral-B toothbrush

• Easier to brush your teeth
• 2 minute timer so you know your are brushing thoroughly
• Better check-ups at the dentist.  Both you and your dentist will notice a difference
• Parents usually appreciate a practical gift and once they start using it they will never go back to a manual brush

 Check out our other post “What’s so great about an electronic tooth brush“

Step One…Don’t Panic.  Of course, that’s what we parents/caregivers do naturally, but keep in mind that a blow to the head or the mouth usually looks far worse than it really is.  There will likely be blood, but the child will be less frightened if you stay clam and in control.  Allow the child to hold a  cloth/paper towel with cool water on it  in or on his mouth.

Step Two…Try your best to get a look in the mouth to see if there are any broken teeth.  If a whole tooth is missing, collect it to take with you. Do not handle the tooth by the roots, only hold the tooth by the top and do not rub or scape the tooth in an effort to “clean” it. This can damage the root surface, making it less likely to survive.

Step Three…Try to replace the tooth in the socket. If it does not go all the way into place, have the child bite down gently on gauze or a moistened paper towel to help keep it in place.  Hold the tooth in place until you see your dentist. If you cannot replace the tooth in the socket, place it in whole milk,  your child’s saliva, or a mild saltwater solution.  You will want to take the tooth with you when you visit the dentist.

Step Four… Contact your dentist immediately.  Most offices have an emergency after hours number and your dentist is going to want to see the child just to make sure things are all right.  If you can’t get to the dentist, go to an emergency room.

Rest in knowing that baby teeth naturally replenish themselves and remember that there are several solutions to repair a broken tooth and to replace a lost tooth. Kid face plants are a very common thing with children(especially last week for some reason).  This makes it very likely that your dentist has had lots of experience in this area! Also keep in mind that if your child participates in contact sports, tooth loss can often be prevented by having your child fitted for a mouth guard!

The nutritional labels above are from Coke and Diet Coke some of the leading soft drinks in the industry.  Regular soft drinks contain both sugar and acid that can lead to tooth decay.  And although Diet soft drinks don’t contain sugar, they contain acid which is still harmful to teeth.

Sugary drinks, including sports drinks and energy drinks are consumed by children and adults a like but a lot of the cautionary information is aimed at parents and children.

But young adults should also pay close attention.  Students studying for exams or young people on the job trying to “get through the day” can mindlessly sip on soft drinks most of the day.  This continual sipping means the acid and sugar stay in contact with your teeth and can literally “bomb out” your mouth in between visits to your dentists.  Repairing the decay in these “bombed out” mouths isn’t cheap but if the decay isn’t repaired it just leads to bigger cavities.

So how much acid and sugar is in some of your favorite soft drinks?  See the chart below and remember the lower the acid number, the worse it is for your teeth.  I added battery acid, just for fun so you could compare the acid PH level of battery acid to your favorite soft drinks.

For more soft drink results see the information from the University of Minnesota School of Dentistry where these results were taken.

Kids today are consuming too much juice.  Often they drink juice instead of water, fruits, or vegetables.  Children that drink too much juice may not be hungry when mealtime arrives and will miss out on other important nutrients they would get from food.  For children ages 1 to 3, try to limit juice to one cup a day.

How much sugar is in an 8 oz cup of juice?

• Grape Juice = 8 teaspoons of sugar
• Apple Juice = 6 teaspoons of sugar
• Orange Juice = 6 teaspoons of sugar
• Juicy Juice = 5 teaspoons of sugar

The sugar in juice can significantly contribute to dental decay.  Small children can get cavities when liquids that contain sugar are left on teeth for extended periods of time.  This can happen when the child drinks juice from a sippy cup or bottle for prolonged periods during the day or is put to bed with juice in a cup or bottle.  Never put your child to bed with a bottle or sippy cup of juice.

Here are some tips to limit the amount of juice your child drinks

• Offer Juices less often and/or dilute it with water
• Give water in place of juice in a special cup or bottle
• Serve fruit as a snack in place of juice
• Serve milk and juice at mealtime only…water in-between meals

Stay tuned for tommorrow’s post… Stop the Pop!  Acid + Sugar = Trouble

There are really 2 criteria to consider when choosing a toothpaste, is it effective clinically and what is the aesthetic appeal.

Clincal effectiveness basically means…. does it have fluoride.  Most dental types agree that if it has fluoride then it a toothpaste you should be using.  How often you brush and your attention to detail while brushing matters much more than what you squeeze on your brush…. Sorry big toothpaste manufacturing types.

So of the different types of toothpaste claims, what’s real and what is bogus?

Tartar Control: this is for real.  Has an ingredient that keeps tartar from forming on your teeth.  This toothpaste can’t remove the tartar(only a trip to your dentist can do that) but it can help keep tartar from forming on your teeth.

Toothpaste for Sensitive teeth: sort of real, depending on why your teeth are sensitive.  If it’s because you have some gum issues it can work.  If your teeth are sensitive because you have been avoiding the dentist and have some issues like cavities, tooth grinding, or need a root canal, it won’t help you.  Suck it up and go see a dentist, get the situation taken care of and choose a toothpaste for taste.

Whitening toothpaste:  Totally bogus and a waste of money for the $8 whitening toothpastes…. accept most toothpastes on the drugstore say they are whitening toothpastes so it’s kind of hard to avoid getting one.  Whitening toothpastes remove surface stains…. but then so do all toothpastes.  Whitening toothpastes don’t whitening the teeth because in order to whiten teeth the whitening agent (in this case the toothpaste) has to stay in contact with the teeth for more than 2 minutes to do the whitening job.

Triclosan: For Real.  Triclosan clings to your teeth after you brush and continues to kill the bacteria.  Colgate Total has triclosan in it.

So there are some of the clinical reasons and the other reasons to buy a toothpaste come down to

• Taste, do you like the taste.  This is typically how I purchase toothpaste.
• Consistency, gel or paste
• Texture, some whitening formulas are gritty
• Packaging, ease of squeeze and general messiness.  Toothpaste overflow seems to attract hair in my bathroom…. eeew!

So what toothpaste does the staff at Grandview Dental Care use?

Dr. T: Ultrabrite, old school

Becky: Crest Whitening Plus Scope Extreme Mint Explosion(because of the taste…. not the whitneing)

Kay: Colgate Total

Beth: Crest Pro-Health

Misty: Sensodyne