Sinus Infections: A Real Pain in the… Teeth?

106392513It’s that time of year. Allergens permeate the air we breathe, irritating our sinuses and making us feel all sick in the head. Viral infections, allergies, pollution… all can trigger sinusitis, which often leads to the dreaded sinus infection.

The painful pressure behind your eyes and cheekbones. The constant need to grab for a tissue (or five). The sore throat and irritating cough. The pain in your teeth. Wait… pain in… what? That can’t be right. Continue reading Sinus Infections: A Real Pain in the… Teeth?

Fight Back Against the Plaque Attack!

99012595You know that fuzzy feeling on your teeth at the end of the day? Well, it’s not fuzz (phew!), it’s actually plaque (oh no!).  What is plaque? It’s a sticky biofilm attached to your teeth containing hundreds of bacterial species. Before you run for the mouthwash, you should know those bacteria occur naturally. And it’s not just you, everyone has them!

What Causes Plaque?

Those little germs on your teeth use ingredients in saliva to flourish, namely sugar. As the bacteria metabolize tiny sweet particles, they produce acids that erode tooth enamel, cause cavities, and lead to gum disease and tooth loss. A diet full of candy, soft drinks, and carbohydrate-rich foods ups the ante. Continue reading Fight Back Against the Plaque Attack!

Is Your Retainer Retaining More Than Your Teeth?

Our mouths are full all kinds of interesting little organisms. It’s sort of like a mini rainforest in there –warm, wet, and home to more than 600 different species of bacteria, viruses, fungi, 100687469and even protozoa. A few help promote good oral health, some do you absolutely no harm, and others meet their fate in saliva or your belly.

Most of us don’t give mouth germs a second thought since we brush twice a day, floss nightly, and attend routine preventive dental visits every six months (RIGHT?!). But if you wear a retainer, clear aligner, or bite appliance, you may need to take extra precautions to prevent tiny invaders from taking over. Researchers have found that Candida (a type of yeast) and Staphylococcus, both potential illness-causing microbes, are present on 50% of all retainers. YIKES! Continue reading Is Your Retainer Retaining More Than Your Teeth?

Vintage Dental Ads from the Sindecuse Museum of Dentistry

dental advertisementDental museums are few and far between. Merely a handful of dental schools and private organizations devote resources to preserving our toothy beginnings. And yet dental products, remedies, and prosthetics have been around for hundreds of years. In a fascinating exploration of dentistry and advertisements, the University of Michigan’s Sindecuse Museum of Dentistry currently displays vintage print ads for everything from pink toothpastes  to powdered-glass dentifrice!

Explore the collection of 22 vintage images on their Flickr page or the Sindecuse Museum’s website.

If you’re not in Michigan and would still like to saturate your brain with obscure dental knowledge, consider visiting these other dental museums:

Say Cheese!

77289213Drink your milk! How many of us immediately revert to childhood memories of sitting around the dinner table with mom and dad upon hearing these words? What if, instead, our moms had insisted, “Eat your cheese!”? I imagine we’d all have fonder dinnertime memories, for one.

Well, it turns out Mom would have been doing us all a great favor if she’d been a little more generous with the cheese. Evidence indicates that eating cheese is beneficial for your teeth because it is low in carbohydrates and high in calcium and phosphate. Research over the past decade suggests that cheese is not only an excellent source of calcium, which (as we all know) strengthens bones and teeth, but can also help balance the acidity levels (pH) in your mouth preventing decay. Continue reading Say Cheese!

Healthy Teeth for Happy Pets!

105863958How many of you out there have a pet? Raise your hand. Whoa, that’s just about everyone! Pets are a huge part of our lives and we love them like family members, which means that we provide them with more than just a place to sleep and an occasional bowl of grub. We give them a safe and loving environment, lavish them with attention, teach them, and maybe even buy them a sweater or two for the winter (okay, we’re pretty sure they don’t like the sweaters, but we do!).

Today, we are also more conscientious of our pet’s health and dental care needs, and since February is Dental Health Care Month for pets, too, we thought we’d give you a heads up on how to handle your furry family member’s toothy needs. Continue reading Healthy Teeth for Happy Pets!

National Children’s Dental Health Month

A Healthy Smile? It’s Easy to Find! Remember to Brush & Floss Every Day!

February marks National Children’s Dental Health Month, a time which the girl brushingAmerican Dental Association has set aside to encourage dentists, parents, and other adults to educate children on how to take care of their little smiles. And even though that’s more than a week away, it never hurts to get a head start! Now’s the time to help kids brush up on good oral health!

Here are some ways your children can maintain strong, healthy smiles that last a lifetime: Continue reading National Children’s Dental Health Month

Four Ways Green Tea Supports a Healthy Smile

green teaWe can all use a little jumpstart in the morning, and coffee, America’s drink of choice, gets the job done. We know it stains our teeth and contributes to the abominable coffee breath syndrome, yet Starbucks continues its worldwide reign. What if I told you that ditching the coffee and switching to green tea could improve your oral health and reduce your trips to the dentist? Incentified?

Green Tea’s Got Roots

Hundreds of millions of people drink tea. It’s second in popularity only to water. Ancient Chinese and Indian cultures have consumed green tea for ages, and it’s been used for such medicinal purposes as healing wounds, improving heart health, regulating body temperature, promoting digestion, and improving mental processes. Continue reading Four Ways Green Tea Supports a Healthy Smile

A Stress Free Smile, the Gift to Give

It seems like there’s always something to be stressed about, whether it’s related to school, work, relationships, smiling womanfinances, or *gulp*, the holiday season. Between cooking, traveling, shopping, and hosting friends and family in our homes, we get no time to just sit down and relax. What is supposed to be “the most wonderful time of the year” can quickly become the most stressful time of the year.

So does that mean we should just give in and spend our holidays overwhelmed by stress and anxiety? No! This is the time of year to celebrate life, to leave our worries behind, and to enjoy the people we love—and ourselves.

Say Goodbye to Stress with a Smile

Not only is it easier to smile than frown, but smiling actually makes us feel happier. According to scientific studies, when we smile, we stimulate muscles in our face. These muscles then stimulate a specific area of the brain that causes us to feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Continue reading A Stress Free Smile, the Gift to Give

All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth!

99322812For a kid, losing baby teeth is the ultimate sign of growing up. They compare notes with their friends on how many teeth they’ve lost and who lost them first. And while your little one is just excited to show off the space where a tooth used to be, you may be wondering exactly what to expect about the departure of those deciduous teeth.

Get Lost!
Baby teeth are usually lost in the order they arrive: the bottom two incisors first, followed by the top two. Your child will probably begin losing his or her baby teeth around age five or six, though it can happen as young as four years old. Essentially, the root will dissolve as the adult tooth pushes out. Though baby teeth generally fall out by themselves, they can also become stuck in food when your child is eating and may accidentally be swallowed (totally harmless, we promise). Continue reading All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth!