No Trick, Only Treats Halloween!

Posted by drgracesun on October 30, 2009 under Beautiful Smile, Children, Healthy Smile, Hygiene | Be the First to Comment

Trick or treat! The sweetest and most scary time of the  year! Saturday eve, your street will likely be filled with ghouls, vampires and princesses all vying for your sugar-laden loot. Be it chocolate, sweet tarts or candy corn, be careful! It is important to remind the little ones that sweets will not be so sweet if we do not carefully clean it afterward!

We all know that we should brush and floss after every meal, especially after eating sweets, as within minutes, the sugar turns to acid and bacteria strives, the erosion and decay process initiates, and your candy isn’t so sweet any longer. Dental decay and gum disease are the consequences of poor oral hygiene conditions. For baby teeth, enamel is thin and not hard, and is very vulnerable to decay. Bad oral health is not isolated to the mouth, but can cause systemic problems including (but not limited to) heart disease, digestive problems and even dementia. It has been theorized that inflammation from periodontal disease, a hard-to-cure condition in which the bacteria get into your blood stream increases inflammation throughout your body, which challenges the body’s immune system, making it more susceptible to sickness.

A few examples of systemic health problems stemming from periodontitis include increased blood sugar levels in diabetics and a doubled likelihood of developing coronary artery disease. Expectant mothers with gum disease may also be several times more likely to give birth to a premature, underweight and sick child.

We all need to get into the habit of carrying our oral health tools – a toothbrush and floss. This is a particularly good habit to develop if you have children, encouraging them to brush after meals even in school, restaurants and when traveling. The minimum is that at least morning and night, twice a day, a mandatory oral hygiene routine is carried out. If your child has a sweet tooth or is prone to cavities, additional fluoride treatments might be necessary to strengthen the enamel, preventing a cavity . Ask your dental professional to be a part of the game plan to better equip your child in life for a healthy and happy mouth. If we can  develop our child’s hygiene habits early on, that is a precious gift!

Halloween is scary season, and not just for costumes – it’s cavity season as well. Instilling good habits in your kids will ensure a healthy, bright and white future for your child’s teeth, and for their overall health as well.

Cleaner Mouth = Better Braces!

Posted by drgracesun on under Beautiful Smile, Healthy Smile, Hygiene, Orthodontics | Be the First to Comment

In a recent study released by the Oral Health Journal, a systematic evaluation of patient oral hygiene for orthodontic patients has revealed stunning information that links poor patient oral hygiene with impacted orthodontic treatment quality and treatment times.

When a person seeks out orthodontic treatment to fix a problem (crooked teeth, a misaligned bite, etc…), he or she must realize that the bone is actually being remodeled. Orthodontic treatment rearrange teeth into a proper alignment, which pressure transfer to the roots of the teeth within the jawbone. Bone is actually lost and added during this process as the teeth are repositioned to their proper places as reaching the treatment goal.

Poor oral hygiene will influence  your tooth and gum structures negatively.  The progress of orthodontic treatment consist of inflammatory  and regenerative responses. A  mouth with plaque and tartar build-up will trigger the body’s inflammatory response, amplifying the already inflamed structures associated with orthodontic treatment and can lead to a prolonged inflammatory stage and a delayed regenerative phase within orthodontic treatment. Poor oral hygiene during orthodontic treatment can and will have a damaging affect on your treatment goals as well. Reports have shown that “poor oral hygiene can increase treatment times from 1.2 to 2.2 months – other consequences of poor oral hygiene during orthodontic treatment affect the quality of the end result of treatment.” Whereas standard orthodontic treatment (in a clean mouth) leads to the balanced loss and gain of bone, poor oral hygiene restricts the ability of new bone to grow, affecting the treatment results.

Orthodontic treatment seeks to improve a patient’s oral health, but what every patient must remember is that a treatment plan can only be fully realized if both the doctor and the patient are making concerted efforts to correct a problem and stick with a course of action. A patient’s oral health cannot improve without patient compliance. If a patient sees his or her orthodontic specialist (or physician or dentist) on a regular basis but does not fulfill his or her duties to maintain a clean and healthy oral environment, no improvement will ever be seen. A doctor and a patient must work together to obtain a successful result.

Remember that your dental professional may be a miracle worker, but that does not retract your obligation to maintain proper oral hygiene (or any other instructed daily routines)! Any orthodontic treatment plan is a dual-sided plan that requires dedication from both the physician and the patient. Without proper compliance from the patient, prolonged treatment time and reduced oral improvement will result.

Treating Dry Mouth

Posted by drgracesun on October 21, 2009 under Healthy Smile | Be the First to Comment

My husband is an avid snow skier, and has been hitting the slopes since he was 16 years old. Now, in his late 60s, the joints in his back have become dislocated, and eventually became herniated. The rough sport has taken its toll on his back – he has had five (yes, five) back surgeries over the past several years, and as a result, his many surgeries have left him with a constant, staggering pain – an all too common scenario with athletic individuals, especially in the sports medicine field. Having tried several medications (without much luck), he finally came across Cyclobenzaprine, a muscle relaxant that works for him. Taking the edge off of the pain however hasn’t come without its price – xerostomia, or dry mouth, is the major side effect which my husband – and many others – have a hard time dealing with.

Prescription medication can cause dry mouth.

Cotton mouth, dry mouth – xerostomia has many names, but the feelings associated with a dry, parched mouth and throat are all the same. Xerostomia is a condition in which the salivary glands of the mouth do not function as they should, and provide a less-than-adequate supply of saliva into the mouth. In the instance I mentioned above, xerostomia is not just a medical condition that derives from poor oral hygiene or bad dietary habits, but can be a unpleasant side effect from prescription medication. As  explained in an earlier blog post on toothmingle.com about dry mouth, xerostomia can stem from over 400 prescription and OTC medications, including anti-depressants, anti-hypertensives, painkillers (like Cyclobenzaprine) tranquilizers, analgesics, diuretics and antihistamines.

In most cases, as it was with my husband, the dry mouth side effect is more than acceptable, as his back pain was debilitating – but there are steps one can take to help alleviate xerostomia. Avoid alcohol and caffeinated beverages as they can parch the oral cavity , leeching moisture and making the effects of xerostomia even more pronounced than normal. Dry and salty foods, processed foods (such as potato chips, candy and doughnuts) will also cause the mouth to become dry and parched. Smoking will also leave the mouth overly dry and uncomfortable (not to mention its devastating effects on your teeth and lungs).

Drinking water will definitely help curb dry mouth, so take small sips of quality water often. The important things to realize is how important it is to keep your oral hygiene in top condition.  Oftentimes, the random decay associated with dry mouth is hard to treat; fluoride treatment at home or at a dental office is a good idea. Keeping a humidifier in your bedroom can also help to eliminate some discomfort with dry mouth.

There are over the counter and prescription drugs available to eliminate symptoms and signs of dry mouth; if home remedies and correction of your diet and habits does not solve the problem, consult with your dental or medical professional.

Anti-Aging in Dentistry

Posted by drgracesun on October 14, 2009 under Beautiful Smile, Healthy Smile, Hygiene, Nutrition and Diet, Smart Smile | Be the First to Comment

Anti-Aging is something of a buzzword in today’s marketplace: the medical community, the marketing community and nearly every community in between seems to have been captured by this craze. What exactly is anti-aging? The concept is to reduce the visual signs of a person’s age to make one appear younger, more vibrant and more beautiful. While there are a range of methods and procedures available to the public to accomplish anti-aging, the patient themselves must be willing to make changes to his or her lifestyle in order to sustain the changes provided by his or her physician.

I recently attended the 5th European Congress in Aesthetic Dermatology and Surgery in Anti-Aging Medicine, hosted by the European Masters in Aesthetic & Anti-Aging Medicine (or EMAA) in Paris, France. The conference focused on a plethora of anti-aging information and news in the field, but what I found interesting were the procedures tailored toward dental medicine. Botox, or Botulinum toxin, is a neurotoxic protein that is in fact one of the most poisonous substances known to man! Despite the dramatic definition, the use of very small amounts of this toxin to treat muscle spasms in anti-aging medicine is widespread. Botox relaxes muscle spasms in a way that can reduce wrinkles, by training specific muscle groups to relax and lower tension.  Botox effects wear off between three and six months, and will need to be re-administered to maintain results.

From the dental aspect, Botox can be used to control a gummy smile. Botox relaxes the muscles in a person’s upper lip – known as hyperactive upper lip – which contributes to a gummy smile. When Botox is injected into the muscle group in a person’s lip, the toxin actually relaxes the muscles and restricts the muscle’s ability to overly contract upward thus showing excessive gum tissue . Botox can also be used to control facial muscle spasms that contribute not only to wrinkles and frown lines, but to headaches as well. By undergoing Botox therapy, the muscles in the lips and face can be trained to eventually relax on their own.

Although Botox may sound like a miracle drug for reducing the appearance of gummy smiles, fine lines and even headaches, one must remember that any anti-aging treatment plan is dual-fold: the patient must be committed to their health in order to achieve long-lasting results. Patient compliance is key in any medical treatment plan, but when it comes to anti-aging, a healthy lifestyle can make all the difference in the world. Diet is one of the most important factors in patient compliance. Everyone has heard the age-old saying “you are what you eat,” – it is absolutely true.

A patient who is concerned with his or her physical health and appearance – and is willing to go through Botox therapy to achieve anti-aging results – must realize that his or her diet is vital to achieving long-lasting results. Vegetables, lean proteins and minerals are all vital in achieving healthy skin, bones and organ function. A poor diet high in refined sugars, fat and carbohydrates with poor habits (like alcohol consumption and smoking, staying up late and no exercise) all will contribute to a faster aging process. We all wishto be young and healthy forever – it all starts with healthy choices.

An EyeTooth Saves An Eye?

Posted by drgracesun on October 3, 2009 under Current News Events, Information | Be the First to Comment

In a story that spread across the news (and the web) in a matter of hours, a revolutionary surgical procedure took place in Florida that essentially used a female patient’s own eye tooth (canine ) as a base to hold a prosthetic lens inside her eye, which was blinded nine years ago due to Stevens-Johnson Syndrome. Blind for nine years, Sharron “Kay” Thornton recently regained her vision through a first-in-the-U.S. surgical procedure at Bascom Palmer Eye Institute at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. The surgical procedure — modified osteo-odonto-keratoprosthesis (MOOKP) — implanted her canine eyetooth in her eye, as a tissue base to hold a prosthetic lens in place.

The disease, which claimed Sharron Thorton’s vision for so many years is an idiopathic condition (read: spontaneous and of unknown-origin) which causes the epidermis to separate from the dermis in what is often a life-threatening battle. The condition destroys the cells on the surface of the eye causing severe scarring of the cornea. Because the eye is such a sensitive part of the body – which rejects foreign material, including plastics and other man-made objects – a piece of hard natural tissue was needed for the implantation of the prosthetic lens. Because the body would normally reject an artificial base, the eye tooth was chosen as a hard, durable tissue which was composed of natural minerals that the body would not reject.

Corneal specialist Dr. Victor Perez said of the procedure, which was developed in Italy, “MOOKP has proven effective as a solution to end-stage corneal disease where severe corneal scarring blocks vision and corneal transplants are no longer an option but the eye’s internal structures and optic nerve remain healthy. For certain patients whose bodies reject a transplanted or artificial cornea, this procedure ‘of last resort’ implants the patient’s tooth in the eye to anchor a prosthetic lens and restore vision,” he explained.

Before the eye-opening procedure, the eyetooth was actually implanted in the patient’s stomach for several months, in order to expose the tooth to other bodily tissues (blood, plasma etc), preparing the tooth for implantation within the eye. Had the tooth not been cocooned by the body before implantation, the chances of bodily rejection would have been rather high. Medical technologies like these (and revolutionary medical procedures) have helped improve our life so much – dental or other bodily implants have been used routinely with great success, but the bottom line is that prevention still is the best answer for our  health and quality of life. When tragedy strikes – as it did with Kay Thorton – a combination of science and fortune just might save the day.