DID YOU KNOW THAT THE MAJORITY OF US experience SOME level of dental anxiety? As much as 80%, in fact. Despite our best efforts we know that there’s something that feels inherently vulnerable about lying back in a chair while we examine your mouth. We’ve been patients too.

Communication Can Make You More Comfortable

We want you to feel comfortable and confident during your visits with us. We believe that one key is open communication between our team and you—our valued patient! Whether you’re extremely nervous during dental appointments, or just slightly uncomfortable, communication helps. However, it’s hard to know exactly how, or what, to communicate sometimes.

If you’d really like to explore the reasons you feel nervous about dental visits, here’s a handy questionnaire developed by J.H. Clarke and S. Rustvold at the Oregon Health Sciences University School of Dentistry. If you’d like, look over the first four questions and let us know where you fall on the scale. It’s a simple way to tell us how you’re feeling.

Is Your First Appointment Coming Up?

Check out the video below outlining an routine check-up. It could help get you in the right mindset:

Simple Understanding Can Make A Huge Difference

Once we understand a little bit about your triggers and your reaction to dental-related situations, we can do a lot to make you feel comfortable. Some techniques we use include:

• Taking adequate time so you don’t feel rushed or harried.
• Carefully explaining everything before we do it.
• Establishing signals so that you can let us know if you need a break.

Would You Like More Techniques For Relieving Stress?

This video has some great pointers:

Do you know someone else who suffers from severe dental anxiety? Is it compromising their health? Have them give us a call. We can help.

Thanks for your trust in our practice!

YOU MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE CHILDREN OF YOUR OWN. Either way, we all have children we care about in our lives—nieces, nephews, grandchildren, neighbor’s and coworker’s children, etc. That’s why it’s so important for everyone to be aware of this severe health issue affecting kids.

It’s Easy To Protect Against Baby Bottle Tooth Decay

Did you know that the most common childhood disease today is tooth decay? Tooth decay results when bacteria in one’s mouth interacts with the sugar and starches in foods and beverages, creating acid which erodes tooth enamel. And although baby teeth are temporary, they’re critical to a child’s health, comfort, and long term oral health development. Without proper care those baby teeth are subject to painful, unnecessary caries.

Don’t Let Babies Fall Asleep With Their Bottles

Here’s what typically happens… The baby is put to bed with a bottle. Seems harmless enough. But if the bottle is full of milk or juice it’s also full of sugars that combine with bacteria to produce acids. Babies drift off with the bottles still in their mouths. The fluid pools around their teeth and the enamel on those new little teeth is slowly eroded away throughout the night.

The result can be painful caries, and/or the need for stainless steel crowns. In addition, since children’s teeth are still coming in they’re more susceptible to decay underneath the gum line. This decay can become so severe that delicate surgery under a general anesthetic may be required to remedy the problem.

Take A Moment To Be Informed

If you start early, you may be able to train your child to drink water in his or her bottle at nap time. Here are some other tips:

• use gauze or a wet cloth to wipe children’s gums and teeth after feedings
• work toward using “sippy” cups by his or her first birthday
• don’t nurse continuously during the night
• never dip pacifiers in honey or any sugary liquid

The video below offers other suggestions:

If You Have Questions, Please Ask

Think about the children you know and kindly help every parent understand this important topic. If you have any questions about dental health for your child, or for a child close to you, ask our team about it. You can leave a comment below, or on our Facebook page.

Thanks for your trust in our practice. We appreciate having you as our valued patient!

FATHERS HAVE A KNACK FOR making us smile—even when we’d prefer to be grouchy! Amazingly, they can usually pressure us into smiling through a simple act or gesture—a grin, a proud look, a really dumb joke.

This week, as much of the world celebrates Father’s Day, let’s return the favor!

Help Make The Fathers In YOUR Life Smile!

Take a moment to think about the fathers (and/or “father figures”) in your life. These could include your own dad, an admired teacher, a grandfather, a neighbor or mentor…

Now, think of one thing you can do for each of them this week that would make their lives brighter, make them smile, or lighten their loads. Remember, it could be something really simple like a unexpected visit or unhurried phone conversation to just say “thanks”. Whatever you come up with, make sure he knows how grateful you are for the role he’s played in your life.

It isn’t every day that we get an opportunity to celebrate those fathers who have contributed to our success and happiness. Take advantage of the day. By helping these fathers smile, you’ll find yourself smiling as well.

Think Of The Fathers In Your Life As You Watch This

Oral-B did a great job in this video capturing the Power of Dad!

Now Share Something With Us!

Did you decide on some things you can do this week? Please share your ideas with us below!

Do you have a memorable experience where a father in your life made you smile? Perhaps a great Father’s Day tradition? Share it with us in the comments section below or on our Facebook page. We’d love to hear from you.

We appreciate having you as a valued friend! Happy Father’s Day!

AN ALLIGATOR HAS 80+ TEETH that can each be replaced up to 50 times during its life! Potentially, that’s thousands of teeth! You may be thinking, “Wow, that’s cool… But why are we talking about alligator teeth on this human dental blog?” Well, alligators may be helping scientists learn how to stimulate tooth renewal in humans.

Alligator Teeth Are Similar To Human Teeth

Like humans, alligators have well organized teeth, with different functions, fixed in bony sockets. Research shows that there are three parts (or phases) to each alligator tooth—a working tooth, a substitute tooth (ready to replace the working tooth should it be lost), and the dental lamina (a band of tissue that is the apparent hub for new teeth development).

Humans are similar, with one big difference. We have adult teeth (these are our “working teeth”) and we have dental lamina. What we don’t have are substitute teeth. While most vertebrates can replace teeth until the day they die, human teeth replace themselves only once. The million dollar question is, why do replacement teeth stop growing after our first adult set?

The Secret May Be In The Dental Lamina

Researchers believe that the dental lamina is the source of tooth regeneration. Stem cells in the lamina stimulate growth. For some reason our lamina turns off when adult teeth arrive.

Researchers are working to isolate the exact lamina growth triggers in alligators so that perhaps they can duplicate them in humans. They believe they’ve found a “promising protein compound” but still have a lot of work to do to create the proper elemental combination.

A Video Overview

For Now, It’s A Waiting Game

The idea of human tooth regeneration is exciting (that’s why we brought it up!), but it isn’t right around the corner. So, in the meantime, continue taking great care of the teeth you have!

Thank you for stopping by our blog! And thanks for being our valued patients and friends.