The Stages of Periodontal Disease

We want you to be aware of how gums can go from healthy to severely infected with periodontal (gum) disease.  Be on the alert for the signs and symptoms and if you suspect you may have gum disease, don’t wait to see a dentist.  Remember that gum disease is related to systemic disease, so keeping your gums healthy also helps prevent heart disease, diabetes, Alzheimer’s and other illness.

Healthy gums have a healthy, pink color.  The gumline hugs the teeth tightly and there is no bleeding.

The first stage of gum disease is called gingivitis.  When you have gingivitis your gums bleed easily when you brush or when your gums are probed gently during a dental examination.  Gums with gingivitis are inflamed and can be sensitive to the touch.  Sometimes with gingivitis there is possible bad breath and a bad taste in the mouth.  The gums between your teeth may look blush-red in color.

The next stage is early periodontitis.  At this stage the gums may begin to pull away from the teeth.  The bleeding is more pronounced and gum puffiness and inflammation is more pronounced as well.  There is bad breath and bad taste with early periodontitis.  On the dental x-rays the dentist can see slight horizontal bone loss.  Pockets of 3-4mm between the teeth and the gums are in one or more areas of the mouth.

The disease progresses to moderate periodontitis in which gum boils or abscesses may develop.  The teeth look longer as gums begin to recede from the normal position against the teeth.  Your front teeth may begin to drift and show spaces between the teeth.  There’s bad breath and bad taste.  There is both horizontal and irregular bone loss on the x-ray.  You would have pockets between teeth and gums that range from 4-6mm deep.

With advanced periodontis your teeth may become mobile or loose.  Bad breath and bad taste are constant.  The roots of your teeth may be exposed and are sensitive to hot and cold.  There’s severe horizontal bone loss and varying heights of bone on x-rays.  The pockets between the teeth and the gums are now in excess of 6mm deep.

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Paint Yourself A Whiter Smile

Sometimes people are looking for a professional teeth whitening result, but want a more economical alternative than take home whitening trays.  We recommend the Liquid Smile Professional Whitening Pen for our patients who want to enhance whitening that they did a while ago, or for those patients who want to spend even less time and money to whiten their smile yet want a result they can count on.

Liquid Smile is a paint-on gel.  It’s unique gel formula contains 12% hydrogen peroxide, the most powerful paint-on formulation on the market.  You just have to paint a thin layer of the viscous gel on your teeth right after brushing and flossing.  It takes only about a minute and creates whitening without strips or trays to wear. 

Results are typically noticed after the second or third application.  You only apply once at bedtime for two weeks for maximum results.  Liquid Smile is three times stronger and four times faster than store bought whiteners.

Your teeth can get up to five shades lighter, depending on your present tooth color.  Teeth with dark gray or dark brown hues of color will take longer to see results than teeth with yellow or orange hues.

Liquid Smile ensures an enjoyable pain free whitening experience.  While you’re sleeping, your teeth rest from extreme hot and cold temperature changes and the saliva flow decreases so the gel will stay on your teeth longer.  This allows the gel to work at full strength and work faster.

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One Hour vs. Take Home Whitening - Which Do We Prefer?

We do make One Hour Whitening available to our patients. It's a popular choice because of the fast results and we realize that most people these days live very hectic lives and sometimes a special occasion comes up before there's a chance to do take home whitening, and have white teeth in time for that special event.

We use Rembrandt's Sapphire Light when we do One Hour Whitening because it is the safest whitening light on the market since it does not use UV rays. Without the UV rays there is also less of a problem with tooth sensitivity, however, the sensitivity problem is much greater with One Hour Whitening than Take Home Whitening because a higher perentage of active whitening agent is present with in-office One Hour Whitening, in order to produce the fast results.

We also observe that it's really difficult for most people to stay perfectly still for one hour, and staying still is very important to keep the bleach from burning the gum tissue.

Research shows us that the best teeth whitening happens over time. Therefore, the best whitening is over time at home. Not only are the take home whitening results superior, they last longer. So unless you have your wedding or some other important event the next day, we advise our patients who want whiter teeth to do Take Home Whitening- it works better, lasts longer, has less problems with sensitivity (by the way, we have a pre-whitening protocol that virtually eliminates sensitivity of any kind in most cases), and it costs less than One Hour Whitening.

For information about other dental topics visit www.TavorminaDentistry.com

Dental Insurance Isn't Insurance

We hear many people say that they didn't visit the dentist for a long time because they didn't have insurance. We would like to discuss this point and shed some much needed light on the subject.

It's a sorry fact, but approximately 50% of the population doesn't visit a dentist regularly. Many of these people ascribe to the belief that they need dental insurance in order to afford dentistry. Well, the first point is that dental "insurance" actually is not insurance, but a benefit. Most plans are extremely limited and the benefit is around $1,000 per year. Even with a better plan that gives a higher benefit, if you have major dental problems, the dental benefit makes a small dent. So, if you had major dental problems, then you would have to cover most of the cost of dental services even with the help of a dental benefit.

Once you've established a baseline of health, it's questionable whether or not having the dental benefit is worth the premiums paid for it. We know what preventive and health maintenance services our patients need each year and we can calculate the fees for the year so our patients can budget for their checkups, cleanings, and necessary x-rays. When the calculations are complete, the services cost the same or less than most premiums for dental plans.

For information about other dental topics visit our website here: www.TavorminaDentistry.com

Healthy Gums Don't Bleed

In our last blog post I mentioned that healthy gums don’t bleed.  I want to discuss this fact more thoroughly to really drive this point home. Why? Because most people just don’t realize this is a fact. It doesn’t make sense to most people that healthy gums don’t bleed because people think that “everybody’s gums bleed, so this must be normal.” 

Well, it is true that most people’s gums do bleed, but it’s not because it’s healthy. It is an indication of how prevalent some form of gum disease is in the general population. Statistically, depending upon which study you read, anywhere from 70% to 95% of the population has some form of gum disease.  That’s why most people’s gums bleed; they have some degree of gum disease. Just because something is prevalent doesn’t mean it’s normal. For example, obesity has become quite prevalent in the U.S., but we all consider it unhealthy and something to be corrected.

Ponder this please – if you took a brush to the skin on your arm or leg or anywhere on your body, and when you brushed your skin it started to bleed, you’d be alarmed. So why is it then that when you brush or floss your teeth and they bleed, you think nothing of it? It’s the belief that bleeding gums are normal that keeps you from being alarmed and taking action. 

If bacterial plaque stays undisturbed beneath the gumline, inflammation and early stages of gum disease set in.  Left unchecked, the inflammation is an infection and as it progresses, the gums detach from the teeth, and the bone that holds your teeth in your jaw is destroyed (and you might not feel a thing)!

The solution is simple. Have a partnership with your dentist to keep this from happening or to keep things under control. Your home care techniques must have the bacteria that causes gum disease be removed not only from tooth surfaces, but from underneath the gums.

For information about other dental topics visit our website at: http://www.tavorminadentistry.com/

Proper Flossing

Flossing daily removes plaque and food particles from between the teeth and below the gumline. A toothbrush only cleans approximately 20% of the tooth and gum surfaces. The remaining 80% of tooth and gum surfaces is between the teeth. That’s why flossing daily is so important to protect you from tooth decay and gum disease. Once a day flossing at night before you go to sleep is the best time to floss.

It’s best to use unwaxed dental floss so that when the floss is pressed against the tooth surface the fibers of the floss spread out. This fanning out of the floss produces a greater surface area of floss to do the job of removing the plaque. Sometimes when people have teeth that are very close to each other, it is difficult to get the floss between the teeth. If this sounds like you, you will need to use waxed dental floss. The wax helps the floss slide between the teeth.

Wrap an 18-inch strand of floss around your middle fingers and hold a one-inch section tightly. After you wrap the floss around your middle fingers, take your thumb and pointer finger and hold them as if you were pointing two guns away from you. Then take the fingers that are pretending to be the guns and put them down on the floss so that one inch is between your thumbs and pointer fingers. Holding the floss this way lets you be able to control the floss and be able to reach all the way to floss your back teeth.

Ease the floss between two teeth. Clean up and down several times while curving the floss around the teeth and going under the gumline. Don’t scrub. Just wrap the floss around the tooth and go up and down. Unwind the floss to put clean floss between your fingers that are holding the floss. A special tool called a floss threader is needed to floss between the teeth of a fixed bridge and under the fake teeth.

You may experience sore or bleeding gums for the first several days you floss, but the bleeding will stop because you are flossing. Remember that healthy gums don’t bleed.

For information about other dental topics visit DrTav.com

Correct Your Brushing Technique

Brushing your teeth at least twice daily helps prevent tooth decay and gum disease, the major causes of tooth loss. If you only brush your teeth once a day, then the best time to do so is at night, ideally before you go to sleep. When you are sleeping there is less movement of saliva and less clearance than when you are awake and swallowing more often.

Use a soft-bristle tooth brush. It is the kindest to your teeth and surrounding gum tissue. It is common to hear the recommendation of using an ADA-accepted fluoride toothpaste, and these toothpastes can be helpful in preventing decay, however, toothpaste is best used after you have removed plaque and food particles. Think about it, toothpaste is abrasive. The abrasive quality of toothpaste is somewhat helpful with keeping stain on the teeth under control, but abrasives can also wear away tooth structure and contribute to the possibility of gum recession.

Therefore, it is best to use a toothbrush without toothpaste. This way the bristles are in direct contact with the tooth and gum without the interface of abrasive toothpaste. The proper movement of the soft toothbrush bristles removes the plaque from under the gums. After plaque and food particles have been removed, the teeth are ready for a fluoride toothpaste.

On the outer and inner surfaces of the teeth brush at a 45-degree angle in a short jiggling motion to remove the plaque from beneath the gumline. Keep moving the toothbrush to the next group of teeth until all of the gumline has been cleaned of plaque. After this work at the gums, the cheek and tongue sides of the teeth can be brushed in an up and down motion. On the chewing surfaces hold the brush flat and brush back and forth. The tongue side of front teeth can also be brushed by holding the brush vertically and using a gentle up and down stroke with the toe of the brush.

Remember to brush your tongue in a back-to-front sweeping motion to remove plaque and freshen your breath.

For information about other dental topics visit DrTav.com