More About Avulsed Teeth

When a patient presents with an avulsed tooth, now the task for dentists is much more complicated because there are eight different clinical categories in which an avulsed tooth may present to a dentist.  Each of these requires a separate treatment regimen.  Dentists are not taught this in school, and they have to learn a new technique.

It is clear that there are four equally important aspects that dentists need to institute in order to maximize the success rate of reimplanted avulsed teeth.

1. Educate the general population that avulsed teeth can be saved.
2. Recommend to patients and the general population that they should be prepared for this type of accident by having suitable optimal storage devices like Save-A-Tooth and emt TOOTHSAVER readily available where accidents can occur.
3. Dentists should diagnose the condition of each avulsed tooth and use the most compatible technique for treating avulsed teeth in their offices.
4. The reimplanting professional must recommend that root canal therapy be instituted at the appropriate time after reimplantation.

Dentistry has to advise the general population, schools, athletic teams, and dentists to be prepared for this type of accident.

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

What Do I Do If My Tooth Gets Knocked Out?

Research and clinical studies have shown that a tooth that has gotten knocked out (an avulsed tooth) can be successfully put back in the socket (reimplanted) with excellent long-term results.  However, this success can only be realized if new treatment regimens are applied. 

There are eight categories of avulsed teeth and treatment guidelines for each one of them.  The first four categories involve mature teeth that have fully developed roots and fully formed root tips.  The next four categories are for teeth that are immature and are not fully developed and have root tips that are incompletely formed. 

Thirty years ago, the recommendations to patients for the management of avulsed teeth was a simple, “one-size-fits-all approach: retrieve the teeth, wash them off, and push them back into their sockets.  If that is not possible, the patient should drop them in a cup of milk and get to the dentist as quickly as possible.

For dentists, too, 30 years ago it was just as much a one-size-fits-all approach: remove teeth from the transportation device, do the root canal therapy in their hand, reimplant the teeth and splint them into place, prepare the patient’s parents for eventual failure and hope that the subsequent root resorption would leave the crown of the tooth in place until the patient was 18.

For patients, the only liquid that has clearly shown beneficial effects preserving the root cells is a pH-balanced solution.  There are two products available on the market for parents and sports teams to have on hand in case of an accident: Save-A-Tooth and emt TOOTHSAVER.  Significant success rates of reimplanted avulsed teeth can be achieved if they are placed within 60 minutes of the accident and stored in either of these products before visiting the dentist.

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

Who Needs A Beautiful Smile?

Perhaps a beautiful smile isn’t important to everyone, but you would be surprised at the difference a beautiful smile can make in someone’s life. 

When people are aware that they have a less than attractive smile, it affects their entire personality – how they speak with people, how much they smile, how they laugh, how they socialize.  Being unhappy with your smile makes your confidence level low and it really inhibits smiling and laughing.  When you smile and laugh your body actually produces feel good chemicals.  When you are self-conscious about your smile and either hold it back or cover your mouth when you smile or laugh, you don’t have the benefit of the feel good response that smiling and laughing produce.

So even for people whose work doesn’t involve business contacts &/or public speaking, low self-confidence affects their mood and performance.  For people whose work involves a lot of  people contact or public speaking, it is vital that they put their best foot forward and the best foot forward approach starts with a beautiful, open, confident smile.

A beautiful smile is a primary factor that helps people feel young and attractive.  As we age it is natural for teeth to get darker in color and get worn down.  When an older smile gets a makeover, it’s better than most any plastic surgery procedure to make someone look years younger and give renewed confidence in smiling, laughing, and living again!

For information about other dental topics and ways to beautify your smile visit our website: http://www.tavorminadentistry.com 

Save A Smile With A Custom Mouthguard

This time of year is the time to enjoy the outdoors and participating in sports is a common activity during the warmer months.  We are absolutely committed to the prevention of one of the most common injuries among sports participants.  Dental injuries can be painful, expensive, and damaging to appearance and self-esteem, yet most are preventable with a custom-fitted mouthguard.  If you’ve ever had a mouth injury, you’ll know how important this is.

Think about it: people of all ages don helmets, knee pads, shin pads, and elbow pads because they know the risks if they don’t.  But despite the mouth injury statistics that make us wince, many don’t use mouthguards.  We don’t understand why, and that’s why we want to spread the word.

A custom mouthguard is easy to get and easy to use and can save thousands of dollars and a lot of time by preventing damage to your teeth.  An impression is taken of your teeth so that the laboratory can fabricate an appliance that fits exactly to your teeth.  The mouthguard totally covers and cushions your teeth to prevent fractured teeth, chipped teeth, or the worst dental sports injury of all, dislodged teeth.  It’s definitely worth the time to invest in the protection custom mouthguards offer.  A custom mouthguard can really give you something to smile about!

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

Fitness Is As Fitness Does!

Numerous reports, including the Surgeon General’s Report, recommend thirty minutes of moderate physical activity a day for better physical and cardiovascular health.  Did you know that can be accumulated activity, such as three bouts of ten minutes each?  So maybe you can rescue those fitness resolutions you made earlier this year.  The Surgeon General says you can benefit your cardiovascular health in another way – by taking care of your oral health.

Heart disease and strokes have been linked to gum disease.  For some reason, people find that difficult to believe.  But if you think of your mouth as the gateway to your body, you might find it easier to visualize how oral bacteria can have the potential to affect the rest of you.  Your gums form a natural barrier against bacteria migrating into your bloodstream.  If your gums are wounded due to injury or gum disease, your natural protection will be compromised.

Science is still investigating the precise dynamics between oral disease and overall health, but the Surgeon General went so far as to say that “you cannot be healthy without oral health.”

Thirty minutes of daily physical activity can help to protect you against cardiovascular diseases.  So can the few minutes a day it takes to brush, floss, and rinse.

So get going and pay attention to your smile!  It’s really one of the easiest fitness routines out there!

For information about other dental topics visit DrTav.com

What Are The Pros & Cons Of Removable Partial Dentures?

You can derive many benefits from replacing missing teeth with removable partials. Replacement teeth help fill out your smile by giving support to the cheeks and lips. Replacement teeth create a more youthful, vibrant appearance by holding up facial muscles and aiding in speaking, chewing, swallowing, and smiling.

An important benefit that removable partial dentures provide is that of maintaining teeth in position. When you have a full complement of teeth, each tooth serves to keep the others in position. The teeth touching each other prevents teeth from moving from side to side.  The teeth touching each other by opposing each other keeps them from extruding (basically keeps them from growing more into the mouth). 

When a tooth is extracted, the teeth on either side of the space start collapsing into the space.  When this happens the teeth tilt at an angle and this angle makes those teeth more susceptible to bone loss from gum disease.  The tooth opposite the extracted tooth site moves up or down into the space created by the missing tooth.  This can be so extreme that the tooth opposing the extraction site can touch the opposite gums, thus interfering with chewing.

A con to replacing missing teeth with removable partial dentures is that the partial denture is usually kept in place by metal hooks that go around the remaining teeth on either side of the extraction site.  These hooks act like forceps and slowly weaken the teeth holding the partial and many times lead to the slow extraction of the supporting teeth. The clasps also make the supporting teeth more susceptible to decay. Removable partials generally move in function, which means they are uncomfortable to chew with.

It’s best to rely on removable partials as a temporary solution to tooth loss if finances are insufficient to do the more stable replacement of missing teeth with dental implants.

For more information about dental implants visit our blog or our website: www.tavorminadentistry.com

What's The Best Kind Of Dental Floss To Use?

The hardest thing to accomplish regarding daily use of dental floss is establishing the daily habit of flossing.  Flossing only needs to be done once a day carefully, making sure that the dental floss goes below the gumline and that the sides of the teeth are scraped clean with the floss, removing all disease causing plaque.  The best time to do this is at night before you go to sleep.

There are several types of dental floss you can use.  There is waxed and unwaxed floss, weave dental floss, and there’s expanding dental floss.  Some dental flosses are fine.  The qualities of each floss will help you determine what type of floss best handles your dental condition.

Traditionally waxed floss has been preferred for people whose teeth touch very tightly and for whom it is difficult to get the floss to go between the teeth.  There is now expanding floss which glides easily between even the tightest contacts.  It expands during use to clean more tooth surface and has multiple filaments and texturized fibers for exceptional cleaning.  It’s gentle on gums and is ideal for patients with tooth and/or gum sensitivity and gum recession.

Weave floss has a unique woven design that effectively removes plaque between teeth and under the gumline.  The interlacing process produces strong, smooth, and shred-resistant floss.

Fine floss is sometimes needed to clean between tightly spaced teeth.

The best approach is to experiment with the different types of floss until you find the one that most easily glides between the teeth and seems to remove the plaque best.

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