DENTAL PROBLEMS LIKE gum disease and tooth decay can easily sneak up on us if we aren’t careful, which is why regular dental checkups are so essential — even when you’re pretty sure nothing is wrong. For most people, two regular appointments (consisting of professional cleaning and a dental exam) are enough to stay on top of any dental health concerns. In certain circumstances, however, it’s a good idea to come in ahead of schedule.

Any Kind of Tooth Pain or Persistent Mouth Sores

Any amount of tooth pain could indicate that tooth decay has reached the dental pulp. Pain is the body’s warning sign that something is wrong, and tooth pain rarely goes away on its own. An aching jaw or frequent headaches could also indicate a dental problem like a teeth-grinding habit, and the dentist can help. In most cases, mouth sores will resolve on their own, but they can sometimes be a sign of disease or infection, and a dentist should look at those.

Bleeding Gums

Conventional wisdom holds that flossing can result in bleeding gums, but that’s not really true. Being overly aggressive with your flossing technique could cause bleeding (so we recommend a gentle approach, making a C-shape around a tooth with the floss and carefully working down to the gums instead of snapping straight down) or it could be a symptom of gum disease. Brushing shouldn’t cause bleeding either (which is why we recommend soft-bristled brushes and soft brushing motions), and if it is, the dentist should know!

Old Dental Work

If you’ve had dental work before and are having problems with it now, don’t put off a trip to the dentist. The problems will usually get worse, such as a cracked or chipped crown that could lead to infection if it isn’t repaired quickly. A worn-out filling also needs to be replaced to stop bacteria from multiplying in the space between the filling and the tooth.

Serious Medical Conditions

A medical condition like diabetes, gum disease, or an eating disorder can have a serious impact on oral health. Sometimes the treatments for a health condition have effects on oral health, such as medications causing dry mouth. If you are fighting a chronic disease or have started a new prescription, your dentist should know about it.

Chronic Bad Breath

There aren’t many things more mortifying than being in a close face-to-face social situation and realizing your breath is less than minty fresh, but bad breath isn’t always just a superficial issue. It may be a symptom of gum disease or other health problems. If you struggle to keep your breath smelling pleasant, talk to the dentist about it so they can discover the underlying cause.

Disclaimer: the content on this blog is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of qualified health providers with questions you may have regarding medical conditions.

Top image used under CC0 Public Domain license. Image cropped and modified from original.

STAINS ARE ALMOST always a bad thing, outside of changing the color of wooden furniture. We especially don’t like stains when they occur on our teeth, and little can tarnish the excitement of Braces-Off Day like discolored patches around where the brackets used to be. Why do stains occur on our teeth, and how can you make sure that doesn’t happen to you during your orthodontic treatment?

What Causes Dental Stains?

Stains for former orthodontic patients are not at all inevitable, even if they are somewhat common. The braces themselves aren’t what stain teeth. What makes stains happen as often as they do is that braces can be tricky to effectively brush and floss around. They create many new nooks and crannies where food and bacteria can hide, out of reach of a toothbrush.

If that plaque remains in place, it can leave decalcified patches on the surface of the tooth around the bracket. Then, when the braces come off, the area underneath the bracket will still be the same color it was before the braces went on but the surrounding area will have a bleached appearance. Aside from the dental health reasons to eliminate plaque, this is a pretty compelling aesthetic reason for it.

Staying Stain-Free Through Your Treatment

The best defense against white spots and other stains is a good oral hygiene routine. That means brushing thoroughly at least twice a day (with braces, it’s a good idea to brush after every meal), flossing at least once a day, and continuing to make your regular dental appointments. Your hygienist will be able to get rid of any plaque or tartar that you couldn’t reach.

It’s also a good idea to avoid any foods or drinks that have a tendency to stain, including highly acidic drinks (like soda), coffee, dark teas, sugary treats like candy or cookies, and starch-filled snacks like chips. These could either stain teeth directly with the dark-colored compounds in them or they could stick to your teeth and contribute to plaque buildup.

Other big stain-causing culprits we strongly encourage you to avoid are tobacco and alcohol. They’re bad for anyone’s dental health but can cause even more problems for the teeth of braces-wearers.

What If My Teeth Already Have Stains?

It’s best to avoid post-braces stains in the first place, but in case some discoloration does occur, there are ways of addressing it. We don’t recommend doing whitening treatments right away, because some stains become less prominent over time on their own. If they remain more obvious than you would like after a few months, professional or over-the-counter whitening options could help you achieve a smile more uniform in color.

Come to Us With Your Concerns About Preventing Stains

If you have any questions left about how to prevent stains or remove them after your treatment, we’re happy to answer them. We’re rooting for all of our patients having a stain-free smile so that nothing gets in the way of them enjoying their new, properly-aligned smiles!

Our patients are the best!

Disclaimer: the content on this blog is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of qualified health providers with questions you may have regarding medical conditions.

SOME OF US get our adult teeth on schedule, some early, some late, and some are left to wonder if a tooth or two might have gotten lost somewhere under their gums. When that happens, we call it an impacted tooth. It happens most often to wisdom teeth, but not always.

The Last Teeth to Erupt

The next most likely teeth to become impacted are the upper canines or eyeteeth (or, more often, just one of them), because the lateral incisors and the first premolars usually come in before they do. If there’s a crowding problem, there might not be enough space left for the canines to erupt.

Completing Your Smile

Adult canine teeth are important because they form the “corners” of our smiles. If one or both of them fails to erupt, it makes a big difference to a person’s appearance.

Impacted Tooth Symptoms

Impacted teeth can cause infections, gum disease, nerve damage, and cavities. Symptoms include a persistent bad taste or bad breath, tenderness and pain around the jaw, headaches, and swollen lymph nodes or gums. They also leave a visible gap where they should be erupting, and the baby tooth might never become loose on its own if it’s an impacted canine.

Good News: It’s Treatable!

There isn’t much that can prevent tooth impaction, but it is very treatable. An impacted tooth can be discovered with dental X-rays. Impacted canines can be moved into their proper positions through a combination of oral surgery and orthodontic treatment.

Top image used under CC0 Public Domain license. Image cropped and modified from original

THERE IS A LOT of false information out there about braces and what it’s like to have them. We’re here to bust our way through a few of the most popular braces myths getting in between people and the properly aligned smiles they could have.

Myth 1: Playing sports with braces is too dangerous.

Athletes (especially those who play contact sports) have likely heard that they should sit out a season while they get orthodontic treatment, but that’s not necessary. All they need is to follow some common sense safety measures like wearing a properly fitted mouthguard during practices and games.

Myth 2: It’s impossible to play an instrument with a mouthpiece while wearing braces.

We’ll admit that it can be more difficult to play brass or woodwind instruments with braces on, but it’s not impossible. There doesn’t have to be a choice between a properly aligned smile and a beloved instrument: orthodontic patients can have both. All it takes is some extra practice to get used to playing with braces.

Myth 3: Braces rust.

Most braces are made of metal, but not a metal that rusts. We use metals like stainless steel and titanium, so they will remain in perfect, shiny condition throughout the whole treatment.

Myth 4: Only teens can get braces.

It is easier to treat teenagers for orthodontic problems, but there isn’t a cutoff date for getting a straighter smile. Adults can get orthodontic treatment at any age, so trust the experts instead of the myths!

Disclaimer: the content on this blog is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of qualified health providers with questions you may have regarding medical conditions.