From the moment your baby’s first tooth appears, you should begin planning their first trip to the dentist. That initial appointment is a fine time to not only get your child acquainted with a dentist, but to show them that oral hygiene can be fun. Today, your Celina dentist discusses important information to consider when planning your child’s first visit to the dentist.
When Is the Best Time For The First Time?
Most experts recommend that you should schedule your child’s first dental appointment within six months of their first tooth’s arrival. However, if your child’s initial tooth is discolored, or otherwise unhealthy in appearance, you may want to schedule a visit much sooner.
According to the Oral Cancer Foundation, close to 40,000 Americans will receive a diagnosis of oral or pharyngeal cancer this year. Though cancer is a scary prospect, early detection can make all the difference in a patient’s prognosis. Oral cancer, in particular, has a 50 to 80 percent survival rate when discovered at an early stage. Technology, and a trusting partnership between patient and doctor, can make all the difference in oral cancer detection. Your Celina dentist, Dr. Newton, explains what an oral cancer screening entails.
Early Signs of Oral Cancer
You shouldn’t panic every time you have a bump or sore in your mouth. Most often, the bump will have a benign cause. However, this can be an early sign of oral cancer, so it is important to keep an eye on the amount of time that the sore persists. Soap opera star, Colleen Zenk Pinter, says that her oral cancer began in the form of something she thought was a canker sore. The bump would appear to heal, and then recur, finally persisting long enough to prompt a dental examination. Mouth bumps that don’t show signs of healing after a week are worthy of an appointment with the dentist, just to double check. (more…)
Stress can sneak up on you. You may find yourself staying up late at night with your mind racing, compiling to do lists you think will never end, and becoming more irritable with your family or co-workers. You may already know that stress can contribute to your weight, damage your immune system, and harm personal relationships. However, did you know that stress can also have negative effects on your teeth? Our Celina family dentist, Dr. Newton, will explain what stress has to do with your smile and how you can prevent dental health issues.
Teeth Grinding and Stress
Next time you are driving in traffic, do this self-test: feel your jaw muscles. Are you clenching your jaw? Are your teeth grinding together? If so, you may have a bigger problem than running late. Bruxism, or chronic teeth grinding, can have a huge impact on your oral health. One of the main contributors to this dental health issue is stress. Stress can cause you to clench your jaw muscles during times when you are focused on an activity like driving or typing. The constant clenching and grinding pressure erodes your tooth enamel and damages the integrity of your tooth structure. Bruxism can lead to increased cavities, tooth sensitivity, and a wide variety of dental and overall health problems.
Ulcers and Stress
Although the exact cause of canker sores is undetermined, stress is considered to increase your risk ofulcers. Since stress can weaken your immune system, your mouth is more vulnerable to bacteria, viruses, and other sources of mouth sores. These small white and red sores should heal in about one week. If you notice a prolonged ulcer or canker sore, contact your Celina family dentist immediately. Ulcers that do not heal in ten days may be a sign of oral cancer. (more…)
When you have a missing tooth, you may notice a difference in your usual habits. Chewing and speaking will not feel the same with a void between your teeth. In addition, if you are missing one of your anterior teeth, or front teeth, you may also find yourself hiding your smile. However, one of the most frustrating consequences of tooth loss may not be readily apparent. Our Celina family dentist will explain some of the dangers of untreated tooth loss and how restorative dentistry can bridge the gap.
The Consequences of Tooth Loss
Unfortunately, tooth loss will not only affect your smile image and your tooth function. Ignoring a missing tooth can lead to much more serious consequences. Since each of our teeth serve a specific purpose, once one tooth is missing, the surrounding teeth will attempt to make up for the loss. Some teeth drift out of place, and other incur chewing pressure not meant for their size or shape. The result is excessive tooth wear, which could lead to tooth decay or even further tooth loss. In fact, five years after losing a tooth, your chances of losing another tooth increase by 20 percent.
What a Dental Bridge Can Do for You
So how can you avoid these devastating consequences? Our Celinadentist, Dr. Newton, offers restorative dentistry options to replace your missing teeth. The dental bridge replaces one or more missing teeth in an arch using artificial teeth attached to porcelain crowns. The dental crowns bond to existing teeth surrounding the void, while the artificial teeth hover over your gum line, almost undetectably. The tooth replacement will prevent teeth drifting and excessive tooth wear. Dental bridges can restore your ability to chew and speak with ease while avoiding the costly consequences of untreated tooth loss. (more…)
If you’ve ever doubted the magnificence of chocolate, you should know that the cocoa tree from which it comes is scientifically known as Theobroma Cacao, meaning “food of the gods” in Greek. Despite the many years of belief that chocolate tastes too good to be healthy, studies show that the sweet treat can actually help fight illnesses like heart disease. As an added bonus, research also shows that the husk of the cocoa bean contains cavity-fighting properties. To celebrate, Dr. Newton and the staff at Celina Family Dentistry bring you these fun chocolate facts. Enjoy!
Did You Know?
The word chocolate is derived from the Aztec word xocolātl, meaning “bitter water.”
The earliest known use of the cocoa bean was as currency among the Aztecs. For instance, a turkey could cost about 100 cocoa beans.
Europe was graced with chocolate’s presence in the 16th century, after the Spanish conquered the Aztec people. (more…)
As the new school year draws near, now is the perfect time to ensure that your child’s oral health is at its best. Studies show that poor oral health in children can relate directly to poor academic performance and attendance. To help you prepare and optimize your child’s oral health, Celina and Prosper dentist Dr. Newton presents the children’s oral health checklist.
Children’s Oral Health Checklist
Tooth brushing and flossing—Morning time during the school year can be hectic. As you rush to get yourself ready for work and your child ready for school, you could probably use a little help to move things along. Instill in your child the habit of brushing their teeth at least twice a day, especially in the mornings before school. Be sure to show them the proper method of softly brushing every surface of every tooth. Discourage them from scrubbing harshly, which can quickly wear away tooth enamel. Flossing can usually be saved for the time right before bed, but you should teach your child to this alone, but properly, as well. (more…)
Over recent years, the popularity of sports and energy drinks has skyrocketed. About half of the teens and young adults in America drink energy drinks, and more than half consume at least one sports drink in a day. With boasts of increased performance, endurance, and energy levels, one can understand why these drinks are so popular. According to recent studies, however, these beverages can also add increased risk of tooth decay to the list of advertised effects. Celina and Prosper dentist Dr. Newton explores how these much-celebrated energy boosters and thirst quenchers affect your oral health.
A Tooth-Destroying Trend
A popular misconception about sports and energy drinks is that they are a much healthier choice for your teeth than soda. To test this theory, researchers studied the acidity of a variety of popular beverages. During the study, scientists immersed samples of tooth enamel in each beverage for 15 minutes, placed the samples in artificial saliva for two hours, and repeated the cycle four times a day for five days. The exposure cycles mimicked the amount of exposure a typical sports and energy drink consumer subjects their teeth to. After only five days, the damage was already evident, with energy drinks proving doubly harmful to teeth than the more balanced sports drinks. (more…)
We warn our children to beware of the company they keep to help prevent them from falling in with the wrong crowd. After all, the wrong influence at the right time can steer anybody into a harmful path. In a study published in the journal Microbiology, researchers at the University of Bristol have discovered that group mentality may be expressed even at the molecular level. Prosper dentist Dr. Newton explores the destructive companionships that Treponema denticola forges with other oral bacteria.
Ganging Up on Your Oral Health
In the course of studying the connection between your oral health and overall health, experts have uncovered incredible interactions between oral bacteria and your body’s tissue. For instance, the bacterium Porphyromonas gingivalis has been shown to excite your body’s inflammatory response to infection, resulting in the red, swollen, and bleeding gums associated with gum disease. T. denticola, however, takes a different approach to attack. (more…)
If you’ve ever been thirsty, then you can relate to what a person with dry mouth feels like. Dry mouth, or xerostomia, is a condition that occurs when your salivary glands produce inadequate amounts of saliva to lubricate and moisten your oral tissue. There are as many treatments for xerostomia as there are causes, so treatment depends on an accurate diagnosis. To help you understand the condition of dry mouth a little better, Dr. Newton lists some of its most common causes.
Common Xerostomia Causes
Dehydration—Because dry mouth is essentially a lack of moisture, the most obvious cause of dry mouth symptoms should be dehydration. Conditions that cause dehydration, such as fever, diarrhea, excessive sweating, vomiting, and blood loss, can all be causes of dry mouth, as well.
Symptom of disease/infection—A chronic dry mouth can also indicate that your body is battling a disease, or may be a direct result of the disease or infection. Some health issues that are linked to xerostomia include Sjogren’s syndrome, HIV/AIDS, diabetes, anemia, cystic fibrosis, rheumatoid arthritis, hypertension, and Parkinson’s disease, among many others.
Side effect of medications—Sometimes, the medication that is prescribed to fight an infection or disease can also list xerostomia as a side effect. If you are currently on medication, be sure to inform Dr. Newton to help her better determine the cause of your xerostomia. Dry-mouth inducing medications include those prescribed for depression, anxiety, pain, allergies, colds, obesity, acne, epilepsy, hypertension, diarrhea, nausea, and asthma. Dry mouth can also result if you take muscle relaxants and sedatives.
Lifestyle—Perhaps you can help treat your dry mouth condition simply by changing a few lifestyle choices. For instance, smoking or chewing tobacco can inhibit saliva production and facilitate dry mouth. So can constantly breathing with your mouth open. (more…)
Periodontal disease, or gum disease, affects more than half of the adults in the United States of America. It is the leading cause of adult tooth loss, and has been associated with an increased risk for potentially-fatal systemic disorders, including stroke, heart disease, and diabetes. Although gum disease is treatable, it is hard to detect and nearly impossible to treat without professional dental care. In Australia, researchers are exploring the possibility that fish oil may prove beneficial as an adjunct therapy option for gum disease. Prosper dentist Dr. Newton discusses this hypothesis.
A Safe and Natural Treatment Option
Fish oil has long been recommended by physicians for health benefits beyond teeth and gums. Aside from boosting heart health, the omega-3 fatty acids found in fish oil are also beneficial for rheumatoid arthritis, depression, and more. A major benefit of fish oil is that there is no danger in consuming large amounts of it. Extremely high levels of fish oil may lead to delayed clotting times and potential gastric upset. If you are currently on medication therapy, especially blood-thinning medications, then you should consult with your physician. (more…)
From the moment your baby’s first tooth appears, you should begin planning their first trip to the dentist. That initial appointment is a fine time to not only get your child acquainted with a dentist, but to show them that oral hygiene can be fun. Today, your Celina dentist discusses important information to consider when planning your child’s first visit to the dentist.
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