www.BestOgdenDentist.com Blog

Thursday, February 2, 2017

Fixing that smile

Always such a treat to do cases like this.

Colton had never been happy with his teeth.

He played High School and Collegiate sports.

The impacts from those years of playing sports had left him with

broken, chipped, and nerve damaged teeth.

He wanted to know what was possible.

So we showed him.

Colton before ....

Colton After

2 Appointments.

2 weeks in temporaries.

1 happy camper

Dr Jim Ellis Office Website

Tuesday, January 31, 2017

Fixing it BEFORE it breaks

It's been a while since my last posting.

My wife and I celebrated my 20th wedding anniversary.

We traveled out of the country for a minute or two.

Anyway, I'm back.

Today we need to talk about getting regular dental visits so that

you can catch things BEFORE they get out of hand.

When people come into my office we use a digital camera to take

pictures. These pictures allow us to see more more detail then normal.

In the above picture we can see a metal filling in a molar.

The margins of the filling look decent enough.

What doesn't look decent is the cracks in the tooth that appear

to be extending in several directions.

In the above picture you can see what we did to rectify the situation.

We removed the old filling and the cracked enamel.

We then placed a filling.

There was no need for a crown because we caught it early.

I have no doubt that had we waited the cracks in this tooth would have progressed

and the tooth would have fractured.

Dr Jim Ellis on Facebook

Dr Jim Ellis on Twitter

Monday, November 14, 2016

Which floss is the best?

People ask me which type of floss is the "best" type of floss.

Thin Floss

Thick Floss

Waxed......

Unwaxed.......

Floss on a handle

etc.

The answer to this is easy.

The best floss is ........whichever floss you will use.

The percentage of people who will floss daily is around 40%.

And the number of people who will never floss is around 20%.

So the "type" of floss you use is not nearly as important

as actually "using" the floss. Because it really doesn't matter.

Dr Ellis Facebook page

Wednesday, November 9, 2016

What is a Root Canal?

People ask me all the time....

"So what exactly is a root canal"?

Well it's really not that complicated.

Let's make it a little easier to understand shall we.

The inside of your teeth are hollow.

There is a CANAL running through them like a

canal that carries water.

The canals run down the entire length of the the ROOT.

The canals in your roots carry the nerves of the teeth.

When the nerve dies, and/or becomes infected, it will cause

pain and/or infection.

A root canal is simply going into the ROOT to clean out the CANAL.

Thus ROOT CANAL.

The picture here simplifies it really well.

The tooth on the left has a cavity that has gotten down into the nerve.

After a root canal, the picture on the right, there is no longer a nerve in

the canals. There is now a filling.

No nerve .......... No pain.

Dr Ellis Office Website

Thursday, November 3, 2016

Why do I need regular dental visits?

Some people refuse to come to the dentist unless it hurts

or unless they can see something wrong in the mirror at their house.

These very same people are usually the ones that end up with the

largest amount of crown, root canals, and broken teeth.

Below is a perfect example of why REGULAR dental

visits are so important.

The tooth below did not hurt.

The patient couldn't see anything wrong with it.

Once we took a digital image and blew it up a little however,

the problem became very clear.

There is a crack in the tooth.

We were able to remove the cracked portion and place a new

filling that will, hopefully, stop this small crack from progressing

into a much larger problem in the future.

The after image.

Please do not wait for pain, or actual tooth breakage,

before you go see your dentist.

ADA Statement on Silver Fillings

Thursday, October 27, 2016

Replacing Amalgam Fillings

Sadly, one of the tactics used by shady dentists out there is to

tell people that all of their silver fillings need to be replaced.

Do silver fillings need to be replaced?

Yes.

Almost everything artificial needs to be replaced.

BUT, ALL the silver going bad at one time?!

Let's take the 2 fillings below as an example.

This filling I WOULD replace.

The border between the filling and the tooth is

deteriorating and allowing bacteria to get down into the tooth.

This metal filling I would NOT replace.

You can see that the border is perfectly sound.

There is no reason to inject the patient with drugs,

and further traumatize the tooth by drilling into it to

remove a filling that is serving its' purpose just fine.

And NO there is no clinically proven studies that show that

keeping silver fillings in your mouth is dangerous to your health.

I will post a link below by the American Dental Association.

Monday, October 24, 2016

Dental Advertising

You all have seen the billboards.

You've received the ads in the mail.

Dentists advertising half price treatments.

Offering cleanings, and/or whitenings for life.

Why do they do it?

Should you answer the ad?

Are there any catches?

Dr Ellis Facebook Page

Thursday, September 29, 2016

My child hasn't lost any teeth yet. Should I be worried?

I get lots of anxious parents coming into my office asking me

if they should be worried about their child who hasn't lost any teeth yet.

We live in a society built on comparisons.

We can't help it.

You think your home is big .... until the neighbors build one bigger.

You think your car is awesome ...... until the new model comes out.

Etc Etc Etc

So that is what is happening with most of these parents.

They think that their kid is normal ..... but then they see the neighbor's

kids loosing teeth and they start to question their kid's normalcy.

Well parents, just relax.

In about 97.625% of cases your kid's teeth will fall out on their own

and everything will turn out totally okay.

In a few cases, not many, your child may need help getting their teeth out.

Here is a chart to give you the AVERAGE age a child will lose their teeth.

Remember this is a AVERAGE (see how I am typing it in caps ; )

That means that half of kids will be older then the graph suggests

and half will be older.

Wednesday, September 7, 2016

"It's like pulling teeth!"

When people think something is hard sometimes they say .....

"It's like pulling teeth!"

Well, here is exactly what they mean.

I extracted this tooth today.

One of the roots makes a complete 90 degree turn!

Inside of solid bone!

It's kind of like trying to pull a fence post out of the ground

if 5 feet under the ground the fence post bends 90 degrees.

So yah, it's hard.

Dr Ellis Office Website

Thursday, August 18, 2016

Sports Mouth Guards for Children

Kids are getting into sports earlier and earlier these days.

It seems as if your child doesn't make a decision about what

sport they will choose, for life, by the age of 4 that they

are already too late.

With all of these kids getting into the sporting realm the

number of sports related injuries is bond to increase.

As a dentist one of the saddest things I see is broken, healthy, teeth.

Teeth that have been badly neglected break all the time, and the

person responsible for the neglect typically knew it was coming.

But the little 7 year old didn't.

To see a child headed for a lifetime of trouble due to a totally preventable

injury is not a happy day.

Please get your child a mouth guard.

It does not have to be expensive.

As long as the guard fits properly it should do the job.

The only worry is guards that fit so poorly that the child risks

have it come out during activity and fall into their throat

and become a choking hazard.

Sprained ankles and broken collar bones will heal .

Teeth won't.

Thursday, July 28, 2016

Baby Bottle Tooth Decay

Tooth decay is not a hard thing to understand.

Sugars from sweets, fruit, milk, etc etc etc etc get into

someone's mouth.

The bacteria, naturally occurring in the mouth, ingest the sugars.

The bi-product of this bacteria - sugar combination is acid.

The acids eat your teeth.

That's it.

Soooo, the take home point here is this........

The longer you have sugar in your mouth the more chances there

are for the bacteria to produce the acids that cause decay.

Time + Sugar = Decay

One of the saddest manifestations of this is Baby Bottle tooth decay.

Little tikes that get put to bed with a bottle.

They will drink a little, fall asleep, wake up and drink a little, then fall asleep.

The result is that they have sugars on their teeth, essentially, all night long.

Feed your little ones with a bottle if you so choose.

But then after that make sure to brush their teeth.

Or, at very least, give them a drink of water to help rinse the sugars away.

Getting your 2 year old to obey you is tough.

Getting them to sit still while I drill on their severely decayed teeth ......

nearly impossible.

Wednesday, June 22, 2016

"Doc, help!! Moving my Jaw is Agony!!"

Patient came into the office the other day.

He stated that he "hadn't eaten for 2 days"

due to intense pain.

Click on the picture.

It will blow up on the screen.

See if you can see anything that might be look

different then anywhere else.

We are pretty symmetrical as humans.

There is another picture down below that will show you the problem.

I asked if anything he knew had triggered the pain.

He stated that he had gotten punched in the jaw

but that it didn't hurt too bad at the time.

But that over the last 2 days it had been increasing in pain.

Well, click on the next picture.

The red circle indicates where the patient's jaw is broken.

He had attempted to chew over the last two days with

a broken jaw bone.

Every time he went to chew the bones would move against each other.

He went directly to the oral surgeon where he was wired shut.

He will need to stay that way for 3 months.

Simply "getting punched" can hurt. A lot. Not only physically

but the financial ramifications will also be pretty tough here.

To purchase on Amazon click here

Tuesday, June 21, 2016

Electric Toothbrush

The studies show that, hands down, an electric toothbrush

will clean your teeth 5x better then a manual one.

So what keeps some people from going out and getting one?

Price.

Some electric toothbrushes are $150-$200!!

My name is Dr Jim Ellis.

I was tired of my patients getting the short end of the brush ; )

So I designed, and had manufactured, an electric toothbrush

that is just as good as the other guys, but at about 1/3 the price.

30 second quadrant timer.

2 minute total brush timer.

2 weeks on a single charge.

3 different modes.

AFFORDABLE interchangeable heads.

And for my loyal Blog followers put the code

SMILEJIM

in the box at check out for 20% of.

Read the reviews.

Check it out for yourself.

Dentist designed with patients in mind.

Thursday, June 9, 2016

I think they cracked my tooth in surgery.

Um ...... Yah it's cracked.

Sadly we see a lot of this.

There is a reason why they have you sign those consent forms

that say, "during anesthesia your teeth may become damaged".

This patient went in for a throat scope and ended up having

to have her tooth removed.

Tuesday, May 10, 2016

Cosmetic Bonding.

This was one of the more challenging cosmetic bonding cases that I have done.

Some teeth that we bond are slightly tilted.

Some are slightly rotated.

Some are too long or too short.

This tooth is rotated 90 degrees.

Meaning the tooth is turned completely sideways.

The bonding was tough because the proportions are off due to the rotation.

However, The patient was very happy with the result.

She was told that expensive braces was her only option.

Turns out 30 minutes in the chair.....

no shots

no drilling

and the cost of a filling later she looked like this.

This is simply filling material and it can be done in lots and lots of cases.

Dr Ellis Website

Dr Ellis on Facebook

Dr Ellis on Twitter

Monday, May 9, 2016

Oil Pulling & Stem Cells

There are a lot of questions out there right now about

"alternative" dentistry.

I do not say alternative to be derogatory in any way.

I say alternative to simply denote that there is a more classical

view of dentistry and then there is an emerging view that holds

"alternate" views to that classical thought process.

Classic school of thought about teeth is that there

are bacteria that live inside your mouth.

These bacteria ingest sugar. Their byproducts are acids.

These acids eat away at the enamel of your teeth.

You keep your teeth brushed, flossed, and avoid ingesting

mass amounts of sugar and you shouldn't have a large

scale cavity issue on your hands.

And that school of thought, although very old, still

holds very true to this day.

But what about the newer schools of thought?

What about using oil pulling and re-growing teeth with stem cells?

Well, here's my opinion.

First, Oil Pulling.

If it works, for you, then great. I don't do it.

I don't tell people to do it.

The scientific studies are not yet what I would like

to see on the subject.

However, I see absolutely nothing negative about it,

and if it works for you in regards to making your

mouth feel cleaner and you notice a decrease in the

amount of decay that your dentist is finding, then

go ahead.

Second is re-growing teeth with stem cells.

This one is a little easier for me.

Would I love to get a bunch of stem cells that I could

simply put into a patients mouth and get a new tooth back?

Absolutely.

HOWEVER, if people understood what they would have to go

through to get to that point they wouldn't even think about it.

First off, your tooth has to go bad. It has to break, get infected, hurt,

or any other number of things that would be uncomfortable to go through.

Secondly, you then have to have the bad tooth removed.

Oral surgery.

Shots, forceps, blood, swelling, etc etc.

WHY NOT JUST TAKE CARE OF WHAT YOU'VE GOT?!

You are going to have to brush the newly grown teeth anyway.

Now, for trauma cases, congenitally missing teeth, etc. then

stem cells will be fantastic.

But for all of the other cases, that are far more numerous,

stem cells are not all that they are cracked up to be.

http://www.amazon.com/Electric-Toothbrush-Rechargeable-DENTIST-Designed/dp/B01C6JJAUS/ref=sr_1_1_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1461690857&sr=8-1&keywords=electric+toothbrush+dr+ellis

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Electric Toothbrushes

Which is better, an Electric toothbrush or a Manual?

The answer, and overwhelmingly so, is that an electric

toothbrush will get your teeth more clean then a manual

brush (used properly, of course).

How many times the head of the brush moves across

the tooth is the key. Every brush stroke is a cleaning stroke.

An electric toothbrush can move, up to, 40,000 times per minute.

I don't know how fast your hand is, but it probably is close to that.

Therefore, the electric brush moves across each tooth more often then a manual.

So why wouldn't you get one of them?

Some electric brushes can be up to $200!!

If only you could find an electric toothbrush that did a great job,

but was also affordable as well.

Well............ your search is over!!

"I", Dr Jim Ellis decided to do something about my patients

getting gouged by the big toothbrush companies.

I designed, tested, and had manufactured a sonic toothbrush

that has all of the high quality components of the leading brushes

but is around half the price.

How is that possible?!

Well, I don't have millions of dollars a year to pay in expensive

television advertising. I have a little blog.

So, if you have always wanted an electric brush but never

wanted to pay the expensive price of one then check it out.

Monday, April 18, 2016

Should I cover my toothbrush at night?

There is a decent debate, among the general public, as to

whether or not you should cover your toothbrush when you are

done using it, or simply let it air dry.

Those who say it needs to be cover will state that every time you

flush your toilet, germs come hurdling up out of the bowl

and cover everything in site. Thus, if your toothbrush is

uncovered the bristles will get caked in these germs.

Well, I sure hope this isn't the case. Because my towels, handles to

my faucet and soap dispenser all all uncovered all the time.

It would be a shame if I was drying off with a poop germ

covered towel every morning.

So I did some research. I looked to see if there were any studies

done on the matter of toothbrushes being less germy in, or out

of a toothbrush head cover.

And it turns out that the American Dental Association says:

"Do not routinely cover toothbrushes or store them in closed containers. A moist environment such as a closed container is more conducive to the growth of microorganisms than the open air."

So, according to the ADA, placing your moist brush in an

enclosed environment actually is MORE conducive to the

brush getting germy then leaving it out to air dry.

Wednesday, April 6, 2016

Technology

I see people with with teeth problems all the time.

I'm a dentist.

There are many reasons for the problems.

Some have financial issues.

Some don't care.

Some are from drug, or other abuse.

But the saddest of all the cases is the person who has

bad teeth because they remember how bad it was the

last time and they couldn't bring themselves to do it again.

The problem with most of these people is that the bad experience

happened, sometime, 20 years ago.

Why is that the saddest case?

Because things are sooooo different then they used to be.

What was your cell phone like 20 years ago?

Your television, car, etc etc.

Things change over time. Dentistry is no different.

Those people will tell me, "I can't stand that Novocaine stuff"!

Well .... we haven't used Novocaine in 15 years.

PLEASE do not let the things that happened in the past,

especially the long ago pat, dictate the things that you will do today.