Do you have bad breath?

What is the cause of bad breath??

There are many causes.

Teeth that are decayed.

Gum disease.

Bacteria.

Digestion problems.

Etc.

One of the first things to do in order to determine the cause of your

bad breath is to get to a dentist and get a good cleaning.

This will make sure you start off with a clean slate.

Then.....

For 2 weeks commit to brushing after each meal.

For 2 weeks commit to flossing daily.

And for 2 weeks commit to rinsing with a mouthwash such as Listerine, daily.

(Important note: You also need to brush your tongue.

Tongue scrapers, pictured below, are also available.)

After the 2 week period see how your breath is.

If it still smells as fresh and clean as it did when you left the dentist office

then your bad breath was, more then likely, a result of poor oral care.

This would be good news because all you need to do is continue

your new pattern of brushing, flossing, and rinsing and your bad breath should be history.

If things return to there normal, bad breath, state then other things need to be considered.

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What is the black line around the base of my crown?

Nothing is wrong.

What you are seeing is simply the metal that your crown is

made out of showing out from underneath.

I know I know, you thought that your crown was white and that

there wasn't any metal in it.

Well, there is. You have what is referred to as a porcelain

fused to metal crown of (PFM).

The crown is made of a metal substructure to give it it's strength and

then porcelain is layered over the top to make it look like a tooth.

The PFM has been used for years and has had remarkable success.

The only draw back to these types of crowns is the metal line showing through

and the fact that the porcelain layers can begin to separate from each other

and cause the pieces of porcelain to fall off the crowns.

Today there are new advances in crown technology that have

eliminated both of these problems.

There is a new material, to the world of dentistry that is, called zirconium.

Zirconium crowns are milled from a solid block and are very very strong.

This milling process means that they are not put together piece by piece.

Therefore there are no pieces to come apart. The crown is one solid unit.

Zirconium is also white so the color is that of most teeth and will never show a

metallic line because there is no metal.

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Periodontitis

Periodontitis is a condition where the gums and bone that surround your

teeth slowly deteriorate due to large amounts of, unremoved, bacteria.

I have seen perfectly healthy teeth be pulled out of someones mouth with

their own fingers because the gums and bone could no longer support them.

It is an absolute must that you get into your dentist at lease once a year to

get the bacteria plaque and other contaminants removed from your teeth

to maintain good gum and bone health.

Here are some healthy gums.

Here are some gums that are in trouble.

One of the symptoms of periodontal disease is swollen, red, painful gums.

This patient is also in trouble.

Another symptom of periodontal disease is that your teeth will begin to loosen up.

As the bone looses its ability to hold the teeth in

you teeth will shift and, or drop out of the gums.

Please please please get to your dentist for a good cleaning BEFORE your

mouth begins to resemble one of these last two pictures.

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Meet Mike

Today we are going to meet Mike.

Mike was a good guy.

But, Mike was not having a good day.

Mike really needed that tooth because Mike

Really wanted to meet a nice lady.

This is Mike now.

Ladies, Mike is 29 and now has an AMAZING smile!

Anyone interested can let us know and we will get you in touch with Mike.

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Cosmetic Bonding

This is Ms. W

Ms. W had some lateral incisors that came in smaller then they should have.

She wanted to change the way they looked so we helped her out.

Picture of the side tooth that was too small.

and the side tooth after.

The whole smile before.

and the whole smile after. 

1 hour - no shots - no drilling into the teeth - one happy patient

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What is wrong with my tongue?!

It's called geographic tongue.

Geographic tongue is a condition where the tissue of the tongue will vary in

appearance from one section of the tongue to another.

The location, size, color and duration of the variations is different from person to person

and can even change within the same person over time.

There is no real threat with geographic tongue. Most people with geographic

tongue don't even know they have it. All they know is that they have always

had this funnysection of their tongue that changes texture and color from time to time.

The only main side effect coincidental with geographic tongue is a heightened

sensitivity to spicy foods form time to time. These episodes will occur as

the spots of the geographic tongue go through their phase of appearing and

then disappearing.

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Billie

This is Billie.

Billie didn't like the gap in her front teeth.

Billie didn't want to spend years and money with braces.

We told Billie that cosmetic bonding might be right for her.

Here are Billie's before and afters.

30 minutes

No shots

Cheap as a regular filling.

Billie is a happy patient

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What does Meth do to your teeth? (WARNING, not pretty)

There is a drug out there known as Meth.

Its not good for a whole boat load of reasons.

But seeing as how I am a dentist I will focus on the dental problems.

The first problem is that Meth causes your salivary glands to stop producing spit.

This may not seem like a big thing, but it is.

Just imagine if your tear ducts stopped producing tears.

Your eyes would dry out in a big hurry.

Dry eyes would be painful and damage would begin to occur.

Same thing with teeth.

Dry teeth will end up being painful and damaged teeth.

(Early meth use)

The next problem is that Meth will make a person grind their teeth.

Scientists really aren't sure why but they have seen it enough to know that it happens.

Grinding of brittle dry teeth will cause fractures to begin happening.

(Moderate Meth use)

Finally Meth will cause people to just not care anymore.

And when you really don't care about your teeth you really don't

take care of them and you really don't care eat of drink anymore either.

The black spots on the gums are what's left of the teeth.

They have either rotted, been broken down to, the gums.

(Severe Meth use)

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Bulimia, acid reflux, sucking on lemons

Teeth are like similar to anything else in the fact that they can be eroded by acid.

Acids can come from external or internal sources.

A good example of an internal acid source would be Acid Reflux. Most acid reflux will cause mild to moderate cases of heart burn. The stomach acid will travel up the esophagus toward the mouth. It usually makes it only as high as the level of the heart and this is what causes a sensation that the area around your heart is burning. If the Acid Reflux is more severe it the acid will make it all the way to the mouth. When in the mouth the acids will eat away at the enamel of the teeth.

Another example of internal acid is the condition known as Bulimia. This is where individuals will induce vomiting as a way of losing weight. After eating they want to rid themselves of the food they just ingested before it gets absorbed into the body. As they induce vomiting not only does the food come up but stomach acids will come up also.

An example of external acids would be sucking on things like lemons or other acidic foods. Many Carbonated beverages are also very high in acid. These acids may not be as strong as acids from the stomach but if the exposure is consistent over a long enough period of time the effects can be just as damaging.

This picture illustrates the effects of acid against your teeth over time.

The tooth should be covered in white. That is the protective layer of the tooth known as enamel. Where the teeth have a more yellow appearance is where the acids have eaten away the enamel. The yellow portion is the layer beneath the enamel which is much softer and much more susceptible to decay. These teeth will need to be crowned quickly to avoid decay from reaching the nerve and the need for root canals.

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