A hole in your chin?! Why regular dental visits are so important.

Are regular dental visits THAT important?

YES!!!

Here is an example. 

A patient came into my office the other day complaining of

"pain in the chin area". 

I took an x-ray and was a little shocked by what I saw. 

Below you will see 2 x-rays. 

One is the unaltered x-ray. 

The other is the x-ray with the problem area circled in red. 

The dark area is a problem. 

Typically bone will have a look like cotton. 

Some white, solid, areas but also many darker

air filled spaces as well. 

A giant dark spot where bone should be is NOT a good sign. 

A quick test of all of the teeth in the effected area revealed that 

there was zero sensitivity related to the teeth themselves. 

No discomfort with hot, cold, chewing, etc. 

Still only pain when finger pressure was applied to the lower chin. 

I phoned the oral surgeon and the patient was sent right over. 

Below you will see a picture taken in the middle of the surgery. 

 There was a cyst below the lower anterior teeth. 

The cyst was removed and is currently being biopsied. 

Please make it a point to go into your local dentist on a regular basis. 

It looks as if this patient will be just fine. 

But things could have been much much worse. 

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Tongue Cancer

What does Cancer of the Tongue look like, feel like, act like?

What I tell my patients is that if there is ANY change in your tongue,

that lasts longer then about 2 weeks, that you have never experienced before,

 you should go see an oral surgeon.

Things happen to your tongue.

You can bite it. 

You can burn it. 

You can get canker sores.

Etc Etc

And some of these things can happen repeatedly over time.

People with Geographic Tongue, for instance, can get odd 

shapes and feelings on their tongue, and it can be absolutely

normal for them.

But all of these things will go away. 

IF you notice something changing that DOESN'T go away.

And in fact continues to get larger and/or begins to feel hurt,

burn, and/or feel uncomfortable in any way.

Go to the oral surgeon and have it looked at.

A small biopsy should be taken to determine what is going on.

Here are some pictures of Tongue Cancers.

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Oral cancer. CAUTION! May be disturbing.

This post is not for the faint of heart.

This is however, one of the most serious posts that I have ever done.

If you smoke or chew, please stop.

Oral cancer is very very real.

I realize that everyone knows someone that has smoked for

80 years and nothing has ever happened to them.

That is all well and good, until its you that it happens to.

These pictures are of a complete jaw bone removal due to oral cancer.

And yes, if the jaw bone comes out then the teeth must come with it.

Bottom Jaw.

After the jaw bone is removed a new one must be made.

It is fairly typical to make the new jaw out of Metal.

the new metal jaw is lined with one of your ribs that has been taken from you and bolted to the metal. Hopefully, later on some type of implants can be fastened to the metal jaw and you can get teeth back. Until that time you are on pretty much liquid.

X-ray of the new lower jaw.

Hope this scares anyone enough to lick the habit.

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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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Diabetes and your gums.

If you, or someone you know, has been diagnosed with diabetes, it is a shock.

Diabetes carries with it many short term as well as long term side effects.

Most people know about the problems with loss of feeling in the extremities and

even troubles with vision later on in life.

But very few people realize that diabetes can have a devastating effect on the gums.

Now that may not seem like a big thing.

Gums aren't exactly something that people consider to be crucial for life.

And they aren't.

However, they are crucial to the life of your teeth.

Below you will see a diagram of what happens to your

gums as they begin to become unhealthy.

What you will see below here is an actual x-ray of diseased gums.

The straight line represents where the gum/bone level should be.

The wavy line represents where the gum/bone levels have fallen to.

It is possible for a completely healthy tooth to fall completely out of the mouth

due to a loss of gum/bone tissue.

Gums/bone keep the teeth in your mouth.

Lose the gums/bone, lose the teeth.

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Stop Brushing so Hard!!!

So is it possible to damage your teeth by brushing too hard?

Absolutely!!

Enamel (the white stuff that covers your teeth) is the

hardest substance in the human body.

It would be very hard to brush through that.

Enamel however, only covers the tooth as it comes out of the gums.

If your gums recede due to genetics or very aggressive brushing then another

layer of the tooth is revealed.

This layer is called the dentin layer.

This layer is much softer then enamel.

Brushing too hard can, very easily, erode this layer.

You can tell that this is happening if you feel a little ridge on your tooth

as you get up near your gums.

It may feel like a little trench or groove.

If you have one of these you need to get it checked out to see how deep it is

and if anything needs to be done about it.

Small fillings can actually be placed in the grooves to help

protect the tooth from any future damage.

If left untreated you can actually brush a deep enough groove into

your tooth that you would need a root canal.

The picture below shows a tooth where the groove almost reached the nerve.

Moral of the story is to stop brushing so hard.

A quick trip to the dentist can tell you if your brushing in appropriete or not.

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It's called a apicoectomy.

Its called a what!?

Okay, its not something you hear everyday but its something that can

be very helpful if you find your self with a failing root canal.

Root canals do not always work.

If my tooth hurt I would get one tomorrow.

So you know they are still very predictable.

However sometimes an infection can begin at the end of the tooth

even though a root canal has already been performed.

You could re-do the root canal but that can be difficult.

You can try to re-medicate but that may not be the answer either.

More often then not the best treatment is called an apicoectomy.

A small access to the root of the tooth is made and the infected area is removed.

This will allow the root canal and tooth to remain intact while still removing the infection.

After the infection is removed the gum tissue is re-sealed and the healing can begin.

This procedure is very effective and does no further harm to the tooth.

This is especially important if the tooth was crowned after the root canal was finished.

It is not possible to preform this procedure on all teeth but for most of them its a great option.

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What is a sealant?

A sealant is a protective covering that is placed over a tooth

so that it is harder for the bacteria to attack it and cause a cavity.

Material is flowed into all of the cracks and grooves to protect

them and then the material is cured to a hard state.

99% of the time the teeth that are

sealed are the 1st and 2nd adult molars.

These teeth come in at ages 6 and 12 respectively.

Any tooth can be sealed but it is typically these two teeth

because they are the most likely to get cavities and they

are the ones the the insurance companies will pay for.

You children don't need sealants but it sure does help.

Adults can get sealants on their back teeth but you will pay for it all yourself.

If you are interested, talk to your dentist.

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What is Cleft Lip and Palate?

The word "cleft" simply means a crack or divide. A cleft lip is simply the body incorrectly or incompletely closing the facial structures during development. This incomplete closing leaves a cleft, or divide, in the lip and/or palate of the new born. Below is an ultrasound showing a cleft lip

The word "cleft" simply means a crack or divide. A cleft lip is simply the body incorrectly or incompletely closing the facial structures during development. This incomplete closing leaves a cleft, or divide, in the lip and/or palate of the new born. Below is an ultrasound showing a cleft lip

Clefts are normally very repairable and the scare can be almost unrecognizable.

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Open only if you are not squeamish.

This post is not for the faint of heart.

This is however, one of the most serious posts that I have ever done.

If you smoke or chew, please stop.

Oral cancer is very very real.

I realize that everyone knows someone that has smoked for

80 years and nothing has ever happened to them.

That is all well and good, until its you that it happens to.

These pictures are of a complete jaw bone removal due to oral cancer.

And yes, if the jaw bone comes out then the teeth must come with it.

Bottom Jaw.

After the jaw bone is removed a new one must be made.

It is fairly typical to make the new jaw out of Metal.

the new metal jaw is lined with one of your ribs that has been taken from you and bolted to the metal. Hopefully, later on some type of implants can be fastened to the metal jaw and you can get teeth back. Until that time you are on pretty much liquid.

X-ray of the new lower jaw.

Hope this scares anyone enough to lick the habit.

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