Teeth Whitening

Teeth whitening is a very hot topic these days.

It seems as though everybody and their dog is offering to have your

teeth whitened for life, by tomorrow.

So what is real and what is hype?

As a disclaimer let me just say that tooth whitening can be accomplished successfully with ANY of these methods and that the following is based on fact with my opinion thrown in for flavor.

There are basically 3 ways to whiten your teeth.

#1 With the whiteners you buy in the stores.

This includes strips, trays, paint on stuff, etc.

Couple of things to consider here. The strength of the bleach has to be over the counter strength which is going to be less then bleach you can get form your dentist. Its like buying Tylenol from the store vs getting Lortab from the dentist. Next is the way the bleach is delivered. Below is a picture of a bleaching strip. Since this strip is sold to everyone it then, by nature, fits no one. Administering bleach to the masses can be a very inexact science that could lead to burned gums or uneven bleaching of the teeth.

#2 Is custom trays made by your dentist and you do the bleaching at home.

This way of bleaching has a lot of up side.

First the strength of bleach is prescription strength which will allow you to bleach faster. Second while bleaching faster it is still slow enough to stop when you begin feeling too much sensitivity. Lastly the trays are made specifically for you. They will fit no one else and thus deliver the bleach right to where it is needed.

#3 In office light whitening.

This option is nice because it is the fastest. But there are some draw backs. The machines to do the bleaching are expensive so the cost must be passed on the the patient. Next, you can't stop bleaching when you begin to feel sensitive. You will lay back being one shade and be several shades lighter when you sit up. If you happen to have lightened up too much and your teeth are very sensitive to even breath you are kind of out of luck.

So again, there are probably many of you reading this that have gotten your teeth whitened by any of the ways just mentioned and it has worked well for you. And that is great. I personally have chosen to offer only the 2nd option in my office as I feel it is the best bang for the buck and offers the least chance of complications for my patients.

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Are pacifiers bad?

Well, like most things, the answer is ............ it depends.

Sucking is a very natural and calming thing for a baby to do.

I have given each and every one of my 5 kids a pacifier.

None of them are delayed in their teeth coming in, have any speech problems, or had any thumb sucking problems due to using a pacifier.

There are some obvious thing you should be concerned with.

If you use a clip and a cord to keep the pacifier attached to your child's clothes make sure the cord is short enough that can't choke the baby.

Once your child gets to kindergarten make sure that they only use the pacifier at home. Being known as the only kid that had a pacifier in kindergarten could seriously damage your child's chances at getting asked to junior prom.

Well, what about thumb sucking, you may ask.

That my friends, is a whole different story.

We will talk about that tomorrow.

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Impacted wisdom teeth II.

So you are afraid to get your wisdom teeth out?

And the avenue you have chosen to avoid this surgery is to leave them in.

Here is just one example of what can happen if you chose to do that.

What you have on the right is an x-ray of an angled wisdom tooth that is trying to come through the tissue.

It was trying so hard in fact that it dug a hole right into the side of the tooth next to it.

So not only does the wisdom tooth need to come out but now the other tooth needs to come out as well.

If this were to repeat itself in your mouth 4 times (once for every wisdom tooth) you would need to go through 8 extractions instead of 4.

Still think its a good idea NOT to take out your wisdom teeth?!

Didn't think so.

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Stop Sipping!!!

We see it all the time.

People coming into the office with with their teeth hurting.

I tell them that they have a ton of cavities and they tell me that that is impossible.

Since nothing is impossible I ask them why they think that.

They tell me its because they only drink 1 can of soda pop a day.

I tell them that that's not so bad and that lots of people have a soda at some point during the day.

I then ask them how long it takes them to drink it.

They tell me that they sip on it throughout the day and that it takes them about 4 hours to finish off a can.

Here in lies our problem.

Cavities caused by soda happen due to the time that the teeth are exposed to the sugar and not the amount of sugar ingested.

If I drank an entire 2 liter of Mountain Dew for breakfast and my patient only had 1 can on Mountain Dew but it took him 4 hours to drink his can, who do you think would be worse off?

If you said the guy drinking the can then you are starting to catch on.

Although my sugar content is higher and I may experience more symptoms throughout my body my teeth are much better off. I get the sugar in my mouth and then get it out and I am done. The person who sips on that one can for hours at a time has sugar covering their teeth all the whole time they are sipping. So less sugar but more tooth exposure.

Moral of the story is DO NOT SIP!

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