Tooth still hurts AFTER root canal and crown!!

Have you ever had a toothache?

Have you ever paid a lot for a root canal?

Have you ever paid even more for a crown?

Did it work, or does the tooth STILL hurt?!

What to do?

The tooth in the middle of the screen is just such a tooth. 

This patient came to me at the end of her rope. 

Too much time, to much money, and too much discomfort.

The failing tooth was extracted and an implant was placed.

The implant was then given 3 months for the bone to heal around it. 

After 3 months a tooth was placed on the implant.

No more pain. 

No more worry. 

If the bone holds (which it should in most healthy patients)

this will be one of the strongest teeth in the mouth. 

This tooth should need no more dental work for the lifetime of this patient. 

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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. 

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Teaching my kids.

I wanted to let my kids know that they live in luxury. Not the giant ski boat, 4 car garage, 6,000 sq ft home, or vacation cabin in the woods kind of luxury. I don't own any of those things anyway. I mean food in the pantry, running water, and more than 1 set of clothes kind of luxury. So we went on a trip. We went to Peru. We wore flip flops in the hotel, at night, to keep from contracting anything. And during the day we worked side by side with local villagers in an attempt to give them a brighter future. My kids worked hard all day, ate simple food, and repeated the process, for days. All at 12,500 feet above sea level. It was very hard, and exactly what I wanted for my kids. We will never forget the experience and hopefully my children understand a little more about the world they live in and the blessings that are theirs. If anyone else has interest in going I would highly suggest it. Google search "eagle condor humanitarian Salt Lake City Utah" for more information.

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"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. 

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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. 

To purchase on Amazon click here

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. 

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. 

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Broken Tooth ..... Now What?!

Most people break a tooth and think the worst. 

Crowns, Root Canals, Bears, oh my. 

In many cases however, a filling is all that is needed. 

This is a great case in point. 

Patient came in today with a corner broken off.

We matched the color, filled it, and finished off with

a nice polishing. 

And here is the after. 

The patient was very happy. 

The moral of the story is that when things break just

get into the dentist. 

It's probably not as bad as you think.

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