Prevent Enamel Loss

Jan 30th, 2018
Easton Dentists Jan 30th, 2018

Enamel is the hard outer layer of your teeth that protects them from wear and tear and prevents them from feeling the temperature extremes of the foods and beverages you eat and drink. If you lose your enamel, your teeth will grow more sensitive and more prone to cavities. There is no way to replace lost enamel, but there are several precautions you can take to prevent enamel loss. By following the tips below, you’ll help to keep your smile healthy for years to come.

1. Avoid acid

By limiting your intake of acidic foods, you can help to prevent enamel erosion. Common acidic culprits include soda and other fizzy drinks, citrus fruits, and juices. When you do choose to consume these acidic items, try to keep them from settling on your teeth. Using a straw or rinsing your mouth with water as you eat or drink can help to keep the acid from eroding your enamel.

2. Be gentle

Brushing your teeth too firmly can lead to enamel erosion. Instead, try to brush gently with a soft toothbrush. You should also wait at least an hour after eating before you brush your teeth. Brushing too soon after a meal can increase your enamel erosion.

3. Assess your overall health

A number of medical conditions can cause enamel erosion. For example, alcoholism, bulimia, and GERD have all been found to result in enamel erosion. This is because each of these conditions causes acid to come into contact with your teeth. If you suffer from any of these conditions, see your doctor immediately.

4. Talk to your dentist

Your dentist can assess the current state of your enamel loss and can help you to develop a plan to prevent further erosion.

Protecting your enamel is an important aspect of maintaining your dental health. Once enamel has been lost, it cannot be replaced. With this in mind, be sure to take all of the precautions you can to prevent enamel erosion.

Avoid These Foods for a Healthier Smile

Jan 30th, 2018
Easton Dentists Jan 30th, 2018

A healthy smile starts with a healthy diet. In addition to making sure your diet contains plenty of nutritious and vitamin-heavy foods, there are a few foods and beverages you ought to avoid as much as possible. Below, you’ll find a list of some cavity-causing culprits and an explanation of why they cause so much damage to teeth.

1. Ice

This might seem like a strange item to top the list. After all, ice is just frozen water, right? That’s true and ice is totally harmless when used to cool a beverage. It only starts to cause problems when people chew on it. Ice is so hard that crunching on it can damage your enamel and leave your teeth susceptible to dental issues, such as chipped teeth and loosened crowns.

2. Alcohol

Drinking too much alcohol can lead to tooth decay and oral infections, such as gum disease. This is because an excess of alcohol can cause a decrease in the saliva flow to your mouth. Saliva washes away food particles and bacteria and provides protection to the soft tissues in your mouth. When you do not have enough saliva, your mouth becomes more prone to dental issues.

3. Bread

Bread might seem pretty harmless, but it can actually cause some real dental issues. The problem is that, as soon as we start chewing bread, our saliva breaks down the starches and almost immediately converts them to sugar. The sticky, sugary substance that bread becomes once we start to chew it can stick to teeth and provide fuel for cavity-causing bacteria.

4. Dried fruits

Although they often seem to be the healthy snack option, dried fruits can actually cause real damage to your teeth. This is because they are full of natural sugars and the juices that would normally work to quickly rinse this sugar from your teeth have been removed during the drying process. As a result extremely sugary dried fruits often stick to our teeth, where they quickly become food for cavity-causing bacteria.

Before you get too concerned, just remember that it all comes down to moderation. We’re not asking you to entirely give up any tooth-damaging food or beverage. Instead, we simply suggest that you limit your intake of these items and that you always follow them up with a thorough cleaning of your teeth. In addition, by following your meals and sweet beverages with water, you can rinse away food particles that could fuel cavity-causing bacteria.

Reasons You May Have A Dry Mouth

Jan 29th, 2018
Easton Dentists Jan 29th, 2018

We all know drinking enough water is good for our health. And when you’re feeling parched, there’s nothing better than a tall drink of ice-cold water to dampen that dry mouth of yours.

But what do you do when you find yourself constantly needing to wet your whistle?

There are numerous reasons you could be suffering from dry mouth. Below are the top five.

Physiologic
Sometimes having a dry mouth is just a normal part of life. Temporary anxiety, open-mouthed
breathing, mild dehydration, menopause, pregnancy, and decreased saliva due to sleep are all
normal causes of dry mouth.

Prescription medication
Sixty-three percent of the top 200 most commonly prescribed drugs in the U.S. are known to cause dry mouth. And the higher the number of medications a person takes, the higher the chance of dry mouth. That’s why as we age, we tend to experience more instances of dry mouth. It’s not necessarily age-related, but our consumption of medication may cause this side effect.

Habitual use of alcohol and tobacco
Use of any of these products will dry out the oral cavity.
Please drink in moderation, and make sure to up your water intake when you imbibe. As for tobacco, we always recommend quitting as soon as possible.

Chronic Disease
Diabetes, Sjogren’s disease, Sarcoidosis, Hepatitic C can all cause dry mouth.

Psychogenic or Idiopathic
When symptoms are present without an identifiable cause (idiopathic), or because of psychological causes (psychogenic), they can be difficult to diagnose.

If you find yourself with a persistent, unidentifiable case of dry mouth, you should make an appointment. Call us at 614-414-0111 or request an appointment online.

Figuring out which one is causing your dry mouth is so important because a dry mouth has a big effect on your dental health. Saliva is so important for swishing away bacteria.

The dryer the mouth, the more prone you are to cavities, bad breath, and gingivitis. We recommend visiting us at 4030 Easton Station, Suite 250, Columbus, OH 43219 or your doctor for a consultation on why you may be experiencing a dry mouth.

How Often Should You See the Dentist

Jan 29th, 2018
Easton Dentists Jan 29th, 2018

We love our patients, so we’d be more than happy to see you every day! Alas, we realize that’s not really possible to visit Easton in Columbus, OH everyday, so here are some more realistic guidelines for making appointments.

In general, it all depends on your oral health status and your health history.

For most patients, the optimal frequency to visit the dentist is twice a year. In six months,
enough tartar and plaque can build up to require a dental check-up and cleaning, especially if your dental hygiene isn’t as rigorous as it should be.

For others with gum disease, a genetic predisposition for plaque build-up or cavities, or a
weakened immune system, you’ll need to visit more frequently for optimal care.

Depending on where you fall in those categories, we will prescribe the necessary frequency to keep your optimal health.

It’s important to keep your routine visits with us so that:
• We can check for problems that you might not see or feel.
• We can find early signs of decay (decay doesn’t become visible or cause pain until it reaches more advanced stages).
• We can treat any other oral health problems found (generally, the earlier a problem is found, the more manageable it is).

There you have it! Those are the brass tacks for how often you should schedule an appointment.

Remember, we offer a variety of different hours to make it the most convenient for you!  Mondays and Wednesdays we are here for late appointments, Tuesday and Fridays we start really early, and of course we have lunchtime appointments everyday! If you need to schedule, you can do that request an appointment now!

But if it is not time for your next appointment, don’t let it keep you from stopping in and saying hi whenever you’re in the neighborhood! We are really close to Gahanna, New Albany, Westerville, and all those Easton neighborhoods!  We love seeing your smile!