Tooth Tip Tuesday

Dental Folklore

By Craig @ 2010-03-02 16:20:40 / 0 comments

People of ancient times believed that the stabbing pain of a toothache was caused by a toothworm, which either had appeared spontaneously or had bored its way into the tooth. If the tooth pain was severe, it meant that the worm was thrashing about, but if the aching stopped, then the worm was resting. Cultures all over the world, many of whom had no contact with each other, held stubbornly to this myth. The folklore of the toothworm persisted from ancient times to the beginning of the eighteenth century.

Folk Cures or Old Wives Tales

Bee: Honey, a product of bees, was used to coat an infected tooth in the Middle Ages. People smeared their aching teeth with honey and waited all night with tweezers in hand, ready to pluck out the toothworm.
Donkey: In ancient Greece, donkey’s milk was used as a mouthwash to strengthen the gums and teeth.
Fingernails: Trim you fingernails on Friday, and that pesky toothache will be gone for a week.
Frog: Besides spitting in a frog’s mouth for toothache relief, these web-footed creatures were applied to a person’s cheek or to the head on the side of the ailing tooth.
Funerals: Never eat anything when the funeral bell is tolling, or a toothache will follow.
Hard Boiled Egg: If you placed a hard boiled egg anywhere in a teething baby's room, they would have an easier time.
Onion: In the Middle Ages a slice of onion was applied to the ear on the side of the aching tooth.
Rabbit: A backwoods legend described helping a teething child. Grandpa would go out and shoot a rabbit. He would bring it back, slice the head open, and rub the "brain juice" on the baby's gums.
Hard Boiled Egg: If you placed a hard boiled egg anywhere in a teething baby's room, they would have an easier time.
Vanilla: Poor pure vanilla extract from the bottle directly on the tooth.

If you've heard of some additional folklore or old wives tales, please let us know. We highly recommend you don't attempt any of these treatments, but rather see a dentist for any dental complications. They do not work especially the bunny brains on your teething child.

Reprinted with permission from "Toothworms and Spider Juice: An Illustrated History of Dentistry" – Loretta Frances Ichord, Millerbrook Press
Photo credit - Delta Dental

Dental Implant Important Facts

By Craig @ 2010-02-05 11:03:18 / 0 comments

Considering Dental Implants?

Important Facts to Help Make Your Decision

Many people are unaware of the consequences of losing their teeth or the effects of wearing partial or full dentures upon their jaws and bones. When teeth are lost, the surrounding bone immediately begins to shrink [atrophy]. Implant treatment, for tooth replacement therapy, can be the optimal treatment plan. Here are some important facts to take into consideration.

• Wearing dentures [plates] accelerates bone loss, and old dentures become loose because of this bone loss. It is possible to watch and wait for bone to disappear to the point where treatment success of any kind is in doubt.

• At the end of a five-year period, only 40% are still wearing the original partial denture made for them. This is not a great testimonial for value and utility. Those lucky enough to have a functioning partial denture after 5 years are still losing valuable supporting bone.

• Of those patients who wear a partial denture, 50% chew better without it.

• One study showed that after 8 years, 40% of the supporting teeth [abutments] that the partial hooks onto were lost through tooth decay or fracture.

• Patients with natural teeth can bite with about 200 pounds of force. Denture wearers can bite with approximately 50 pounds of force. Those wearing dentures for 15 years or more can bite with only about 6 pounds of force, and their diet and eating habits have had to been modified accordingly.

• The average lower full denture shifts from side to side approximately ? inch during chewing and is a significant problem that new denture wearers must get use to and accept.

• Denture wearers have decreased nutritional intake, a ten year shorter life span, and 30% of denture wearers can only eat soft foods.

• The single tooth implant success rate is above 98%, and unlike a bridge, the teeth adjacent to the implant are no more at risk than if no teeth were missing.

• Implant-supported bridges or dentures have 95% success rates over 10 years without the severe loss of supporting bone.

For bone maintenance, the health of adjacent teeth, the longevity of the restoration and patient comfort, implant therapy is the treatment of choice. Implants can restore chewing function to the equivalent of someone with natural teeth. Insurance companies are beginning to realize the importance of dental implants and have start to include them as covered procedures. If you have questions or want to know if you are a good candidate for implant tooth replacement therapy, please call our office.

Photo used with permission: NobelBiocare

A Beautiful Smile Is Precious And Priceless

By Craig @ 2010-01-28 14:35:47 / 0 comments

Did you know that the shape, shade, length and spacing of your teeth could significantly affect your smile? And our smiles can greatly affect our self-esteem and confidence. Common conditions that impact negatively on your smile include broken, cracked or worn teeth, discolored teeth, missing teeth, crooked teeth, decayed teeth, gaps between your teeth and/or "gummy smiles." The good news is that with modern technology and improved materials, these situations can be dramatically changed to create natural looking and long-lasting beautiful smiles.

Each patient and each specific circumstance must be evaluated on its own merits. Factors such as occlusion [bite], oral habits, available space, health of the gum tissue, severity of the problem and patient expectation must be taken into consideration while planning your cosmetic makeover.

Depending on the situation, there are a variety of choices that all result in excellent esthetic outcomes. For whiter natural teeth, in-office or at-home bleaching [whitening] techniques are available. Repairing teeth or closing spaces may be accomplished with tooth-colored composite resin bonding, porcelain veneers or porcelain crowns.

These procedures vary in time and cost and have differences in longevity and appearance. If you're not satisfied with your smile or want to learn if you're a good candidate for any of these remarkable techniques, call our office for a cosmetic consultation.

Thumb Sucking

By Craig @ 2010-01-12 12:58:08 / 0 comments

Infants have a natural instinct to suck as a way of nourishing and soothing themselves. Often, this leads to the child sucking on their fingers, a blanket, a stuffed animal or their thumb. Usually, this habit is given up by age 4. If it continues, it can be extremely detrimental to the development of their teeth and jaws causing crooked teeth, an incorrect bite, speech problems and/or open-mouth breathing. This habit may result in psychological trauma if it continues into school age when the other children tease them.

What should a parent do?

Thumb sucking generally starts when a pacifier is taken away too early when the child is not ready to give it up. Pacifiers are less likely to create the same developmental problems [by distributing forces over greater area], are usually discarded by the child at an earlier age and are easier to hide than a thumb. Between age 1 and 2, limit the use of the pacifier to bedtime or as a reward (sometimes needed to calm the child). It's best to use the pacifier before they discover their thumb.

Cut the rubber part off the pacifier (not in front of the child) and show it. Tell them it's broken. Let the child throw it in the garbage. This allows the child to see that it's gone and the child took part in getting rid of it. This works best if they haven't found the thumb as an alternative.
Use a little reverse psychology. It's not fair to the other fingers that the thumb gets everything. You have suck all the fingers at once or give each finger the same attention. Use a timer, and the child usually gets tired of the process. This works best if done by someone other than the parent. The child knows the parent wants them to stop.
If the thumb sucking is during the day, discuss the problem with them to discourage the habit. Placing a band-aid on their thumb as a reminder may help. Be positive and praise them when they remember. And reward them for their success.
It is more difficult to control thumb sucking when the child is asleep, because the child is unaware of this involuntary action. So, try this habit-breaking technique that is usually successful within two weeks. Before your child goes to bed, wrap a 2-inch wide ace bandage lightly around their fully extended arm [straight]. Start about 3 inches from their armpit and continue down past the elbow. This will not prevent your child from putting their thumb into their mouth. However, as soon as they fall asleep, the tension created by bending the elbow will pull the thumb from their mouth.

If your child is still sucking on their thumb or anything else by the time their permanent teeth erupt [around age 6], please call it to the attention of our office.

Photo credit: mychildhealth.net