Why You Should Switch to an Electric Toothbrush
How many of us take the time to diligently brush each and every tooth, twice a day? Or even pay attention to how carefully we brush? Well, there is one easy way to help with that, and that is to make the switch to an electric toothbrush.
They may cost more than the 3-4 toothbrushes you’re supposed to go through in a year, but the improved dental benefits can easily outweigh the cost. It isn’t only dentists who think so, either: In a survey of 16,000 patients published by the American Dental Association, more than 80 percent said they improved their oral cleanliness after switching from their manual toothbrushes to an electric version [source: Electric Toothbrush Reviews].
Electric toothbrushes do a lot of the work for you and do it better than we can. They have been engineered to properly clean each tooth. A normal person achieves about 300 strokes a second while brushing, but using an electric toothbrush improves that number to well above 3,000. The Sonic brushes can even go over 30,000 strokes per second, and all at a gentle pressure to maximize cleaning of your teeth without doing any harm.
Some of the newer electric toothbrushes also come equipped with timers to make sure we brush the full two minutes too. A variety now even come with BlueTooth and will connect with your phone to play music or tell you when to switch to a different part of your mouth.
There are some people who even argue that using an electric brush is a “greener.” According to experts at Green Your, it takes between 14 and 42 toothbrush replacement heads to equal the amount of plastic in one manual toothbrush.
If used properly, an electric toothbrush is well worth the cost, if only to improve your dental health. So take some time and look into making the switch. If you have any more questions, take some time and ask Dr. Thiel about it here at Signature Dental. Your smile will really thank you for it!
Starting Your Kids on a Path to Healthy Teeth
It can be a challenge to keep your kids on a consistent brushing schedule, but it is extremely important that you do! Teaching your kids to start a healthy routine of brushing two times a day and flossing once every day can help them form these habits for their whole life.
You may think that if your child is young and still has their baby teeth, it isn’t important to take them to the dentist, but dental care for children is just as important as it is for adults. The American Dental Association recommends that you take your child within six months of getting get their first tooth or by their first birthday. Baby teeth serve as guides to the adult teeth, and if they fall out too early, or become very unhealthy, it can affect the alignment of the adult teeth that are coming in. Children have many of the same issues as adults and experience.
For more information visit: https://www.ada.org/en/
Taking your kids to go to the dentist regularly will also increase their comfort level with their dentist overall. This will help them ensure they are educated about their teeth and dental hygiene, and lessen the anxiety of going to the dentist and begin a positive experience that will last a lifetime. It can also reinforce the idea of going every six months, an important notion for adults as well!
Dental health is important at all ages, it is no different for children. Impressions can be made and lessons learned in those early years, and a healthy mouth is important to lead a healthy life.
Lear MoreDental Health and Heart Health
Do healthy gums mean a healthy heart?
There’s no question that regular brushing, flossing and dental checkups can keep your mouth healthy. But if you fall short on your hygiene routine, can gum disease actually cause heart disease?
There’s no conclusive evidence that preventing gum disease — periodontitis — can prevent heart disease or that treating gum disease can lessen atherosclerosis, the buildup of artery-clogging plaque that can result in a heart attack or stroke, according to an American Heart Association statement.
“The mouth can be a good warning signpost,” said Ann Bolger, M.D., William Watt Kerr Professor of Clinical Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. “People with periodontitis often have risk factors that not only put their mouth at risk but their heart and blood vessels, too. But whether one causes the other has not actually been shown.”
Periodontitis and heart disease share risk factors such as smoking, age and diabetes, and both contribute to inflammation in the body. Although these shared risk factors may explain why diseases of the blood vessels and mouth can occur simultaneously, some evidence suggests that there may be an independent association between the two diseases.
While the research is ongoing, seeing your dentists regularly, flossing and brushing twice daily, along with other healthy lifestyle choices including diet, exercise, not smoking and keeping your weight at a healthy level will all contribute to a better health. It is important to consult your health care professional for specific recommendations as every individual is different.
For more information visit: https://www.webmd.com/oral-health/features/healthy-teeth-healthy-heart#1
Lear MoreToast to Fewer Cavities with Red Wine!
With the holidays upon us, you may want to make your adult beverage of choice red wine. Red wine has long been touted for the health benefits associated with heart disease, and according to a recent study, you can a reduction cavities to the list!
According to an article written by Dentistry Today, when it comes to oral health, we now have yet another reason to drink red wine. The theory is that the grape extract is slowing the bacteria responsible for cavities growth rate.
Information that appeared in the American Chemical Society’s Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry study found that red wine and a grape seed extract could prevent cavities. If this information is true, natural products may be developed that protect against dental disease with fewer side effects than wine. To read the entire article visit Dentistry Today at https://www.dentistrytoday.com/news/industrynews/item/2964-wine-may-improve-oral-health?hq_e=el&hq_m=1381753&hq_l=7&hq_v=bad03dcd55
Wearing Dentures to Bed Increases Risk of Pneumonia
According to recent research seniors in a three-year study who went to sleep while wearing their dentures were twice as likely to get pneumonia as those who did not.
The study followed over 400 denture wearers and found that forty-one percent who wore their dentures while sleeping were twice as likely to develop pneumonia. The study advises the results were clear, no one should wear dentures to bed. The study was published in the October online edition of the Journal of Dental Research. While wearing dentures to bed is never a recommended practice, with this new finding it is more important than ever to remove them prior to sleep.
It is estimated that up to thirty-five million Americans have no teeth and that twenty million wear dentures. With today’s advanced dental care and the use of implants instead of dentures, there is hope that future generations will have reduced numbers of Americans without teeth.
Fact Over Fiction: Oral Health Myths Revealed
The Good, Bad and, the Ugly About Oral Health
There are many misconceptions about oral health that can prevent us from seeking treatment when needed, or scare of unnecessarily. As the saying goes, knowledge is power, so with the help of AAP below you will find the most common misinformation below, please put it to good use!
According to the AAP, some of the most common misconceptions about oral health are:
- The primary reason for tooth brushing is to remove food debris.
FACT: Daily brushing and flossing will also keep the formation of plaque to a minimum. If not removed every 26 hours, plaque will irritate gums, which can lead to periodontal disease. - Bleeding gums are normal.
FACT: Bleeding gums are one of the eight signs of gum disease. Think of gum tissue as the skin on your hand. If your hands bled every time you washed them, you would know something is wrong. - Oral health doesn’t affect overall health.
FACT: When the gums are infected, periodontal bacterial byproducts can enter the bloodstream and travel to major organs and set off other problems. Research suggests this may contribute to the development of heart disease, the nation’s leading cause of death; increase the risk of stroke; increase a woman’s risk of having a pre-term, low birth weight baby; and pose a serious threat to people whose health is compromised by diabetes, respiratory diseases or osteoporosis. - Bad breath is caused by a lack of oral hygiene.
FACT: Excellent oral hygiene doesn’t necessarily relieve bad breath. There are certain kinds of bacteria in the mouth that produce volatile sulfur compounds. If these sulfur compounds build up enough, the result can be clinical bad breath. In addition to brushing and flossing, brushing the tongue (where the sulfur resides) can help eliminate bad breath. - Cavities are the number one cause of tooth loss.
FACT: Together, periodontal disease and cavities are the primary cause of tooth loss. - Pregnant women should skip professional dental checkups.
FACT: Periodontal health can affect unborn babies’ health. Studies have shown an infection during pregnancy, including periodontal disease, is cause for concern and may increase the risk of delivering a premature, low birth weight baby. - Stress does not cause problems in the mouth.
FACT: High levels of financial stress and poor coping abilities increase the likelihood of developing periodontal disease. Researchers found people who dealt with a financial strain in an active and practical way (problem-focused) rather than with avoidance techniques (emotion-focused) had no more risk of severe periodontal disease than those without money problems.
Oil Pulling: The Latest Trend in Oral Health
Any time spent recently on the internet has probably led you to some article on oil pulling. Not only is it claimed to be better than conventional oral hygiene, but many are claiming benefits such as healthier hair, clearer skin, whiter teeth, elimination of parasites, improved body odor, and easing of joint pains. This newly focused attention on the importance of oral health is always welcomed, however, it is important as professionals to make certain these trends are actually delivering what they are promising.
Should you make oil pulling a new part of your health routine? Here are some reasons to avoid oil pulling.
First, if it did work, it takes too long. Almost all of the proponents of oil pulling suggest 20 minutes of swishing to obtain the benefit. Twenty minutes for most people to add to their “normal” routine will seem like a lifetime. Brushing our teeth twice a day for two minutes and flossing for another minute or even two equates to at most six minutes daily. This is even hard for a lot of people to do. I am saving you 14 minutes by not doing oil pulling. You’re welcome 🙂 Proper brushing and flossing have been shown to be effective at keeping our teeth and gums healthy. Why drift from something proven and endorsed by the American Dental Association? I realize the traditional approach isn’t as exciting, and unlikely to be endorsed by glamorous celebrities like Gwyneth Paltrow, but nonetheless, this approach will be successful, time after time.
Second, it doesn’t do what they claim it does. As for the oil pulling and the claims of whiter teeth and better oral health, there is no evidence to back up the claims. A positive effect on bad breath and bacteria that cause decay. Hmmm…..now one can’t be sure, but perhaps the mere act of swishing anything in one’s mouth for twenty minutes could remove bacteria, but there are simply no quality studies to prove this. The ones that do exist use research from extremely small sample size with questionable experimental design.
Third, it is not risk free. What harm can it do? This brings me to a little known thing called lipid pneumonia. It is a specific form of pneumonia that develops when aerosolized oil enters the lungs. Will this happen to you if you oil pull? I am not saying it will but there are risks that many proponents fail to discuss or mention when touting these “new” ideas.
Finally, my recommendation is this. Please don’t spend your valuable time and money on unproven methods, when it concerns something as important as oral health. Instead invest in maintaining good oral health with your qualified, concerned and caring dentist. Studies are finding that our health depends on us making oral health a priority. Heart disease, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, and ED are just a few of the proven diseases associated with poor oral health. Now is the time for us to understand the importance of oral health and for us to focus on documented approaches with professionals to maintain the optimum level. As we now know, this is critical to our health.
Perhaps we in the dental field need to promote the fact that chew sticks, the predecessor to the toothbrush, were discovered in tombs in Babylonia in 3500 BC… if ancient makes it interesting.
