Healdsburg Dental Discussions

Healthy People 2020 was launched by the national government with a vision to have a society whose people live long healthy lives.  Some of the subjects being tackled include arthritis, blood disorders, cancer, diabetes, family planning, global health, hearing, immunizations, mental health, oral health, physical activity, respiratory, and sleep health, tobacco use and vision.

In my field, the goal of increasing the number of adults who receive preventive interventions in the dental office is most interesting.

The three parts to this goal include:

1.help patients with tobacco cessation

2. provide increased awareness and vigilance for oral and pharyngeal cancers. These cancers are increasing due to the involvement of a strain of the HPV virus.

3. to increase the number of patients referred for glycemic control.

For more detailed information, contact my office or Healthy People 2020 online.

Testimonial: “I find Dr. Everson and her entire staff to be exceptionally skilled, professional and warm and engaging…” – Mary

Today a patient said “I had many of my teeth worked on and completed in my 20’s and 30’s and now in my 60’s some of it has to be redone.  I thought once it was all done, it was done! It’s frustrating.”

Well, I agree with the frustration but let’s look at it another way. These restorations (fillings and crowns) have worked well for 30 to 40 years.

Think of the ways and how often you use your teeth and the abuse we sometimes put them through. They have been exposed to hot, cold, erosive and hard foods, and high pressure.

How many items exposed to this of kind use would not need refurbishing in 30 or 40 years?

Natural teeth are meant to be used but they do wear and break,  and so do man-made dental restorations.

Testimonial:

“Dr. Everson put my dental health first… Very informative, thorough and caring.  Staff is great.” – Tricia

We know that sports drinks are highly implicated in erosion of tooth enamel and dentin. There are other ways to lose tooth structure including brushing too hard, especially after drinking a soda or sports drink, grinding your teeth and acid exposure from gastric reflux disease.

How can we help our patients? Many times we see patients that has lost enamel as a result of several of these causes.

If we identify the problem early, we can educate the patient on how to brush, prescribe a soft tooth brush and fluoride toothpaste and possibly advise a mouthguard.

We suggest that a patient not brush right after drinking or eating acidic food and perhaps drink through a straw. Also, using chewing gum and a saliva substitute help if one has dry mouth.

Sports drinks have an increasing  allure for many of us especially the younger population. These drinks, originally designed for athletes, contain a large amount of sugar, salt, and citric acid.

Believe it or not, these drinks are not as acidic as a cola but the sports drinks dissolve enamel 3 to 11 times more that a cola drink. Why?

Studies show that the citric acid added to these drinks maintains an acid level closer to the tooth surface over a longer time and binds up the calcium in the protective coating on the tooth.

Without the coating of calcium on the tooth surface, the citric acid can dissolve more tooth structure (erosion) and possibly leave the tooth susceptible to decay.

What our patients say: “Always responsive, incredibly thorough, follow up even when I drop the ball” – Anonymous

Want to lose a lot of the enamel on your teeth and make them sensitive? Just drink a few sports drinks everyday! And even better, you could sip them slowly or swish them around your mouth.

Recently the CDA Journal dedicated a complete issue to the erosion of teeth-  the loss of tooth structure due to exposure to acids.  These acids can come from our own bodies such as in gastric reflux or bulimia or from the foods and drinks that we consume.

Sports drinks were originally formulated for athletes involved in prolonged and intense exercise.  But my concern is for all the other young people that consume them every day and don’t understand the long-term effects on tooth structure and future comfort. Next time, we will examine the effects and their causes.

Here is what our patients say: “I am very happy that my neighbor recommended your office…everyone has been very nice and professional” – Enrique