Category: Preventive Dentistry

If you’re like most Americans, you likely can’t count the number of times you’ve vowed to lose weight, increase your income, find love, or otherwise improve your life. And yet fewer and fewer people opt to make resolutions each year. While countless Americans are expected to make resolutions in 2019, fewer than 10% are expected to reach their goals. Of course, just like asking Santa for a pony or the glitziest bauble at Tiffany’s is a waste of a wish for most, many New Year’s resolutions tend to be extreme or complicated ventures that will never actually materialize. Fortunately, dreams of healthy smiles can be achievable resolutions for all with the right outlook and effort. But what are some simple but effective resolutions you can make and achieve to have a healthier smile in the new year?

Brush, Floss, and Rinse

Everyone knows the importance of brushing their teeth, but brushing alone just isn’t enough. Flossing is also important and yet, only 30% of Americans floss daily. Brushing removes stains, debris, and plaque from enamel and gums, but it doesn’t get in between teeth. The only way to do that safely at home is with dental floss. So brush twice and floss once daily. And when you’re done, rinse with a sugar-free, alcohol-free mouthwash or rinse to ensure the mouth is clean and help keep bacteria at bay.

Reduce the Sugar and Improve the Diet

Poor nutrition can weaken the immune system and lead to all sorts of oral health issues including gum disease. This is especially the case when it comes to heavy snacking and processed sugar addictions. Adjusting your diet to include plenty of natural fruits and vegetables can significantly reduce bacteria-causing decay in the mouth while promoting extra saliva and enzymes needed for healthy smiles. You can still have an occasional treat, but focusing on more healthy food options helps achieve healthy smiles and bodies.

Toss the Tobacco

Smoking has declined over 20% since 2005, but almost 38 million Americans still smoke cigarettes. And 16 million of those smokers live with some type of smoking-related disease or condition. Smokers have twice the risk of developing gum disease, and since that progresses so quickly, many long-term smokers end up with advanced stages of the condition and loose or missing teeth before they finally decide to quit. The best thing to do is not start smoking at all. But if you do smoke, decide to quit once and for all. It really can be a matter of life or death.

Visit Your Moorestown Dentist

You could change all the above issues and dental concerns can still arise. The good news is that a single visit to your Moorestown dentist can diagnose the issues, begin necessary treatment to correct or reverse the problems, clean your mouth while you’re there, and even sign off on a good bill of health for the upcoming year. Give us a call when you’re ready to regain control of your health and ring in the New Year with a healthier smile.

As another holiday season successfully comes to a close, many Americans still opt to make annual resolutions. The major goal-makers still focus on money, weight, fitness, and other personal improvement options. Unfortunately, most of those resolutions never reach completion and that’s more often than not due to the time, money or effort involved and required in the process. After all, Americans have a love affair with instant gratification and if results aren’t seen quickly, early acceptance of failure sets in. Fortunately, you can easily reach some self-improvement resolutions this year by implementing holistic dental care for better teeth and good dental hygiene. But what are some of the easiest and most effective steps to take towards reaching those new goals?

Get New Supplies

Mass produced brand name toothpaste works well for cleaning the teeth when used properly, but it can also cause unnecessary harm. Excess fluoride and chemicals can weaken the enamel, inflame tissue, and lose its effect over time. Brushing with an old, hard, or wrong type of toothbrush can also cause extra damage or lead to trouble down the road. Tooth powder or tooth serums can whiten teeth, strengthen enamel, promote healthy gums, and fight inflammation without the addition of extra chemicals and fillers. If you still need a paste, try a clay toothpaste. And as for brushing, opting to use an electric toothbrush can be a game changer since the rotary heads are designed to gently clean each tooth, remove more plaque, and massage the gums with less effort than traditional brushing.

Improve Your Diet

This sounds like a no-brainer since many Americans who make resolutions already have weight or health goals. But you don’t have to lose 50 pounds to make a significant improvement in your dental health. Simply improve your diet by cutting out some processed foods, limiting sweets, and increasing the amounts of raw and organic foods. You don’t have to switch to a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle to see improvements in your health. But increasing natural fruits and vegetables while replacing sugary beverages with more water will do wonders to help you reach those resolutions.

Replace Your Fillings

Holistic dental care focuses on a whole-body approach to dentistry while using biocompatible materials that won’t cause the body any unnecessary harm. As such, amalgam fillings are not used. Instead, tooth-colored composite resin fillings are applied. While the ADA has insisted amalgams are safe, the truth is silver fillings contain up to 55% elemental mercury. Excessive amounts of mercury in any form can be toxic, and if the mercury released by dental fillings can cause damage to the environment, just imagine what it can do to the human body while ingested for years.

Visit Your Fort Lauderdale Holistic Dentist

Many bodily conditions and diseases begin with oral health or mouth symptoms. Traditional dentistry focuses on treating the symptom while holistic dentistry focuses on the root cause. That’s what makes holistic dental care a biocompatible, mouth-body practice. Visiting your Fort Lauderdale holistic dentist twice a year can reduce your toxins and improve your quality of life. Give us a call when you’re ready to kick your dental care up a notch. 

Ignoring and neglecting basic dental care or oral health needs don’t just leave behind nasty plaque and a case of bad breath. Omitting the dental essentials from your life can result in extra mouth bacteria, decay, and eventually severe gum disease. Gingivitis is easily treated with some common sense and a good professional cleaning if it’s caught in time. Fortunately, this first stage of gum disease is often easily recognized by inflammation of the gums, redness, and sometimes even bleeding. But gum disease spreads so quickly and easily that around 50% of the American adult population has it and most don’t even know. That percentage increases with age, and in the advanced stages gum disease can be irreversible and lead to serious and often fatal diseases. So it’s nothing to trifle with. Gum disease treatments can range from a simple cleaning to gum graphs and even surgery. Of course, your holistic dentist in Fort Lauderdale will do everything possible to avoid the surgical route. But what does that entail?

Scaling and Root Planing
Don’t let the names fool you. Holistic dentistry is completely safe and non-invasive. So the beginning stages of gum disease treatment simply involve a detoxification of the exposed teeth and a descaling below the gums. Bacteria are tricky buggers that like to hide any place they can. This includes inside gum pockets and along the roots. Once you have gum disease, your mouth needs to be detoxified to stop the contaminants from spreading or at least slow them down.

Medication and Deep Cleaning
A deep cleaning is then in order. Removing the debris, plaque, and contaminants left behind help reverse the early to moderate signs of gum disease. Once that’s completed, a mild medication that won’t harm the body but will flush out the negative bacteria will be administered. This is quite different from harmful or toxic medical anesthesia. Not only will the medication help destroy even the stubborn decay and bacteria, but it will also help numb and heal any resulting discomfort or issues from the inflamed or damaged gum tissue.

Laser Treatment
Moderate to advanced gum disease, also known as periodontal disease, may require a more aggressive approach. But don’t worry. It’s still non-to-minimally invasive, completely safe and pain-free. While still a relatively new option, laser treatment has been proven as a successful solution to combat gum disease when paired with scaling and root planing. As long as the procedure is performed by a competent holistic dentist like your Holistic Dentistry in Fort Lauderdale who applies the right wavelengths for the patient’s individual needs, it’s completely safe and effective.

Gum Disease Maintenance
After treatment is complete and gum disease is controlled, a maintenance plan will be formulated and planned around your schedule. This is no time to be casual about your dental care since gum disease can return at any time. So proper nutrition and daily home oral health care will be discussed and planned. Multiple annual cleanings will be arranged. And coaching on the best possible options for keeping your teeth and gums clean and will be provided so you don’t have to worry so much about future problems. One call to your holistic dentist in Fort Lauderdale will help you kick gum disease to the curb.