plaque

Get your Smile Check-Up!

Barring injury, your sturdy white teeth should remain healthy and intact for the rest of your life. But just like your car's engine, which needs its regular oil & lube to keep purring smoothly, your mouth needs a thorough once-over as well. We'll review your dental history, clean your teeth, evaluate gum tissue, and screen for oral cancer. This will ensure that teeth and gum problems are discovered early and [...]

Get your Smile Check-Up!2018-12-04T08:00:56-08:00

Kids Can Get Gum Disease Too

It would be comforting to think that gum disease afflicted only adults. But adolescents and even pre-adolescents are especially at risk for what is often called Localized Juvenile Periodontitis (LJP). We usually think of periodontal disease as a result of plaque and calculus build-up. But the real culprit is bacteria that can spread from site to site in the mouth and even from person to person. You can even "catch" [...]

Kids Can Get Gum Disease Too2018-11-20T08:00:38-08:00

Dental Myths, Fabrications, and Falsehoods

Originally, these ideas held because no one really knew how to maintain a great smile over a lifetime. Unfortunately, "popular wisdom" still prevents some people from recognizing how modern dentistry can keep teeth natural, attractive and pain free. Do any of the following notions sound familiar? If so, get ready for a little relief! A woman can expect to lose a tooth for every child The Reality: This myth used [...]

Dental Myths, Fabrications, and Falsehoods2018-05-08T08:00:38-07:00

The Most Common Affliction?

When it comes to most common, not even winter colds strike as many of us as gum infection (periodontal disease). As many as 75% of adults will be a victim sometime in their lifetime. If this infection could grow on your arm, you'd be horrified. Instead, periodontal disease does its dirty work out of sight: inside your mouth. Left alone, it opens up gaps between gums and teeth. Too soon, [...]

The Most Common Affliction?2017-08-15T00:00:28-07:00

Root Surface Caries

We are Growing Older... As the population ages—more gracefully than ever, of course— we're keeping more teeth. Along with wisdom and experience, however, come different health problems. Among them, cavities on the surface of the tooth root, what we call root caries. Growing up, most decay is found on the surface of teeth, usually the crown. But gum tissue has a way of receding as the years go by, and [...]

Root Surface Caries2017-04-04T00:00:18-07:00

Making Bad Breath Go Away

Where Bad Breath Comes From Most, but not all, bad breath comes from bacterial plaque and food accumulated mainly towards the back of the tongue. The problem is, there are all sorts of not-likely-but-possible other reasons for halitosis: upset stomach, anxiety, inflamed gums, saliva deficiency, infections and removable dentures are among them. What Not To Do Because nobody—but nobody!— wants bad breath, a billion-dollar industry has sprung up hawking a variety [...]

Making Bad Breath Go Away2017-03-14T00:00:26-07:00

Dead Toothbrushes

A really dead toothbrush—one badly worn and frayed, not necessarily just old—is like having no toothbrush at all. In fact, you're probably doing more harm than good if your brush has seen better days. All dead toothbrushes should be given a decent burial. If you have doubts about the life left in your toothbrush, bring it in at your next appointment, and we can assess the damage. We've seen a [...]

Dead Toothbrushes2016-08-02T14:27:09-07:00

Fluoride, it’s for Life

If your goal is healthy teeth for life, then you need fluoride. It ensures newly formed teeth are strong; prevents plaque, caries, and gum disease; and protects roots that get exposed as gums recede over time. This essential mineral is present in what we eat and drink, but a healthy diet doesn't supply enough for a gleaming smile. Instead, it's essential to apply it topically and drink fluoride-rich water. In [...]

Fluoride, it’s for Life2016-07-19T00:00:34-07:00

Stroke Prevention: Routine Dental Hygiene Appointments

You may wonder what a tooth cleaning has to do with a stroke—that sudden, devastating paralysis in which blood supply to the brain is blocked. Simply put, it's the result of a buildup of plaque in the arteries. Yes, the same sort of plaque that builds up on teeth and can go on to cause inflammation and gum disease if not professionally cleaned from time to time. A hygiene appointment [...]

Stroke Prevention: Routine Dental Hygiene Appointments2016-06-21T00:00:59-07:00

What to Know About Gum Disease

It afflicts as many as nine in 10 adults at some point in their lives, as well as teenagers and children as young as five or six years of age. Yet, many suffer from it without even suspecting anything is wrong. "It" is periodontal, or gum, disease—in the minds of most dentists, Public Enemy Number one for teeth. Only for the last 30 years have researchers understood that gum disease [...]

What to Know About Gum Disease2016-05-10T00:00:30-07:00
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