Lasers in Dentistry?!

Technology today is constantly changing and improving. When you go to get your teeth cleaned, many dentists now offer a laser treatment. I know what you are thinking:  lasers in your mouth sounds scary, but it's not. It is very beneficial.

After the hygienist is done cleaning your teeth, there is a soupy mix of bacteria left in the pockets of gum around each tooth. The laser has a tiny little tip that shines like a flashlight down in the pockets, heating that bacteria up just enough to kill it without hurting you. The majority of patients that have this treatment see improvements in their oral health.

Reverse the Stink!

My youngest daughter, Natalie
by Richard Bradshaw

Now that the bacteria have been killed, and you have washed out your mouth, let's discuss the final way to tip the scales in your favor!
Let's talk about spit!  Ewwww!

Saliva is your natural protector.  When you have enough saliva, it works to prevent cavities and gum disease.  You should know that every time you eat, your saliva takes about 30 minutes to return your mouth to neutral.  Things like soda don't help, especially if you sip it all day, because soda is acidic.  Our mouths like to be neutral.  So just quit all soda, right?  Maybe that's a bit extreme, but if you understand what is happening in your mouth, you can do other things to combat it, tipping the scales to good oral health even though you like soda!

Saliva isn't water!  It has lots of chemicals and enzymes and buffers.  You can imagine what would happen if you don't have all of this salivary goodness!  The bacteria, especially the bad kinds, can etch into your teeth and grow rapidly in your gums.  Then, how can you boost your saliva?  Two easy ways:  drink enough water or water-based liquid (that doesn't include soda!), and stimulate your saliva with sugarless mints or gum.

Plus, at night our saliva shuts down, which means the most important time to clean and prevent is before we sleep.  And then, we wake up to all of that stink of morning breath, ugh!  Another wrench thrown into the mix is medication:  many medications dry out our mouths as a side effect.  Your dentist or physician can let you know if dry mouth, or xerostomia, is a side effect of any of your medications.

So get your spit flowing and make sure when it doesn't flow, you have a clean mouth!

Wipe Out the Bad Bugs!

Now that we've discussed some mechanical cleaning done at home and at the dental office, let's talk about chemicals!

 

We've known for many years that chemicals affect our mouths and our oral health.  While there isn't a magical medicine that can cure cavities or gum disease, there are a couple of things that bring our mouths into balance:

lasers and chlorhexidine.

 

Lasers have been in dentistry for decades, but only recently have they been used to kill bacteria.  They are used in laser bacterial reduction therapy, to kill some of the soupy mix left over from your professional cleaning.  Lasers kill bacteria!

 

The mouth rinse called chlorhexidine gluconate is used to kill bacteria chemically over a long period of time.  Chlorhexidine has been around for many years also, and it helps our bodies to heal by cleaning out wounds.  It kills bacteria, but it can also stain our teeth if used too much.  So how to use it long-term?  Using small amounts for one week out of a month still gives us the benefit of killing more bacteria, but doesn't have the level of side effects from more frequent use.

 

Talk to your dentist about prevention by killing the bacteria, and you will be so glad you did!

Wash Your Mouth!

So we are talking about three things you can do to 'tip the scales' in your favor as far as beating the bad bacteria in your mouth.  First, cleaning the bacteria out is crucial, for obvious reasons.

You know how to do it!  Brush your teeth!  Go to the dentist to have professional cleanings as often as recommended!  So, but you might say you do these things already and you still get cavities.  Well, there are some of us who have to work harder to clean than others.  It isn't fair, but it's reality.  Don't worry, though, there are also other things you can do to change the results you're getting which we'll talk about in the next two posts.

Back to washing your mouth:  there are two good analogies to help you know if you're doing a good job brushing.  Your dentist can help you know if there is anything you can do to improve, but here are two things to keep in mind.

First, it's not about pressure, it's about time.  Brush for a couple of minutes at least, brushing lightly so the tips of the bristles do the work, not your forearm!

Second, don't rinse off the toothpaste!  That's right, rinsing with water after brushing removes much of the benefit of the toothpaste.  So, find a toothpaste you like the flavor of, then brush, spit, and walk away!  The toothpaste will continue to work for about 30-60 minutes.  Don't worry about swallowing it, such small amounts won't hurt you.

The 3 Ways to Prevent Bad Oral Health

Remember old-time scales?  I worked in a feed store during high school, and I became familiar with scales, digital ones.  We have an old-fashioned scale at our office similar to the one in this photo.  A counter-weight was added and then something was weighed in comparison with the counter-weight.  So you could tip the scales in your favor by adding more stuff to the feed side, if we're weighing grain.

This type of balance is something our bodies do all the time.  In fact, there are many systems that have a built-in balancing with hormones.  There are also a couple of balanced systems in our digestive system:  one in our intestines and one in our mouths.  They are very similar in some ways, but obviously, we are going to focus on the one in the mouth.

There are bacteria that live in our mouths!  Lots of different kinds, and yet a relatively few types of bacteria are responsible for cavities and gum disease.  The bacteria, if not cleaned off properly, will continue to grow until we feel fuzziness on our teeth.  They don't stop there, but continue to grow until they harden on the teeth like barnacles.  At this point, your breath probably stinks, even if you don't notice it!  The gums get swollen and bleed easily.  It becomes pretty easy to get an infection that hurts when things get this bad.

Back to the scales:  we need to tip the scales in our favor, if the bacteria are on one side, and health is on the other side.  There are a few things we can do to tip the scales:  clean the bacteria off and out of our teeth and gums, kill them with chemicals, and reverse what they are doing.  The next three blog posts will be about each of these:  Wash Your Mouth, Wipe Out the Bad Bugs, and Reversing the Stink!