Eat Chocolate for Halloween?

Do you actually think Evergreen Dental would encourage you to eat candy? While we know you know your dental health would be much better if you avoided candy altogether this Halloween, we also know it’s not a reasonable expectation. Instead, we want to tell you what is a better choice when it comes to the sweets you may indulge in with what’s left from the Halloween festivities.

Why Chocolate?

When it comes to candy, chocolate is actually the best choice for a healthy set of teeth. Why?

• It is better than a sticky candy that will literally stick to your teeth and cause harm over the long term.


• It melts. Remember the old M&M commercial that boasts, “Melts in your mouth, not in your hands?” This is true. (Well, we’re not sure about the “hands” part!) Chocolate will not remain on your teeth as long as other types of candy because it will actually melt off.


• It is eaten more quickly. If you think about how long it takes you to eat a chocolate bar versus a lollipop, you quickly recognize the sugar exposure on your teeth is much less.


Don’t Forget to Brush

Brushing your teeth after eating sweets is important to remember throughout the year, but it is vital at Halloween. The removal of sugar from your teeth, is still a vital element to good dental health, even if the sugar is from chocolate.

A good rule of thumb during Halloween is to brush your teeth after each sweet treat. Not only will this help minimize the sugar left on your teeth, it may also help you limit your candy intake during the after Halloween candy indulgences.

Halloween does not need to be a dental nightmare. Instead, it can be a time where you practice moderation with good candy choices. It is also a time to be proactive, rather than reactive, with your dental health.

Save Money By Using Your Dental Benefits Now!

While some dental insurance plans run on a fiscal year, most run on the calendar year. If your dental plan is based on a calendar year, you only have a few months to use your dental benefits – or lose them.

Here are 5 reasons to use your dental benefits today:

Yearly Maximum

Your yearly maximum is the most amount of money your dental plan will pay for your dental work within a full year. This year usually follows the calendar year and will reset on January 1. Any unused benefits will not roll over to the next year. So, you must use them now or lose them completely.

Deductible

The amount of money you must pay out of pocket before your dental insurance will pay for any benefits is called your deductible. It varies from one insurance carrier to another. This deductible will start over again in the new year and you will need to satisfy it again to have your dental benefits kick in. Most likely you have already met your deductible for this year. Therefore, it is best to use as many of your dental benefits as possible once your deductible has been met to avoid further costs in the coming year.

Premiums

When you pay dental premiums every month, you are paying for the right to get as much dental treatment as you need. This includes prevention of dental problems. Make sure you get regular dental cleanings to detect the early signs of cavities, gum disease, and mouth cancer, just to name a few.

Fee Increases

Dentists are like any other businesses today and must occasionally raise rates to adjust to the increased cost of living, materials, and equipment. When this happens, it usually happens at the beginning of the year. Make your appointment now to avoid higher prices, and possibly higher co-pays in the coming year.

Prevent More Dental Problems

By delaying needed dental treatment, you are actually risking more expensive and painful treatment in the future. For example, a cavity can turn into a root canal if you wait too long for treatment.

Many employers, or other entity, provide dental insurance that covers up to $1,000, $1,500, or even $2,000 of annual dental benefits. Check with your dental insurance policy to know exactly how much coverage your plan provides.

Calling a dentist today is a wise choice to save money, time, and discomfort. By utilizing your dental benefits you have already paid for this year, you can prevent spending extra money on dental problems at the beginning of the year.

Get Your Crown in One Office Visit…New Dental Technology Part 2

As we discussed in my last blog post, new dental technology has greatly reduced both your visits and pain in the dental chair. What once took several office visits, now getting a crown now only takes one office visit. The new CAD/CAM dental technology means less time waiting on your dental crown and more time doing the things you would rather be doing than sitting in the dentist’s chair!

CAD/CAM is short for “Computer-Aided Design and Computer-Aided Manufacturing” in dentistry. It provides dental restorations, such as crowns, in a more exact fit in just a fraction of the time. CAD/CAM uses the aid of a 3-D computer image of your teeth and gums so your dentist can make a precise fit.

Creating a Crown with a Perfect Fit

Once the measurements are taken for your crown, your dentist will mill a crown from a piece of porcelain right in his or her office. The process of creating this is simpler than you might think.

First, the block of porcelain is placed in the milling unit. It starts out as a simple square block but, once the process is complete, you will have a custom-designed crown that meets your mouth’s unique specifications.

Second, the block is cut with diamonds exactly the way you need it. While it can be a bit noisy during the process, the result is a crown in a small fraction of the time you would have waited even a few years ago.

Then, the tooth is painted to look more natural. Once milled, the tooth will be one color. However, if you look at your teeth, they are multiple colors. The painting and glazing process allows the tooth to look even more like your other teeth. The painting process can also be done inside of the mouth for an even more precise color match.

Once the crown is painted and glazed, it goes into the oven for the final part of the process. This process takes ten to twenty minutes, depending on what type of crown you need. The oven is heated to 800 degrees or more.

The final product is a custom fit crown! The crown will look and feel as much like a real tooth as possible.

Custom Fit Crowns in Less Than Two Hours

Once you walk into a dentist’s office with a poorly shaped tooth, you will leave in less than two hours with a tooth that is made specifically for you. From the start, when measurements are taken on the computer, to the finish, when your crown is removed from the oven and placed in your mouth, the entire process only takes about an hour and a half.

Just a few years ago, crowns took days or even weeks from start to finish. With CAD/CAM dental technology, you can have a crown that fits even better than the ones of earlier years for just a fraction of them time.

New Dental Technology Means Less Time and Pain at the Dentist

The twenty-first century ushered in incredible advances in technology in many fields. Dentistry has made incredible advances that make once complicated dental procedures a much simpler process. The technology behind CAD/CAM dentistry makes a complicated dental procedure that required multiple appointments a much simpler and frequently single appointment event. CAD/CAM dentistry is where the futures of dentistry is going.

What is CAD/CAM Dentistry?

CAD/CAM Dentistry is short for “Computer-Aided Design and Computer-Aided Manufacturing” in dentistry. This area of dentistry utilizes CAD/CAM technologies to produce different types of dental restorations with precise shapes and sizes for dental restorations, including crowns, crownlays, veneers, inlays and onlays, fixed bridges, dental implant restorations and orthodontic appliances.

Dentists use CAD/CAM technology to provide patients with durable, well-fitted single and multiple tooth restorations in a more efficient manner than traditional lab-fabricated restorations. This technology allows a typical two-visit tooth restoration to be accomplished in just one visit.

CAD/CAM dentistry designs the specific anatomical features, size and shape of a tooth restoration, which is unique for each patient, on a computer. The CAD/CAM computer screen displays a 3-D custom image of your teeth and gums, allowing your dentist to use a cursor to draw the precise design of the tooth restoration. This machine creates the restoration through a milling chamber that makes the tooth-like ceramic material into a precise replica of the drawing.

The Advantages of CAD/CAM Technology

There are a number of advantages of using the CAD/CAM technology in the dentist’s office. Each advantage is designed to give the patient the quickest and most precise treatment possible, to minimize the time and discomfort normally associated with certain dental procedures.

No more molded teeth impressions needed. If the CAD/CAM technology is located in your dentist’s office, dental technicians no longer need to make uncomfortable molds of your mouth and teeth. The computer aided dentistry cuts this step out since measurements are made with the CAD/CAM technology. This also frequently eliminates the need for a return visit to the office for a permanent restoration.

Decreased risk of infection, disease, and shifting teeth with crowns. Accuracy is important in creating the initial tooth preparation and impression for creating the crown. A crown that fits poorly can create both a higher rate of infection and disease because debris may lodge in open spaces and cause problems. Teeth also shift easier when a crown is not fitted properly. CAD/CAM technology creates a precise a fit for crowns that minimize these issues.

Porcelain tooth restoration offers natural looking tooth repair. In the past, providing a type of stable tooth restoration was nearly impossible without some form of metal material. Today's porcelain ceramics work very well in the CAD/CAM milling chamber, providing strength, durability, and a more natural, attractive look.


Biogeneric Engineering in CAD/CAM

Biogeneric engineering creates a custom fit crown that looks at your other teeth to make as precise a fit as possible. This is used on a tooth that is either broken or has a large filling. This technology takes multiple measurings and calculations of a good tooth and creates dimensions and calculations for a tooth needing a crown. This helps create a tooth that is very similar to your other teeth. In the end, you are left with a crown that is as much like your other teeth as possible.

Dental technology and the introduction of CAD/CAM has changed the way dentistry is done today. Routine dental procedures, such as crowns, are done in a fraction of the time with a better fit than ever. Not only does this cut down on time spent in the dentist’s chair, it also reduces dental complications, such as infection and shifting teeth. CAD/CAM dental technology is the future of a quicker and more precise dental experience.

Lasers in Dentistry

Laser dentistry is a precise and effective way to perform many dental procedures in the dentist’s office today. Gone are the days of traditional dentistry that require complicated and sometimes painful procedures with a lengthy recovery.

The potential for laser dentistry to improve dental procedures rests in the dentist's ability to control power output and the duration of exposure on the tissue, whether on the gum or tooth structure. This allows for treatment of a highly specific area of focus without damaging surrounding tissues.

Improved smile

Who doesn’t want a great smile? Sometimes, however, our smiles that display our pearly whites are hidden behind excess gums. Laser dentistry helps people improve smiles by reshaping the contours of the gums and shows more of the teeth to create a more attractive smile.

Traditional Dental Procedures Redefined

Who says ordinary dental procedures need to be uncomfortable and time consuming? By using a dental laser procedure, treatments like crowns and bridges can be done quicker and easier. In addition, they become much simpler than ever before when using the laser. Even minor dental measures are simplified. Whether you need a cold sore or mouth ulcers removed, the dental laser makes it as easy and painless as possible.

Improved Dental Experience

Lasers in the dentist’s office make sense for a number of reasons. One of the main ones is that it improves your overall dental experience. Why does going to the dentist need to involve pain and discomfort with several days of recovery? Instead, lasers allow for a much quicker healing time. They also provide a more pain free experience, or significantly less pain, than ever before.

If anxiety is usually part of your dental experience, lasers can greatly reduce this, as well. Find a dentist that incorporates laser procedures into their practice and ask them more about it so you can reduce any further dental anxiety.

Other Benefits with Laser Dentistry

There are a number of additional benefits associated with laser dentistry. Here are a few that you can expect:

Procedures performed using soft tissue dental lasers may not need stitches.

Some dental laser treatments do not need anesthesia.

Laser dentistry minimizes bleeding because the high energy light beam helps in the clotting of the exposed blood vessels. This prevents blood loss.

Bacterial infections are reduced because the laser sterilizes the area being worked on.

Problems with surrounding tissue is minimized.

Wounds heal quicker and tissues can be regenerated.

Lasers in the dentist’s office has revolutionized dentistry in the last several years. It provides many benefits, such as a reduction in pain, recovery, and anxiety over other methods. They can also offer some wonderful cosmetic benefits, as well. Lasers in the dentist’s chair are certainly something worth considering on your next dental procedure.

What Causes Bad Breath?

Few things are as embarrassing as bad breath. What makes an embarrassing situation even worse is when you don’t now you have it. If someone hints that you might be a victim of this awkward problem, take their word for it and don’t ignore it.

The key to treating your bad breath is to determine exactly what is causing it. This allows you to do something about it as rapidly and discreetly as possible.

What Causes Bad Breath?

Bad breath, or “halitosis” as it known in the medical community, can have a multitude of causes. Determining exactly what is causing your bad breath will help restore it to normal quickly.

Foods. What you eat can be a common culprit in your bad breath woes. If you eat a lot of garlic or onions, chances are pretty good that you have at least a few issues with fresh breath…even if no has ever told you. Simply limiting these foods will either reduce or completely eliminate your undesirable breath.

Gum disease, tooth decay and bacteria. Many people have some form of gum disease and tooth decay. And everyone has bacteria in their mouths at any given time. So it only makes sense that the three culprits can do a number on anyone’s breath at any given time.

Bad Breath Treatments

There are a number of remedies for these issues that can easily be used to treat bad breath quickly and as a part of your regular oral hygiene routine. The mouthwash Breath Rx® is a great defense against bad breath. It can be purchased at many discount stores, as well as at our office. This unique mouthwash works by neutralizing any sulfur compounds in the mouth that usually causes most cases of bad breath.

In addition to the mouthwash, good oral hygiene habits should be practiced. This includes brushing two or more times a day, flossing, and using a tongue scraper.

See Your Dentist

In most cases, bad breath does not require a trip to the dentist. However, if you have persistent bad breath that normal remedies don’t fix, speak with your dentist to see if an underlying medical cause can be determined.

Seeing a dentist is the only sure way to know for certain if your of bad breath needs medical intervention or not.

Bad breath is a common problem. There are a number of causes but most of them are easily treatable with good oral hygiene habits. In the case where bad breath does not clear up with relatively simple methods, a visit to your dentist will help you uncover the best way to treat your bad breath.

What Causing Snoring and Ways to Prevent It

Snoring can be an embarrassing problem. It can have an impact on your life and even on your spouse or partner. It can also be a symptom of a serious health problem that makes ignoring it dangerous. Recent developments with products focused on helping you stop snoring have been incredibly successful to bring tranquility back your nights.

The Causes of Snoring

The cause of snoring is sound production in the back of the throat due to increased airflow, which occurs at night when muscles relax during sleep. Your breathing passages become narrow. This causes the body to breathe harder to get the required oxygen that it needs. It creates a vicious cycle that often leads to long bouts of intense snoring which can disturb an entire household.

Snoring can also be a sign of a serious condition called obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) or, as it commonly referred to as, “sleep apnea.” This occurs when the obstruction is so complete that the snorer quits breathing completely for seconds at a time. Left untreated, sleep apnea can be a dangerous, even life-threatening, condition.

Males are often more impacted by sleep apnea than woman. In fact, older males are the most likely to suffer from this condition. Males are believed to be more prone to snoring and sleep apnea because they have narrower air passages than women.

Hope for Snorers

Snoring was once a condition that many people had to simply learn to “endure.” In recent years, however, there have been a number of advancements that make snoring no longer something that anyone must suffer through.

There are a few simple treatments for snoring to try initially to see if the snorer experiences significant relief. These include weight loss, avoidance of a supine sleeping position, sleeping with the head elevated, avoidance of alcohol or sedatives at night, and treatment of nasal symptoms (such as allergies).

If these simple fixes don’t help, there are more sophisticated techniques that can be very helpful. One successful method is by using a jaw supporter. These devices are worn while sleeping at night and work by keeping the lower jaw in an upward position. This creates more passage in the airway tube which eliminates vibration during breathing.

Jaw reconstruction surgery is another anti-snoring option that involves adding bone to the jaws that has melted away over time or has been lost to cancer or accident. In addition, bones of the face may be enhanced through the use of implants to the chin, cheek, nose and jaw.

The TAP System

At Evergreen Dental , we recommend a powerful system that is offered by The Thornton Adjustable Positioner® (TAP®). This anti-snoring device is an oral appliance that is both custom fit and adjustable.
The TAP®s simple design, coupled with its high use rate, makes it the most effective anti-snoring and sleep apnea device available. The TAP® is also the primary oral appliance replacement for the Continuous Positive Airway (CPAP) machine and surgery.

The TAP appliance is only available by prescription by a dentist. We will happily evaluate your needs in our office and see if you are a candidate for this device.

This product is a custom adjustable oral appliance that is worn while sleeping. The appliance holds the lower jaw forward, preventing the tongue and the soft tissue of the throat from collapsing into the airway.
The single most distinguishing feature of the TAP® is that it can be adjusted by the patient while in the mouth by the use of a small detachable key. This can be done until the lower jaw is brought forward enough to ensure the airway remains open during sleep. Once the patient’s perfect fit is achieved, the key is removed and the patient can completely close their mouth with the appliance inside. As a result of the comfort, the TAP® has a compliance rate of 95%.

Patients are able to manage the degree of lower jaw protrusion over as many nights as it takes to achieve the optimal effect comfortably. The fact that TAP® has a single point of adjustment prevents uneven bilateral adjustment which can create bite dysfunction.

Life After Snoring

Most people who have previously been frequent snorers often report an incredible increase in the quality of their sleep. This improved sleep quality has far reaching, and possibility unexpected benefits. There may be a remarkable increase in one’s performance at work, less fatigue-triggered injuries, and even an improvement in personal relationships as a direct result of simply stopping snoring.

Snoring does not have to dominate your life. There are several methods you can choose from that can easily stop your snoring for better sleep for both you and those around you.