dentist

Dental Emergency: What You Need to Know to Handle the Situation

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It’s interesting how when it comes to an emergency, some people don’t find their oral health as important as the rest of their body. When anything in your mouth becomes broken or damaged, the implications can be quite serious, even if it seems like the situation can be easily managed at home. A tooth that breaks might not even hurt if no nerve endings have been exposed, so it feels like it’s something that can be dealt with at a later stage. But should you wait? Advances in dental technology means that even fairly major issues can be remedied if you act quickly. The simple fact of the matter is that any changes to your teeth, gums, or soft tissue inside your mouth should be examined by a dentist as soon as possible, and it’s not wise to delay. So … Read more

Nutrition is Important for Oral Health

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The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics has published a position paper on oral health and nutrition which looks at the current research literature to support that nutrition is an important component of oral health. The paper promotes the view that dietitian nutritionists should collaborate with oral health care professionals to help in disease prevention. The paper states “Oral health and nutrition have a synergistic multidirectional relationship. Oral infectious diseases, as well as acute, chronic, and terminal systemic diseases with oral manifestations impact functional ability to eat as well as diet and nutrition status. Likewise, nutrition and diet can affect the development and integrity of the oral cavity as well as the progression of oral diseases.” The paper was published in the the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics in May 2013, and is available for download at http://www.eatright.org/WorkArea/linkit.aspx?LinkIdentifier=id&ItemID=8426. … Read more

Improving Value: Prespectives from Oral Surgeons

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An interesting editorial appears in the 2014, issue of the Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery titled “The Value of Improving Value,” by James Hupp (pp. 843-845, issue 72). In this Dr. Hupp presents a formula for patient value Value = A(Q + PS)/C A = appropriateness, Q = quality, PS = patient satisfaction, and C = costs The author states “First, one can improve outcomes while keeping costs the same. Second, one can decrease costs while keeping outcomes the same. Or third, both outcomes and costs increase, but outcomes per unit of cost improve.” In the article the author discusses how in the past, value in health care was really just about cost cutting. Clinical outcomes were not really taken into account. Now that health care outcomes are being considered, physicians need to find ways to measure value using the … Read more

When Should Children Start Using Fluoride Toothpaste?

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There is some conflicting information about when children should start using fluoride toothpaste. Studies have suggested that young children who consume large amounts of fluoride through fluoridated water, beverages, and toothpaste have an increased chance of developing mild enamel fluorosis see https://blog.teethremoval.com/large-amounts-of-fluoride-consumed-by-young-children-leads-to-fluorosis/. Hence some felt that not using any fluoridated toothpaste when a child was young was the better choice, whereas some felt that that using a small amount of fluoride toothpaste was okay In 2014, the ADA’s Council on Scientific Affairs updated its guidance on the use of fluoride toothpaste for children. The new guidance is that children’s teeth should be brushed with fluoride toothpaste as soon as the first tooth comes in. The idea is to provide children with the full benefit of cavity protection while also minimizing the risk of the development of fluorosis. The ADA’s Council on … Read more

Should You Have a Dental Extraction Before a Cardiac Surgery?

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An interesting article titled “Morbidity and Mortality Associated With Dental Extraction Before Cardiac Operation,” appears in the March 2014, journal The Annals of Thoracic Surgery (vol. 97, issue 3, pp. 838-844). The article is conducted by researchers from Mayo Clinic. They found that people who had planned dental extraction before cardiac operation are at risk for major adverse outcomes, which included a 3% risk of death before cardiac operation and included an 8% risk of a major adverse outcome including stroke or kidney failure. In many cases problem teeth are extracted before surgery with the thought being that they will reduce the risk of an infection occurring such as endocarditis which is an infection of the inner lining of the heart. Prosthetic heart valve-related endocarditis results in about 25% of infective endocarditis cases and is fatal in up to 38% … Read more