Sleep Tight? ...You May Need a Night Guard

Typically, most people don’t think of headaches as a dental problem but grinding or clenching your teeth while you sleep can create significant pain in your head and facial muscles. It is unnatural for your jaws to touch tightly together all night long. Muscles in your face, head and in front of your ears can go into spasm, causing great pain and headaches the next day. Since this grinding or clenching occurs during sleep, many people are not aware that they are doing it. A dentist can fabricate a custom hard acrylic night guard which will keep the jaws apart during sleep so it forces the muscles to relax. If your muscles are relaxed, there is no pain. It is a simple solution for a complex problem.

Wisdom for the Wise

  

                    Wisdom teeth or third molars are the very last teeth to come in and usually “errupt”

at about age 17-20.  As modern man evolved the jaw became smaller and there was less room to accommodate these teeth.  Consequently, many people today have no room for their wisdom teeth and they become “impacted”.  A tooth is considered impacted when it doesn’t come into the mouth all the way.  It can be embedded in bone  or gum tissue.  If a tooth is completely covered by bone it should at least be x-rayed periodically to make sure  there are no hidden problems.  Wisdom teeth
cause the most problem when they are partially covered by gum tissue.  Bacteria can invade the envelope of gum tissue laying over the tooth and cause a severe infection. Extraction of the tooth is generally recommended if this situation exists.

Toothpaste

Tartar control toothpaste does not remove tartar. It must be removed by professional cleaning. Plaque is the soft yellowish film that forms on your teeth and can be brushed away with toothpaste. Tartar, however, is calcified plaque and can not be removed with simple tooth brushing. Tartar control toothpaste can help prevent tartar from forming above the gumline with the help of active ingredients like pyrophosphates. It is important to remove plaque daily to keep the minerals in your saliva from causing it to harden.

Many people believe that baking soda in toothpaste prevents tartar. It is a mild abrasive and can help remove stain. Companies now offer whitening toothpastes that they advertise lighten teeth. However, many toothpastes that make this claim do not actually contain any whitening ingredients such as peroxide. Like baking soda products, they simply contain abrasive material that removes surface stain, causing the teeth to appear whiter. It is important to make this distinction because some toothpastes, do in fact contain peroxide and will directly whiten the enamel. The concentration of peroxide in toothpaste is generally not enough to bleach your teeth and does not remain in the your mouth long enough to have any significant effect.

It is important to note there is no evidence that baking soda or peroxide prevents gum disease, which is vital to oral health. You should use these abrasive and peroxide-containing products carefully because they can lead to sensitivity as the top layer of enamel is removed. This effect can also be exacerbated by aggressive brushing. When searching for a toothpaste, always look to see that it has been approved by the American Dental Association (ADA) and check the ingredients for peroxide if it promises to whiten teeth.