Antelope Creek Family Dentistry
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Retainers are Clearly a Wise Investment
You put out a sizable investment for aligning your or your child’s crooked teeth. Your investment will be in jeopardy, and that beautiful smile won’t last unless the final phase of treatment is done, and that is wearing a retainer.
The problem is that after invisible aligners (or traditional braces) are removed, teeth begin to gradually shift back to their original position. If the shifting isn’t stopped by holding the teeth in place, allowing the bone to be created, it could be more difficult to align the teeth the second or third time. A retainer prevents teeth from moving but only if consistently worn, particularly that first year.
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Plaque—Dental Concrete
You may already know about plaque, that yellowish, gooey glop of bacteria that attaches to your teeth. When plaque isn’t removed every day, it hardens into concrete-like tartar that we remove by using a special cleaning called debridement.
We understand that it can be difficult for people with active lifestyles to maintain a regular oral care routine.
Kids have music lessons and sports activities after school. After work, adults have meetings and they chauffeur the kids back and forth. So, if you or your children have not had a professional cleaning in a year or more, the tooth surfaces virtually disappear because the teeth are encrusted in tartar.
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Perio: Flaky Science
Dandruff and periodontal disease—those are two conditions you wouldn’t expect to see written in the same sentence. However, research is beginning to point to a connection between them.
Dandruff [top photo] appears in several forms, one of which is plaque psoriasis [bottom photo]. Plaque psoriasis is skin cells that go nuts and dogpile on top of each other to form a thick, silver layer of dead cells that flake off. It can show up anywhere on your body. Research is showing that periodontal disease (perio, for short, a chronic dental infection that can result in tooth loss) shares characteristics with plaque psoriasis. For starters, perio and psoriasis are the result of an inflammatory response.
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Enamel Reconstruction
It might surprise you to learn that all day long your teeth are undergoing destruction and reconstruction through two processes called demineralization and remineralization.
Demineralization refers to minerals being pulled from tooth enamel. Enamel is the strong material that covers the outside of your teeth.
Decay-causing bacteria feed on sugar and carbohydrates in foods that you consume. Bacteria produce an acid that dissolves calcium and phosphate from tooth enamel. Your teeth are under constant destruction if you graze during the day rather than eat at regular intervals.
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Travelling with an Atlas
It can be startling to look in the mirror at your tongue and realize it looks like Route 66. Don't be alarmed, you might have a condition called "geographic tongue."
Geographic tongue is not caused by infection; it isn't cancerous, and it doesn't cause any health problems. It is a harmless event that occurs when your tongue sheds random patches of those tiny fingers called papillae that cover your tongue.
There is a wide variation in the nude patches' appearance, from bright red blistery blotches to pale pink blotches outlined by a light yellow or whitish border.
Events come and go on their own schedule. An event might last a few hours, days or months. Within minutes, the patches can change locations on your tongue.
Geographic tongue affects people of all ages and rarely causes pain; however, it sometimes can be discomforting.
We're not sure what causes geographic tongue, but we tend to see it patients who—
- are extremely stressed,
- experience hormonal changes,
- have allergies or psoriasis,
- have family with the same condition,
- use oral care products that contain alcohol, drink alcoholic beverages or
- use steroids.
There is no known cure or treatment, but to relieve discomfort, sometimes over-the-counter pain-relievers can be beneficial as well as a special mouth rinse that contains a topical anesthetic. You might try avoiding ...