The Mouth-Body Connection
It has been said that if the eyes are the window to the soul then the mouth is the window to your body. For a long time there has been a big disconnect between dentistry and medicine. The new paradigm, which is starting to be recognized by most professionals, is that there is very significant overlap between the two. Many overall health problems can be seen in the mouth and treatment of many oral conditions can help manage some types of medical conditions.
I’ve included four different infographics about the mouth-body connection from the American Academy of Oral Systemic Health. They discuss how mouth health makes a huge difference in your risk of the following…
- Heart Disease
- Diabetes
- Certain types of cancer
- Alzheimer’s
- Preterm birth
- Respiratory diseases including sleep apnea and pneumonia
This is a pretty big and scary list of diseases. I’d argue that maintaining good oral health is one of the easiest things you can do to help reduce your risk and/or manage some of the symptoms of these diseases! Good oral health literally takes 5 minutes in the morning and evening.
Pregnancy and Oral Health
Here’s what you need to know about your dental health while being pregnant…
X-Rays
It isn’t unusual for a dentist to limit x-rays during pregnancy but don’t fear if x-rays are needed. Studies have shown that with the use of a lead apron, there is no exposure to the baby at all. Check out our section on dental x-ray safety for more information on how minimal dental radiation is. Getting needed dental treatment during pregnancy is actually a really important thing you can do for the health of your baby.
Dental Treatment
Dental treatment during pregnancy is also generally very safe for the baby with a few exceptions. Current recommendations are to have any dental treatment done in the second trimester. The third trimester is also fine but it becomes much more difficult to lay back comfortably for the amount of time needed.
Things to avoid in pregnancy include nitrous oxide (laughing gas) and sedative anxiety medications such as benzodiazepines. Both of these medications have been shown to be harmful to developing babies.
Pregnancy Gingivitis and Growths
One of the biggest problems during pregnancy is something known as pregnancy gingivitis. Your hormones cause your gum tissue to be easily irritated, bleed easily, and occasionally develop growths known as granulomas. These growths usually go away after delivery but can also be surgically removed if they become bothersome. Untreated gingivitis can progress to periodontal disease where you start to lose bone around your teeth.
The solution to pregnancy gingivitis is pretty simple. Clean those teeth really well, including flossing! If you can remove all the plaque around your teeth the gingivitis won’t be able to get out of control. Also consider seeing your dentist more frequently during pregnancy.
Preterm Labor
Women with untreated gum disease have an approximately 4-7 times greater risk of delivering their baby preterm. Babies delivered preterm have much higher rates of medical problems both in the short and long term. Getting your gums healthy is one of the easiest ways you can limit your risk of preterm labor. I’d recommend pregnant women having an extra cleaning and check-up during their pregnancy
Higher Risk of Cavities
I have A LOT of pregnant women that I treat in my dental practice. Almost without fail they end up getting cavities during and after pregnancy. There is an old myth out there that the baby steals all your calcium and causes cavities. While the reasoning isn’t correct, it is true that pregnancy can increase your risk of getting cavities for a couple of different reasons. Many women have morning sickness and acid reflux throughout the pregnancy. Teeth constantly exposed to acid tend to develop cavities very quickly. Pregnant women also have a tendency to snack throughout the day (and understandably so!). The problem with this snacking is the teeth are constantly exposed to sugar and again end up developing cavities very quickly.
If you are pregnant you’ll want to take some precautions against all this. If you’re having morning sickness try to rinse with water after vomiting. You don’t want to brush immediately afterwards as the acid softened enamel can be damaged. Also ask your dentist about a prescription strength high fluoride toothpaste. This will help repair the damage more quickly.
When snacking, try to reach for foods that don’t cause cavities. Sugars and carbs are going to be your big enemy here. Veggies, dairy, and proteins will generally be a better option from a dental perspective. As a positive these will also fill you up longer than sugars and carbs.
After Birth
If all the previous reasons didn’t convince you that dental care is important during pregnancy, then listen to this factoid. After babies are born, moms can pass on the bacteria in their mouth to their newborns. Moms who have untreated cavities actually pass on the bad bacteria to their children and increase their risk of getting cavities! Get those cavities taken care of before they are born so you can give them the best start in life!
How Safe Are Dental X-Rays?
Before we can talk about how safe dental x-rays are, we need to know what types of x-rays dentists take. I’ve included the average radiation dose with each one (this varies based on the type of equipment used). Check at the bottom of this page for what these dosages actually mean in comparison to other sources of radiation. In general, dental x-rays today cause far less radiation exposure than they used to. This is a result of most dentists changing over to digital x-rays rather than film x-rays. Digital is able to pick up the necessary information with much less radiation. This can reduce radiation exposure up to 80% over film x-rays.
Bitewings (5-10 μSv)- These x-rays are usually taken once a year and help your dentist check for cavities in between your teeth before they get too large.
Panoramic X-Rays (16 μSv)- These x-rays are usually taken once every 3-5 years and help see a more big picture view. It also helps check for cancers / growths of the jawbone and tooth development for children.
Full mouth series (20-40 μSv) – This is a set of approximately 18-20 individual x-rays that show several different perspectives of each tooth, from the tip of the root, all the way up to the crown. These are also usually taken once every 3-5 years.
Lateral Cephalometric (16 μSv) – This type of x-ray is usually taken before braces
3D Conebeam CT Scan (15-1000 μSv)- The most common use for these is in implant dentistry where the 3D scan can be used to precisely plan where the implant will go without damage to other structures. As the dosages have decreased, these scans have started to be used more often for wisdom teeth, root canals, and orthodontics.
Radiation dosage greatly depends on the type of scanner as well as the field of view used by the dentist or surgeon. Generally, dentists try to limit the exposure on these as much as possible to reduce radiation exposure. I spoke with an orthodontist just the other day who has helped developed a scanner with a total dosage of 20 μSv for the entire scan they need!
I find the following chart to be very helpful in understanding how much radiation you receive from dental x-rays as compared to other sources. The big thing to understand with the chart is that it is a logarithmic chart, meaning that a doubling on the chart is actually a 10 fold difference. Here are some of the high points…
- A set of dental x-rays is around 5 μSv
- A day of background exposure from the sun is around 10 μSv (as in every single day you get twice the amount of radiation exposure that you get once a year from the dentist)
- A flight from New York to LA is around 40 μSv
- A medical chest x-ray is around 100 μSv
- A medical CT scan is around 10,000 μSv
Full chart at Informationisbeautiful.net
As you can see, there are a lot of things in everyday life that cause you significantly more radiation exposure than routine dental x-rays. While no amount of radiation is necessarily safe, the benefit of early diagnosis of cavities, periodontal disease, and oral cancer far outweighs the minimal risk from the generally small amount of radiation. These levels of radiation are reduced to almost nothing for the rest of your body when a lead apron / shield is used. My feeling is that the risk of long term danger from dental x-rays is about the same chance as getting hit by lightning or bit by a shark. Scary things if they actually happen, but extremely unlikely!
The 5 Major Causes of Bad Breath (And Solutions For It)
Updated 03/19/2018
Nothing ruins a nice date faster than bad breath (also known by it’s fancy name, “halitosis”)! We’re going to go over the most common causes of bad breath and what you can do to fix it.
Cause #1: Poor Oral Hygiene
I can’t stress this one enough. Food and bacteria on your teeth is the #1 cause of bad breath. This needs to be cleaned off regularly to avoid that terrible smell. When bacteria start feeding on food in your mouth they produce sulfur compounds as a byproduct. These sulfur compounds literally can make your breath smell like a sewer. Brushing only hits 3 out of the 5 surfaces on your teeth. Flossing cleans the other two. If you brush but don’t floss, you’re leaving 40% of the food and debris in there!
Don’t forget about your tongue. You may think your tongue is smooth but in reality is covered in tiny taste buds that have a huge amount of surface area. Food easily gets stuck in all these little crevices. Scrubbing your tongue with a toothbrush will definitely help. If you want to take it to the next level, invest in a tongue scraper. Studies have shown that a tongue scraper works better than a toothbrush for cleaning your tongue and reducing those sulfur compounds from bacteria.
After brushing, flossing, and scraping your tongue, use mouthwash. Most mouthwashes are antibacterial and will knock down the levels of bad smelling bacteria. Check out our recommendations for different types of mouthwash.
Lastly, if you’ve got untreated gum / periodontal disease, get it taken care of at the dentist. This isn’t something you can fix yourself. With gum disease you get significant tartar build-up on your teeth under the gumline. This build-up acts as a hiding spot for all those bacteria and you’ll never get your breath fresh until they’re gone.
Cause #2: Smoking
As long as you smoke you’re going to struggle to maintain any semblance of good breath. I’ve never met a smoker who I didn’t notice their breath within the first 10 seconds. Maybe being a dentist I notice these things more than other people, but still you don’t want to be up close to someone with that kind of breath. Smoking causes several issues that lead to bad breath. First, smoking makes your breath smell strongly like smoke. Mouthwash may hide some of the smell but won’t make it go away entirely. Secondly, smoking hurts your mouth’s ability to fight bacteria. The heat and chemicals in a cigarette deactivate a lot of the mechanisms that your mouth uses to keep itself in balance. Third, smoking is a huge risk factor for periodontal disease (see cause #1).
If you can’t stop smoking right away, start trying to cut down over time. The less you smoke, the better your breath will get.
Cause #3: Foods and Drinks
This is a pretty easy one. Don’t eat foods that give you bad breath! The big offenders include garlic, onions, coffee, alcohol, and fish. Is there anything you can do to make the smell go away if you’ve already eaten or drunk these things? Not really… the bad smelling compounds, which are usually oils, tend to continue to come out of your mouth and skin until they are gone. Ever eaten a lot of garlic and then felt like your entire body smelled like garlic? I have! It actually starts coming out of the pores in your skin. Mouthwash can mask the smells for a very short period of time but they tend to come back pretty quickly. The best thing to do is get a stash of sugar free gum or mints and chew / suck on them until the bad smell goes away.
Cause #4: Dry Mouth
Many medications, including caffeine, anti-depressants, antihistamines, decongestants, narcotic pain medications, asthma treatments, and high blood pressure medications can all cause some pretty significant dry mouth. Look at the side effect list of just about any medication and most likely dry mouth will be one of them.
Other medical conditions and lifestyle choices that can cause dry mouth include Sjogren’s syndrome, smoking, chemotherapy, radiation treatments, and dehydration.
In addition to raising your risk of cavities, dry mouth also promotes bad breath as there isn’t enough saliva to clean your mouth. Try avoiding caffeine, discussing your medications with your physician, drinking enough water throughout the day, and chewing sugarless gum. Some mouthrinses, such as Biotene, are made specifically for people with dry mouth and work well to help reduce some of the problems associated with it.
Cause #5: Tonsil Stones
Some people have large tonsils that catch more food and debris than normal. Over time this can to the formation of “tonsil stones”. If you look in the back of your throat and see pea sized white areas sticking out of your tonsils, you may have tonsil stones. Some people clean them out with various instruments in an attempt to control their bad breath. In my experience, this doesn’t usually work to control the bad bread and you also run the risk of causing damage or infection. The only true way to clear up this issue is to have your tonsils removed. In the meantime, chewing gum or using mouthwash frequently can help mask the bad breath.
Cause #6: Mouth Breathing
Mouth breathing, as it’s name strongly implies, is when a person breathes primarily through their mouth instead of through their nose. Mouth breathing causes the mouth to become extremely dry leading to all the same symptoms as dry mouth as well as severely inflamed gums around your front teeth. Both of these can cause bad breath.
Mouth breathing is usually the result of an unconscious habit that has been formed over the years. Occasionally, it is the result of physical obstructions in the nasal passage that make breathing through the nose difficult or impossible. In cases of physical obstruction surgery is often required with an ear, nose, and throat surgeon. For everyone else, it is a habit that can be changed with some effort. The best way to stop mouth breathing is through the Buteyko method. I’ve attached a link below to the best book on the subject that I have read. It takes you through a series of exercises that will teach you to breathe normally again. Once the mouth breathing habit stops, you will likely see significant improvement in bad breath.
The Dental Prepper Guide
When you’re thinking about prepping for a true SHTF scenario, being prepared to deal with dental issues and emergencies is probably low down on your list of priorities and can be easily overlooked. I also believe that it is a very important part of anyone’s preparedness plan as a bad toothache, dental abscess, or broken tooth can really make eating and life in general very difficult. Preparing for dental emergencies doesn’t have to be difficult and I’m going to guide you through everything you should consider for this process.
Prevention:
The number one priority with dental prepping is prevention. Regular dental cleanings, a good diet, and taking care of problems before they become emergencies are all very important things to consider. If your oral health is good, it is less likely you’ll have a dental emergency when professional care is unavailable.
Diet – Avoid sugar in your diet as much as you can. This will not only help your dental health, but also your overall health. Many of the chronic medical issues in the world today are directly related to over consumption of sugar. If you do eat sugar, try to eat it in one sitting vs spreading it out over a longer period of time. In terms of dental health, it is more about how often you are consuming sugar than how much sugar you are consuming. Especially avoid sugary drinks.
Grinding – If you grind your teeth, get a night-guard. This will protect your teeth from unnatural amounts of wear and tear. You don’t want a broken tooth in a grid down situation. You can use our guide on homemade nightguards, have one made by a dentist, or order one from an online dental lab.
Oral Hygiene – Brush well twice a day for two minutes and floss once a day. This will protect you from periodontal disease and cavities. Again, in a situation without a dentist, you don’t want loose teeth or infections!
Supplies:
Some of the supplies you’ll need for dental preparedness are also supplies you’ll likely have prepped for medical emergencies. I’ve tried to include a comprehensive list of items that I recommend stocking in case of emergencies.
Gauze – 2×2 gauze is adequate for most dental applications.
Isopropyl alcohol and bleach – These will be important for sterilizing any dental instruments you end up needing.
Extra toothbrushes and toothpaste – Toothbrushes wear out over time so you’ll want a stock of them on hand. They’re cheap, especially in bulk. Get soft bristled ones.
Temporary filling and cement material – Many drug stores sell this material. One of the most common is Temparin. You can use it to patch holes in teeth or temporarily recement crowns that have come off.
Dental cleaning equipment – Keeping your teeth clean will help avoid future problems.
Suture kit (including sutures, scissors, and hemostats)- Sutures for most dental uses are 3-0 chromic gut (will dissolve on their own) or silk (have to be removed). Also, I’d recommend watching videos on basic suturing techniques so that you can do it in an emergency situation.
Antibiotics – You can purchase “fish” antibiotics that are the exact same ingredient and dosage as what you’d find at the pharmacy. I’d recommend stocking Amoxicillin, Clindamycin (for people allergic to penicillin), and Azithromycin (for infections that don’t respond to the first two). These will take care of most standard dental infections. For specific brands please visit doomandbloom.net for recommendations. He is a medical doctor who has an emphasis on survival medicine. These are the recommended dosages and courses for an adult…
Amoxicillin – 500 mg three times a day for 7 days
Clindamycin – 300 mg three times a day for 7 days
Azithromycin – 250 mg, two on the first day and one a day on days 2-5.
Pain medications – Stockpile a good amount of Ibuprofen and Tylenol. Ibuprofen is the most effective over the counter medication for dental pain. You’ll want to take 600-800 mg every 6 hours for moderate to severe pain. If you can’t take Ibuprofen, consider taking Tylenol instead. You can take 1000 mg every 6 hours for short periods of time.
Extraction instruments – A minimal set of instruments for dental extractions would be a 301 elevator and 150 and 151 dental extraction forceps. You can purchase these from multiple sellers on Ebay without any issues.
Spoon excavator instrument – You can find this on Ebay as well.
If you’d like an all in one kit, I’d recommend looking at the Survival Deluxe Dental kit from doomandbloom.net.
Emergency Dental Care
*For more in depth information on dealing with dental emergencies and pain see our other pages in this section. *
In a situation where seeing a dentist is out of the question your options for emergency dental care are pretty limited. In some situations you’ll be able to patch the area but if you are having significant pain your best option for immediate treatment is going to be pulling the offending tooth. Before we get to that, let’s take a look at some of our easier fixes…
Broken teeth – If the tooth is broken but doesn’t have any pain or soft decay that you can see, you can attempt to repair the area with the temporary filling material. Place the material into the hole in your tooth, bite up and down a couple of times, and then allow it to set up. It will be a challenge to get the material to stay in place so you’ll want to take it pretty easy eating in that area.
If the tooth does have some soft decayed areas, attempt to remove as much of the softened area as possible with the spoon excavator and then place the temporary filling material in place.
Crown off – If you have a crown off you can try recementing into place. See my guide on temporarily recementing crowns here.
Swelling around a tooth or that can be seen on your cheek or lower jaw – You’ll want to start a course of antibiotics to reduce the infection. If you expect that you’ll be able to see a dentist in the relatively near future this will be fine. If there is no foreseeable chance of seeing a dentist, you’ll likely want to pull the offending tooth.
How to Pull a Tooth
**I do not recommend trying this unless you are in a situation in which there are no other options**
Without being numb, having a tooth pulled is an exquisitely painful experience. I’d recommend taking Ibuprofen before hand and possibly drinking some alcohol to numb the pain. It is also much easier if someone else does it and not you.
Sterilize the instruments in either isopropyl alcohol or a bleach solution. The last thing you want in a situation like this is to develop an infection from dirty instruments.
Take the 301 elevator and slide it in between the teeth. You’ll want to twist the elevator towards the tooth you want to extract. There should be a decent amount of pressure. You’ll want to hold this pressure for about 10 seconds and then repeat on both sides of the tooth until you start to see some movement of the tooth.
Once the tooth has some pretty good movement you’ll want to grab your forceps (150 for top teeth and 151 for bottom teeth) and get a good grip on the tooth as far down the tooth as you can. For front teeth you can generally just twist back and forth until it loosens up and comes out. Back teeth will be much more challenging. Move the forceps around in a figure 8 direction until the tooth becomes loose. You’ll want to pull the tooth towards the cheek side in order to remove it. The bone on this side of the tooth is less dense and will slowly expand until you can get the tooth out.
Once the tooth is out place a couple of pieces of gauze over the area where the tooth came out and bite down on it with good pressure for about 10 minutes. This is adequate to stop the bleeding in the vast majority of people. The only time you’d want to place stitches would be if you can’t get the bleeding under control.
Hopefully you’ll never be in a situation where it comes to this but it can be an extremely useful skill to have just in case.
Denture Care Products
Denture Adhesives
The number one question I get asked about dentures is what type of adhesive should be used. There are a couple of types that are good. I personally have had good experience with my patients using either Fixodent powder or cream. The cream is a little easier to use but I’ve found that the powder seems to have a bit better hold. The trick to using the cream is to only place a small bead around the inside of the denture. If you place too much, it can cause the denture to be unstable. You can click the images below to purchase these products on Amazon.
Denture Cleaners
It is very important to take care of your denture and keep it clean. If you don’t keep it clean it will start to to get hard build-up on it which can harbor bacteria and lead to infections. I think everyone with a denture should invest in an ultrasonic cleaner. This is what we use in the dental office to clean your denture and it works extremely well. You can click on the links below to see reviews and pricing for these products on Amazon. If you don’t use an ultrasonic cleaner, you’ll want to brush your denture every night with soap and water and then leave it in a denture cleaner overnight. Do not use toothpaste to brush your denture as this will scratch it’s surface leading to staining and build-up on your denture.
Dental Self Impression Guide and Tips
If you decide to use an online dental lab to create a dental appliance for you, the first thing you are going to need to do is take a self impression of your teeth. Dentists have a saying about impressions that goes “Garbage in, Garbage out.” Basically the quality and fit of your dental appliance largely depends on how good an impression of your teeth you are able to take. Follow my step by step instructions and you should be able to take a really great impression.
This is typically what the impression tray will look like. Try it in your mouth to make sure it fits around all your teeth before you take the impression.
Upper tray
Lower tray
Most self impression kits will come with two putties that you mix together to start them setting up.
Mix it really well. You don’t want it streaky like this.
When it’s mixed well, place a good amount in the tray. It should extend slightly above the edges in all areas. More is always better than less. Set a small ball of the material to the side so that you know when it is set up all the way.
Firmly place the tray down over your teeth with one steady motion. The handle of the tray should be centered. Once you have seated it down over the teeth, do not move the tray at all, especially not any side to side or front and back movements. This will cause the material to distort and you’ll get a bad looking impression. This is the single most important step of the whole process.
Apply gentle pressure to the tray. Don’t bite on it as this will tend to shift the tray. You only need enough pressure to make sure the tray doesn’t move.
Same thing for the top impression. Overfill the tray slightly.
Push it over the teeth and apply gentle pressure to keep it still and in place.
It usually takes about 4 minutes for the material to set up entirely. Test if it is set up with the small ball of material you set to the side. You should be able to push your fingernail into it without it leaving a mark. If the impression is removed before it is set, you’ll distort the material and your appliance won’t fit.
These are very good impressions (minus right around the back molars on the top one) and what yours should look like. The areas on the back molars would be fine for whitening trays, sports mouthguards, or grinding appliances. If it was for Smile Direct Club or a partial denture, I’d take it again and get a better impression.
This is basically what you want your impression to look like. Notice how there are no bubbles in the impression material. You can see around the individual teeth clearly. All the teeth, even the back ones are captured accurately. You can’t see the tray showing through either.
Here are some other tips to maximize your chance of taking a good self impression.
- Follow the directions given – I know this seems obvious but so many people don’t do it! Every type of impression material has slightly different directions and it pays to know exactly what they are before you get started.
- Follow the times given – You absolutely must let the material set up all the way before taking it out of your mouth. If you take it out too early, you’ll distort the impression material without even knowing it and this will cause your appliance to fit poorly or not at all.
- Dry your teeth before molding the putty to your teeth. Water is the enemy of dental impressions. Too much water on your teeth can lead to bubbles and voids in the material, making for a bad impression.
- If you take a bad impression, spend the couple of extra dollars for more impression material rather than sending in your bad impression.
And about gagging…
- The impression putty is usually easier to tolerate than the kind of stuff that is used at your dentist’s office which is more runny. The putty is very thick and tends to stay right around your teeth.
- Self impressions are usually better for gagging than if someone else does it
- Gagging is mostly a mental thing and you can get better with it (I know because I used to be the worst gagger ever and managed to get over it).
- Try to relax and breath through your nose.
- Leaning forward is often helpful.
Brushing, Flossing, and Mouthwash Tips
Brushing:
Brushing seems like such an easy thing to do right? Then why do so many people do it so infrequently or ineffectively? I’ve had teenager (and occasionally adults) who even admit that they haven’t brushed their teeth in a week! Please don’t be this person! I’m going to go through some easy tips to make brushing more effective and help you reduce your risk of cavities, gum disease, and bad breath. Improving your oral hygiene is easy and doesn’t take much time at all! The biggest thing you’ve got to do is make a habit of it. A habit takes about 21 days of practice before it is ingrained. After it is a habit, it won’t feel difficult or like it is a chore and it’ll make a huge difference in your oral health.
Tip #1: Brush twice a day for 2 minutes each time with a fluoride toothpaste. Most people like to do this first thing in morning to get rid of morning breath and then right before bed. If you only can pick one, brush before bed. Your saliva production decreases at night and if you’ve got sugar or acid on your teeth, they’re more susceptible to attack. Two minutes is also important. You want enough time to fully remove all the build-up on your teeth (which take longer than you think) and allow the fluoride to be taken up into your tooth. The fluoride can’t be taken up effectively until you’ve cleaned all that mess off your teeth. If you want to be really thorough buy some plaque disclosing solution and use it before you brush your teeth. This will stain all the plaque on your teeth and will let you know when you’ve gotten it all off.
Tip #2: Don’t hold your toothbrush with the bristles at a 90 degree angle to your teeth. You want to hold it at a 45 degree angle to your teeth with the bristles pointing towards your gums and do quick vibrating or circular motion all around your mouth. This helps clean the plaque away from the area by the gums which is generally the hardest spot to keep clean. Another good way to brush is to place your tongue at a 45 degree angle to your gums and sweep the toothbrush down along the side of the tooth. The fancy name for this is the “modified bass method”. It works great if you spend a lot of time doing it but most people can’t pull this off consistently.
Tip #3: Don’t rinse your mouth out with water or mouthwash after brushing. Just spit out the toothpaste. This allows the ingredients in the toothpaste to continue working.
Tip #4: Always brush your tongue or use a tongue scraper. Your tongue is covered in taste buds that give food and bacteria a great place to hide. If you notice your tongue is a different color (like white, brown, or black) you’ve got a lot of work to do! Your tongue should be a nice pink color with no coating on the top of it. A lot of people have bad breath because they don’t do this.
Tip #5: Don’t brush right after drinking something acidic like soda or orange juice. The acid temporarily makes your enamel softer and you can actually brush some of it off if you brush immediately. Instead wait a minimum of 30 minutes and I’d probably recommend waiting even longer than that if you’re able to.
Tip #6: Consider investing in an electric toothbrush. They do a phenomenal job getting your teeth clean in a much shorter period of time than a manual toothbrush. The best types of electric toothbrushes are the ones with round heads that rotate and oscillate around. All you have to do is place it on the different surfaces of your teeth for a short period of time and it does all the work for you. No brushing or special technique needed. If you have poor dexterity in your hands (such as in children or the elderly) this becomes even more important. I think every kid should have a cheap electric toothbrush (cheap because they inevitably end up thrown off the counter, or in the toilet!). I’ve seen them for as little as $5 at places like Walmart.
Flossing:
For some reason everyone hates doing this even though it is so fast and easy. I have so many patients who will go to the gym every single day for an hour but can’t spare the extra half a minute to floss their teeth. I can guarantee you that flossing for 30 seconds a day has a much bigger overall health impact than 30 seconds at the gym. I can personally floss my teeth in 10-20 seconds. You can too with a little practice. Here are some tips on how to floss effectively and motivate you to keep doing it.
Tip #1: Make it a habit! Just like with brushing you need some time to make this a habit. Again, force yourself to do it at the same time each day for 21 days straight. After that it gets easy. Do it every night before going to bed. You’ll thank yourself when it is time to go to the dentist and when your teeth aren’t falling out at age 50 or 60.
Tip #2: Use a floss that is easy to use for you. This is why I recommend Glide floss or Reach Total Care. It makes it easy. Those flosses that shred and are a pain are why people hate flossing. The best floss is the one that you will use! My patients ask me all the time what I recommend. I always tell them that I don’t care what they use as long as they are using something!
Tip #3: “Only floss the teeth you want to keep”. Periodontal disease (bone loss around your teeth) is the number one reason why people lose teeth. I’ve never seen someone who flosses regularly develop periodontal disease (unless there was some rare underlying medical condition).
Tip #4: If you are terrible at flossing or can’t get into it, try purchasing a Waterpik and use that instead. A waterpik has a small wand with a tip that shoots a stream of water that can be used to clean between your teeth. It is just as effective as floss and can making cleaning around bridges or braces much easier than traditional floss. Want really good breath afterwards? Fill it up with mouthwash instead of water and you’ll kill two birds with one stone.
Tip #5: If you’ve got big spaces between your teeth, try using soft piks instead of floss. There are a lot of variations and sizes with these but they all look basically the same. They look similar to little tiny christmas trees or pipe cleaners. You can find these next to the floss in most stores or you can usually find them in bulk online for better prices. They are small enough to fit in between the small spaces between your teeth but large enough that they clean the spaces really well! I’ve got a lot of older patients who do great keeping their teeth clean and use these exclusively.
Mouthwash:
Tip #1: Mouthwash cannot replacing brushing or flossing, ever! Listerine made this claim a while back, got sued for making false claims, and it was upheld in court! Always make brushing and flossing a priority before using mouthwash. It does work well in addition to doing these things.
Tip #2: Don’t use mouthwash immediately after brushing. This removes the ingredients from the toothpaste that are helping to protect your teeth. Wait at least 30 minutes. For most people they should brush their teeth in the morning, use mouthwash after lunch, and then brush and floss right before bed.
Tip #3: Figure out what mouthwash is correct for your situation. I’ve got some tips in the mouthwash section of this website or ask your dentist. You can find mouthwashes that are better for breath control, dry mouth, reducing cavities, or a combination of all of them.
Dental Health Guide
Reduce your risk of cavities
I get told at least once a day by one of my patients that they have “soft teeth” and that is why they keep getting cavities. “Soft teeth” are for the most part a myth (with a couple of very rare exceptions). While your genetics are one small factor in the cavity equation, there are a lot of other things you can do to pretty much eliminate your risk of getting cavities. If you can follow these simple rules, say good bye to cavities and many of those uncomfortable visits to the dentist.
- Watch how often you consume sugar or other carbohydrates (breads, pastas, crackers, chips). In dentistry the total amount of sugar you consume doesn’t matter nearly as much as how often you consume it. Every single time you eat sugar it drops the pH in your mouth to a level that promotes cavities for about 20 minutes. If you’re taking a sip of soda / sweet tea / sweetened coffee / etc every 15 minutes then your mouth is in a state that actively promotes cavities for the entire day! The best thing to do is eat 3-4 meals a day and have one snack, which you eat at one time. Avoid everything else except for water in between.
- Watch how often you consume acidic foods. This is the exact same concept as what we just talked about with sugar. This great chart from Alkalife.com shows you many of the common foods that will upset the pH balance in your mouth. A lot of things that you wouldn’t expect, can cause the pH in your mouth to go acidic. A pH level below 5.5 starts to break down the enamel on your teeth. Now I’m not saying never consume any of these items. I am saying that you should watch how often you consume them. A good rule of thumb is to limit your eating and drinking (other than water) to three meals and two snack times during the day. This gives you the best combination of small meals throughout the day without also keeping your teeth out of that danger zone. Sit down, eat, and then be done.
- Brush and floss your teeth. This removes the plaque and bacteria on your teeth that help create cavities on your teeth. You want to brush for a full two minutes twice a day and floss once a day.
- Use a fluoride toothpaste. While there is a lot of controversy about fluoride in our water supply, fluoride in your toothpaste is applied directly to your teeth and very little goes to the rest of your body. This can reduce your risk of cavities significantly as it helps to repair areas that acid have damaged as long as you brush for the correct amount of time (two minutes).
- Try chewing sugarless gum or using sugar free mints. Xylitol based products are the best for this. Xylitol is a sweetener that has cavity fighting properties. The increased flow of saliva in your mouth protects against cavities.
Reduce or eliminate your risk of gum disease
Gum disease, also known as periodontal disease, happens when the dental plaque on your teeth calcifies and becomes rock hard on the teeth below the gums. This is very similar to how barnacles form in the ocean, and they look pretty similar too (nice mental picture there right?). Bacteria start living in these crevices and you get a low level infection in your gums that your body tries to fight. You are the one who loses in this fight. The bone starts being destroyed around the teeth which can eventually lead to your teeth falling out.
So that was the bad news. Here is the good news… There are only three easy rules to follow in order to reduce your risk of gum disease to almost zero (unless you’ve got some sort of rare underlying medical condition that causes a highly accelerated rate of bone loss).
- Brush twice a day for two minutes
- Floss once a day (literally takes 30 seconds)
- Don’t smoke
Yep that’s it. If you do these things, it almost guaranteed that you won’t get gum disease. If you already have gum disease, get it treated at the dentist and then follow these three rules. It won’t come back.
Avoid Breaking Your Teeth
There are a couple of different things that can cause teeth to break.
- Bad eating habits – Don’t chew ice or other hard foods routinely. This is extremely destructive for your teeth. The most common foods that I’ve seen people break teeth on are nuts, popcorn kernels, ice, hard candy, and bones in meat. On the same note, don’t use your teeth to bite your nails, open bottles, etc. Teeth are for eating!
- Grinding – Many people grind at night and don’t even know they do it. If you see wear on the edges of your teeth, you are a likely a grinder. Wear a nightguard and you’ll reduce the damage this does. We have a guide on how you can make your own custom night guard at home at a significant cost savings over the dentist. Alternatively, use an online dental lab with a self impression kit.
- Avoid getting cavities. Teeth that have never had fillings rarely break. The average lifetime cost of a tooth that gets a cavity is nearly $2000! If you do get cavities, get them taken care of before they get big. Small cavities are much less destructive on teeth than moderate or large size cavities.
- Acid exposure. Avoid sodas, sucking on lemons, energy drinks or any other acidic food/drink on a regular basis. The acid causes the enamel to break down over time which can eventually cause chipping and breakage. Combine this with cavities, or grinding and you can really do some damage.
Reduce Your Risk of Oral Cancer
- About 2/3’s of cases of oral cancer are attributed to tobacco use (both smoking and smokeless tobacco).
- Alcohol use (especially excessive and combined with tobacco) also causes a higher risk for oral cancer.
- If you’re at high risk, get regular check-ups and make sure your dentist is checking for oral cancer. The most common sites are on the side of the tongue, floor of the mouth, tonsils, and where you hold your smokeless tobacco in your mouth
- Oral cancer can usually be effectively treated if caught early (as with most cancers). Your dentist is the most qualified person to catch this early.
The Three BIG Rules of DIY Dentistry
I have seen some pretty gnarly examples of DIY Dentistry. While I’m a big fan of equipping you to take control of your oral heath and reducing your need to see the dentist, there are a lot of things you most definitely should not do. There are also some things that I’ll teach you to do that should really only be done if there are no other options available. Please be smart when attempting any type of treatment on yourself. If it seems like a bad idea, it probably is! With that in mind and without further ado, here are my 3 big rules of DIY Dentistry…
Rule #1
All DIY dentistry done on your teeth should be temporary or reversible – eg. Certain removable dental appliances, Denture adjustments and repairs, Temporary fake teeth, Temporary fillings, Temporary Cement, Cleaning your teeth. Everything I recommend doing on this website follows these rules, except in very specific survival situations where it is not possible to get care.
Bad Example 1: Some people like to buy permanent cement or filling materials. When these are placed incorrectly or over decayed teeth they can cause infections and damage to your teeth and the bones surrounding them. Some unscrupulous companies will sell you some of these products without telling you about the very real risk of severe consequences. Permanent cement will set up between your teeth and you won’t be able to get it out. This causes severe inflammation of the tissue and possibly bone loss around your teeth.
Bad Example 2: Some people also come to me and say “I pulled my own tooth out with pliers!!”. Now this works great with loose baby teeth (minus the pliers). Adult teeth are another matter entirely. Usually they have just broken off the top of the tooth or crown and have left the infected (or soon to be infected) root of the tooth in the gums. Removing damaged teeth is much more difficult than just “pulling” it out. Just don’t do it, and especially don’t do it with rusty pliers!
Rule #2
Even if you think orthodontic treatment is “reversible”, don’t try to do it on yourself. There is a pretty high risk of permanent and irreversible damage to your teeth if you do it wrong!
Bad Example 1: The most dangerous trend is using rubber bands to try and close a gap in your teeth. Many YouTube videos show examples of people doing this. What they don’t tell you is that if that rubber band slips under your gums, it will work it’s way down around your teeth destroying the bone and attachments and the tooth will literally fall out. There have been many instances of this happening.
Bad Example 2: Did you hear about that kid who 3D printed “Invisalign” style aligners to straighten his teeth. Pretty genius level stuff for a high school student.While I’ve got to give him credit for actually managing to pull this off, he was pretty lucky to not cause permanent damage. Teeth can only take a certain amount of force and in certain directions without causing damage.
Rule #3
If dental pain is accompanied by swelling, please see a medical professional. Orajel and temporary filling materials aren’t going to help here! In rare cases this can be life threatening. There are many cases of people dying from dental abscesses that spread to other areas of the body.
Bad Example #1: I’m not even going to put a picture on the website for this one because it is too much for most people. If you’re really interested, search for pictures of “Ludwig’s Angina”. This is severe swelling in an area below the throat that cuts off your ability to breathe. Deadly if not treated. Enough said.
Bad Example #2: Look up Cavernous Sinus Thrombosis. This is a septic infection that can result from untreated dental infections. It has a mortality (death) rate of 30%.