Ask the Partners
You had dental and dental hygiene questions and we delivered your answers!
Dr. Yazdani, Camille Lehoux and Alyssa Frommann (all partners at Warmstone Family Dentistry) took the time to answer your questions on dentistry during this COVID-19 stay at home order. Camille who is a hygienist by trade offers great advice for those that can’t get to their regularly scheduled appointments. Alyssa address a question about a new product making news and the always coveted Dr. Yazdani provides some great insight on dental implants.
Without further ado – let’s go!!!
Q: Will flossing and using my electric toothbrush (that you gave me) be enough to prevent plaque buildup while waiting to be able to have a proper cleaning? Is there anything else I can be doing? Also – how can you “deep clean” a night guard
Follow steps in question 3 below however even with the best home care some plaque may be missed and/or get sub gingivally. The only way to remove this is with your routine dental hygiene visit- just do the best you can until then and you’ll be in a better position!
Regarding your night guard question :
Hydrogen Peroxide -The simplest way to clean is to place the mouth guard in a cup or glass and fill with enough hydrogen peroxide to completely cover it. Let the mouth guard soak for at least a few minutes, then remove and rinse with water.
Denture Cleaning Tablets, such as Polident or Efferdent, also work well at removing bacteria and give the mouth guard a clean, fresh taste. Most of these types of effervescent soaks only take a few minutes but can also be used all day.
A good anti-bacterial mouthwash can also be used for soaking your mouth guard. Allow it to soak for a few minutes in a glass just like the other methods.
If you’re really stuck and out of all of these options, a mild dish cleaning liquid and water can be used, although it might not taste as good and should be rinsed well. (Camille)
Q: How to care for 9 month old’s teeth? Toothpaste says it’s for 2 years or over. Google says you should use toothpaste once they have teeth?
You can buy toothpaste that is for 3-24mth old babies and it’s by Colgate and they have a mild fruit fluoride free toothpaste. You do not need to use a toothpaste until they are 2-3 years old and I wouldn’t use a fluoride toothpaste until they can spit.
At this age it is more about disrupting the plaque and forming good oral hygiene habits and routines with your baby. Once your baby has teeth then it is important to start brushing. (Camille)
Q:What are some suggestions for keeping up my oral health while on lock down with no dental access?
Brushing 2x per day using a Modified Bass technique when brushing, ensuring you get nice and close to the gum line while being mindful to not scrub the gums. Brush for 2-3 minutes each time, follow an overlapping sequence throughout the mouth to make sure no areas are missed then brush your tongue at the end. Floss daily using a “C” shape motion, and rinse with Listerine once per day following manufacturer instruction. (Camille)
Q: I’m curious about the take on toothpaste “bites”?
The product is so new there is no long term research to know if this product can help maintain oral health. As dental professionals we recommend products with evidence based research. (Alyssa)
Q: Can you explain the benefits of implants?
A major benefit to dental implants is that they preserve bone and prevent further deterioration of the facial structure, and therefore improve appearance.
When most or all the natural teeth are severely compromised or missing, there is nothing left in the jawbone to stimulate bone growth. The human body can sense that the jawbone is no longer necessary to support teeth and it begins to dissolve away. This results in rapid deterioration of the facial structure: lips fold in, the lower face shrivels up to create a witch-like chin, and wrinkles also develop around the mouth to create “marionette lines.” This makes the person look much older than they actually are. With dental implants, wrinkles and facial structure collapse is eliminated and you can take up to 20 years off your smile!
Even when only one tooth is missing, long-term aesthetics are usually much better with an implant-supported replacement tooth than with a traditional tooth-supported bridge. This is particularly important in the front of your mouth, where preventing a visible bone defect is critical for natural appearance. Dental implants help you feel better about yourself because they allow you to eat, laugh and smile without reservations. They are pain-free and worry-free because dental implants look and feel like real teeth and your mouth no longer has to dictate how you live your life.
Dental implants are the closest thing to natural teeth. When the entire tooth – including the root – is replaced, your smile will feel and function like natural teeth. Everything in your mouth will look natural, and no one will know you have a new implant-supported smile unless you tell them. Tooth replacement with traditional tooth-supported bridges often requires a dentist to grind down teeth that are adjacent to the missing tooth/teeth so that the bridge can be cemented onto them and into place. The natural tooth structure that is lost can never be replaced. Partial dentures have clasps that hook onto adjacent teeth, which puts pressure on these teeth as the metal framework rocks back and forth during daily movements. These clasps also eat away at the remaining gum tissue, causing even more damage. Replacing missing teeth with implant-supported crowns/bridges does not involve the adjacent natural teeth, which means that your remaining teeth won’t be damaged or compromised. Dental implants allow you to keep as many of your natural teeth as possible.
Dental implants allow both your smile and mouth function to be more natural, which results in increased comfort and confidence when smiling, speaking, and eating. If dentures and partials are replaced with implant-supported teeth, your quality of life will improve significantly since you’ll be able to eat all types of foods plus you’ll be able to speak and smile.
Dental implants improve your quality of life by…
- Improving eating habits immediately
- Eliminating messy adhesives used to hold dentures
- Eliminating unsightly and destructive metal clasps common with partial dentures
- Never needing to take out dentures or bridges again!
Improving oral health also improves your overall health. Dental implants help create a healthier mouth and help reduce periodontal disease, a bacterially-induced chronic infection and inflammatory disease. Periodontal disease does not improve by itself. Left unchecked and allowed to worsen, it can lead to heart attacks, strokes, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes and other chronic diseases.
Dental implants will immediately improve the health of your mouth. Since dental implants imitate natural teeth, the care for them is also similar to that of caring for natural teeth. With routine maintenance (brushing and flossing), and regular checkups, you’ll have a happy, healthy smile for a lifetime. (Dr. Yazdani)
