WE TEND TO IMAGINE that people from earlier eras must’ve had worse teeth than we do because they didn’t have things like modern dentistry, orthodontics, and root canal treatment, but what dental problems were they dealing with and how did they protect their teeth?
Gum Disease Through History
We have evidence that ancient Native Americans — specifically the Manitou cliff dwellers near modern Colorado Springs — sometimes got tooth decay and gum disease, because we can see the damage to their teeth and jaws in remains found in the area.
The ancient cliff dwellers ate a diet of corn (maize), beans, squash, fish, and fresh fruits and nuts. Such a high-fiber diet is great for dental health because harmful oral bacteria needs sugar and starch to multiply but high-fiber foods help keep our teeth clean as we eat them.
Dental Hygiene Before Modern Toothbrushes
Aside from their diet being a mostly healthy one for their teeth and gums, they used chewsticks to clean their teeth and chewed fresh herbs like mint, cucacua, and sage to keep their breath fresh. Chewsticks were twigs with a pointy end that could act as a toothpick and the other end was frayed and worked kind of like a toothbrush.
The content on this blog is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of qualified health providers with questions you may have regarding medical conditions.
ANYONE WHO REGULARLY swims might have noticed that your teeth are more sensitive after climbing out of the pool. That’s not just your imagination. Doing a lot of swimming actually can take a toll on our teeth if we aren’t careful.
Pool Chlorine Can Cause “Swimmer’s Calculus”
To most people, the word “calculus” calls forth scary flashbacks from high school math class, but in this context, it refers to a dental health condition. Prolonged exposure to the acidic chlorine ions in pool water can make a swimmer’s teeth develop yellow or brown stains, which we call swimmer’s calculus. Chlorine is excellent for keeping a public pool sanitary for everyone swimming in it, but if it isn’t monitored carefully, the water’s pH levels can become more acidic.
Our teeth are very vulnerable to erosion from acid, so even mildly acidic pool water can make it more likely that we will develop these kinds of stains. You might be able to minimize this by keeping your mouth closed in the water and drinking plenty of water to rinse any pool water off of your teeth. Regular dental appointments are also important.
The Dental Woes of Scuba Divers
If you prefer scuba diving over swimming at the pool, you will face a different set of dental health risks, including barodontalgia or “tooth squeeze.” If you’ve ever felt pressure building up in your ears when you dive to the bottom of the deep end, you’ve gotten a taste of what can happen inside of individual teeth — particularly those with cavities that haven’t been treated yet or have been treated ineffectively.
The pressure of all that water can build so much that it can actually fracture a tooth. For this reason, we strongly encourage divers to begin their diving season with a visit to the dentist so that they can get ahead of any potential problems.
The All-Size-Fits-None Scuba Mouthpiece
Many scuba divers struggle with the supposedly one-size-fits-all mouthpieces that don’t really fit anyone very well. Most divers don’t go into the water often enough to feel like the cost of a custom-fitted mouthpiece is worth it. As dentists, we would argue that it’s worth it for anyone diving multiple times a year, because a custom-fitted mouthpiece won’t cause the problems the generic one can.
Generally, divers must clench down on the mouthpiece to keep it from falling out while diving, which can put a high level of strain on the jaws. It could even cause TMD (temporomandibular joint disorder).
Do You Still Have Questions About Teeth and Water Activities?
If we haven’t answered all of your questions about how to look after your dental health while being an avid fan of water activities, just ask! A less obvious danger to be aware of as well is the tripping hazard of slippery areas around pools; a fall could easily cause an injury to your mouth. Take the right precautions for your teeth and enjoy all the water you want to this year!
The content on this blog is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of qualified health providers with questions you may have regarding medical conditions.
IT ISN’T ALWAYS easy to teach a young child important life skills. They have boundless energy and short attention spans, so a session of sitting still with a toothbrush isn’t always going to go as planned. Following these tips might help when imparting these essential skills:
1. Show them that brushing is a priority. If brushing their teeth comes across to them as an inconvenient chore, they’ll see dental hygiene as an inconvenience. Frame it as something easy but unskippable — a part of every morning and evening.
2. Feel free to move brushing outside of the bathroom. All it takes is a toothbrush to brush a child’s teeth wherever it’s easiest. It could save a lot of frustration.
3. Using toothpaste isn’t as important as using a toothbrush. If the child practiced their finger-painting skills with the entire toothpaste tube, simply brush without it until it’s possible to get more.
4. Let the child choose their own toothbrush. This will help them feel more ownership over the process and make it more exciting.
5. When possible, brush in front of the mirror so they can watch how the process works. It will also help them feel more involved.
6. Make brushing fun! They’ll be happier to cooperate if it’s presented like a game. Maintain a cheerful attitude and play fun music in time with their two minutes of brushing.
The content on this blog is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of qualified health providers with questions you may have regarding medical conditions.
NOT MUCH IS better in the world than the smiles of our kids, and we have to work hard to keep those smiles healthy. Regular dental visits are a crucial part of a lifetime of good dental health, and that should start early on. If your child’s next dental visit will actually be their first, we’re here to put you at ease and give you a good idea of what to expect and how to prepare.
Kids Can Experience Dental Anxiety Too
A third of American adults struggle with severe enough dental anxiety that it stops them from going to the dentist, but kids can deal with fear of the dentist too. New things are often scary for young children, and maybe an older family member has already put frightening images in their mind by describing an unpleasant experience they had. Kids are also perceptive and will notice if their parents have negative feelings about the dentist even if you didn’t say anything directly.
You Can Help Your Child Have a Positive Mindset About Dentists
There are many things parents can do to help their children have a positive mindset when it comes to going in for a dental checkup. We can help once you arrive at our practice, but before that, it’s up to you!
Begin early. Kids can benefit from dental visits as soon as they have teeth! Starting early makes it easier to build a trusting relationship with the dentist.
Play pretend to help you explain what will happen (if your child is very young). You could play the role of the dentist and show them how their visit can be fun and interesting.
For older children, simply explain. Take the mystery out of the dental visit, because kids are more comfortable when they understand what’s happening. Give a quick explanation of what dental visits are like and why they matter for their teeth.
Teach your child how important dental hygiene is. If kids know that brushing and flossing are helping keep their teeth healthy, they will be able to appreciate the dentist more.
Bring them to meet the dentist in advance! You can help make the first appointment much less stressful by doing a meet-and-greet first. If the dentist isn’t a stranger anymore, the experience won’t be as stressful!
Accompany your child. No amount of information can substitute for the comforting presence of a loved and trusted adult. If you stick by, you’ll be able to offer support and encouragement through the early visits.
Here’s a video to help explain the dentist to a child:
We’re Excited to Meet Your Child!
We cannot overstate the importance of making your child’s first dental visit a good one, and if you’d like more suggestions for ways to help your child avoid dental anxiety and the issues that come with it, we’re here to help. We also welcome your questions about your child’s dental care.
We look forward to helping make the first checkup fun and easy!
The content on this blog is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of qualified health providers with questions you may have regarding medical conditions.
BACK IN MEDIEVAL times in England (and in most other places, to be fair), people didn’t have a great understanding of what caused cavities or gum disease, but they still cared about having fresh breath. It wasn’t just out of politeness — they believed that bad smells could carry disease on their own, including bad breath.
Medieval Breath Fresheners
So what was their smell-based dental care? They chewed spices, which we can see an example of in the Canterbury Tales where Chaucer’s characters stay fresh by chewing licorice and cardamom. We also know that women were sometimes recommended a mixture of aniseed, fennel, and cumin to chew.
Cracking a Tooth on Your Bread
Some of the modern causes of dental problems didn’t apply back then. Cavities wouldn’t start to become common until the sugar trade reached England in the 1400s. However, grinding flour between millstones tended to leave tiny chips of stone in their bread. It was pretty easy to crack a tooth on that, and it was a big reason many adults lost several teeth in their lifetimes.
Strange “Cures” for Toothaches
Aside from combating bad breath, they also tried to treat toothaches. The rich could afford myrrh and opium, but everyone else had to make do with dubious remedies like burning a mutton fat and sea holly seed candle near their mouths, which was supposed to lure out the “worms” hiding inside the teeth. (We now know that what they thought were worms were just the roots of teeth!)
When it comes to dental health, isn’t it nice living in modern times?
The content on this blog is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of qualified health providers with questions you may have regarding medical conditions.
DENTAL PROBLEMS LIKE gum disease and tooth decay can easily sneak up on us if we aren’t careful, which is why regular dental checkups are so essential — even when you’re pretty sure nothing is wrong. For most people, two regular appointments (consisting of professional cleaning and a dental exam) are enough to stay on top of any dental health concerns. In certain circumstances, however, it’s a good idea to come in ahead of schedule.
Any Kind of Tooth Pain or Persistent Mouth Sores
Any amount of tooth pain could indicate that tooth decay has reached the dental pulp. Pain is the body’s warning sign that something is wrong, and tooth pain rarely goes away on its own. An aching jaw or frequent headaches could also indicate a dental problem like a teeth-grinding habit, and the dentist can help. In most cases, mouth sores will resolve on their own, but they can sometimes be a sign of disease or infection, and a dentist should look at those.
Bleeding Gums
Conventional wisdom holds that flossing can result in bleeding gums, but that’s not really true. Being overly aggressive with your flossing technique could cause bleeding (so we recommend a gentle approach, making a C-shape around a tooth with the floss and carefully working down to the gums instead of snapping straight down) or it could be a symptom of gum disease. Brushing shouldn’t cause bleeding either (which is why we recommend soft-bristled brushes and soft brushing motions), and if it is, the dentist should know!
Old Dental Work
If you’ve had dental work before and are having problems with it now, don’t put off a trip to the dentist. The problems will usually get worse, such as a cracked or chipped crown that could lead to infection if it isn’t repaired quickly. A worn-out filling also needs to be replaced to stop bacteria from multiplying in the space between the filling and the tooth.
Serious Medical Conditions
A medical condition like diabetes, gum disease, or an eating disorder can have a serious impact on oral health. Sometimes the treatments for a health condition have effects on oral health, such as medications causing dry mouth. If you are fighting a chronic disease or have started a new prescription, your dentist should know about it.
Chronic Bad Breath
There aren’t many things more mortifying than being in a close face-to-face social situation and realizing your breath is less than minty fresh, but bad breath isn’t always just a superficial issue. It may be a symptom of gum disease or other health problems. If you struggle to keep your breath smelling pleasant, talk to the dentist about it so they can discover the underlying cause.
Put Those Regular Visits in Your Calendar!
We hope you are able to keep up with your regular dental appointments, but whether or not you can see the dentist every six months, you should definitely come in for a visit if you experience any of these issues we’ve discussed.
We cannot overstate the importance of preventative care in dental health!
The content on this blog is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of qualified health providers with questions you may have regarding medical conditions.
HOW MUCH DO you know about the anatomy of your own teeth? Let’s give you a quick overview. We believe that the more our patients know, the better they’ll understand how important good dental health habits are, including brushing, flossing, and cutting back on sugary treats. Our lesson will start at the crown and work down to the roots. The visible parts of our teeth are the crowns, and they are made up of three different layers.
The Enamel
On the outside is the protective enamel layer. It is mostly composed of inorganic materials like hydroxyapatite crystals, which makes it the hardest substance in the human body. It needs to be that hard to chew a lifetime of food.
Enamel’s weakness is that despite being very hard, it is also brittle and vulnerable to acid. It cannot repair or replace itself if it is damaged or eroded too much. That’s why it’s so critical to brush and floss daily and limit the amount of acidic and sugary foods and drinks we consume. Professional cleanings are also incredibly beneficial.
The Dentin
Beneath the enamel is the dentin, which is much more like normal bone. It has a more yellow color than tooth enamel. Microscopic tubules run through it to connect the nerves at the center of the tooth with the enamel, which is how we can detect temperature changes through our teeth. If the enamel erodes, those tubules become more exposed and the nerves get much more input than they like (which is how tooth sensitivity works).
The Pulp at the Center
At the core of every tooth is the pulp chamber, which is where the blood vessels and nerves are. Pulp is the living part of a tooth. As mentioned above, it’s how we feel the temperature of our food. It’s also how we feel pain when there’s a problem with a tooth (so treat tooth pain like the natural warning sign it is and get to a dentist).
Down to the Roots
The roots of our teeth extend deep beneath our gums and are anchored firmly in our jaws. The periodontal membrane serves as a cushion between the tooth and the bone so that the pressure of chewing doesn’t damage them. Unlike crowns, roots lack protective enamel. Instead, they have the gum tissue (when it is healthy) and a calcified layer called cementum. The tip of each root has a tiny hole through which the blood vessels and nerves can access the pulp chamber.
Keeping Teeth Healthy from Crowns to Roots
From the crown of each tooth down to the supporting periodontal structures, we need to keep our teeth healthy, and that means brushing and flossing thoroughly to protect the enamel and gums. Regular dental appointments play a critical role too!
The content on this blog is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of qualified health providers with questions you may have regarding medical conditions.
WE ALL NEED to sleep well to feel our best. In the United States alone, up to one in five habitually snoring children and over 18 million adults have sleep apnea, a sleep disorder characterized by repeated interruptions to normal breathing during sleep. It makes it difficult to achieve a restful night of sleep, with numerous short and long-term effects, including several to oral health.
Oral Health Risks
Those with sleep apnea are at an increased risk of developing severe gum disease and temporomandibular joint disorders (TMD). They are also likely to have dry mouth, which increases the risk of gum disease and tooth decay.
The Dentist Can Help
It is so common to experience dental symptoms with sleep apnea that the dentist is often the first healthcare professional to observe the signs and diagnose the condition. That’s one good reason of many to keep up with regular dental appointments — not just for the sake of oral health, but also overall health!
Sleep Apnea Can Be Treated
Common ways sleep apnea is treated include nighttime oral appliances that adjust the position of the jaw and tongue and continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machines.
The content on this blog is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of qualified health providers with questions you may have regarding medical conditions.
VERY FEW OF us still remember how sore our mouths felt when we were teething as babies, but most of us do remember what it was like to have our adult molars come in. Well, teething is a similar experience for toddlers, but it’s their first encounter with such sensations, which can be quite distressing for both them and their parents. To assist you during this phase, we’ve compiled a few helpful tips.
1. Recognize the Signs of Teething
Keep an eye out for the emergence of teeth, typically starting around the six-month mark. Lower front teeth usually appear between six months and the first birthday. During this period, you may notice certain changes in your child’s behavior that are actually teething symptoms.
They might exhibit a decreased interest in breastfeeding, excessive drooling, refuse foods they previously enjoyed, experience difficulty sleeping, or become generally irritable. They might also start avoiding or excessively biting, chewing, and sucking on various objects within their reach.
2. Differentiate Teething Symptoms From Other Issues
Not all symptoms are related to teething, and it’s important to be aware of the distinction, as it could indicate another problem. A runny nose, fever, or diarrhea are not directly associated with teething but may be signs of a viral infection. If these symptoms persist or worsen, it is advisable to consult a pediatrician.
3. Understand the Stages of Teething
Teething occurs in stages, rather than all at once or in a uniform manner. The eruption stage involves the baby teeth gradually breaking through the gum tissue from the jaw bones. Following this stage is cutting, when the teeth finally emerge and become visible. Both stages can be painful, but babies and toddlers lack the language skills to express their discomfort. Instead, they may exhibit crankiness, tiredness, and fussiness regarding their food and eating habits.
4. Soothing Techniques for Teething Babies
There are several ways to help alleviate the discomfort experienced by teething babies and toddlers during this phase of development. If possible, continue breastfeeding, as it can help reduce teething pain. Additionally, provide them with something safe to chew on, such as a teething toy. These toys can aid in the teething process by facilitating the cutting of teeth through the gums while providing relief.
5. Choosing Safe Teething Toys
Exercise caution when selecting teething toys and ensure they do not contain PVC, BPA, or phthalates. Although these chemicals are used to enhance toy durability, recent studies have highlighted potential harm if ingested by a child.
Consider the construction of the toy. Is it solid or gel-filled? If it’s the latter, ensure it is sturdy enough to prevent your child from accessing the gel center, which is not intended for consumption. It may also be beneficial to choose a toy that can be chilled in the refrigerator and has a clip to fasten it securely to your child’s clothing.
Consult Us for Teething Concerns
We are here to address any questions or concerns you may have about teething and the challenges that accompany it. Additionally, remember that as soon as the first tooth appears, it’s time for your child’s first dental checkup! Let us help you ensure that your child’s oral health journey begins on a positive note.
Contact us today to ensure your child’s oral health receives the care it deserves.
The content on this blog is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of qualified health providers with questions you may have regarding medical conditions.
MANY STRANGE THINGS lie buried in the history of dental care and hygiene, but we think these five traditions really stand out. (Although we don’t recommend any of them!)
1. Ancient Babylonians believed teeth-grinding was caused by demons. So, logically, the best way to fix it was by scaring the demons away, and to do that, they would sleep next to human skulls.
2. The ancient Mayans liked to bedazzle their teeth, drilling holes in them by hand and gluing gemstones to them with plant sap. This is incredibly dangerous because it can easily lead to breakage or infection.
3. In ancient Egypt, their treatment for toothaches included an ingredient we really don’t like: mice! It’s unclear whether their pain-killing ointment actually worked but we’d rather not find out.
4. Many Asian cultures once preferred pitch-black teeth over pearly whites. Into the late 1800s, wealthy women and samurai in Japan stained their teeth black, a practice called Ohaguro.
5. Rotten teeth became common among the sugar-addicted nobility in Early Modern England, but sugar was too expensive for the lower classes, so the only way they could achieve wealthy-looking smiles was by blackening their teeth with soot!
The content on this blog is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of qualified health providers with questions you may have regarding medical conditions.
In my 57 years of life, Dr. Simon is the best dentist I’ve ever seen. We are a military family and have moved several (more than I care to count) times. With each move comes the same challenges relating to finding new doctors, dentists, etc. A good dentist is particularly hard to find, as they are f… Read more
Colleen Moore
Service is great, staff is knowledgeable and courteous. Highly recommended.
Roy Johnson Sr.
I recently went to visit Dr.Simon and was informed that I needed quite a bit of dental work, this came as a shock to me and I was of course very nervous. Dr.Simon and his staff were very kind and accommodating through the entire process. The work that he did was excellent, he takes pride in what he … Read more
Dr. Simon is very sincere and thorough. He takes the time necessary to explain the procedures, expected outcomes and future care. His compassionate approach with a healing hand to all orthotic procedures make him a well-trusted dental professional and an exemplary human-being.
I’ve been a patient of Dr. Simon for many years and he’s the best! I’m faithful about having a check-up every six months because Dr. Simon is always on time and very considerate. I like the Brandermill location and his staff is professional, friendly and courteous.
