Oral Health

‘Tis the season of sniffles and coughs, body aches and congestion.

It’s officially the time of year when the flu can make for a miserable few days. But it doesn’t have to take its toll on you or your family. Our dental office in Wilmington is here to help you prevent the flu this season with some helpful tips.

Keep Your Hands Clean

This tried and true life lesson is probably one of the best ways to avoid the flu or the common cold. Make sure you wash your hands with warm, soapy water before meals, after using the restroom, or following shaking hands with another person. If soap and water isn’t readily available use an alcohol-based sanitizer.

Protect Your Toothbrush

It may sound gross, but your toothbrush can harbor all sorts of germs. That’s why it’s important to take proper care of it. Thoroughly rinse your brush after each use, and make sure you store it in an upright position. Keep family members’ toothbrushes separated from each other to avoid cross contamination. And of course, never share your toothbrush.

Stay Hydrated

A body that’s hydrated it also better at fighting off germs and bacteria since it’s operating optimally. It’s recommended to drink at least 8 glasses of water a day, but during flu season you may consider increasing your intake. Drinking plenty of H20 is not only great for your body, but it’s good for your oral health, too.

Sanitize Your Space

Whether it’s your home or your office, having the areas where you spend the most time clean and sanitary is key to keeping germs away. Pay attention to things that get touched the most — doorknobs, your computer mouse, faucets, and toilets. Germs are invisible to the naked eye, so even if it seems clean it can’t hurt to give it a quick wipe down.

Avoid Touching Your Face

The CDC states that one of the most common ways germs are spread is by touching a contaminated surface then touching your eyes, nose, or mouth. These body parts have mucus that can easily transport germs into the body and make you sick.

Following this these tips can go a long way in helping you prevent getting knocked down from the flu. However, if you happen to catch the bug, our Wilmington dental office encourages you to use sugar-free medicines to help alleviate your symptoms. Not only will these medications help you feel a bit better, they’re safer for your teeth, too.  

As always, having a healthy mouth can directly impact how healthy you are overall. Make sure you brush and floss every day and maintain visits with your dentist in Wilmington at least every six months.

There are plenty of reasons why a tooth may hurt.

When this happens, the best thing you can do is to call your dentist in Wilmington as soon as possible to determine the reason why and get treatment started quickly. However, there are a few ways you can try to narrow down the cause of your tooth pain at home. Check out some of the most common symptoms and potential explanations to the most common causes of tooth pain.

Symptom: Quick Bursts of Sensitivity to Hot or Cold Foods or Drinks

Possible Cause: There’s a good chance you may have a cavity. Treatment for this incredibly common dental problem is easy as long as you seek treatment quickly. If left untreated, a cavity can progress into an infection, also known as an abscess. If a cavity isn’t to blame, you may have some gum recession brought on by rough brushing or perhaps a loose dental restoration.

Symptom: Pain When Biting Down

Possible Cause: If your tooth pain is more commonly experienced when pressure is applied, you could again have a cavity or perhaps even a cracked or broken tooth. The best course of action is to see your dentist as soon as you can to see if there’s any damage to the interior of the tooth or the pulp. If there is, you may need a root canal to reverse the pain. But don’t worry, a root canal isn’t as scary or painful as you may have thought. In fact, the procedure actually makes the pain go away.

Symptom: Aching in the Jaw or Upper Teeth

Possible Cause: This type of jaw or tooth pain is typically a result of chronically clenching or grinding teeth (bruxism). The constant friction between teeth can wear away tooth enamel and leave your teeth feeling sensitive. What’s more common, however, is the jaw pain associated with grinding. Grinding may also contribute to severe headaches or sinus pain. Your Wilmington dentist should be able to identify if grinding is a problem for you and recommend the appropriate treatment. Most of the time, a custom nightguard is a go-to solution.

Whatever the Cause, See Your Dentist

Any tooth pain is usually a sign of a problem, and even if you suspect nothing serious is going on, we recommend seeing your dentist to make sure. After all, it’s better to be cautious than to let tooth pain go and end up with a larger issue.

Looking for a caring dental team to help? Give our dental office in Wilmington a call to schedule an appointment today. We’re always happy to help!

When we think of probiotics, we typically think of how they can aid in keeping the stomach healthy.

But at our dental office in Wilmington, we became aware of how some probiotics can assist oral health, too. Let’s take a closer look at the research that supports the idea that probiotics can help keep mouths healthy.

What Are Probiotics?

Before we dive into learning how probiotics may be beneficial to oral health, we should first identify what probiotics are. Probiotics are live bacteria and yeasts that have historically been noted as being good for gut health. Even though we usually associate bacteria with being bad, there are both good and bad types of bacteria. Probiotics are the good guys.

Not All Probiotics Are the Same

The type of probiotics that are most commonly discussed are ones often found in certain types yogurt and various foods. These probiotics are meant to help the digestive system and can help the body replace beneficial bacteria that the body loses after taking antibiotics. But the probiotics researched in relation to oral health are different.

Oral probiotics, which doesn’t have anything to do with how you ingest them but rather describes the area of the body they help, have been researched to see if they have an impact on oral health. Several studies support a positive correlation between specific types of probiotics and reducing the risk of gum disease, plaque, and bad breath.

Bifidobacterium & Lactobacillus

While difficult to say, the benefits of these two probiotic strains are easy to explain. Both Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus are naturally found in the human body and, more specifically, in the mouths of mammals. Several studies have identified a possible positive effect of these probiotics. While not absolutely conclusive, there is strong evidence that an increase of both Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus can help the treatment of periodontal disease and halitosis, and may even reduce the risk of cavities.

Since this research is still in the early stages and no concrete claims have been made, we don’t recommend starting yourself on probiotics before discussing it with your medical team, including your dentist in Wilmington.

If you have questions regarding your oral health, whether those questions include probiotics or not, we welcome you to schedule an appointment at our Wilmington dental office.

Throughout the past few years, there have been several studies that provide conflicting information on whether exercise is good or bad for your oral health.

Our dental office in Wilmington hopes that we can help clear up any confusion so you can get back to working out without worry.

The Benefits of Exercise

It goes without saying that everyone should exercise regularly to help get and keep the body healthy. No matter what your workout of choice may be, if it gets the heart pumping and increases breathing, chances are you’re benefiting from all the good exercise can do for your health. Exercise has been proven to help reduce the risk of heart disease, stroke, and diabetes all while keeping your body weight within a healthy range. But the benefits of exercising goes beyond arms, legs, abs, heart, and lungs and can actually help keep your mouth healthy, too.

According to the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III), those who exercised moderately five days a week, or at a high intensity three days a week, were at lower risk for gum disease. This is both great for oral health and whole body health since the effects of gum disease don’t only affect the mouth. Gum disease can cause a whole host of both oral health and whole body problems including bad breath, swollen, painful gums, tooth loss, certain cancers, heart disease, and stroke.

Potential Oral Health Concerns

When it comes to your oral health and exercise, it’s not all good news. While we don’t encourage anyone to stop exercising, we do want our patients and neighbors to be aware of how sometimes exercise can affect oral health.

There are essentially two common reasons exercise can cause problems in your mouth: Sports drinks and mouth breathing. Take a closer peek as to why.

Mouth Breathing

While breathing heavily is part of what makes exercise so great for the body, it’s also what can contribute to tooth decay and cavities. Heavy breathing tends to cause people to mouth breath or only breathe with an open mouth. This reduces saliva production and makes the mouth dry. A dry mouth is a perfect place for dangerous bacteria to thrive and cause decay.

Sports Drinks

Even though sports drinks do have their benefits, they’re also packed with tooth-damaging ingredients. Sports beverages are a great option to help your body recover after exercise, but between the sugar and acid, they’re a recipe for decay.

If you’re concerned that your workout routine may be negatively affecting your oral health, schedule an appointment at our Wilmington dental office. We’ll be more than happy to talk about your concerns and work with you to find the best solutions.

At our dental office in Wilmington, we spend a lot of time getting people to open up and say, “Ah!”

It’s because your oral health can tell us a lot about what is going on in the rest of your body. Did you know that your tongue can also provide some pretty interesting clues about you too?

What Are You Looking At?

Your tongue is really quite marvelous and it says a mouthful about oral and overall health. It consists of eight muscles and never ever gets tired. The tongue is constantly at work. At any given moment this super strong muscle could be doing one (or more) of the following with or without you even being aware of it:

• Helping break down food
• Helping you speak clearly
• Filtering out bad germs
• Pushing saliva down the throat (even during sleep)

What Are You Looking For?

The next time you’re in front of a mirror, go ahead and stick out your tongue. Take a long look and note what you’re seeing. Are there red or white spots? Is it dark and almost hairy in appearance? Is there any redness? What you see could say a lot about what’s going on inside your mouth and inside your whole body. It’s important to keep a keen eye on anything that’s abnormal or feels suspicious so you can let your Wilmington dentist do a thorough examination. Here are some examples of what you might find and what it means:

• White Patches – This could signify an overgrowth of candida (yeast) fungus. It’s common in babies and young children and is easily treated with a prescription anti-fungal rinse or pill.
• Black/Hairy Appearance – Diabetes, a yeast infection, poor oral hygiene, or cancer therapies could be to blame.
• White/Red Spots – These obvious spots are actually quite common. They are usually the result of worn down taste buds.
• Redness – Illnesses like strep throat or deficiencies in B-12, folic acid, and iron can also cause this kind of irritation.
• Bumps – Large bumps or sores on the tongue are often a sign of canker and cold sores.
• Webbing or Stripes – This can signal a chronic oral lichen planus which is a chronic condition that occurs when your immune system is attacking cells.

Be on the lookout for anything suspicious or anything your tongue might be trying to tell you. Please call our Wilmington dental office and let us take a look. Together we can get to the bottom of the problem and decide what treatment (if any) will get you and your tongue healthy again.

As we near the end of April, which just so happens to be Oral Cancer Awareness Month, the team at our Wilmington dental office thought we should talk a bit about the oral health concerns associated with smokeless tobacco.

Some individuals may assume that since it’s smokeless, chewing tobacco isn’t as harmful as smoking cigarettes. However, even though there isn’t any smoke accompanying chewing tobacco, there are still health risks associated with the habit.

How Smokeless Tobacco Affects Oral Health

Just like cigarettes, smokeless tobacco is addictive, which makes quitting difficult. The longer someone uses chewing tobacco, the more they’re exposed to the dangers of it. This increases their chance of experiencing any of the numerous issues that can occur as a result:

Yellowing Teeth – Using smokeless tobacco can cause tooth discoloration, making your pearly whites not so white. While smile whitening may be able to help a little bit, staining caused by tobacco typically requires a form of cosmetic dentistry, like veneers, to get your teeth back to their white appearance.

Receding Gums – Chew can cause gums to recede and expose the tooth roots. Once roots are left open, the chance for cavities greatly increases. The roots also contain nerves, which, if uncovered, can make teeth sensitive to heat and cold.  

Oral Cancer – The most serious concern of using any type of tobacco is the increased risk for oral cancer. In fact, tobacco is the top risk factor for developing oral cancer. If it’s not caught early, oral cancer can be deadly.

Know the Signs of Oral Cancer

Everyone should be aware of the signs of oral cancer because even though the risk of the disease is greater in tobacco users, the truth is, oral cancer can happen to anyone. The signs of oral cancer can easily be misdiagnosed as something minor, so if you notice any of the symptoms below, call your dentist in Wilmington as soon as you can.

• A white, scaly patch on the inside of the cheek or lip
• Sores or lumps in the mouth or throat
• Trouble chewing, swallowing or speaking
• A sensation of something being stuck in your throat

If you use tobacco of any kind, it’s incredibly important for you to see your dentist at least twice a year to keep an eye on your oral health and identify any potential problems early. Don’t have a dentist? Give our dental office in Wilmington a call to schedule an appointment today.