Month: June 2017

Choosing one dentist for your entire family is a great way to consolidate appointments and save time. But you may wonder if there are family dentistdentists who can effectively treat families with young children, teenagers and their parents. In London, Ontario, Northland Dental Centre can do just that! Our team of dental professionals has the experience and training necessary to diagnose and treat people of all ages. We explain our approach to our various patients here.

Children

As children grow, their primary teeth, or baby teeth, begin to fall out to make way for their permanent set. This is a crucial time to have a family dentist, who will monitor the growth patterns of your child’s teeth, apply sealants for added protection against cavities, and begin making plans for orthodontics if necessary. Establishing a routine with your London family dentist also gives children a good foundation for their future dental health.

Adolescents

The pre-teen and teenage years is a time of rapid growth for your child, and we’re not just talking about their height and appetite! Their permanent teeth are starting to finalize their placement in the mouth. Regular checkups with your family dentist will also ensure that your teen is taking proper care of their teeth at home.

Adults

Since the adult teeth are typically finished coming in by the early 20’s, your dental care as an adult might seem limited to cleanings and occasional cavity fillings. However, at Northland Dental Centre, we offer a variety of ways that adults can improve their teeth. From whitening to dental implants, you can use cosmetic and restorative treatments to give yourself the gift of a perfectly healthy smile.

Trust Northland Dental Centre in London, Ontario for your entire family’s dental health needs! Contact our office today at 519-455-2551 to schedule an appointment!

If we could go back in time, we all probably have a few things we wish we could change. Recently, Dr. Travis Stork, emergency room physician and host of the syndicated TV show The Doctors, shared one of his do-over dreams with Dear Doctor magazine: “If I [could have] gone back and told myself as a teenager what to do, I would have worn a mouthguard, not only to protect my teeth but also to help potentially reduce risk of concussion.”

What prompted this wish? The fact that as a teenage basketball player, Stork received an elbow to the mouth that caused his two front teeth to be knocked out of place. The teeth were put back in position, but they soon became darker and began to hurt. Eventually, both were successfully restored with dental crowns. Still, it was a painful (and costly) injury — and one that could have been avoided.

You might not realize it, but when it comes to dental injuries, basketball ranks among the riskier sports. Yet it’s far from the only one. In fact, according to the American Dental Association (ADA), there are some two dozen others — including baseball, hockey, surfing and bicycling — that carry a heightened risk of dental injury. Whenever you’re playing those sports, the ADA recommends you wear a high-quality mouth guard.

Mouthguards have come a long way since they were introduced as protective equipment for boxers in the early 1900’s. Today, three different types are widely available: stock “off-the-shelf” types that come in just a few sizes; mouth-formed “boil-and-bite” types that you adapt to the general contours of your mouth; and custom-made high-quality mouthguards that are made just for you at the dental office.

Of all three types, the dentist-made mouthguards are consistently found to be the most comfortable and best-fitting, and the ones that offer your teeth the greatest protection. What’s more, recent studies suggest that custom-fabricated mouthguards can provide an additional defense against concussion — in fact, they are twice as effective as the other types. That’s why you’ll see more and more professional athletes (and plenty of amateurs as well) sporting custom-made mouthguards at games and practices.

“I would have saved myself a lot of dental heartache if I had worn a mouthguard,” noted Dr. Stork. So take his advice: Wear a mouthguard whenever you play sports — unless you’d like to meet him (or one of his medical colleagues) in a professional capacity…

If you would like more information about mouthguards, please contact us or schedule an appointment for a consultation. You can read more in the Dear Doctor magazine article “Athletic Mouthguards.”

Although your smile wouldn’t be the same without them, there’s more to your gums than their looks. Besides helping to hold your teeth in place, they’re also an important protective barrier for their roots.

Unfortunately, gums aren’t immune to disease, especially periodontal (gum) disease. This bacterial infection, triggered by built-up dental plaque on teeth due to insufficient oral hygiene, can cause the gum tissues to detach from teeth and shrink back (recede). This can make your teeth more sensitive to hot or cold foods and beverages, as well as put them at even greater risk for tooth decay.

To treat gum recession, our first priority is to stop any ongoing gum disease through aggressive plaque removal. Depending on severity, this could require clinical procedures like scaling or root planing to remove plaque and tartar (hardened plaque deposits) at or below the gum line. This is especially crucial for improving gum tissue healing and stimulating potential reattachment.

Revitalizing gum tissues this way naturally has a better chance of occurring if we’re able to prevent recession before it reaches the roots. If that does happen and we have sufficient gum tissue attachment remaining, we may need to give the gum tissue a helping hand through gum grafting surgery. There are a number of techniques depending on the circumstances, but they all use either tissue from another location in the patient’s mouth or prepared tissue from another human donor. This type of surgery requires great skill and expertise, not to mention an aesthetic sense, to achieve a result that’s both functional and attractive.

Other than daily brushing and flossing, the most important thing you can do for gum health is to see us as soon as you notice any signs of gum problems like swelling, bleeding or tooth sensitivity. The sooner we can diagnose and begin treating the problem, the less likely any gum recession will have a long-term impact on your health.

If you would like more information on gum health, please contact us or schedule an appointment for a consultation. You can also learn more about this topic by reading the Dear Doctor magazine article “Gum Recession.”