Category: Posts

When you’re first startled awake in the middle of the night by a loud, gritting sound emanating from your child’s room, you may have two questions: how can such a loud racket not be harmful to their teeth? And, how can they sleep through it?

While it sounds earth-shattering, teeth grinding (medically known as bruxism) is a common habit among children. It involves an involuntary grinding, clenching or rubbing of the teeth together, either during the day or during night sleep.

While certain medications or conditions could be factors, it’s believed most teeth grinding arises from the immaturity of the part of the neuromuscular system that controls chewing. It’s believed to trigger a night episode as the child moves from deeper to lighter stages of sleep toward waking. Older children and adults typically handle these sudden shifts without incident, but a young child’s under-developed chewing response may react with grinding.

If a child’s teeth are normal and healthy, teeth-grinding typically won’t create any lasting damage. But because grinding does generate pressures greater than the teeth normally encounter, it can be harmful to decayed teeth or those with enamel erosion due to high acid from consumption of sports and soda drinks. And it’s also a cause for concern if the habit continues into later childhood or adolescence.

To avoid these problems, it’s best to keep your child’s teeth as healthy as possible by practicing daily brushing and flossing, and regularly seeing a dentist for cleanings, treatments and preventive measures like topical fluoride or sealants. And be sure to limit sugar and acidic foods and drinks in their diet to protect against decay and erosion.

You can also take steps to minimize teeth grinding and its effects. Consult with your physician about any medications they’re taking that might contribute to the habit. If there are psychological issues at play, seek therapy to help your child better manage their stress. Your dentist can also fashion a custom night guard worn while they sleep that will prevent their teeth from making solid contact during grinding episodes.

Most importantly, let your dentist know if your child grinds their teeth. Keeping an eye on this potentially harmful habit will help lead to appropriate actions when the time comes.

If you would like more information on teeth grinding, 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 “When Children Grind Their Teeth: Is the Habit of ‘Bruxism’ Harmful?”

While children are less likely than adults to experience periodontal (gum) disease, the same can’t be said for tooth decay. One aggressive form of decay called early childhood caries (ECC) can have a profound effect on a child’s dental development and future health.

That’s why dentists who treat young children often use a variety of preventive measures to reduce the risk of ECC and other dental diseases. One popular method is dental sealants, dental material coatings applied to the biting surfaces of teeth that fill in the naturally occurring pits and crevices. These areas are highly susceptible to plaque formation, a bacterial biofilm of food particles that tends to accumulate on teeth. It’s the bacteria that live in plaque that are most responsible for the formation of tooth decay.

Roughly one third of children between the ages of 6 and 11 have received some form of dental sealant. It’s a quick and painless procedure applied during a routine office visit. The dentist brushes the sealant in liquid form on the teeth, and then hardens it with a special curing light. It’s common for children to begin obtaining sealant protection as their molars begin to come in.

With their increased popularity among dentists, researchers have conducted a number of studies to see whether dental sealants have a measurable effect reducing tooth decay. After reviewing the cases of thousands of children over several years, many of these studies seemed to show that children who didn’t receive sealants were more than twice as likely to get cavities as children who did.

As evidence continues to mount for dental sealants’ effectiveness protecting young children from decay, both the American Dental Association and the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry now recommend it for all children. Not only can sealants help preserve children’s teeth now, but they can reduce future costs for dental treatment that results from tooth decay.

If you would like more information on children’s dental sealants and other decay prevention measures, please contact us or schedule an appointment for a consultation.

Basketball isn’t a contact sport—right? Maybe once upon a time that was true… but today, not so much. Just ask New York Knicks point guard Dennis Smith Jr. While scrambling for a loose ball in a recent game, Smith’s mouth took a hit from an opposing player’s elbow—and he came up missing a big part of his front tooth. It’s a type of injury that has become common in this fast-paced game.

Research shows that when it comes to dental damage, basketball is a leader in the field. In fact, one study published in the Journal of the American Dental Association (JADA) found that intercollegiate athletes who play basketball suffered a rate of dental injuries several times higher than those who played baseball, volleyball or track—even football!

Part of the problem is the nature of the game: With ten fast-moving players competing for space on a small court, collisions are bound to occur. Yet football requires even closer and more aggressive contact. Why don’t football players suffer as many orofacial (mouth and face) injuries?

The answer is protective gear. While football players are generally required to wear helmets and mouth guards, hoopsters are not. And, with a few notable exceptions (like Golden State Warriors player Stephen Curry), most don’t—which is an unfortunate choice.

Yes, modern dentistry offers many different options for a great-looking, long lasting tooth restoration or replacement. Based on each individual’s situation, it’s certainly possible to restore a damaged tooth via cosmetic bonding, veneers, bridgework, crowns, or dental implants. But depending on what’s needed, these treatments may involve considerable time and expense. It’s better to prevent dental injuries before they happen—and the best way to do that is with a custom-made mouthguard.

Here at the dental office we can provide a high-quality mouthguard that’s fabricated from an exact model of your mouth, so it fits perfectly. Custom-made mouthguards offer effective protection against injury and are the most comfortable to wear; that’s vital, because if you don’t wear a mouthguard, it’s not helping. Those “off-the-rack” or “boil-and-bite” mouthguards just can’t offer the same level of comfort and protection as one that’s designed and made just for you.

Do mouthguards really work? The same JADA study mentioned above found that when basketball players were required to wear mouthguards, the injury rate was cut by more than half! So if you (or your children) love to play basketball—or baseball—or any sport where there’s a danger of orofacial injury—a custom-made mouthguard is a good investment in your smile’s future.

If you would like more information about custom-made athletic mouthguards, please contact us or schedule an appointment for a consultation. You can learn more by reading the Dear Doctor magazine articles “Athletic Mouthguards” and “An Introduction to Sports Injuries & Dentistry.”

In their normal, healthy condition, your teeth are durable, white in color, whole, smoothly contoured, and have a thick layer of protection dental crownsaround the sensitive inner layers. But as the years progress, a normal tooth can become compromised by wear and tear. If you notice that one of your teeth has become damaged, injured, chipped, or poorly colored, a family dentist at Northland Dental Centre in London, ON, can shore it up with a dental crown.

What Are Dental Crowns?
Just as a queen’s crown has a space open at the center for a person’s head, a dental crown has an opening in the middle so that it can cover a damaged tooth. It is a tiny device made of hard, smooth white porcelain material that very closely resembles tooth enamel. A crown’s purpose is to protect and beautify a vulnerable tooth. The base of a crown is designed to lie flush with the gumline from the front to the back, providing full coverage.

How Dental Crowns Shore Up Your Teeth
Your London, ON, family dentist will remove the bad outer enamel from your tooth, then work on shoring it up with a dental crown. The crown acts as an enamel replacement, bonding to the tooth and adding a new, thick layer of protection. The porcelain material used makes the crown virtually impenetrable, so you won’t have to worry about dental infections, staining, or damage from bruxism for a long time (about five to 10 years).

The Dental Crown Placement Process
Plan to make about three visits to your dentist’s office for a crown. The first appointment is set to determine that this is a good treatment for you (the tooth must be X-rayed). The second appointment is when you’ll have impressions taken, and the third visit is to have the newly made crown attached. At this bonding appointment, the crown will be adjusted so that it looks very similar to your other teeth.

Shore Up Your Smile
As strong and beautiful as your smile may be, one weak link can compromise its overall stability. Contact the dental team at Northland Dental Centre in London, ON, to schedule a consultation with a family dentist on staff. Call (519) 455-2551 today for an appointment.

The braces are finally off! But to keep your new, straighter smile you’ll need to wear a retainer for some time. That’s because the same structural mechanism used to move your teeth could undo what we’ve just accomplished.

That mechanism resides in an elastic tissue called the periodontal ligament that lies between the teeth and the bone and attaches to both with tiny fibers. While the ligament holds the teeth securely in place, it also allows for slight movement in response to bite changes. Braces “pull” the teeth in the desired new direction, and the ligament responds.

But with that pressure gone after the braces’ removal, a kind of “muscle memory” can set in that moves the teeth back towards their original positions. A retainer, a dental appliance worn on the teeth, exerts just enough pressure to “retain” or keep the teeth from regressing.

Retainers are effective, but the most common type has a feature that poses potential problems: it can be removed by the wearer. Because of this, less disciplined patients might be tempted not to wear their retainer as directed. There’s also a higher risk of losing one and incurring additional cost to replace it.

But there is another type, the bonded retainer, which stays permanently in the mouth until removed by an orthodontist. It’s composed of a thin piece of metal that’s firmly attached to the back of the teeth with dental composite material. Not only does a bonded retainer solve the problems mentioned before, it also can’t be seen from the outside like a removable retainer.

A bonded retainer does have one disadvantage: because it can’t be removed, it can obstruct the teeth during brushing and flossing and require more effort. You won’t have as much difficulty with a removable retainer keeping teeth and gums clean. You can overcome this disadvantage, though, with specialized tools like a water flosser or a floss threader to make hygiene easier.

To choose which type of retainer is best for you or your family member, have a talk with your orthodontist. And if you choose a bonded retainer and later have it removed, be sure to switch immediately to a removable one if your orthodontist advises. With either retainer, you’ll be able to preserve that hard-earned smile for years to come.

If you would like more information on bonded retainers, 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 “Bonded Retainers: What are the Pros and Cons.”

It might not rise to the level of a miracle, but cosmetic dentistry can achieve some amazing outcomes with unattractive teeth. A skilled and experienced dentist can turn “ugly ducklings” into beautiful “swans.” And that achievement might not be as in-depth or expensive as you might think, thanks to the increased use of dental materials called composite resins.

Composite resins are pliable, tooth-colored materials we apply directly to tooth surfaces. They’re most often used with broken, chipped or misshapen front teeth—the composite material replaces the missing tooth structure.

Composite resins have been around for decades, but haven’t been widely used because they didn’t have the strength of dental porcelain. In recent years, though, dentists have perfected techniques for bonding and shaping composites to teeth that have increased their durability. With just the right skill and artistry, composites can look like natural teeth.

We can correct many tooth flaws using composite resins right in our office. After roughening up the outer enamel surface of the tooth and performing other steps to aid bonding, we begin applying liquid resins to form a base layer that we then harden with a special light source. We continue to add layers to increase the color depth and shape of the restoration, before finally polishing it to resemble natural teeth.

Composite restorations are ideal for moderate tooth structure loss, but may not be appropriate for heavily worn, previously root canal-treated or fractured teeth. These and other kinds of flaws may require a different solution such as a dental porcelain restoration with veneers or crowns. Where composites can be used, though, they provide an affordable option that doesn’t require an outside dental lab for fabrication—we can often perform it in one visit.

If you’d like to consider a composite resin restoration for a less than perfect tooth, see us for a complete examination and consultation. If your situation appears to be compatible for using this particular technique, composite resins could change your smile for the better in just a few minutes.

If you would like more information on how we can improve your smile, 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 “Artistic Repair of Front Teeth with Composite Resin.”

When your mouth is dry, you know it: that sticky, uncomfortable feeling when you first wake up or when you’re thirsty. Fortunately, it usually goes away after you eat or drink. But what if your mouth felt like that all the time? Then, it’s no longer an irritation—chronic dry mouth could also increase your risk of dental disease.

Chronic dry mouth occurs because of inadequate saliva flow. Saliva plays an important role in preventing dental disease because it neutralizes acid, which can cause the mineral content in tooth enamel to break down and lead to tooth decay. The mouth becomes more acidic right after eating, but saliva can restore its normal pH levels in about an hour—as well as some of the enamel’s lost mineral content. Without saliva, your tooth enamel is at greater risk from acid.

While a number of things can potentially interfere with normal saliva production, medication is the most common. More than 500 prescription drugs, including many antihistamines, diuretics or antidepressants, can cause dry mouth. Cancer radiation or chemotherapy treatment and certain metabolic conditions like diabetes or Parkinson’s disease can also increase symptoms.

If you are experiencing unusual dry mouth symptoms, see your dentist first for a full examination. Your dentist can measure your saliva flow, check your prescriptions and medical history, and examine your salivary glands for abnormalities. With this more accurate picture of your condition, they can help direct you to the most effective remedies and treatments for the cause.

If medication is the problem, you can talk to your doctor about alternative prescriptions that have a lesser effect on saliva flow. You can also drink more water before and after taking oral medication and throughout the day to help lubricate your mouth. Chewing gums or mints with xylitol, a natural alcohol sugar, can also help: xylitol helps reduce the mouth’s bacterial levels, as well as stimulate saliva flow.

Easing your dry mouth symptoms can make your life more pleasant. More importantly, it can reduce your risk of future dental problems caused by a lack of saliva.

If you would like more information on dealing with chronic dry mouth, 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 “Dry Mouth: Learn about the Causes and treatment of this Common Problem.”

It’s no secret that many of Hollywood’s brightest stars didn’t start out with perfectly aligned, pearly-white teeth. And these days, plenty of celebs are willing to share their stories, showing how dentists help those megawatt smiles shine. In a recent interview with W magazine, Emma Stone, the stunning 28-year-old star of critically-acclaimed films like La La Land and Birdman, explained how orthodontic appliances helped her overcome problems caused by a harmful habit: persistent thumb sucking in childhood.

“I sucked my thumb until I was 11 years old,” she admitted, mischievously adding “It’s still so soothing to do it.” Although it may have been comforting, the habit spelled trouble for her bite. “The roof of my mouth is so high-pitched that I had this huge overbite,” she said. “I got this gate when I was in second grade… I had braces, and then they put a gate.”

While her technical terminology isn’t quite accurate, Stone is referring to a type of appliance worn in the mouth which dentists call a “tongue crib” or “thumb/finger appliance.” The purpose of these devices is to stop children from engaging in “parafunctional habits” — that is, behaviors like thumb sucking or tongue thrusting, which are unrelated to the normal function of the mouth and can cause serious bite problems. (Other parafunctional habits include nail biting, pencil chewing and teeth grinding.)

When kids develop the habit of regularly pushing the tongue against the front teeth (tongue thrusting) or sucking on an object placed inside the mouth (thumb sucking), the behavior can cause the front teeth to be pushed out of alignment. When the top teeth move forward, the condition is commonly referred to as an overbite. In some cases a more serious situation called an “open bite” may develop, which can be difficult to correct. Here, the top and bottom front teeth do not meet or overlap when the mouth is closed; instead, a vertical gap is left in between.

Orthodontic appliances are often recommended to stop harmful oral habits from causing further misalignment. Most appliances are designed with a block (or gate) that prevents the tongue or finger from pushing on the teeth; this is what the actress mentioned. Normally, when the appliance is worn for a period of months it can be expected to modify the child’s behavior. Once the habit has been broken, other appliances like traditional braces or clear aligners can be used to bring the teeth into better alignment.

But in Stone’s case, things didn’t go so smoothly. “I’d take the gate down and suck my thumb underneath the mouth appliance,” she admitted, “because I was totally ignoring the rule to not suck your thumb while you’re trying to straighten out your teeth.” That rule-breaking ended up costing the aspiring star lots of time: she spent a total of 7 years wearing braces.

Fortunately, things worked out for the best for Emma Stone: She now has a brilliant smile and a stellar career — plus a shiny new Golden Globe award! Does your child have a thumb sucking problem or another harmful oral habit? For more information about how to correct it, please contact us or schedule an appointment for a consultation. You can learn more in the Dear Doctor magazine article “How Thumb Sucking Affects the Bite.”

A “toothy grin” might be endearing, but not necessarily healthy. More of the teeth showing may mean your gums have pulled back or receded from the teeth. If so, it’s not just your smile that suffers—the parts of teeth protected by the gums could become more susceptible to disease.

There are a number of causes for gum recession. Some people are more likely to experience it because of genetically thinner gum tissues. Over-aggressive brushing could also contribute to recession. But the most common cause by far is periodontal (gum) disease, a bacterial infection triggered by dental plaque accumulating on teeth mainly as a result of inadequate hygiene.

There are some things we can do to help heal and restore recessed gums, most importantly treating gum disease. The number one goal of treatment is to uncover and remove all dental plaque from tooth and gum surfaces, which can take several sessions and sometimes minor surgery if the infection has reached the tooth roots. But removing plaque and tartar (calcified plaque) is necessary to stop the infection and allow the gums to heal.

For mild recession, this may be enough for the gums to regain normal coverage. But in more severe cases we may need to help rejuvenate new tissue with grafting surgery. In these highly meticulous procedures a surgeon uses microscopic techniques to position and attach donated tissue to the recession site. The graft serves as a scaffold on which new tissue growth can occur.

While these treatments can be effective for reversing gum recession, they often require time, skill and expense. It’s much better to try to prevent gum recession—and gum disease—in the first place. Prevention begins with daily brushing and flossing to prevent plaque buildup, as well as regular dental visits for more thorough cleanings. Be on the lookout too for any signs of a beginning gum infection like swollen, reddened or bleeding gums and see your dentist as soon as possible to minimize any damage to your gums.

Caring for your gums is equally as important as caring for your teeth. Healthy gums equal a healthy mouth—and an attractive smile.

If you would like more information on preventing gum recession, 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.”

Periodontal (gum) disease is as common as it is destructive. Almost half of all adults 30 and older have some form—and those numbers increase to nearly three-quarters by age 65.

Fortunately, we have effective ways to treat this bacterial infection, especially if we catch it early. By thoroughly removing all plaque, the disease-causing, bacterial biofilm that accumulates on tooth surfaces, we can stop the infection and help the gums return to normal.

Unfortunately, though, you’re at a greater risk for a repeat infection if you’ve already had gum disease. To lower your chances of future occurrences, we’ll need to take your regular dental exams and cleanings to another level.

Although everyone benefits from routine dental care, if you’ve had gum disease you may see these and other changes in your normal dental visits.

More frequent visits. For most people, the frequency norm between dental cleanings and exams is about six months. But we may recommend more visits for you as a former gum disease patient: depending on the advancement of your disease, we might see you every three months once you’ve completed your initial treatment, and if your treatment required a periodontist, we may alternate maintenance appointments every three months.

Other treatments and medications. To control any increases in disease-causing bacteria, dentists may prescribe on-going medications or anti-bacterial applications. If you’re on medication, we’ll use your regular dental visits to monitor how well they’re doing and modify your prescriptions as needed.

Long-term planning. Both dentist and patient must keep an eye out for the ongoing threat of another gum infection. It’s helpful then to develop a plan for maintaining periodontal health and then revisiting and updating that plan as necessary. It may also be beneficial to perform certain procedures on the teeth and gums to make it easier to keep them clean in the future.

While everyone should take their oral health seriously, there’s even greater reason to increase your vigilance if you’ve already had gum disease. With a little extra care, you can greatly reduce your chances of another bout with this destructive and aggressive disease.

If you would like more information on preventing recurring gum disease, 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 “Periodontal Cleanings.”