Protecting Yourself from Oral Cancer in Riverside

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will explain your risk for oral cancer and what you can do to protect your quality of life.

Oral Cancer Risk Factors

Knowing your risk is half the battle against oral cancer. While and smokeless tobacco use top the list for heightening your chances of oral cancer, other lifestyle habits can contribute as well. For instance, using tanning beds or excessive sun exposure can also increase your oral cancer risk. Wear lip balm with SPF to protect your lips from harmful rays. Alcoholism can also contribute to oral cancer, especially in conjunction with smoking or chewing tobacco. If you have a chemical dependency, our Riverside dentists can help you find support for quitting dangerous habits.

The Importance of Dental Checkups

Some risk factors for mouth cancer are unavoidable. Your risk increases if you have a family history of oral cancer or if you are over the age of forty. If you know you have any of these risk factors, regular with every dental checkup and cleaning to spot signs of oral cancer early.

Signs of Oral Cancer

At your next dental checkup, here are some signs of oral cancer for which we will meticulously search:

  • Red or white, splotchy mouth sores
  • Ulcers that have not healed in over a week
  • Changes in your
  • Chronic throat pain or hoarseness
  • Lumps in your neck and head
  • Painful swallowing
  • Sudden weight loss (more…)

All About Flossing from Your Moreno Valley Dentist

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will explain the ins and outs of flossing, from why flossing is important, to how to remind yourself to floss daily.

Why is flossing important?

starts very small. Colonies of plaque and bacteria congregate around your teeth and gum lines where brushing often misses. As the colonies grow, your gum tissue becomes infected and develops gingivitis, the earliest form of gum disease. Flossing disrupts these colonies of plaque and disperses food particles and bacteria between your teeth.

How do I floss properly?

Flossing should take you no longer than a couple of minutes. You may prefer waxed or mint-flavored floss; just make sure the floss is American Dental Association approved. Here are some flossing instructions:

  • Start by unwinding about a forearms length of floss or longer.
  • Wind the floss around each of your middle fingers on both ends.
  • Use your forefingers and your thumbs to guide the floss between each tooth.
  • Make a “C” Shape with the floss in every possible direction behind and in between your teeth.
  • Unwind a clean section of floss each time you move to another tooth.
  • Avoid snapping the floss against your gum tissue.
  • Throw away the floss when you have finished.
  • Remind yourself to floss daily by leaving the container on the sink in plain sight, setting a phone reminder, or sticking a post-it to your mirror. (more…)

All About White Fillings from Your Corona Dentist

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What are white fillings?

These .

Why are fillings important?

Your teeth are not self-healing. This means that when your tooth becomes infected, professional dental care is vital to prevent the spread of tooth decay. Untreated cavities will travel deeper into your tooth’s layers, damaging your tooth enamel, breaching your soft layer of dentin, and eventually infecting your sensitive dental pulp. Fillings stop the progression of bacteria from tooth decay and build back the tooth structure lost to a cavity.

What are the advantages of white fillings?

These aesthetic fillings are discrete, as opposed to traditional darker metal fillings. Only you and our Corona dentist will know you have had dental work, so you can laugh out loud with confidence that you filling will be inconspicuous. Additionally, composite resin fillings allow for minimally invasive procedures. Conservative dentistry with means keeping as much healthy tooth structure as possible while addressing tooth decay. White fillings are also convenient. Our Corona dentist can place and complete your dental filling in one office visit.

White Fillings in Corona, CA

To learn more about dental fillings and addressing cavities, contact our at 951-273-9580.

 

Nutrition and Your Children’s Oral Health in Temecula

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By now, children have been back to school long enough to establish a routine. Are healthy lunches a part of your child’s day? We trust our schools to provide nutritious lunch options when kids purchase lunch at school. Now, the American Dental Association is officially supporting legislation passed by Congress to make changes in the lunches being offered at public schools. Citing the connection between oral and overall health, the ADA issued a statement saying that tooth decay is “the single most common chronic childhood disease.” Your Temecula Valley dentists explain the goal of reducing sodium, fat, and sugar contents in school lunches for better overall health and fewer cavities.

Nutrition and Oral Health

The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) utilizes federal assistance to provide free, or low-cost, school lunches to as many as 31 million children, each day. However, the program required some revisions after 15 years. Nutrition advocates, including the ADA, weighed in on the types of changes necessary to update the program. The ADA pointed out that the body is “a complex machine,” and reiterated what an important role food plays in attaining good general and oral health. (more…)

Riverside Dentists Visit the History of Dentistry

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Learning about the lives and habits of humans passed can be interesting. Considering the advancements of dentistry today, you may wonder how our ancestors must have corrected the dental problems of their times. Discoveries of ancient remains have shown that as early as 7000 BC, humans seemed to have already attempted to alleviate tooth discomfort. In this article, your Riverside dentists outline the milestones that the art of dentistry has taken throughout history.

Tooth Care Through Time

  • Remains from a Neolithic graveyard in Pakistan contain teeth with near-perfect holes carved out of their centers. The teeth, which dated back to approximately 7000 BC, were molars (located in the back of the mouth), so cosmetics were not likely a motivation for the dental work.
  • Researchers have recently discovered a 6,500 year old human jaw bone with an interesting story to tell. A tooth attached to the bone showed traces of beeswax filling, which experts believe was intended to reduce discomfort from a vertical crack in the tooth’s enamel. (more…)

Riverside Dentists Discuss Academic Stress and Oral Health

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Another school year just began, which means many students are hitting the books and letting their usual oral hygiene habits fall by the wayside. This is especially true during stressful exam weeks, when students often sleep less, consume more caffeine and tobacco, and experience a great amount of pressure and anxiety that can potentially cause dental health problems such as bruxism, temporomandibular joint disorder (TMD), and gum inflammation.

The Link Between Stress and Oral Health Problems

A recent study was conducted that examined the effect that academic stress has on gum health. Students were assessed four weeks prior to final exams, and again on the last day of exams. Out of all participants, 23% developed severe gingivitis over the four-week period. Gingivitis is an early phase of gum disease, which is a chronic bacterial infection of the periodontal (gum) tissue. Researchers believe the correlation between stress and gum disease is due to students neglecting their normal oral hygiene habits when they are under pressure. Bruxism (teeth grinding) often occurs due to high amounts of stress, as does TMJ disorder. Also, stress reduces the amount of saliva produced by the mouth, which increases the risk of tooth decay, as saliva normally protects teeth from decay by washing away harmful acids and bacteria that are responsible for cavities. (more…)

Dental Associates of Riverside Discuss Tobacco Use and Oral Health

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When people think of health issues related to smoking, lung cancer and other respiratory-related illnesses usually come to mind. However, smoking can have detrimental effects on your oral health, as well. Today, our Riverside dentists share some facts about the hazards of tobacco use.

Tobacco and Your Oral Health

  • Research suggests that tobacco use may be one of the leading causes of periodontal disease.
  • Studies show that smokers have more tartar buildup than nonsmokers. Tartar is a buildup of plaque (the sticky film that forms on your teeth naturally every day) that hardens. You cannot remove tartar by brushing or flossing, it must be removed by a dental professional.
  • Studies also show that smokers are three to six times more likely to have gum degeneration than nonsmokers.
  • Smoking makes the treatment of gum disease very difficult because smoking prevents healing in the mouth.
  • Smokers are less likely to experience redness and bleeding of the gums, so spotting gum disease is very difficult.
  • Of the people who have mouth cancer and some types of throat cancers, about 90% have used tobacco.
  • All tobacco products can pose a threat to gum health, including cigars, pipe tobacco, and smokeless tobacco.
  • A study conducted at Temple University showed that 18% of people who had formerly smoked tobacco from a pipe or a cigar had moderate to severe gum disease, which is three times the amount found in nonsmokers.
  • Gums can recede due to smokeless tobacco.
  • Smokers are six times more likely to develop mouth cancer or some type of throat cancer than nonsmokers.

Dental Implants Explained by Riverside Dental Group Associates

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More than half of Americans will have lost one or more teeth by the time they reach their middle years.The most common causes for tooth loss include gum disease, tooth decay, sports injuries, automobile collisions, and accidental falls. However, the result is always the same: that missing tooth can have an adverse impact your quality of life and your overall appearance. Missing teeth make it harder to speak and eat normally. They also increase your risk for tooth decay and gum disease which could lead to significant health problems later in life. Traditionally, dental professionals have used removable bridges and dentures to replace missing teeth and while these solutions work for some people, other want a solution that offers more stability. That solution just might be dental implants.

The Anatomy of a Dental Implant

Implants refer to an artificial tooth root resembling a metal screw. During a dental surgery procedure, your dentist literally implants these screws into your jaw. After the bone heals around the implant securing it into place in a process called osseointegration, (more…)

Corona Dentists Discuss the Dangers of Tongue Piercings

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strongly advise against getting an oral piercing. Below you will find more detailed descriptions of the potential damages of oral piercings.

Chipped Teeth

For those who have had a tongue piercing for four or more years, 47% have chipped teeth. Chipping can occur while people sleep, talk, eat, or chew on the jewelry used in the piercing. For the lucky ones, the chipping only damages the enamel of the tooth, and a simple filling or bonding procedure can repair the damage. For others, the fracture may extend deeper into the tooth, resulting in the need for crowns, root canal therapy, or tooth extraction.

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