Archive for the ‘Cosmetic’ Category
Brace Yourself
Thursday, August 27th, 2009
Summer is the season, usually, to start your braces. The kids are more available to drag in to the office at all hours for the initial appointments that are necessary, and they have time to work out a good oral hygiene regimen. They start to develop a real appreciation for the concept of serious plaque. Besides being uncomfortable and inconvenient, braces can pose a serious threat to the health of your gums and teeth. Chronic infections, decay, and discoloration can result from poor maintenance and hygiene.
Our office is certified for Invisalign orthodontic therapy, and if at all possible, I highly recommend Invisalign braces from the standpoint of oral hygiene. Since they are simply clear trays that you wear over your teeth, they can be removed in order to easily and thoroughly clean your teeth. However, they’re not always possible, so many end up with the challenges that braces bring. This article is just as important for the parents, so they might get clued in on what the orthodontist has already told the kids.
To properly care for braces, just remember the computer programmer’s motto, garbage in, garbage out. It’s important to mind what you put into your mouth as well as getting all the plaque out. On the diet side, avoid anything hard, sticky, or chewy. That about says it all, but here’s a partial list to give you an idea: No fingernails, pencils, jaw breakers, jolly ranchers, peanut brittle, lollipops, tic tacs, milk duds, sweet tarts, skittles, starbursts, good and plentys, licorice, dots, beef jerky, chunky peanut butter, hard taco shells, gummi bears, taffy, popcorn, corn chips, pizza crust, nuts, hard gum, ice, corn on the cob, meat on the bone, or carbonated drinks (diet is just as bad as sugared).
To get the garbage out, you must become a fanatic about cleaning your teeth, because I don’t want you to regret it later. I see too many sad kids with gum disease, decay, and decalcification spots from inadequate cleaning. Their teeth are nice and straight, but they’re all blotchy and discolored.
Your primary tool for cleaning is the toothbrush of course, but now you need to use it after every meal and snack, and for four minutes each time so you can get every surface and every bracket. The rotary brushes are OK, but they can’t work the bristles in between the hardware. I don’t usually recommend a Waterpik, but they have an orthodontic tip that is helpful as long as you point it away from the gums. The best brush for braces though, is the Rotadent with the orthodontic tip. Additional hygiene aids are important also. To floss, you will need something to help get the floss under the wires such as plastic floss threaders or special floss with plastic tips like Superfloss. Once the floss is between the teeth, wrap it against one tooth, then the other and then gently against the brackets as you clean back and forth. The Proxabrush is an excellent aid for cleaning around the wires and where the braces contact the teeth. To avoid the pain from having the wires periodically adjusted, get a bite wafer to chew on right away.
If you need any information on where to get any of the things I mentioned, please feel free to call our office at:
(888) 551-3371 toll free
(702) 346-3371
Dr. Moulton’s article was published in the Desert Valley Times, August 2007
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Cover Up
Wednesday, July 8th, 2009
You’ve heard of it before, but maybe you don’t quite know exactly what it is. It could be a filling, or it might be a crown. It’s a veneer. In the dictionary, a veneer is a covering over the outside of something, usually to enhance its aesthetic or physical characteristics, and that’s just what it is in the mouth.
A veneer is a thin coat if porcelain or resin bonded to the face of a front tooth to make it look better and to strengthen it. If the tooth is cracked or weakened by too many fillings, a veneer may be necessary to protect it from breaking, or if the tooth or teeth are discolored or crooked, veneers are a nice, conservative and quick way to correct that. In fact, they have been called “instant orthodontics”. Although you don’t actually move the teeth with braces, they can be reshaped to instantly straighten them.
I’d like to stress the conservative aspect of doing veneers. When planning treatment, my motto is always, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”, but a broken smile is every bit an injury as a broken tooth. And when doing a veneer, less tooth tissue is removed than most other types of restorations. It’s like the front half of a crown, but since there is no metal, it can be made super thin, and it looks more natural because it’s translucent like your own enamel.
There are basically two kinds of materials you can use to make veneers, plastic resin and a hybrid porcelain which is non-abrasive. The plastic is less expensive, but usually isn’t as durable. Its average life expectancy is 5 years, whereas, the porcelain is about twice that, and it is more translucent and natural-looking. These are all considerations your dentist can discuss with you based on your particular circumstances.
Dr. Moulton’s article was published in the Desert Valley Times, March 2007
Tags: hybrid porcelain, instant orthodontics, plastic resin, porcelain, resin, restorations, veneer
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