Mead Family Dental

I really should...

• ...stop eating this way.  Donuts for breakfast, fast food at lunch and extra helpings at dinner are really catching up with me.  The doctor has told me for years that my diet is the reason that my cholesterol is so high and that I'm looking at dealing with type II diabetes as I get older...
• ...exercise more often.  I haven't been active on a regular basis for a long time.  It's embarrassing, but sometimes the stairs make me a little winded!  I used to be on the track team when I was in high school.  It would be a lot easier to lose this weight if I just added 30-40 minutes of walking or picked tennis back up...
• ...quit smoking.  It's not like I don't know it's bad for me.  You can't turn on the TV or listen to the radio without hearing some new study describing the health effects of smoking.  I would love to not worry about my breath or the smell on my clothes anymore, too...
• ...floss every day.  Every time I see my dental hygienist she reminds me that my gums are bleeding for a reason.  I don't like to have to see the dentist for fillings and bleeding gums can't be normal.  Maybe my breath would be better if I took a little better care...

O.K.  Be honest.  Has the little voice in the back of your mind ever said any of these things to you?  Mine has.  Usually when I'm going through the drive thru at Long John Silver's.  Clearly all of these things are important and as a health care professional I recommend that you take each one seriously if it applies to you.  As a person, I'd like to point out that one of those items is quite a bit easier to add to your lifestyle.  If you aren't sure which one, read them again.  If you still aren't sure, remember that I'm a dentist and this blog talks a lot about teeth and dental care.  

Here's the deal.  Get yourself some floss* and put it in the shower.  When you've got the shampoo in your hair, rinse those fingers and pull out a nice long piece.  Take a minute or two and floss those pearly whites.  We've already determined that flossing is gross, but necessary.  Since you're in the shower, you can rinse your mouth and your hands as soon as you're done!  It's a perfect solution, if I do say so myself.  

Then, the next time that little voice in your head bugs you about what you really should do, you can remind it that you've already taken some positive steps!

Now, put down that donut and get to work!

*you can get free floss at our office.  Call to make an appointment at (989) 799-9133 or email me at alan@meadfamilydental.com.  We'd be happy to have you!

I'm good, but I'm not that good

A root canal on a lion?  I'll leave that to the specialists...

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Transmissible

You just had your teeth cleaned.  The doctor is about to examine your teeth and you're crossing your fingers.   The mantra "don't find anything" runs through your head over and over again.  It's a roll of the dice.  Will he find cavities or not?

Most patients think of cavities as an occasional inconvenience that their dentist finds.  A random stroke of bad luck that means another appointment or two with the doctor.  But really tooth decay or dental caries is a disease that is spread similarly to the common cold.  

Tooth decay bugs are spread by oral transmission.  Basically we mean direct contact (kissing) or indirect contact (sharing a glass or spoon).  If you swap saliva in some way, you're sharing cavity bugs.  I know, I know...it's gross.  But let's face it, we human beings tend to kiss on each other (and our babies) and sometimes share glasses or silverware.  We need to be careful who we're sharing with!  Does that new boyfriend you're kissing have any cavities that need attention?  Are you spreading your cavity bugs to that newborn baby?  

In a previous post I described a cavity as a hole in the tooth created by the acid waste products of bacteria.  That much is true, but we're not talking about a clean and sterile hole in the tooth.  This hole is actually a perfect place for cavity causing (acid loving) bugs to live and reproduce.  Each cavity is actually a nidus (or nest) of infection.    So after you've thoroughly brushed and flossed your teeth or even after a cleaning by your dental hygienist when all the surface plaque and bacteria has been removed an unrestored cavity is a hideout for cavity bugs.  These bad bugs can reinfect your clean mouth in a matter of hours.  

What I'm saying is...you really shouldn't wait to take care of tooth decay.  It isn't as simple as just fixing the hole that's there.  That hole is a bacterial hideout of the worst kind that's waiting to reinfect your clean mouth and infect the people who are closest to you.  

Now that I've sufficiently grossed you out doesn't that make you want to have a dentist make sure you don't have any bacterial nests lurking in your teeth?  I'd be happy to help you toward a clean bill of dental health!  If you have any questions or would like to make an appointment email me at alan@meadfamilydental.com or call the office at (989) 799-9133 and we'll take a look right away!

 

 

On chewing gum

Chewing gum can be good for your teeth.  It also can be bad for your teeth and your jaw joint.  Chewing gum will stimulate saliva, which is the major natural defense your teeth have against cavities.  

There are two rules that I have for chewing gum.  Two and a half, really.  They are simple and they are to be followed.  Failure to follow them may cause this Saginaw dentist to hunt you down, call you silly names and revoke your license to chew.

1. Chew sugarless gum.  Preferably containing Xylitol.  There are so many foods and drinks that have an insane amount of sugar in them and many of these don't have good sugarless options.  There are a ton of really good sugarless gums.  They'll stimulate saliva flow after meals and make your mouth feel fresh but they don't give cavity bugs anything to eat.  Win-win.
2. Chew for 5 minutes or when the flavor is gone, whichever is shorter.  The hard core gum chewers hate this.  Your jaw joints suffer wear and tear like any other joints.  I recommend that you don't overuse them.  I would compare gum chewing all day long with cracking your knuckles.  It's a kind of nervous habit.  My evidence is completely anecdotal, but patients that are heavy gum chewers often have a "jaw pop."  It doesn't necessarily lead to problems or pathology, but it can be annoying.  So don't chew too long.

     2.5. If you have braces or an orthodontic appliance, don't chew gum.

These are the rules.  You know the consequences.  Chew wisely.

 

Questions?  Comments?  Do hard core gum chewers want to send me angry emails?  Email me at: alan@meadfamilydental.com.  I return all of my own email and would be happy to answer questions!

The Toothbrush Family

I was remembering a cartoon series about a family of toothbrushes.  There was a toothbrushing song that had stuck in my mind for 30 years ago and I finally googled it.  The cartoon is called "The Toothbrush Family."  And here is the song!  Enjoy!

diet pop, obesity and stroke: evaluating medical claims critically

Recent headlines suggest that those who drink diet soda are more likely to have cardiovascular problems, specifically stroke.  Let's review some of the headlines:

"Diet pop can be hard on your heart"

"Want to have a stroke?  Keep drinking diet sodas"

"Diet Drinks Help Waist, But Still Lead to Heart Problems, Stroke"

"Drinking diet pop might increase risk or stroke"

If you don't look any harder you could walk away with the idea that drinking diet soda will lead to strokes.  And if you're anything like me, this will lodge in your mind until the next sensational headline tells you something else that many people do on a regular basis is unhealthy and damaging.

Does drinking diet soda really make you more likely to have a stroke?  A stroke is damage to the brain due to a temporary interruption of the blood supply.  It's very similar to the damage to the heart during a heart attack.  What exactly is it in diet soda that makes it more likely for a stroke to happen?  According to the articles this same risk isn't found in people who drink regular soda.  So are we to assume that it's the artificial sweeteners?  

This is a perfect example of preliminary "science" prevented as fact used as a scare tactic.  Many news sources have gotten honest about the source of this information, but many others have not.  Retractions or good explanations of the methods don't make headlines, but scare tactics do.  

The correlation between diet soda and stroke was made in a poster presentation at the "International Stroke Conference."  Poster presentations are not the same as peer reviewed medical journals and definitely do not carry the weight of medical consensus.  This misinterpretation is not the fault of the scientists presenting the poster so much as the media drawing unsupported conclusions.  Simply stated, the connection presented has not been studied enough to make the statements that a lot of news sources are making.

Most news stories do not bother to mention that correlation isn't the same thing as causation.  There very well could be a correlation between intake of diet soda and stroke, but by no means does that mean drinking diet soda causes strokes.  It's that the individual data points of stroke risk and diet soda intake are often found together.   Perhaps overweight and obese people, who are clearly more likely to have strokes and heart attacks, are more likely to report drinking diet soda because they are attempting to lose weight.  Perhaps there really is some stroke inducing ingredient in diet soda.  The study that is referred to really doesn't make that evident.  There needs to be a lot of research and verification to reach a point where causation of disease can be determined.

The news media and others reporting the "drinking diet soda = greater stroke risk" are jumping the gun.  They're not interested in reality as much as a good story.  A story that might frighten you, but will hopefully be forgotten until the next scary headline.  

Is this ever done in dentistry?  I think it is.  I'll discuss that in another blog soon!

 

Take it from "The Chopper" (or don't)

Carrot sticks...yes Pumpernickel...O.K. but use caution.  Olive pits, ice, Gobstoppers...just say no.

By the time it hurts, it's expensive or "why I wish cavities hurt more"

I can see the headline now: "Saginaw dentist wishes cavities hurt more!"  Film at 11.

Let's get this out of the way right away.  I don't want patients to have more pain with their teeth.  It's just that most cavities don't hurt.  Patients hardly ever feel a cavity.  Most of the time a cavity becomes noticeable when food gets caught in it.  By the time it hurts there's probably been irreversible damage to the pulp (nerve and blood vessel deep inside the tooth).  

Another painless dental problem is periodontal disease or "gum disease."  A combination of bacterial toxins and immune system reactions can cause a patient to lose the bone support surrounding their teeth.  Over time this causes a chronic inflammation in the gums and can, over time, cause tooth loss.  It sounds horribly painful when I describe it like that.  But it's actually painless.  

In moderation, pain will cause us to withdraw from a harmful stimulus.  For instance, you yank your hand away from the hot stove.  The pain of a burn, or even a potential burn, causes a quick response which actually helps you avoid more serious injury.  

We don't have that with long term, slow moving dental diseases like tooth decay and gum disease.  And it's kind of too bad.  

More headlines...this one says, "Saginaw dentist thinks it's too bad that gum disease and cavities aren't more painful."

It's just that by the time something is painful we've probably added acute inflammation and often infection into the mix.  This makes treatment more expensive and less predictable.  So if you could feel a cavity earlier, maybe we could fix it when it's cheaper and less expensive to fix.  That's all I'm saying.  Really.

Dentists don't really need much help getting bad press.  So I should probably stop while I'm ahead!

Questions, comments or complaints with this post?  Do you want to make an appointment with Saginaw's premiere blogging dentist? (Me.  I mean me! ;-) )  Call the office at (989) 799-9133 or email me at alan@meadfamilydental.com.  I'd love to hear from you!

 

Top 5 Xylitol sweets for your sweetie on Valentine's Day!

I've already suggested what not to give on Valentine's Day.  Here's some suggestions for a "tooth-friendly" Valentine's Day sweets for your sweetie!

5. Sparx Berry Candy  

4. Xylitol Lollipops  

3. Ricochet Sours  

2. Caramels and Chews  

1. Dr. John's Hard candies  

 

We hope you have a sweet Valentine's Day!

Worst Valentine's Day gift ever...

I'm just trying to look out for you.  Whatever you do...don't get your sweetie this for Valentine's Day.

Don't say I didn't warn you.