We Use Media in Our Dental Office to Encourage Proper Hygiene Habits

In our dental office, we understand the importance that good oral hygiene can play in the long-term health of your teeth. Things like cavities and gum disease can often be prevented with ongoing health care.  Simultaneously, this starts young.  Waiting until you are an adult to start brushing and flossing will result in many cavities along the way.  We get it, and that’s why we want your child to start healthy habits now.  This can often be easier said than done and with that in mind, we have some solutions for you.

First, you have to consider what is age appropriate for your child.  What you use with a preschooler is going to be totally different than what you try with a teenager. The one thing that works for all ages is a tutorial.  We encourage you to play a short video for all of your kids about how to brush their teeth properly. They should really watch this twice a year, regardless of how old they are. This is a simple reminder and will be easier than you trying to remind them all of the time. We know that telling them to brush differently can lead to conflict where a video is more approachable.

If you are trying to get your teens to brush, we recommend that you start with a trip to our dental office so that we can encourage them to do so and remind them of the benefits. We then suggest using something like music to get them to brush for two minutes at a time. Simply find out what their favorite song is, grab your smartphone, and play it every morning while they brush their teeth.  This will help them to wake up and get in a better mood while also ensuring that they brush for the full amount of time.  You can also tie oral health in with rewards.  In our dental office, we recommend using things that are free and easy so this can be as simple as letting them stay up later or go to a friends house on Friday if they remember to brush their teeth without being told.

For younger kids, we suggest that you visit the American Dental Association website. They have a section of two-minute videos that you can play for your kids.  These are not boring instructional videos but popular cartoons like Adventure Time.  Since they play for exactly two minutes, when the video is up, your kids can put the toothbrush down. This is so much easier than timing them with a stopwatch and will make teeth brushing a fun family activity instead of something to fight over.  In our dental office, we know that if you can make these positive associations now and encourage your kids to form healthy habits, they will stick with them as they age.  This means that they will have a reduced risk of getting cavities as an adult and be healthier overall.

How Can a Periodontist Improve My Oral Health?

If you are looking for ways to improve your oral health, seeing someone with experience in periodontist work will be a great start. Dentists can provide many beneficial services to encourage good oral health, but not all dentists can offer you the extensive knowledge that someone with periodontal specialties can. As one, we can provide exceptional care for all your teeth and gums. If you are looking for preventative or restorative care, we can offer you both.

How can a periodontist help me?

One of the areas we specialize in is gum health.  Gum recession plagues many people. If this includes you, we can help to restore your gums to perfect health. Receding gums can cause discomfort and future problems of decay and oral health damage. We can offer you care that will eliminate this problem and help you to conquer the damage that it has left behind. Some of the procedures we offer include gum grafts and guided tissue regeneration to encourage the regrowth of your gums.  This will improve your appearance and your health.

If you have noticed swelling or bleeding in your gums, give us a call. These signs may mean that you have a gum infection or periodontal disease. These problems can be detrimental to your health and lead to gum recession. As a periodontist, we know how to find the reason behind this problem and how to provide treatments to calm inflamed gums and to heal your areas of injury.  Often, your gums will become inflamed due to a buildup of plaque and bacteria.  This can be addressed by performing a deep cleaning to remove the irritant. Afterwards, your gums are likely to return to good health. 

Give us a call if...

If you have noticed loose teeth, we should take a look at your teeth immediately. Loose teeth can mean you have periodontal disease and that you should be treated. As a periodontist, we can provide root planing to remove current bacterial infections in order to stop further decay and damage. By treating your loose teeth now, you can avoid further damage and permanent tooth loss. 

Examples of the procedures we perform.

As a dentist with experience in periodontics, we can offer you both non-surgical and surgical options for treatment. We know what works and what will provide lasting results for both gum disease and replacing lost teeth. Whether you have lost teeth to periodontal disease or another injury, we can perform implant surgery to replace them. Our implants are durable and long lasting. They are also incredibly natural looking. If you have suffered from gum recession, we can give you a successful gum graft to improve the appearance and feel of your gums. Whether you have cosmetic or non-cosmetic problems you want to be changed, we can give you the best care available.

Due to the wide variety of procedures that we perform, if you have any oral health issues, we recommend that you call and schedule a dental exam.