Children May Also Need Mouth Guards

Dental hygienists can provide guidance by identifying children who are at increased risk of dental trauma and discussing this risk with them and their parents. The permanent dentition of children begins to erupt around the age of 6-7 years. Children with permanent dentitions who have an increased overjet are at higher risk of dental trauma. A normal overjet is 0 -3 mm. Children who have twice the normal overjet 3-6 mm, experience twice the number of injuries to the teeth. These children are easy to identify and dental hygienists should educate them and their parents about the increased risk of dental trauma and provide guidance on what to do if an oral injury occurs.

These children with increased overjet should wear protective mouthguards when playing contact sports. Typically, kids will only wear mouthguards when they are required to, but many injuries occur when playing unorganized sports, such as skateboarding, riding a bicycle or even jumping on a tramapoline. Dental hygienists should encourage children with increased overjet to wear a mouthguard even during these everyday activities.

Treating Pregnant Patients

Dental professionals have long worried about treating pregnant patients because the effects of oral health care on fetuses are not well understood. In 2006, the Obstetrics and Periodontal Therapy Trial was conducted through funding from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research. This study determined that providing dental and periodontal care to pregnant patients did not cause an increase in preterm births or any other significant complications. A new study followed up on the study participants and their children. Researchers administered cognitive and language tests to the children of 411 inital study participants. Study authors found that the children of mothers who received dental care during pregnancy were at the same neurodevelopmental level as the children of control group mothers, demonstrating that dental treatment of pregnant women does not result in any negative effects on their children.

The opposite effect can be true, with the increase of pre-term births and low birth weight babies among women who have periodontal disease. Therfore, it is so important to have good oral care while pregnant - so go out there and make that dental appointment to get your teeth clened.

Smoking and Risk for Periodontitis

The impact on periodontitis by smoking is alarming. Thirty percent of Americans have moderate to severe periodontitis; this represents approximately 93 million people. In addition, the institutions that we trust to keep our statistics up to date have warned that our current estimates under-represent the number of actual cases of periodontitis by as much as 50 percent. Suddenly, it seems that periodontitis is even more prevalent that we once thought.

If so many people have periodontitis, what are the causes? We know that periodontal diseases are multi-factoral and can be impacted by systemic disease, medication, personal oral hygiene, and genetics, but the greatest single modifiable behavior associated with the disease is smoking. At least 20 percent of periodontitis cases are attributed to smoking.

It is common knowledge that smoking is a vasodilator, but less well-known is that smoking heavily influences the immune response, in more ways than decreased blood flow. For instance, nicotine and carbon monoxide found in cigarette smoke negatively influence wound healing. In fact, patients who smoke are expected to respond less favorably, or unfavorably to periodontal treatment.

The Surgeon General has made statements recognizing the dangers of cigarette smoke, and has linked smoking to causation of periodontal disease. So while no formal name exists for smoking- induced periodontitis, we do know that smoking causes periodontitis in a dose-dependent relationship.

Fluoride Varnish

Fluoride varnish is one of the most common chairside treatments in the fight against dentin hypersensitivity. Applied chairside, fluoride varnish creates a barrier to adverse stimuli by occluding tubules through concentrated calcium fluoride on the tooth surface. This solidifies and blocks the open dentin tubules, reducing permeability and hypersensitivity.

Fluoride varnish is easily applied and although thorough drying of all tooth surfaces is recommended, varnish can set in the presence of saliva. Fluoride varnish's disposable unit-dose application provides for simple chairside treatment. These varnish products have also benefited from advances in flavor and color, which have increased patient acceptance.

Now with the use of fluoride varnish we have the ability to greatly improve the quality of life of our patients.

Oral Pathology

Meticulous examination and extensive documentation of existing conditions observed from intraoral and extraoral exams are imperative to the total assessment of paients for proper treatment planning. Lesions are often identified without the patient even knowing they exist because they are asymptomatic. It is the dental professionals responsibility to make every effort possible to detect suspicious lesions early and rule out the presence of oral cancer.

Suwanee Dental Care Blood Drive

Friday August 12, 2011 from 10:00 am - 3:00 pm there will be a Blood Drive being done by the American Red Cross. The Blood Drive will be at Suwanee Dental Care at 4355 Suwanee Dam Road , Suwanee Ga. 30024. Your donation will be highly appreciated. Please contact Linda Smith @ (770)614-7300 to schedule an appointment to donate !

Saving Stem Cells in Lost Teeth

One day the tooth fairy may save your life - that is, if your tooth fairy is an oral maxillofacial surgeon. About ten years ago, National Institutes of Health researchers discovered stem cells in dental pulp, cells that may hold keys to curing diseases like diabetes, heart failure, lupus, cancer, Parkinson;s and Crohn's. Some dentists may now offer patients the option of banking wisdom or other extracted teeth as "biological insurance" for potential regenerative therapies. These teeth are sent to a New York based laboratory called StemSave, which extracts, cryopreserves, and stores the stem cells. The cost is $590 for initial processing and $100 annually - a significant tab when there are no proven therapies yet.