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You’ve heard of cavities and tooth decay, but there’s a more subtle oral health ailment afflicting nearly 30% of children today – bruxism. Here’s what parents need to know about the problem, and how they can help their children beat it.

What is Bruxism? 

Bruxism is more commonly known as teeth-grinding, and a surprising number of children suffer from it – around 3 in 10. Teeth-grinding usually occurs while children are asleep, and it can become a dental problem if left unchecked. Regular teeth-grinding can wear down tooth enamel, reinforce improper bite patterns, and leave teeth more susceptible to cavities and decay.

What Causes Bruxism?

Bruxism can be caused by a number of external factors, including stress, anxiety, hyperactivity, and reaction to medication. Some children grind their teeth to relieve anxiety, and most are often unaware of it until the next morning. 

Symptoms of Bruxism 

Bruxism can cause headaches, earaches, facial pain and bite and jaw problems. Continual teeth-grinding can also lead to tooth enamel loss, and leave teeth more susceptible to cavities and tooth decay. Those suffering from bruxism will often report jaw and tooth pain, particularly in the back molar area.

How to Treat Bruxism 

Since the root of bruxism is varied, it can be hard to locate the exact cause. If your child is particularly stressed or anxious, try to decrease their stress right before bed by doing some stretching, or yoga. Or, encourage them to take a relaxing shower, or hot bath to help them ease into bedtime. 

If your child’s teeth-grinding is ongoing, then their dentist may prescribe a night guard to protect their teeth and mouth. A night guard helps ease the pain of tooth grinding, and protects tooth enamel from being worn away.

Does Your Child Have Bruxism? 

If you’re concerned that your child has bruxism, then visit our office. A trained dentist will evaluate your child’s mouth to determine if they suffer from bruxism, and provide a treatment plan based upon their findings. Untreated bruxism can harm your child’s oral health, and cause them to lose sleep, and negatively affect their performance at school.

Flossing is an important part of a proper oral health routine, but most people would rather go shopping for groceries than floss! To help make flossing fun, we found some of our favorite facts about floss to share with you! 

1 – Flossing removes food debris and plaque that is wedged in the hard to reach areas between teeth. This plaque buildup can lead to cavities and cause bad breath. 

2 – To floss properly, you need to use between 18 and 20 inches of floss. This helps ensure that you have enough clean floss to use, and that it is firmly grasped while in use.

3 – Irregular flossing can lead to bleeding sensitive gums, but keep flossing! If you floss consistently, the bleeding will eventually subside.

4 – Did you know that you can buy floss in just about any flavor? The most popular flavors are mint, cinnamon, and bubblegum, but you can buy more obscure flavors like wasabi or even bacon!

5 – Brushing only cleans around 70% of the surface area of teeth, leaving the cracks and spaces between teeth uncleaned. Flossing helps scrub the remaining spots, and gets teeth 100% clean!

6 – The two main types of floss are monofilament, and multifilament floss. Monofilament floss is made of plastics and rubber, while multifilament is mainly composed of nylon and silk. 

7 – People with orthodontic devices like braces can floss too! Floss threaders and proxabrushes are great ways to helps people wearing braces remove food debris from between their teeth, and stuck in their brackets or orthodontic equipment.

8 – Waxed floss is easier to slide between closely spaced teeth. If your teeth are very close together, we suggest flossing with thin waxed floss. 

Visit Our Office 

Summertime is the perfect time to bring your family into our office for a quick oral checkup. We’ll evaluate the state of your children’s teeth, and provide a treatment plan that works for them and prepares them for a mouth-healthy school year. Call our office today to schedule your appointment.  

Spit may seem like a gross subject, but it’s actually quite fascinating! The truth is, saliva plays a pivotal role in cleaning teeth, and maintaining overall oral health, making it worthy of a further look.

What is Saliva?

Saliva is a liquid made of water, mucus, proteins, minerals, and an enzyme called amylase made by the salivary glands in the mouth, cheek, and tongue and lips. It is mostly comprised of water, which makes drinking water critical for maintaining adequate levels of saliva needed for oral health.

The Problem: Food Left over in the Mouth 

Food debris left on teeth can cause some serious problems for oral health. Sticky, starchy food like bread, sticky granola bars, chips, or gummy snacks will expose teeth to sugar for longer periods of time, and cause a sustained acid attack on tooth enamel. After tooth enamel has eroded, teeth become much more susceptible to decay and cavities. To prevent sustained acid attacks, food debris needs to be washed away from teeth and gums.

How Saliva Helps 

Saliva helps prevent cavities from forming, and aids in protecting against gum disease. It naturally cleans teeth by washing away bits of food debris and preventing a prolonged acid attack on tooth enamel. Saliva also contains antimicrobial agents that help combat bad bacteria that fuels cavities.  

Saliva also keeps the mouth at a healthy ph balance, and without adequate saliva, cavities and gum disease can occur much more easily.

Saliva is Mostly Water 

Saliva is 99% water, so drinking water is the best way to stimulate saliva production. The amount of water a person needs everyday varies, but eight, 8 oz glasses of water everyday is a good place to start. Talk to your doctor about how much water you and your family members need to stay adequately hydrated.

Routine Oral Care is Best 

Adequate saliva production is a great way to help keep teeth clean, but it is no substitute for proper, routine oral care. The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry advises that everyone brushes their teeth twice per day, for two minutes each session.  It can be tough to convince your child to brush for the full two minutes, but there are some fun ways to help them achieve better brushing results. Go Online to find tooth-brushing videos for children.

Call our office to schedule an appointment for your child so that we can checkup on the state of their mouth. The summer is a great time for a quick visit that won’t cut into their valuable class time.  

Dental history is a winding story of tools and gadgets that helped humanity get healthier teeth. But, what happened when someone in the ancient world lost a tooth too soon? Here’s the odd history of fake teeth.

Old Animal Teeth 

The oldest dentures ever recorded date back to around 2500 BC, and were found in Mexico. Excavators estimate that the ancient dentures were made of wolf’s teeth, specifically, wolf molars. However, they were unable to confirm the specific animal origin of the false teeth.

Early Italy 

The Etruscans are famous for their many advances in medicine and science, and they also applied their focus to dental care. Around 700 BC, the Etruscans figured out a better way to replace teeth: by using gold wire to hold false teeth in the place of missing ones. The fake teeth were often human, or animal teeth.

Japanese Wooden Dentures 

Many methods similar to the Etruscans’ were popular until the 16th century, when Japan invented wooden dentures. These wooden dentures were made by taking softened beeswax and making an impression of the person’s teeth. Then, an artisan would hand carve teeth to match the impression, and then set the new teeth on a soft mouth guard made of beeswax.

Porcelain Hits the Scene 

France was making huge advancements in dental technology in the 18th century. In 1728, Pierre Fauchard wrote about crafting false teeth from wire brackets and hand-carved animal bone. In 1774, Alexis Duchâteau made the first porcelain dentures. While they looked aesthetically pleasing, the pure porcelain was prone to chipping and cracking.

Improved Porcelain 

In 1820, a jeweler and goldsmith named Claudius Ash made a huge advancement in denture knowledge and craftsmanship. He decided to mount porcelain on 18-karat gold plates with gold springs and swivels. This reinforced the porcelain, and resulted in dentures that work well and looked natural. 

Modern False Teeth 

In the 20th century, acrylic and rubber compounds were introduced into the construction of false teeth. Modern dentures are constructed of a blend of acrylic resin, metal, and sometimes porcelain. Now, modern consumers can purchase either partial or complete dentures, depending upon what their dentist recommends. Most sets are so meticulously built that they are easily mistaken for real teeth.