6 Tips to prevent gum disease

1. Practice Good Oral Hygiene

Although this may seem obvious, good oral care is crucial for healthy gums. Brushing your teeth is not enough, especially when it comes to gum disease. You should add flossing to your routine to reduce the risk of plaque building up and damaging your gums. Using a antimicrobial mouthwash low in alcohol can also be very beneficial to your oral health.

2. Increase Your Vitamin C Intake

Vitamin C deficiencies have been found to be one of the leading causes of gum disease. Incorporating more vitamin C in your diet will not only help prevent gum disease from developing, but it can also treat and, in some cases, cure gum disease. Vitamin C has healing properties that can stop your gums from swelling, receding, bleeding, and can also stabilize loosened teeth.

3. Eat a Healthy Diet

Nothing helps more in preventing gum disease than maintaining a healthy diet. Be sure to avoid sugary foods and drinks as they lead to tooth decay and gum damage. Eating a balanced and nutritious diet filled with vitamins and minerals boosts your immunity and helps ward off many diseases, including gum disease.

4. Stay Hydrated

Staying hydrated is necessary in preventing gum disease, as well as promoting overall health. Drinking plenty of water produces more saliva which helps fight off bacteria that can cause your gums to become infected.

5. Stop Smoking

Smoking cigarettes and using tobacco products has been known to cause countless health issues, especially gum disease. Tobacco products are very harmful to your gum tissues and should be avoided at all cost.

6. See Your Dentist Regularly

Seeing your dentist regularly cannot be stressed enough. Getting your teeth professionally cleaned is a great preventative measure to take in regards to gum disease. Also, it’s important to visit your dentist regularly so they can check for any warning signs of gum disease and other dental issues

Visit our Website, www.EldenDental.com or call (703)689-2480 to schedule an appointment.

5 Worst behaviors for your teeth

Using the Wrong Toothbrush

Using a brush that’s too hard can cause your gums to recede and abrasion damage to tooth root surfaces. A soft-bristled, multi-tufted brush is ideal.

Brushing Too Forcefully and Frequently

Even with the right brush, you can still damage teeth and irritate gyms by applying it too forcefully. A gentle whisking is all that’s needed to break up bacterial plaque buildup on tooth surfaces. Ask your dentist about the proper technique if you’re not sure.
Brushing too often can also be damaging over time. Twice a day — morning and night — is sufficient.
And, brushing immediately after eating can erode tooth enamel, which is weakened by acidity in foods and beverages. Wait at least 30 minutes.

Nail Biting

This nervous habit exerts “parafunctional” (outside what’s normal) bite forces that can wear down teeth and cause small fractures and chips.

Grinding and Clenching

Bruxing, the dental term for tooth grinding as well as jaw clenching, exerts excessive bite forces that can result in tooth wear, fractures or looseness, jaw pain and other symptoms. It often occurs while people sleep; a night guard can help protect against damage.

Chewing Ice Cubes

Some blenders have special blades to crunch through ice cubes; imagine the effect of doing the same thing with your teeth! The force it takes your teeth (and jaws) to crunch through frozen water is far beyond what they’re designed to withstand.

 

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Can you cure chronic bad breath?

If you suffer from chronic bad breath and have always wondered if there is a cure, then you are not alone. Bad breath affects 50% of the U.S. population in the middle aged and older category—not to mention the stench of smokers' breath in the 20-25% of the U.S. population who smoke. These are just a few of the reasons the fresh-breath industry (gum, mints, mouth rinses) is a 3 BILLION dollar industry. Generally speaking, yes, you can cure or at least control bad breath; however, you must first work with your dental professional to determine what is causing your halitosis (bad breath).

Visit our Website, www.EldenDental.com or call (703)689-2480 to schedule an appointment.

6 tips to help tooth erosion

Don't rush to brush: Waiting for 30 to 60 minutes after sipping on a soda gives teeth time to re-mineralize (essentially re-harden) after the acid softens the surface enamel. Basically, the saliva neutralizes the effects of the acid, by serving as a buffer. Intuitively you might think that brushing right away is the best thing to do, but it isn’t, it will remove the softened surface enamel. Eating cheese also helps neutralize the effects of acid.

Use a straw: If your child has a taste for juice that she just can't shake, serve beverages with a straw. Drinking through a straw will minimize contact between acidic beverages and tooth surfaces thereby reducing dissolution of the enamel.
Cash in on calcium: Calcium is added to many beverages to up their nutritional ante, and research has shown that the presence of calcium not only may reduce the erosive potential of soft drinks, but it may also increase remineralization.
Explore natural alternatives: While children are young and impressionable maintain them on milk and water as their main fluids, keeping them away from acidic drinks and beverages. If this proves unrealistic as they get older, at least limit their ingestion of more acidic beverages to mealtimes when the saliva flow is high, and will neutralize acids more efficiently.
Only brush twice a day: Over-brushing can lead to other problems such as receding gums and the wearing down of enamel. Brush efficiently twice a day with fluoride toothpaste!
Don't eat before bed: (No, this isn't a diet tip.) It takes saliva about an hour to neutralize acids in your mouth, but saliva flow dramatically decreases when you sleep. That's why it's best to finish your last meal/snack at least an hour before bed.

Visit our Website, www.EldenDental.com or call (703)689-2480 to schedule an appointment.

Is constantly chewing gum harming you?

Are you one of those people who is known for always chewing gum at home, work, everywhere? If so, you may have wondered if your habit is causing any long-term damage to your teeth and jaws. Based on what is currently known, there is no real evidence that chewing gum is bad for your jaws. However, depending on the type of gum you are chewing, it may be bad for your teeth. If you chew gum, avoid those packed with sugar and instead select gum that contains Xylitol, a special sugar alcohol that not only tastes sweet but also inhibits the bacteria that cause decay.

Visit our Website, www.EldenDental.com or call (703)689-2480 to schedule an appointment.

The importance of flossing

Flossing removes plaque and food that gets stuck in between the teeth that your toothbrush can’t reach. If that plaque stays there, it can dull your smile and cause teeth to decay. Flossing also helps to prevent cavities and gum disease. Healthy mouths can also help prevent other diseases such as stroke, heart disease, and diabetes. By removing that hard-to-reach plaque, you can even help to fight bad breath.

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The impact that stress has on your teeth

As with the rest of your body, stress can have a huge impact on your oral health. Whether you are bruxing (grinding) your teeth in your sleep or clenching your jaws every time your boss speaks, you may be causing excessive tooth wear, loosening your teeth, or getting painful joints (TMD—Temporomandibular Joint Disorder). However, the good news is that by seeking treatment from your dentist, your issues should be fixable before you cause permanent damage. With a custom-made occlusal (bite) guard, generally worn during sleep, you can protect your teeth, joints, and muscles from ongoing damage

Visit our Website, www.EldenDental.com or call (703)689-2480 to schedule an appointment.

 

Toothbrushes: manual or battery powered

Technology impacts almost everything we do each day, so why should it be any different when it comes to your toothbrush? While some dentists feel that “it's not the brush as much as the hand that holds it,” the Cochrane Collaboration, an independent nonprofit organization dedicated to providing evidence-based reporting of scientific based studies, found a modest but statistically significant reduction in plaque and gingivitis when comparing powered toothbrush use to manual brushing.

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