Tooth Extractions

A tooth extraction is one of the most distressing dental procedures. A tooth extraction is taking the tooth out of its socket. A dentist will pull the tooth out of the bone.

If tooth decay causes your tooth to become cracked or damaged, the tooth might need to be removed. Your dentist will probably try to repair it with a filling or crown; however, in some cases, the tooth is beyond repair, so it needs to be extracted.

In addition, you might require tooth extraction if you have too many teeth in one area, and your mouth is too crowded. The permanent teeth come in before your baby teeth fall out, so the baby teeth need to be removed or other problems can occur. If you need braces, some teeth might need to be eliminated to make room for the teeth to become straight.

In some instances, individuals who are receiving cancer drugs could develop teeth problems. Radiation or chemotherapy could cause infection in a tooth because the drugs make the immune system weaker. If your teeth become infected, they need to be removed.

One of the most common types of teeth that need to be extracted is wisdom teeth. These teeth can cause pain, or they can become decayed. Sometimes they get impacted in the jaw, which can irritate the gums. Pain and swelling usually occurs, so the tooth needs to be removed.

When your dentist to evaluate your teeth, they will take an x-ray to decide the best way to eliminate the tooth. Before the procedure, he will ask you about your medical and dental history and if you are allergic to any medications. In some cases, antibiotics will be prescribed before the surgery to eliminate the risk of an infection.

The extraction might be able to be a simple extraction, or it might require a surgical extraction. A simple extraction is a tooth that is visible in the mouth. The dentist will loosen the tooth and then take it out using forceps. An injection is usually used to numb the area, and it is a simple procedure.

A surgical extraction is a more difficult procedure. A tooth might be cracked or broken, or it might not be visible yet. The dentist will need to make an incision in your gums to remove the tooth. In some cases, the tooth will need to be cut in half, or some of the bone surrounding the tooth needs to be removed. The dentist might want to give you anesthesia through your vein, or they will give you general anesthesia.

Having problems with your teeth can be a traumatic experience. If you need a tooth extracted, contact us. We will make the procedure as painless as possible, so you can get the damaged tooth out of your mouth and the pain will be gone.

A Family Dental Care Center: Dr. Seth Rosen

2030 West Main St.

Jeffersonville, PA 19403
drsethrosen.com

How To Take Care of Your Dentures

A lot of care and money goes into your dentures, so it’s a good idea to take care of them as much as you can. However, some people simply don’t know how to properly care for their dentures. You can keep your dentures as nice as the day you got them as long as you follow some key denture care tips.

General Cleaning

Dentures should be cleaned on a daily basis to help remove plaque and bacteria buildup from your dentures. Remember, just because they’re not your real teeth doesn’t mean that they don’t need to be clean. Dentures can still get stained and look dirty. In addition, keeping that plaque and bacteria out of your mouth can keep you from getting sick.

To clean your dentures, gently remove them from your mouth and rinse them off. After they’ve been rinsed, gently brush them with a soft bristled toothbrush. It’s better to use a denture cleaning solution to clean them over toothpaste as toothpaste might be too abrasive for your dentures. Scrub them in the same manner that you’d regularly brush your teeth. Brush in tiny circles and remember to scrub the back of the teeth. It’s also a good idea to take this opportunity to gently brush your tongue and gums to prevent bacteria buildup.

In addition to brushing them every day, it’s a good idea to rinse them off after every meal to avoid having food staying on your teeth for too long. Food that stays on your teeth for too long can stick to your teeth and harden. In addition, it may leave stains.

Handle with Care

Dentures are strong, but they will break if dropped or accidentally crushed. When you’re handling your dentures, use a soft towel to handle them and keep a firm grip on them at all times. It’s also a good idea to not leave your dentures in any place where they could accidentally be knocked off, taken or crushed. When your dentures are not in your mouth, they should either be in a soft towel in your hands or in their proper storage place.

Storage

Dentures need moisture in order to ensure that they don’t dry out. Dry dentures can warp and lose their custom shape. If your dentures warp, they might not be able to fit properly in your mouth anymore, which may cause sores on your lips or gums. If they warp too much, you may have to buy new dentures.

Dentures should be stored in a glass or bowl of denture solution or water to prevent them from drying out. If you use water, ensure that the water is cool not hot. Some people believe it’s a good idea to use hot water for denture storage to kill bacteria, but it’s bad for them to soak in it for extended periods of time. The heat could cause the dentures to warp just like hot water in the dishwasher causes some plastic dishes to warp.

Safe Places

Keep your dentures out of reach from pets and children. Pets can easily damage dentures and dogs have been known to chew on them and eat them. Children may accidentally break or damage them by mistaking them for a toy. It’s also a good idea to not leave your dentures in a paper towel after cleaning them to avoid having someone accidentally mistaking them for garbage and throwing them away.

Denture care is not much more different from regular dental care. Just remember to be careful with them and clean them on a regular basis to ensure that they stay clean and undamaged for as long as they can.

A Family Dental Care Center

2030 West Main St.

Jeffersonville, PA 19403

Maintaining Your Teeth Implants

Teeth implants are a modern tooth restoration option, which can be used to replace a single tooth, a range of missing teeth, or a full set of teeth. Commonly also referred to as dental implants, teeth implants are small screws made of titanium, which can act as substitutes for the root portion of natural teeth.

Dental implants are fitted into the jawbone, after the drilling of a tiny hole. During the healing period, bone grows around the dental implants, effectively fusing with them, which enables prosthetic teeth to be later anchored to them. Prosthetic teeth are usually made of porcelain, which together with an abutment, are attached to the teeth implants, once the healing process has progressed sufficiently.

Looking after your new dental implants

The long term success of teeth implants depends largely on proper dental care and maintenance. Dental implants are known for their longevity, and can last an entire lifetime, if properly cared for. They require the same care as a patient’s natural teeth, including brushing, flossing and regular dental check-ups. Failure to maintain good dental care can result in the dental implants not lasting as long as they potentially could due to the development of complications.

Below are some tips for taking care of dental implants:

•    Practice good dental hygiene: Dentists often tell patients to brush their teeth regularly. Once teeth implants are placed, it becomes even more important to practice proper dental hygiene to prevent bacterial infections. Such infections might weaken the gums and cause the jawbone to recede, which may result in the dental implants coming loose or falling off.

•    Regular visits to your dentist:  Individuals with teeth implants should visit their dentist at least twice a year, about five months apart. At these visits, the implants should be checked, to ensure that they remain in good condition.

•    Avoid smoking: Smoking is known to negatively affect the blood flow around the gums and teeth, which impairs healing, and increases the potential for bone loss.

A Family Dental Care Center: Dr. Seth Rosen

2030 West Main St.

Jeffersonville, PA 19403

drsethrosen.com

Difference between Silver and White Fillings

Cavities are a very common dental problem that nearly everyone has had to deal with at some point in their lives. Cavities are exactly what they sound like they are: holes that appear in teeth due to decay. These can cause serious problems unless they can be filled by a dentist. Bacteria can gain access to the interior structure of a tooth through a cavity and cause further damage which can become severe and virtually irreparable over time. Fortunately, there are relatively simple methods that a dentist can use to fill cavities in teeth.

Most dental professionals opt to use fillings to fill cavities in teeth. A filling is a tiny object that fits into a cavity and restores a damaged tooth to its original state. A filling can be made from any number of materials, but most of the time fillings are either white or silver. Few people realize that there are differences between silver and white fillings, and in many ways there aren’t many all that many differences beyond simple aesthetics.

Silver fillings are generally less expensive and more common than white fillings. These fillings are also known as amalgam fillings, and their high metal content makes them idea for withstanding stronger bite forces. These fillings are generally used for back teeth for this very reason. They can sometimes be more noticeable because of their metallic appearance, so many people do not think of them as a very good aesthetic choice. They are also more rigid and require retention grooves to be made in the tooth before placement, which means more of the tooth must be removed. This weakens the tooth and generally makes for a more complex and unpleasant procedure.

White fillings are made from an acrylic and glass composite,which is why they are often referred to as composite fillings. They are more natural looking, making them popular for aesthetic reasons alone. They also harden quickly and bond directly to teeth, meaning that patients who opt for these fillings do not have to worry so much about damaging them or their teeth shortly after placement.

A Family Dental Care Center: Dr. Seth Rosen

2030 West Main St.

Jeffersonville, PA 19403

drsethrosen.com

Three Common Teeth Grinding Causes

Why is it important to know about the causes of teeth grinding? This is an all encompassing matter and a lot of people have it without even recognizing it. As you age, you often times have additional dental issues, and teeth grinding can be an instigator of this. Once you notice you are doing this, it’s effortless to come across an approach for stopping it. To make this simpler, we will now go over some typical teeth grinding instigators.  Stress and anxiety are one the most common causes for teeth grinding.

Everybody deals with stress differently but when you are tense emotionally, your body is usually tense as well and lots of times this tension is “stored” in the jaw. Lots of times, people aren’t even aware that they are grinding their teeth. Sadly, stress can cause teeth grinding while people sleep and that is a much harder habit to stop.This is why dentists and doctors will often prescribe mouth guards for nighttime wear, but it is still unclear as to whether or not this is an effective method of treatment.

If you are grinding your teeth because you are stressed out it is very important that you treat the cause of your stress as well as the actual grinding of your teeth. A condition that is connected to teeth grinding is TMJ, or temporalmandibular joint pain. This causes achiness or tightness in the jaw and also brings about teeth grinding. TMJ has many causes, including arthritis, bad posture or overworking the muscles during physical labor or exercise. All of these, then, can also be indirect causes of teeth grinding.

If you are putting up with TMJ, your physician or dentist will mention a specialist who has experience curing this issue. If this is the situation, ridding yourself of TMJ will almost certainly also treat your teeth grinding. TMJ is a dilemma, which has been receiving increased awareness lately and health professionals are recognizing more operative strategies for treating it. Sometimes teeth grinding is caused by worms like intestinal parasites and pin worms.

This happens more often in countries where there isn’t a lot of good drinking water but it can also happen elsewhere. In fact, some alternative health practitioners believe that parasites are far more prevalent than is commonly believed, and this can cause a variety of symptoms, aside from teeth grinding. There are medical tests that can determine if this is a problem, so if you suspect you or someone in your family grinds their teeth because of worms or parasites, it’s best to get tested for this.

Parasites can cause a lot of big problems but there are lots of ways to get rid of them once they have been found in your system. Teeth grinding is a habit that may not seem serious, but in the long run it can cause many problems with the teeth and gums. When you have correctly identified the reason for this bad habit, do everything you can to break it. The causes of teeth grinding discussed in this article have all been accepted by experts but the exact cause is sometimes hard to figure out.

A Family Dental Care Center: Dr. Seth Rosen

2030 West Main St.

Jeffersonville, PA 19403

drsethrosen.com

Are Electric Toothbrushes Better Than Manual Brushes?

The goals of brushing your teeth are to prevent soft plaque from forming hard plaque on your teeth and to promote soft tissue circulation. To accomplish these goals, most dentists recommend that you brush your teeth several times a day and floss.
The problem comes in when considering whether electric toothbrushes or manual toothbrushes are better at keeping your teeth pristine.

 

What is Plaque?

To really understand which type of toothbrush is best, you need to understand what plaque is. It’s a sticky film that attaches to the surface of your teeth.
Plaque forms inside of your mouth as a byproduct of the Streptococcus mutans bacteria. It starts out as a sticky film that is soft and can be removed by something as soft as the bristles of a brush. It then forms a hard type of tissue that glues itself to the surface of your teeth.
In case you’re wondering why that name looks vaguely familiar, it’s because the strand of bacteria that is responsible for causing plaque in your mouth is a relative of the same bacteria that causes strep throat.

 

Which are Better: Electric or Manual Toothbrushes?

Most dentists will agree that both manual and electric toothbrushes perform their jobs equally, however one may have different benefits over the other.
Most electric toothbrushes can remove soft plaque just as well as a manual toothbrush can when used properly. This means that the bristles are able to dislodge it from the surface of your teeth just fine.
However, there is some debate when it comes to electric toothbrushes. The type of toothbrush that has an oscillating head that moves one way and then turns the opposite way is preferred by some dentists. These dentists state that it removes plaque and reduces gum inflammation better than manual toothbrushes.
The real, indisputable differences between the two types of toothbrushes comes in at the different things that they can do. For some patients, there are parts of their part that they just can’t reach with a manual toothbrush. The molars in the very back of your mouth can be an example of this, especially if you still have your wisdom teeth.
Manual toothbrushes are cheaper. There’s no replacement heads, there’s no batteries to replace and there’s no need to worry about keeping them supplied with electricity. A manual toothbrush is always ready to use.
Electric toothbrushes have two qualities that give them a situational advantage. The handle is usually thick and they don’t require you to move your hand to brush. Both of these things make them easier to use for people lacking the physical or mental dexterity required to brush with manual brushes such as young children or people with arthritis.

 

The Bottom Line About Manual and Electric Toothbrushes

With regard to which toothbrush works the best, only you can answer that. The goal of brushing your teeth is to ultimately keep them clean and to help make sure your gums are healthy and free of any disease. If you’re fine with a manual brush and your teeth don’t have a problem with plaque, then stay with it. If you have certain areas that are hard for you to reach with a manual toothbrush, then consider using an electrical toothbrush.

A Family Dental Care Center: Dr. Seth Rosen

2030 West Main St.

Jeffersonville, PA 19403

drsethrosen.com 

How to avoid the most common dental scams!

The Implant Pyramid Scheme

You need a tooth replaced and your dentist recommends an implant. You go home and notice there are several dentists in your area that are offering implants at a special rate. Many of these offers may lead to you paying more then you should. This is how these scams work. They advertise a ridiculously low price for an implant with some fine print that leads to one of the following money bilking scams:

1) Immediate add on fees. This may be an examination fee or radiographs

2) Latent add on fees. These are added to the implant surgery to pad your bill

3) Post surgery add on fees

4) Restoration gouging

First make sure the dentist will do any necessary radiographs and examinations for free. We need the information on the radiographs to determine the size and shape of the implant. Get copies of all records before you leave that day even if they are free. In Pennsylvania, the law is very clear, the records are yours for free. The dentist may put a charge on your account for the duplication, but it is uncollectible. DO NOT PAY FOR YOUR RECORDS IN PENNSYLVANIA!

The next step will be a second opinion. Then get a third opinion. Did all three agree about the surgery? Grafting is only needed in extreme situations where we need to grow new bone. Over eighty percent of implants can be place without grafting. If grafting is needed get the graft receipt. Most bone used today is from a human source, which means it must be identified and registered with the FDA.

All implants require a period of healing and check ups to make sure everything is healing well. This should be included in the surgery for free. Most implants require three to four post operative checks and you should not pay for them.

There are three parts to most implants. The implant itself is the titanium fixture placed in the jaw. The second part is the post, which screws into the implant to give the dentist something to cement to. The third part is the crown, which looks like a tooth. The crown can be cemented or screwed down. THere is no reason that you should be forced to have the implant restored by the placing dentist. This avoids getting gouged on the last two parts of your implant. The implant dentist should welcome this scenario and give your dentist the information and parts necessary to restore the implant.

Remember those second and third opinions? Good. Now compare prices. Get a fee for just the implant and get a fee for restoring the implant. Get this in writing. Now you are an educated consumer and will get the best value for your money.

A Family Dental Care Center: Dr. Seth Rosen

2030 West Main St.

Jeffersonville, PA 19403

drsethrosen.com