Throwback Toothday: Test Your Parent’s Dental IQ

How much do you know about your child’s teeth? Mr. and Mrs. Smith know what it takes to help their children build healthy smiles that will last a lifetime.

ADA Science Inside: What Causes Bad Breath?

If you’ve ever worried about how your breath smells, you’re not alone. Studies show that 50 percent of adults have had bad breath (also called halitosis) at some point in their lives. Find out what causes bad breath, how to fight it and when it might be a symptom of a more serious health problem.

What Causes Cavities

The last thing you want to hear when you go to the dentist is that you have a cavity. So what causes cavities? Here’s a quick rundown on the different types of cavities, what causes them and how you can help to avoid them.

How Cosmetic Dentistry Can Improve Your Life

Is your smile the way you want it to be or are there significant flaws that keep you from showing it off to the world?

Most people can identify at least one characteristic of their smile that falls short and where improvements can be made.

While restorative dentistry can get your teeth and gums into tip-top great health and proper function, cosmetic dentistry can make them look their best.

Cosmetic dentistry can achieve the following smile enhancements:

• Whiten teeth
• Reduce or eliminate tooth discoloration and staining
• Repair small chips and fractures on teeth
• Reverse tooth wear by improving the support and structure of teeth
• Correct misshapen teeth
• Reduce or fill in spacing or gaps between teeth
• Lengthen teeth
• Correct the symmetry of one's smile Strengthen and reduce the pain of sensitive teeth

Some patients may be hesitant at the idea of undergoing cosmetic dental procedures, seeing them as unnecessary. For others, it might be the cost. Is cosmetic dental work worth the price?

Cosmetic dentistry often gets put into a box that encompasses such procedures as teeth whitening and veneers. However, cosmetic dentistry is much more than that. Dental implants, for instance, is a cosmetic dental procedure.

Cosmetic dentistry has come a long way and can now not only make teeth look great, but can also refine the tooth's functioning.

Regardless of your concerns and views of cosmetic dentistry, many patients have had their lives changed as a result of a cosmetic dental procedure.

Here are ways cosmetic dentistry can change your life:

Improve your self-image and self-confidence. Cosmetic dentistry can whiten, reshape and smooth teeth, giving you a flawless look that you'll not be ashamed to show the world.

People who feel good about how they look are happier and smile more often. In addition, those who smile are seen as more welcoming and confident.

Smiling and showing off your pearly whites is also a great way to make a positive first impression.

Always look good and turn heads. Some patients opt to undergo cosmetic dental procedures because of an upcoming event such as a wedding, high school reunion or job interview. A white, straight, symmetrical smile will help you get the attention and praise from others. However, with the lower costs of cosmetic dentistry and the ease and quickness of many of the procedures, patients don't need a special occasion to give their smiles a needed facelift. Looking good every day can be just as powerful.

Improve your oral health. After your smile makeover is complete, you'll want it to last as long as possible. To retain the new bright, straight smile, good dental hygiene, and lifestyle and dietary changes are required.

A lack of proper oral hygiene will make the pearly white fade as well as the lifestyle choice of smoking. Certain foods and drinks such as coffee, tea soda, citrus, candy, and bread can sabotage your new, perfect smile.

Live with reduced pain. Crooked, misshapen and misaligned teeth can cause potentially severe pain in your jaw, neck, face, and head. Veneers and dental implants can help lengthen and reshape teeth as well as fill in gaps between teeth. Properly aligned, proportional and straight teeth can reduce or eliminate pain, which can improve your quality of life.

You can live a longer, happier life. Want to learn another benefit of smiling? A longer, happier life. A confident, pain-free smile can add years to your life. Smiling reduces stress which has a negative effect on the body. Besides reducing stress, smiling also boosts the immune system.

Teeth whitening, implants, veneers, and other cosmetic dentistry procedures can bring about significant, positive changes to your life. Cosmetic dentistry can beautify your smile by whitening, lengthening, and reshaping teeth as well as fill in embarrassing gaps. Besides making your smile look the best it can be, cosmetic dentistry can make your life happier and longer by improving the health of your mouth and reducing pain and discomfort.

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How Should I Clean and Store My Toothbrush?

Your toothbrush helps keep your mouth clean, so it’s only natural to want to keep it pristine. Find out the right way to clean and store your toothbrush in this “Ask an ADA Dentist” video question.

The Smooch: Cavity Protection

Taking care of your teeth and gums makes you less likely to develop cavities and lose teeth. Don’t wait for a toothache to happen before you visit the dentist.

What Are Dental Sealants and Why Should My Child Get Them?

You may have taken your young child to the dentist office where the dentist suggests your son or daughter get sealants. Sealants are great ways to protect your child's teeth, in addition to daily, proper oral hygiene.

Dental sealants are usually recommended for young children who are in the early stages of learning to properly brush their teeth. They can, however, be placed on an adult's teeth. Seniors who have arthritis and other issues that keep them from properly brushing and flossing their teeth can also benefit from sealants.

Brushing their teeth can be challenging for small children. Comfortably gripping the toothbrush, learning the right toothbrush motions and resisting the urge to swallow the toothpaste can make teeth brushing very difficult. As a result, children can get frustrated and not brush as well as they should.

Sealants won't make teeth brushing fun, though it is important for your child to enjoy brushing his or her teeth, they can provide a safety buffer to make up for their inadequate, less-than-ideal teeth cleaning.

When children are first learning to brush their teeth, there are many areas where they may miss, such as brushing the back molars or the backside of their front teeth. When those hard to reach places aren't cleaned, the trapped food particles can breakdown and form cavity-causing plaque.

Sealants help protect a child's teeth by covering the teeth with a thin, plastic covering. Sealants can't be felt and their transparent nature makes them unnoticeable. Usually, sealants are placed over the molars as those teeth get a lot of chewing action and they are hard to reach when brushing and flossing.

Sealants are most effective when they are placed over the molars shortly after they erupt, or come up from the gum line, which is typically at ages 6 and 12. The process of placing sealants is quick, easy and pain-free.

Sealants are often made from clear plastic that fits snuggly around individual teeth, making them virtually unnoticeable to the child and others.

Why Sealants?

As mentioned previously, dental sealants block out cavity-causing debris, germs, and bacteria. While your child should learn daily, proper oral hygiene, sealants help protect their teeth from decay by complimenting their established teeth cleaning routine.

Cavities are one of the most widespread and preventable childhood diseases. The over-indulgence of unhealthy, sugary snacks, as well as inadequate oral hygiene, are the two major causes.

Sealants prevent food particles, especially sugar, from getting embedded onto the surface and crevices of teeth. With the teeth (mainly molars) being protected from cavity-causing plaque and food debris build-up, your child will have a significantly lower chance of tooth decay.

Tooth decay in children is often overlooked. It isn't uncommon for the health of a child's primary (or baby) teeth to be neglected. Many parents think those baby teeth are unimportant because they will all eventually fall out. However, cavities in the baby teeth can filter down into the up-and-coming permanent adult teeth. Children who start off with cavities risk other oral health issues such as crooked or misshapen teeth and misaligned bites. The psychological block a child may develop from early cavities may make him or her apathetic towards proper, daily oral hygiene and he or she may even dislike and resist properly caring for their teeth and gums later in life.

Sealants not only help protect children teeth from cavities, but it also gives them added self-confidence and have a greater joy of properly caring for their oral health.

If your child may need sealants, schedule an appointment with your child's pediatric dentist.

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