How Gum Disease Affects Your Heart

You do everything you can to take care of your health. From maintaining a healthy diet to exercising regularly, you make your health a priority. But if you’re not equally as diligent about your oral health, your heart may be in jeopardy.

Recent research suggests that there’s a strong link between gum disease and heart disease. While the two may not seem like they have much in common at first glance, the more you learn about their connection, the easier it is to see how they’re related.

Gum Disease
Gum disease, or periodontal disease, typically starts out as an inflammatory gum infection called gingivitis. It’s caused by a buildup of plaque — a sticky film of bacteria — on your teeth and gums. As gum disease progresses, it can advance to periodontitis, which happens when plaque sits in small pockets beneath the gum line.

Heart Disease

Coronary artery disease, the most common type of heart disease, is caused by an entirely different type of plaque called atherosclerosis, which is made from cholesterol and fat. This gradual buildup of atherosclerosis is a serious health concern if left untreated. It’s one of the leading causes of heart attack.

How They're Connected

While medical experts don’t know exactly why gum disease increases your chances of developing heart disease, they believe that untreated periodontitis can cause bacteria from your mouth to travel through your bloodstream, which clogs your arteries and raises your risk of heart infection.

As your arteries become clogged with plaque and bacteria, they can narrow and harden, preventing oxygen-rich blood from reaching the heart.

How You Can Protect Yourself

Gum disease is certainly not the only condition that’s been connected to heart disease. Diabetes, hypertension (high blood pressure), poor diet choices, and unhealthy lifestyle habits all increase your risk of heart disease.

However, you can protect your gums and heart by making yourself aware of the early warning signs of gum disease, before it advances to periodontitis.

The most common gum disease symptoms include:

• Gum inflammation;
• Bleeding gums;
• Gum sensitivity;
• Pain when chewing;
• Loose teeth;
• Receding gums;
• Halitosis (bad breath);

Inflamed gums are typically the earliest warning sign of gum disease, so it’s important to talk to your dentist about your symptoms at the first sign of trouble. Early intervention and gum treatments, such as deep cleanings, scaling, and root planing, can help reduce the symptoms of gum disease and protect your heart from infection.

Article Source: https://www.deltadentalwa.com/blog/entry/2020/09/Heart-and-Gum-Disease

Why Does Sugar Make My Teeth Hurt?

Picture this: you're gorging on leftover Halloween candy. You take a bite of a fun-size chocolate bar and instead of sugary goodness, you get a flash of blinding pain in your tooth! What's the deal?

Hosted by: Stefan Chin

Why Dental Sealants for Kids

Tooth decay is the most common chronic childhood disease in the US. In Washington State, nearly 40% of kindergartners and 58% of third graders have cavities. This might sound dire, but it doesn’t have to be: cavities are preventable.

In addition to brushing, flossing, and regular checkups, dental sealants are another important measure for protecting kids’ teeth against decay. But despite their importance, many parents don’t know much about dental sealants — how they work, whether they are safe, and what they do to protect kids’ teeth.

So, what exactly are dental sealants, and why do kids need them?

Why Kids Need Dental Sealants

Early cavity prevention is extremely important. Cavities in baby teeth lead to cavities in permanent teeth, and to a lifetime of oral health problems. Preventing cavities before they start sets kids up for success — which is where dental sealants come in.

Cavities don’t happen overnight — they are more like a slow erosion. The bacteria in our mouths feeds off sugar in foods we eat. This process leaves behind nasty acids, which weaken our enamel little by little. A dental sealant is a protective coating placed on the chewing surfaces of your child’s back teeth, or molars. Sealants fill the deep grooves that are hard for kids to properly clean when brushing.

In this way, dental sealants are like little tooth-sized levies — one more barrier protecting our children’s teeth against the slow erosion caused by bacteria and acids.

When Should Kids Get Dental Sealants?

The ADA recommends dental sealants for kids ages 5 to 14. Ask your dentist about dental sealants for your child as soon as their first permanent molars come in, between the ages of 5 and 7. Another set of dental sealants can be applied when kids get their second set of permanent molars, usually between age 11 and 14.

Dental sealants are also a good preventive measure for any teenager particularly prone to cavities.

Are Sealants Covered by Dental Benefits?

Dental sealants are considered a preventive benefit, just like regular exams and fluoride treatments. Most plans cover preventive services and dental sealants at 100%, so your child gets all their protective sealants at little or no out-of-pocket cost.

Article Source: https://www.deltadentalwa.com/blog/entry/2017/04/guide-to-dental-sealants-for-children

Should I Pull Out My Child’s Loose Tooth?

Forget tying your child’s loose tooth to a piece of string and attaching it to a doorknob (Or a foam dart gun. Or even a drone.). There is an easier and safer way to help your child wiggle that loose tooth free.

Improve Your Smile with These Tips from Dental Experts

The Doctors share tips about keeping your tooth enamel, the dangers of trying to move your teeth yourself, and how to stop grinding your teeth!

How Can I Get My Child to Brush Her Teeth?

Does your child run in the other direction every time you reach for the toothbrush? Get some tried-and-true tips for making brushing fun from a dentist who’s been in your shoes.

Dead Tooth: Signs and Symptoms

Your teeth are strong —- really strong. In fact, tooth enamel is the hardest substance in your body. But strong as they are, your teeth aren’t superhuman. In fact, teeth can die just like any other living thing. And if you end up with a dead tooth, it is no laughing matter.

Not only can a dead tooth be unsightly and painful, but it puts you at risk for serious infection, abscess, and tooth loss. Because of this, it is important to know the symptoms of a dead tooth and understand when to seek treatment.

What is a Dead Tooth?

It’s strange to think of a tooth as dead. After all, isn’t it just a lump of enamel attached to your jaw? Actually, no. The outer layers of your tooth — the enamel, dentin and cementum — are hard and bone-like. But beneath this armor lies a chamber of soft, sensitive pulp that is very much alive with nerves, connective tissue, and blood vessels.

Like any other part of the body, when your tooth pulp loses its blood supply, it eventually dies. (I’ll get to how this happens in a minute). When the pulp in your tooth dies, your tooth becomes what dentists refer to as a non-vital, or necrotic, tooth. This non-vital tooth is what we commonly call a dead tooth.

Dead Teeth and Infection

Dead pulp isn’t actually the worst part about a dead tooth. According to the American Association of Endodontists, your teeth need their pulp as they grow and develop. However, once a tooth fully matures, it can be retained and function without the pulp because the surrounding tissues continue to nourish the tooth.

But this doesn’t mean you can just leave a dead tooth alone. The inside of your tooth stays healthy in part because living tissues transport white blood cells and other immune cells to the tooth pulp. When a tooth dies, this access is cut off. Without these immune cells, the pulp chamber can become a breeding ground for infection.

It goes without saying that an infection in your mouth is bad. But an infection caused by a dead tooth is particularly troublesome. Because the infection is deep within your tooth, it can spread to the bone and space around a tooth’s root(s). If left untreated, this infection can create a pocket of pus known as an abscess, and may cause significant pain and swelling.

As I said, a dead tooth is no joke. But what exactly causes a tooth to die in the first place?

Causes of a Dead Tooth

The two primary causes of a dead tooth are decay and trauma.

If decay reaches the center of your tooth either through a crack in the tooth or through an untreated cavity it will inflame the pulp. To protect itself, the blood vessels inside the pulp constrict. But eventually, without enough blood supply, the pulp dies.

A tooth can also die if it sustains a trauma such as a sports injury. If your tooth pushes upward into the bone or gets knocked out, the nerves can get pinched, cut off or damaged. If the blood supply at the tip of the tooth’s root is severed, the pulp dies from lack of blood flow in much the same way as it does from untreated decay.

Smell, Color and Other Symptoms of a Dead Tooth

Now that you know the seriousness of a dead tooth, you should understand the signs and symptoms.

Common symptoms of a dead tooth:

• Discoloration: A dead tooth often looks yellow, grey, or slightly black.
• Smell: A dead tooth sometimes smells bad or causes a bad taste in your mouth. This is from tooth decay or other infection.
• Pain: This pain comes from inflammation and infection in the pulp cavity or surrounding bone.
• Pimple at the gum line: This is a sign of a chronic tooth abscess that has made its way through the bone to the surface of your gums.

Treating a Dead Tooth

A dead tooth is commonly treated with endodontic therapy, commonly termed a root canal. During a root canal, your dentist or endodontist drills a hole in the top of your tooth and cleans the dead material out of the pulp chamber and root(s). The canal(s) in your tooth root(s) are then filled with a rubber-like material to seal against bacteria and future infection.

Depending on the level of damage, the dentist sometimes places a metal or plastic post inside your tooth to keep a filling in place. In many cases a crown may be placed to further protect and restore your tooth.

If your dead tooth can’t be saved, or if for other reasons you and your dentist choose not to do a root canal, your dentist will likely recommend extracting your dead tooth. This empty space can then be replaced with an implant, partial denture, or bridge.

Contact your dentist right away if you sustain an injury to your teeth, or if you suspect your tooth is decayed. Your dentist will assess your teeth and all the structure and tissues in your mouth, and recommend the best course of action to keep your smile healthy and strong.

Article Source: https://www.deltadentalwa.com/blog/entry/2020/05/Dead-Tooth-Signs-and-Symptoms