Kyle Hornby

Because gum can be sticky and generate a pulling force between teeth, it's not recommended to chew gum with complete dentures. Doing so can cause your dentures to loosen and fall away from your gums.

There are soft denture liners and tissue conditioners available at your local Dentist or Denturist. You may be able to locate similar products on an over-the-counter basis at your local pharmacy. These materials allow for cushioning between the underside of a denture and your gum tissues. This will provide relief of irritation, inflammation and pain over time.

The toothpaste on its own won't harm an extraction site although it may cause a stinging sensation. Agitation and damage with a toothbrush is the greater concern as it can harm and disturb clots and early healing tissue effectively creating setbacks in healing. I usually encourage patients to avoid the teeth neighboring an extraction site for 48 hrs. After that, they can brush gently those teeth with a soft bristle brush.

Wisdom tooth pain can occur during an eruption or later on in life. If you're experiencing wisdom tooth pain when you're 14 - 20 years of age, it may be because of eruption. If you're 20+ and experiencing wisdom tooth pain, it could be due to an infection around a partially erupted wisdom tooth (i.e. you can see a bit of the tooth in the mouth already).
If your pain is due to the eruption, then it will subside on its own, and anti-inflammatories like Advil, Motrin, Alleve will help to diminish the pain you're experiencing. You can also request a consult with an oral surgeon regarding removal but this may be a bit aggressive and unnecessary.
If your pain is due to infection (this happens when dental plaque settles under the gums around a partially erupted wisdom tooth for long periods), then you'll need an antibiotic in the short term. If you have a WaterPik or Monoject/Elbow Syringe (these are much cheaper and can be found at your local Walmart, Shopper's Drug Mart, or Walgreens), then use either of these to flush water under your gums around the wisdom tooth. This process can remove contributory dental plaque, food bits, and bacteria from around your wisdom tooth and it may even flush out some pus from the infection.
The key point is if you can maintain your wisdom teeth whether submerged, partially erupted, or fully erupted (i.e. completely into the mouth) over time. If you're battling recurrent pain and infections, you'll likely be better off having the wisdom tooth/teeth removed. However, if the pain/infection is a one-time thing and you learn how to maintain the tooth over time using the instruments described above (WaterPik or Monject), then you may be able to avoid undergoing costly removal procedures.

The kind of mouthwash that you use really matters. The big brand mouth rinses like Scope and Listerine have removed alcohol from their formulas, but they still include ingredients that can dry your mouth. A dry mouth is more susceptible to cavities and inflammation. Also, big brand mouth rinses harm bad bacteria, but they also harm some of the good bacteria in our mouths. These bacteria help to protect us against inflammation, gum disease and cavities. Generally, I don't recommend that patients use mouthwash prior to bed. The ideal mouth (right before bed) is one that is free of dental plaque and other fuel sources for harmful bacteria and that is moistened by plentiful saliva. A mouth in this condition will be ready to remineralize tooth enamel and heal from inflammation. Big brand mouth rinses won't help and aren't necessary.

Teeth receiving dental crowns need to be prepared and this is done by shaving 1-2 mm off the outer walls of the tooth. This "shaving" or "prepping" results in loss of some tooth enamel and dental filling material as well. This does not weaken your tooth/teeth. Subsequent placement of dental crowns in fact reinforces your teeth. This is because the dental crown acts like a helmet for your tooth, channeling destructive biting, chewing and grinding forces down the outside walls. Dental crowns prevent tooth fracture in this way!

Yes, a tooth can get infected under a dental bridge. This tooth, which acts to retain or anchor the bridge can develop an abscess or infection if it becomes cracked or when a deep cavity forms, allowing bacteria to enter the tooth and eventually the jaws. Sometimes, root canal treatment is a viable option and this will allow your dentist to eliminate bacteria and infection from the interior of your tooth and nearby jaw bone. In other cases, the only way to resolve infection is to remove the offending tooth. In these cases, the bridge will be compromised by the loss of an anchoring tooth and you may need to pursue further restorative work to replace teeth.

Gingivitis is simply inflammation of the gums due to dental plaque, bacteria and other contaminants. Removing these triggers will help you to eliminate gingivitis. The best method for minimizing dental plaque and harmful bacteria is brushing your teeth for 2-3 minutes 2-3 times each day and by flossing twice daily. Once dental plaque and causative bacteria are under control, Gingivitis will resolve in approximately 14 days.

Gingivitis is simply inflammation of the gums. Most commonly this inflammation is a response to local factors like dental plaque and harmful bacteria. In these instances, brushing thoroughly 2-3 times per day while flossing 1-2 times per day will resolve active gingivitis within 2-3 weeks.

It's important to remember that right before bedtime is the most important brushing and flossing of your day. It allows for a super-clean mouth to regenerate and "rebound" for 6-10 hours while you sleep.

In some cases, inflamed bleeding gums can be related to mouth breathing, systemic medical conditions and even certain prescription medications. So, if you've brushed and flossed adequately for 2-3 weeks with no improvement, you'll want to consult your Family Dentist to pursue a solution.

Dental bonding, using composite resin or "white" filling material, can fill holes and voids. The voids can be from dental decay or a cavity, or it can be from acid erosion.

It's best to keep in mind that your bonding can wear down, too. Acids in the mouth that cause erosion (from acidic foods or from acidic saliva) can dissolve enamel and dental bonding materials too. So, when you use dental bonding to fill erosion craters and divots, it will wear off eventually and need to be re-done.

The value in bonding is that it protects the underlying natural enamel and dentin from further erosion. You're essentially creating a shield for your enamel and dentin, preventing further loss. The shield of bonding material will wear down, but better that than your natural tooth structure.

And, while you can't re-build your lost enamel, you can re-build the worn bondings!

You can increase the height and attachment of your gums with a connective tissue graft. In this procedure, gum tissue is harvested from the roof of your mouth and attached to gum tissues at the point(s) of recession.

You will typically see a Periodontist or gum specialist for this procedure. They will typically provide an informed consent discussion and explain that they cannot guarantee that the new and improved gum levels will last long-term.

Gum grafting does, however, have a high success rate for thickening gum tissue to stop further recession. So a gum graft is very likely to help you stop further gum recession but increased attachment and gum height should be viewed as a bonus if acheived.

Grafting at the time of extraction is simplest and has a high predictability for regenerating bone within an extraction socket or "hole". The reason is that you will have many tall walls around an extraction socket and those bony walls contain blood vessels that can feed nutrients for healing into the graft site.

If you wait for extraction socket healing with no graft, you'll loose bone. If you have the graft months later, it can be successful but it's harder to re-gain full bone volume. At that point, there is no longer a socket. Any graft material will be packed into a site that's less well surrounded by bone and blood vessels that can provide the kind of nutrition a healing graft requires.

Type 2 Diabetes can affect healing and immune response so it can be a contraindication to certain dental treatments like implants. In contrast, diabetes will have no negative impact on dental veneers because veneers do not require any healing of a surgical site. Veneers may involve some slight adjustment of tooth enamel to enable veneer bonding and this is not affected in any way by type 2 diabetes.

So, in short, individuals living with Type 2 Diabetes can receive dental veneer treatment successfully!

The answer to this question depends on the location of the cavity. If the cavity exists in between teeth, then your archwire will need to be removed before cavity repair. In other cases, the metal brace bracket may need to be removed to enable cavity repair.

Chewing surface cavities and cavities near the gum line can usually be repaired while all components of braces remain in place.

I would recommend to floss around and underneath a dental bridge at least once daily. You can also use a Waterpik to irrigate, rinse and dislodge larger pieces of food from around your bridge.

The #1 cause of dental bridge loss/failure is tooth decay, or a cavity, forming at the interface between the bridge and your tooth. This area is around the gum lines. Dental plaque accumulation is what fuels this decay and potential bridge loss so flossing and Waterpik-ing at least daily will help you to keep your dental bridge for a long, long time!

You can be put under General Anesthesia ("to sleep") for any procedure in Dentistry. If you request it, you can be put to sleep for a routine dental cleaning if it allows you to pursue routine care in a manner that is more comfortable and less anxiety-provoking to you.

For light surgical procedures such as gum grafting, the procedure can be completed with simple dental freezing or local anesthetic alone, or you can request any level of sedation (so long as it does not conflict with medical conditions). When you discuss the procedure with your Dentist or Gum Specialist (called a "Periodontist"), you can ask that the procedure is conducted while you are sedated.

From there, they will go through your sedation options from light to heavy.

It is generally preferable to have any prosthetic work (such as dental implants, crowns and dental bridges) after tooth alignment for 2 reasons:

-The first is that it is more difficult to bond orthodontic materials to the porcelain in dental crowns, and;
-Secondly, you can make the crown to fit properly with your final tooth position and "bite."

While you can have a crown placed and then undergo Invisalign treatment later, it is generally superior to straighten teeth first and place prosthetics afterward.

One option is to call your Family Dentist as they can probably stabilize the situation until your Orthodontist re-open. Alternatively, your Orthodontist may have an alternate or backup number to call for emergency situations on their voicemail message.

In the short-term, you can purchase Orthodontic was at most pharmacies and you can use the was to cover any sharp exposed portions of your braces bracket or arch wire.

Vinegar can remove tartar (which is simply mineralized/calcified dental plaque). Unfortunately, vinegar is acidic (with a pH or 2-3), making it too aggressive for brushing your tooth enamel. In short, using vinegar regularly to dissolve tartar will remove layers of enamel from your teeth.

The thinner your enamel becomes, the more of your underlying dentin that begins to show through. This will make your teeth more yellow over time.

If your pit and fissure cavity is a true cavity, it will need to be cleaned and a filling will be placed. You can have what is called "incipient" tooth decay, which is a very early form of decay that can be arrested or stopped from getting deeper. Theoretically, good oral hygiene can shift the balance in favour of remineralization and strengthening of the early decay lesion. This means you can potentially avoid the need for dental treatment!

If, however, the tooth decay has reached the layer underneath your enamel (this is known as "dentin"), it is at an irreversible point and will progress without treatment. These cases require removal of decay and restoration with dental fillings.