Leading dental manufacturer Oral B has unveiled a state of the art smart brush that uses sensors to follow the path of the brush.
It has been estimated that as many as half of all Americans snore at least some of the time. Nearly everyone considers “snoring” to be a nuisance, but in many cases it is not considered to be a significant health risk. However, it may prevent the snorer or others sharing the bedroom from getting a good night’s sleep.
The cause of snoring is well understood. When we fall asleep, the soft tissues of our throat, mouth and nose relax. In some individuals, this may partially restrict the flow of air. Breathing through the narrowed air passages causes the relaxed tissues to vibrate, which is the sound we hear. The more narrowed the air passage, the more difficult it becomes to breathe and the louder the snoring.
Snoring tends to be more common as we age and may be worsened by certain anatomic conditions, such as being overweight, a large tongue or tonsils, and even a deviated nasal septum. It may also be affected by lifestyle choices, such as smoking and alcohol consumption. However about half of all snorers have a much more serious condition called “Obstructive Sleep Apnea” or “OSA.” In addition to snoring, people with sleep apnea have altered breathing patterns which can range from very shallow breathing to gasping, choking or even pauses that can last for a few seconds to a minute or more. This makes it very difficult to get enough air and lowers the amount of oxygen reaching their brain.
OSA sufferers may find it difficult to reach or maintain deeper levels of sleep and may even waken briefly hundreds of times a night as they struggle to catch their breath. Sleep apnea can lead to daytime drowsiness, inability to concentrate, fatigue, irritability and other minor disturbances. However, it may also cause much more serious medical conditions, such as diabetes, glaucoma, high blood pressure, heart attack and even strokes. It is important to understand that not every snorer has OSA. But anyone with OSA almost always has loud and frequent snoring. To tell the difference requires a sleep study where the individual has his or her breathing carefully monitored over the course of a night. The sleep study must be ordered and your condition diagnosed by your medical doctor.
Treatment of snoring and OSA can be as simple as quitting smoking, losing some weight, changing the position you sleep in, wearing adhesive nasal strips that open the nasal passages or reducing the amount of alcohol you consume. For more severe cases of OSA, a CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) machine may be prescribed by your medical doctor. This device forces air into the lungs through tubes that fit into the nose or a mask placed over the nose and mouth while you sleep. The constant air pressure forces open the collapsed tissues and allows for normal breathing. While it is very effective, some sleep apnea patients experience difficulty using a CPAP machine, as it can be uncomfortable, embarrassing or inconvenient. Fortunately, a visit to the dentist may be your answer to a good night’s sleep.
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The MicrO2 Sleep Apnea Device (image via microdental.com)[/caption]
Research has shown that simple snoring and mild to moderate OSA may be successfully managed with an oral appliance that repositions the lower jaw and helps open the airway. The oral appliance is worn in the mouth while you sleep and fits like a sports mouth guard or an orthodontic retainer. Many patients consider these dental appliances to be more comfortable to wear than a CPAP mask. They are also quiet, portable and easy to care for. If you and your doctor decide that oral appliance therapy is the best treatment option, he or she will write a prescription for a sleep apnea appliance and refer you to a dentist trained in sleep medicine. Even more good news — oral appliance therapy is also covered by many medical insurance plans.
For those that cannot be treated with either CPAP or an oral appliance, there are surgical options. To open the airway, some tissue from the soft palate, tonsils and adenoids may be removed. This is normally done by an ear, nose and throat specialist, or an oral surgeon. Another way to open the airway surgically would be to reposition the jaws in a more forward position. This would require an oral surgeon and possibly an orthodontist. Surgical options should, of course, be reserved as a last resort.
via Dr. Mark Pitel: Columbia University College of Dental Medicine
Nearly everyone on occasion experiences a throbbing headache that interferes with concentration at work or school, or saps the joy from the day.
But sometimes the source of that headache can be surprising. For many people, the pain that emanates from the head can be traced back to their teeth, their bite relationship and the alignment of the lower jaw.
With many headaches, the cause could be the temporomandibular joint, or TMJ: the place at the front of the ear where the lower jaw and the temporal bone on the side of the head meet.
Sometimes the bite and the lower jaw are out of alignment, putting additional strain on muscles, which leads to the headaches. And for many, TMJ headaches aren’t going away because people try to mask the pain with medication rather than correct the underlying cause.
But how do you know a headache is caused by TMJ? Here are a few things to watch:
When your wisdom teeth start to emerge it can definitely be painful, but it can be even worse if your wisdom teeth become impacted. Impacted wisdom teeth are trying to erupt but are unable to do so because there is not sufficient room for them to emerge. This usually means that your wisdom teeth are painfully lodged in your jawbone.
While you may not see any real signs of the emerging wisdom teeth when they are impacted, what you can’t see can still definitely hurt you. Some of the indicators of impacted wisdom teeth are listed below.
What the heck is a tongue scraper?
A tongue scraper (also called a tongue cleaner or tongue brush) is an oral hygiene device designed to clean off bacteria, food debris, fungi, and dead cells from the surface of your tongue. Tongue cleaning has been around since ancient times in India. During sleep when the body is resting, the digestive system works to detoxify itself. These toxins are deposited on the surface of the tongue via the internal excretory channels, and are responsible for the coating usually seen on the tongue first thing in the morning. Tongue scraping has found its way into Western society as folks discover the benefits of cleaning the tongue every day.
5 Reasons to Scrape Your Tongue Every Day
1. Improves the breath:
Removing the bacteria, food debris, fungi, and dead cells from the tongue significantly reduces the odor from the mouth. You may have been told to use your toothbrush for this purpose, but brushing the tongue does NOT efficiently remove all of the film that develops on the tongue. You will be blown away the first time you do this by the amount of gunk that comes off of the tongue.
2. Improves your ability to taste:
Removing build-up from the surface of your tongue will better expose your taste buds. This will lead to better enjoyment of the flavors of your food. Ayurveda teaches that the better we enjoy and savor our food, the better our bodies digest and assimilate, leading to better over all health. Also, Ayurveda teaches that blocked taste buds and tongue receptors interferes with our body’s ability to communicate with our brain about what types of foods we need to maintain our health, leading to false cravings.
3. Avoid toxins being reabsorbed into your body:
As you sleep, your body is detoxifying. Much of the film on your tongue is toxins excreted from your body. You don’t want to re-ingest that do you? NO! Scraping your tongue first thing in the morning will remove this sludge from your tongue and from your body, improving your over all health and improving your immune system.
Here's a rundown of our hours for the next two weeks:
CLOSED: 12/24 and 12/25
Regular hours 12/28 - 12/30 (admin day only on 12/31)
CLOSED New Year's Day
If you have a dental emergency, call our office and the emergency line is listed on the voicemail. We wish you a wonderful holiday season!
photo via summitdentalhealth.net[/caption]
The link between inflammation of the gums and debilitating or even life-threatening system disease is real. This is why we are so passionate about laser therapy for bacterial reduction and periodontal therapy. More than just a simple cleaning, it is in every way the practice of oral preventive and therapeutic medicine.
Here are some of the benefits of Laser Bacterial Reduction (LBR):
In 2004, Time Magazine ran a cover story entitled "The Secret Killer.". It addressed the "surprising link between inflammation and heart attacks, cancer, alzheimers, and other diseases, and what we can do to fight it." The article reported that simply "flossing your teeth combats gum disease, a source of chronic inflammation." READ ARTICLE
The media had finally awakened to a problem that we have already identified and begun to aggressively treat. In addition to using floss and other personal oral hygiene products, we now use lasers to kill the bacteria associated with gum disease, inflammation and infection. Laser Bacterial Reduction (LBR) enables us to destroy the bacteria that cause inflammation and periodontal disease. In other words, just by circling the teeth with the laser, we can drastically reduce the harmful bacteria that can compromise our dental and overall health. The application of the laser can take bacterial counts around an inflamed periodontal pocket from billions down to hundreds within seconds.
Downtown Dental uses lasers to attack periodontal inflammation at the microscopic level of infection. The power of its focused light destroys otherwise inaccessible bacterial colonies while simultaneously creating an ideal environment for healing. Today, our practice offers our patients the hope of a better tomorrow by providing oral health care in ways that were science fiction only a few years ago.
We are not only cleaning teeth and creating beautiful smiles: with our progressive dental laser therapy, we are enhancing your lifestyle and hopefully prolonging your life.
Hear one patient's story of Laser Bacteria Reduction (LBR) to treat gum infection.