Paul Feuerstein, DMD
| Visit Our Site | Subscribe | Unsubscribe | January 2012 |
Office News
Our goal is to develop a strong partnership with every patient. When you understand the importance of your dental health, we can help you maintain a healthy mouth, as well as treat the causes and symptoms of any dental condition.
We invite you to read our latest SmileLink newsletter and to check out our website often for new information, or contact our office with any questions or concerns. Working together, we can help you achieve a lifetime of healthy and attractive teeth and gums.
Featured Article |
SmileLink Articles |
That's a B+
If you are experiencing swollen tongue and frequent mouth ulcerations, you could have a folate deficiency. A lack of folate is bad for your entire system but it can be devastating to your oral health. Oral irritation can be one of the first signs of a deficiency. Extreme cases of will lead to inflamed gums, weakened tooth enamel and eventually tooth loss.
Folic acid is essential for reducing the risk of stroke, macular degeneration and some cancers. Folate or Folic Acid (B9 vitamin) is a water-soluble vitamin necessary for growth and development. In particular, it is important for cell growth and red blood cell production. Being a water-soluble vitamin, your body needs a continuous supply of folic acid to maintain healthy levels.
---
read more >
White After Labor Day
Wear white after Labor Day? Of course! Especially when it comes to your smile. A beautiful white smile can give you confidence and make you more apt to smile. Increase your ‘face value’ with a clinical tooth whitening treatment.
Having a beautiful white smile doesn’t happen on its own. So many factors, including healthy juices and berries, wines and some medications, can stain and darken your teeth. Some not-so-healthy factors such as smoking and using other tobacco products can also make teeth yellow and dingy. Unfortunately, those stains don’t go away when you quit smoking or switch to apple juice. Once those stains creep in, you’ll need a little help to get rid of them.
--
read more >
Glucose To Call
Did you know that one of the first areas affected by diabetes is your mouth? “But I’m not diabetic,” you think but ….are you sure? The American Diabetes Association (ADA) estimates that approximately 7.0 million Americans are diabetic but undiagnosed and that 79 million more are in a ‘pre-diabetic’ state.
Diabetes is a growing problem in America. According to the ADA*, 25.8 million Americans have been diagnosed with diabetes and 1.9 million more were added last year.
Poor blood glucose makes your gums vulnerable to attack by the millions of bacteria currently inhabiting your mouth. Oral symptoms of diabetes include dry mouth, inflammation and poor healing. This infestation can start you on a path toward gingivitis and periodontitis as well as a whole host of systemic health problems including kidney disease and stroke.
---
read more >
Hot and Dry
Have you ever had ‘cotton mouth’? Everyone occasionally has a dry, sticky feeling in their mouth because of heat or a reaction to food but when your mouth is chronically dry, it’s a serious problem. When you notice a dry mouth, it’s a condition called xerostomia (zero-stow-me-uh) and may be only noticeable after you’ve lost about 60% of your saliva.
Xerostomia refers to a sensation of a dry mouth and can be caused by many different factors including over 400 different medications. A constantly dry mouth isn’t just annoying but makes it difficult to speak, chew and swallow foods and prevents you from maintaining proper nutrition.
Without that protective saliva, your mouth becomes a bacteria playground. If left untreated, xerostomia can result in tooth decay and gum disease, painful oral ulcers or a rampant yeast infection.
read more >
Between the Cheek and Gum
Just a pinch between your cheek and gum can cause a condition called leukoplakia. Leukoplakia is a white or gray patch of thick and slightly raised soft tissue that usually appears on the tongue, gums or the inside of the cheek.
Tobacco users who hold a wad of tobacco in the mouth for long periods of time or smoke a pipe are at high risk of developing leukoplakia. It can take weeks or months for the patch to develop. Although it is painless, it might become sensitive when touched or to hot and spicy foods.
Fortunately, the condition usually resolves itself when the irritation is removed; however, sometimes, we must perform surgery to remove the patch. Leukoplakia can progress into oral cancer or remain as a pre-cancerous lesion if left unchecked.
Non-tobacco users aren’t off the hook for leukoplakia though. Along with smoked or smokeless tobacco, leukoplakia can result from other irritation caused by a broken tooth; a poorly fitting denture; rough spots on a filling, crown or tooth and chewing the inside of your cheek.
Identifying conditions such as leukoplakia when they are in their early stage is very important, which is one reason why we recommend bi-yearly dental check-ups. However, you should see us immediately if you have something out of the ordinary in your mouth. The earlier we make a diagnosis, the quicker we can restore your health.
...