Dental Ideas Straight to the Point

Every time you drink or eat something cold or hot you feel tiny little shocks go up your teeth? In my last blog I talked about causes of tooth sensitivity. This time I will tell you how to stop and prevent it. Actual tooth problem. If you have an actual tooth problem, meaning the pain lingers (5-10 sec) and is getting progressively worse please come in as an emergency because that tooth needs to be treated asap. This usually means a cavity has progressed to the nerve. Likely you will need a filling or a root canal. Make an appointment with us and we can take you out of pain within an hour of you arriving with minimal discomfort. You can be back in your office or back to your family the same day without any disturbances to your daily life except maybe to avoid chewing on that side until the treatment is completed. We will likely do a "pulpotomy" which is basically a half root canal just to take you out of pain. You will have to return another day to complete the case

Treating sensitive teeth Teeth sensitivity is a large problem for several of my patients as they get older. How do we determine if you have sensitive teeth vs an actual tooth problem? We need to x ray and inspect your tooth to see if any cavities are present or close to the pulp.  Infections are typically what causes actual tooth pain and not just sensitivity. How can you tell usually? Actual tooth problem Lasts 5-15 seconds with stimulus or without. 3-10 on the pain scale history of infections or deep fillings in the area Gets worse with time. (until the tooth devitalizes then it does get better) Swelling, symptoms with touching the gum above the tooth or biting. Teeth sensitivity. Lasts 1-3 seconds with stimulus, 2-3 pain scale no history of past infections or deep fillings Gets better with time. No other symptoms with touching the gum above the tooth or biting. What Causes tooth sensitivity? - over brushing causing gum recession and small lesions on the

What dentists hate to hear When you come into the office telling us that you hated your previous dentist. We are a small community of professionals and we understand that everyone has their good days and bad days. We refuse to put one of our peers down. If you talk bad about them, the chances are you will talk bad about us when we have one of our bad days. Dentistry is hard we try to be 100% everyday, but it doesn't always work out that way. We are humans too. When you have a high gag reflex- This one we can not blame our patients for, but it can be frustrating when the patient is uncooperative. Unfortunately, some people just have high gag reflexes; however, if you are willing to work with us and try to work through the discomfort, we will do our best to complete your treatment as fast as possible. When you are late For everyone time is money. If you are late, we will move on to the next patient so be prepared to wait. If we can no longer see you today our staff will