MANY PEOPLE HAVE the idea that gum recession is only a concern for older people (that’s where the saying “long in the tooth” came from), but it can start at any age. While we can’t do anything about a risk factor like genetics, there are many we can control.

1. Avoid Overbrushing

Overbrushing is a major risk factor for both enamel erosion and gum recession. Brushing too hard can damage the teeth and the gums. It’s time to ease up if it only takes a few months of using a toothbrush before all the bristles are bent outward. Overbrushing is why we recommend soft-bristled brushes. It’s also important to floss gently instead of snapping the floss directly onto the gums.

2. Fight Back Against Gum Disease

Gum disease can destroy supporting gum tissue and bone around teeth as it progresses, which is what makes it the main cause of gum recession. Dental hygiene habits and limited sugar intake are the best ways to maintain good gum health. That means (gentle) daily brushing and flossing, along with prioritizing regular dental appointments.

3. Break the Bruxism Habit (or Protect Against It)

People with a bruxism habit are more likely to have gum recession, as the constant harsh friction from their teeth puts too much pressure on the gum tissue and can damage it over time. Kids are also vulnerable to many of these gum recession causes, as well as oral injuries.

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The content on this blog is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of qualified health providers with questions you may have regarding medical conditions.

<p>The post How Can We Guard Against Gum Recession? first appeared on Dentists in Riverside CA.</p>

TIKTOK ISN’T THE best place to go for dental health advice — unless your dentist is active on the app. We’ve seen a lot of worrying DIY dental procedures popping up recently, so now is a great time to nip those in the bud.

“Healthy Soda” Trend

There is no such thing as teeth-healthy soda. Even sugar-free soda is still full of acid (that’s where the bubbles come from), and our tooth enamel is highly vulnerable to erosion by acid. A recent trend on TikTok is the “healthy soda” trend, where people are mixing flavored sparkling water with balsamic vinegar to make a “healthier” soda alternative. In reality, they’re just mixing two acids together and bathing their teeth in them! That’s not something dentists can get behind.

Filing Down Teeth

Some TikTok videos show teenagers and young adults attempting to even out their smiles by taking a nail file to the chewing surfaces of longer teeth. This is a terrible idea because tooth enamel does not come back once it’s gone. Amateur tooth filing can end in fractures, tooth sensitivity, or infection, and the process itself will likely be very painful. As dental health professionals, we sometimes file teeth, but we have the training and tools to do it safely and not overdo it.

The “Veneers Check” Trend

An even worse trend in the same vein involves TikTok users filing their own teeth all the way down to pegs before getting crown restorations. This is extremely dangerous. It can lead to nerve damage and the need for root canal therapy or even cause tooth loss of previously healthy teeth. Even the name of this trend is part of the problem, as this kind of filing only happens before crown restorations, not veneers.

Home Hydrogen Peroxide Whitening

Some TikTokers have filmed themselves swishing 3% hydrogen peroxide for teeth whitening. This is not a safe way to get professional whitening results on a budget, because it can cause gum irritation and long-lasting sensitivity. Anyone interested in whitening should ask the dentist for recommendations, which could be toothpaste, whitening strips, take-home trays, or professional in-office whitening.

DIY Braces

Another very dangerous TikTok trend is teens who try to correct their own crowding or bite issues using things like rubber bands. NEVER DO THIS. The best case scenario is that it won’t work. The worst is what happened to David Campbell, who unwittingly killed the roots of his two front teeth and had to get them removed when he tried to close the gap between them with rubber bands. We hope anyone tempted to try this will enroll in dental school to become an orthodontist instead (and get real braces for themselves in the meantime)!

Dental Health Is More Than a Trend

Anyone unhappy with the appearance of their smile (especially when their teeth are healthy) should speak to a dentist about professional cosmetic treatment instead of irreversibly damaging their own teeth. In the meantime, keep up with good dental hygiene habits like daily brushing and flossing.

Leave the cosmetic dentistry to the professionals!

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The content on this blog is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of qualified health providers with questions you may have regarding medical conditions.

<p>The post TikTok Is Full of Dangerous Dental Advice first appeared on Dentists in Riverside CA.</p>

THERE ARE SO many choices of toothpaste in our grocery stores. With an entire aisle of toothpaste options to choose from, we want to help our patients narrow things down a little based on their individual dental health needs.

Whitening Toothpaste

Choose a whitening toothpaste to remove surface stains, but remember that it can’t change a tooth’s natural color or fight deeper stains. Whitening toothpaste contains abrasives to polish the teeth and peroxide to break down surface stains. Using it twice a day can lead to visible results after several weeks, but make sure to look for the ADA Seal of Acceptance!

Orthodontic patients should wait until Braces Off Day before using whitening products, toothpaste included so that they don’t end up with patches of different colors where the brackets were.

For Sensitive Teeth

Over-the-counter tooth sensitivity toothpaste is a good option for patients with sensitive teeth. It helps rebuild enamel and minimize discomfort, and if the over-the-counter type isn’t enough, the dentist can prescribe a stronger toothpaste.

Popular Inactive Ingredients?

What about ingredients like activated charcoal or aloe vera? There is little evidence to support the benefits these toothpastes claim to offer. Charcoal in particular is abrasive and may actually damage tooth enamel and make teeth more sensitive. Toothpaste with these ingredients also tends to lack fluoride, which helps rebuild tooth enamel.

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The content on this blog is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of qualified health providers with questions you may have regarding medical conditions.

<p>The post How Do We Find the Right Toothpaste? first appeared on Dentists in Riverside CA.</p>

PEOPLE HAVE BEEN getting cavities as long as there have been people, and people before modern dentistry had some strange theories about what was causing them. A popular one believed around the world for thousands of years was the idea of “tooth worms.”

Ancient Sumeria Got the Tooth Worms Ball Rolling

As far back as 5000 B.C., tooth worms were listed in Sumerian texts as being a reason for tooth decay. They’re also mentioned in ancient Chinese scripts from 1500 B.C. in text carved from bone. People in the Roman Empire and medieval Europe also believed in tooth worms, which were said to gnaw at the teeth and live in the gums and cavities.

Why Was the Tooth Worms Theory So Common?

There are a few theories about why people all over the world believed cavities were caused by tooth worms:

• Guinea worms in drinking water, which people would have seen and may have incorrectly connected to tooth problems
• The worm-like structures of dental roots, which could be mistaken for worms by people who didn’t know better
• Henbane seed treatments, in which a person would inhale the fumes of burned henbane seeds. Ironically, the ash of the burned seeds looks like worms, and the plant’s narcotic effects would relieve tooth pain. People may have drawn the wrong conclusions.

Other Cavity Myths

Over the ages, people have attributed cavities to a variety of other causes:

• Chemical agents
• Defective saliva
• Inflammed jaw bones
• Sudden changes in temperature
• Injuries (this one can be true; a tooth cracked by injury is vulnerable to infection)

How Cavities Actually Form

Thanks to modern dentistry, we know that the culprit behind tooth decay isn’t worms but dental plaque, which is a mixture of bacteria, acids, and food debris mixed with saliva. As it builds up, it erodes the outer layer of a tooth, creating tiny holes called cavities. If the bacteria reach the pulp at the center of the tooth, the tooth will become infected and possibly abscessed, which involves swelling and severe tooth pain.

How to Prevent Cavities

Far from the henbane treatments of old, as modern dental health professionals, we can recommend good dental hygiene habits that will actually help prevent cavities, including:

• Twice-daily brushing with a soft-bristled toothbrush and a fluoride toothpaste
• Daily flossing (use floss picks or a water flosser if traditional floss is difficult for you)
• Limiting your sugar intake (especially from soda and fruit juice, which are loaded with sugar and acid)
• Scheduling regular dental cleanings and exams

What’s the Takeaway?

As fun as it is to learn about old, debunked dental health practices, the takeaway is that tooth worms are a myth. Dentists have known this for centuries, and we know the real causes of tooth decay that we should avoid and fight against. Keeping up with your daily dental hygiene habits and dentist visits twice a year are the best ways to protect your oral health.

We love helping our patients maintain healthy smiles!

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The content on this blog is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of qualified health providers with questions you may have regarding medical conditions.

<p>The post Weird Dental History Highlight: “Tooth Worms” first appeared on Dentists in Riverside CA.</p>

MOST MEDICATIONS come with a list of possible side effects, including side effects that impact oral health. These side effects are common even when the medications have nothing to do with your teeth or gums, so it’s helpful to know what you can do to balance necessary medications with maintaining a healthy smile.

Oral Chemistry and Medicine

Some medications and even some vitamins are actually directly harmful to our teeth. This is particularly common with children’s medication because they tend to come in the form of sugary syrups and multivitamins designed to be like candy. Sugar is the favorite food of harmful oral bacteria, which will then excrete acid on the teeth.

Adult medications are most often in pill form so they don’t interact with the teeth or gums, but something like an inhaler can lead to oral thrush (irritating or painful patches of white fungus that grow on the roof of the mouth, the inside of the cheeks, and the tongue). Adults and children can take preventative measures against this kind of side effects. It can be as simple as rinsing with water after taking these medications or vitamins or after using an inhaler.

Indirect Effects of Medicine on Oral Health

Even pills that make it past the mouth without any direct harm to the teeth can cause mouth-related side effects. For example, blood thinners can leave gum tissue more vulnerable to bleeding while brushing and flossing. Inflammation of the gums is a common side effect that increases the risk of gum disease.

Whether the medications are prescribed or over-the-counter, the most common oral side effect is dry mouth, which can lead to a wide range of other oral health issues. When there isn’t enough saliva in the mouth, it makes chewing and swallowing more difficult, even uncomfortable, and it leaves the teeth and gums more vulnerable to oral bacteria. It can even make it more difficult to taste food!

Other Ways Medicine Can Impact Oral Health

Osteoporosis drugs have in rare cases been associated with compromised bone tissue in the jaw, increasing the risk of tooth loss and gum recession. Some medications cause changes to the sense of taste even when they don’t cause any real harm, typically with a strange metallic or bitter aftertaste that lingers.

Talk to the Dentist And Your Doctor About Your Side Effects

Always make sure to keep your health care professionals in the know when you’re experiencing side effects, and that includes your dentist when the side effects are impacting your mouth. Sometimes it is possible to change prescriptions or alter the dosage to minimize a side effect, but that can only happen if the doctor knows what’s happening.

The dentist is always a great resource for your oral health concerns!

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The content on this blog is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of qualified health providers with questions you may have regarding medical conditions.

<p>The post Your Prescriptions and Your Oral Health first appeared on Dentists in Riverside CA.</p>

IT’S NOT ACTUALLY true that it takes more muscles to frown than to smile; smiling takes at least ten muscles while frowning requires as few as six. We think the saying should be changed to “smile to burn more calories!” And that isn’t the only health benefit of smiling.

Smiling Releases Endorphins

We obviously smile when we’re happy, but studies have suggested that the mere act of smiling is enough to make us feel happier. The feeling of happiness and the physical action of smiling are so tied together in our brains that even a fake smile can release endorphins.

Smile to Relieve Stress

In the short term, endorphins reduce pain and relieve stress, functioning a lot like painkillers. Over time, the effects compound into health benefits like reducing our risk of getting cancer and becoming more resilient against illnesses. This is because when we are better at managing stress, our cells go through fewer stress-induced mutations.

Smile to Live Longer

In a lifetime of smiling, we might actually accrue enough health benefits from the cumulative endorphins to give ourselves longer lives. One thing that makes it easier to smile more is to be confident in our smiles, and that’s where professional dental care and diligent brushing and flossing come in.

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The content on this blog is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of qualified health providers with questions you may have regarding medical conditions.

<p>The post Can We Smile Our Way to Better Health? first appeared on Dentists in Riverside CA.</p>

“SWIMMER’S CALCULUS” SOUNDS more like advanced mathematics than anything to do with teeth, but it’s actually the term for yellow or brown stains a swimmer can develop on their teeth after prolonged exposure to acidic chlorine ions in pool water. Tooth enamel is so vulnerable to acid that even mildly acidic pool water can increase the risk of stains.

Tooth Squeeze for Scuba Divers

For those who prefer scuba diving over swimming pools, the dental health risk is barodontalgia or “tooth squeeze.” The same way pressure builds in our ears when we dive, it can also build inside teeth, particularly any with untreated cavities or faulty dental work. If the pressure grows enough, it can even fracture the tooth. We recommend pre-diving dental visits to make sure no teeth are vulnerable.

Diving Masks: One Size Fits…None?

A common diving problem is that the so-called “one size fits all” mouthpieces don’t seem to fit anyone well, forcing divers to clench down on the mouthpiece to keep it in place. This puts a lot of strain on the jaws, potentially contributing to temporomandibular joint disorder (TMD). To anyone who dives multiple times a year, we recommend investing in a custom-fitted mouthpiece.

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The content on this blog is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of qualified health providers with questions you may have regarding medical conditions.

<p>The post How Do Swimming and Diving Affect Teeth? first appeared on Dentists in Riverside CA.</p>

WE TEND TO ASSUME that people from earlier eras (especially the pre-industrial ones) must have had terrible dental health, but that’s not always true. While we get to benefit from modern dental care, braces, and root canal therapy here in the 21st century, the ancient Native Americans did a pretty good job of taking care of their teeth. So did people in ancient China!

Diet and Ancient American Dental Health

Perhaps the biggest thing ancient Native Americans had working in their teeth’s favor was their diet. The early Native American diet consisted of corn (maize), beans, squash, fish, game, and plenty of fresh fruit and nuts. That kind of high-fiber diet is great for dental health because the harmful bacteria in our mouths need sugar and starch to multiply. High-fiber foods actually help to scrub our teeth clean as we eat them!

Ancient Skulls With Periodontitis

Tooth decay and gum disease might have been uncommon for the early Native Americans, but they weren’t nonexistent. If you ever go check out the Manitou Cliff Dwellings by Colorado Springs, you can see the holes left by advanced gum disease in the jaw bones of some of the replica skulls.

Before the Toothbrush

Aside from diet, early Native Americans used chewsticks and chewed fresh herbs to keep their teeth clean and healthy. Chewsticks are twigs with one frayed end to chew and clean the teeth and one pointy end to use as a toothpick, and herbs like mint, cucacua, and sage were great for fresh breath.

Meanwhile, in China, some people had access to toothbrushes more like what we’re used to, made of animal bone and hair, and they made an early form of toothpaste by boiling honey locust fruit, ginger, foxglove, lotus leaves, and other herbs. The mixture helped reduce gum inflammation, ease toothaches, and remove stains. Having healthy teeth and fresh breath were important qualities — if a little harder to maintain than they are now.

Early Dental Extractions in Ancient China

The ancient Chinese were performing dental extractions and stabilizing teeth with wires as far back as 6,000 BC! They didn’t seem to be very interested in straightening teeth, but they were quite advanced when it came to treating endodontic problems.

Silver and Tin Fillings

Emperor Gaozu of the Tang Dynasty developed a toothache in 618 AD, and his tooth doctor recommended a dental filling made of melted silver and tin. It would have been a very painful procedure, but it was over a thousand years before European dentistry reached the same point!

Ancient Mouthwash

In daily life, ancient Chinese people would maintain their oral hygiene by gargling tea or salt water, and it became common practice during the Tang dynasty to chew on a willow twig in the morning after soaking it in water overnight. The twig’s protruding fibers worked a lot like a toothbrush.

Modern Dental Health

As fascinating as it is to look back on the dental health practices of ancient cultures, we recommend sticking to modern solutions, such as brushing twice a day with a soft-bristled toothbrush and fluoride toothpaste, flossing daily, cutting back on sugar consumption, and scheduling regular dental exams.

We leave you with a more recent relic of dental history:

Do you know any other ancient dental facts?

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The content on this blog is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of qualified health providers with questions you may have regarding medical conditions.

<p>The post Dental Health in Ancient Cultures first appeared on Dentists in Riverside CA.</p>

TEETH HAVE MANY different uses, from chewing our food to helping us speak clearly to forming the structure of our faces. They also give us our smiles! These are the uses our teeth are for, but we risk causing serious damage to them when we use them as tools for other jobs.

Teeth Do Not Make Good Scissors or Nail Clippers

Nail-biting is a habit that can do enough damage to fill its own blog post, but it ties into the topic of proper and improper uses for teeth. The area underneath our fingernails is essentially impossible to properly clean. Germs love to grow there, and they transfer to our mouths when we bite our nails. Nail-biting also causes a lot of unnecessary wear and tear to the front teeth, potentially even shifting them out of place.

Apart from biting nails, it may sometimes seem convenient to bite through something like a piece of tape. The sawing motion to cut through tape involves a lot of grinding that damages the surface of the teeth. It’s not the same as a chewing motion. Some people even use their teeth on materials like wire, which can wear notches into them. It’s worth the extra few seconds to use scissors or pliers instead!

Teeth Are for Chewing Nuts, Not Cracking Them

If you enjoy pistachios, peanuts, walnuts, pecans, or even the half-popped kernels at the bottom of the popcorn bag, don’t use your teeth to crack them. It’s a great way to chip or crack a tooth, especially one that’s already undergone a dental procedure or one that has an untreated cavity. It’s much safer to use your hands or a nutcracker.

Teeth Are Not Good for Opening Bottles

Tooth enamel might be the hardest substance in the human body, but it’s much too brittle to withstand metal bottle caps. A tooth can chip on the edge, and even a little slip could result in a nasty gash on the lips or gums. Even if you think it looks cool to open a bottle with your teeth, we as dental professionals urge you to use an actual bottle opener.

Don’t Use Teeth as a Third Hand

If we’re in the middle of a busy task and run out of hands to hold things, it can be easy to briefly stick a pencil, some nails, or a few sewing pins in our mouths until we have a hand free. The added convenience isn’t worth the risks. Being hit with a sudden yawn, hiccup, sneeze, or cough, or even tripping over something could end in disaster.

Even without anything that dramatic, these items cause unusual wear on the chewing surfaces. Seamstresses who hold sewing pins in the same spots between their teeth over the years wear dents into them. Just use the pincushion instead!

Make Sure You Only Use Your Teeth for Their Intended Purposes

Fracturing and cracks are the third-highest cause of tooth loss, and we significantly reduce the risk of needing an emergency dental visit and a series of expensive restorative procedures if we only use our teeth for chewing and speaking. Also make sure to brush twice a day, floss daily, and schedule your regular dental checkups!

Another intended use of teeth is smiling, which we love to see!

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The content on this blog is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of qualified health providers with questions you may have regarding medical conditions.

<p>The post Never Forget That Teeth Are Not Tools first appeared on Dentists in Riverside CA.</p>

THERE WON’T BE a pop-quiz later, but we still want our patients to be familiar with the anatomy of their teeth, starting with the crown and going down to the roots. Everything visible above the gums is the crown, which has three layers.

Tooth Enamel

On the outside is the enamel, the hardest substance in our bodies. It needs to be that hard to withstand a lifetime’s worth of chewing our food, but enamel doesn’t replace itself once it’s gone. That’s why it’s so important to brush, floss, limit our consumption of sugary and acidic food and drink, and schedule regular dental cleanings.

Dentin and Pulp

Underneath the enamel is the dentin, a more bony layer that is yellow and porous. At the very center is the pulp chamber, which contains nerves and blood vessels. The pulp is how our teeth feel temperature changes and pain if something is wrong. Never ignore dental pain; it’s a natural warning sign from the body!

Roots

Beneath the gum line are the roots of the teeth. They’re longer than the crowns, anchored deep in the jawbone and cushioned by the periodontal membrane. Unlike the crowns, roots are only protected by gum tissue and cementum (which isn’t as hard as enamel). Each root tip has a tiny hole, through which nerves and blood vessels connect to the pulp.

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The content on this blog is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of qualified health providers with questions you may have regarding medical conditions.

<p>The post Time for a Lesson in Dental Anatomy! first appeared on Dentists in Riverside CA.</p>