Are Dental Sealants Safe?

One of the best ways to reduce cavities and enjoy a healthy smile is the application of dental sealants. This is a plastic coating that guards the biting surface of molar teeth. Dental sealants stop particles from collecting in the small fissures and cracks within molar teeth. Yet there is some question as to whether dental sealants are safe.

Dental Sealants' Alleged Risk

Dental sealants have bisphenol-A, commonly referred to as BPA. Excessive exposure to BPA has the potential to harm human health. Thankfully, a 2016 study conducted by the American Dental Association Product Review puts concerns regarding the BPA content of dental sealants to rest. This group was formed in 2006 under the American Dental Association Council on Scientific Affairs' direction.

It is an unbiased and scientifically credible source of information relating to dentistry and oral health. The group's report on dental sealants shows the amount of BPA in this oral health solution is minimal. In fact, there is so little BPA in dental sealants that prospective patients should have absolutely no concern about its safety.

The bottom line is BPA is a buzzword that is meant to strike fear into those who are considering a prospective product or treatment.

About the Study

The American Dental Association Product Review study analyzed a dozen dental sealants commonly used by dentists in the United States. The purpose of this study was to determine how much BPA was released when dental sealants were in use. The study also gauged whether the level released puts children in danger.

The findings show dental sealants have the potential to expose a child to a mere 0.09 nanograms of BPA in a day's time. This is below the limit of a million nanograms suggested by the Environmental Protection Agency. In fact, the average child is subjected to exponentially more BPA in drinks, foods and paper than dental sealants.

You Should Have no Concern Over Dental Sealant Safety

It is clear the level of BPA in dental sealants is so small that parents should not be concerned about the safety of this oral health solution. The benefits of dental sealants greatly outweigh the nearly non-existent risk.

As an example, a 10-year-old who has dental sealants in place for half a decade will be 50 percent less likely to suffer tooth decay on the molar biting surfaces compared to children who brush their teeth on a regular basis. Such a decreased level of decay prevents the formation of cavities and the need for fillings and/or crowns later in life.

Strategies to Alleviate Concerns

If you are still concerned about the potential exposure from dental sealants, it is better to be proactive and move forward with this oral health solution rather than bypassing it altogether. BPA exposure from sealants can be reduced with specific strategies. Most of the BPA exposure occurs in the hours after treatment.

The US National Library of medicine advises rinsing for 20 seconds with water following the placement of the dental sealants. This simple strategy can reduce BPA exposure by nearly 70 percent. Rubbing the treated site with a cotton swab, cotton ball or soft-grit pumice will also significantly reduce BPA exposure.

Routine Dental Exam to Check for Tooth Decay Risk

A routine dental exam is the best way to identify tooth decay. This exam gives your dentist and/or his staff the opportunity to examine your mouth for signs of tooth decay and other issues or abnormalities. The purpose of identifying tooth decay during routine dental exams is to catch it as early as possible and provide subsequent treatment.

The Frequency of Routine Dental Exams

Routine dental exams should occur at least once every six months. Some dentists and patients prefer to have these check-ups once every three or four months just to be on the safe side. When in doubt, reach out to your dentist to determine the frequency of dental exams that is most appropriate for your unique oral health.

If you smoke, have cavities or have a genetic predisposition for gum disease and/or tooth/root decay, a routine dental exam every three months might be ideal.

What Happens During the Dental Exam?

The dentist and his or her staff will perform a comprehensive examination of your teeth and gums. The exam will provide a comprehensive summary of your unique oral health. You will be asked questions about your dental history, medical history and oral hygiene. The dentist will look closely at each tooth for signs of tooth decay.

The dentist will examine your diagnostic X-rays, known as radiographs. This is essential to detect tooth decay as well as tumors, bone loss and cysts. All tooth surfaces are examined with specialized dental instruments for signs of decay.

What Happens if Tooth Decay is Identified?

If there are signs of tooth decay, the dentist will likely ask detailed questions about your brushing and flossing habits. The frequency of brushing and flossing matters a great deal in the context of tooth decay. Even the products one uses for oral hygiene and the cleaning techniques play important roles in preventing tooth decay.

Furthermore, the dentist will likely ask questions about whether the patient uses toothpaste with fluoride and if one consumes water containing fluoride. This information is necessary for the dentist to provide suggestions as to how the patient can improve oral hygiene habits to prevent additional tooth decay.

Why Routine Dental Exams are an Absolute-Must

Take a moment to consider the pain and annoyance involved in your last cavity. Wouldn't it be nice to minimize those feelings or completely prevent them?  Visit the dentist for routine dental exams and your tooth decay will be identified as soon as possible.

Early diagnosis reduces the need for deep drilling and other possible invasive procedures that might prove somewhat painful and undoubtedly cost additional money. So do not delay check-ups at the dentist. The early identification of tooth decay will dramatically increase the potential for successful treatment.

Tips for Preventing Gum Disease from Art of Dental Care: Ellen Rado DDS

As your dentist in Green Brook, one of our most critical functions is to provide you with knowledge and information that helps prevent gum disease. According to the American Dental Association (ADA), a large number of Americans find that they have bleeding when they brush their teeth, have frequent bad breath, or have a bad taste in their mouth.

When you combine the symptoms with gums that are red, swollen, or tender, there is a possibility that you have the early symptoms of gingivitis, which is an early stage of periodontal disease. The good news is that we can identify and offer treatment before the condition worsens with regular visits to our dental office.

Even more importantly, when you make it a habit of visiting our dental office at least once every six months, we are able to remove the plaque and bacteria that accumulates around the gum line. Therefore reducing, if not completely eliminating, the potential of gingivitis.

Preventing the risk of gum disease

Patients often want to know if there are specific things they can do in order to reduce the risk of gum disease. We know that preventing gum disease begins with oral health habits. The most important habit an individual can have in the fight against any kind of gum disease is brushing his or her teeth on a regular basis.

While most patients have been brushing their teeth since they were one or two years old, there is still room for improvement for many patients. Here are a few tips to properly brushing teeth that an individual may not have thought of, which will help the individual remove more plaque and reduce the risk of gingivitis or periodontal disease.

The type of toothbrush an individual uses is almost as important as how regularly one brushes his or her teeth. From our perspective, the best option is to use a soft bristle toothbrush, which is small enough to get into all the hard-to-reach places on the teeth. One of the ways bacterial plaque can accumulate around the gum line is if the toothbrush is too large and cannot reach into the recesses of the teeth to reduce the amount of plaque and tartar found there.

Follow the proper steps

Similarly, when you are brushing your teeth, it is important to take at least two minutes for the complete brushing. We recommend that you use short, back-and-forth strokes on each tooth and take sufficient amount of time to remove any plaque that may have accumulated. We recommend that you brush your teeth in a consistent pattern that you follow every time you brush your teeth.

We suggest that you brush the outer surfaces of your upper teeth and then move to the outer surfaces of your lower teeth. Next, you should move to the upper inner teeth and then finish up with the lower inner teeth. Complete the brushing by brushing your tongue, which can be a storehouse for oral bacteria that can lead to gingivitis or periodontal disease.

Finding a Dentist Near Me to Provide Ongoing Dental Care

If you are searching for a "dentist near me" online, then chances are that you have not been to a dentist in a while. In other cases, you may be moving into a new area and searching for the best available dentist. In either case, is important for you to find the right family dentist to care for you and the needs of your family, making sure that you remain in the best oral health possible. If you are looking for a "dentist near me," pick up the phone, call our office, and schedule your first appointment.

Over the course of your visit, we will complete a full diagnosis of your teeth, determine if you have any pressing needs, and schedule the next appointment. This visit will allow you to make sure that your teeth remain healthy for as long as possible.

Invest in proper oral health care

Few people realize that looking for a "dentist near me" is more than just finding one who is in a convenient location. It is important for one's oral health that the individual visits a dentist at least a minimum of two times each year. If an individual has a dentist that practices very far away, then the individual can feel less inclined to seek treatment on a regular basis.

Bi-annual appointments are in keeping with the American Dental Association's recommendation that people visit the dentist at least once every six months. This regular checkup includes a cleaning, maintenance visit, and an examination to examine the teeth for any potential problems.

Regular dental checkups

We will complete a full diagnostic of the patient's mouth during the checkup. On the first visit, we will take panoramic X-rays and X-rays of the teeth to keep on file. We will examine the teeth and gums very closely. We will identify any potential problems, look for soft spots within the enamel, issues with the jawbone, irritation in the gums, complete an oral cancer screening and more. If there are any problems that require our immediate attention, we will schedule an appointment to deal with them quickly. We can also schedule the next appointment ahead of time and send a reminder to you a few weeks before the appointment.

If an individual has excellent teeth that are in great condition, we will still provide a full cleaning of the teeth so that the teeth continue to maintain their excellent health. We will then schedule the individual to come back to our office six months from the day of the visit to continue the routine of care and cleaning. Give us a call today.

What You Can Expect From our Family Dentistry Office

In our family dentistry office, our goal is to keep you, our patient, in the best possible oral health. We do this by examining and cleaning your teeth on a regular basis. We would prefer to do so twice a year but at a minimum, once a year. This way we can identify small health issues like cavities before they can spread and create an uncomfortable situation. This ongoing care is your best defense against early tooth loss or even the occasional toothache.

What we do in our family dentistry office.

When looking for a family dentist, it is important to select someone that is passionate about oral health and an expert in their trade. We are exactly that. We realize that dentistry is a combination of both science and art. Through both education and experience, we have honed our craft to ensure that each patient we treat receives the best possible dental care and beautiful results.

When visiting our office, patients can expect to receive comprehensive dental care. We focus on preventing oral health issues and are more than capable of treating a health issue that is already in the advanced stages. but if a health problem arises, we are more than capable of treating it and restoring the mouth to perfect health. Many of the solutions we use to do so can serve a dual purpose of improving a patient's oral health and appearance. Take, for example, dental bonding, which can help to decrease the sensitivity one is feeling in the teeth while also covering up stains.

Simultaneously, a dental crown can be used to restore a cracked tooth but it can also improve the overall size and shape of it. By addressing both the form and function of teeth during our procedures, we can help a patient to love his or her smile again. In fact, when a patient schedules a dental exam to discuss sensitivity or a toothache, the patient needs to let us know what he or she does not like about his or her smile. We might be able to correct both at the same time.

Tips for selecting a family dentistry office.

When a patient is looking for a family dentistry office, there are several things that he or she needs to be aware of. First, they need to be centrally located to where the patient lives, works or goes to school. This way, it is easy to schedule an appointment for a professional teeth cleaning procedure or for emergency dental work. We are conveniently located and would be happy to treat the patient and his or her entire family.

We also recommend that you read patient reviews. We are pleased that our patients have taken the time to review our practice and would be happy to share those reviews with you. The best way to learn what a dental office is really like is to hear what other patients have to say and to visit the office for yourself. We invite you to stop by Art of Dental Care: Ellen Rado DDS, meet our staff, and have a consultation so that you can learn more about our philosophy of care and the approach that we take to keeping you and your family healthy - both now and as you age.

The Scoop About Fluoride From a Dentist

As a dentist office in Green Brook, we use fluoride to help strengthen teeth. You may even see ads for toothpaste containing fluoride and wonder if it even works; let alone, how it works. Fluorine is a naturally occurring substance that is most commonly found in the air, food, and dirt. Now, fluoride is also found in public water throughout the country. Fluoride is easily absorbed by the body and the enamel (outer layer of the teeth). When your enamel absorbs the fluoride, it will strengthen your teeth and decrease your risk for cavities.

Why it works

In our dentist office, we also recommend using toothpaste that contains fluoride as a method of strengthening teeth in between dental visits. While this is not as effective as drinking it or having a professional treatment, it can be helpful in reducing the occurrence of cavities.

When absorbed by the enamel, fluoride helps to remineralize teeth. This is important because over time demineralization naturally occurs due to diet, oral hygiene, and age. As this happens, the hard enamel on the outside of the teeth becomes weaker, and the teeth can feel more sensitive. They can also become more susceptible to cavities.

By remineralizing and strengthening teeth, fluoride can reduce the risk for cavities. In fact, research has found that fluoride can reduce the effect of tooth decay and even reverse the damage before it reaches the point of becoming a traditional cavity. We find that this treatment is incredibly effective.

The application of fluoride

We typically recommend an annual fluoride treatment for children and teens. The fluoride comes in a simple varnish that is mostly odor and taste-free, making it an easy treatment option for children. We simply apply it to the teeth and leave it there for around four minutes. Once complete, the treatment will strengthen the teeth and reduce the risk of cavities.

Adults typically do not receive in-office fluoride treatments, and this is why drinking tap water and using a fluoride toothpaste is so important. In our dentist office, we have had many patients express that their teeth feel less sensitive after starting a regimen of brushing with this type of paste. Given how easy this is to do, there is no reason not to brush with a fluoride toothpaste. Additionally, there are mouth rinses that children can use at home.

In rare cases, if teeth are prone to cavities we may recommend a more aggressive at-home treatment. We can provide special trays so that you can apply a fluoride gel at home in order to help prevent cavities. Again, the trays are only in rare cases but we can discuss it with you during your dental exam. To find out how fluoride can help you, visit our Green Brookoffice for a teeth cleaning and exam today.

Surgical and Non-Surgical Gum Disease Treatments

If you have been diagnosed with gum disease, it is important to consider the various treatment options and to make a decision about whether to have surgical or non-surgical gum disease treatments to restore your gum health. The decision you make is going to directly impact the recovery outcome. There are several things to keep in mind when making this decision.

How bad is the gum disease?

Gum disease can range from being minor to severe. If we can catch the gum disease at an early stage, non-invasive methods are typically all that is necessary to treat the condition. Having a deep dental cleaning, for example, can restore the health of the gum tissue. Some dental offices do this using metal dental tools to scrape off the plaque while others use dental lasers.

We will remove the plaque and tartar from underneath the gum tissue so that the gums can begin returning to good health. If effective, there will be no need for more intensive treatments such as oral surgery.

Have all non-invasive measures been tried yet?

Since a deep cleaning can help to improve gum health, it is wise to start with this treatment option. If the non-invasive measures are effective enough for restoring the health of the gums, there will be no need to try more invasive measures. Non-invasive options can result in saving cost and time, so it is important to exhaust these non-invasive methods first.

Have pockets formed in the gum tissue?

If there are pockets in the gum tissue, it is a clear sign that gum disease has progressed to the point of a surgical option becoming necessary. A gum graft is likely to be the best treatment option at this point. By suturing new tissue to the natural gums, we can secure the gums around the teeth. This way, the lower areas of the teeth and roots are no longer exposed.

Preventing root exposure is a critical step in the restoration process and important for protecting the teeth and preventing tooth loss. Typically, surgery is part of this process. However, some dentists are using alternative therapies to restore gum tissue that does not require a scalpel.

Are teeth wiggly or feeling loose?

If teeth are already loose, gum disease has probably progressed to the point where immediate treatments are going to be necessary and surgery required. Additionally, the teeth themselves may need to be restored, root canals completed, etc. in order to eliminate an infection.

What does the dentist recommend?

Asking a dentist if they recommend surgery or non-surgical treatment is important when making a decision on how to treat gum disease. They are going to make the recommendation that they feel will best resolve the issue so it is important to carefully consider any advice that they give.

Consider the recovery process

When debating between surgery and non-surgical alternatives, it is important to consider the recovery process. Anytime a patient undergoes surgery it is going to take longer to recover, there could be complications and there will be a level of discomfort for several days.

Gum surgery is no different. Before it is scheduled, it is necessary to prepare by taking time off work and planning to take it easy for a few days.

Learn more about your options

Get help deciding between surgical and non-surgical gum disease treatment options by discussing them with our dentist. Schedule a consultation today in order to do so.