The dog days of summer are upon us, and what better time for Dr. Jason P. Tosto and our team to ask our patients about their summer!
Whether you visited our nation’s capital, went on a camping trip, or just stayed in Hellertown, PA and relaxed, we want to know how you’re all spending your summer! Please feel free to share your summer plans and experiences with us below or on our Facebook page as summer rolls on!
School’s out and you’ve emptied your gym locker until next fall. But while you’re stowing away the football gear, the basketball warm-ups, the field hockey sticks, and all the other equipment you’ve collected over the school year (that’s where that other shoe went!), be sure to keep one item handy: your mouthguard.
Team and contact sports like football, basketball, and wrestling aren’t the only potential dental dangers. In fact, almost any sport or activity can be made safer when you use your mouthguard. While you’re keeping active and fit in the summer months, remember to look out for your smile.
Biking, skate boarding, rollerblading—it only takes one fall to make you realize that roads, sidewalks, and concrete are not ideal landing pads. If you do take a spill, using a mouthguard, along with your helmet, will help protect your teeth and jaw.
Handball and tennis are not what we consider contact sports, but an unexpected bounce from a ball, or a completely unexpected backhand from your partner, can lead to dental injuries. Ace your workout and wear a mouthguard.
A fall in the water can lead to a collision with your surfboard or water skis, and water polo often seems to be a game of stamina, accuracy and elbows. Wear your mouthguard on land and sea, and help reduce your chance of dental injury.
Anyone who has played summer league baseball, softball or soccer knows that occasional contact with other players is pretty much a given. Cushioning your head, mouth, and teeth with a mouthguard will not only protect you, but keep you in the game—and your teammates will appreciate that!
If you already use a mouthguard, keep up the good work! If you don’t, talk to Dr. Jason P. Tosto about the importance of protecting your smile with a mouthguard. There are ready-made options available at drug stores and sporting goods shops. These will provide protection to your mouth and teeth, but can sometimes be bulky and uncomfortable and should never be used with braces. If you would like a mouth protector that provides the best fit and comfort, or if you wear braces, we can customize a mouthguard in our Hellertown, PA office that will be a perfect fit for your teeth and bite.
Whatever activity you choose, play it smart! Don’t gear up without your mouthguard, and you’ll greet next year’s classes energized, fit, and sporting a beautiful smile!
Time to brush! So, you make sure you gently brush the plaque off the outside surfaces of your teeth. You want to present a gleaming smile to the world, after all. And you make sure to brush the inside surfaces as well, because who wants to feel a fuzzy patch of plaque every time their tongue hits their teeth? And, naturally, you remember to clean the tops of your molars, because those crevices make them more cavity-prone than any other surface.
Done? Not quite!
You might be surprised to learn that no matter how well you’ve brushed all the visible surfaces of your teeth, you’ve left quite a bit of enamel untouched—the adjoining, or touching, surfaces of the teeth which sit next to each other.
You’ve probably noticed that your bristles can’t . . . quite . . . reach all the enamel between your teeth (especially between your molars!) when you’re brushing. This means that food particles and plaque have an easier time sticking around. And when the bacteria in plaque are left undisturbed, especially with a banquet of food particles available, they produce acids which gradually eat away at the enamel covering our teeth, creating a cavity.
Here’s where we work in some specific dental vocabulary. “Interproximal” means between the adjoining, or touching, surfaces of the teeth. And an interproximal cavity is a cavity which develops on one of those side surfaces of your teeth.
Clearly, a cavity between the teeth won’t be as obvious as other cavities. How will you know if a dental appointment is in order?
There are typical symptoms which can show up when you have a cavity. Chewing might be painful. You might feel pain or sensitivity when you eat or drink something which is hot, or cold, or sweet. But pain and/or sensitivity aren’t always present, especially when a cavity is just beginning to develop.
Regular exams are important so you can catch small cavities before they become more serious. That’s why, at your regular dental exams, Dr. Jason P. Tosto will always check for any signs of decay on every surface of each tooth, including those places which aren’t easily visible. And that’s why X-rays can be an important tool for locating these tricky cavities.
If Dr. Jason P. Tosto and our team finds a cavity between your teeth, there are different treatment options available depending on the size of the cavity:
Dealing with any weakness in a tooth as quickly as possible is always better than waiting until a more complicated treatment option is needed. Of course, the best treatment is prevention, and, luckily for us, it’s not a complicated process at all.
In fact, it’s about as basic as it can be—brush and floss effectively. We recommend brushing for two minutes at least twice a day and flossing once each day. While most of us are good about keeping up with brushing, sometimes that daily flossing is more a goal than a reality.
But it’s flossing which really does the trick when it comes to interproximal cleaning. If you floss correctly, food particles and plaque are removed from between the teeth and around the gumline—places where bristles just can’t reach. The next time you get your teeth cleaned at our Hellertown, PA office, ask for tips on how to perfect your technique. And, if you have difficulty flossing, ask about alternatives such as water flossers and interproximal brushes.
Preventing cavities on the exterior surfaces of your teeth is probably pretty much automatic by now, but don’t forget the potential for stealth decay! If Dr. Jason P. Tosto and our team find signs of erosion on the sides of your teeth, or if your hygienist lets you know that you’ve got a lot of interproximal plaque buildup, work with us to make sure “interproximal cavity” doesn’t become a working part of your dental vocabulary.
An emergency usually evokes panic, and for good reason. Emergencies don’t discriminate when it comes to time or place. They’ll happen during your vacation, at home, while you’re shopping for groceries, at the movies … whenever they can.
We’ve identified the five most common reasons for emergency visits to our office, so if you ever find yourself in one of these situations, don’t hesitate to reach out and schedule an appointment with us!
Though any of these scenarios can be nerve-wracking, Dr. Jason P. Tosto and our team are here to assist you with any and all dental emergencies. Don’t wait; give our Hellertown, PA office a call!