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Dental care

Does tartar Removal Damage Teeth?

Have you noticed a buildup of tartar on your teeth? A hardened substance formed by the plaque on teeth is called tartar. In the production of dental plaque, sugar and bacteria derived from food are the initial components. If dental plaque is not removed with a toothbrush, it will solidify into tartar, which is a dark, hard deposit that is very difficult to remove.

Besides smoking, tartar can also be generated by certain foods that cause the build-up of plaque. When your diet contains sugars and starches, this, combined with poor oral hygiene, leads to bacterial growth that coats and negatively impacts your smile.

Besides, there is a great deal of confusion among people regarding whether it is safe to scrape tartar at home. In any case, it is strongly recommended that tartar be removed by a dental professional. Still, is it possible to remove tartar at home?

Can Tartar Damage Your Teeth?

A build-up of tartar is a substance that coats your teeth and should not be ignored. It occurs as a result of dental plaque, which produces acids that eat away at your enamel, resulting in a cavity. In addition to causing foul breath, tartar can also increase the build-up of bacteria and destroy your enamel. 

It is possible for tartar to irritate and enlarge the gums, resulting in swelling and inflammation. The early stages of gum disease result in gingivitis. Furthermore, it is possible to suffer irreversible and dangerous bleeding if your gums become inflamed. Apart from discoloring your teeth, tartar can also affect your confidence, resulting in an unattractive smile. Within a few months, tartar can cause damage to your teeth if it continues to build up.

Can You  Remove Tartar At Home?

It is strongly recommended that you do not attempt to remove tartar at home. If you do this, you may damage your toothbrush, but there is also a risk of damaging your enamel as well. In addition, keep your gums and underlying tissues protected by not using a scraper to remove them because you are increasing the risk of injury and further dental problems. 

Removal of hard deposits of tartar from your teeth requires the assistance of a dental professional. Using a scaler, which is a sharp tool, the dentist will safely remove tartar from your teeth. If you show only early signs of dental plaque build-up, you can control and eventually remove it by following good oral hygiene and visiting the dentist for a regular check-up and cleaning.

Moreover, the amount of tartar on your teeth is crucial to determining how much pain you are likely to experience. In general, the more tartar buildup there is, the more severe the pain becomes, and vice versa. Furthermore, the dentist’s experience and the type of equipment used determine the level of pain felt during the procedure.

How To Prevent Tartar Build-Up?

Tartar formation can be prevented by restricting the development of plaque, which is its precursor. Several studies have shown that plaque can harden into tartar within a few hours. Thus, brushing and flossing on a daily basis is essential to the reduction of tartar.

Keep your teeth clean by brushing and flossing properly at home with a soft bristle toothbrush. Furthermore, mouthwash contains antibacterial properties that kill bacteria that are fed on by sugary foods. Visiting the dentist at least twice a year for a check-up and cleaning is recommended. In addition, you will gain a more thorough understanding of your oral health.

Whether you have tartar build-up or want tartar removal treatment, schedule a check-up and cleaning appointment today.

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Dental care

Top 5 Benefits of Invisalign

Have you been hiding your smile because of crooked teeth? Perhaps you should consider orthodontics in order to resolve the issue! The idea of braces tends to be intimidating for many adults. Nowadays, there are a number of other options in addition to metal and wire brackets. With Invisalign, your teeth are gently shifted using plastic aligners. Hence, the method is innovative for straightening your smile.

What Does Invisalign Treat?

It is possible to treat a wide variety of dental issues with Invisalign, including:

  • Overcrowding
  • Overbite
  • Underbites
  • Uneven spacing between teeth
  • Crossbites

Most importantly, Invisalign is a convenient alternative to traditional braces that can interfere with your daily life. With its rapid popularity, this procedure is considered to be the fastest and safest method of achieving straight teeth. Invisalign and traditional braces are both effective at addressing the above dental problems. Despite this, Invisalign offers a unique approach to straightening teeth. Additionally, it offers a number of benefits.

Key Benefits Of Getting Invisalign Treatment 

  • Duration Of Treatment

Braces are traditional orthodontic treatments that can take a long time to straighten your teeth. For example, wearing metal braces requires five years of treatment. Invisalign, however, may take approximately one year and a half to straighten your teeth. For more information about how long it will take to correct your teeth, please contact a professional today. Typically, braces require a two-year commitment. Alternatively, Invisalign takes between six and 18 months to complete. In both cases, a retainer is normally required as a follow-up procedure. If you would like straighter pearly whites sooner, you may wish to consider Invisalign.

  • Improves Your Dental Health

It is even possible to improve your dental health with Invisalign. A healthy mouth and teeth depend on having straight teeth. In order to align your teeth, you will wear clear aligners. As a result of these aligners, your teeth will slowly change position in less time. When the gap is reduced, you will be able to clean your teeth more effectively.

  • The Comfort Factor

Due to their digitally mastered design, these aligners are extremely comfortable. Unlike traditional braces, there are no metal pins poking your gums or the inside of your mouth. It is particularly reassuring for those who are physically active and participate in sports regularly. With metal braces, even the slightest mishap can cause tremendous pain.

  • Virtually Invisible

A further advantage of Invisalign is the fact that the trays are invisible. There are some individuals who find braces unattractive. Invisalign prevents wires and brackets from being visible when you smile. As a result, the trays are transparent. For teens and adults, it is an excellent option, allowing them to smile confidently while straightening their teeth.

  • You Can Eat Anything You Want

There are no food restrictions associated with Invisalign, which is one of the top benefits. In the case of traditional methods of straightening your teeth, you are not able to consume a wide variety of food items. It is possible that some of your favorite items will appear on the list. There will be a need to avoid eating foods that are sticky or hard. The good news is that you can eat anything you like with Invisalign. In order to do so, you will simply need to remove your tray.

Clearly, Invisalign offers many benefits. As a result, self-discipline is an essential component of this treatment. Due to the fact that the device is removable, if it is not worn for a minimum of 22 hours per day, progress may be affected. Thus, leaving them off, forgetting about them, or losing a tray (yikes) can be costly. To conclude, Invisalign is the ideal solution for a beautiful smile. Having clean dental health will lead to a better overall quality of life. As the saying goes, “a clean mouth is a healthy mouth”.

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Dental care

What Are The Warning Signs Of Gum Disease?

We all love to have clean and healthy gums, don’t we? But at the same time, we must put time and effort into ensuring that our gums stay clean and healthy, as they can be prone to many problems/diseases. As they always say, prevention is better (cheaper) than cure. With that, here is a list of warning signs of oncoming or potential gum disease (also called periodontitis) to watch out for: 

  • Inflammation – Most gum diseases cause one’s gums to be quite puffy and swollen during most parts of the day.
  • Painful gums – One might experience constant pain in the gums, especially during chewing, talking, and even drinking.
  • Stinky breath – Any and all gum disease causes a terrible odor from the gums and mouth, which seems to never go away.
  • Bleeding gums – One’s gums will begin to bleed easily with no effort if it is diseased, such as when one is chewing; they might even spit out blood after brushing or flossing.
  • Sensitive gums – The gums tend to be more sensitive and tender to touch and feel, with sensations ranging from raw pain to mild tingling when consuming cold, hot or sugary items such as ice creams, coffees, and sweets.
  • Pus formations – There will be a little amount of pus that seeps out from your gums and in between your teeth, which is a sure sign of open and/or healing wounds.
  • Discolored gums – The gums might appear to be in a dark red, bright pink, dark purple, full black, or pale yellow color, and this is one of the most common signs of gum disease.
  • Loose teeth – When you grind your teeth together or bite down on them, one might notice that the roots of the teeth connected to the gums are a bit loose, making the set of teeth detach from each other, become loose, or even fall off, in serious cases.
  • Gaps between teeth – Since the gums are infected, they turn into a mushy state and begin to deform, affecting the teeth, too, as they start to develop new spaces between each other.
  • Misshapen teeth – As mentioned before, the diseased gums start to affect the teeth too, and since the gaps begin to form, it also results in the teeth being deformed as the gum infection will spread to the root canal and will also decrease the durability of the gums and the nerves that are connected to the teeth.

What do I do when I come across any of these warning signs?

Most of the people, when they come across even the early warning signs of oncoming gum disease, they tend to ignore it as they feel it is temporary and isn’t that significant.

But on a serious note, it is very much necessary to immediately go and make a quick visit to the nearest professional dentist’s clinic as gum disease sure is common but not spoken about much because it’s been neglected by people all over the world by thinking that it isn’t anything serious.

Almost all dentists will stress on the importance of having a regular, consistent, and clear schedule of oral hygiene and will advise you on how to take care of your teeth, but most of them don’t really elaborate on what will happen if we don’t or fail to take care of our oral health. 

Hence, brushing and flossing your teeth at least twice a day is a great way to ensure that your teeth, gums, tongue, and entire mouth are always clean and top-notch.

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Dental care

What are the most common dental problems?

What is one of the most common things that are important for maintaining good oral hygiene? Well, the answer is simple: it is knowing about the most common dental problems and ways to combat them. It is common for everyone to say that keeping your oral health on track is vital but how? 

Well, you can easily do it by having knowledge about things, habits, and infections that can make your oral health worse. There are a lot of oral hygiene-related problems that can harm your overall dental health; therefore, it is essential to be aware of the same. 

Sometimes brushing or flossing your teeth is not enough. You also have to take care of what you are eating, what dental care products you are using, which dentist you are going to, and much more to ensure your oral health is not at risk. Moreover, if you are aware of the common oral care problems beforehand, you can easily take the steps required to cure them. 

In this article, we will discuss some of the most common dental problems that affect your oral health and your overall body health. So, keep on reading to know more! 

What are some of the most common dental problems you should know about? 

Below listed are some of the common oral care issues that you must look out for and get treatment in time before it goes out of hand: 

  • Plaque build-up: Plaque build-up is one of the common dental care issues that can significantly impact the quality of your teeth. In addition, when the plaque hardens, it turns into tartar which can badly stain your teeth. Therefore, you must pay attention to your teeth and follow proper oral care to flaunt an attractive smile. 
  • Decay or cavities: Dental cavities or tooth decay is another most common teeth related issue. Cavities can permanently damage your teeth, and the hard surface of your teeth can develop holes or tiny openings, which can result in tooth removal or extraction. Tooth decay involves both minor and severe issues; to combat that, you might need to go for root canal treatment. 
  • Gaps between the teeth: in most cases, gaps between the teeth are a result of jaw discrepancy to teeth size or vice versa. But genetics is not the only reason for it. Some childhood habits like sucking on a pacifier or thumb can also lead to a gap between the front two teeth.  Though there are various ways of closing this gap, the most common is braces or Invisalign.
  • Sensitive gums: Though there are many unclear reasons why people have sensitive gums, most of the time, it is because of gum disease, improper flossing technique, infection, etc. Sensitive gums can also lead to sore and bleeding gums.

These are some of the most common dental hygiene issues you must look for. Getting in touch with your dentist and getting proper treatment is vital.

Some ways to keep your oral hygiene in check

Below given are some points that will help deal with common dental care issues easily: 

  • Make sure you brush your teeth twice a day and use floss every alternate day.
  • Do not eat a lot of refined and sugary foods. If you do, make it a point to brush your teeth.
  • Visit your dentist at least twice or thrice a month.
  • Use a fluoride toothpaste and introduce a soft bristle brush to your brushing routine.
  • If you wear aligners or braces, make sure you pay extra attention to your flossing routine.
  • Use good quality mouthwash.

We hope that now you know about the most common dental problems and how you can combat them with the help of little knowledge and determination toward your oral health.