You are even at higher risk to develop dry mouth if you breathe too often through your mouth rather than your nose!

Despite being uncomfortable, dry mouth alone is not a severe issue as long as it is not persistent. If it is, it can lead to various long-term health issues, ranging from irritating to dangerous. Someone who suffers from chronic dry mouth will likely experience mouth sores, splits at the corners of the mouth, cracked lips, increased plaque buildup & a greater risk of tooth decay & gum disease. You might even start to have nutrition issues, because the lack of saliva makes it more difficult to break down food when you eat.

What Is Dry Mouth?

Dry mouth, also called xerostomia, is a condition where the body does not produce enough saliva, characterized by a dry & often sticky feeling in the mouth. For the most part, it is just uncomfortable. Many people experience short-term dry mouth as a result of anxiety or stress, which is easily treatable & not a huge concern. However, persistent dry mouth is often a sign of greater health concerns that can cause bigger problems & damage your teeth. In extreme cases, it can even lead to tooth loss. For example, your body’s tolerance to a medication’s side effects can decrease as you grow older, making you more susceptible to dry mouth.

The causes of dry mouth are highly varied & include:

• Stress & anxiety
• Dehydration
• Many medications (prescription & over-the-counter)
• Smoking
• Drinking alcohol
• Radiation therapy
• Diseases & infections (especially autoimmune disorders)
• Nerve damage
• Drug abuse

Treating Dry Mouth

Even if your dry mouth does not seem to be persistent, it is important to stay on top of treating it. The good news is that treatment is simple for most cases of dry mouth. First, make sure you stay hydrated by sipping on water throughout the day. For your dental & overall health, you should drink lots of water anyway! Dehydration, which dry mouth can be a sign of, is a serious health risk.

Other simple things you can do to treat dry mouth include chewing sugarless gum & limiting the salt, sugar & caffeinated drinks in your diet. Some people might recommend sucking on an ice cube or sugarless hard candy, but this can actually damage your teeth, so don’t do it! You can also purchase nonprescription saliva substitutes over the counter to reduce your current issues.

If you use tobacco or drink alcohol, cut back on those or find a way to quit. Even if you don’t think smoking or drinking is the root cause, those activities can irritate a dry mouth, so you should limit or stop them entirely. Plus, they’re just bad for you!

The best treatment for dry mouth always depends on the specific cause, so if home remedies or over-the-counter solutions don’t prevent your dry mouth, it can indicate a more serious underlying health issue. In serious cases it is best to visit a physician or dentist who can work with you to figure out the root cause of your dry mouth & help you treat it.

Oral cancer doesn’t always cause symptoms in the early stages, which is why it’s important to have a screening that can detect potential problems before they’re visible to the naked eye or cause sensations.

Signs & Symptoms

Oral cancer can appear throughout the mouth, including on your lips, cheeks, gums, tongue, the roof of your mouth & other soft tissue surfaces. It can also develop further back in your throat, which doctors call oropharyngeal cancer.

Red or white sores that don’t get better over time are the most common oral cancer symptom. These can be discoloured patches or hard lumps. They may be accompanied by feelings of pain, but they aren’t always painful. Because it can be difficult to distinguish cancerous sores from normal mouth sores, seeing your dentist for regular screenings is extremely important.

Other symptoms include throat soreness, bad breath & changes in the mouth, such as loose teeth or difficulty chewing & swallowing. If you experience any of these, you should come see us immediately. Though conditions other than cancer can cause these things, visiting us as early as possible is your best chance to improve your oral cancer prognosis.

Risk factors for oral cancer include:

• Tobacco use (smoking, chewing & dip)
• Excessive alcohol consumption
• Poor diet
• HPV (human papilloma virus)
• Age (higher risk over 40 years old)

How Dentists Diagnose Oral Cancer

During your oral cancer screening, your dentist will visually examine your mouth & surrounding areas. Using lights, mirrors & other tools, they can check areas of your mouth that are otherwise too difficult to see. They are also trained to locate more subtle signs of cancer such as asymmetrical features inside & outside the mouth.

With modern technological advances, dentists also have a wide array of cancer-detecting tools. Specially designed lights can highlight potentially cancerous spots & cleaning rinses can improve the inspection process. This equipment is only used to enhance the visual & physical examinations; it’s never used as a replacement for tried & true detection methods!

When a dentist completes an oral cancer screening, they won’t immediately say whether you have oral cancer. They may wish to monitor the condition of your mouth & they may ask you to come back for further testing. Please understand that this does not necessarily mean that something is wrong. Discovering oral cancer can be complicated. The doctor might simply want to keep an eye on your oral condition to make sure that more serious symptoms don’t appear.

Remember that when caught early, oral cancer has an 80 to 90% survival rate. Oral cancer can seem like a scary thing, but we encourage you to come to us with any concerns as soon as possible. Early detection & lifestyle changes will help ensure the best possible outcome. So be sure to ask the dentist or the hygienist for your annual screening!

You may have heard of dentists using Novocaine to numb patients’ mouths, but Novocaine is not actually used anymore. Modern dentists use much safer & more effective drugs such as Lidocaine. These are usually combined with other substances such as vasoconstrictors to increase the effectiveness & duration of the anaesthesia.

There are two kinds of local anaesthetics that dentists use to numb your mouth. The first is called a topical anaesthetic, which is swabbed over a small area on the surface of your mouth or gums. In most cases, this is used to numb the area where the dentist plans to inject the other kind of local anaesthetic. The injectable anaesthetic is what we rely on to keep you comfortable & pain-free.

What Is Local Anaesthesia?

Local anaesthesia is used to make a very small, specific area of your body temporarily unable to feel sensations, including pain. Examples of procedures requiring local anaesthesia include fillings, crown placement & root canals.

A local anaesthetic works by blocking nerve cells in a specific area from sending pain signals to your brain. You can expect this numbness to last for two to four hours, which means you will probably still feel residual numbness after your appointment.

Before you undergo a procedure requiring local anaesthesia, we will ask for information regarding any allergies & the medications you take. There is a possibility you might need a different formula if you have certain medical conditions. Call us if you have concerns or wish to know more about how we use local anaesthesia.

What to Expect

Despite the numbness from the topical anaesthetic, some patients feel a stinging sensation from the injection & think it isn’t working. In reality, this feeling is caused by the anaesthetic drug entering the body & beginning to work. The stinging subsides within several seconds.

Side Effects

Local anaesthesia does have side effects, but they are usually not serious. One well-known side effect is a temporary rapid heartbeat, which can happen if the local anaesthetic is injected into a blood vessel. One of the chemicals used in the local anaesthetic injection, epinephrine, can travel directly from the blood vessel to the heart. You may also know epinephrine by its other name: adrenaline. It is a naturally occurring substance in your body that can rapidly increase your heart rate. The fast heartbeat it causes can be alarming, but it is not dangerous & should return to normal in a matter of seconds.

Numbness

The numbness from local anaesthesia will take a couple hours to wear off, which may inhibit proper speaking & eating. After your appointment, you’ll need to be careful about biting & chewing—you could bite your tongue or cheek & not feel it! You may also experience temporary swelling or drooping of parts of your mouth or face. Some patients find themselves unable to blink, though this is not something to worry about. The dentist can tape your eye shut so it won’t dry out. You’ll be able to blink normally again as soon as the anaesthetic wears off.

The reality is that many dental conditions don’t cause pain or visual signs that you can easily see with the naked eye. This sometimes makes it hard for patients to understand what the dentist is seeing that led to a certain diagnosis. Luckily, intraoral cameras are hooked up to a TV screen or computer monitor right next to the dental chair. That means the dentist can show you instantly what the camera sees. So, if you have swollen gums or a broken filling, you & the dentist can be on the same page about the problem, even if you aren’t feeling any discomfort from it.

What Is An Intraoral Camera?

Put simply, an intraoral camera is a small imaging device that captures photos of the inside of your mouth. In contrast to x-rays, which can show the internal structures of your teeth & jaw, an intraoral camera shows the outside of your teeth & gums in high detail.

Compared to dental x-rays, which have been around since x-rays were discovered in the 1890s, intraoral cameras have been in widespread use only since the 1990s. Once a few dentists started using them, the rest caught on quickly, as we realized how they could revolutionize patient care & diagnosis. We consider the use of an intraoral camera at our practice to be a part of our basic equipment setup & we’re proud to have this powerful tool handy to help educate our patients & spot problems such as tooth decay & damaged teeth or restorations.

How An Intraoral Camera Works

The camera wand has the lens & a light on one end & a cord leading back to the computer on the other. The light on the camera is a very important part. Even in a brightly lit dental office, it can be hard to see in the darkest parts of your mouth. The intraoral camera’s brightly lit images help us get a better look at your teeth & gums. Many dental professionals feel this process beats traditional tools alone, such as a headlamp & a mirror, when it comes to spotting & diagnosing abnormalities.

An intraoral camera allows us to take great “before & after” pictures. This is especially useful when replacing an old metal filling (called an “amalgam” filling) with a tooth-coloured filling (called a “composite” filling). You’ll easily be able to see the huge aesthetic difference using white, natural-coloured fillings can make.

Images of your teeth taken with an intraoral camera can be printed out if needed, but they primarily live in the digital realm. This makes it very easy to add photos to your digital dental record. We can easily send images to other specialists who might be involved in your care, to dental insurance companies or to dental lab technicians who are helping craft a custom tooth restoration, such as a crown.

Want to see what the dentist is seeing? Just ask us to show you using our intraoral camera at your next appointment.

Many dental problems don’t cause any pain in the earliest stages. This is especially true of cavities (called caries by dentists) & tooth decay. That’s one of the reasons it is particularly important to come to the dentist for your regular checkups & cleanings. Dentists & dental hygienists are trained to spot the earliest signs of tooth decay, often in places that the patient can’t easily see.

The very earliest stages of a cavity are pretty much impossible to see, even for a dental professional with a trained eye. When a cavity starts it’s actually a microscopic hole in the very outer layers of your tooth. To make up for this, we use the latest technology to make trouble spots easier to identify. Early cavity detection uses a laser light to illuminate your tooth. Unlike higher-powered dental lasers that take the place of scalpels or drills, the cavity-detecting laser is very low-powered & will not cause any discomfort at all. There is no heat, discomfort or pain associated with early cavity detection.

Why Is Early Cavity Detection Important?

In addition to our eyes, the other essential tool to spotting cavities is one of the oldest dental technologies: x-rays. An x-ray of your tooth can help spot cavities in the tight spaces between your teeth. However, a cavity has to be pretty bad already for us to spot it with x-rays or a visual examination. And of course, the earlier a cavity is spotted, the sooner we can take care of it to prevent future decay & protect your tooth.

Treatments for removing tooth decay at the very early stages of a cavity are much less invasive (& less costly) than repairing cavities that are caught later on. Early cavity detection can mean less damage, less pain & less hassle down the road. While preventing decay is always the primary goal, we understand that not everyone has perfect oral health all the time, so early detection & treatment are essential tools for preserving your beautiful smile!

How Cavities are Detected

While they may look opaque at a glance, your teeth are actually made from semi-translucent materials. The hard, shiny outside layer is called enamel & the softer, yellower inside material is called dentin. Both materials allow some light to pass through them, though dentin is a bit more opaque than enamel. Cavities start on the enamel & can eventually eat through it & the dentin beneath, exposing your tooth root to decay. Early cavity detection is all about preventing this.

When we shine a low-powered laser light at your teeth, damaged parts of your enamel (i.e. cavities) will illuminate differently. Technology built into the tool measures the fluorescence of your tooth–in other words, how much light it reflects or absorbs. As the laser tool is moved along the grooves of your teeth, a computer program creates a readout that lets the dentist know when there’s a significant change in fluorescence that may indicate the presence of decay. The dentist can then take a closer look at that area & decide on a plan for treatment.

In the past, dental x-rays were captured using a film process similar to an analog photograph. With the advent of digital imaging, computerized radiography has become the dental industry standard. Digital x-rays require up to 90% less radiation than conventional film-type x-rays, which were already fairly low risk to begin with. Instead of using the traditional silver-oxide x-ray film, which must be developed & then fixed in caustic & environmentally damaging solutions, the new system takes pictures via a small electronic sensor.

What Is A Digital X-Ray?

X-rays, also known as radiographs, have long been part of preventive care in dentistry. X-rays are a form of electromagnetic radiation that is invisible to human eyes. When scientists first discovered evidence of these electromagnetic rays, they weren’t sure what they were, so they called them x-rays, & the name stuck.

X-rays can pass through the soft tissues of the face & mouth (lips, cheeks, etc.) but are absorbed by the hard material of teeth & bone. This allows the dentist to see potential oral health issues that may not be easily visible from the outside. X-rays are used primarily to find cavities, but dentists also use them to look at tooth roots, to evaluate the health of the bone surrounding the tooth, to assess possible periodontal (gum) disease problems, to analyze tooth & jaw positioning & to keep track of development in younger patients.

Type of Dental Digital X-Rays

While there are several types of dental x-rays (including periapical & full-mouth), the most common kind of dental x-rays are called bite-wing x-rays, based on the wing shape of the films that were once used. These x-rays are done while you’re in the dental chair & capture an image of several teeth at a time, roots included. A dental team member will place a sensor in a certain part of your mouth & ask you to bite down while they aim a tube-shaped device at your face. This is the x-ray emitter, which sends the x-rays through your tissues & onto the sensor in your mouth. No light or heat will come from the emitter. There is usually no discomfort associated with getting dental x-rays.

The Advantage of Modern Digital X-Rays

One other big advantage of modern digital x-rays over the old film type is the lack of a lag time between taking the x-rays & being able to examine them. The x-ray picture of the tooth can be instantaneously transmitted onto a monitor in the treatment room so we can see your teeth & surrounding structures while you’re still in the chair. The immediacy of digital x-rays allows the dentist to assess the health of your teeth & identify potential problems right away. The dentist can easily point out potential trouble spots to you, allowing you to see & understand your oral health condition as the dentist explains it. The digital files are also easy to share with any other dental professionals who might be involved in your care in the future.

With our digital scanner for dental impressions, the days of biting down on a tray of putty are gone. In the past, dental impressions were taken by quite literally pressing your teeth into a mould-making material by biting down on a tray full of goop. You would have to keep this goop in your mouth for several minutes as it hardened. While this process is painless, many patients found it very uncomfortable.

Traditional impressions are particularly uncomfortable for patients with a very sensitive gag reflex. Gagging while taking dental impressions wasn’t just a problem for the patient, either. Not being able to hold still as a result of gagging could shift the impression tray & make the mould less accurate.

What Is A Digital Impression?

Digital impressions are taken using an intraoral scanner that creates a detailed 3D image of your mouth. The scanner is small enough that it fits on the end of a wand. It looks like the tool we use to polish your teeth, only bigger. We take the scan by systematically moving the wand around your mouth as it emits a specialized scanning light. The images of your mouth can be viewed on a computer screen within seconds, to be viewed by both you & the dentist. We love that digital impressions give our patients an opportunity to see in detail what’s going on in their own mouths.
Digital impressions are used in restorative dentistry to create tooth replacements, such as crowns, bridges & partial dentures. Digital impressions can also be used in dental implant procedures, both for planning implant placement & to create a surgical guide that ensures accurate placement of implants on the day of the operation. Digital impressions can also be used for planning & visualizing how to straighten teeth, especially with systems that already include digital workflows, such as clear aligners like Invisalign^®.

Digital Impressions vs. Traditional Impressions

The accuracy of digital impressions is equivalent to traditional impressions & evidence suggests it may be even more accurate. Because we can see the 3-D model of your mouth immediately, we’ll know right away if any section of it doesn’t look right, & we can re-scan you quickly right away, without having to ask you to come back in later as with traditional impressions.

For traditional impressions, once the impression goop set, the tray was removed & sent to a dental laboratory. There, a lab technician made a stone model of your mouth by pouring ceramic into the mould. This model acted as the base for any restorative designs (such as crowns or bridges) that you may have needed, or as a basis for designing your orthodontic treatment.

As you might imagine, this process of taking a physical mould & having it prepared by a lab technician, who then sends back the designs, is all very time consuming, taking days or even weeks, depending on how busy the lab is. Thankfully, digital impressions work completely differently & cut the time it takes for each step of the process.

Anyone who’s been to the dentist knows we have a lot more tools than just a toothbrush & floss for caring for your teeth. In addition to removing plaque, our arsenal of hand tools & handpieces are designed to remove hardened deposits called tartar or calculus that are hard for you to remove yourself using just a toothbrush & floss. During a cleaning visit, we also check your teeth thoroughly for existing signs of decay. If we find a problem, we will talk to you about fixing it as soon as possible with a filling, a crown, or another treatment if the decay is more severe. Of course, our favorite outcome is when we find no decay at all. Understanding how decay starts is a great way to solidify your understanding of how to prevent it.

What Is Tooth Decay?

Statistically speaking, tooth decay could be considered the second most common illness humans suffer from (number one is the common cold). If left untreated, tooth decay can lead to pain & more severe problems such as abscesses or systemic infections, not to mention tooth loss. Data indicates that almost every adult has had tooth decay at some point. Our goal is to reverse this trend, at the very least in our local community. Educating our patients about how tooth decay happens & how to prevent it is how we hope to accomplish this.

One myth seems to have emerged from how we were taught about tooth decay & cavities as children: avoid sugar & you can avoid cavities. The reality is there is no single thing you can do to prevent tooth decay. Rather, preventing cavities is a collection of good habits, maintenance & professional attention. The steps for a decay-free smile, in no particular order, are a healthy diet, a thorough daily hygiene routine & seeing us regularly for teeth cleanings & checkups.

Causes of Tooth Decay

Just like other parts of your body, your mouth is populated by both good & bad bacteria. When you don’t care for yourself properly, you can end up creating an environment where the bad (i.e., pathogenic) bacteria get the upper hand. In particular, these bacteria thrive when there is plenty of sugar for them to consume, which they digest & excrete as acid. This acid is what damages your teeth, eating into your tooth enamel & the softer dentin layer underneath. Eating highly acidic foods (lemons, tomatoes, soft drinks, etc.) can also weaken & even wear away your teeth.

Keeping Your Mouth Healthy

If your mouth is in an ideal condition, your body’s own immune responses & mechanisms, such as healthy saliva that contains tooth-building minerals, repair damage & keep bad bacteria from getting out of control. The goal of preventing decay is to keep your mouth in this healthy, balanced condition at all times. If you brush & floss correctly, get enough fluoride, limit your consumption of acidic or sugary foods & visit the dentist regularly, this should be easy for you.

Guidance On Preventing Tooth Decay

However, some patients have a tougher time preventing tooth decay & we are happy to provide guidance. If you’ve had a few run-ins with cavities, you may need a refresher course on your brushing or flossing techniques, which we’re happy to provide at your next visit. You can also boost the effectiveness of your at-home hygiene with special toothpastes, mouth rinses, toothbrushes or floss options. We’re happy to recommend these types of products if we think they will benefit you.

Nutritional counseling is another option to ensure decay-causing bacteria doesn’t get too much fuel. In children whose hygiene skills are still developing, sealing the deepest grooves on their back teeth can help prevent decay until they’re older & better at caring for their own teeth.

We encourage an open dialogue between our dental professionals & our patients. Like any health professionals, we are prone to doctor-speak, but we always strive to speak plainly & avoid jargon! If we ever say a word you don’t understand, please ask us to explain. We believe that the more our patients understand their care, the healthier their smiles will be.

Here are some frequently asked questions about dental care. Please take a look & feel free to contact us if you want more information on any topic.

Why do I need to see the dentist twice a year?

Our mouths are constantly changing depending on what we eat & drink, our habits & our age. Seeing a dentist regularly is the best way to catch a potential problem before it becomes a big deal. Not to alarm you, but lots of dental conditions don’t necessarily have obvious symptoms that you can rely on to spot something early. Dentists have the expertise & advanced tools to properly examine your oral health in a way that patients simply can’t do for themselves.

Not everyone needs to see the dentist every six months; some patients need to see us more often. Depending on your oral health situation, the dentist will recommend the frequency at which you need to visit us. Some patients see us every three or four months, especially if they have gum disease. If the dentist asks you to come in more frequently than you did in the past, please know that this advice is given with the idea of keeping you healthier in the long run.

Your regular visits are your best chance for keeping your teeth strong, clean & white & your breath fresh. Hygienists can remove stains that regular brushing & flossing & in-home whitening treatments can’t! Plus, we’re always happy to give you refresher training on the best techniques for your at-home oral hygiene routine.

Remind me, how often do I need to brush & floss?

You should be brushing your teeth twice a day & flossing at least once a day. Most people brush in the morning when they wake up & brush & floss at night before bed. If you want to brush after lunch too, we highly approve. When you brush your teeth it should be for a full two minutes. Make sure you get the back & front sides of your upper & lower teeth & their biting surfaces. Floss with about an arm’s length worth of floss, using a clean 2 inches for each tooth to prevent cross-contamination from one tooth to another. If you’d like the dentist or hygienist to demonstrate proper brushing & flossing technique, please just ask during your visit!

I’ve heard I don’t really need to floss. Is that true?

Don’t believe everything you hear in the news. It’s true that more studies are needed to solidify the connection between flossing & various effects on your oral health. But that doesn’t mean flossing is ineffective, it just means we need to know more. To us, the idea of not ever cleaning plaque & food out from between your teeth is scary, not to mention gross! Why would you want all that nasty stuff hiding away somewhere in your mouth, feeding bacteria & causing bad breath? You still need to floss everyday!

I brush my teeth & floss thoroughly every day. Do I still need to see a hygienist for a cleaning?

Yes! There is some stubborn tooth gunk that even the best brushing & flossing can’t get off. This is especially true of tartar, which is the hard substance that plaque can turn into if not cleaned off in time. Getting a professional scaling & polishing (the technical term for a teeth cleaning) by a hygienist can actually improve the appearance of your smile by removing stains. Polished teeth are also smoother & harder for bacteria to stick to, which will make your at-home brushing & polishing efforts more effective.

What causes cavities?

As children, we’re taught that eating too much candy causes cavities, so it must be sugar that causes tooth decay, right? Actually, that’s an overly simple way of explaining the process. Sugar is more like the fuel for decay & it doesn’t just come from sweet foods. When you eat, chemicals called enzymes in your saliva break down carbohydrates into sugars. These sugars—plus the sugar compounds that occur naturally in fruit & foods sweetened with refined sugar or corn syrup—are then eaten by the bacteria in your mouth. Unless you brush or floss them away, these bacteria hang out in your mouth, consuming the sugar & excreting a waste product in the form of acid. This acid is what eats holes in your tooth enamel & the softer dentin layer underneath, causing cavities & tooth decay.

At what age should children first visit a dentist?

Children should see the dentist when their first tooth comes in or by age 1, whichever comes first. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be caring for your baby’s oral health before then. After feeding, you can clean your baby’s gums by rubbing them gently with a damp washcloth. For more advice about caring for your baby’s mouth, please feel free to ask your pediatrician or us.

I’m very nervous about visiting the dentist. What should I do?

Tell us! The last thing we want is for you to be uncomfortable in silence. Being nervous at the dentist is not uncommon so don’t be embarrassed about it. Knowing that you are a nervous patient helps us prepare properly for your appointment. There are steps we can take to make you more comfortable during your visit. We can take things slower & explain more about what we’re doing at each step. We can work with you to develop a communication system so you can tell us clearly when something is bothering you or you need to take a break. Sedation is also an option in some cases & we’d be happy to discuss it.

One of the biggest ways we can help you overcome your nervousness is by working through it together. We want our office to be a warm, welcoming & pleasant place for you. The easier & less intimidating we can make your visit, the better we’ll be able to care for your oral health, now & in the future. If there is anything we can to do improve your experience, just ask. We promise you, you won’t be the first person who has brought up these concerns.

More Patient Education

• Digital Impressions
• Digital X-Rays
• Dry Mouth (Xerostomia)
• Early Cavity Detection
• Intraoral Camera
• Local Anaesthesia
• Oral Cancer Screening
• Tooth Decay