It’s important to understand that your baby’s dental care starts with your healthy pregnancy. Baby teeth form before birth, and your diet and oral health are key factors. Your doctor’s advice on a balanced, nutritious diet and adequate vitamins and minerals is crucial. Don’t avoid your dentist; unfortunately, many pregnant women do. However, it’s safe to see a dentist during pregnancy, and it’s actually essential. Despite the increased risk of gum disease, pregnant women can maintain their oral health by visiting their dentist regularly, without any harm to their baby.

Food texture can cause problems with teeth. Sticky substances seem to find their way between teeth and along gum lines. The bacteria in your mouth interact with the sugars to weaken tooth enamel. Therefore, avoid candies such as toffee and anything gummy (such as gummy bears). If you do eat this type of treat, be extra diligent with your flossing and brushing afterward.

Wine may improve in flavor with age, but its high acidic content can harm your teeth. Wine’s acidity can swiftly erode the enamel of your teeth, leaving them vulnerable to damage. Additionally, the dark pigments in red wine and some white wines can cause stains on the teeth, affecting their appearance. Furthermore, indulging in wine can contribute to dry mouth, which can lead to oral health issues.

PPO Full Coverage Dental insurance for a dental crown

Question:I require two dental crowns. I seek a dental insurance plan covering at least 50 percent or more on a crown and one without waiting periods. Is there a dental insurance plan like that?

Reply: We have two options for you; any of our HMO dental insurance would work. On the HMOs we provide, there are no waiting periods. The crown’s cost typically ranges from $100.00 – $250.00+. Another option would be our Delta Dental PPO plan. That does not have waiting periods; however, the first-year benefits on majors services such as crown run around 10 to 15 percent, and you only have 50 percent benefits on majors services once you have the plan for three years.

The gums (or gingivae). The gums is the moist pink tissue in the mouth that meets the base of the teeth. There are two such gums – one for the upper, and one for the lower set of teeth.  The gums is a dense tissue with a good supply of blood vessels beneath a moist surface. The surface is called mucous membrane. It is joined to the rest of the mouth lining but is pink instead of shiny red.

The UPV/EHU-University of the Basque Country is developing coatings for dental implants to provide them with capabilities to ensure success when they are implanted

Mouth infections are currently regarded as the main reason why dental implants fail. A piece of research by the UPV/EHU has succeeded in developing coatings capable of preventing potential bacterial infection and should it arise, eliminate it as well as providing implants with osseointegrating properties, in other words, ones that facilitate anchoring to the bone.

A new method of stimulating the renewal of living stem cells in tooth pulp using an Alzheimer’s drug has been discovered by a team of researchers at King’s College London.

Following trauma or an infection, the inner, soft pulp of a tooth can become exposed and infected. In order to protect the tooth from infection, a thin band of dentine is naturally produced and this seals the tooth pulp, but it is insufficient to effectively repair large cavities. Currently dentists use man-made cements or fillings, such as calcium and silicon-based products, to treat these larger cavities and fill holes in teeth. This cement remains in the tooth and fails to disintegrate, meaning that the normal mineral level of the tooth is never completely restored.

However, in a paper published today in Scientific Reports, scientists from the Dental Institute at King’s College London have proven a way to stimulate the stem cells contained in the pulp of the tooth and generate new dentine – the mineralised material that protects the tooth – in large cavities, potentially reducing the need for fillings or cements.

“Chew your food!” This is a phrase likely to have been heard by many of us during childhood. According to a new study, we would be wise to take that advice. Researchers have found that chewing food prompts the release of an immune cell that can protect against infection.

The study, recently published in the journal Immunity, found that chewing food – otherwise known as mastication – can stimulate the release of T helper 17 (Th17) cells in the mouth.

Th17 cells form a part of the adaptive immune system, which uses specific antigens to defend against potentially harmful pathogens, while enduring “friendly” bacteria that can be beneficial to health.

According to the study team, led by Dr. Joanne Konkel of the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom, in the gut and the skin, Th17 cells are produced through the presence of friendly bacteria.

However, the researchers note that the mechanisms by which Th17 cells are produced in the mouth have been unclear.

A tailored preventive oral health intervention significantly improved the cleanliness of teeth and dentures among elderly home care clients. In addition, functional ability and cognitive function were strongly associated with better oral hygiene, according to a new study from the University of Eastern Finland. The study is part of a larger intervention study, NutOrMed, and the findings were published in the Age and Aging journal.

A new method of detecting bacteria during root canal treatments could eradicate the need for follow up appointments and prevent treatments from failing, according to a study published today in the Journal of Dental Research. The SafeRoot device, created by a team of researchers at King’s College London, enables rapid bacterial detection inside the root canal, ensuring the procedure has been successful and reducing the need for tooth extraction or surgical intervention.

Due to advancing age many seniors at a higher risk of darkened teeth. Darkened teeth is caused to some extent by changes in dentin, and by a lifetime of consuming stain causing foods and drinks. Seeing a dentist regularly for cleaning and check up will help to prevent and treat darken teeth issues.

The main reason for dental implant failure is peri-implantitis. This is the destructive inflammatory process affecting the soft and hard tissues surrounding dental implants. This occurs when pathogenic microbes in the mouth and oral cavity develop into biofilms, which protects them and encourages growth. Peri-implantitis is caused when the biofilms develop on dental implants.

A research team comprising scientists from the School of Biological and Marine Sciences, Peninsula Schools of Medicine and Dentistry and the School of Engineering at the University of Plymouth, have joined forces to develop and evaluate the effectiveness of a new nanocoating for dental implants to reduce the risk of peri-implantitis.

The results of their work are published in the journal Nanotoxicology.

Nutrition Plays Key Role in Oral Health According to an updated position paper from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, A strong connection exists between the food people eat and their oral health. According to the paper, dental caries “is the most prevalent, chronic, common, and transmissible infectious oral condition in humans.” In addition, a person’s overall health can be affected by tooth loss, since declining periodontal health can lead to diminished dietary quality because of lack of essential nutrients in a person’s diet.

Sealants provided in school settings are effective. Recent studies found that dental sealants prevent 80 percent of cavities for two years after application and continue to protect against 50 percent of cavities for up to 4 years after placement. They can be retained in the mouth for as long as nine years.

Key findings from the report include:

• About 43 percent of 6- to 11-year-old children had a dental sealant. Low-income children were 20 percent less likely to have sealants than higher-income children.
• School-age children without sealants have almost three times more cavities than children with sealants.
• Applying sealants in school-based programs to the nearly 7 million low-income children who don’t have them could save up to $300 million in dental treatment costs.

According to a study, access to dental care by low-income Americans has become the exception, rather than the rule, as fewer dentists accept Medicaid. More than two percent of all emergency department visits are now related to nontraumatic dental conditions, according to a study by researchers at Stanford University, the University of California-San Francisco, Truven Health Analytics and the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

According to a study done, previous research shows that many pregnant women do not seek dental treatment, even when a dental problem exists. Pregnant women have increased risk of tooth decay because of increased carbohydrate consumption and difficulties brushing their teeth because of morning sickness, gag reflex and increased gum bleeding. Therefore maintaining your oral health during pregnancy is critical.  Maintaining your oral health is directly related to having good overall health. You should seek dental treatment when problems arises and maintain your regular dental check ups with your dentist even when pregnant.

According to a new study published in the August issue of The Journal of the American Dental Association It is safe for pregnant women to undergo dental treatment with local anesthetics. The study identified no evidence to show that dental treatment with anesthetics is harmful during pregnancy, and yet so many pregnant women avoid going to the dentist, according to study author Aharon Hagai, D.M.D. The study was aimed to determine if there was a significant risk associated with dental treatment with anesthesia and pregnancy outcomes. They did not find any such risk.

Gingivitis occurs before periodontitis. Gingivitis usually refers to inflammation of your gums, while periodontitis refers to gum disease and the destruction of tissue and/or bone.

Initially, with gingivitis, bacteria plaque accumulates on the surface of the tooth, causing the gums to go red and inflamed, your teeth may bleed when brushing them. Even though the gums are irritated and bothersome, your the teeth are not loose. There is no irreversible damage to bone or surrounding tissue. Untreated gingivitis can progress to periodontitis.

A woman’s mouth can say a lot about osteoporosis.   If you are a woman, your dentist may be the first health professional to suspect you have osteoporosis and refer you to a physician before the disease advances. Symptoms of tooth loss or gum (periodontal) disease could indicate early stages of osteoporosis. Osteoporosis weakens bones by reducing their density.

Although the disease may strike any gender at any age, the vast majority of sufferers are women over age 50. Osteoporosis is difficult to detect, and most patients are not diagnosed until their bone density has decreased to the point that a fracture occurs.

However, your dentist may detect the onset of the disease based on oral symptoms, your medical history and results of a clinical and x-ray examination. This is why it is important to visit your dentist regularly and to provide him or her with your complete medical history, even if you do not think it relates to oral health.

A more established link between poor dental hygiene and over all health care is heart disease.   At the University of Bristol in the UK and the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin, Ireland, found that people with bleeding gums from poor dental hygiene could be increasing their risk of heart disease.

The researchers found that heart disease risk increased because, in people who have bleeding gums, bacteria from the mouth is able to enter the bloodstream and stick to platelets, which can then form blood clots, interrupting the flow of blood to the heart and triggering a heart attack.

Back in 2007, a research team from Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, MA, were the first to report strong evidence on a link between gum disease and pancreatic cancer.

The type of gum inflammation associated with pancreatic cancer in the study was periodontitis, which affects the tissue that support the teeth and can cause loss of bone around the base of the teeth.

The other main kind of gum disease – gingivitis; where the tissue around the teeth becomes inflamed – was not linked to increased cancer risk. However, gingivitis can lead to periodontitis if persistent.

The follow-Up study, which involved a cohort of more than 51,000 men and began collecting data in 1986, the Harvard researchers found that men with a history of gum disease had a 64% increased risk of pancreatic cancer compared with men who had never had gum disease.

In 2010, researchers from New York University (NYU) concluded that there is a link between gum inflammation and Alzheimer’s disease, after reviewing 20 years of data on the association.  However, the number of participants in the NYU study was fairly small. The researchers analyzed data from 152 subjects enrolled in the Glostrop Aging Study.

According to a 2010 study in the Journal of Food Science published by the Institute of Food Technologist (IFT), researchers from the department of Food Science and Technology at The Ohio State University discovered that drinking milk while eating garlic-heavy food can reduce the malodorous breath associated with garlic consumption.

Both fat-free and whole milk lowered the concentration of volatile odor-emitting compounds from garlic in the nose and mouth. Due to its higher fat content, whole milk was found to be more effective. Although drinking milk after eating a garlic-infused meal can still help, the study found that drinking it during the meal will have better results.

Now a breakthrough by the international team, reported in the journal Scientific Reports, provides the first direct evidence of milk drinking from an increasingly important archaeological reservoir — human dental calculus, a mineralized form of dental plaque. Using the latest mass spectrometry-based techniques for ancient protein sequencing, the team detected a milk protein, beta-lactoglobulin (which they had previously reported from a modern dental plaque sample) in ancient remains.

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, the most widely used drugs for the treatment of depression, have been reported to reduce bone formation and increase the risk of bone fracture. Since osseointegration is influenced by bone metabolism, this study investigates the association between SSRIs and the risk of failures in osseointegrated implants.

The primary outcome was that compared with non-users of SSRIs, SSRIs usage was associated with an increased risk of dental implants failure (HR= 2∙31; P< 0∙01). The failure rates were 4.6% for SSRI non-users and 10.6% SSRI users, respectively. The secondary outcomes were that small implant diameters (≤4mm) (P=0∙01), bone augmentation (P=0∙04) and smoking habits (P<0∙01) also seemed to be associated with higher risk of implant failure. The main limitation of this retrospective study was that drug compliance dose and treatment period could not be acquired from the files of the patients.