General

Caring For Baby’s Teeth

A child’s primary teeth are just as important as their permanent teeth. It’s important to care for them as they are the spaces or positions of the future permanent teeth. Your baby’s teeth help the child chew food and speak. Hence, it is best to introduce good dental care for children during their infancy.

The following tips may help keep a child’s teeth and gums healthy:

• Using a warm, wet washcloth, wipe your baby’s gums every day (including teeth, if any). It removes sugars from the gums and, besides, it will accustom the infant with the feeling of cleaning their teeth.
• Don’t let babies and toddlers go to bed with bottles or sippy cups. Sugar in milk and juice can cause tooth decay if they remain on the teeth for long periods.
• As your baby nears one year old, he should learn to get used to a sippy cup. By that age, he shouldn’t be using bottles anymore.
• You can give toddlers juice or milk at meal times, if not water. In between meals, siping water from sippy cups should be encouraged.
• Using a soft baby toothbrush, brush your one-year old infant’s teeth twice a day. Use only a small amount of fluoride toothpaste no bigger than a grain of rice. In between 3 and 6 years, use a pea-sized amount of toothpaste.
• Brush your child’s teeth for them until they can clean their teeth well without help. Monitor them to make sure that they spit out the toothpaste. When not in use, keep toothpaste out of their reach.
• Within 6 months of their first tooth appearing or at 1 year of age, whichever comes first. Bring your child to the dentist. This is an ADA recommendation.
• Do not share eating utensils with a child or clean pacifiers by putting them in their mouth. These can pass the adult’s cavity-causing bacteria to the child.

These are common tips and suggestions, and may not be fit for all children. Please advise with our dentist for personalized dental health tips.

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Additional Dental Health Advice for Children

If you have a new baby or a toddler, drop by Dr. Tetrick’s dental clinic in Bellingham for a checkup and see how you can maintain your child’s oral health at home in addition to routine checkups.

The Procedure, Recovery and Complications

What is the procedure for having a dental bridge?

That’s depending on the type of bridged agreed. For a traditional bridge, the teeth on either side of the gap are prepared – removing any decay and grinding them down. Next, an impression of the mouth is taken. The dentist will put a temporary bridge on the grounded teeth for protection.The patient returns for the next appointment after a couple of weeks when the temporary bridge is replaced by the final bridge work.

It is the same process for cantilever bridges, except that only one tooth will need a crown. A Maryland bridge requires less preparation, since no crowns are involved. Both bridges also require at least two appointments. When a person has implants to support a bridge, the process typically begins with implant surgery. Then, the dentist will take an impression of the mouth to create a bridge that fits over the implants seamlessly.

How soon will a patient recover from the procedure?

The patient will feel some tenderness and soreness after teeth grinding; likewise, after the placement of the bridge. The gums may be tender and bleed. After a few days the soreness will subside for most patients. However, the gums may need a few weeks to completely heal.

The patient can return to work or go back to school as soon as they feel well enough, and this is usually the day after the appointment. Those who choose to be sedated during the bridge placement should not drive after the procedure. Similarly, those who opted for implants may feel unwell after waking up from anesthesia and may need assistance for a day or two after the procedure.

Bridges need the usual care afforded to natural teeth. Good oral hygiene is essential. Dental appointments, at least twice yearly, should be observed to check the bridge and clean the teeth.

Are there complications?

There can be bridge failure. It may slip out of place or break which would require another bridge, implants, or other dental procedures. There can be pain or chewing problems. Patients can struggle adjusting to chewing in the weeks after the procedure. The bite may be adjusted if necessary. There can be an infection if the patient has widespread tooth decay or gum disease.

It is possible for a tooth to continue to decay under the crown that anchors the bridge. This is more common in people with serious gum disease or very severe cavities in the teeth that need crowns. To prevent tooth decay around a bridge, it is crucial to practice excellent home care, including brushing and flossing. Some floss products are designed for use with bridges. Working with a knowledgeable dentist and carefully following their aftercare instructions can reduce the risk of serious complications.

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Dental Bridges at Tetrick Family Dentistry

Dental Bridges are a cost-effective alternative to dental implants, and represent a good solution for many people who are missing teeth. Contact our Bellingham office if you have any questions or concerns about dental bridges.

Understanding Dental Bridges

A dental bridge is an appliance that replaces one or more missing or broken teeth with fake teeth that are called ‘pontics’. To hold the pontics in place, the bridge uses one or more real teeth on either side of the gap to serve as anchors. Bridges can be removable, meaning the wearer can take them off when necessary, or they can be permanent or fixed.

What is the purpose of bridges?

Since a bridge replaces missing teeth, it brings back the look and function of real teeth. It restores the person’s ability to smile confidently, eat and speak properly, and have self confidence. Missing teeth can also affect a person’s bite, can cause neighboring teeth to drift or move into the spaces, or ‘elongate’ if there is no opposing teeth. It can also cause some degree of bone resorption where the gaps are.

You can lose a tooth or two in different ways and use a bridge in their stead. You may need a bridge if a tooth is so badly decayed that it falls out or is extracted, a damaged tooth due to accident or injury, a tooth that cannot be saved by fillings or root canal. For some patients, a permanent dental implant is an alternative to a bridge. For others, particularly if many teeth are missing, dentists recommend implants to help secure a bridge.

Types of Bridges

A traditional bridge involves two crowns – called abutments. They anchor the fake tooth or teeth to real teeth. This is the most popular type of bridge, and it can be fixed or removable. A cantilever bridge requires only one crown for support. It’s a good option for patients who do not want to damage healthy teeth. Maryland bridges are more conservative and less invasive than traditional or cantilever bridges.

The bridge is anchored by metal or porcelain frameworks attached to the backs of teeth on either side of the gap. These bridges can preserve healthy teeth, but they are less secure. Then there’s the more invasive, expensive but more secure implant-supported bridges, that use dental implants as anchors.

In our next blog, let’s talk about what to expect when you choose to have a bridge, and a few complications that go with it.

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Bridging the Gap in Bellingham

If you have a tooth or two missing, make an appointment with us at Tetrick Family Dentistry and let’s talk about options.

Surgical and Non-Surgical Choices for Sleep Apnea Treatment

In the realm of sleep medicine, here are some of the treatment options for those with sleep apnea.

Surgical Treatment for Sleep Apnea

Tracheostomy is a cut in the lower throat to bypass the collapsing upper airway. It’s a permanent opening to the windpipe that can be opened and closed. It is the most effective surgical procedure for treatment of the obstructive type of sleep apnea. However, it is not without its downside. The procedure is disfiguring and affects the patient’s quality of life. The valve that can be opened or closed can make the patient susceptible to infection, apart from its needing regular cleaning. Tracheostomy is now reserved for patients with severe apnea or if other medical and surgical modalities fail.

Tonsillectomy and uvulopalatopharyngoplasty are surgical procedures available to address pharyngeal obstruction. The surgical removal of the tonsils, or the uvula and part of the posterior palate may be successful in the appropriate patient. However, freeing the airway of these structures involves a lot of cutting inside the mouth and throat. It can also be painful for the patient.

Non-surgical Treatment for Sleep Apnea

Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP)

The Continuous Positive Airway Pressure, or CPAP, device is now the most common treatment used for moderate to severe sleep apnea, The person’s airway is splint open during sleep by means of pressurized air. A plastic facial mask is worn that is connected by a flexible tube to a small bedside CPAP machine. The CPAP is a non-surgical approach that uses a breathing mask to stiffen walls of the throat to keep tissue from becoming floppy and blocking the airway. But then, the patient needs to strap on the mask every time he goes to sleep. It takes a lot of getting used to and many patients abandon their masks in only their first year of use. However, perseverance pays and the results can be positively dramatic.

Weight Loss

Weight loss is another type of intervention in the treatment of sleep apnea. While it is possible to be thin and have sleep apnea, obesity multiplies the probability. Excess body weight is thought to be an important cause of apnea. People who are overweight have more tissues in the back of their throat which can restrict the airways especially when sleeping. The lifestyle change involves shedding addictive substances like alcohol or sugar, not to mention high calorie diets. In weight loss studies of overweight individuals, those who lose weight show reduced apnea frequencies.

An important area of consideration for those with sleep apnea is their increased risk for complications arising in surgery. Surgeons are seeing more and more patients going through elective surgery as indicating in their screening questionnaire that they snore in their sleep. Sleep apnea can be a risk factor for poor outcomes, such as pulmonary complications.

Other issues are: changing the anaesthesia based on sleep apnea, medications that can cause the airway to collapse, multiple medications that can build up and cause interactions. Also, after surgery, people with apnea have to be monitored longer and there may be the need for intensive care services, which significantly increase health care costs.

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Sleep Apnea Treatment Options at Tetrick Family Dentistry

Schedule an evaluation with the dentist to see if the sleep apnea appliance could be a therapeutic for you.

Rise of Sleep Apnea

Sleep apnea affects millions of people around the world and causing its hallmark symptoms – multiple times snoring, stirring, and gasping for air while asleep – to bother most people, including their bed partners. What’s really happening during sleep apnea and why should sufferers seek treatment?

During sleep apnea, your throat muscles relax too much, your airway collapses and gets blocked. Air supply is continually interrupted, causing blood oxygen levels to drop. You are trying to breathe, or you may wake up. This can happen multiple times a night, and the ill-effects are many and severe.

It can put a strain on your heart that races to pump more blood, compensating for the lack of oxygen. Fluctuating oxygen levels cause plaque buildup in arteries, upping the risk of cardiovascular disease, hypertension, and stroke. Thousands of Americans die every year of heart disease worsened by apnea. The condition can also affect glucose metabolism and promote insulin resistance and weight gain.

Sleep Apnea can Lead to Other Health Concerns

Many studies and researches correlate apnea with serious aftereffects. Lacking a full night’s sleep is associated with memory loss, anxiety, and depression. Inattention due to lack of sleep can lead to traffic accidents, major absenteeism, and lost of jobs. Those with severe apnea were found to die, 3x more likely, in an 18-year period than those without apnea.

A 2019 study says nearly a billion people worldwide suffer from mild-to-severe sleep apnea. But the condition is largely ignored and studied even less. Many patients are not even aware. A large neck, or large tonsils, a small jaw, obesity, or aging are risk factors. The only way to diagnose it is to monitor someone’s sleep.

The most common method used to diagnose sleep apnea is a sleep study, which may require an overnight stay at a sleep center. The study monitors a variety of functions during sleep including sleep state, eye movement, muscle activity, heart rate, respiratory effort, airflow, and blood oxygen levels. The test diagnoses sleep apnea and determines its severity.

The sleep study is just the beginning of the journey. The next blog will discuss patients’ options.

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More on Sleep Apnea in Bellingham

If you think you’re experiencing sleep apnea symptoms, visit Dr. Tetrick in Bellingham. Let’s discuss it more and explore your options.

What is the color of your tongue?

A healthy tongue is light pink in color. That’s perhaps the source of the expression that one is in the ‘pink’ of health. Yet you might wake up one day finding an unexpectedly weird coloring or texture on your tongue that doesn’t seem normal. There are many harmless things that can change the color and coating on your tongue. It’s good to know what these changes really mean to you and your health.

White Tongue. A thick or heavy white coating on the surface of the tongue, called ‘Leukoplakia’. It may be due to irritation or cigarette smoke from heavy smokers. It’s not to be mistaken with oral thrush, which looks like a while layer of cottage cheese on the tongue, associated with diabetes or suppressed immune system.

Red Tongue. The tongue has a “mapped” appearance. Also called ‘geographic tongue’. The red and white patterns look like a map, like dots of smooth little islands. It’s quite common and not serious. Cause is unknown.

Red Tip of the Tongue. It can signify mental or emotional stress, flaring up during high-stress situations and resolving once the stressors settled down. It can also be the result of psychological medication changing the hydration of the mouth. The mouth is affected, as well as the color of the tongue.

Black Hairy Tongue. This is due to a buildup of bacteria. This is also found in smokers who could use a tongue scraper plus one or two extra cleanings a year at the dentist. A drug called Pepto-Bismol, which contains bisthmus, can also turn the surface of the tongue black.

Yellow Tongue. This may mean a liver or stomach problem. Yellow may mean a disease is just starting, ending up being brown or black as the disease advances. The most common causes of a yellow tongue can be poor dental hygiene, smoking, or certain medications. Improving oral hygiene can treat it.

Brown Tongue. This is usually coming from the food and drinks you take. A brown discoloration can be due to heavy coffee drinking and/or smoking. A permanent brown may mean lung problems due to chronic smoking.

Blue or Purple Tongue. This color can mean that the heart is not pumping blood properly, or if there is a lack of oxygen in the body. Must see a doctor immediately.

Pale Tongue. This can indicate a vitamin B12 and vitamin A deficiency which can be treated with diet change or supplements.

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Visit Our Bellingham Dentist

This may not define the health of your tongue, but as a reference. If you have any questions or see any strange symptoms, please contact our office to make an appointment.

What To Know About Kids’ Oral Hygiene

So you have young kids and a baby at home and you wonder how you can be protective of their oral health. First you must arm yourself with some basic facts to really understand children’s oral care. Here are some tips specifically to encourage good dental hygiene from a young age.

Baby teeth erupt from 6 months to 2.5 years. This phase is generally accompanied by soreness and inflammation of the gums. This makes for some unhappy babies. Nonetheless, train your child about tooth brushing, using only the most gentle of bristles to massage the gums.

Schedule your baby’s first dental exam after she/he turns one year old.

Demonstrate to your toddler the proper tooth brushing technique; that correct brushing takes two minutes at least. Start a routine of a twice-daily brush and oral rinse.
Kids should know that they should not swallow toothpaste, and before you introduce fluoride toothpaste, always consult with your dentist or doctor first. Before the child turns 2 years old, use only a pea-sized amount of fluoride toothpaste. Too much fluoride can be harmful, as can other ingredients in toothpaste.

Know that fluoride toothpaste will strengthen enamel and protect from cavities. So be sure to read facts on the label and follow the instructions when using fluoride toothpaste. Choose a gentle toothpaste that does not contain sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS); it is known to cause inflammation of tissues and oral sores.

Know brushing and rinsing alone cannot remove plaque and tartar. Children as well as adults should go to the dentist or hygienist to have professional cleaning done to reduce the risk of cavities. There are toothpastes that slow the regrowth of plaque as well as strengthens enamel. Ask your dentist about that. Also, determine how often how often you should bring your child to visit, as plaque build-up varies from one baby to another.

Help your kids use dental floss and/or interdental brushes between ages 2 to 6. By age 10 years, children should be flossing on their own.

Limit your child’s intake of sugary and starchy foods as well as sweet flavor drinks. The habit can lead to early cavities and tooth decay.

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Dentist for the Whole Family

Our friendly, dedicated, and energetic team is committed to working with you and your family to create a positive experience every time you visit our dental practice in Bellingham, WA.

Being One Step Ahead of Tooth Decay

You might know that a tooth cavity is the result of a decaying process. It starts when bacteria attacks leftover food particles on a tooth surface turning it acidic. Soon, a buildup of plaque and tartar will weaken that portion of enamel resulting to a cavity formation. If left unchecked, the decay will burrow deeper involving the dentin and the pulp or perhaps beyond the root tips. Intervention at this point will depend if the tooth can still be saved. The scenario looks dim but did you know that you can still reverse the process at that point before a cavity forms. Here are some helpful tips.

Firstly, always use fluoride. It is the mineral present in toothpaste, gels, drinking water, among other sources, that keeps tooth decay at bay. Both ways, it can prevent tooth decay progression and also stop or reverse early tooth decay. Fluoride replaces tooth minerals that are lost. It strengthens the enamel reducing the ability of mouth bacteria to secrete acid.

Practice the fundamental oral health routine. Protect your teeth from cavities and early decay or reverse the decay by proper and regular tooth brushing at least twice daily, flossing at least once daily and rinsing with mouthwash once or twice daily.

Have a healthy diet. Include vitamins & supplements to aid your diet. Fiber-rich foods promote saliva production that keeps your mouth hydrated. Foods that are rich in iron and Vitamin-B can aid calcium absorption and strengthen your enamel.

Avoid or cut-off unhealthy practices that put your oral health in peril. Habits like smoking, excessive alcohol intake, teeth grinding and clenching, excessive consumption of sugary and starchy foods, and neglect of oral hygiene can do a lot of damage to teeth and gums.

Visit the dentist regularly. Regular dental appointments ensure you are keeping tabs on your oral health status, at least every 6 months. Visitations include a complete oral examination, checking the presence of early cavities, the state of your gums and other oral structures. You will also need to have a professional cleaning done to remove the buildup of plaque and tartar that only a dentist can do.

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Prevention is Key in Bellingham

Learn more about cavity and tooth decay prevention by visiting your Bellingham dentist today. Remember what they say – an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure.

Causes and Treatments of Bad Breath

The ADA said that roughly half of adults have had bad breath at some point in their lives. Medically, it’s called halitosis, a multifactorial diagnosis, caused by a wide range of issues. If you rule out untreated cavities and gum disease, you’ll have left the top reasons for bad breath.

Poor oral hygiene. Undigested food left hanging around teeth or on the tongue gets broken down by bacteria, leaving that foul odor. Proper technique and frequency of brushing and flossing can eliminate the smell.
Dehydrated mouth. Decreased saliva production creates a dryer mouth where bacteria can feed on plaque and tartar resulting in bad breath.

For example, a low-carb diet forces the body to go into a state of ketosis, where acetone builds up and renders breath smelling fruity. Many prescription drugs can cause dry mouth as a side effect. Coffee can also dehydrate. Drinking lots of water to stay hydrated is important on top of good oral hygiene. OTC moisturizing gels, rinses, or sprays can also boost salivary flow, as well as chewing sugar-free lozenges.

Sticky sweets and desserts. They settle into the deep grooves of the teeth and provide ‘food’ for bacteria.” The more bacteria that’s present, the worse your breath will be. Limiting your sugar and brushing well can prevent bad breath.

Diabetes. Diabetics tend to have dryer mouths and are prone to foul breath. They may also have gum issues that heal poorly. It’s important to keep their sugar levels under control and be under the care of a periodontist to help maintain bone and gum tissue health.

Acid reflux or GERD. They cause stomach contents to regurgitate into the mouth; their acidity can cause the mouth to become super-dry and bacteria to multiply and cause foul breath. It can also thin enamel making them more prone to decay.

Alcoholism. Too much drinking can dehydrate contributing to poor salivary flow and excess plaque, triggering bad breath. Limit yourself to one to two drinks per occasion, and drink water with every cocktail to decrease the potential for alcohol-related dehydration.

Presence of illness. A cold or a sinus infection compels you to breathe through the mouth and mouth-breathing dries it out and causes less saliva flow. Ironically, some cold and sinus medications cause dry mouth as a side effect. Using nasal decongestant spray can alleviate stuffy nose and increasing your water intake can also help restore nasal breathing by re-hydrating the mouth. Snoring also causes mouth-breathing. See your dentist or an ENT specialist to get to the root cause of the issue.

Smoking. This habit generates heat in the mouth, dries it out and encourages bacteria growth. This can make you more susceptible to gum disease and cavities. Smoking cessation is key to your long-term oral health.

Skipping meals. Smells or thoughts of food trigger salivation. So missing meals can cause the salivary glands to slow down saliva production leading to a dry mouth and bad breath. Have regular meals and stay hydrated. Hydrate also if you are into intermittent fasting to help remove the sensation of bad breath.

Inflamed tonsils or tonsillitis. It can also cause bad breath. The larger the tonsils the more they hold food particles when you swallow, getting stuck on the tonsils’ irregular surface. Gargle and use a mouth rinse such as a salt water rinse. Your dentist can give prescription-grade products to help control bad breath caused by inflamed tonsils.

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Tetrick Family Dentistry in Bellingham

If you think your breath has become foul and you’re not sure how you got it, come and see Dr. Tetrick in Bellingham.

What You Need To Know about Teeth Grinding

Grinding or teeth clenching involves moving the jaw with the teeth held together. It’s called bruxism. It’s a fairly common reaction in some people during periods of concentration, anger, or stress, and often occurs without the person realizing it even if wide awake. If the condition occurs with some degree of frequency and severity it may lead to enamel erosion, dentin exposure and sensitivity or pain. So if a person becomes aware of it, the habit can potentially be stopped or reduced by modifying behavior.

Bruxism during sleep is very different from bruxism while awake. Sleep bruxism is not under a person’s conscious control and usually occurs throughout the night during periods of arousal as a person goes from a deep sleep to a lighter stage of sleep. This pattern may be repetitive many times during the night. Extreme forces generated by the jaws during grinding can result in overfatigue of the jaw muscles – resulting in morning jaw pain and jaw dysfunction. Sleep bruxism is not effectively treated by behavior modification or awareness and requires a different therapeutic approach. It also may be associated with a sleep disorder, such as obstructive sleep apnea.

Are you in the habit of clenching or grinding your teeth at night?

If you are not aware, here are some symptoms you might be experiencing. Facial pain and fatigue, especially in the jaw area, are common. Many who suffer from bruxism wake up with headaches, they have difficulty opening and closing their mouths, or feel a stiffness around the temporomandibular joint. If left untreated, bruxism can result in teeth becoming painful, sensitive or loose. Teeth may crack, chip or show wear in the enamel. Will your sleeping partner notice your teeth grinding? It’s possible the grinding noise can wake up your bedmate. However, bruxism can also be silent.

What causes bruxism?

Mainly, it’s physical or emotional stress. Physical factors that result in stress include fitness level of the body, nutritional state, and sleep habits. External emotional stressors can include finances, work and relationship issues. Children are not immune to stress either and sometimes it shows up as teeth grinding.

Treatment involves a visit to the dentist. Your dentist will help you ascertain the cause of the stress that might eliminate the grinding and clenching habits. Relaxing routine before bed can be helpful, like yoga, or a cup of tea or a warm bath. Jaw exercises can soothe and relax your overused muscles. A night guard can also be prescribed to cushion teeth during grinding and clenching.

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Beating Bruxism in Bellingham

If you are suffering from headaches, jaw pain and fatigue, and sometimes painful teeth, come see us soon at Tetrick Family Dentistry in Bellingham.