Eating Nuts for Snacks Could Help Keep Your Teeth Healthy

Nuts are a delicious snack. Those who taste nuts for a living describe the flavor as sweet and buttery. A handful satisfies most midday appetites. They are crunchy. They are healthy. They are delicious. While not everyone can tolerate eating nuts, their delicious flavor appeals to many people. In fact, in recent years almonds have surpassed peanuts as America’s favorite nut. Did you know that eating nuts for a snack could help keep your teeth healthy?

Nuts Benefit Your Teeth

Nuts are a top choice for a snack. Almost all nuts are low in carbohydrates. Sugar and carbohydrates are the top two offenders in the mouth. Both ingredients can lead to a buildup of plaque, which is the first step in tooth decay. By avoiding sugar and carbohydrates, your teeth are less prone to cavities. Consuming raw foods, like fruits and vegetables, drastically reduces your risk of gum disease. Chewing nuts also reduces your risk of gum disease and nuts also helps to strengthen your teeth. Nuts can even remove bacteria as the texture of the nuts cleanses the surface of your teeth and increases your flow of saliva.

A Healthy Snack

Nuts can be eaten alone or paired with other foods to make a healthy snack. Everyone has their favorite trail mix, but did you think of nuts with steamed vegetables? Try tossing some pecans with steam green beans with a little olive oil and salt. Almonds can decorate the top of any favorite breakfast cereal which will enhance the flavor and texture as well. Walnuts can improve practically any salad. Nuts can even go inside tortillas with meat, cheese, and a vinegar-based dressing.

Call Our Offices

We like to help people keep their teeth healthy. Many lifestyle choices can impact the health of your teeth. While eating nuts may be one way to stay healthy, we would love to discuss other healthy practices at your next routine cleaning and checkup. Give us a call today at our Milwaukie or Oregon City offices!

The Effects of Chewing Tobacco on Your Teeth

Smokeless or chewing tobacco is just as bad as smoking, sometimes even worse. Think about it. When you’re smoking, you’re inhaling smoke that simply passes by your teeth and into the lungs. In contrast, when you’re chewing tobacco, there’s much more action as you grind it against your teeth for minutes at a time. Chewing tobacco has serious consequences for your oral health as well as your entire body.

At ComfortCare Dental, our dentists strongly discourage chewing tobacco and help treat patients with tobacco-related oral conditions.

Short-Term Effects of Chewing Tobacco

Chewing tobacco causes some unique short-term effects such as bad breath, excess saliva production (drooling), receding gums, reddish-brown stained teeth, tooth decay, and patches in the mouth, to name a few. These effects can occur as soon as start this habit. Once it becomes an addiction, these short-term effects can turn into something much worse.

Fortunately, you can stop these effects from developing if you act quickly. For a routine dental exam and clean-up, we recommend visiting our dentists at ComfortCare Dental.

Long-Term Effects of Chewing Tobacco

People strongly addicted to chewing tobacco can cause more serious long-term issues that affect their overall health. These include mouth, tongue, cheek, stomach, throat, and pancreas cancer. Chewing tobacco increases your risk of heart disease and stroke. Other long-term effects include tooth and bone loss.

Lastly, stained teeth can lead to psychological effects, such as low self-esteem and depression. The more tobacco you chew, the higher your risk of developing severe oral conditions.

At ComfortCare Dental, our dentists can help reverse some of the short-term and long-term effects of chewing tobacco if you act quickly. To schedule an appointment with us, call us at our Milwaukie or Oregon City offices today.

What is a Root Canal?

A root canal is a dental procedure that is performed on an infected tooth. When the pulp of your tooth becomes infected, it will likely need a root canal. The pulp is a soft substance inside your tooth, below the enamel. It contains blood vessels and nerves, which is why an infection in the pulp of your tooth can become quite uncomfortable.

During a root canal procedure, our team will start by numbing the area. A sheet is placed over the tooth to protect adjacent teeth and to keep the target tooth clean. A small canal is drilled into the enamel of the tooth and the infected pulp is removed. The area is thoroughly cleaned to ensure that all infected material is gone so that it cannot spread to other areas of your oral cavity.

Once this is complete, the canal is filled with a rubber-like material to protect the nerves of your tooth. A temporary crown is then placed over the repaired tooth. You will then need to return in a few weeks when the permanent crown is ready. The temporary crown will be removed, and the permanent crown will be cemented into place.

Why Are Root Canals Performed?

The goal of a root canal is to save your natural tooth and relieve discomfort caused by the infection. When your natural tooth is lost, your gums are susceptible to recession and you can lose bone density underneath the tooth. The adjacent teeth are also more likely to suffer from decay and gum disease.

A root canal allows our professionals to preserve the roots and core of your tooth while also placing a crown over the damaged area. The crown allows you to use the tooth without fear of irritating the nerves of it. If you would like to learn more about root canals, contact our offices in Milwaukie or Oregon City today.

Treatment for Dental Cavities

Dental cavities are one of the most common dental problems. They can be hard to catch right away and when left untreated, they can cause toothache, infections and even lead to tooth loss.

That’s why it’s so important to schedule regular visits with your dentist so that they may catch any cavities in their early stage when they are still treatable. So, call our offices in Milwaukie or Oregon City to book your appointment at ComfortCare Dental.

Here are some of the ways they might treat your dental cavities depending on their severity.

Fluoride Treatment

If the cavity is still in its early stage, your dentist might recommend some fluoride treatment that involves brushing a gel or liquid onto your teeth. This can help reverse the damage done by the cavity and restore your enamel.

Dental Fillings

If the bacteria have started penetrating the teeth and caused damage, your dentist will resort to fillings. They will drill a hole into the teeth to clean out any decay and damaged tissue and then fill it with resin or porcelain to seal the tooth.

Dental Crowns

If the cavity has spread even more and there is decay all over the tooth, your dentist will suggest you get crowns. Again, they will drill and clean out the decay and then fit a crown over your natural tooth to protect and restore its function.

Root Canal

If the decay has reached the root of the tooth, the dentist will have to perform a root canal. This will involve cleaning out the entire root or pulp of the tooth and any other damaged tissue from inside the tooth. Then, they will fill and seal the tooth with a crown.

Tooth Extraction

In case the cavity has caused so much damage that the tooth is beyond saving, your dentist will simply have to go for tooth extraction to remove the decay completely. You can then consider getting a dental implant or bridge for the missing tooth.

Dental cavities can often be quite painful and uncomfortable as well. If your dentist appointment is still a few days away, try brushing your teeth with warm water and avoid hot or cold food for a while to soothe your teeth.

How Many Times Should I Use Floss?

Even though brushing your teeth twice a day is very important, it is just as important to use a dental floss to clean in between your teeth and beneath the gum lines.

Food debris and bacteria can creep into the tiny spaces between your teeth and beneath the gum line, giving rise to plaque that can erode your enamel. The worst part is that you will never know about these hidden cavities until they become severe.

That is why Dr. Chung at ComfortCare Dental recommends using floss in places that your toothbrush cannot reach.

Should You Use Anything to Remove Food Debris Stuck in Your Teeth?

If you are relaxing on the couch watching your favorite Netflix show and you feel something stuck in between your teeth, it can be very tempting to pull it out using anything pointy that is nearby, most often your nail. According to surveys, about 61% of Americans use their fingernail and about 40% use a folded card to pull out food debris stuck in their teeth.

However, not only these improvised toothpickers not clean your teeth sufficiently, they may hurt your gums as well. It is important that you use dentist-accepted interdental cleaners like floss, dental picks, water flossers, and tiny brushes to clean food debris.

When Should I Clean In Between my Teeth?

As long as you floss your teeth at least once a day, it doesn’t really matter when. You can pick anytime of the day to spend a few minutes cleaning in between your teeth and beneath your gumline. You can also use floss to clean away food debris from between your teeth after every meal.

Parents should cultivate the habit of using floss in children as young as three years old. They should start cleaning in between their children’s teeth as soon as their child gets two teeth right next to each other. Since children cannot correctly floss on their own, you should help them floss at least until they turn eight.

Flossing or interdental cleaning is not supposed to be painful. It is normal to feel slight discomfort when you start cleaning in between your teeth after a long while, however, this feeling will quickly go away. If your gums continue to become irritated every time you floss, it could point to some other oral issue and you should get an appointment with us at our offices in Milwaukie, Oregon City, or our Mobile Dental Clinic to treat it.