This is a question that we receive quite often. Many people ask us if we would recommend that they switch from their normal, manual brush to something electric. The next words that come out of their mouth are almost always "which one"?
Sometimes the tooth fairy leaves us with the short end of the stick. If you're missing a tooth due to trauma, decay, medication, or hypodontia (meaning, one or two of your permanent teeth never arrived), then you know exactly what we mean...
The answer is YES! And we're coming close to making every injection tolerable, and most of them painless. How? The key is in something called the gate control theory. CrossKeys Dental has recently begun to employ a device that puts this theory to work, with the hope of making the fear of a shot in the dentist's office a thing of the past!
Night guards, or occlusal guards as they are called, are made to protect more than your teeth. Your teeth are a part of a very complex system that is designed for mashing food, and the components of this system will break down over time. There are many reasons that your dentist might consider an occlusal guard as a treatment option for you. Here are some of the problems we are trying to alleviate with this therapy...
Stop biting your nails! You’ve heard that from grandma before, but not only was she trying to keep you from putting your dirty fingernails in your mouth, she may have also been trying to save your teeth! But was she correct? Here are some of the things that can affect your teeth that you may not have even thought about.
Your teeth go through a lot. Like any machine, wear and tear needs to be considered. Imagine the stress that chewing muscles alone (for decades!) put on your teeth! Generally, we put anywhere between 16 and 34 lbs of force on our teeth when chewing our food. Some people can apply up to 160 lbs of force (1). Imagine then how much force we apply when grinding or clenching. Studies have recorded forces nearing 275 lbs with a single clench. Could you imagine having to offer a warranty for this machine? How in the world do our teeth withstand these forces without failing? The answer: sometimes they don’t…
There are a few things that we dentists hear more often than others. Here are a few of them… but we have a solution for each of them, so worry no more!