Your tongue is not the strongest muscle in your body. Despite this oft-quoted myth, your tongue is pretty strong and unique. It’s actually a group of eight muscles that are all interconnected, and they’re the only ones in the human body that move independently from your skeleton.
Without your tongue, talking, swallowing, eating and many other tasks would be much more difficult, if not impossible. While it doesn’t hold a record for being the strongest muscle, or the most flexible, it has a surprising amount of stamina for such a tiny body part. Taking adequate care of this muscular matrix is just as important as ensuring you have healthy teeth and gums.
Dry mouth, also called xerostomia, isn’t just an unpleasant symptom — it’s also a contributing factor to several issues that could seriously hamper your self-esteem and dental well-being. Aside from such things as contributing to bad breath or increasing the odds of needing work for a cavity, feeling like you have cotton mouth can also lead to an overall feeling of “something’s just not right.” Although your dentist is the best person to help figure out the root cause of your dry mouth, there are some steps you can take at home to lessen the effects of this troublesome issue while you wait for your appointment.
Toothpaste manufacturers are keen to hook new customers with new flavors, styles and ingredients. For every great addition to toothpaste, there’s a handful of other trends that can actually harm teeth. Evaluating manufacturer claims isn’t always as simple as glancing at a product’s ingredient list. Keeping a keen, critical eye toward what’s in your dental products — and realistic expectations — can go a long way in preventing costly and painful mistakes.
Dental Hygiene | Oral Health | Uncategorized | Wellness
Your tongue can provide a surprising picture of your overall health and wellness. One of the reasons regular visits to your dentist are so important is because dentists can often spot problems in their early stages. While some tongue issues are directly linked to oral health and hygiene, your dentist can be one of the first responders for several other emerging conditions.
Dental Fear | Dental Hygiene | General Dentistry | Teeth | Uncategorized | Wellness
It’s undeniable that stress is bad. From sleepless nights spent worrying about your job, your loved ones and world events, it can be hard to escape daily anxieties that we all face. Plenty of research has been done on the effects of stress on systemic health, but we rarely talk about the impact worry can have on your dental and oral health — and it’s a doozy.
Stress and Your Gums
Healthy gums are vital to a healthy mouth — they hold our teeth in place and form a sort of soft armor around the deeper parts of dental tissue. They prevent potentially harmful oral bacteria from entering our bloodstream, as well.
When you’re stressed out, your body amps up the production of a hormone called cortisol. Cortisol is aptly referred to as the “stress hormone.” Responsible for putting our bodies into fight-or-flight mode when faced with a serious threat, cortisol also has smaller, less noticeable effects in our daily lives even when we’re not in a life-or-death situation.
At proper levels, cortisol can help regulate everything from immune function to digestion, but when things get out of whack because of stress, cortisol signals the body to go haywire.
Improper cortisol levels can lead to increased inflammation, which can in turn affect sensitive gums and contribute to a worsening of gum disease or its more severe cousin, periodontal disease.
Stress and Your Teeth
Grinding, gnashing and clenching your jaw may be par for the course when you’re stressed, but these actions are actually hurting your teeth — you may be grinding them down to actual nubs. For many people feeling a little stressed out, it’s enough to focus on consciously relaxing and untightening your jaw. But not everyone’s anxiety is easily solved.
Some people respond to stress by grinding their teeth at night, a condition called bruxism. Bruxism is sometimes treated with prescription medication, but the most effective nonpharmaceutical option is a mouthguard. Your dentist can help advise the proper course of treatment for your nocturnal teeth grinding and get you hooked up with a custom-fitted mouthguard to stop the damage.
Steps You Can Take to Tackle Stress
Stress management requires a holistic approach. And because no one knows what’s going on in your life better than you, the approach you take needs to be tailored to your unique needs and situation.
Talk to your doctor or other health care professional for ways to manage stress, worry and anxiety in your day-to-day life, as well as look for ways to stem its effects on your overall health. You may, for example, find therapy and medication useful. Or you may embark on a de-stressing routine of utilizing yoga or meditation. No one solution is right for everybody, and you may find a combination of strategies is the best for you.
When it comes to stress’s effect on your teeth, your dentist is your go-to for ways to mitigate damage. Depending on the problems stress is causing for your teeth, tongue and gums, different treatments may be recommended. Keeping your mouth in good condition by practicing good home care — brushing, flossing and rinsing as recommended — is an excellent baseline. Some people find the time spent brushing is an excellent time to take deep breaths and focus on calming themselves before facing the day ahead or winding down for bed — something that may quell anxiety and stress.
How We Can Help
At the office of Drs. Krieger and Hur, we recognize that booking a trip to the dentist can be stressful in and of itself. We take every care to make your visit as pain-free as possible. If you’re nervous, just let our staff know when you book your appointment and we’ll work with you to ease your fears as you come in for an exam to determine what to do about stress’s effects on your oral health.
Whether you need a custom mouthguard to stop damage from grinding your teeth at night or some extra care for gums that are going through it because of increased inflammation, we can help. The first step to seeing what we can do is booking an appointment for a regular exam to help us get an idea of what we’re working with — and give you a chance to tell us what’s going on.
You can reach out to our office and book an appointment by calling us at (201) 560-0606. You can also book your spot via email by clicking here — someone will get back to you about your appointment. Again, if visiting the dentist is a source of stress, say something! We won’t judge, and we’ll do all we can to accomodate your needs.
It’s the morning of a job interview or a big date, and all of a sudden you’ve got a huge blemish right on the corner of your lip — how embarrassing! You’re pretty sure it’s not a pimple or zit, but what could it be — a canker sore or a cold sore? How do you tell the difference? Or maybe, just maybe, you’ve got an irritated ulcer on the inside of your mouth driving you nuts. Blemishes, ulcers and sores are, unfortunately, part of the human condition. Although it’s tempting to ignore them because they’re unsightly and uncomfortable, when it comes to your oral health, it pays to pay attention to them.
Brushing | Cosmetic Dentistry | Dental Benefits | Dental Hygiene | Oral Health | Teeth | Toothpaste | Uncategorized | Wellness
Can you remember how you learned to brush your teeth? If you’re lucky, your mom or dad taught you and guided you on proper form and oversaw the task until you were old enough to do it by yourself. But not everyone had that kind of experience, so perhaps the task of teaching you how to brush your teeth was left to others in your life, or worse, you had to figure it out on your own.
Whether you’re a millennial in need of a “life skill” reminder or someone who is genuinely curious about the most efficient and effective way to take care of your smile, there’s no embarrassment in admitting you need to brush up on your home dental care skills.
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Brushing | Dental Fear | Dental History | Oral Health | The Dentist Series | Uncategorized
Dental history is so interesting to me. I guess it should be since that’s sort of what I do with my life, the dentistry part, anyway. One really bizarre and prevalent belief among European populations is the toothworm. Do you ever feel like there’s something gnawing, chewing, digging around in your teeth when you have a bad toothache? That’s the toothworm. And you’ve got ‘em bad.
Hey, science wasn’t perfect under the Roman Empire, but it got better. Eventually. I found this neat paper on toothworms and how the belief started and circulated among pre-modern populations. I thought you might enjoy it as much as I did! (more…)
Braces & Invisalign | Dental Benefits | Oral Health | Uncategorized | Wellness
It wasn’t until college that you realized that little gap in your teeth wasn’t really as cute as you thought it was. Or maybe it’s a couple of upper teeth that shifted a little funny when you had your wisdom teeth out that really embarrass you these days. Whatever your dental stigma, it’s distressing to the point that you’re afraid to smile in family photos. Your selfies are always with your kids, with their heads carefully placed so your teeth don’t show. (more…)
Oral Health | Teeth Whitening | Uncategorized
This season’s holiday parties were a great chance to mingle with close friends and acquaintances from your various social circles, but all that red wine and rich food has taken a toll on your teeth. If they could tell a story, it would be a sad one filled with neglect and abuse. This doesn’t have to be the case, though. Your cosmetic cleaning can sparkle and shine through a whole host of events, if you know how to protect it.
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