Did you know February is National Dental Health Month? It’s a great time of the year to renew those resolutions about continuing to practice great dental hygiene. Today, we thought we would discuss the importance of preventative oral care. While most folks are familiar with traditional healthy-conscious practices such as eating well and exercising regularly, lesser-known are the benefits that great oral hygiene provides to your cardiovascular health.

Here are a few tips to help you continue taking care of those pearly whites and in the process, your heart.

*Brush and floss every day to remove the plaque that can lead to cavities. Flossing daily removes food debris that your toothbrush simply cannot reach.

*Replace your toothbrush on a regular basis. You should replace your toothbrush every three to four months or after a cold to prevent re-infection. Please remember to use a soft toothbrush so that you don’t wear off the enamel of your teeth.

*Visit our office regularly. The American Dental Association recommends you visit us every six months (or as recommended) for regular checkups and cleanings. Fluoride treatments twice a year will help prevent tooth decay.

Each February, we focus on the preventive oral care of our patients. Have you visited us in the past six months? If not, it’s time to give us a call and schedule an appointment!

From your very first visit to our office, we strive to provide superior treatment in a pleasant, friendly atmosphere. We are always updating our office with the most advanced and up-to-date dental technologies and methods and are here to get to know you personally and find out how we might make your dental visit a wonderful one!

We thought we’d ask you, our wonderful patients: Have you been especially impressed by our work? Did our team go out of their way to make your day? Are you in love with your smile?

Whether you’ve just come in for a one appointment or your family has been visiting our office for years, we’d love to hear your feedback below. Or, you can tell us by posting on our Facebook page!

With winter sports underway, we wanted to remind our patients about the importance of wearing a mouthguard while you’re on the court or the field. Here are some frequent questions we hear from our patients about mouthguards.

Q: What are mouthguards?

A: Mouthguards are a flexible, removable device made of soft plastic, and they are adapted to fit comfortably with the shape of the upper teeth.

Q: Why are mouthguards so important?

A: Mouthguards protect not just the teeth, but the lips, cheeks, and tongue, and they also help protect athletes from head and neck injuries, as well as concussions and jaw fractures. Increasingly, organized sports are requiring mouthguards to prevent injury to their athletes, and research shows us that most oral injuries occur when athletes are not wearing mouth protection.

Q: When should I wear my mouthguard?

A: Whenever you are in an activity with a risk of falls or head contact with other players or equipment. This includes football, baseball, basketball, soccer, wrestling, hockey, and even gymnastics.

Q: How do I choose a mouthguard that is right for me?

A: We encourage you to choose a mouth guard that you can wear comfortably. You can select from several options in mouthguards. First, preformed or “boil-to-fit” mouthguards are found in sports stores. Otherwise, we can talk about your options for a custom mouthguard, which will be more comfortable to wear and more effective in preventing injuries this winter. Please give us a call if you have any other questions, or ask us on Facebook!

It’s that time of the year again, when we try to stick to our New Year’s Resolutions. If you look around, you’ll notice many ads are about fitness and exercise equipment. However, the best place to start is with smart nutrition.

A healthy diet is very important. If we all followed recommended guidelines for the proper daily intake of foods — foods that include fruits, dairy, vegetables and meat — we would see a huge decrease in deadly diseases such as heart disease, cancer and high blood pressure. We recommend you to try to add an extra piece of fruit or an extra vegetable to your diet each day until you achieve the correct number of daily servings.

Water is also a vital component to an overall healthy diet. If you make water your primary beverage of choice, you will ensure you are drinking a zero-calorie, no chemical drink instead of a high-calorie or high-chemical alternative such as soda. Fruits such as berries are a great source of antioxidants, as well as other chemicals your body uses to repair and prevent some of the damage caused by aging. Like fruit, fish and nuts are healthy as they are great sources of Omega 3s and improve your good cholesterol.

If you try to change one thing about your diet each week, you will begin to view these changes as habit over time, and start taking steps to a healthier lifestyle.

The dreaded cold and flu season is here again! After recovering from your cold, one of the most important steps you can take to avoid becoming reinfected is replacing your toothbrush!

Germs can linger on the bristles, and you risk prolonging your sickness by continuing to use the same toothbrush. Be smart – keep a spare, just in case! To protect your toothbrush from bacteria all year long, consider the following tips:

• Wash your hands before and after brushing
• Allow the brush to air dry after each use, harmful bacteria dies after being exposed to oxygen
• Store the toothbrush in an upright position to allow water to drain and dry faster
• Replace your toothbrush every 3-4 months. Worn bristles are less effective in properly cleaning your teeth, and can actually be damaging to teeth if used too long!

We hope these tips help! Feel free to give us a call or ask us on Facebook if you have any questions!

With the year almost over, we thought we would ask you, our dear patients: what was memorable about 2012 for you, and what are you looking forward to in 2013? Do you have a new year’s resolution, or any exciting plans for the coming year?

We want to wish all our patients, friends, family and all our dental and medical colleagues a happy and healthy New Year!

Today we thought we would remind our patients to practice good oral hygiene to keep those pearly whites shining and happy! This includes brushing and flossing on a regular basis, brushing after consuming foods that can stain your teeth and visiting our office every six months or as recommended.

We also recommend the following for ideal oral hygiene at home:

• Brush your teeth twice a day with fluoride toothpaste. Replace your toothbrush every three or four months, or sooner if the bristles are frayed. A worn toothbrush won’t do a good job of cleaning your teeth.

• Clean between teeth daily with floss or an interdental cleaner. Tooth decay-causing bacteria still linger between teeth where your toothbrush bristles can’t reach. This helps remove plaque and food particles from between the teeth and under the gum line.

• Eat a balanced diet and limit between-meal snacks.

• Visit our office on a regular basis for professional cleanings and oral exams.

Lastly, a great reason to smile is this: smiling can actually help you live longer according to recent studies! Have you visited our office lately for a cleaning or checkup? If not, give us a call to set up an appointment! The beginning of the year is a great time for a visit!

In this season given to tidings of comfort and joy, and as we reflect on the year that was, we’d like to ask you, our wonderful patients: What do you love about the holidays this year? Being with your loved ones? Hitting the slopes? A clean slate for 2013? Opening presents by the fireplace? All the delicious food?

Also, what gift are you most looking forward to getting this year? We’d love if you shared with us all the things you love about the holidays. Stay warm, and don’t forget to stay away from those sweets!

We know dental emergencies are never convenient nor timely. If you are a patient of record, we are committed to your dental health and are happy to see you.

When your dental health is at risk, we will do everything we can to make sure that you’re treated as soon as possible. While dental emergencies are certainly rare, we know they can happen at any moment, and it’s important to know how to deal with them.

Common dental emergencies may include:

• A bitten lip or tongue
• Broken or cracked tooth/teeth
• Permanent tooth that has been knocked out
• Object caught between teeth
• Severe toothache

If you have a dental emergency after regular office hours, please give us a call.

We hope you’re all having a great holiday season!

Looking for ways to motivate your child to brush his or her teeth? Why not compare their teeth to those of their favorite animals? After all, everyone loves fun facts. Like people, some animals have several different kinds of teeth, while others have only one kind. Others don’t have any teeth at all! Animals’ teeth also give us clues about what they eat. Here are some fun facts comparing human teeth and animal teeth we thought you might enjoy, courtesy of the American Student Dental Association!

– Humans form two sets of teeth over the course of a lifetime, with baby teeth being replaced by adult teeth between the ages of 6 and 12.

– And here’s one from prehistoric times! The Tyrannosaurus Rex, or T-Rex, had more than 60 thick, conical, bone-crunching teeth that were up to 9 inches long. Its jaws were up to 4 feet long.

We hope you enjoyed these fun facts! Stay tuned for more soon!