Dental Info

You may think being exhausted simply comes with the territory of being a parent (and it does), but there may also be a serious medical condition causing your child to wake up often throughout the night – sleep apnea. Sleep apnea is most commonly found in adults, but can also, in rare cases affect children. Dr. Buck , dentist at Northern Trails Dental Care in Gwinn cares about treating your little ones. Read below to learn more about how dentists can diagnose and treat sleep apnea. Sleep Apnea & Its Effects Sleep apnea occurs when breathing becomes shallow or pauses completely while you’re asleep. It can be caused by your tongue or tonsils being too large and blocking your airway, the collapse of soft tissues in the back of the throat, or by your brain not sending the proper signals to keep breathing while you sleep. Sleep apnea causes a lot of problems for children, the most obvious being restless sleep. Other problems can include failure to thrive, slower developmental milesto...

Although dentists often gripe about labs, honestly the labs in private are probably griping about us as well. Mutual animosity is not good for our relationship. A better way is to be free to have a "honest" dialog between us and our laboratories. They should be free to explain what they need to create successful restorations and we need to be free to explain how we like our work to be done. All of us should have mutual respect for each other. It certainly helps if we are paying our lab a decent fee for  restorations as well. No one likes to knock themselves out for very little money. Paying  vendors a "living wage" is part of the process of showing respect. On the other hand our labs must not just "talk the talk" but actually "walk the walk"! If we request quality restorations and are paying for that type of restoration (and we are giving them what they need), then they need to deliver a quality restoration. That being said, we dentists don...

Last Christmas break, I didn't feel like shaving. When it was time to go back to work, I had the beginnings of what looked like a  beard. I had enjoyed not shaving and I decided to keep my beard for the time being. This grooming decision probably runs against the grain of most dentists, whom for the most part are clean shaven. After all, we work closely to our patients and looking clean and neat is definitely in order for our profession.  When I went  back in my office  patients were not used to seeing me with hair on my face. "What's that I see on your face?" they would ask and then follow up with either "I like it " or "You look better clean shaven"  I usually respond with, "I got tired of shaving".  I guess for the time being my beard will stay but I will have to keep it short and neatly trimmed. The Grizzly Adams Mountain Man look probably won't fly for my patients but I hope that for now they will tolerate the short Van Dyke ...

Dental insurance companies hire people to review the pre-certification claims submitted by dentists. Sometimes their "consultants" are dentists and sometimes they are not. Usually they judge the need for a crown based on the percentage of the tooth restored with fillings. If they feel that they are not sure a tooth really requires a crown they will reject the claim and ask for additional information before authorizing the proposed treatment plan. This can include a written narrative or supporting photos. They maintain that their claim reviews cut down on work that is unnecessary. That being said, their rejection of claims and their request for more information has the effect of delaying non emergency treatment and during this time a patient may change their minds and decide not to proceed with a proposed treatment. Probably insurance companies are aware of this fact. Also they have a conflict of interest. They are obligated to attempt to make as large a profit as possible...

Traditionally, dentists have used what’s known as amalgam, or special metal alloys, to fill cavities. However, modern dental medicine has advanced to the point that Dr. Brewer can offer Lexington patients a much better option for filling holes caused by tooth decay: composite fillings. At Brewer Family Dental , we would like to educate you on the benefits of tooth-colored, composite fillings, so please let this article serve as your personal fillings fact sheet. The History of Fillings Once upon a time, the choices for dental restoration materials were limited. Records dating back as far as 659 A.D. tell us that amalgams (mixtures of silver, mercury, tin, and/or copper) have been used widely for more than 1300 years. There have been a number of scientific disputes (referred to as the amalgam war) over the health concerns of using mercury, but the American Dental Association has always defended the safety of amalgam fillings. Until recently, amalgam fillings were favored because of ...

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Every Columbus parent remembers seeing their baby’s first teeth emerge, watching the rest pop up, and finally cheering as their child loses their first baby tooth, all in the blink of an eye! In fact, baby teeth come and go so quickly that some people are led believe they don’t have an impact on a child’s dental health later in life. Dr. Barry & Dr. Love want you to know that that couldn’t be further from the truth! At Lifetime Dental Health , we are committed to giving our community access to reliable information on dental care, so here are the facts about why baby teeth matter. Feel free to give us a call with any questions. A Guide to Baby Teeth Baby teeth, also known as deciduous, primary, milk, or lacteal teeth, are a set of 20 teeth that will be in your child’s mouth for most of their childhood. Although baby teeth usually emerge at around 6 months, they begin forming in the womb as early as 16 weeks. By age 3, all Columbus children should have all 20 of their baby teeth...