In honor of October being dental hygiene month, the blog today will focus on dental care for senior citizens.

     Dental hygiene is extremely important aspect of overall health for every age group. For the elderly, trips to the dentist can drop down on a list of priorities, especially when multiple other medical concerns take precedence. 

     I see many senior citizens in my practice.  Most are on multiple medications for heart disease, diabetes, anxiety, low thyroid hormone, reflux disease and other endocrine disorders.  All of these medications (in addition to treating disease), will cause xerostomia, or dry mouth due to reduced salivary flow. This can become a significant problem over time.  Without enough saliva, patients have a tendency to use hard candy and sweetened carbonated beverages to stimulate saliva.  The result is a change in the oral flora allowing the bacteria that cause decay and gum disease to proliferate.

     The blog Dentalvibe also writes on this important issue. “For senior patients, oral health problems will often arise as an after-effect of other, seemingly unrelated medical concerns. Common maladies like cancer, diabetes, dementia, and even general feebleness can make it harder for the elderly to maintain a daily hygiene regiment, resulting in rapid deterioration in the teeth and gums.” 

     The dentist can help you keep your teeth healthy with regular checkups.  Fluoride rinses and toothpaste with regular brushing is essential. Keep sweets, pop, alcohol and tobacco use to a minimum and your teeth will thank you.

-Dr. Gallagher

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Many adults would like to have straighter and whiter teeth.  Unfortunately, over time teeth darken due to staining from certain foods and drinks we enjoy like coffee, wine, and tea. Minimal preparation veneers may be the answer to counteract teeth staining. Veneers are thin, semi-translucent “shells” typically attached to your front teeth. Veneers are customized from porcelain material and permanently bonded to your teeth. Veneers are a great alternative to other dental procedures to improve the appearance of your smile. These veneers are barely .3 mm in thickness, yet they are extremely strong and beautiful when bonded into place.

The patient chooses the color for their veneers and the teeth only need minimally preparation. Usually no more than .25 mm is removed from the facial surface of the teeth to provide and even surface. Most teeth do not even need any preparation at all.  The dentist takes an impression and sends the patient models to a dental laboratory.  In less than 2 weeks, the veneers are bonded into place, giving a beautiful, stunning smile.

     Lumineers and Vivaneers are two brands of no prep veneers that we utilize to address the following common problems that patients come to us for:  

·        Spaces between the teeth

·        Broken or chipped teeth

·        Unsightly, stained or discolored teeth

·        Permanently stained or discolored teeth

·        Crooked or misshapen teeth

     Veneers are a great aesthetic solution to your smile that may even help you avoid orthodontic treatment. Subtle changes to your smile can be achieved with veneers, and in most cases, veneer application is completed in only two office visits.

It is great to see how happy my patients are after this simple procedure.

To see more before and after pictures of veneer cases done at our office and a full lists of services, visit our website!

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Sports and energy drinks are very popular today with athletes and students alike. Kids can grab them on the go, as they are readily available to carry around at school, and use them to stay hydrated during practice. They also taste good, and are highly endorsed by the professional athletes that kids look up to.

But they also have a huge downside…they are loaded with sugar! One common bottle size for your typical sports drink, 20 fluid ounces, has 9 teaspoons of sugar. The pH, or acidity of these drinks, is similar to other carbonated beverages. Those two components cause cavities by eroding the enamel on teeth, providing nutrients for the decay causing bacteria in the mouth, namely Streptococcus mutans. 

What to do? Switch to plain water! But if you must use sports drinks, follow these tips:

1. Do not sip on, or swish the drink around in your mouth, as you are just rinsing with sugar water

2. Dilute the sports drinks with water

3. Follow up a sports drink with a drink of water

4. Brush and floss as soon as you get home from practice, the gym, or school

As a coach of a high school cross country team, I see my athletes guzzling down sports drinks daily. The sugar and acid from these drinks can end up sitting on your teeth for hours, which can begin to wear down irreplaceable enamel and jumpstart the cavity process.  I have found that water is just as effective for quenching thirst, for rehydrating, and for recovering, and so I encourage all of my athletes to cut out all sports drinks.

Don’t be fooled by additives that advertise these drinks as healthy. They aren’t, and any benefits do not outweigh the damage the sugar and acid are doing to your teeth!

Be sure to check out this ABC news report discussing this same topic.

-Dr. Mike Gallagher, West Park Dental

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Congratulations to Dr. Gallagher's St. Ignatius Cross Country team! They won the Regional Meet at Tiffin this past week. Here they are with Doctor G's Mom. Way to go, guys!