Last updated 2 months ago
Care of your teeth when you are pregnant is important for you and baby, so please schedule a dental examination early on in your second trimester. Don’t be coy. Tell your dentist that you are or might be expecting. It’s confidential and an important change in your medical health. We won’t tell your mother-in-law, honest.
Dental treatment is safe by the second trimester. By then, baby has some protection against pathogens in your circulation. By the last half of the third trimester, lying flat puts all of baby’s weight on your most major artery and can make it hard to breathe. The sweet spot for dental treatment is second trimester through the first half of the third.
Cavities, defective restorations, and swollen gums are all important to get squared away. No need to freak out over x-rays: 1. A lead apron is over your throat and tummy. 2. We only take a few. 3. There are consequences to missing something.
Dentists use several different anesthetic preparations. Lidocaine is preferred now, whereas Mepivicaine was once. Your dentist is trained to make the safest analysis for you. Antibiotics are generally OK. Strong pain relievers and sedatives are not.
Your gums are not supposed to bleed at any time and increased progesterone during pregnancy makes your gums more susceptible inflammation. Inflammation, by the way, is heat, redness, swelling, pain, and lack of function. Nothing good comes bubbling and fizzing between your teeth. If you do experience sore or bleeding gums, be sure to get it looked at. It’s serious business.
Dr. Ronald Orr, a gum specialist (Periodontist) in Belmont, offers: “There is an established likelihood for sore and bleeding gums during the second or third month. There is even a unique small benign growth we call a pyogenic granuloma that can happen during pregnancy. “Dr. Orr continues, “There is definitely a relationship between gum disease, low birth weight and premature births. Periodontitis is an inflammatory disease triggered by the host immune response to disease causing bacteria. It is this inflammation that is the link to premature birth and low birth weight. “
Gum problems that get worse with pregnancy may not fully resolve post-partum. Prevention may be boring, but treatment is all too exciting.
If you are experiencing nausea, the acids you reflux are very bad for your teeth. Please rinse straightaway with water. If you find toothpaste unpleasant, go with a milder brand. Go without. A wet toothbrush alone will do just fine.
So enjoy your pregnancy. Revel in it, the cheer and the challenges. Take care of your own body and have a healthy baby. After all, you are flossing for two!
Your teeth make you happy. That’s why you see them when you smile.
Dr. Jim Nager is a practicing dentist and resident of Belmont, and a Clinical Instructor at Harvard. Call Belmont Dental Group today at (617) 209-4058 to arrange an appointment for any of our general dentistry services. Questions of a general nature that may be addressed in this column can be sent to drjamesnager@gmail.com
Last updated 2 months ago
Having a beautifully straight smile can do wonders for your self-esteem and self-confidence. Undergoing orthodontic treatment means you’re less likely to shy away from the camera and more likely to enjoy yourself at social functions. Dentists recommend braces for people of all ages, from young children to seniors. Talk to your dentist about whether your smile can benefit from braces.
Easier Speech and Chewing
Your dentist might recommend braces if you have a malocclusion, or an abnormal bite pattern. Over time, an abnormal bite can wear away at the teeth and place strain on the facial muscles. Malocclusions can also make it more difficult for you to chew properly. Sometimes, a malocclusion may interfere with speech.
Gum Disease Prevention
Dentists also recommend braces for gum disease prevention. Teeth that are too crowded or too widely spaced are more likely to be accompanied by gums that are swollen and red. Using braces to realign your teeth means that your gums will fit snugly around each tooth and reduce the changes of gum disease.
Oral Hygiene Promotion
Straightening your smile also promotes good oral hygiene. Even if you brush and floss regularly and see your dentist at least twice per year, your oral hygiene can still suffer if you have misaligned teeth. This is because misaligned teeth are more challenging to clean, and can increase the buildup of bacteria and development of bad breath.
Temporomandibular Joint Disorder (TMJD) Treatment
If you have TMD, there is a good chance that your lower jaw is positioned back farther than it ought to be. This compresses the blood vessels and nerves. Patients undergoing TMD therapy often use splint therapy to reposition the lower jaw; however, the teeth must also be realigned with dental braces.
If you’re ready to have beautiful, straight teeth, talk to the expert dentists of Belmont Dental Group. Our Belmont, MA location proudly offers Invisalign dental braces. Schedule your dentist appointment today by calling (617) 209-4058 or visit our website to learn more.
Last updated 2 months ago
Did George Washington’s dental health affect our country?
We know he started having toothaches and losing teeth in his early twenties. Without anesthetics, extractions were torture. Even modern day dentists have trouble numbing up a hot tooth. Imagine the pre-revolutionary technique of Seize and Rip on someone’s acutely tender aching tooth and swollen face.
Washington had his share of health events. Doctors of the day treated him with mercurous chloride, (Calomel), a purgative. Calomel has many poor health effects, including negative effects on the teeth.
Portraits show a scar on G.W.’s left cheek, almost certainly left over from a nasty dental abscess.
We have numerous letters between General Washington and his wife, Martha. Seems they had bad teeth in common. Both were continually distracted by toothaches. Both were continually on the search for any dentist who could make them a tolerable set of dentures.
Washington did not have wooden teeth. He was not treated by Paul Revere. Making a full set of dentures was left to the great innovators such as John Greenwood of New York. Greenwood had crazy ideas for the time, among them the value of maintaining pediatric teeth. He treated children for free.
By his inauguration in 1789, Washington had one lower left bicuspid remaining. The various sets of dentures made by Greenwood used gold foil to form the palate and gold screws to hold in the teeth in place. The rest of the dentures were carved from Hippopotamus ivory. The teeth employed might have been also carved from ivory, or gruesomely those gathered from cadavers.
The cost to the General was $60. I wonder if GW had to choose a dentist from an insurance company list?
We know Washington had dental hygiene aids such as a toothbrush and tooth powders. Despite having practiced dental hygiene such as it was, he was still plagued with toothaches. Indeed many of our modern patients share this same frustration.
Washington was famous for a hair trigger temper. Could frequent toothaches and ill-fitting dentures have contributed to his rage? Would we want to think today of our President or the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff having to make decisions with a swollen face, bleeding gums, or gums rubbed raw from hand carved dentures?
The thin lips and grim face we seen on President Washington’s face are the result of tooth loss. He was clamping down on dentures made with springs to fly apart. In some portraits, the he took the teeth out and filled out his face with cotton.
Why do we have so few noble speeches from the man? He should have been the Winston Churchill of his day. Is it because he didn’t want to talk in public with freakish looking teeth that were held in by springs?
Washington was a 6’3” athletic man, a dancer and a horseman. It is not hard to imagine how much more we could have heard from the Father of Our Country were he not crippled by dental pain.
Dr. Jim Nager is a practicing dentist and resident of Belmont, and a Clinical Instructor at Harvard. Call Belmont Dental Group today at (617) 209-4058 to arrange an appointment for any of our general dentistry services. Questions of a general nature that may be addressed in this space can be sent to drjamesnager@gmail.com
Last updated 2 months ago
Good oral health is crucial for a bright smile and good general health. Brushing and flossing twice daily and watching what you eat will help keep your teeth in top shape. Some foods will help keep your teeth clean between brushings and strengthen your enamel, while others encourage tooth decay. This infographic, created by a Belmont general dentist, will help you make smart dietary decisions for your dental health. Please share it and spread the word about the best foods for a healthy mouth.
Embed This
Last updated 2 months ago
I moved my scalpel inside the crevice of gum and scalloped around each tooth. The tough tissue dulled my blade so that after one pass I changed instruments. Now moving along the tongue side of the teeth, I made the same design. At either end of the cheek side incision I made a vertical cut, an inch long, and at an angle so that the base of the flap was wider than the top. Blood supply must be adequate for healing.
With a blunter instrument, I dug and twisted until the flap of gum tissue was free of the supporting bone. My patient didn’t make a squeak.
My patient didn’t squeal because it was the lower jaw, of a pig. I was at the Yankee Dental Congress, one of the world’s most important dental meetings. Boston, with three research powerhouse dental colleges, is a nerve center of education.
In January each year we host over 27,000 dental professionals to a helping of our fine New England weather. We are not distracted by waving palm trees and topaz colored water. In Boston we hide from the cold in our research laboratories and do the good work.
Over 7,000 dentists make the pilgrimage here. A couple of thousand dental students walk wide eyed through the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center. Almost 6000 dental hygienists come to learn, along with 4,000 dental assistants. The rest are a mix of technicians, guests and exhibitors.
Speakers come from all over the nation. During the convention’s three days there are hundreds of high level courses. Topics range from surgical grafting of bone, new materials and techniques, lifesaving protocols, and using social media to attract a clientele.
One of the courses I took was on the bespoke ways to close a surgical wound with sutures and knots. It was a ‘hands on’ course. We practiced right there.
I sit near the front, always. Before me was a tray of about 20 shiny instruments, a variety of sutures with a variety of needles, and all in sterile packages. There was a cup of water to soften the gut sutures, just like we do at the office. We each had cold pig jaw, with a meaty lip still attached. Delightful.
I have enjoyed this nationally prominent speaker before. He discussed the types of needles, where each was sharpest, and the curve of the needles. He discussed the gauge of the thread, and the material of said- gut, silk, polypropylene or Teflon coated. There are indications for each.
When a tooth is removed, there is an open socket. You can’t pull the sides of gum together to cover it because tissue will die under the excessive tension. On the other hand, if you are going to stuff the hole with some ground up bone from say… a cow, or perhaps a human (!)… you have to cover it up well. Perhaps you need to understand how to free up the tissue like un-tucking the side of a bed sheet so that you can pull it over the wound.
If you are involved with this fancy stuff you need to learn some tricky sutures. Swish, turn, loop, tie- tie, loop, turn, knot, reverse the knot- we tried a dozen variations of scalpel cuts and as many ways to tie it all together. I questioned my colleagues to the left and right as we decided how to improve Frankenstein’s handiwork.
This is how we stay current. New skills built upon old ones, hands that are practiced before they lay upon those who trust us. This is how we learn.
Dr. Jim Nager is a practicing dentist and resident of Belmont, and a Clinical Instructor at Harvard. Call Belmont Dental Group today at (617) 209-4058 to arrange an appointment for any of our general dentistry services. Questions of a general nature that may be addressed in this space can be sent to drjamesnager@gmail.com
