If you are like most Americans, you lead a busy and stressful life. Whether you are a student, young parent or working professional, the day-to-day stress can start to take its toil on your health. While you may be familiar with how stress affects your heart health and intestinal health, it can also compromise your oral health.

High levels of stress are often associated with a lowered immune system. In such cases, your body’s ability to fight off infection is impaired. When it comes to your mouth, this can mean a greater vulnerability to gum disease. Gum disease is a chronic infection of the gums and supporting tissues of your teeth. If you let stress get the best of you and neglect to seek treatment for gum disease, you can end up with serious dental problems, including tooth loss. (more…)

What are your sensitive teeth trying to tell you? If you experience slight or severe pain when you eat or drink something hot or cold, you are not alone. Tooth sensitivity is a common dental problem that affects approximately 1 in 3 people. Your sensitive teeth may be so severe that even walking outside in the cold air triggers tooth pain. It is always important to discuss any level of tooth sensitivity with your dentist. However, to understand how you can best treat a sensitive tooth, you must first determine its cause. Most tooth sensitivity occurs when the tooth’s enamel wears so thin that the dentin layer of the tooth is exposed. With the dentin layer exposed, there is easy access to nerve branches, thus causing sensitivity. Some common causes of tooth sensitivity include:

• Brushing your teeth too hard. This can wear away the enamel layer
• Poor oral hygiene. This may allow tartar to build up at the gum line
• Long-term tooth wear
• Untreated cavities
• An old filling with a crack or leak
• Receding gums that expose the tooth’s roots
• Frequently eating acidic foods or drinking acidic liquid

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If you suffer from fear or anxiety when it comes to going to the dentist, you are not alone. In fact, over 35 million Americans have some level of anxiety surrounding dental care. For many, it is more than simply being afraid. At Salt Run Family Dentistry, we go above and beyond to accommodate patients with dental phobia. It is a very real condition that we can absolutely address in our office. From providing sedation dentistry to offering relaxing office amenities, there are ways to eliminate your anxiety and fear surrounding the dental chair. (more…)

If baby teeth just fall out eventually, does taking care of them really matter? The answer is a resounding yes! It may be easy to underestimate the importance of primary teeth, but keeping them healthy will benefit your child in numerous ways.

Not only does your child need their teeth for biting and chewing, but a full set of pearly whites is also essential to their language development and facial structure formation.

While it is true that baby teeth do eventually fall out when it is time for a permanent tooth to come in, if baby teeth are lost too early, problems can follow. A primary tooth is meant to hold a proper space for a permanent tooth. If it is lost prematurely (knocked out during an injury or extracted due to decay), the space that was originally being reserved for an adult tooth may narrow. The teeth on either side of the lost tooth can begin to shift towards the space if a permanent tooth does not erupt in time. In turn, this can cause the permanent tooth to grow in crooked. (more…)