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Exercise and How it Affects Your Dental Health

Exercise has numerous positive impacts on your health. It helps with stress relief, muscle strength, combating health conditions, and loads more. What many patients do not know is how exercising can affect their dental health. During intense exercise people will often be breathing through their mouths. Mouth breathing can dry out the mouth and reduce the flow of saliva. A dry mouth is an environment where bacteria will increase and grow. People that suffer from dry mouth are very much at risk for cavities and so heavy exercise can put them at higher risk for tooth decay. Another issue that those … Read more

Should you kiss your pets? Whose mouth is cleaner?

There are a lot of people that believe their dog and cats mouths are cleaner than their own. There are other people that believe the saliva from a dog is actually a disinfectant and can help kill bacteria. Finally, there are those that are totally grossed out by kissing their pets and are worried that it could in fact make them sick. Looking into this deeper, there are a couple of things to keep in mind that are detailed below. There are a lot of bacteria in both the mouths of humans and in animals. Keep in mind that not … Read more

Piercings and Tattoos In Your Mouth – What Are The Risks?

Patients will often ask about piercings and tattoos in the mouth and how it could affect their teeth. In addition to affecting your teeth, there are a lot of potential issues that could pop up from oral piercings and tattoos that affect your overall health, not only in the mouth. As body piercing and tattoos become more popular, it is important to understand the risks associated with them as well as to know what these risks are. Below I will detail six potential problems of piercings and tattoos in the oral cavity that you should be aware of: Harm to … Read more

Is Chocolate Bad for You and Your Teeth?

Patients will often ask Dr. Meier and Dr. Cirka, “Is chocolate bad for my teeth?” This question pops up even more often around the holiday seasons. Patients are many times surprised by the positive effects that chocolate will have on our health in general and the fact that it actually is a much better option for a sweet than sticky candies or sugary drinks. There are a lot of positives effects of chocolate on your health overall, especially when considering how eating chocolate releases endorphins. Endorphins are hormones specifically designed to help us feel good. Endorphins are released in times … Read more

Headaches and Sinus Pain: Can a tooth be the culprit?

Our teeth and sinus cavity have a connection that can affect patients in many ways. Pressure in the sinus can be awful and cause pain in your eyes, ears, head, and even in your teeth. The sinus cavity is the area of the skull where air passes through before moving to the lungs. It is here that the air first gets warm and wet. Our body usually can fight bacteria in this air that passes through by producing mucous. Sometimes the bacteria are too strong and when this occurs the bacteria cause infections by growing aggressively. There are several different … Read more

4 Ways to Close Gaps Between Teeth

Often patients come to the office asking to have the spaces in between their teeth closed. Many relate that they do not want to go through metal braces while others specifically ask for them. In dentistry it is helpful that we have many options for patients with different needs. At your free consultation with Dr. Cirka and Dr. Meier they will detail your options and help you figure out the best one to choose. Below are 4 ways that we are able to close the gaps in your teeth: Bonding Bonding is a process in which we use a composite … Read more

5 Ways to Prevent Gum Disease

Gum disease, or periodontal disease, is when bacteria have invaded the gum tissue and it is not healthy. Often patients are unaware that they are suffering from gum disease unless they are told by a dentist. There are two main categories that the stages of gum disease are broken into: In dentistry, “gum disease” or “periodontal disease” are general terms used to describe when gum or gingiva tissue is in an unhealthy state. There are two key classifications that gum disease can be broken into: Gingivitis When still in the early stages, periodontal disease is known as gingivitis. At this … Read more

Oral Cancer: Causes, Symptoms, & Treatment

The More You Know… The most common places that oral cancer begins invading the body are the tongue and the floor of the mouth. These growths can be serious and are usually a form of squamous cell carcinoma. Often they will spread to the lips and if left untreated the cancer will continue to spread to other body parts. The most common places it will travel to are the lips, floor of mouth, tongue, hard and soft palate, the sinus cavity, cheeks, and throat. As with many cancer the presentation of oral cancer may be the origination or it could … Read more

What Effect does Sparking Water have on Your Teeth?

There has been a debate recently on whether or not sparkling water is as good for you as plain water. When reading the label of sparkling water there is no mention of sugar or other ingredients so it is difficult to assess if there really is a problem with drinking it. The potential problem with drinking sparkling water lays in the fact that it is more acidic that plain water. The reason that sparkling water has its refreshing fizz is due to the carbon dioxide (CO2) infused in it. There is a chemical reaction that takes place upon drinking the … Read more

What Exactly Can Cosmetic Dentistry Correct?

In today’s world it seems as though everyone’s goal is to look younger and this of course includes teeth! More people have become concerned about having teeth that are stain free and straight in recent years. Most cosmetic dentistry is not covered by dental insurance, our office offers Care Credit. Care Credit is a way to pay for the costs of many treatments and procedures and allows you to make convenient monthly payments.