4 Bad Habits to Avoid for a Healthy Smile

People tend to collect bad habits, often little things that we do throughout our daily lives that we’d probably be better off without. Many of these habits, such as smoking cigarettes and eating junk food, can negatively impact our health.

Breaking bad habits is hard, especially when we don’t know that our habits are bad for us. However, part of having good oral health is having good habits like brushing, flossing, and avoiding behaviors that are damaging to your teeth and gums.

Here are four bad habits to avoid for a healthier smile.

Overbrushing

Brushing your teeth twice a day or after every meal is vital to your oral health, but did you know that brushing too much or too hard can actually be detrimental?

Brushing too often or too vigorously can irritate your gums and wear on your enamel. Instead, grip your toothbrush lightly, brushing at a gentle 45-degree angle, and use a toothbrush with soft bristles recommended by the American Dental Association.

Nail-Biting

Biting your nails not only leaves your nails jagged and chewed up, it is also bad for your oral health. For starters, keratin, the material our nails are made of, is a particularly hard substance that can actually cause your teeth to shift or crack over time.

Furthermore, the buildup of dirt and other substances under your nails can introduce a host of new bacteria into your mouth as you chew, putting you at greater risk of infection and gum disease.

Misusing Your Teeth

Teeth are not tools. Using them to open bags of chips, stubborn toothpaste tubes, and beer bottles puts undue stress on them that they simply weren’t made for. This habit doesn’t just wear down your enamel, it can result in severely chipped or broken teeth.

Smoking Cigarettes

There are approximately a million reasons not to smoke cigarettes, but here are a few more.

Smoking tends to dry out the oral cavity, and a dry mouth is the perfect environment for bacteria to thrive. On top of the irritation that leads to gum inflammation, smoking is positively linked to a multitude of oral health concerns, from tooth decay to gum disease, and even oral cancer.

Windcrest Cosmetic and General Dentistry helps patients in San Antonio with compassion and expertise. Contact our friendly practice today to schedule a consultation with Dr. Wright.

3 Options for Improving Comfort at the Dental Office

Not everyone likes going to the dentist. Shucks, most people will avoid it if they have the chance. But going to the dentist, no matter how daunting, is an essential part of keeping your smile beautiful and an integral piece of your complete oral healthcare.

Here are 3 tips for keeping calm while undergoing dental treatments:

Wear Comfortable Clothes and Bring a Blanket

The dental office atmosphere can be too clinical for a person’s comfort. Further, offices are often chilly to ensure all materials and tools remain in a sanitary and safe environment. That could mean sitting through a prolonged treatment while either too cold or uneasy. Making sure to bring a blanket and to wear comfortable, cozy clothing will help to ensure your experience in the dental office is pleasant.

Ask for Anesthetics

Most dental clinics have topical anesthesia or numbing cream to reduce the sensation a patient feels while undergoing procedures. If it hasn’t been presented to you as an option, ask for topical anesthetics to ensure pain is tolerable or nonexistent.

Options for Sedation

A step further than anesthesia, sedation gives patients the option of not only reducing sensation but also inducing relaxation during treatment, making for a euphoric, pain-free experience. Patients have the following sedation options:

Nitrous oxide, also known as laughing gas, this inhalant is administered through a mask and breathed in while undergoing treatment. This induces a sensation of euphoria while allowing the patient to remain conscious and responsive. Nitrous oxide wears off shortly after stopping administration.

Oral sedation medicine is taken orally at least one hour prior to treatment. This option reduces the sensation the patients may feel from treatment and makes an individual groggy, while remaining conscious enough to respond to questions from the dentist. Patients must arrange transportation to and from the office, as the effects of oral sedation can last well after treatment is over.

Intravenous (IV) sedation is a medication administered directly into the veins, making for the fastest and deepest level of sedation. Dentists require an anesthesiologist come in and monitor the patient’s vital signs to ensure a safe procedure.

Find Out More

We look to ensure our community keeps their oral health in tip-top shape by making oral healthcare accessible to those in need. Call our practice and learn more about other ways to improve your comfort when visiting the dentist. We’re happy to provide proactive services to encourage better overall health.

Common Cosmetic issues and Options for Treatment

Your smile is often the first thing many notice when meeting someone for the first time. It's also a major source of confidence and self-esteem. When cosmetic issues plague the smile, it can cause social and emotional stress.

Here are a few cosmetic dental issues to look out for and your options for improving your smile's appeal.

Damage, including chips and cracks, can greatly reduce the smile's attractiveness as well as make them susceptible to other issues, like decay. A damaged tooth can be caused by trauma, weak enamel, or poor oral healthcare habits. To treat damaged teeth, patients can receive either bonding or crowns. Bonding covers small chips and cosmetically repairs the tooth. Crowns completely replace the structure of the tooth and restore function.

Discoloration occurs after many years of eating darkly pigmented foods that are known to cause staining. Foods like coffee, tea, and red wine can cause teeth to yellow or change color. Further, teeth can be plagued with internal staining caused by particular health habits like taking certain medications. Patients have the option of teeth whitening and veneers to either lift external stains or mask internal ones.

Misalignment can greatly affect function as well as the way the smile looks. When teeth are out of alignment, it can make it difficult to eat and speak with comfort. Further, crooked teeth make it much harder to keep an at-home oral healthcare routine. Treatments like braces and invisible orthodontics can straighten teeth, leaving patients with a beautifully uniform smile.

Gummy smiles or uneven gums can change the size of teeth and make the smile appear unbalanced. Minimal gum contouring can be appropriate to lengthen the crown or to bring balance to the gums, making teeth look even and uniform.

When your smile is looking its best, you feel your best. Getting rid of cosmetic issues and enhancing the smile improves self-esteem and gives you the confidence to show your smile off at every chance you get.

If you'd like to learn more about cosmetic treatments, call our office and schedule a consultation with our dentist today!

Can Gum Health Contribute to other Issues with the Body?

Even though a brilliant, healthy smile is something often highly desired, most individuals tend to think about physical well-being rather than the importance of a strong oral health environment. We often take our most memorable feature for granted by neglecting at-home oral hygiene.

The fact is, oral and overall wellness is closely linked and can significantly impact one another. The state of your teeth and gums can influence harmful occurrences throughout the body when not properly cared for.

Gum Health’s Relationship with Systemic Health 

Although patient awareness about the importance of optimal oral health is on the rise, many people throughout the U.S. still experience some form of gum disease with the most common cause for developing the condition being negletive of proper oral health care. Without a proactive daily oral health regime, such as brushing twice a day, flossing daily and mouthwash use, bacteria will overpopulate, accumulating build-up on teeth and along the gums. If not addressed properly, this plaque will harden, forming into tartar which cannot be removed with routine at-home care. The calculus inflames and irritates the gum tissues in a process known as the earliest stage of periodontal disease, gingivitis.

When detected by your dental care professional early, gingivitis is reversible and further infection is preventable. However, if left to progress, gum disease will continue to worsen, developing into its more advanced stage, periodontitis. At this stage it’s possible for oral bacteria to access deep gum tissue and enter the bloodstream. The bacteria can then travel to other parts of the body, where it may wreak havoc on overall health.

Gum Disease and Cardiovascular Issues

One of the most common parts of the body that periodontal infection can hinder is the arteries. Because these toxins encourage inflammation, the arteries can also become inflamed, causing restricted flow and cardiovascular plaque to build up. This contributes greatly to increased chances of heart attack or stroke.

Diabetes and Periodontal Disease

Gum disease also influences blood sugar levels. Diabetics who also have periodontal issues tend to have a harder time managing their blood sugar levels. The problem lies in the fact that diabetes can slow down the rate in which tissue heals, meaning that it becomes harder and takes longer to recover from gum disease when you are diabetic.

Premature Birth and Oral Infection 

The toxins associated with periodontal disease can also contribute to low birth weight in infants as these harmful microbes find their way into the placenta. Enzymes similar to those produced during labor can lead to premature delivery resulting in low birth weight.

At Windcrest Cosmetic and General Dentistry, Dr. Craig Wright and his team believe that long-lasting, beautiful smiles begin with optimal oral health. to schedule your gentle yet thorough oral health examination, contact us today!

How Implant Dentistry Improves the Smiles Longevity

When teeth are lost or missing within a smile due to trauma, injury, or decay, oral and overall health will both eventually be negatively impacted. The repercussions of missing teeth involve more than just the possible embarrassment of having gaps in your smile. Every day functions such as chewing, and speaking can be exceedingly difficult. Natural facial aesthetics are also altered due to the underlying jaw bone structure withering and receding.

With all these dire affects, dental implants are a highly successful and reliable tooth replacement solution that can completely replace your original tooth’s structure and serve as a strong foundation for dental prosthetics that rejuvenate your appearance. 

Below we will discuss the many ways dental implants can greatly improve the long-lasting health, function, and beauty of your smile.

Replacing Teeth from Root to Crown

Part of the reliable success of dental implants is their ability to serve as artificial tooth roots, restoring essential stimulation to the jawbone through a process called osseointegration. When teeth and their vital roots are missing, there is nothing to encourage proper function to your jawbone, causing weakening and gum-tissue recession as your body begins to recognize it being unused.

Osseointegration involves the bio compatible titanium that make up dental implant posts to naturally fuse with living tissue and bone as the titanium material is accepted by the body.  Once healed, your dental care professional will affix your custom-crafted dental prosthetic, allowing for beauty, form, and function to be fully restored.

Helping You Smile with Confidence

A smile compromised by missing or lost teeth can not only have a negative impact on your oral and overall health, the adverse effects can also hinder your self-confidence. It is difficult to enjoy even the smallest of activities when you’re self-conscious about your appearance and feel the need to hide your smile. With the reliable and secure foundation dental implants provide, prosthetics can be affixed to your implants, allowing you to smile normally with full-confidence. When properly cared for, dental implants can last for a lifetime.

To find out if you or a loved one are viable candidates for dental implant treatment, we encourage you to contact Dr. Craig Wright of Windcrest Cosmetic and General Dentistry today!

Tips for Keeping Smiles Healthy in San Antonio

Your oral health depends on several key components. Brushing and flossing daily, combined with a healthy lifestyle and routine visits to the dentist can go a long way in keeping teeth and gums in optimal condition. If any one of these key ingredients is missing from your oral healthcare, you could be at risk for serious dental conditions and in need of complex dental treatments.

Routine brushing twice a day, in the morning and evening go a long way in preserving your dental health. Brushing for two minutes removes harmful bacteria so you avoid cavities. Also, brush gently with a toothbrush that has soft bristles, so you do not cause harm to tooth enamel or soft tissues.

While brushing, use a toothpaste approved by the American Dental Association.  Fluorinated toothpaste re-mineralizes tooth enamel, so it is less vulnerable to decay. Many toothpastes also contain whitening agents that can remove stains and keep your smile shining brightly.

Periodontal Care is Essential to Oral Health

Gum health is vital to the longevity of your teeth, and flossing is one way to remove bacteria from under the gum line. Make sure to use a fresh piece of string for each tooth so there is no re-contamination. Water irrigation systems are also an excellent way to clean between teeth, especially for those undergoing orthodontic treatment.

There are a few other items that help you maintain oral health:

• Antiseptic mouthwash: Rinses away bacteria and helps prevent bad breath.
• Portable and Disposable Toothbrushes: Allow for cleaning teeth between meals. 
• Tongue Scrapers: Remove bacteria from the tongue, eliminating bad breath. 

Routine Dental Visits are Vital to Oral health 

Next to a vigorous at-home cleaning regimen, routine visits to the dentist are important to maintain oral health. Despite a person’s best efforts, bacteria accumulate in the nooks and crannies of teeth, and only the special tools of a dental professional can remove them. Dental exams also prevent minor oral health issues from escalating into major problems.

Try to Avoid Tobacco Products

Finally, avoiding tobacco products protects the longevity of your smile. People who smoke are twice as likely to develop gum disease and experience tooth loss. Tobacco decreases oxygen levels in the gums, which makes them vulnerable to infection and gum disease. Tobacco also stains teeth and dries out the mouth. Bacteria multiply in a dry mouth, which leads to tooth decay.

Contact Windcrest Cosmetic and General Dentistry in San Antonio for Outstanding Dental Care

To learn more about techniques in keeping your oral health optimal and receiving vital professional dental care, contact Windcrest Cosmetic and General Dentistry in San Antonio. Dr. Craig Wright and Dr. Andy De la Garza provide outstanding preventive dental care to keep your smile healthy and bright for a lifetime.

Is Bone Grafting as Scary as it Sounds?

It not unusual for a patient to receive a bone graft before beginning their dental implant procedure. Particularly for those who have been wearing dentures for a long period of time, the jawbone will have lost a significant amount of density due to its lack of supporting teeth and may need a bone graft to improve the quality of the bone. Although bone grafting may seem scary, modern practices have created procedures that are routine, predictable, and practically painless.

What is a Bone Graft?

Within the field of dentistry, bone grafting creates a more solid and strong jawbone for the placement of dental implants. There are many bone grafting techniques available, but at Windcrest Cosmetic Dentistry, we utilize:

Sinus augmentation: This procedure develops and forms the jawbone by raising the sinus floor. An incision is made in the bone and a small hole is cut out that is lifted into the sinus cavity. Afterward, the incision is closed and a healing process will take place for about four to twelve months. This will give the bone plenty of time to develop before receiving dental implants.

Ridge modification: This procedure lifts the gum away from the bone and exposes the area that has a defect. The defect is then filled with bone or a bone substitute that builds up the area in question. A healing period of four to twelve month will take place, which allows the jawbone to regenerate any lost bone and tissue.

If you are interested in receiving dental implants, but need bone grafting in order to proceed, Dr. Craig Wright can discuss your options for grafting and determine the best treatment for your individual needs. Bone grafting has proven to improve appearance and increase the chances of a successful dental implants procedure.

Contact Us in San Antonio for More Information!

At Windcrest Cosmetic Dentistry, we place and restore dental implants as well as offer bone grafting procedures for the durability of the jawbone. If you would like more information about dental implants or bone grafting, please feel free to contact our San Antonio dental office today!