Your health — home care and health resources

During your appointment, we'll provide you with consultations, literature and "after care" pamphlets. We believe it's extremely important that our patients familiarize themselves with procedures and maintain the finest care possible while at home. We love to hear from you, and suggest that you visit or call with any questions during your recuperation.

Proper Brushing Method

Brushing your teeth at least twice a day helps prevent tooth decay and gum disease.

Outer and Inner Surfaces:
Brush at a 45 degree angle in short, tooth-wide strokes. You should be able to feel the brush at your gum line.

On the Chewing Surfaces:
Hold the brush flat, and brush back and forth.

On the Inside Surfaces of the Front Teeth:
Tilt brush vertically, and use gentle up and down stokes. Be sure you feel the bristles of the brush at the gum line.

The Tongue:
Brush in a back to front sweeping motion to remove food particles and freshen your mouth. You should replace your toothbrush every 2-3 months.

Proper Flossing Method

Daily flossing helps to remove plaque and food particles between the teeth and below the gum line.

Wrap an 18-inch strand around your middle fingers, and hold a one-inch section tightly.
Ease floss between teeth. When floss reaches the gum line, curve it into a C-shape against the tooth. Gently slide it into the space between the gum and tooth until you feel resistance.
Hold the floss against the tooth, and gently rub the side of the tooth, moving the floss away from the gum.
Don't forget to floss the back of the last tooth. This is a critical area where plaque often collects.

The Importance of Regular Visits

Regular dental visits are essential for maintaining healthy teeth and gums. For maximum benefit, a good home care regimen must be supplemented with a professional examination and cleaning every six months. In some cases, more frequent visits are necessary.

Patient instruction is an important part of the preventative program if goals for attaining good oral health are to be reached. Personalized patient instruction helps in the prevention of oral disease. Your hygienist will be able to assist you with an individually tailored home care plan that's right for you.

Healthy Low Sugar Snacks

Fresh Fruit
Raw Vegetables
Low-fat Cream Cheese (great on celery)
Popcorn
Low-salt pretzels, crackers, saltines
Bread Sticks
Rice Cakes
Cheerios or Kix
Puffed Rice or Puffed Wheat
Sugarless Gum
Yogurt (mix plain yogurt and mashed fruit - optional: add Grape Nuts)
Sunflower Seeds
Natural Fruit Juice Popsicles
Frozen Bananas (freeze with skin on);
Frozen Grapes - though not for kids! (Choking risk)
Natural Juice Jello (Knox gelatin and natural juice)
Natural Fruit Jams and Jellies Without Added Sugar
Yogurt Dip - yogurt mixed with seasoning or raw vegetables, to replace a more fattening vegetable dip
Milk Smoothie (blend milk, ice and bananas or strawberries)
Fruit Smoothie (blend natural juice, fruit and ice)

How To Eat Candy

It seems a bit unrealistic that the dental profession would expect parents to keep kids away from sweets entirely. Since it is inevitable that kids will eat some candy, here are some thoughts on the matter.

Sweets are pretty bad for adults - and worse for kids.
Aside from the dental aspects of sweets, they are hard on the body's energy management system and displace other healthy foods that could be eaten instead.

That stated, here is what parents can do to reduce the damage caused by sweets:

Control access to the children's candyÑdecide when and how much candy will be eaten per day or week.
Don't use candy as a reward - it will only heighten the desire for it.
Restrict the TIME for candy consumption. A candy bar eaten quickly followed by a tooth brushing or rinsing is MUCH less destructive than sucking on a lollypop or nibbling mints etc. for extended periods of time. It is the TIME that the sweets contact the teeth, not the AMOUNT of sugar that results in decay. This is why adults who endlessly sip coffee with "just a pinch of sugar" wind up with decay and black coffee drinkers do not. It's the same with soft drinks or anything else. Limit the time of contact with the teeth to limit the decay.

Plaque and tartar

Patients are often confused by the terms "plaque" and "tartar".

Plaque is a sticky, colorless deposit of bacteria that forms constantly on your teeth. The formation of plaque begins 4-12 hours after brushing, which is why it is important to brush 2 times a day.

Plaque that is not removed by brushing and flossing can harden into what is known as tartar. This crusty deposit bonds to the tooth, and can only be safely removed by a dental professional.

Tips:

A healthy smile depends on more than diet alone. The following tips will help you maintain healthy teeth and gums:

Eat a balanced diet
Limit the number of snacks
Brush twice a day with fluoride toothpaste.
Floss daily to remove plaque formation between your teeth and below your gums.
Schedule regular check-ups with your dentist.

Keeping your teeth healthy requires a partnership between you and your dentist. At Dr. Ahearn's office, we specialize in oral health and feel it's an integral part of general health. Your dentist plays an expanded role in the detection, early recognition and management of a wide range of complex oral and general diseases and conditions.

Ongoing research continues to show diseases of your mouth, such as periodontal disease, can affect more than just your teeth. Systemic diseases, such as heart disease, stroke and premature births have been linked to certain bacteria found in your mouth.

Each person coming into our office for care is unique and complex. We consider each person not only a patient, but also a member of our practice. We care for the long-term welfare of each and every member in our practice. Our focus is total health. How can we do this? By removing the known cause of disease.

A healthy mouth is the start to a healthy body. Here at Dr. Ahearn's, we strive for excellence and feel the members of our practice deserve nothing but the best.

Health Links

While it's true that our primary health task is to rehabilitate, repair, and maintain your teeth and gums, we feel that your dental health and your overall health are integrally linked, and so therefore it's you and your overall health that matter most to us. Because of this, we try to keep our patients informed and up-to-date with current health knowledge.

Our site aims to provide you with information that can help you take care of yourself, and our links section, pointing to carefully selected health related Web sites, is a great way for you to self-educate.

Please remember that not all of the information found at these sites necessarily represents our beliefs regarding the subjects discussed! But, we do want you to have access to a wide range of information sources so that you are better able to understand your concerns, and are able to make the best health choices possible.

Overall Health Links

http://www.mayoclinic.com
The Mayo Clinic's Web site provides articles and information about new and existing medical achievements, suggestions for healthy living, interactive health planners, and much more.

http://www.familydoctor.org
American Academy of Family Physicians offers this content-rich overall health Web site. Includes daily health tips and common prescription drug information.

http://navigator.tufts.edu
With the Nutrition Navigator, Tufts University provides a comprehensive listing of Web links and articles about nutrition.

Dental Health Links

http://www.ada.org
The American Dental Association provides online oral health information.

http://www.aae.org
American Association of Endodontists provides specific online information about root canals.

http://www.colgate.com
Colgate-Palmolive offers an interesting interactive kid's section on their Web site-young patients may enjoy checking it out.