Infant Tooth Care

Baby teeth may be small, but they set the foundation for future teeth to come. To help prevent the buildup of plaque bacteria that can lead to decay, our doctors at Bear Creek Dental recommend regularly cleaning your infant’s gums with a damp washcloth following feedings. It’s important to start cleaning your child’s teeth before they come in to jumpstart a healthy smile.

Wipe the gums off after each feeding with a warm, wet washcloth or a dampened piece of gauze wrapped around your finger. In addition, take measures to prevent baby bottle tooth decay, a disease that causes severe, the swift decay of baby teeth. To help prevent it, do not put your baby to bed with a bottle of formula or a sugary drink, such as juice. The possibility of tooth decay is directly related to the number of times that sugar comes in contact with the teeth. Your child’s baby teeth act as placeholders for adult teeth. Without a healthy set of baby teeth, your child risks having trouble chewing and speaking clearly as they get older.

If you have questions or concerns regarding pediatric oral care, please give us a call. To learn more about dental cleanings and all the services we provide, visit BearCreekDental.CA for more information.  To schedule an appointment at Bear Creek Dental, located at Unit 201 10015 102 Ave, Grande Prairie, Alberta, T8v 0z8, Canada, call 780-539-0404.

Eat Celery for Fresh Breath

Bad breath is a common condition that affects everyone periodically. To eliminate the odor we might catch ourselves chewing a piece of minty gum on the go, or taking a quick swig of mouthwash before we leave the house for a night out.  Here at Bear Creek Dental, our doctors understand that bad breath can be very embarrassing, but did you know that you can fight it by eating a piece of celery?

Celery fights bad breath because it is rich in fiber which fights Halitosis by breaking down plaque and sulfur compounds.  Therefore, celery is a great thing to eat to help clean your mouth. It is also effective to munch on a carrot or an apple. Snacks that include crispy fresh fruits and vegetables step up your saliva flow between meals to help wash away bacteria from the teeth, tongue, and gums that can cause bad breath. These snacks can also help alleviate bad breath caused by hunger or fasting.

If you have questions or concerns regarding bad breath, please give us a call. To learn more about dental cleanings and all the services we provide, visit BearCreekDental.CA for more information.  To schedule an appointment at Bear Creek Dental, located at Unit 201 10015 102 Ave, Grande Prairie, Alberta, T8v 0z8, Canada, call 780-539-0404.

Osteonecrosis of the Jaw

Tooth extractions at Bear Creek Dental in Grande Prairie are generally a simple matter with minimal discomfort for the patient. However, in order to ensure the best outcome, it is important for patients to be fully open with us about their medical histories and current medications. Osteonecrosis of the jaw (ONJ) is a rare but serious outcome that people undergoing extractions should be aware of.

Following a simple extraction, a small bit of jawbone will be exposed at the base of the socket. Normally, the blood will quickly clot, sealing off the socket and locking in moisture. But in people on bisphosphonate medications, exposed jaw bone tissue may die (this process is what ONJ refers to). Bisphosphonate medications prevent bone resorption and are given orally to people with osteoporosis and through an IV drip to people on chemotherapy. The vast majority of cases of ONJ in medical literature occurred in people receiving bisphosphonates intravenously.

If a patient is battling cancer, we’ll work with them to plan any necessary dental work. Patients may need to delay beginning chemotherapy until after undergoing dental extractions, or we may be able to find a solution for their dental problem that doesn’t require tooth removal.

Bear Creek Dental is located at Unit 201 10015 102 Ave, Grande Prairie, Alberta, T8v 0z8, Canada. To schedule an appointment, call 780-539-0404 or visit Bear Creek Dental.

 

Permanent and Removable Bridges

Dental bridges are a highly adaptable means of replacing teeth. At Bear Creek Dental in Grande Prairie, our doctors are experts in dental restorations and are happy to discuss patients’ options with them. But in order to make patients more comfortable during the discussion, we wanted to provide some information about bridges on our blog.

The classically designed dental bridge is a series of crowns linked together. Two of the patient’s teeth would be reshaped into abutments so the ends of the bridge could be cemented over them, and the middle crown would be suspended between them. This design had the advantage of leaving the patients’ natural tooth roots intact and of being relatively easy to clean, since a patient could thread floss under the bridge. But it was developed at a time when dentists assumed all natural teeth would need to be replaced eventually and dentists were willing to extract or reshape healthy natural teeth to make room for a bridge.

Modern dentists try as hard as possible to preserve natural teeth. If a healthy tooth is in the way of a bridge, a dentist can fabricate a removable denture with a hole for the natural tooth. The removable denture is even easier to keep clean, but it has to be reshaped if the natural teeth shift position.

Bear Creek Dental is located at Unit 201 10015 102 Ave, Grande Prairie, Alberta, T8v 0z8, Canada. To schedule an appointment, call 780-539-0404 or visit Bear Creek Dental.