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As “that time of year” creeps around the corner, Pro Health Dental thought we’d share some tips for taking care of your teeth during what many consider their oral health off season. Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas make up a tooth terror trifecta during a year’s fourth quarter, so it’s important to keep your brushing and flossing game consistently strong.

No matter how much you love Pro Health Dental, we probably don’t top the list of people you want to spend quality time with over the holidays. Follow these five tips to steer clear of emergency trips to the dentist’s office this season.

First, don’t crack nuts or open bottles with your teeth.

We know that lots of protein can be found in nuts. This helps keep muscles and bones strong, but it does a number on your teeth, putting stress on them. The hard surface of most nutshells and even the fruits (or nuts) of your labors (think almonds) will undoubtedly cause tooth and gum damage, which may even result in cracked teeth. Instead, opt for almond or cashew butter, or at the very least choose the sliced or chopped variety of your favorite nuts, because it takes all that undue stress away from your teeth.

Using proper tools to open packages and bottles will save your teeth as well. Gripping a package or stubborn bottle cap with your grill can do some serious damage, possibly so much that you’ll need a root canal or crown.

Second, say “nay” to chewy treats.

Holiday candy platters and having free reign over a Halloween bag can do much harm to your teeth. Sticky, sugar-loaded substances like caramel and taffy will cling to tooth enamel and promote tooth decay, in some cases yanking out fillings entirely. If you choose to eat these sweets, do so sparingly. Make sure to brush your teeth no sooner than 20 minutes after enjoying these treats.

Third, avoid chewing hard candy and ice cubes.

You’d be surprised how many patients we see who ignore this obvious rule. Save time and money by doing away with chewing hard foods and candies altogether. Get your sugar fix from dark chocolate, it’s healthier for you than other options. Otherwise, just be patient and let your candy and ice cubes dissolve naturally.

Fourth, quit with the nail biting.

We know that the holidays can be stressful, which is the exact opposite effect they’re meant to have. Spending time with sides of the family you’ve relinquished to desert islands of your mind can cause anxiety, at which point many find themselves succumbing to nervous tics. Anxious nail nibbling is bad for your cuticles and for your teeth. This dirty little habit is also linked to teeth grinding (bruxism), clenching, and jaw problems like TMJ. If you get a sudden urge to chew, try to distract yourself for a minute or two. See if the feeling goes away. If the urge persists, try using clear, horrible-tasting nail polish to deter you. If this still doesn’t work, it may be time to try a hypnotist!

Lastly, Visit Pro Health Dental Over the Holidays

Your best line of defense will always be your friendly neighborhood dental specialist in Mission Viejo, CA. Keep your bi-annual visits with us and we’ll be able to closely monitor your progress. We’ll custom tailor an aggressive oral health plan that no holiday grind can compromise. Call today to schedule your check-up or your consultation.

Dental veneers are an increasingly viable option for Pro Health Dental patients who prefer not to go through the experience of having braces or Invisalign. It’s a fast and easy way to make drastic changes to a compromised or less-than-ideal smile. Many celebrities opt to get veneers because they need to be camera ready now.

Think of veneers as a non-surgical, non-invasive alternative to braces and oral surgery. Veneers allow Pro Health Dental to correct cosmetic concerns without removing much healthy tooth material in the process.

What Veneers Can Address

Dental veneers can be used to address a wide variety of concerns, including:

• Tooth Discoloration / Stained Teeth
• Chipped, Damaged Teeth
• Gaps in Between Teeth
• Enhance, Augment, or Diminish Tooth Size
• Visible Fillings (as an Alternative to Amalgam or Mercury)
• Damaged or Diminished Tooth Enamel

What’s in a Veneer?

To put it simply, a dental veneer is a thin shell made of porcelain or ceramic. This cosmetic shell is made custom to fit in with your surrounding teeth. To ensure gripping, a small amount of tooth enamel will need to be removed (only about the width of a hair). Once this is done, impressions are taken and sent to a lab to fabricate your brand new, personalized veneers.

We only shave away a tiny portion of tooth in order to place your dental veneers. In the case of, say, a dental crown, we would need to take significantly more natural enamel away, which ends up leaving only a nub of natural tooth which is then covered by a crown. Dental veneers don’t require nearly as much enamel subtraction.

Porcelain Veneer Appeal

People are calling dental veneers “Instant Orthodontics,” which is largely true. Porcelain veneers are long-lasting and look exactly like natural teeth. Veneers are one of the most popular treatments utilized for masking stains, discoloration, and correcting minor cases of misalignment.

Indirect vs. Direct Dental Veneers

Indirect dental veneers are more common than direct veneers. Indirect dental veneers (porcelain veneers), are made off location in a lab. To get the right fit, color, and shape, Pro Health Dental will take exact measurements, impressions, and precise images to send to the lab, where we’ll fabricate your dental veneers and send them back to our clinic for placement. Typically, indirect dental veneer placement takes two visits.

Direct dental veneers are an even quicker remedy and are placed the day of your appointment. We make them from a composite resin and place them directly on your natural teeth. Your direct dental veneers take longer and are often more labor-intensive, since we’ll need to shave away a little more tooth enamel than we would when we place indirect dental veneers.

Duration, dental veneer cost, and how long your veneers can last are all subjects we will discuss with you during your initial consultation.

Applying veneers requires no invasive surgery or long-term corrections. You can treat them as you would your normal teeth once they’ve been placed. Of course, keeping a healthy diet and brushing and flossing routine will extend the longevity of your dental veneers. Veneers are among the safest dental procedures available on the market. Schedule your initial consultation with Pro Health Dental today to learn more.

If you have damaged teeth, badly discolored teeth, or teeth that are anything less than newsworthy, dental veneers might be an excellent treatment option for you. Contact our office today to schedule an appointment. We’ll answer any lingering questions you might have.

With new information coming out in the field of dentistry and medicine, it’s hard to stay on top of what’s good for you and what’s bad for you. Generally, with your teeth and gums, the usual suspects of candy, sodas, and other sugary substances should be avoided. But here at Pro Health Dental we wanted to look a little bit deeper into some of the quiet culprits that might be doing damage to your smile.

So let’s just assume that the obvious smile saboteurs are understood: soda, hard candy, energy drinks—all of these have high sugar content, which is one of the main contributors to cavities.

In this day and age people tend to be a little more informed about diet and overall health. With this in mind, we assume that many are already conscientious about their sugar-laden food and drink consumption. But it doesn’t stop there. Some foods that are considered good for your nutrition might be doing an inside job on your teeth and gums.

Citrus Fruits

Vitamin C (often acquired dietarily through oranges and other citrus fruits) is crucial for maintaining gum collagen, but overdoing it can come at a detriment to your smile. That orange you grabbed from the break room, that water that you insist you get with a lemon, those items could be softening and eroding your enamel. Lemons and limes are especially harsh (both concentrated and high in sugar content).

Not enough to convince you? A study in the British Journal of Nutrition back in 2011 found that grapefruit juice is almost as erosive to your teeth as Coca-Cola.

How to fix: Chug a tall glass of water after that orange juice. Then, twenty minutes later, make sure that you brush your teeth. It’s important to hold off on brushing immediately, because acid exposure softens your teeth. If you vigorously brush right away, you could actually abrade your enamel.

Almonds

We know this one is a bummer, because we’re as nuts about almonds as you are. They have high vitamin E content and they’re chock full of healthy fats that keep you satisfied and energized. The catch is that almonds are extremely hard. They can create a wedge when you bite down, resulting in a tooth fracture.

How to fix: Get rid of whole almonds from your diet. Go with almond butter or opt for the sliced variety instead. Any leg work you can do with these stern staples of the diet before they reach your mouth will help support the longevity of your smile.

Pickled Foods

Pickles are a necessity for some when it comes to sandwiches. Charcuterie appetizers often feature picked veggies, and some hobbyists post photos ad nauseam about their latest pickling endeavor. Pickled veggies are generally low in calories and big on flavor, but they’re also big on acid content due to vinegar. This can de-mineralize your teeth. Pickled food often have cavity-causing sugar as well.

How to fix: Pair that pickle with a bit of cheese. This will help neutralize the acids because of the calcium content in cheese. Another way would be to chew a piece of sugar-free gum that contains xylitol. This ingredient helps cancel out the acid while also activating saliva production, which rinses out the mouth.

Dried Fruits

Dried fruit is a healthy eater’s go-to snack, especially on hiking trails, road trips, and while camping. But you may want to think twice about munching on dried apricots and raisins while you’re away from home. Dehydrated fruit is highly concentrated with cavity-causing sugar that clings onto your teeth.

How to fix: Keep the dried fruit at home for snacking. That way, you can swish with water, wait twenty minutes, then brush, as mentioned above.

Coffee

Coffee may be dense with antioxidants, but it also comes along with some serious staining. Staining creates a rougher tooth surface for plaque to latch onto. Often patients take their coffee with honey or sugar, which we already know isn’t good for your teeth.

How to fix: Try to limit your coffee intake. Cutting down to one or two cups instead of the requisite pot of coffee to start your day will help a lot in cutting down brown stains. If you can’t begrudge yourself your daily java, switch to cold brew and drink it out of a straw to limit coffee contact with teeth. Keep your coffee sugar free and add a little milk to neutralize the acids.

We hope some of this helps. We also hope we didn’t ruin anybody’s day with this information. Making slight adjustments like those we’ve mentioned above can go a long way for your oral health. Make sure you keep your bi-annual appointments with Mission Viejo dentist, Dr. Ada Gruita and Pro Health Dental. We look forward to seeing you and appreciate your readership!

With advances in technology and consumer sophistication, many people have more choices when it comes to toothbrushes in recent years. There are manual brushes, automatic brushes, and brushes that have various shapes. Some have hard bristles, while others are softer. The size of the bristles themselves can vary, going from micro-sized to larger versions.

Manual vs. Automatic Toothbrushes

The handles of toothbrushes can come in a straight, angled, or flexi-grip shape. While you have these numerous choices for a toothbrush, the best one is the one that fits your mouth and does an effective job of cleaning all areas of your mouth. Manual or automatic brushes can be successful in providing a full cleaning experiences. The variety of choices are attributed to people having different preferences of conditions which create the need for alternative options.

You may find that using an automatic brush is more comfortable and involves less work, or you may prefer a manual toothbrush because you are afforded more control. Regardless of your preferences, it is important to optimize your brush use and ensure you receive the most optimal clean. For additional information, you can contact the Mission Viejo dentist, Dr. Ada Gruita and her team at Pro Health Dental.

Throughout the history of dentistry, one of the most common conditions that irritate patients is malocclusion. This term refers to a problem in how the top and bottom teeth join together. Patients have an ideal bite when the upper teeth is positioned slightly ahead of the lower teeth. “Overbites” and “underbites” occur, but there are additional ways misalignment can occur.

Tooth Misalignment

If teeth become crowded or even too far apart, there is a chance of a bad bite. A slight misalignment might not point to any related issues. However, moderate to severe malocclusion creates an increased risk of other dental health issues such as difficult chewing and speech patterns, headaches, hearing difficulties, decay, jaw pain, and gum disease.

When these conditions are allowed to inhibit your oral health, the lasting effects can be serious. Once the conditions worsen, the resulting treatment becomes more costly. There are treatments and options at your disposal to treat potential bite problems. Consider scheduling an appointment at your dentist and determine whether this condition is currently affecting you. If the problem is diagnosed early, you can benefit from having effective treatment performed with any serious complications.

Adolescence represents an important period for the development of one’s oral health. By the time children reach their teenage years, all baby teeth have been lost and replaced with permanent teeth. This means that for this age group, oral hygiene habits go a long way towards affecting the oral health of patients in adulthood. Educating adolescents about the importance of following a healthy diet and their implications on oral health can make a difference in having healthy smiles in adulthood.

So what makes a tooth-friendly diet? Here are some characteristics.

Fruits and Vegetables

Eating a sufficient amount of crunchy fruits and vegetables such as broccoli, carrots, celery, apples, and pears can help boost saliva production. Saliva can work to remove bad bacteria that produce dangerous acids that harm tooth enamel.

A tooth-friendly diet also avoids acidic foods, which can increase the risk of developing cavities and other dental conditions. Although oranges, tomatoes, grapefruit, lemons, and berries are regarded as healthy sources of nutrition, they can also wear away tooth enamel. To be fully protected against these risks, dentists recommended to brush after each meal or swish with mouthwash to remove excess acid from the mouth.

Milk, Yogurt, Cheese

Teeth benefit from having calcium and other minerals in terms of improved strength and durability. Children following a tooth-friendly diet often consume a recommended daily amount of calcium. These can be found from yogurt, cottage cheese, and regularly cheese. For those who have less tolerance to dairy products, calcium-fortified soy milk and orange juice provide acceptable options as well.

Sugar-Free Foods

One of the essential elements of following a tooth-friendly diet is avoiding candies and treats containing an excessive amount of sugar. Children who have a sweet tooth opt for sugar-free substitute instead of regular candy. Chewing sugar-free gum or drinking sugar-free beverages provide better long-term benefits for teeth. They also do not wear away tooth enamel – providing a dentist-approved substitute.

At Pro Health Dental, our Mission Viejo dentist and team understand that preventative care is at its best when patients continue to practice healthy teeth and gum cleaning habits. It is important to maintain a good oral hygiene routine that consists of brushing and flossing. Most people brush their teeth, but only a committed few make the effort to floss. While we prefer patients to floss, it is understandable that many may not find the procedure exciting. However, even with these details, it is still an important practice that delivers unique benefits.

Here are the essentials of flossing that are worth knowing:

Purchase the Right Floss

Any patient can purchase floss from a variety of stores. For patients with space between their teeth, a thicker floss should be used. Those that have straight teeth can use thinner versions.

Use the Recommended Amount of Floss

It is important to avoid using the same strand of floss. A fresh strand is better and more effective for cleaning the spaces between each tooth.

Floss Gently

When it comes to flossing, accidents are a possibility, especially when it is done aggressively. The gums can be irritated and experience minor bleeding when patients do not do it gently. By using a more gentle approach, the floss will gradually clean the tight spaces without irritating or damaging the gums.

Do Not Overlook the Gums

Flossing is helpful for removing plaque from the spaces between teeth and at the base of the gums. When flossing, gently maneuver the floss between the teeth and gums to remove any persistent food particles. With consistent, but gentle flossing, you can reduce the risk of gum disease.

At Pro Health Dental we provide mercury-free fillings in order to provide a safe and worry-free environment for our valued patients.  We all have started to worry about the world around us. More and more, we try to incorporate those healthy decisions into our lives that have a positive impact on ourselves, on others, and our environments. You have to value your health. If you don’t have your health, nothing else really matters much, does it?

If you’re concerned about you and your family’s health, then we’d like to point something important out to you. This article is about dental amalgam, and why you should choose a dentist who offers mercury-free fillings.

What is amalgam?

Amalgam is a material used for filling cavities. It’s carried in most dental offices. Many practitioners refer to amalgam fillings as “silver” fillings, which sometimes misleads the consumer. But that’s why we’re here, to give you the facts. Amalgam is actually made up of nearly 50% mercury.

Mercury is a known neurotoxin, a toxin that is poisonous or destructive to the nerve tissue, which can adversely affect function in both developing and mature nervous tissues. A tiny, little dental filling may seem like too small amount of mercury to have a negative effect, but it turns out that American dental offices are second in mercury use in our nation. Once implanted in the mouth, dental amalgam releases this toxin into your body. The mercury used in amalgam fillings can provide detrimental effects to our bodies and our environment.

Health Risks

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration told the FDA that they had a responsibility to warn consumers about the dangers of amalgam, especially when it comes to the danger it poses to children. Dental amalgam can in some cases be contributed to neurological problems, brain disease, and also immune deficiency diseases in dental patients.

Amalgam fillings are also subject to rising and falling of temperature. This can cause the metal to expand, shrink, or warp in severe weather conditions, whether hot or cold. This can lead to small, painful cracks in your fillings.

Amalgam also requires proper handling when disposing. The EPA has concluded that a percentage of dental mercury eventually ends up in our own water sources. Rivers and lakes are adversely affected, endangering wildlife that rely on these sources of water for sustenance.

Benefits of Mercury Free Dentistry

Mercury free dentistry explores healthier, safer alternatives to mercury. Composite fillings are a safer alternative that is being explored by progressive dental offices around the country like Pro Health Dental.

You have the power to choose a dentist who believes in taking care of clients and the environment, all while running a successful business. You can feel good about knowing that you’ve made the right choice in addition to these other health benefits:

• Crowns are made with beautiful porcelain to correct larger amounts of decay.
• Fillings are made with a completely environmentally and biologically safe, toxin-free epoxy resin.
• Composite fillings will protect your teeth against future cracks.
• Composite fillings and crowns can be matched to your original tooth color for a more natural look and finish.
• Help contribute to the effort to save national wildlife and American water sources.

By choosing Pro Health Dental, you are choosing a mercury free environment. You are helping your family’s health as well as your surrounding world. If you have any lingering questions or concern about amalgam, composite or other dental materials, please contact us today.

It’s important to stay on top of your oral health for a number of reasons beyond getting a glowing review at Pro Health Dental. That is, If you don’t take care of your by properly brushing, flossing, and scheduling regular visits with us, you may find yourself spending thousands of dollars down the road in restorative dental care.

You wouldn’t know it, but a full mouth reconstruction can cost anywhere between $50,000 and $80,000. If you practice good oral hygiene habits as well as preventive dentistry, you can avoid these exorbitant dental costs in the future. We’ll go over some of the basics that might help you save a lot of coin.

First off, preventive dentistry generally emphasizes the importance of ongoing dental hygiene procedures — daily practices you can develop in order to prevent tooth decay and other dental diseases and complications.

Effective preventive dentistry combines practices you can do on your own at home in conjunction with chairside treatments and counseling by certified dental professionals.
The American Dental Association (ADA) quite vocally recommends at least two dental checkups annually for professional cleaning, management, and assessment. Sticking with your bi-annual check-ups will help you and your dentist catch disease in its early stages, which is always better than letting a problem run its course.

Prevention Early On

If you have children, begin their teeth cleaning rituals when their first tooth erupts. Visit a pediatric dentist when this happens, or at the very latest bring them in when they’re around 12 months of age. This will help to establish comprehensive oral health habits for your child that they can incorporate into their lives, providing a sturdy foundation.

Preventive Strategies

There are many preventive measures you can take to ensure the long-term oral health of you and your loved ones. Strategies for children and adults will include a combination of any number of in-office and at-home treatments and procedures, including:

At-home oral hygiene — The most important prevention technique that you can ever learn is properly brushing and flossing at least twice a day (or after every meal). This helps to remove plaque, which is a film-like coating that forms on your teeth. If left unchecked, plaque will build up and produce tartar. Tartar is a hardened, sticky substance that generates acid-producing bacteria which cause tooth decay and periodontal disease.

Fluoride use — Fluoride, despite its negative connotation with some, strengthens your teeth and also prevents tooth decay. Fluoride treatments can be provided in any dental office. Dentists will also recommend using toothpastes and mouth rinses at home that contain fluoride. Though some conspiracy theorists may beg to differ, public water fluoridation (which is ranked as one of the 20th century’s 10 great public health achievements) actually provides a major source of our daily fluoride.

Regular dental visits — In conjunction with good brushing and flossing habits, regular dental visits are the cornerstone of any good preventive oral health plan. It’s an unfortunate reality that most most dental conditions can be quite painless at first. That means, if you don’t schedule and keep your regular visits with Pro Health Dental, you may not be aware of your dental problems until they’ve already cause a significant amount of damage. Be sure to schedule regular dental check-ups for yourself and your family every six months. If you are at higher risk for dental problems, schedule visits even more often.

Oral Screenings — Your dentist should also be performing oral cancer screenings. It’s important to check for signs of abnormal tissues, no matter if you smoke or not. Especially for children, checking oral growth and development should be a part of your regular dental evaluations.

Diet — There’s a reason why Americans are among the most overweight and out of shape people in the world. It’s because diet can be one of the hardest things to change. Many of us don’t look at food simply as fuel. It’s a way of life. And you could be addicted to certain harmful foods and not even know it’s a problem. But a balanced diet is as much a dental aid as brushing and flossing. Bacteria that produce plaque feed on sugars and carbs that you eat. Calcium-poor diets will actually increase your chances of developing periodontal disease and lead to jaw and bone deterioration.

X-rays — X-rays give dentists the ability to look for signs of dental problems that can’t be seen by the naked eye. Cavities between teeth and problems below the gum line are all easier to identify via X-rays.

Mouth guards — Mouth guards are important for kids and teens. They can be worn during sports activities to protect against broken teeth. Mouth guards also are used to treat sleep disorders like bruxism (teeth grinding), which will help save the integrity of your teeth. Bruxism can wear down your teeth and contribute to TMJ.

Orthodontics – An abnormal bite (malocclusion) can impair your eating and your speaking. Crooked teeth can be harder to keep clean then a more nicely arranged set of pearly whites. Dental braces or clear teeth aligners like Invisalign or Invisalign Teen, will help reduce the prominence likelihood of future dental problems.

Sealants — Sealants are made up of composite material, thin coatings that are placed on the chewing surfaces of your back permanent teeth that can help protect both children and adults from tooth decay.

Avoid smoking and drinking — You should avoid these activities for your overall health anyways. But smoking, chewing tobacco, and adult beverage consumption can seriously affect your oral health in a major way. Dry mouth, tooth discoloration, plaque buildup, gum disease, tooth loss, and even oral cancer are just some of the ramifications of drinking and using tobacco.

Last Thoughts on Preventive Dentistry

Consistent dental care for chronic dental diseases/conditions is an absolute essential for deterring or reversing damage to your oral health. Patient education is also of utmost importance at Pro Health Dental. Patients who understand the outcome and consequences of poor dental health are far more likely to see their dentist to construct a preventive dentistry gameplan. Instilling great oral health habits early on will significantly help ensure a legacy of dental health.

Contact Pro Health Dental today if you have any lingering questions about Preventive Dentistry. We look forward to working with you to help you achieve an amazing smile.

When it comes to dental floss, what’s the best kind? Well, if you ask a dentist, they’ll tell you the best dental floss is the floss you’ll actually use. That could be Teflon floss, dental tape, nylon floss, waxed floss, and flosses with or without flavors – there are a lot of choices! There are also a number of ways to get your flossing done that don’t have you wrapping a long string of floss across your fingers and deftly maneuvering your hands in such an enclosed space. Enter the oral irrigator, the vibrating flosser, and the dental pick! Which might be best for you?

Dental Pick

If you’re prone to ignore flossing, you may want to consider a good ol’ fashioned dental pick. You’ve no doubt seen these before (sometimes cast aside on the sidewalk!) … they look kinda’ like a plastic toothpick with a strand of dental floss strapped across a wide u-shaped tip. The simplicity and compact nature of these little portable floss “picks” seem to add to their convenience, and kids seem to love them when they’re first learning to floss. We’ll bet you can find at least one colleague in your office who has a few in their purse or desk for those moments when lunch lingers on the teeth a bit longer than appreciated! We’ll even give you a packet of these for free the next time you come in!

Electric Flossers

Depending on the brand, electric flossers are known by a variety of names, and searching for these handy little devices can be somewhat maddening online (trust us!). You may be best just wandering into the drug store or supermarket to explore in person! There are vibrating flossers, power flossers, and air flossers. Picking the one that’s right for you depends on the task at hand. Power flossers and air flossers seem best if you’re dealing with space concerns near the gumline, and may be a good substitute for an interproximal toothbrush. A vibrating flosser, on the other hand, looks much like a dental pick and because of its design, can cover the entire length of the tooth. The next time you’re here at Pro Health Dental ask which is best for you.

Oral Irrigator

An oral irrigator is a device that uses a pulsating stream of water to remove plaque and food debris from between your teeth. There are a variety of instruments on the market, and your dentist can recommend one based on the health of your gum tissue and budget. Oral irrigators are remarkably effective at keeping gum tissue healthy, and have been shown to reduce pocket depth due to periodontitis. “Pocket depth,” refers to the depth of the gum tissue that immediately surrounds your teeth. You may not know it, but that’s what your dentist or hygienist is testing for when they’re poking that instrument in your mouth during an exam and calling out numbers! Mention this blog post and receive 10% off at your next visit!

It’s worth noting that each of these devices, while recommended, should be considered as supplements to normal flossing – still your best choice. But, if you have dexterity concerns, are purchasing something for a youngster, or just want to ensure your teeth are the cleanest they can be, these tool are great options!