Archive for July, 2010
Children’s Medicine: How to Keep Cough Syrup from Causing Cavities
A quick walk down the aisle at your local pharmacy will reveal an alarming amount of sugar. Most medicine that we give our children is combined with a thick syrup made up of sugar and corn syrup. For more information on the different sugars that hurt your teeth, read my article about the five sugars [...]
Don’t Treat Your Teeth Like Tools
This past weekend I went shopping with my wife and got a couple of new shirts. The tags were stuck onto the shirts with a thin plastic string. I usually rip them off, but only the tag came off. With no scissors nearby, I almost used my teeth to get the rest off. Luckily, I [...]
Mamelons: The Bumps On Your Child’s Permanent Teeth Are Normal
Have you ever noticed the little bumps on a brand new permanent front tooth in your child’s mouth? Sometimes parents think that their children’s teeth have something wrong with them when they first notice these serrated edges on their kids’ front teeth. Fortunately, there is nothing abnormal about these bumps and grooves. They are completely [...]
Alkaline Water: Is It Good For Your Teeth?
Have you heard of alkaline water? If not, you might soon hear about it from a multi-level-marketer near you. Earlier this week, I talked with an alkaline water marketer for five or ten minutes about it. He talked about all of the benefits of alkaline water and even called it “nature’s water” or something similar [...]
Why You Have to Have Rubber Bands On Each Tooth With Braces
Louise, a reader from Pennsylvania recently wrote in to ask why you need to have rubber bands on each individual tooth with a bracket on it. Here’s what she asked: Why do some people have rubber bands around each individual piece of metal on each tooth when they have braces? I thought that rubber bands [...]
Periodontal Disease – Not Cavities – Is the Leading Cause of Tooth Loss
If someone asked you what the #1 cause of tooth loss is in people over age 35, what would you guess? If you’re like most people, you would probably guess that it’s cavities. Unfortunately…you’d be wrong. It is generally accepted that the leading cause of tooth loss in people over 35 is periodontitis, more commonly [...]
How A Space Maintainer Will Look In Your Child’s Mouth
A few months ago, I wrote an article detailing why it would be necessary for a child to get a space maintainer. A space maintainer is commonly referred to as simply a spacer. In the picture to the left, you can see how the lower teeth of a six year old child might appear with [...]
How to Really Win a Dental Malpractice Lawsuit
A few months ago, a dental malpractice insurance company came to my dental school and shared many different dental malpractice cases with us. One that stuck out to me was of a young woman who went to the dentist to have a routine procedure performed. After she left the dentist’s office, her tongue was permanently [...]
The Experience Dental Students Get Before They See Real Patients
Many people are skeptical about visiting dental schools to receive dental care because they are worried about a lack of experience on the student’s part. I won’t lie: dental student’s are not as experienced as most general dentists. However, that doesn’t mean that the quality of care is any lower. Dental students spend much more [...]
Dental Fear Central: Calm Your Dental Anxiety
Many of the patients we see at the dental school have developed cavities and needed extensive dental work for just one reason: They were too scared to come to the dentist before now. Something changed within them that made them finally say, “Enough is enough. I need to get my teeth fixed.” Sometimes it’s severe [...]
What Fermentable Carbohydrates Are & How They Hurt Your Teeth
Fermentable carbohydrates. You may have heard that phrase before and wondered what it means. In this article, I’ll let you know what fermentable carbohydrates are and how they can hurt your teeth. What Are Fermentable Carbohydrates? Carbohydrates are sugars and starches. They are a major source of energy for humans. When we something with sugar [...]
Hi, I'm Tom. I'm currently a 4th year dental student in the USA. I started this blog to help people take better care of their teeth. You can 
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