Archive for September, 2010
6 Reasons Why Biting Your Nails Is Bad For Your Teeth
It’s been estimated that about half of all humans bite their nails. At ten fingernails per human (and maybe some toenails thrown in for good measure), that adds up to billions of fingernails that are chewed on everyday. Fingernail biting has been linked to genetics and occurs more often in females than males. I bit [...]
Will You Still Have Your Teeth When You Get Old?
A couple of weeks ago, Karen, a reader from Colorado Springs emailed me with the following question: “Since our average life expectancy is getting longer, what’s the likelihood we’ll have any of our original teeth if we were born in the 50′s before better dental care was available. Do our children have a better chance [...]
Smokers Have Less Teeth Than Non-Smokers
It’s common knowledge that smoking has many awful effects on your health. Since I try to deal with oral health on this blog, I won’t go into all of the systemic health risks of smoking. I’ll just talk a little bit about the oral health risks. Smoking puts you at greater risk for oral cancer, [...]
Seven Ways Meth Ruins Your Teeth
Before I came to dental school, I worked at a dental clinic that served those with little or no financial resources. I remember vividly a young woman in her twenties who had to have all of her teeth extracted. All of her teeth had extensive decay. She had used methamphetamine for years before coming to [...]
How Chewing Ice Cubes Hurts Your Teeth
Have you ever eaten all of your dinner, drank all of your water, and then flirted with the last remaining edible item on the table – the ice in the bottom of your glass? If so, you’re not alone. Many people chew on ice cubes for a variety of different reasons. You may think this [...]
How Saliva Protects Your Teeth
A couple of years ago, my wife and I were on a walk near our community’s park. A baseball game was taking place on the baseball field and we stopped to watch. I noticed that some of the players were constantly spitting into the dirt near the dugout. It took almost all of the self-control [...]
Can Fibrous Foods Like Celery and Apples Clean Your Teeth?
The internet is filled with what I like to call “Dental Pollution.” There are a lot of half-truths and myths about oral health. One of the reasons that I started Oral Answers was to provide facts and truths about dentistry to those that have unanswered questions about their oral and dental health. To dispel these [...]
16 Delicious Snacks That Your Teeth Will Like
It seems that dentists and dental hygienists have a bad reputation for naming off a bunch of foods that aren’t very good for your teeth. Well… to get rid of that reputation, I’ve decided to do the opposite. Here’s a list of 16 snacks that you’ll enjoy almost as much as your teeth will: List [...]
Is Fruit Good or Bad for Your Teeth? It Depends.
Many people have asked me whether or not fruit is bad for your teeth. The answer is that it depends. We all know that the main reason people like fruit compared to vegetables is because of the sugar. The question is, does the sugar in fruit cause tooth decay? There are six main ways that [...]
OA Links: Why Is Dental Work So Expensive?
I’m at the beginning of what should be a pretty tough semester! I have nine classes on top of seeing patients four days a week. I’ll try to keep writing three days a week, but if I miss one here or there, know that it’s because I’m busy studying! Why Is Dental Care so Expensive? [...]
Tetracycline Tooth Staining: Its Cause, Prevention & Treatment
I want to thank Dr. James R. Donley, DDS for kindly allowing me to use his photos in the article below. When I was a little boy, I remember seeing my brother in the bathroom trying to bleach his teeth. He tried many different formulations of bleaching agents to try to remove the staining on [...]
Double Teeth – Gemination and Fusion
I want to thank Rachel Inbar for allowing me to use two pictures of her son with a “double tooth” for this article. Rachel runs a fertility blog and allows couples to share their fertility stories online. Many parents wait with great excitement and anticipation for the eruption of their baby’s first tooth. Sadly, baby [...]
50 Names for Sugar that Food Makers Use to Trick You
Did you know that the average American eats nearly 100 pounds of sugar per year? For teenagers, the number climbs to nearly 150 pounds per year. Why do we eat so much sugar? Perhaps one of the reasons is that it is so prevalent in the food we eat. Sugar is used to enhance the [...]
Why You Might Need to Premedicate With Antibiotics Before You See Your Dentist
During my first few weeks as a student-dentist in the clinic at dental school, I had a new patient assigned to me. She arrived late, and we were both in a hurry to get the oral examination and treatment planning finished so we could start working on her teeth. Without going into too much detail, [...]
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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