Archive for February, 2011
Dark Tooth: Why Your Child Has a Discolored Tooth
If you have kids, you know that they can get themselves into a lot of interesting accidents. Many times when kids get a head injury they knock out a tooth. Other times, they simply hit the tooth really hard and injure it. It has been estimated that 8-30% of kids under 7 suffer an accident [...]
Does Teething Cause a Fever in Teething Babies?
There are so many symptoms that are attributed to teething that many parents think that they’re child is almost always teething! Traditionally, “academic research” has found that teething doesn’t really cause a fever, while many parents and caregivers that are actually taking care of teething babies report that they definitely do get fevers during teething. [...]
Should You Replace Your Toothbrush After You’ve Been Sick
Have you ever heard that you should replace your toothbrush after you are sick? I had heard that you should, but I never understood why. After you get sick, your body figures out how to fight the illness and then makes you healthy again. Once your body knows how to fight off the illness, you [...]
How Often Should You Get Dental X-Rays Taken?
I’ve gotten a few emails lately asking about how often dental x-rays should be taken. An extreme example involved a young girl who had nearly 50 x-rays taken of one tooth over the course of a few years. Another common example involves an adult who has never had a cavity. Her dentist wants to take [...]
The Best Place to Start a Dental Practice
Disclaimer: This isn’t my ordinary oral health-related article… But, if you’re interested in some of the things that dentists look at when choosing an area to practice, you may enjoy it! We took a trip up to Vermont on Thursday and have been up here in the Burlington area for the past few days – [...]
Teeth Whitening and Teeth Bleaching: The Difference
When our permanent teeth first come into our mouths, they are nice and white. Not quite as white as our baby teeth were, but they are still a respectable shade of white. Over time, as we eat different foods our teeth begin to lose their bright white luster. Eventually our teeth’s enamel, the outermost layer [...]
Do You Make These 10 Mistakes When You Floss?
It seems so simple to just slide some string between your teeth to clean those hard-to-reach areas. While the idea is simple, there are a few techniques that you need to master in order to maximize the return on the time you spend flossing. Here are ten common mistakes that people make when they floss: [...]
How Long Does Teething Last?
If you’ve had a child, then you probably know how teething affects kids — and parents! When it comes to teething, many parents want to know at what age teething starts and how long it will last. While I can’t give you an exact answer as to when your child will start teething and for [...]
Tongue Piercing Procedure: How a Tongue Gets Pierced
I remember vividly a lecture that I had last year in one of my pediatric dentistry classes. My professor told us a story about how she went down to one of the local piercing parlors and asked if she could take pictures of a tongue piercing. They let her take some pictures and she showed [...]
The Differences Between Baby Teeth and Permanent Teeth
Have you ever noticed that baby teeth look like they’re whiter than adult teeth? Or maybe you knocked out a baby tooth when you were a child, but when you had a similar accident when you were older, your permanent tooth got chipped rather than getting knocked out. The two scenarios above can be explained [...]
The Functions of Each Tooth In Your Mouth
Have you ever looked in the mirror and noticed that all of our teeth are unique in their size and shape? There’s a reason that all of our teeth have a unique shape and size. It is because all of our teeth have a unique function in our mouth. A lot of times we eat [...]
At What Age Does a Child Need a Frenectomy?
One of the topics that I get emailed about most often is labial frenectomies. Not long ago, my sister called me asking me whether or not her daughter should get a labial frenectomy. The dentist had noticed it at one appointment and said that she may have a gap between her front teeth if a [...]
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 
Entries(RSS)