Archive for May, 2011
Practice Safety at the Swimming Pool for Healthy Teeth
Many parts of the United States have already had really hot temperatures this spring. In spite of this, many swimming pools don’t officially open for the summer season until until Memorial Day weekend. Since many people will be out swimming this weekend, I thought I would share a few tips on how to prevent dental [...]
OA Links: Fighting, Elderly, and Illegal Dentists
There’s been a few interesting stories about dentists in the news over the past few weeks. Since I haven’t done an “OA Links” post lately, I decided to share them with you in this edition of Oral Answers Links. A Fighting Dentist Yesterday afternoon, a dentist near Daytona Beach, Florida was taken to jail for [...]
Dental Phobia: 15 Reasons Why People are Scared of the Dentist
A few weeks ago, a teenage boy came into the dental school because one of his teeth was hurting. I saw him in our pediatric dental clinic and we determined that two of his teeth couldn’t be saved and had to be pulled. He seemed fine with everything. I took him over to the oral [...]
Dental Fluorosis Treatment: How Dental Fluorosis Is Treated
Dental fluorosis is caused by ingesting too much fluoride while the teeth are developing. Dental fluorosis discolors the teeth. The staining can range from white flecks to deep brown stains. In this post, I will talk about the various treatments for dental fluorosis. If you’re interested in how dental fluorosis occurs and want to see [...]
Can Baby Orajel Cause Methemoglobinemia In Your Teething Baby?
Imagine waking up in the middle of the night to an upset teething baby. You stick some Orajel in the baby’s mouth and go back to bed for some sleep. The next morning, you realize that your baby isn’t breathing. Although rare, this can happen. Last month, the FDA spoke out about a certain complication [...]
Antibiotics Before Dental Work for Joint Replacements
Last year I wrote an article about dental antibiotic prophylaxis, which talked about why dentists prescribe antibiotics for their patients to take before many dental procedures. In that post I mentioned that anybody who has a joint replacement is supposed to get antibiotics prescribed to them before certain dental procedures. The reason for this is [...]
Eight Natural Teething Remedies to Help Your Teething Baby
Many parents aren’t comfortable giving their little teething babies teething gel, especially when they hear about the rare, but serious side effects that can occur. Back before teething gels were invented, many parents used natural methods to calm their teething babies. Fortunately, for those parents that don’t want to give their teething babies drugs, there [...]
Top 12 Weapons of Plaque Destruction
About five years ago, I was sitting in the first lecture of an Introduction to Dentistry class. The professor, a local dentist, was talking about how plaque forms on our teeth and how it causes our teeth to decay. Something clicked inside of me that day, and that lecture helped solidify my desire to become [...]
Tooth Pain and Sinuses: Can A Sinus Infection Cause a Toothache?
This past weekend, my wife told me that she was having the worst toothache of her life. When she came in for her checkup a few months ago, her teeth were in great shape. She told me that the pain was constant and that it got worse when she stood up. I told her that [...]
Bleeding Gums When Brushing and Flossing: Is It Normal?
If you got up from the computer right now and went over to the sink to wash your hands, would you expect them to bleed as you wash them? If your hands did start bleeding all over while you were washing them, you’d probably be quite worried. However, many people simply think it’s alright to [...]
Is Water Fluoridation A Conspiracy for Businesses to Make Money Selling Fluoride?
We’ve heard about a lot of conspiracy theories lately: Is bin Laden really dead? Was Obama really born in the United States? Was 9/11 planned by the U.S. Government? Today, I’m going to address a popular water fluoridation conspiracy theory: Is big business profiting from water fluoridation? The theory goes along these lines: Fluoride is [...]
Dental Gingival Retraction Cord: What It Is and Why We Use It
An Oral Answers reader, Austin emailed me last week with the following question: “I had 3 temp crowns that were put in on my right side lower and 2 on my left side lower. Today when I was using my water pic I was cleaning my lower right and something started to feel like it [...]
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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