Archive for June, 2011
Dessert Gum – Chewing Gum for Dessert for Your Teeth
When I was in college, I worked at a Texaco gas station. One of the job perks was that the owners would let us take $2 worth of stuff during our shift. I would always get two packs of gum and I ended up with a nice stockpile of chewing gum. To this day, I [...]
Why Your Dentist Can’t Get You Numb
Did you know that over four million dental injections are given every year in the United States? The failure rate is estimated to be anywhere from 5 to 15%. that means that there are anywhere from 200,000 to 600,000 dental injections that don’t get the patient numb. That means that people get poked by their [...]
Filling Fell Out? Why You Should Get a Lost Filling Replaced
I got an email earlier this week from a reader named Trish. She asked the following: “What will happen if the filling comes out of your tooth, and you don’t have it replaced, other than pain trying to eat?” Before I answer that question, let’s take a look at why fillings fall out. A filling [...]
Average Dental Costs – Are Your Dentist’s Fees Above Average?
If you don’t have dental insurance and have to pay out of pocket for your dental work, you are probably aware that high dental costs can limit what kind of dental treatment that you can afford. You might also wonder why such seemingly simple dental work can cost so much. I won’t answer that question [...]
How Much Fluoride Is In Fluoride Gel and Other Dental Products?
My brother was at the dentist a few days ago and he was wondering if it was worth it to have his dentist apply a fluoride gel to his teeth. He wanted to know if there was really that much more fluoride in the dentist’s gel than is in his toothpaste and fluoride mouthwash. I [...]
Antibiotic Premedication: When Your Dentist and Doctor Disagree
Many people need to take antibiotics before certain dental procedures. To learn why, you can read my previous post about when you need to take antibiotics before dental work. You can also read the general guidelines from the American Heart Association and the American Association of Orthopaedic Surgeons regarding antibiotic premedication before dental work. Although [...]
Can Chlorine in Swimming Pools Dissolve or Stain Your Teeth?
Is it possible that spending a lot of time in the swimming pool can stain your teeth or even slowly dissolve your teeth? In this article, I will take a look into two different questions that many swimmers have regarding their teeth: 1 – Can swimming pools stain my teeth? 2 – Can swimming pools [...]
Extra Tooth: Mesiodens and Other Supernumerary Teeth
Has your child ever come up to you and told you that they have an extra tooth growing out of their upper jaw behind their permanent teeth? It’s probably more likely that you’ve been told that your child has an extra tooth, or supernumerary tooth (we try to make up complicated words!) as dentists like [...]
Is Water Fluoridation Legal?
Ever since the government started adding fluoride to the public water supplies in 1945, there have been many people who have challenged the legality of fluoride in our water supplies. They raised concerns about whether a city has the right to add a drug to the water supply that could help many people, but have [...]
Oral Cancer and Nutrition: Can Plant-Based Diets Prevent Cancer?
37,000 people are diagnosed with oral or pharyngeal cancer every year. That’s more than 100 people per day. Only an estimated half of those diagnosed with oral or pharyngeal cancer will be alive in five years. Guess how many people die from oral cancer every single day. 24 (Source: American Cancer Foundation.) Guess how many [...]
How to Make Your Own Dental First Aid Kit
An Oral Answers reader, Rebecca recently asked the following question: “In the wake of the earthquake in Japan, my friends and I have been checking/building our disaster kits. One thing that’s come up has been what should be packed in a dental first aid kit. None of our first aid kits contain dental first aid [...]
Newly Updated ADA Seal of Acceptance Website
The American Dental Association recently launched a new website at ADA.org/Seal. It is a re-vamped site that discusses the American Dental Association Seal of Acceptance. They even made an easy-to-access list of every single product that has received the ADA seal. I’d like to think that maybe they were jealous of the full list of [...]
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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