Tooronga Family Dentistry in Glen Iris

Archives for December 2014

Mouth Cancer what you must know.

Mouth cancer can develops in the different parts of the mouth like on the:

  • Lips
  • Gums
  • Tongue
  • Inside lining of the cheeks
  • Roof of the mouth
  • Floor of the mouth

The signs and symptoms of mouth cancer  can be:

  • A sore that doesn’t heal for more than 2 weeks.
  • A lump or thickening of the skin or lining of your mouth.
  • A white or reddish patch or areas where the mouth lining is peeling or rough.
  • Loose teeth.
  • A denture that used to fit well and now it does not.
  • Tongue pain, especially when it moves.
  • Jaw pain or stiffness for an extended period of time.
  • Difficult or painful chewing without  reason for more than 2 weeks.
  • Difficult or painful swallowing for more than 2 weeks.
  • Sore throat for more than 2 weeks.
  • Feeling that something is irritating or caught in your throat.

when you have one of these signs, please make an appointment with us. I will investigate other more common causes for your signs and symptoms first, such as an infection and see if  there is a reason for concern.

Why does my jaw click?

Jaw clicking is caused by the shift of a disk inside the jaw joint. It may be caused by different reasons. The clicking may sound very loud since the joint is just next to the ear and I have come across patients who refrain from eating out because of their joint sounds. But fear not since these sound are barely audible by other people. The dental name of the jaw joint is the temporomandibular joint or TMJ and the clicking is a part of a larger group of conditions called TMJ dysfunctions or TMD.
The TMJ is one of the most complicated joints in your body. It has several muscles and ligaments which allow different movements and when it is not functioning right you may feel:

  • pain around your jaw joint which can extend to your forehead, cheek, ear and neck.
  • restricted movement or locking of your jaw in an open position.
  • joint noise when you move your jaw.
  • difficulty chewing

These conditions may become worse when you’re chewing or if you’re feeling stressed.

Because the jaw joint is complicated and there are many possible causes of jaw problems, it can be difficult to find what is causing your symptoms. For this reason my routine exam includes an examination of your head, neck, face and jaw to see if there is any tenderness and to find out if the TMJ is painful or makes clicking noises when you move it.
Jaw joint dysfunction can often be treated successfully and doesn’t lead to other problems. Your treatment will depend on the type of jaw joint dysfunction you have.

For more information :

The Mayo clinic site

The National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research.

What benefits does fluoride provide for your teeth?

The discovery that, fluoride, when incorporated into the developing enamel, can lead to a more acid resistant crystal has revolutionized our treatment of decay. In the mid-1940s, communities in the United States started to put more fluoride in their water supplies to protect people against tooth decay. The fluoride from the water was beneficial for children with developing teeth. But research shows that not only children can benefit from the fluoride in the water, the addition of fluoride to water supply, tooth paste and mouth rinses has a preventive effect on adults as well as published recently in the Journal of Dental Research.

Fluoride helps because, when teeth are growing, it mixes with tooth enamel to form a more acid resistant fluorapatite crystal.  But fluoride can help even after your teeth are formed by attacking the bacteria that cause decay and by coating the enamel and dentine surfaces with a fresh layer of fluorapatite.

There are several ways to apply fluoride to the teeth with different concentrations of the active ingredients. Some can be bought and used  without dental supervision  like mouth rinses and tooth paste. But there are products which need to be prescribed or administered by Dr. Kaufman due to their higher concentration of the active ingredient and their special mode of application needed to achieve their action. These specialized products are recommended for patients with a high risk of decay that can arise from a dry mouth, high sugar intake, or a genetic predisposition for decay .

More reading about the beneficial aspects of fluoride can be found at the Australian Dental Association web site here.

 

What are the reasons for a dry mouth?

A dry mouth usually can point to  an underlying problem, rather than a disease in itself. There can be several reason for it which may include:

  1. Use of drugs or medication
  2. Dehydration or not drinking enough fluids throughout the day.
  3. Breathing through the mouth instead of through the nose.
  4. Diseased salivary glands like Sjogren’s syndrome or other auto immune disorders.
  5. An infection or obstruction in the salivary glands or ducts leading the saliva to the mouth.
  6. Nerve problems.
  7. As an outcome of cancer treatments.

Even if the there are multiple reasons for the dryness in the mouth the outcomes of lack of saliva are the same:

  1. A rough, dry tongue that tends to stick to the roof of the mouth or cheeks.
  2. A burning sensation in the mouth or on the tongue.
  3. Loss of food taste as a result from the loss of papillae on the tongue.
  4. Problems with speaking, chewing or swallowing especially dry food like biscuits.
  5. Saliva that feels thick or stringy and loss of the moisture in the mouth.
  6. Dry and cracked lips.
  7. Bad breath .
  8. Increased  risk for tooth decay
  9.  Susceptibility to oral thrush infections
  10. If you have dentures they become loose.

To help with a dry mouth there are several solutions that depend on the source of dryness. As part of my assessment I check for the signs of mouth dryness and provide the right solutions. Please don’t hesitate to contact us to make an appointment so I can provide you with the advice appropriate to you.

Tooth sensitivity

Tooth sensitivity starts when  the softer part of your tooth that lies under the tooth enamel, called “dentine”, becomes exposed. The dentine has tiny tubes that are filled with fluid, any changes in the flow of the fluid are felt as pain. Eating or drinking foods and drinks that are hot, cold or sweet can cause this fluid to move. The exposure of the dentin to the oral environment can happen when a cavity is formed in the tooth or when the thin layer of mineral called “cementum” covering the dentine is worn down.

The cementum covers the root portion of the teeth, if the gums recede the cementum is exposed and can wear away either by acids from out diet or from vigorous brushing. The saliva can recover the damages caused by the acids or the brushing if it is plentiful in calcium and phosphate. Tooth mousse is a product that can provide the protection to the dentin by depositing minerals it contains on the tooth surface, when the saliva fails to do so.

Desensitizing tooth pastes act in a different way, by acting on the nerve in the tooth. In order to achieve a long lasting relief from the sensitivity, brushing twice daily with the desensitizing tooth paste is needed.

If sensitivity persists it is important to come and see us since it may indicate that there is a cavity in the tooth.

 

How healthy is your diet?

Frequently I see patients who are surprised when I find decay in their teeth. They lead a healthy life style of  vigorous exercise and stay away from “Junk food”. To hydrate themselves they drink distilled water or energy drinks and they have a healthy diet of fruits, vegetables and energy bars.

The reasons this diet leads in adults and more so in children to the development of decay are:

1. Distilled water does not have fluoride, whose introduction in water and oral hygiene products led to the substantial decrease in the prevalence of decay in developed countries. Children who drink the distilled water do not get the fluoride embedded in the developing teeth leaving them decay prone.

2. Energy drinks, fruit juices and fruits are acidic. They soften the enamel and make it more prone to bacterial attack and more easy to be worn away.

3. The refined sugars in the energy bars and drinks provide energy for the bacteria to multiply and the ingredients to produce acids that dig further into the tooth.

To help prevent these unhealthy outcomes of the healthy diet, as part of my examination I make an assessment of the prevalence of decay in the teeth and the diet. For each patient I recommend a regime that supports your life stile without compromising the dentition.