Change a habit and stop drinking all sodas, including diet soda. Soda contains phosphoric acid that can make your teeth and bones soft. Dr. Robbin Quarterman, DMD, suggests that drinking soda may do as much damage as cigarettes to your teeth. Dr. Quarterman also suggests avoiding beverages high in salt.

Water, green tea, coffee, and lemonade with natural sugars may help you maintain healthier teeth. Prevention is a critical aspect for healthy teeth.

Water and green tea are my favorites. Okay, once a year on a special occasion I might have a soda, but only if ice cream accidentally falls into a glass of root beer  – and that hardly ever happens.

Keep smiling.

Saundra Goodman
Got Teeth? A Survivor’s Guide
How to keep your teeth or live without them.
http://www.gotteeth.blogspot.com/ for your Free Tips.

In November, my periodontist performed alveoloplasty surgery in my upper jaw to remove bone chips, bone spurs, bone splinters, and an infected root tip.

He added material into both sides of my jawbone to fill up spaces where my jawbone had been reabsorbed, stitched me up, and sent me home to finish my antibiotics. You bet I got pain medication. [Read more →]

More than 30 million denture wearers in the United States didn’t see a dental professional in time to save their teeth: 75% of new patients don’t know they have gum disease until they are diagnosed.

Don’t ignore the warning signs of gum disease:

1. Red, swollen or tender gums.
2. Gums that bleed when you brush (pink in the sink).
3. Recurring bad breath. [Read more →]

The word calculus is derived from Latin meaning pebble or little stone. Calculus is a combination of saliva, minerals, oral debris, and dental plaque that hardens and forms calcified deposits that cannot be brushed off.

Removal of calculus deposits by a dental professional prevents the progression of periodontal disease. Treatment ranges from deep cleaning (scaling and root planing), flap surgery, bone and tissue grafts, and bone transplants. Common treatments of differing degrees from a general cleaning to gum, periodontal, or bone surgery include:

1. General cleaning removes plaque and tartar from above and below the gum line (can hurt).
2. Scaling involves scraping tartar from above and below the gum line to remove the hard deposits (hurts).
3. Deep Cleaning – Root planing rids tooth roots of rough spots and removes bacteria that causes disease. (hurts – get the nitrous!) [Read more →]