Dr. Matarazzo

Sure, most people don’t like going to the dentist.  In fact, some people have phobias of receiving dental care.  The good news is, that trip you dread to the dentist may soon become a lot less painful thanks to some new technology.

Gone are the days when X-rays were the only way to see into your teeth. The latest tooth technology helps illuminate problems before the drill.   Researchers in Britain are developing a new tool to spot tooth decay before it begins.  A special microscope will be used that looks at chemicals and tells the dentist where the decay is forming.  One cosmetic dentist said of the use of these new tools that, “there are things that I would’ve fixed 10 to 15 years ago I don’t have to touch anymore.”

Researchers say that with the new technology, they can actually measure the amount of decay to a number, and thus determine if the tooth needs to be fixed or not.

Here at Dr. Matarazzo’s office, we are always striving to keep up with the newest in technology so as to make your visit to our office less stressful.  Visit us for a complimentary consultation.

Even elderly people need to take care of their teeth.  It seems that in our younger and middle age, we take pride in our teeth, and see the importance of caring for them.  However, it is amazing to see how older retired individuals become very complacent when it comes to dental care.  Sure, dental work can be very expensive, and some older ones feel that it isn’t worth the cost.  However, this isn’t the right way to look at it.  As we have stated many times in our blog, your dental health can have a direct bearing on your overall physical health as well.  So here are a few everyday things that can be done to keep your teeth in the very best condition:

• Brush at least twice a day especially in the morning and at bedtime.

• Make flossing a priority each day.

• Use mouthwash twice a day to kill germs in the mouth.

• Eat nutritiously, including plenty of calcium rich foods such as milk and cheeses.

• Visit the dentist regularly, even if dentures are a part of your life.

• Invest in dental insurance.

Good oral health affects your entire life. Your teeth are important to your good nutrition, your clear speech and your pretty smile. There are many online searches that can help identify affordable dental care at any age. Here at Dr. Matarazzo’s office, we are happy to see patients, regardless of their age.  Visit us now for a complimentary consultation.

Halitosis is an embarrassing condition that affects many and can have a negative impact on a person’s social life.  Halitosis, better known as “bad breath”, is a common condition that many people have a difficult time controlling.

Here are a few suggestions that can help.  For one, stop cooking with so much animal fat, meat and dairy because these foods may be hard for you to digest. Eat more plant foods, like fruits and veggies and especially parsley. Plants contain chlorophyll— a dye that makes the plant leaves green. Chlorophyll is nature’s deodorizer. It freshens you from your mouth on down, including your liver, which is crucial. You can buy chlorophyll supplements, spirulina or marine-derived phytoplankton. You can also find inexpensive “green” drinks at any health food store — just mix the powder with water and drink. Another cool trick for helping with bad breath is to drink peppermint tea every single day.

People with insufficient acid can’t break down their food properly so it becomes putrid in your stomach, emitting a foul-smelling gas. Acid-blocking drugs used for heartburn can cause low acid in the gut. So can a poor diet or medications because these destroy beneficial flora and gut integrity. Digestive acid supplements are sold at health food stores.

In addition, be sure to visit your dentist because cavities, gum disease and dirty teeth will make you hoard malodorous bacteria in your mouth. Buy a tongue brush from the pharmacy and before your date, gargle with 1 teaspoonful baking soda mixed in a cup of water.   Hopefully these tips will help you be on your way to fresh breath!  For more helpful tips, visit our website at www.drmatarazzo.com
 

We have spoken on this blog in the past regarding bruxism in adults, or as it is more commonly known, teeth grinding.  However, today we would like to talk a little about teeth grinding in children, when they clench their upper and lower teeth, rubbing them together.  Commonly children grind their teeth while they are asleep and are not aware of what is happening.  What are the causes?

It really isn’t known for certain why some children start grinding their teeth and some children don’t.  Some theories suggest that it could be the fact that the sets of top and bottom of teeth do not fit together comfortably due to the fact that children’s teeth and jaws grown in phases leading to unpleasant sensations in the area.  As a result, the natural response of the child is to grind their teeth to soothe themselves.  Also, as with adults, anxiety can also lead to teeth grinding.  If your child feels anxious about something, starting school, making friends, etc, they could grind their teeth unknowingly.

What could be some of the effects?  Usually for small children, they will not experience any ill effects from grinding their teeth.  Even when their baby teeth show wear, it usually does not cause any pain or damage, yet if this wear gets severe, then it is advisable to seek treatment from your dentist as dental problems such as tooth infections can occur.  In most cases of teeth grinding in children, they will usually outgrow the problem.  If they don’t, it is important to take them to see a dentist who may supply a mouth guard that can assist the problem

For further assistance, or to receive a complimentary consultation from our office, click here.
 

We all enjoyed watching Michael Phelps dominate the Olympics.  Talk about an amazing athlete and swimmer.  However, watching Michael Phelps in the water as much as he was made us think about an uncommon problem that affects many of these athletes – swimmer’s teeth.  Have you ever heard of swimmer’s teeth?

Swimmer’s teeth is well known about dentists and is commonly seen in competitive swimmers due to the vast amount of time they spend training in the water.  Repetitive exposure to the chemicals in pool water causes yellowish brown deposits to form on the teeth, most commonly the front ones.  Also known as swimmer’s calculus, the deposits are similar to common plaque or tartar that forms on the teeth but tend to be much darker in color and thus give a very unsightly appearance. 

What are these deposits?  Really they are a combination of a protein contained within saliva as well as calcium phosphates, magnesium, fluoride and carbonates.  The chemical makeup of the pool water is believed to chemically alter these slightly, leading them to deposit on the teeth.  This issue relates specifically to the amount of time one spends in the pool, but fortunately it is treatable and the discoloration of the teeth is not permanent.

Visit our site at www.drmatarazzo.com

Yesterday we talked about how plaque can lead to gum disease and obviously have a negative effect on your teeth.  Today we would like to discuss another enemy to our teeth, and that is decay.

Tooth decay is caused when plaque builds up on your teeth and uses sugar in your diet to produce acid that attacks the tooth enamel. The enamel is broken down leading to cavities, and if you don’t get them sorted, the tooth might eventually have to be extracted. Tooth decay first appears as a white patch on the tooth surface, and you’re more at risk of it if you have fillings and crowns, wear orthodontic appliances or suffer from a dry mouth, although it can be prevented by brushing with fluoride toothpaste regularly and by reducing the amount of sugar in your diet.

But don’t go thinking that if you’re pain-free then your teeth are OK. Decay doesn’t become painful until it’s at its advanced stages, so it’s vital to visit your dentist regularly to detect it early.  Please visit us at www.drmatarazzo.com and sign up for a complimentary consultation with Dr. Matarazzo.

There is no doubt that we all know the importance of taking care of our teeth.  To that end, we would like to take some time to talk about some of the dangers to your teeth, and more importantly, the things that can be done to take care of them.

One of the first and most powerful dangers to your teeth is plaque.  Plaque is the film of bacteria which constantly forms on all teeth, gathering next to the gums and in all the hard-to-reach places between teeth.  You can’t stop plaque forming, but you can remove it with regular brushing, and that’s vital as plaque causes gum disease and tooth decay.

Gum disease is an inflammation of tissues that attach teeth to the jaw, and it happens when plaque is allowed to build up on the teeth, leading to toxins being produced which make the gums red and swollen. This is a sign of gingivitis – the first indication of gum disease – and if you don’t remove plaque, it may spread below the gum level, damaging the bone and leading to gaps forming between the teeth and gums.

Here’s what to do to stop that happening before it’s too late:

Brush your teeth twice a day with a fluoride toothpaste to help remove plaque.

When brushing, pay particular attention to where the tooth meets the gum.

Clean between the teeth using floss or interdental brushes.

Replace your toothbrush every three months. Brushing with a splayed brush won’t achieve anything.

Ditch cigarettes, as chemicals in them reduce the flow of blood to the gums. Bleeding gums are one of the first signs of gum disease, so if you smoke, there’s a chance you might have gum disease and not even know it.

Hopefully, these helpful tips can help you in your goal to take care of your teeth.  Tomorrow we will discuss some other dangers to your teeth and the things you can do to take care of them.  If you live in the Boston, MA, Quincy area, please visit us at the South Shore Smile Center for a complimentary consultation.

Like all good parents, we want the best for our children.  We often will do anything within our reach to make sure they are healthy and happy.  This also applies to their dental hygiene.  For example, one parent noticed that their two year old son has two corner teeth that have a yellow tinge to them.  The parents are diligent about brushing the baby’s teeth every evening, and he does drink a bottle of milk from the bottle before bed.  The parent was concerned that this yellow tinge was developing as a result of the evening feeding.

To put the parents at ease, the answer is – the yellow color of the teeth is not a problem unless you see black dots on them.  The black dots can be a sign of some more serious problems, but the yellow is not an issue.  The reality is, some people simply have teeth that are more yellow than others.

However, drinking the bottle of milk before bedtime can be a problem.  As a suggestion, perhaps the parents can consider giving the child the bottle and then brushing his teeth.  If the baby really needs a bottle to go to sleep, change the milk out to water.
Of course, if as parents you are concerned or see changes in your child’s teeth take them to a pediatric dentist.  The earlier you start caring for your child’s dental health, the fewer problems they will develop as they get older.
These tips have been provided by Dr. Matarazzo.  Visit his site at www.drmatarazzo.com

Can you imagine if your teeth were a computer keyboard?  It very well could be in the future thanks to advances in technology.

Our tongues already control taste and speech, now scientists hope to add one more job to the tongue – turning it into a computer control pad.

Researchers believe that a magnetic, tongue-powered system could transform a disabled person’s mouth into a virtual computer, teeth into a keyboard, and tongue into the key that manipulates it all.  An assistant professor who leads the team’s research says, “You could have full control over your environment by just being able to move your tongue.”  The Tongue Drive System turns the tongue into a joystick of sorts, allowing the disabled individual to maneuver wheelchairs, manage home appliances and control computers.

After turning the system on, users are asked to establish six commands: Left, right, forward, backward, single-click and double-click. A graduate student who tested the technology was cruising the lab at will in a wheelchair, tongue firmly in cheek. The researches hope that soon they can add many more commands that would turn the teeth into keyboards and cheeks into computer consoles.

Isn’t technology just grand?  Visit our website at www.drmatarazzo.com

Is chewing ice bad for your teeth?  Many people have asked this before, because, after all, it is just frozen water right?

However, the truth of the matter is, chewing ice can be dangerous for your teeth.  Even though it is “just water,” the fact of the matter is that it is frozen water.  The problem isn’t that it is cold; the problem is that it is hard.  Ice cubes are so hard that they can chip or crack teeth, especially teeth that have already been weakened by old fillings.

If you have fillings, there is a good chance that the filling has weakened the teeth, making them more susceptible to cracking when biting down on something hard like an ice cube.  And once the tooth cracks, you may have to have a root canal or even a crown to fix the tooth.  You could even lose the tooth. 

So before you bite down on that “frozen water” next time, consider the damage that you could do to your teeth.  And if you should crack a tooth biting on ice, or for any other reason, feel free to contact Dr. Matarazzo for a complimentary consultation.