Archive for the ‘Dental Articles’ Category

Post-summer malaise – we’ve all got it. As soon as we caught our first glimpses of the “back to school” commercials, it was already too late. Now that the kids are back to hittin’ the books rather than the beach and the days are growing shorter by the minute, we’ve officially begun bracing ourselves for year-end survival mode. With the holiday season right around the corner and the threshold of a new year before us, it’s about that time to sort through our neglected priorities and re-focus on those big changes we all too willingly placed on the back burner.
Though shifting gears can seem like a drag (I, for one, am already mourning the loss of swimming pool weekends for chilly leaf-raking), striving for that feeling of fulfillment that comes with accomplishing goals is a great encouragement. Whether you’ve been promising yourself to dust off that hidden treadmill, organize the decades of odds and ends piled in the attic, or add in the few extra minutes every day to make sure you’re flossing properly, there’s no better time than now to see your changes through.
Autumn has always signaled a time of change for me. There’s something magical in the subtle transformation of hue-shifting leaves and the refreshing jolt from crisp, night air. But this year, I find myself reveling even more in the changes of the season as I experience, for the first time, what it means to be an expecting mother. With twins on the way, I pay extra attention to the natural changes around me, as well as the rapid changes within me. As I watch the constellations drift across the night sky to settle into their new winter homes, I feel the kicks of tiny feet growing and stretching. As apples ripen red and grow sweet for the harvest, I feel the growth and development of new life within me.
I look forward to the new directions and changes in the upcoming months, and am making sure to take advantage of the opportunity to settle any stagnant ‘To Do’ lists. It’s the spirit of the season and the feeling of accomplishment is contagious. So whether the changes are major, life-altering events or simple, subtle tweaks to your daily routine (I really hope you’re taking those few extra minutes to floss!), change, long-term goals, and growth is definitely in season. Sow the seeds for your most anticipated goals, reap the benefits of a job well done, and let your harvest of change be fruitful!

I’m continually amazed to learn how many of us underestimate the effect that diet has upon dental health. One of the main areas of concern is sugary drinks, and they can cause dental disaster.
Sure, cavities can be filled; however, if attention is not given to what caused those cavities, we may be wasting our time. Furthermore, the specific preventive advice we give to our individual patients is every bit as important as the restorative services we provide.
The problems are caused by the ingredients in those drinks and their frequency of intake. Most of these drinks contain high doses of sugar (sucrose and fructose). Every time you take a sip, the acidity of your saliva goes up – and it stays up for about 20 minutes (all-the-while decalcifying your enamel). It just takes one sip! You can imagine what sipping all day long can do – we dentists, unfortunately, see it every day.
Are you or your children involved in sports? If so, is there always a container of Gatorade ready to “improve performance” and “replenish electrolytes?” Well then, that sugar bath you give your teeth every ten minutes or so during the game is harming your teeth. Are iced-tea drinks, sugared coffees, lemonades, and coolattas a regular part of your daily routine? Sipping that stuff all day is the worst thing for your mouth and, surprisingly, does not quench thirst nearly as well as plain old water.
Consider this example: There are two identical twins, Joe and Jim. They each drink one cola a day. Joe drinks his cola at one sitting, with lunch. However, Jim makes his cola last all day long, taking occasional drinks. All other things being equal, Joe’s teeth will be OK – but Jim will be having problems with tooth decay. It’s the frequency of those 20-minute pH changes which causes the damage.
So are you thirsty? Drink water – it’s been an effective thirst quencher for thousands of years, it’s inexpensive, and it won’t rot your teeth. There’s no good reason to walk around with a soda all day (do your taste buds really need constant entertainment?) And you athletes: unless you’re running marathons or doing high school football two-a-days in August, you probably don’t need electrolytes – you certainly aren’t depleting them standing there in right field.
Must you eliminate all sweet drinks? Absolutely not. What you need to do is to change the way you enjoy them. Have them once or twice a day in one sitting rather than walking around with straw in your mouth as if it were some kind of pacifier.
Sounds severe, huh? And why haven’t we heard about this on TV? Well, you won’t hear it from the Media Machine, because there are too many marketing dollars involved. You’ll only hear it from the dental professionals who have seen the damage and are trying our best to keep our patients healthy. Take this seriously – it’s some of the best advice you’ll ever receive.

It is back to school time, which means back to school sports are in full swing. We know how important it is to stay hydrated, but what are your children using. Are they reaching for a bottle of water, or a sports drink? Sports drinks have been recently linked to tooth decay, but not just because of sugar, which is normally a main ingredient in the popular drinks, but for the citric acid.

Citric acid leads to tooth erosion and can cause damage to the tooth’s dentin. The New York University College of Dentistry recently did a study on the correlation by immersing calves’ teeth in the leading sports drinks for 75 to 90 minutes, where small holes became visible, indicating damage to the enamel.
It is no secret how damaging sugar can be, but the combination of sugar and acid can create many problems. If you cannot resist the urge to drink these drinks try to consume them smartly, not very often, avoid sipping for long periods of time and avoid swishing them around in your mouth, as well as rinsing with water after.

I’ve moved around a lot during my 31 years in this profession, and people are often curious about that. This is reasonable, because one of the popular stereotypes about dentists is that they tend to stay in the same place for 30 or 40 years. However, that just wasn’t my style.
New challenges and changes-of-scenery have always appealed to me. I’ve owned my own practices, worked in non-profit community health centers, done some teaching and consulting, and worked in the offices of other dentists. Each new setting taught me new things, and gave me a unique point-of-view on the profession and the healthcare system.
We have had the pleasure of living in some very special places, and have achieved quite a few personal goals. Instead of dreaming about living in Maine or on Cape Cod, we did it. In Maine I renovated a house and modernized an older dental practice. Our boys were born in a hospital wing from which there is a distant view of Mount Katahdin as it gleams in the first rays of the rising sun. In Massachusetts I treated the poor and the disabled alongside the most dedicated professionals I’ve ever met, and suffered the indignity of being a Yankee fan when the Red Sox won it all in 2004. Now I’m back in Jersey, where it’s possible for me to find a decent pizza or a perfect bagel and I can see my extended family more often.
Looking back I’m glad that I moved around and tried different things while I was young, instead of staying in one spot and counting-down the years before I could retire. Come to think of it, retirement isn’t my style either.

Patients often ask, “It’s not bothering me, why should I get my tooth fixed?”
Your dentist tells you you’ve got a broken tooth or filling, or a cavity, and it needs to be fixed. But it’s not bothering you now, and you’ve got other issues to sort out in your life, so you put it off. Two weeks later, the tooth breaks or decays further – you miss work and can’t sleep because of the pain! What could have been a painless new filling two months ago, is now turning into a nightmare!
Now, how is this scenario different from your orthopedist telling you you’ve got a small fracture in one of the bones in your right foot, which should be fixed, even if it’s not bothering you, because it could propagate further? You could be in a cast for a few weeks and you could be healed, but you decide to take your chances and not listen to your doctor’s advice. Two weeks later, you limp to the emergency room, because you’re in tremendous pain – the fracture has indeed gotten larger.
A broken tooth or filling, or a cavity, when detected early on, can be treated by placing a new filling. A larger broken tooth or filling, or cavity can usually be treated by placing a full-coverage crown (a cap that covers the entire top part of the tooth) to protect the tooth. If it breaks or decays any further, you may need a root canal treatment. If you wait long enough for the tooth to break or decay even more, you may even lose the tooth!
Remember, teeth don’t grow back! Keep them while you can and prevent any disasters from happening. You might say, “It’s only a back tooth, you can’t even see it when I smile!” Unfortunately, the back teeth are what support your bite and let you eat; they act as heavy-duty columns for a house full of delicate pottery. When you start losing your back tooth support, you will compromise your front teeth – chipped, ground-down, loose front teeth don’t make a pretty smile.

One of the most fascinating body parts you ask? This one is easy for me- it is the mouth of course!

The mouth houses numerous important structures. It is the gateway to the digestive tract-in fact, it is the first stop in the breakdown of food. It is covered by lips: lips that can spread happiness with a smile, lips which can be pursed in disapproval, lips that can be puckered for a kiss. The mouth has teeth anchored into maxillary and mandibular ridges. The TMJ works in unison to move the jaw, allowing the teeth to masticate food. The teeth help support the lips, and can spread radiance when the pearly whites are shown. They tear, chew, bite, and can exert an average force of 28,000 PSIs.
Teeth are primary, and adult. The primary ones are traded in for money when they are lost. They are polished, brushed, flossed, cleaned, sealed, drilled, filled, bleached and some are even removed at night and placed in a glass! Teeth can be x-rayed, root canalled, extracted, and banded. They can have brackets and wires placed on them to move them into an ideal occlusion. They can be crowned, veneered, and have inlays, onlays, and even grills placed on them. They can also be impressed and transplanted.
The mouth has salivary glands and ducts major and minor which produce saliva. They can be milked and their saliva helps bathe the mouth, keeping the teeth and all oral structures moist. The salivary enzymes help breakdown food, and protect the teeth from bacteria and decay. Saliva is also helpful in genetic research. The mouth also holds one of the strongest muscles in the body-the tongue. It can be thrust out, it can help blow bubbles, help us speak and it has taste buds that help us distinguish the different flavors of great food and drink. The tongue helps us taste, the sweet, the salty, the sour, and avoid the bitter.
How can we appreciate eating without taste buds? We are also gifted with the pharyngeal reflex and a wonderful and I have barely scratched the surface. The mouth helps us define humanity, we communicate with it, and we help keep ourselves nourished with it- how could we not be mystified by such an important body part?

Dr. Yasmeen Shareef

My paternal grandfather, Milton Burg, aka: Mickey was a

prominent dentist in Perth Amboy, NJ from the 1930’s through the

1970’s. He was a character — a great magic trickster, imitator, funny-

face-maker, and very quippy. He’d say to me in his booming voice,

“Eddie, it’s raining cats and dogs. Don’t step on the poodles”. Pop

Pop and Grandma Sylvia were doting and loving to my little brother,

Arthur and me. Grandma’s weekly brisket, and Pop Pop’s potato latkes

were to die for. But my most cherished memories are of our summers

together on the Jersey Shore. They had a lovely condominium in Asbury

Park where my brother and I spent many of those much anticipated,

school-free, care-free balmy months. In the seventies, when I was a

young boy, he and I would walk along the beach. It was there that

we’d collect sea glass — those beautiful gems created by the salty,

crashing ocean waves onto rocks, and over time, became smooth,

beautiful jewels of the seashore.

I followed in my grandfather’s footsteps from the sands of

Asbury Park as a boy, all the way to dentistry in my adult life. I

still treasure the sea glass collection I inherited after he passed

away in 1986. Pop Pop never saw me graduate dental school in 1999.

But what I truly wish he had gotten to see is my marriage to my

fiesty, beautiful, Italian wife, Ann Rosa LaSalla. He would have

truly loved her, and I know Annie would have adored him — smothering

him with love and her great cooking. Perhaps, he had a hand in

bringing us together from the better place I am sure he is now.

About seven years ago I sculpted the sea glass using a similar

technique that I use when meticulously contouring teeth in cosmetic

dentistry. In doing so, I created for Annie a gorgeous bracelet for

our 10th wedding anniversary. Pop Pop and Annie never met. Yet,

somehow I feel that this gift connects two of the most cherished

people in my life.

See you in Manahawkin!

Doc. Burg

An abscess is a collection of pus that has formed in a pocket to prevent the spread of infection. Many people at one point in their lives will experience a dental abscess, which is when the gums have an infection either in the gum itself or in the tooth. There are some symptoms that occur before the swelling, or “pocket” and those are universal signs for most infections, heat, pus, slight swelling, or tenderness.
Abscesses rarely heal themselves, and if the chance they do go away, they can come back larger, and more painfully, so it is important to contact your dentist at the first sign. There are a few different treatments for abscesses including an incision and drain, which drains the infection, and another is by a simple round of antibiotics. The tooth by the abscess may need treatment as well, such as root canal or extraction.

One of the most common dental problems faced is sensitivity. Most people suffering from this common issue never consult their dental care provider, because they believe it is something that they have to live with, but that is not the case. Dental sensitivity, to hot, cold, sweet, or sour liquids and foods can be caused by many different things, such as, reduced tooth enamel (overly hard brushing, acidic foods, carbonated soda), tooth decay, tooth abscess, recent dental work, gum disease, and grinding. Depending on the cause there are a few different treatments, that is why it is so important to get your regular six month check up and to mention it to your doctor. If it is ruled out that the reason is because of the reduced enamel, which is actually the most common reason, the exposed dentin, which is what is causing the sensitivity and leaving the nerve fibers exposed, it needs to be treated with a desensitizing toothpaste, which fills those tubels, protecting the nerve endings, and a soft bristled toothbrush, which does not irritate the teeth.

Every six months as part of your child’s regular visit to the dentist, the hygienist will most likely recommend that your child receives a professional fluoride treatment. Most people believe that their children receive enough fluoride in their drinking water, and toothpaste. That is not always the case, especially because some children are not as diligent as they should be when it comes to their oral health care.
Fluoride protects the teeth by gaining with the minerals and creating a strong, resistant outer layer.
The American Dental Association recommends fluoride to be done every six months for children who have a history of poor oral hygiene, prolonged nursing or bottle feeding, poor family dental history, dry mouth, braces or a child with a high diet in sugar are considered in a higher risk bracket for tooth decay.
There are many at home fluoride treatments including mouth washes or prescription toothpaste, but it is best to discuss this with your dental healthcare professional.