Should I Go Electric? The high price tag that comes along with an electric toothbrush often gets people asking “Is it really worth it?” There are many benefits to using an electric toothbrush. Electric toothbrushes minimize technique errors that occur with manual toothbrushes. People often miss hard to reach areas because they are rushing or just don’t know proper brushing technique. Electric toothbrushes are designed so that all you have to do is position the toothbrush head in the proper areas and it will do all the work for you by performing the proper brushing motions on its own. When positioning the brush head, you want to feel it between the teeth and also along the gum line. Electric toothbrushes can help remove or prevent surface staining. Who doesn’t want whiter teeth? It also lowers your risk for toothbrush abrasion. People typically brush too hard and for too short of a period of time. With built in timers, the toothbrush will let you know when it’s time to move on to another area. And with the toothbrush doing all the work, you can stop all that forceful scrubbing.

 Philips Sonicare vs Oral-B Spinbrush

Often times I hear a patient refer to being “knocked out” for procedures such as extracting wisdom teeth or placement of implants.  Truth is, to “knock out” a patient we would have to perform General Anesthesia.  This is when a patient is intubated, and is done because he or she no longer has reflexes to breath on their own. We rarely do this for routine dental procedures.  In fact, when a patient refers to being “knocked out”, they may be describing “twilight” or conscious sedation. Conscious sedation is a form of sedation in which patients still have their reflexes during the procedure.  What this means is they breathe and move on their own while being sedated.  In our office we use an intravenously delivered sedative,  90% of the time our patients do not remember the procedure performed. The level of sedation used allows our patients to remain comfortable through out the procedure, without anxiety, while remaining aware enough to respond to stimuli and questions if need be. This allows us to provide a variety of services with relative ease and comfort to the patient.]]>

The Academy of General Dentistry just released a free interactive game: Toothsavers, available online as an app for Android and iOS devices. The game is for ages 3-6 and was designed to get kids in the routine of brushing twice a day for two minutes each time.   As many of you know well, it is a very daunting task at times to motivate children to take care of their own teeth.  Any feedback on the use of this app and how it is working with your kids would be greatly appreciated, just post your comments on our Facebook page.]]>

The promise is perfectly clean teeth in all areas of your mouth in 6 seconds.  This new toothbrush created by Blizzident touts that by creating a custom made tray with bristles specifically fit to your dentition, you can have a clean healthy smile. By using technology, similar to Invisalign, custom made trays are fabricated with bristles positioned to clean your whole mouth at the same time. In order to create the action needed to brush your teeth all you have to do is simply…. chew. By chewing on this specialized appliance you are allowing the bristles to massage the teeth and gums and remove plaque. Its definitely an interesting idea and I am eager to see the studies on this new technology. My main concern is efficiency of this toothbrush, as well as possibility of damaging the gum tissue. And lastly, how cost effective is this brush? Is it easy to replace the bristles or the appliance in its entirety? There is no greater tool to a dentist than an easy to use and incredibly efficient toothbrush! Follow this link to learn more about this interesting invention. ]]>