Reasons to Smile

Well I can’t believe I am doing this, but it seems like a good idea to lead by example and share with you how I brush my teeth. Please bear with me.

My routine is preformed 2 times daily, once in the morning and once before bed. I am consistent six days a week, although it may vary depending on how tired I am.

The sequence is floss, then brush, then hydrofloss. Not very exciting, but very practical.

Flossing needs to be taught to you by a dental professional. I use the “wrap around the middle finger technique” that leaves the other fingers free to direct and control the floss. I will floss each side of a tooth ten times. Any floss will do, but I prefer the non-waxed floss because it gives me satisfaction when I hear it start to squeak. I like to floss first because I then use the brushing to remove the dislodged bacteria .

Brushing should take at least four minutes by the clock. How much day dreaming can you do looking at yourself for four minutes twice a day? I find an electric toothbrush to more efficient and I can very effectively brush in 2 minutes. I use a Rotodent because I think it is the best on the market.

Next is a tongue scraper. This helps with odor control.

Lastly I use a waterpik called a Hydofloss, also the best on the market. I add a couple cap-fulls of BreathRX to help me with odor control.

Total time: 4 minutes.

Best wishes,
Dr. Sperbeck

This is a true story told to me by a new patient named Stacey.

Stacey is originally from the East Coast and was given my name by a dentist who attended the Pankey Institute, an entity that teaches a sophisticated way to repair mouths.

Anyway back to my story. Stacey asked me how long a veneer should last. The answer is usually a long time. Some of the first ones I placed almost 25 years ago are still in the mouth and functioning well. Stacey, on the other hand, has had three replacements of her veneer in the last three years. This is obviously far too frequent, especially since she had had to pay each time. To make matters worse, these three replacements did not include the multiple times she had to have them re-cemented them. When I met Stacey today, she was missing her right front tooth. Obviously this was not a pretty sight and she was not happy. I asked her if she wanted to find out WHY and, to her credit, she decided to let us discover the problem and plan the cure.

So this is what we did…

I started with a complete exam. This told me Stacey’s mouth has three problems:

1. She has been grinding her teeth!
2. The way her bite hit was causing all the force of the bite to come down right on the veneers which caused them to break the cement junction!
3. Her teeth are significantly worn down. This changes the the forces and dynamics of her mouth accentuating the harmful forces.

After completing the exam, I placed a temporary bonding on the front teeth. Stacey was ecstatic and I thought, “not bad if I did not say so myself.”

I also made some molds of her teeth to make her a TMJ splint called a MAGO. This appliance is used to help diagnose the true jaw position called CR (Centric Occlusion) and then we can find true, neutral position. Finally, after discovering the CR and the neutral positions, we are ready for the full diagnosis and we can develop the PLAN.

In the meantime, I think the temporary bonding will last through this time, giving Stacey a temporary beautiful smile while we work to give her her permanent, stable one. I will keep you posted.

Dr. S

This question was posted by one of our readers, Jess:

I have a question about dentistry. My son is almost six years old and was recently taken to the dentist. He has ten cavities. 7 of which you can’t hardly see.. like tiny brown ‘pin’ dots. one is a hole and hurts him. The dentist wants to get them all filled even though the ones in front would fall out soon.. I want to tell the dentist to only fill in the bigger cavities and wait a while for the tiny pin hole ones. Is that okay to do? What are the dangers of keeping a tiny cavity like that? Esp the ones closer to the front which he will lose soon? Also, can I tell his dentist which ones I want filled? Or will the dentist only fill .. all or nothing?? Thank you so much for your answer in advance.

Dear Jess,

For the most part, teeth should be fixed as soon as possible. Cavities have a tendency to grow quickly in children, however baby teeth (sometimes called primary teeth) will most likely fall out. Baby teeth are lost over a 5 or so year time frame. The question for the ones with cavities is will they be lost first or will they abscess. Your dentist should be able to give you an idea as to which are at a higher risk for abscess and help you can decide a good time frame to follow for treatment.

This situation begs another question as to why your son has so many cavities. This should be addressed so he does not have a repeat experience with the permanent teeth. I encourage you to work with your son in developing good oral hygiene habits as well as good eating habits to help him enjoy a a healthy mouth for the rest of his life.

I hope this answers the questions.

Respectfully,

Dr. Sperbeck