Taking Care of Your Teeth – Page 4 – Charlotte Dentist

Do Silver Fillings Poison You? HECK NO, Dr. Oz!

Since Dr. Oz (anyone else think the similarity between the TV doc and the The Wizard have some similarities, like they're pretty much full of it?) had a segment on his show recently about "Toxic Teeth", our Charlotte dentist office has again been getting the question, "Should I remove my silver fillings?" The "Great and Powerful Oz" Speaks about Silver Fillings As you can probably gather from my intro and heading, I am not a big fan of Dr. Oz and his TV show. If that's not clear enough for you, here are 2 other articles I've written about the bogus information he provides: Dr. Oz and Teeth Whitening Dr. Oz and Dental X-rays It's really unfortunate that a man of his stature and position, with the training that he has in medicine, chooses to spread quackery and nonsense on his show, without offering genuine opportunities for professional organizations that dispute his alleged science (and I use the word alleged quite deliberately). I guess when it's all about ratings, and when you have Oprah as a backer, you can do what you want, but that makes it no less irresponsible. Are Silver Fillings Really Toxic? There are 2 answers to this question: The hocus-pocus, try-to-scare-you, not-backed-up-by-any-reputable-science answer is that yes, silver fillings are "toxic." The problem is this: none of the methods used to demonstrate this alleged toxicity are any good. Sure, they try to show you some videos that supposedly illustrate "mercury vapor" rising from a tooth being rubbed by an eraser, or they'll tell you about some gadget that measures mercury levels after chewing, or they'll tell you about studies with sheeps' teeth, but they problem is......they're all bunk. If anyone truly wants the scientific studies [...]

By Charles Payet| 2017-06-09T20:34:02-04:00 May 9th, 2013|Dental Philosophy of Care, Taking Care of Your Teeth|0 Comments

10 Ways to Ruin a Smile Makeover

Don't Destroy Your Porcelain Veneers! With more than 12 years of doing cosmetic dentistry under my belt, including veneers, crowns, bridges, implants, and various combinations thereof, it is still surprising sometimes to hear a new way that a patient has chipped, cracked, or broken one of the beautiful restorations in their smile. Obviously, this is upsetting for the patient, because it means additional time and money to get it fixed, and no one wants that. No - not even I want that, because I take pride in the quality of work that I do and want it to last as long as possible so I can brag about it. Seriously! "Lisa's" Story of Broken Cosmetic Dentistry Recently, a long-time patient (name changed for privacy) came in with broken porcelain on her dental bridge - the THIRD one we've done for her! Needless to say, both the patient and I have been very frustrated, as we've worked hard to create a strong, long-lasting and beautiful smile, but somehow, she has kept breaking the porcelain off, and this time the bridge had loosened on one side, too. This time, though, Lisa brought in a newsletter she'd received from another dentist, which highlighted some of the things to avoid or be careful of if you've had cosmetic dentistry done. It turns out, Lisa had been doing several of them, but never realized they might be a problem, so she never mentioned any of them to me. Here are the "No-No's" that she either was recently doing, or was doing previously: Chewing popcorn daily - if you bite into an unpopped kernel, you can easily break porcelain Chewing hard candy - same thing. Anything hard enough to break a [...]

By Charles Payet| 2017-06-09T20:35:18-04:00 August 6th, 2011|Cosmetic dentistry, Porcelain Veneers, Taking Care of Your Teeth|0 Comments

My Baby Stole the Calcium from my Teeth!

While not exactly common, it is also not unusual for us to hear a woman say, "Doc, I never had any cavities until after my baby; I heard that the baby steals the calcium from teeth before they're born. What do I do?" Can Your Baby "Steal" Calcium from Your Teeth to Cause Cavities? The simple answer to the question is good news: "NO!" :-D The more complicated answer is, "Well, kind of." :-? How? First of all, if you think about it, there is no way for a baby to "steal" the calcium or phosphates or fluoride from your teeth. I mean, how could that happen? The minerals somehow get sucked through the nerve chambers in your teeth, into the blood stream, and to the baby in the womb or to breast milk? Not likely! OK, so how about the minerals somehow get sucked out of the teeth into your saliva, down into your stomach, get absorbed, and then to the baby? Again, not gonna happen! So Why Do New Mothers Get More Cavities? The answer is remarkably simple, but so often overlooked: stomach acid via acid reflux! Doesn't that just make sense really? Just consider these items and check out the graph to see where stomach acid falls on the scale: Most women experience significant nausea during pregnancy - daily exposure of the teeth to stomach acid when you throw up will cause serious problems if it is for months on end. All that pressure on your insides pushes the acid into the esophagus, especially as the baby grows and starts kicking; especially if this happens at night, that acidity will just sit in your mouth for hours at a time, far worse [...]

By Charles Payet| 2017-06-09T20:35:36-04:00 February 24th, 2011|Cavities, Taking Care of Your Teeth|0 Comments

Dental Pain Management and Medicines

Very often we are asked for pain medications after difficult procedures; while they are sometimes necessary, the most effective medications that you can get for dental pain are generally over-the-counter ones. Here's what we recommend, and it's what we recommend usually for all but the most difficult surgeries in our office: Starting immediately (or even right before the procedure is the best), take UP TO 800mg Ibuprofen (you can take less, but do NOT take more!) Three hours later, take UP TO 1000mg acetominophen/Tylenol (again, you can take less, but do NOT take more!) Continue alternating these every three hours. Because they work in slightly different ways, by overlapping them you get 2 types of relief at all times. In addition, they do not make most people drowsy compared to narcotic pain medications. What's the maximum dosage per day of each? (For Adults) Ibuprofen/Advil: DO NOT EXCEED 2400mg/day Acetominophen/Tylenol: Do not exceed 4000mg/day

By Charles Payet| 2014-08-29T18:19:08-04:00 April 26th, 2009|Taking Care of Your Teeth|0 Comments

What Hides Under Old Silver Fillings?

Mercury-Silver Dental Fillings Can Hide Big Problems As I've mentioned, there are 2 basic "philosophies" of dental care, although I didn't really spell them out. They are (approximately, please understand!): Watch and wait until it it actually hurts or breaks, Diagnose and recommend treatment BEFORE it actually hurts or breaks. As a general rule, at Smiles by Payet Dentistry, we follow the second philosophy. The key to remember, though, is that it is ALWAYS up to YOU to decide when to actually proceed with treatment. I'll show you what I see by digital photography and x-rays, give you my recommendations, and then it's up to you to decide what to do about them. We understand that the treatment has to fit into your life - your budget, your schedule, your priorities. I give you my word -- I will NEVER pressure you into doing any treatment. I MAY make some very strong recommendations and urge you to proceed with treatment so that you avoid pain, loss of teeth, or other complication, but it's still your decision, and we promise to respect that. How Do We Catch Dental Cavities? One of the tricky parts of dentistry is this: we can't see through old fillings and crowns and bridges, not even with digital x-rays, digital photography, not even with the Zeiss PICO dental microscope that I use. We can only see things AROUND them. And while silver amalgam fillings are a perfectly acceptable treatment, they hide a multitude of evils. [...]

By Charles Payet| 2014-06-10T08:38:49-04:00 January 12th, 2009|Cavities, Taking Care of Your Teeth|0 Comments