Wednesday 29 April 2015

Pregnancy And Dental Work






Is Having Dental Work During Pregnancy Safe?

Pregnancy and dental work questions are common for expecting moms. Preventive dental cleanings and annual exams during pregnancy are not only safe, but are recommended. The rise in hormone levels during pregnancy causes the gums to swell, bleed, and trap food causing increased irritation to your gums. Preventive dental work while pregnant is essential to avoid oral infections such as gum disease, which has been linked to preterm birth.

What about other regular dental work during pregnancy?
Dental work while pregnant such as cavity fillings and crowns should be treated to reduce the chance of infection. If dental work is done during pregnancy, the second trimester is ideal. Once you reach the third trimester, it may be very difficult to lie on your back for an extended period of time. The safest course of action is to postpone all unnecessary dental work until after the birth.

However, sometimes emergency dental work such as a root canal or tooth extraction is necessary. Elective treatments, such as teeth whitening and other cosmetic procedures, should be postponed until after the birth. It is best to avoid this dental work while pregnant and avoid exposing the developing baby to any risks, even if they are minimal.

What about medications used in dental work during pregnancy?
Currently, there are conflicting studies about possible adverse effects on the developing baby from medications used during dental work. Lidocaine is the most commonly used drug for dental work. Lidocaine (Category B) does cross the placenta after administration. If dental work is needed, the amount of anesthesia administered should be as little as possible, but still enough to make you comfortable. If you are experiencing pain, request additional numbing. When you are comfortable, the amount of stress on you and the baby is reduced. Also, the more comfortable you are, the easier it is for the anesthesia to work.

Dental work often requires antibiotics to prevent or treat infections. Antibiotics such as penicillin, amoxicillin, and clindamycin, which are labeled category B for safety in pregnancy, may be prescribed after your procedure.

What about x-rays used in dental work during pregnancy?
Routine x-rays, usually taken during annual exams, can usually be postponed until after the birth. X-rays are necessary to perform many dental procedures, especially emergencies. According to the American College of Radiology, no single diagnostic x-ray has a radiation dose significant enough to cause adverse effects in a developing embryo or fetus.

Fetal organ development occurs during the first trimester; it is best to avoid all potential risks at this time if possible. If non-emergency dental work is needed during the third trimester, it is usually postponed until after the birth. This is to avoid the risk of premature labor and prolonged time lying on your back.

Suggestions for addressing your pregnancy and dental work needs:

The American Dental Association (ADA) recommends that pregnant women eat a balanced diet, brush their teeth thoroughly with an ADA-approved fluoride toothpaste twice a day, and floss daily
Have preventive exams and cleanings during your pregnancy
Let your dentist know you are pregnant
Postpone non-emergency dental work until the second trimester or until after delivery, if possible
Elective procedures should be postponed until after the delivery
Maintain healthy circulation by keeping your legs uncrossed while you sit in the dentist’s chair
Take a pillow to help keep you and the baby more comfortable
Bring headphones and some favorite music
Last Updated: 01/2014

Tuesday 28 April 2015

Tongue Scrapers Offer An Option For Halitosis

How Tongue Scrapers Work
If you suffer from halitosis, or chronic bad breath, you’re probably looking for ways to help manage the problem. If so, consider a tongue scraper. They’re relatively inexpensive and available at most pharmacies. Tongue scrapers are often touted as the way to improve bad breath, but there is very little research to show that they are any more effective than simply brushing the tongue with your toothbrush as part of your toothbrushing routine.

Trying a tongue scraper can’t hurt, and they’re easy to use. Simply hold the scraper at the back of your tongue, and bring it forward, scraping gently but firmly along the tongue as you go.

Although tongue scrapers are harmless, you can probably prevent halitosis just as well by following a consistent oral care routine of twice-daily tooth brushing and daily flossing. And keep these points in mind as part of your daily oral hygiene plan:
  • Keep your toothbrush fresh. Be sure to replace your toothbrush every 3 to 4 months, even if you don’t have bad breath, but especially if you do.
  • Keep an extra brush at work. Keep a spare toothbrush and toothpaste at work so you can brush your teeth after lunch.
  • Drink plenty of water. Keeping your mouth moist helps minimize the amount of bacteria in your mouth that can cause bad breath.
The above article is from: OralB.com

Dentist Alexandria VA 
Bradlee Dental Care
3690 King Street, Suite KL
Alexandria, VA 22302
(703) 820-0809

Dental Visits are Important

Learn more about what the American Dental Association has to say about the importance in visiting the dentist.



The above video is found on the American Dental Association YouTube Channel.

Dentist Alexandria VA 
Bradlee Dental Care
3690 King Street, Suite KL
Alexandria, VA 22302
(703) 820-0809

Tuesday 21 April 2015

Beat Your Bad Breath

What are Common Bad Breath Causes?

If you suffer from chronic, severe bad breath, also known as halitosis, it's important to identify the cause so you can determine an effective treatment.

Halitosis has many causes, including the following:

  • Tobacco use. If you smoke, quit. Your bad breath may be due to other causes, too, but tobacco use is a guarantee of bad breath. If you are ready to quit, ask your doctor or dentist for advice and support.
  • What you eat, or don't eat. Certain foods, such as garlic, contribute to bad breath, but only temporarily. Once they are absorbed into the bloodstream, the smell is expelled through the breath, but the odors remain until the body processes the food, so there’s no quick fix.
  • Dry mouth. If your mouth is extremely dry, there is not enough saliva to wash away excess food particles and bacteria, which can cause an unpleasant smell if they build up on the teeth.
  • Infections. Bad breath that seems to have no other cause may indicate an infection elsewhere in the body. If you have chronic bad breath and your dentist rules out any oral problems, see your doctor for an evaluation. Bad breath can be a sign of a range of conditions including respiratory tract infections, chronic sinusitis or bronchitis, diabetes, or liver and kidney problems, so it's important not to ignore the problem.


The best way to improve bad breath is to follow a thorough oral care routine including twice-daily tooth brushing and daily flossing to remove the food particles and bacteria that can cause bad breath. Mouthwashes only improve bad breath for the short term, and if you have a chronic problem, your dentist may suggest an antimicrobial rinse to help keep bacteria at bay.

The above article is from: OralB.com

Dentist Alexandria VA 
Bradlee Dental Care
3690 King Street, Suite KL
Alexandria, VA 22302
(703) 820-0809


Mouth Healthy Moments: How to Floss

Learn more about what the American Dental Association has to say about flossing your teeth.



The above video is found on the American Dental Association YouTube Channel.

Dentist Alexandria VA 
Bradlee Dental Care
3690 King Street, Suite KL
Alexandria, VA 22302
(703) 820-0809

Monday 20 April 2015

Snoring May Be Early Sign of Future Health Risks


January 2013: Henry Ford

DETROIT – Here’s a wake-up call for snorers: Snoring may put you at a greater risk than those who are overweight, smoke or have high cholesterol to have thickening or abnormalities in the carotid artery, according to researchers at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit.

The increased thickening in the lining of the two large blood vessels that supply the brain with oxygenated blood is a precursor to atherosclerosis, a hardening of the arteries responsible for many vascular diseases.

“Snoring is more than a bedtime annoyance and it shouldn’t be ignored. Patients need to seek treatment in the same way they would if they had sleep apnea, high blood pressure or other risk factors for cardiovascular disease,” says lead study author Robert Deeb, M.D., with the Department of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery at Henry Ford.

“Our study adds to the growing body of evidence suggesting that isolated snoring may not be as benign as first suspected. So instead of kicking your snoring bed partner out of the room or spending sleepless nights elbowing him or her, seek out medical treatment for the snorer.”

The study reveals changes in the carotid artery with snorers – even for those without sleep apnea – likely due to the trauma and subsequent inflammation caused by the vibrations of snoring.

Study results will be presented Friday at the 2013 Combined Sections Meeting of the Triological Society in Scottsdale, Ariz. It has been submitted to The Laryngoscope journal for publication.

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) – a sleep disorder that occurs due to the collapse of the airway in the throat during sleep and causes loud snoring and periodic pauses in breathing – has long been linked to cardiovascular disease, along with a host of other serious health issues.

But the risk for cardiovascular disease may actually begin with snoring, long before it becomes OSA. Until now, there was little evidence in humans to show a similar connection between snoring and cardiovascular risk.

For the Henry Ford study, Dr. Deeb and senior study author Kathleen Yaremchuk, M.D., reviewed data for 913 patients who had been evaluated by the institution’s sleep center.

Patients, ages 18-50, who had participated in a diagnostic sleep study between December 2006 and January 2012 were included in the study. None of the participants had sleep apnea.

In all, 54 patients completed the snore outcomes survey regarding their snoring habits, as well as underwent a carotid artery duplex ultrasound to measure the intima-media thickness of the carotid arteries.

Carotid intima-media thickness, a measurement of the thickness of the innermost two layers of the arterial wall, may be used to detect the presence and to track the progression of atherosclerotic disease. Intima-media thickness is the first sign of carotid artery disease.

Compared to non-snorers, snorers were found to have a significantly greater intima-media thickness of the carotid arteries, the study finds.

The study also revealed no statistically significant differences in intima-media thickness for patients with or without some of the traditional risk factors for cardiovascular disease – smoking, diabetes, hypertension or hypercholesterolemia.

“Snoring is generally regarded as a cosmetic issue by health insurance, requiring significant out-of-pocket expenses by patients. We’re hoping to change that thinking so patients can get the early treatment they need, before more serious health issues arise.”

The Henry Ford research team plans to conduct another long-term study on this topic, particularly to determine if there’s an increased incidence of cardiovascular events in patients who snore.
Along with Drs. Deeb and Yaremchuk, Henry Ford study co-authors are Paul Judge, M.D.; Ed Peterson, Ph.D.; and Judith C. Lin, M.D.

Thursday 16 April 2015

The Deep Impact of Childhood Sleep Apnea

512px-bernardo_strozzi_-_sleeping_child_-_wga21930By Matt Wood
Hearing a young child snore like Grandpa may be cute, but it’s not something to ignore. Excessive snoring in children is a symptom of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), a condition marked by repeated episodes of obstructed breathing during sleep that has been linked to cognitive problems, obesity and long-term damage to the cardiovascular and metabolic systems.
In a new study, David Gozal, MD, chairman and professor of pediatrics at the University of Chicago Medicine, and his colleagues at the University of Chicago Section of Pediatric Sleep Medicine found that OSA is imprinted at an even deeper level in the body, in genes that help control the body’s immune system response.
As a leading expert on OSA, Gozal has long studied the detrimental effects of poor and fragmented sleep on children. His work has culminated in a number of studies with children that found that OSA can reduce a child’s IQ by as many as 10 points and increases the risk of childhood obesity.
In a recent lecture reviewing his ongoing pediatric sleep-medicine research, Gozal spoke about why he started studying sleep problems in children. “The major reason that I started all this work 15 years ago was because for many years, snoring and sleep apnea in children had been associated with behavioral problems such as hyperactivity, aggressiveness, problems with attention and learning problems,” he said.

In this latest study, published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, the researchers looked in children with sleep apnea for changes in DNA methylation, one of the indicators of epigenetic changes. Epigenetics has gained attention in the past few years as a possible explanation for why patients vary in their response to diseases like cancer, metabolic and inflammatory diseases. Methylation is a process by which methyl groups or molecules attach to DNA and alter the expression of certain genes, essentially turning them off. Epigenetic modifications like DNA methylation, however, do not change the primary DNA sequence.
Sleep apnea puts a cumulative burden on the body that is made worse by the stress of decreased oxygen levels and increased sleep disruption. But children with sleep apnea have differing levels of their immune response, or systemic inflammation, so Gozal and his team hypothesized that epigenetic modifications could be responsible.
The study looked at DNA from children 5 to 10 years old with sleep apnea and found that it displayed increased methylation in the Forkhead box P3 gene (FOXP3), which plays a role in keeping a tight lid on immune system responses. The FOXP3 gene is involved in a process that controls the expression of proteins in regulatory T cells that suppress immune system responses. If the FOXP3 gene is highly methylated, or turned off, it limits the ability of these T cells to throttle the body’s immune system. It essentially stays in constant overdrive, putting stress on the body’s organs.
Among the children studied with sleep apnea, the researchers measured levels of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP), which rises in response to higher levels of inflammation. Children with both OSA and high levels of hsCRP displayed higher methylation of the FOXP3 gene than children with OSA and low levels of inflammation. Methylation levels also were higher in children with more severe symptoms of sleep apnea, suggesting that it might be an important biomarker for identifying children who are most at risk for long-term damage from OSA.
OSA is typically treated by procedures designed to keep the airway open so that breathing is not interrupted during sleep, such as a machine that delivers slightly pressurized air through a face mask to keep the windpipe open, dental devices and even surgery. Gozal said that while the findings from this study don’t suggest treatments by directly addressing increased DNA methylation, there are other potential options for treatment. “Interventions such as dietary modifications, antioxidants, and physical activity may have an effect that merits exploration,” he said.
In his talk, Gozal emphasized the importance of treating this condition as a chronic, low-grade, systemic inflammatory disease with serious risks for end-organ damage, and pointed out its surprising prevalence. “If you use the current criteria as defined by our profession for obstructive sleep apnea, 2 to 3 percent of all children 2 to 8 years of age will have sleep apnea. It’s a very prevalent disease, not one that we can ignore and pretend that does not exist,” he said.
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Kim J, Bhattacharjee R, Khalyfa A, Kheirandish-Gozal L, Capdevila OS, Wang Y, & Gozal D (2012). DNA Methylation in Inflammatory Genes among Children with Obstructive Sleep Apnea. American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine, 185 (3), 330-8 PMID: 22077067

Tuesday 14 April 2015

Mouth Healthy Moments: How to Brush Your Teeth

Learn more about what the American Dental Association has to say about brushing your teeth.



The above video is found on the American Dental Association YouTube Channel.

Dentist Alexandria VA 
Bradlee Dental Care
3690 King Street, Suite KL
Alexandria, VA 22302
(703) 820-0809

Saturday 4 April 2015

Dental Health Tips

Back To Basics
Believe it or not, brushing your teeth is one of the simplest ways to help maintain your overall health.

How Dental Health Connects To Your Overall Health
This is because dental health is more connected to overall health than most people realize. In fact, doctors and scientists continue to find associations between oral disease and other diseases. Some researchers think that bacteria in the mouth - when they build up and cause inflammation and infection - can contribute to an increased risk of illness or disease elsewhere in the body.

Oral Health and Overall Health
When you have clean teeth and healthy gums, there are fewer bad bacteria to enter your bloodstream and travel to other parts of your body. But an invasive oral surgery, certain medications, or untreated gum disease due to poor oral hygiene could allow these bacteria to spread. Researchers continue to study the links between oral health and overall health.

Health
The bottom line: You can help protect and promote your overall health by maintaining good dental health. Brush your teeth twice daily and floss at least once a day.

Available For You
These days, so many products are available to help you maintain clean teeth that there is no excuse to avoid good dental care. For example, if your gums are sensitive, in general or due to a recent illness or other medical condition, don't neglect your oral health. Try using an interdental cleaner or an electric flosser (such as the Oral-B Hummingbird) to make dental care more comfortable. And you may want to use a soft-bristled toothbrush to avoid gum irritation. If you have questions about what products are right for you, ask your dentist or dental hygienist.

The above article is from: OralB.com

Dentist Alexandria VA 
Bradlee Dental Care
3690 King Street, Suite KL
Alexandria, VA 22302
(703) 820-0809