Night guards, or occlusal guards as they are called, are made to protect more than your teeth. Your teeth are a part of a very complex system that is designed for mashing food, and the components of this system will break down over time. There are many reasons that your dentist might consider an occlusal guard as a treatment option for you. Here are some of the problems we are trying to alleviate with this therapy...
Stop biting your nails! You’ve heard that from grandma before, but not only was she trying to keep you from putting your dirty fingernails in your mouth, she may have also been trying to save your teeth! But was she correct? Here are some of the things that can affect your teeth that you may not have even thought about.
Your teeth go through a lot. Like any machine, wear and tear needs to be considered. Imagine the stress that chewing muscles alone (for decades!) put on your teeth! Generally, we put anywhere between 16 and 34 lbs of force on our teeth when chewing our food. Some people can apply up to 160 lbs of force (1). Imagine then how much force we apply when grinding or clenching. Studies have recorded forces nearing 275 lbs with a single clench. Could you imagine having to offer a warranty for this machine? How in the world do our teeth withstand these forces without failing? The answer: sometimes they don’t…
There are a few things that we dentists hear more often than others. Here are a few of them… but we have a solution for each of them, so worry no more!
Over the last several years you may have noticed many news stories regarding the impact of prescription pain killers in America. Dr. DuPre՛ and I, along with all licensed dental practitioners in New York State, were recently required to take course on the effects of opioids. The problem has become very real...
Are you the type of person that suffers from tooth sensitivity? Does it happen constantly? Is it occasional? Do you cringe at the thought of eating ice cream on a certain side of your mouth? Tooth sensitivity bothers many people and there are a few causes that are most often the culprit. We’ll cover a few common ones here and tell you how to reduce the discomfort...
One of my great professors at Stony Brook University School of Dental Medicine, Fred Ferguson, used to tell us that there are four key requirements for causing a cavity. As you'll see from a previous CrossKeys Dental blog post, there are many factors to cavity production, but when looked at on the most basic level you might be surprised by how easy it is to understand the process...
