Island Coast Dentistry Blog | Naples, FL Dentist

5 Reasons to Floss Your Teeth Every Day

May 23, 2017

A lot of people know that brushing and flossing is important to oral health. But they think that brushing is enough and flossing is just an annoyance. The truth is that flossing is just as important as brushing and there are many benefits to flossing every day. Below are six good reasons to floss your teeth every day.
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5 Things You can do to Prevent Cavities

April 13, 2017

No one likes going to the dentist. But there are things that you can do to help make sure that your next dental checkup is a lot better, and that you avoid that dreaded drill. Below are five things that you can do to help avoid cavities and gum disease.

1. Brush twice each day

This is something that you should always do without exception. It’s very important to preventing a lot of buildup of plaque that will lead to periodontal disease and cavities. Use an electric or manual brush that has soft bristles so that you are gently brushing your teeth’s outer surface, their inside surfaces, and their chewing surfaces. Use motions that go up and down, and take some time to make sure that you’re reaching all of their surfaces.

2. Floss each day

Flossing is very important for preventing gum disease and tooth decay. You only do so much when you brush your teeth. Flossing is important to clean those spots in between your teeth and along your gum line. It will help with getting rid of those food particles that can cause gum inflammation and cavities.

3. Use mouthwash that is antibacterial

The starches and sugars inside your drinks and foods will react with the bacteria that’s in your salvia. This forms acid, which erodes the enamel on your teeth. The mouthwash will help with managing those bacterial levels inside your mouth

4. Use fluoride products to strengthen the enamel of your teeth

The enamel on your teeth is their natural defense and their outer layer. When this wears away, this means your teeth are more susceptible to getting cavities. Products like fluoride toothpaste, fluoride treatment or fluoridated water can help this.

5. Go to the dentist two times a year

Visiting your dentists twice yearly to have your teeth clean will remove the buildup of tartar that you can’t remove yourself. If you leave it, the tartar will result in tooth decay and gum disease. When you visit the dentist every 6 months, he or she can check for dental disorders or diseases and help you stay healthy.

How Essential is Preventative Dentistry?

Preventative dentistry is simple: Small, easy steps you can do at home in order to maintain your oral hygiene. This, along with going to the dentist twice per year, often will be enough to prevent gum disease and tooth decay. If gingivitis and cavities go without treatment or notice, they often can become something even worse that can threaten your gums’ and teeth wellness and health. Taking care of them every day will help greatly to preventing bone or tooth loss.

Questions about Cavities?

If cavity issues are affecting your smile, the team at Island Coast Dentistry can help. Through a comprehensive evaluation, Dr. Skupny can tailor a oral treatment plan that is most effective for you. A beautiful, healthy smile can be yours!
Contact us today to learn more, or schedule a consultation online.

A Short Guide to Wisdom Tooth Extraction

March 29, 2017

Are your wisdom teeth giving you problems?

A lot of people when they’re early twenties or late teens go to the dentist for wisdom teeth extraction. However, this isn’t something that everyone has to have done. Even though dentists have different opinions regarding whether it’s necessary to have this done, if you’re thinking it’s a good idea to have yours removed, you should talk to your dentist. (more…)

What Can Happen if You Don't Treat a Cavity?

February 1, 2017

A lot of people hate going to the dentist. But when you have pain in your tooth and you think that you might have a cavity, it’s best to have it checked out.
Let’s take a look at what can happen if you let your cavity go.
When you have a cavity in a tooth, you might think of it as an infection. Cavities are made from harmful bacteria. When these are mixed with an environment that’s acidic, use sugar and attack your tooth’s hard tissue, which is the dentin and enamel. As time goes by a small hole’s made in the tooth and if it isn’t repaired using a filling, it will continue growing.
When the cavity is left untreated, it can destroy most of the tooth and soon it won’t be possible to restore it using a regular filling. If there isn’t much tooth left, you can only use a crown to fix it.
If that bacteria reaches your tooth’s pulp chamber, where its blood vessels and nerve are found, the pulp will become infected and irritated. This could result in the tooth becoming abscessed, which is often very painful. Then it will require a root canal because of the infection in the pulp, and then a crown will normally be put on.
Sometimes there is so much damage by the cavity that even a root canal plus crown will help it. When this happens, it will often require the tooth to be pulled.

Conclusion

Root canals and crows are very extensive compared to a filling. When you have to replace a tooth that has been pulled, that’s even more involved. That is why you should visit the dentist regularly. When you detect cavities early, it will be better for your teeth and your health. Plus you’ll save a lot of money and time fixing it.

Facts about Cavities

There are more than 3 million US cases per year. Cavities are very treatable by a medical professional like your dentist.
Causes of cavities include: bacteria, snacking, sipping sugary drinks, and poor teeth cleaning.
There may be no symptoms. Untreated cavities can cause toothache, infection, and tooth loss.
Treatments include: fluoride, fillings, and crowns. Severe cases may need a root canal or removal.

Questions about Cavities?

7 Tips for Having a Brighter Smile

December 30, 2016

Everyone wants to have a beautiful white smile

There are a lot of products on the market that you can use to whiten your teeth but there are things that you can also do to prevent stains. So here are five tips that you can use for having a brighter smile.

#1: Eat Foods that Clean Your Teeth

When you want to have healthy, white teeth, there are things that you can eat to help yourself have a beautiful smile. You should eat crunchy vegetables and fruits like celery, apples and carrots. These are the foods that cause saliva production and that helps with rinsing away the food particles.
This means that you aren’t staining your teeth. You also can use strawberries and broccoli. Strawberries have enzymes in them that works like a natural bleach which helps to instantly whiten teeth. Broccoli has a variety of minerals in it that help with forming a coating on your teeth that helps to protect them.

#2: Be Careful What You Drink

Look at the drink you are drinking. Are you afraid that if you spill the drink you’re drinking right now will stain your white shirt? Then you should also be worried about the drink staining your teeth. You should avoid drinking tea, sodas and coffee. If you drink wine, you should not drink it now if you’re looking to whiten your smile. Red wine will stain your teeth and white wine will erode your enamel. If you are brushing your teeth right after you drink the white wine it could even hurt your teeth more since the enamel is going to be weak.

#3: Whitening Products

You will find a lot of different products for teeth whitening that can be used in your home for brightening up your smile. An example would be mild stains on the tooth surface which can be removed using a whitening paste with a mild abrasive. There are whitening rinses and gels that you can use that will make your teeth brighter as time goes by. But you should also use the products regularly and consistently.

#4: The Right Oral Care

When you don’t regularly brush, floss and rinse, you won’t get the results that you want. It’s essential that you are brushing your teeth a minimum of twice per day. But if you really are serious about preventing stains, it’s a good idea to brush them after you have eaten. Don’t use a toothbrush that is worn out. Replace your brush ever 3-4 months. If the bristles look like they’re frayed, bent or worn out, your toothbrush should be immediately replaced.
Flossing will get rid of food particles and plaque in between your teen and beneath your gum line. It’s recommended by dentists that you should floss once per day at minimum.
It’s just as important to use a mouth rinse. This helps with cleansing your mouth and fighting bacteria. When you rinse after you brush, your breath will be fresh.

#5: Having a Professional Whiten Your Teeth

If you’re looking to get dramatic results, it’s a good idea to go to a dentist and have them whiten your teeth. They will use high amounts of the hydrogen peroxide. This will help you have better results when it’s compared with whitening products you use at home. The affect will be augmented with a special light such as a laser.
You are going to get a quicker and better result if you’re letting your dentist remove your tooth stains. But it’s going to take a lot of money to get the results that you are looking for, since it’s considered cosmetic.

#6: More Dazzling Smile Tips

If you’re looking for a better and brighter smile, you can’t avoid going to the dentist. You should have your teeth cleaned professionally ever six months if your teeth are healthy. If you have teeth that are less than healthy, your dentist might want to see you more often. You also can talk to the dentist about veneers. These are a great option for people who have bad teeth. After your teeth have been cleaned by your dentist, here’s a few ways that you can make sure they keep looking great.

#7: Brush & Floss Daily

Go to the dentist every six months and have a checkup. Don’t smoke, since it can cause your teeth to yellow and it can also damage your gums. Take care about what you’re drinking. Stay away from aerated drinks, tea, wines and coffee.
If you’re unable to stop drinking iced tea or coffee or soda, drink them using a straw. This will minimize the amount of contact your teeth and beverage are going to have. These are the things that you can do to help your teeth look great. Remember to use these tips and you’ll find that your teeth are looking bright and white.

Questions about Oral Care?

If dental issues are affecting your smile, the team at Island Coast Dentistry can help. Through a comprehensive evaluation, Dr. Skupny can tailor a oral treatment plan that is most effective for you. A beautiful, healthy smile can be yours!
Contact us today to learn more, or schedule a consultation online.

Different Types of Toothpaste – Which is Right for You?

December 8, 2016

Which is Right for You?

One of the most difficult things that you can figure out when it comes to taking care of your teeth is choosing the toothpaste to use. With so many different types of toothpaste available, how do you know which one you should get?
Do you get one that has additional fluoride or tartar control? Do the brands which brighten your teeth give them protection from tooth decay and gum disease?
Should you go to choose a brand that’s for sensitive teeth? Here are some tips that you can use for helping you find the right toothpaste.

The Basics

General toothpaste is available in powder, paste, and gel forms. No matter what type pf packaging the toothpaste has, there are some ingredients that you’ll find in every type of brand. These are ingredients such as:

Abrasive agents – So that your teeth are thoroughly cleaned, your toothpaste has to have scratchy agents like calcium carbonate or silicates. These provide abrasion so that you can remove food particles and bacteria. If the toothpaste didn’t have these agents, the toothpaste wouldn’t be able to clean your teeth as well.
Artificial Sweeteners – Since the ingredients like calcium carbonate and fluoride won’t taste good by themselves, the manufacturers of toothpaste put in artificial sweeteners so that the toothpaste tastes better. Even though most people think of toothpaste having a minty flavor, many brands have flavors like cinnamon, lemon-lime and bubblegum.
Anti-drying agent – This is what keeps your toothpaste from becoming dry inside the tube.
Thickening agent – This is what keeps toothpaste from running right off of your toothbrush. This is usually something like gum and molecules that are gooey and found inside seaweed.
Detergent – This is what kills the bacteria that is on your teeth. This is something like sodium lauryl sulfate. This helps cleans your teeth and causes the suds that you see when you are brushing your teeth.

Fluoride Toothpaste

Fluoride is toothpaste’s most important ingredient. This mineral occurs naturally and it is very important to help your teeth from decaying. Because fluoride first was added to the country’s water supply before becoming a common toothpaste ingredient, the cavity number that the US reported has dramatically dropped over the past 50 years.
Plaque, which is the sticky bacteria film which resides in your mouth, feeds upon the sugars you are consuming to produce the acids that eat away slowly at your tooth enamel. Your teeth get protection from fluoride from the plaque acids because fluoride strengthens the enamel in your teeth and helping remineralize the areas on your teeth which have started decaying. Any toothpaste brand you choose should have fluoride in it. If you have a lot of cavities, it’s a good idea to get one that has fluoride protection.

Tartar Control

The main reason that you are brushing your teeth is so that you can remove the food particles and plaque from them. When you don’t brush or you don’t brush the right way, you are leaving plaque upon your teeth and it starts hardening and becoming tartar.
When this starts accumulating along your gum line, it makes it a lot harder to clean your teeth, as well as making brushing much less effective. As time goes by this tarter is going to become so hard that it can only be removed by a dentist. That’s why it’s so important that you go to the dentist twice a year.
Toothpaste that’s advertised as tartar control contains some active ingredients which will help with preventing the plaque from becoming tartar. These are ingredients including compounds like zinc citrate and pyrophosphates and sometimes antibiotics like triclosan so that the bacteria in your mouth is killed. These kinds of toothpaste are best for people who don’t go to the dentist regularly or who have problems with gum disease.

Sensitive Teeth

If you have problems when you consume cold or hot drinks or food and you have sharp pains, chances are that you have problems with sensitive teeth. This happens when your gums are receding from your tooth base and expose the sensitive parts of your teeth. When cold or hot stimuli hit the tubules, it will cause pain.
Toothpaste for sensitive teeth contain ingredients like potassium nitrate and strontium chloride that block the pathways in tubules that travel to the nerve center of a tooth. While effective, these types of toothpaste generally take several weeks of use before they begin to offer relief. If you suffer from extreme tooth sensitivity, you may consider using this type of toothpaste, which is generally lighter and less abrasive than tartar control brands.

Whitening Toothpaste

One of the things that most people notice is when someone has a bright shiny smile. Since everybody wants to have this smile, a lot of brands have started offering toothpaste that whitens as well as cleans. These kinds of toothpaste usually have peroxide and some abrasive agents which work to remove stains and polish your teeth. Even though studies show that these additional agents in the whitening toothpaste won’t damage your tooth enamel, a lot of the brands also increase problems with sensitive teeth. So if you already have sensitive teeth, it’s a good idea to stay away from whitening toothpaste.

Conclusion

These are the types of toothpaste so that you can choose the one that is right for you. If you have any questions and you want to know more about the toothpaste, it’s a good idea to ask your dentist. Your dentist will be able to suggest the right type of toothpaste for you based on your dental history and the special types of problems that you have have.

Questions about Cosmetic Dentistry?

If cosmetic issues are affecting your smile, the team at Island Coast Dentistry can help. Through a comprehensive evaluation, Dr. Skupny can tailor a oral treatment plan that is most effective for you. A beautiful, healthy smile can be yours!
Contact us today to learn more, or schedule a consultation online.

10 Tips for Choosing a Cosmetic Dentist

November 16, 2016

Here’s what you should know

If you are less than happy with the way that your smile looks, one of the things that you’ll want to do is find a cosmetic dentist. Below are some things that you can look for when you are choosing the one that’s right for you.
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7 Reasons to Get a New Toothbrush

October 31, 2016

Learn more about tooth brushes

One of the things that you want to do is to make sure that you have a toothbrush that will effectively clean your teeth. But how do you know when you should change it?
Below are some reasons why it could be time to change your toothbrush.
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Why Food Tastes Weird After Brushing Your Teeth

September 26, 2016

Learn more about tooth paste

If you have ever tried eating or drinking something right after you brush your teeth, you know what it’s like. Everything tastes terrible!
That is why most people prefer to eat breakfast before they brush their teeth. But why is it that it tastes bad?
The truth is, there’s one ingredient that’s to blame for this. It’s called sodium laureth sulfate, and also goes by SLS, which stands for sodium lauryl sulfate and SLES, which is sodium lauryl ether sulfate.
This is what ruins the taste of your food or drink, based on the kind of toothpaste you’re using.

The chemicals are called surfactants – these are wetting agents which lower liquid’s surface tension. They’re put into the toothpaste so that foam is created and the paste is a lot easier to spread in your mouth.

Effect on your taste buds

Did you ever wonder why your favorite foods taste so good? Well, you can thank your taste buds for letting you appreciate the saltiness of pretzels and the sweetness of ice cream.
Even though surfactants will make brushing teeth much easier, they’re doing a lot more than making that foam. Both SLS and SLES create a chemical change in a couple of ways.
First they cause problems with the taste buds which perceive the sweetness in foods and drinks. They also break up our tongue’s phospholipids. These are the fatty molecules that inhibit the bitterness receptors.
These inhibitors usually are what make bitter foods taste less bitter. But when they’ve been broken down, any bitter flavors are enhanced.
This is why anything you are eating and drinking after brushing isn’t as sweet and is a lot more bitter.

Conclusion

If you want to end these problems, you can look for toothpaste that is free of SLS and SLES. You aren’t going to get the foam that you are used to, but you also will have better tasting food and drinks.

Questions about your Teeth?

If teeth issues are affecting your smile, the team at Island Coast Dentistry can help. Through a comprehensive evaluation, Dr. Skupny can tailor a oral treatment plan that is most effective for you. A beautiful, healthy smile can be yours!
Contact us today to learn more, or schedule a consultation online.

A Guide to Different Types of Mouthwash

September 14, 2016

Learn more about mouth rinses

There’s a variety of mouthwash types and they all have a different function. So we are going to look at the different types of mouthwashes so that you know which is the best one for your oral health.

1. Fluoride mouthwashes

These kinds of mouthwashes have sodium fluoride in them. This helps with strengthening your teeth and gives them additional protection regarding tooth decay. You also can get fluoride in tap water and toothpaste, and that is more than enough for what you need.

2. Cosmetic mouthwashes

They don’t have the same kind of protection when compared with other kinds and they’re used more for hiding bad breath. They help with keeping teeth clean, but they won’t help against tooth decay.

3. Antiseptic mouthwashes

These mouthwashes have chlorhexidine gluconate in them. This chemical helps with stopping bacterial growth and it’s good for people who have an infection in their mouth. People who have bad breath also will find them useful.
They also help with preventing plaque build-up but they should also be used with dental floss and a toothbrush. They shouldn’t be used too much, though, since using a lot of the chemical can make your teeth become discolored.

4. Natural mouthwashes

These are free from alcohol and fluoride and they will work the same as the other types of mouthwash. A lot of people find that they are very useful and that putting salt into some warm water is great after you have a tooth pulled. This type also is great when you have an injury or infection in your mouth.
Total or Complete Care Mouthwashes
These have antibacterial ingredients. These help with reducing plaque buildup and preventing gum disease.

5. Magic mouthwashes

These may sound like they’re exotic, but they are mouthwashes prescribed by doctors for treating conditions like ulcers in your mouth because of cancer treatment.

Conclusion

Based on this information, you should think about the type of mouthwash that is best for you. If you aren’t sure which one is best for you, you can always talk to your dentist and get some advice. They will look at your dental health and give you advice based on your specific needs and what will help you out the most.