Everyone has a dry mouth once in a while — if they are nervous, upset or under stress.

But if you have a dry mouth all or most of the time, it can be uncomfortable and can lead to serious health problems.

Dry mouth can

• Cause difficulties in tasting, chewing, swallowing, and speaking
  
  
• Increase your chance of developing dental decay and other infections in the mouth
  
  
• Be a sign of certain diseases and conditions
  
  
• Be caused by certain medications or medical treatments

Dry mouth is not a normal part of aging. So if you think you have dry mouth, see your dentist or physician — there are things you can do to get relief.

What is Dry Mouth?

Dry mouth is the condition of not having enough saliva, or spit, to keep your mouth wet.

Symptoms Include:

• A sticky, dry feeling in the mouth
  
  
• Trouble chewing, swallowing, tasting or speaking
  
  
• A burning feeling in the mouth
  
  
• A dry feeling in the throat
  
  
• Cracked lips
  
  
• A dry, tough tongue
  
  
• Mouth sores
  
  
• An infection in the mouth

What Can be Done About Dry Mouth?

Dry mouth treatment will depend on what is causing the problem. If you think you have dry mouth, see your dentist or physician. He or she can try to determine what is causing your dry mouth.

• If your dry mouth is caused by medicine, your physician might change your medicine or adjust the dosage
  
  
• If your salivary glands are not working right but can still produce some saliva, your physician or dentist might give you a medicine that helps the glands work better
  
  
• Your physician or dentist might suggest that you use artificial saliva to keep your mouth wet
  
  

What can I do?

• Sip water or sugarless drinks often
  
  
• Avoid drinks with caffeine, such as coffee, tea, and some sodas. Caffeine can dry out the mouth
  
  
• Sip water or a sugarless drink during meals. This will make chewing and swallowing easier. It may also improve the taste of food
  
  
• Chew sugarless gum or suck on sugarless hard candy to stimulate saliva flow; citrus, cinnamon or mint-flavored candies are good choices
  
  
• Don't use tobacco or alcohol. They dry out the mouth
  
  
• Be aware that spicy or salty foods may cause pain in a dry mouth
  
  
• Use a humidifier at night
  
  

For more information regarding dry mouth, please contact our Issaquah dental office today!

Fillings, which are materials used to fill cavities in the teeth, and crowns, which slip over and cover the tops of damaged teeth, sometimes loosen and fall out. This is rarely an emergency, but it can be painful because the exposed tooth tissue is often sensitive to pressure, air or hot and cold temperatures. In some cases, a filling or crown may come loose because decay has developed underneath it. The decay can cause the tooth to change shape and as a result, the crown of filling no longer fits the tooth properly.

What You Can Do

You may be eating, or biting on something hard when you discover that a filling or a crown has become lose or fallen out. You may feel the lost filling or crown in your mouth.

If it's a crown, put it in a safe place and make an appointment to see your dentist as soon as you can. You don't want to wait too long because the tooth will be weak and could be damaged more if it is not protected by the crown. Also, when a crown is missing for a long time, your teeth may move. If this happens your crown may no longer fit.

If the tooth is sensitive and you can't get to your dentist right away, here's what you can do:

If you can reach the sensitive area, apply a little clove oil with a cotton swab. It works well to dull tooth pain. You can buy clove oil in pharmacies and also in the spice aisle of many supermarkets. If you have the crown, you may be able to slip it back over the tooth. Before you do that, it's important to clean the inside of the crown as best you can. To hold it in place temporarily, coat the inner surface of the crown with tooth "cement," which you can buy in the dental section of your pharmacy. There are several temporary cements available. Some need to be mixed; others come ready to use. You also can use denture adhesive or even petroleum jelly if nothing else is available. These aren't permanent solutions, but they will help to hold the crown in place until you can see your dentist. You should not use any household glues to hold the crown in place. These products are not safe to put in your mouth and can damage the tooth and crown.

If you've lost the filling or crown, you can use over-the-counter dental cement to cover the tooth surface. This will help to protect and seal the area until you're able to see your dentist, and can make you more comfortable.

What Our Dentist Will Do

If the tooth is structurally sound and the crown still fits properly, your dentist will clean the area and then replace the crown.

If the tooth has been affected by decay, your dentist will need to prepare the tooth again by removing the decay and then making a new filling or crown to replace the old one.

Contact our Issaquah dental office today if you lost your fillings or crowns.

What Is It?

People with gingivitis have inflamed gum tissue around their teeth, caused by bacteria found in dental plaque. Normal, healthy gums should be firmly attached to the teeth and underlying bone. They are pale pink in light-skinned people and brown, gray or mottled in people with darker complexions. If you have gingivitis, your gums are inflamed, red and swollen. They will bleed easily and may be tender. Mild gingivitis causes little pain and may be overlooked. If left unchecked, however, it can become severe. In some people, gingivitis progresses to periodontitis, which can lead to tooth loss.

Gingivitis is caused by plaque, a sticky film of bacteria that collects on your teeth, especially in crevices and spaces or around rough or broken fillings. The bacteria produce substances that can harm the gums. If plaque is not removed, it hardens into a deposit called calculus, commonly called tartar. Calculus irritates the gums and provides more surfaces for bacterial growth.

Gum disease in general and gingivitis in particular are common. Almost three in four adults over the age of 35 have some form of gum disease. People with poorly controlled diabetes and pregnant women are especially at risk. People taking oral contraceptives or systemic steroids are at increased risk of gingivitis. Certain prescription drugs — including anti-seizure medications, cyclosporin (Neoral, Sandimmune) and calcium channel blockers — can cause gum overgrowth and inflammation.

Symptoms

You will notice red, swollen, gums that bleed easily.

Diagnosis

Your Issaquah dentist will examine and probe your gums and ask you if they bleed when you brush or floss your teeth. He or she will look for calculus deposits on your teeth and under the gum line.

Make sure your dentist in Issaquah knows the medications you are taking, in case some of them may be contributing to your gingivitis.

Expected Duration

Gingivitis can disappear within several days once a program of good oral hygiene is started. If oral hygiene remains poor, gingivitis likely will remain and could worsen to become periodontitis, which can lead to significant loss of tissue and bone around teeth.

Prevention

Brush your teeth regularly, preferably in the morning and before bed, and floss your teeth at least once a day. Make sure that you use a soft toothbrush and that the bristles reach the gum line when you brush. Have your teeth professionally cleaned every six months to one year to prevent plaque from becoming calculus and to remove any calculus that may have already formed.

Treatment

Gingivitis can be reversed if you remove bacteria from your teeth every day. At your dental office, you will receive a thorough cleaning, which will include scaling (removal of plaque at and just below the gum line). Your dentist or dental hygienist can instruct you on the most effective methods of brushing and flossing. Controlling medical conditions, such as diabetes, can make gingivitis easier to treat.

If gingivitis advances to periodontitis, additional treatment is necessary.

What Is TMJ?

The temporomandibular joint (TMJ), located just in front of the lower part of the ear, allows the lower jaw to move. The TMJ is a ball-and-socket joint, just like the hip or shoulder. When the mouth opens wide, the ball (called the condyle) comes out of the socket and moves forward, going back into place when the mouth closes. TMJ becomes dislocated when the condyle moves too far and gets stuck in front of a bony prominence called the articular eminence. The condyle can't move back into place. This happens most often when the ligaments that normally keep the condyle in place are somewhat loose, allowing the condyle to move beyond the articular eminence. The surrounding muscles often go into spasm and hold the condyle in the dislocated position.

Symptoms

The jaw locks in an open position and you cannot close your mouth. The condition can cause significant discomfort until the joint returns to the proper position.

Diagnosis

The dentist bases the diagnosis on the position of the jaw and the person's inability to close his or her mouth.

Expected Duration

The problem remains until the joint is moved back into place. However, the area can be tender for a few days.

Prevention

TMJ dislocation can continue to happen in people with loose TMJ ligaments. To keep this from happening too often, dentists recommend that people limit the range of motion of their jaws, for example by placing their fist under their chin when they yawn to keep from opening their mouths too widely. Conservative surgical treatments can help to prevent the problem from returning. Some people have their jaws are wired shut for a period of time, which causes the ligaments to become less flexible and restricts their movement. In certain cases, surgery may be necessary. One procedure, called an eminectomy, removes the articular eminence so the ball of the joint no longer gets stuck in front of it. Another procedure involves injecting medications into the TMJ ligaments to tighten them.

Treatment

The muscles surrounding the temporomandibular joint need to relax so that the condyle can return to its normal position. Many people can have their dislocated jaw corrected without local anesthetics or muscled relaxants. However, some people need an injection of local anesthesia in the jaw joint, followed by a muscle relaxant to relax the spasms. The muscle relaxant is given intravenously (into a vein in the arm). Rarely, someone may need a general anesthetic in the operating room to have the dislocation corrected. In this case, it may be necessary to wire the jaws shut or use elastics between the top and bottom teeth to limit the movement of the jaw.

To move the condyle back into the correct position, a doctor or dentist will pull the lower jaw downward and tip the chin upward to free the condyle . The doctor or dentist then guides the ball back into the socket. After the joint is relocated, a soft or liquid diet is recommended for several days to minimize jaw movement and stress. People should avoid foods that are hard to chew, such as tough meats, carrots, hard candies or ice cubes, and be careful not to open their mouths too widely.

When to Call our Office

A TMJ dislocation requires an immediate visit to the doctor or hospital emergency room to have the joint put back in place. You may be referred to an oral and maxillofacial surgeon for treatment.

Tooth pain can occur at any time, and it's one of the reasons that people go to a dentist, and we don't want you to wait overnight.

Strong biting can fracture your tooth and you may have severe pain in result. Tooth pain also can be occured by hot or cold drinks and food. Tooth pain is a sign that your tooth needs care and it can't be ignored. The injury can also damage your nerves of blood vessels. If an infection occurs and you keep ignoring the pain, you may eventually lose the tooth, so you should make sure to contact our emergency dentist in Issaquah immediately, so we can see what causes your tooth pain and what treatment needs to be done to prevent any further infections.

If you have dental emergencies when we're closed, just call (425) 557-6453 because we have on-call dentists at night and on weekends. Our dentists can talk to you over the phone and determine what the next step is. To determine if your tooth pain is an emergency, we always advise that if it hurts, it's an emergency. Even the minor pain can affect the living tissues inside the teeth. Even if you aren't in much pain, any structural damage to a tooth — from a sports injury, for example — should be considered an emergency. Chips or fractures can affect the living tissue inside the tooth, causing more problems in the future. Your dentist can prevent the damage from getting worse.

Always remember. If you have tooth pain, call (425) 557-6453 immediately. Your teeth are worth it.

According to the Academy of General Dentistry, an increase in sugar intake may lead school children to a high risk of cavities.

In the past 15 months, researchers have studied dietary habits of preschoolers and have monitored their teeth, and the study showed that cavity-free children dropped from 23 to 19 percent.

Our dentists in Issaquah recommend that parents can help their children prevent decay and cavities by monitoring their dietary habits. Instead of giving them snacks, they can have apples, carrots and other snack alternatives—something that are naturally sweet.

And more importantly, children should brush and floss at least twice a day to prevent decay and cavities.

If your children’s school lunch program doesn’t offer healthy alternatives, make sure to talk to the school about incorporating healthy lunches or snacks.

Finally, children may need sealants as another way to prevent decay and cavities. Sealant is a thin coating of bonding material applied on a tooth, and it acts as a barrier to decay and cavities.

Talk to your dentist in Issaquah at Issaquah Dental Care to learn more about dental sealants.

What Is an abscess?

When the immune system on your body deals with infection, it sens white blood cells to the infected area to remove the bacteria. If these white blood cells accumulated with enzymes and other destroyed cells and tissues cannot drain, it will form an abscess.

Abscesses are usually seen in gum tissue or teeth roots in the mouth. Normally they're caused by trauma. If you have less resistance against infection, you're more likely to develop an abscess. It may cause a severe toothache. Once the nerve is infected, and the abscess cannot drain, the infection can spread to other aread such as your head and neck.

When you visit our Issaquah dentist office for an abscess, we'll be able to diagnose a tooth abscess by a comprehensive exam. In order for us to check if the abscess is still alive, we perform a pulp test, suchas gentle tapping on the tooth, using an electric tester, and taking an x-ray.

Once the abscess drains, pain will decrease immediately. However, the cause of the abscess still needs to be eliminated.

Prevention

Good oral habits can help you prevent abscesses, such as brushing and flossing at least twice a day.

Treatment

Our dentists in Issaquah may try to drain the infection. Once the infected area is cleaned, a root canal or a tooth extraction can be necessary depending on the condition of the tooth to remove any diseased tissue.

Toothpastes

So many toothpastes are on the market today, choosing one can be confusing. When buying toothpaste for your child, look for one that contains fluoride and tastes good. Some toothpastes also are approved by the American Dental Association (ADA). The ADA Seal of Acceptance means that the manufacturer has provided data proving that the toothpaste is safe and effective. Some manufacturers choose not to seek the ADA seal of approval. So, toothpastes without the ADA seal also may be safe and work well, but their performance has not been evaluated by the ADA.

Children only need a small pea-size amount of toothpaste on their toothbrushes. Be sure your child understands that toothpaste is not food. It needs to be spit out, not swallowed.

Toothbrushes

The type of toothbrush your child uses is important because the wrong kind can be damaging to soft tissues. Regardless of your child's age, his or her toothbrush should have soft nylon bristles. Harder bristles can cause gums to wear away over time. When your child is an infant, the toothbrush should be very small. As he or she grows, select small toothbrushes that can fit easily in the mouth and brush one or two teeth at a time. Your child's toothbrush should be able to reach all the teeth, including the molars in the very back.

Replace toothbrushes about every four months or when they begin to look worn and frayed. If a toothbrush wears out much sooner than three or four months, you or your child may be using too much pressure. It's also a good idea to replace brushes after your child has had a cold or other illness to prevent reinfection.

Powered toothbrushes are fun and may remove more plaque and stain than regular toothbrushes. That doesn't mean you should run out and buy one. Regular toothbrushes are very effective, too. However, because they make brushing easier, powered toothbrushes can be helpful for special needs children who can't sit still long enough to properly brush their teeth with a regular toothbrush.

Water Irrigation Devices

These appliances usually are not necessary, but they may benefit some children with braces or other type of orthodontics who need help getting food from between teeth. However, these devices do not remove plaque that is firmly attached to the tooth. That still needs to be done with a toothbrush.

Mouthwashes And Fluoride Mouth Rinses

Mouthwash and fluoride mouth rinse are two different products. Mouthwash freshens breath, but does nothing to clean teeth. Most mouthwashes contain alcohol and are not appropriate for children younger than 6 years old. This is because young children can easily swallow the mouthwash. If your child has chronic bad breath, he or she should see a doctor. It could be caused by a health problem.

Fluoride mouth rinse coats teeth with fluoride, which helps to prevent cavities. You should check with your child's dentist or dental hygienist to determine if your child needs to use a fluoride mouth rinse. It is typically used once or twice a day by children who are cavity prone, even if the child has only one area of decay. Children as young as 7 years old can use a fluoride rinse, if they know how to spit out a liquid without swallowing it. You can test your child to see if he or she is ready. Give him or her a half-cup of water. Ask your child to put some of the water in his or her mouth, swish it around and spit it out into a second cup. If there is a half cup of water in the second cup, your child probably can spit out the mouth rinse. You should still supervise your child to make sure the rinse does not get swallowed.

For more information about your kids' oral health, please contact our Issaquah dentist, Issaquah Dental Care today!