Are your teeth sensitive to cold, heat, pressure, or sugary foods? Does it hurt to eat, drink, or brush?

Fortunately, there are easy and effective ways to reduce tooth sensitivity. Here are Atkins & Anderson Family Dentistry’s top tips for managing tender, sensitive teeth.

1. See a Dentist to Rule Out Serious Issues

Some people have sensitive teeth due to thin or weak enamel. But sensitivity is often a sign of a more serious oral health condition, including:

• Gum disease or receding gums
• Cavities or tooth decay
• Overly aggressive brushing
• Teeth grinding
• Damaged dental work
• A diet high in sugary and/or acidic foods
• Poor oral hygiene

Leaving these conditions untreated can cause serious oral health problems, so get checked out by a dentist.

2. Watch the Temperatures of Food and Drinks

Some foods and drinks can be painful to sensitive teeth. Waiting until hot drinks reach a cooler temperature will help reduce sensitivity. Avoiding frozen foods and liquids that increase tooth discomfort will also help.  Acidic foods and drinks like coffee, sodas, fruit, and pickles can also increase tooth sensitivity, so consider reducing or eliminating them from your diet.

3. Use a Soft Toothbrush and Toothpaste Made for Sensitive Teeth

An easy tip to relieve sensitive teeth is to brush gently and use a soft toothbrush. Soft bristles are gentler on your enamel and gums and are less likely to cause enamel erosion.
Using toothpaste specifically created for treating tooth sensitivity is another helpful solution. These toothpastes contain fluoride that rebuilds your enamel and other ingredients that help reduce sensitivity.

Read More: Are You Using the Right Toothpaste?

4. Make a Saltwater Mouthwash

A saltwater mouthwash can help reduce tooth sensitivity quickly. Saltwater balances the pH level inside the mouth, creating an alkaline environment that reduces bacterial growth and plaque. Just mix two teaspoons of salt with a cup of warm water and rinse morning and night until sensitivity improves.

5. Use a Mouthguard at Night

Sometimes grinding your teeth at night can cause sensitive teeth. If this is an issue, your dentist can make a custom mouthguard to wear when you sleep. This guard protects against pressure and prevents tooth damage caused by nighttime teeth grinding.

6. Whiten Teeth with Care to Avoid Making Sensitivity Worse

If you suffer from tooth sensitivity from worn-down enamel or gum recession, a teeth-whitening kit may make it worse. Talk to your dentist before starting a whitening procedure.
Read More: Is Whitening Safe for My Teeth?

7. Apply Dental Varnish and Coating to Control Sensitivity

Another helpful tip is to have a dentist apply a varnish or coating to relieve sensitive teeth. A fluoride varnish helps reduce tooth sensitivity by filling tiny holes in tooth enamel. Applying bonding agents and sealant coatings strengthens enamel and dentin (the bony tissue beneath the enamel). Ask your dentist about options for reducing severe sensitivity.

Struggling With Sensitive Teeth? Atkins & Anderson Family Dentistry Can Help

Try these helpful tips for managing sensitive teeth. But keep in mind that sensitivity can also indicate serious undiagnosed oral health issues.

If you live in Bryan/College Station and need help with sensitive teeth, contact us today for more information or to schedule an appointment.

Dental emergencies usually happen without warning and come in many forms – some more urgent than others. Knowing what to do and who to call after an injury empowers you to handle these unexpected emergencies quickly and effectively.

If you live in the Bryan/College Station area and wonder if your pain or discomfort is considered an emergency, Atkins & Anderson DDS is here to help determine if you need to make an appointment.

What is a dental emergency?

When experiencing a dental emergency, people often hesitate to call their dentist because they aren’t sure if the situation warrants urgent dental care. So, what constitutes a dental emergency?

The American Dental Association defines dental emergencies as “potentially life-threatening and requiring immediate treatment to stop ongoing tissue bleeding or to alleviate severe pain or infection.”

Life-threatening dental emergencies include:

• Uncontrollable bleeding – from accident, trauma, health condition, or other cause
• Trauma that involves facial bones that may be compromising a person’s airway
• Soft-tissue infections with swelling could compromise someone’s airway. Tooth infections can spread into the soft tissues and cause swelling without pain.

Non-life-threatening dental emergencies that require urgent care include:

• Extreme tooth pain from decay
• Pain from post-extraction surgery or dry sockets
• Abscesses or other infections causing pain and swelling
• Third molar/wisdom tooth pain
• Objects caught under the gums or between teeth causing pain or swelling
• Trauma to the mouth causing one or more teeth to become loose or displaced
• Tooth chips, fractures, or lost fillings causing trauma or pain to the soft tissues or teeth
• Orthodontic wires or other dental appliances becoming loose and cutting into the gums or cheeks

The longer dental issues go untreated, the more likely they’ll cause permanent damage to your teeth – or result in significant and expensive treatments.

How do you handle the most common types of dental emergencies?

Knocked Out Tooth

If a child’s primary (baby) tooth gets knocked out, apply pressure to the bleeding area. Don’t try to place a baby tooth back in the socket because this may damage the permanent tooth growing under the gum. Call your dentist.

If a permanent tooth gets knocked out, follow these steps quickly:

1. Locate the tooth if possible. If you find it, hold the tooth by the crown, not the root.
2. Don’t wash or remove any tissue pieces from the root.
3. The tooth must stay moist! If possible, put the tooth back in the socket and hold it in place. If you can’t do this, keep the tooth in your mouth next to your cheek. A third viable option is to place the tooth in a clean cup of fresh milk or saliva. Do not place the tooth in tap water.
4. See your dentist or an emergency dentist within 30 minutes if possible – there’s a chance the tooth can be saved within an hour of being out of the mouth.

Broken or Chipped Tooth

The most common minor dental injury is broken, chipped, or cracked teeth. However, immediate treatment can help prevent infection and save the tooth. Follow these tips if you have a broken, chipped, or cracked tooth:

• Rinse your mouth with warm water and assess for pain, temperature sensitivity, or rough edges.
• If a blow to the face caused a broken or chipped tooth, put a cold compress on the area to help reduce swelling.
• Call your dentist immediately and take the tooth fragment(s) with you if you can find them.

Read More: Did You Chip or Break a Tooth? Here’s What to Do

Painful Toothache

A painful toothache can indicate an abscess or infection.

• Rinse the mouth with warm salt water to clean it.
• If there’s any swelling, place a cold compress on the cheek.
• Call your dentist to schedule an emergency appointment.

Mouth Injury

If an impact results in a jaw injury, the jawline may appear crooked or dislocated. Keep the injured person’s face as still as possible and get emergency assistance promptly.

Follow these tips if you bite or cut your cheek, tongue, or lip:

• Stay calm. There are a lot of blood vessels in the mouth tissues, so even minor injuries may look worse than they really are.
• Wash the area gently and place moist gauze or a towel on the area to control any bleeding. Keep firm pressure until the bleeding stops. Then, place a cold compress on the area to reduce swelling.
• Contact your doctor or head to the nearest urgent care or emergency room if the bleeding doesn’t stop in 15 minutes, if the cut is deep, extends onto the face, or if there’s a puncture through the lip or cheek.
• Most mouth injuries heal properly on their own, but it’s crucial to keep the area clean to avoid infections. Rinse with salt water or a 1:1 mix of water and hydrogen peroxide several times daily to help the wound heal quickly.
• Contact your dentist or doctor if you see signs of infection, like fever, swelling, pus, redness growing wider around the wound, or the wound remaining tender or painful.
• Talk to your orthodontist if you or your child have orthodontic braces and a loose bracket or wire cut into gums or cheeks. They can provide dental wax and other ways to temporarily solve the problem until you can get into the office.

Final Thoughts

Since you never know when a dental emergency will occur, it’s important to be familiar with these helpful tips for the most common dental emergencies. Your dental insurance plan also has information explaining how they cover dental emergencies.

Atkins & Anderson DDS has a dentist on call 24/7 for emergencies outside our regular business hours. Our on-call dentist can speak with you to assess the emergency and meet you at the office if necessary. Contact us today to learn more about the dental services we offer Bryan/College Station residents.

You diligently brush your teeth twice a day, but flossing is not a part of your regular routine. You may wonder if flossing your teeth actually makes a difference. We’re here to tell you that, yes, flossing matters. When flossing is a consistent part of your oral hygiene, there are many benefits to your dental health. If you opt out of flossing, you are at risk for multiple health problems.

Cavities

Cavities occur when food particles, bacteria, and plaque are not removed. While correctly brushing your teeth protects them from unwanted buildup, it is not sufficient alone. Toothbrushes cannot remove these substances from between your teeth. Over time, bacteria grows between your teeth and begins to eat away at your tooth enamel, creating holes–cavities–in the surface of your teeth. Cavities can spread to more teeth and infect multiple layers of your teeth. Flossing is a simple but effective way to remove plaque and bacteria from hard-to-reach places that your toothbrush overlooks.

Gum Disease

When poor dental hygiene habits form, plaque builds up and hardens, turning into tartar. Tartar can only be removed by a professional dental hygienist. But when plaque buildup hardens around the gums, the gums become swollen and bleed easily. This tartar is the first sign of gum disease and can have lasting implications for your dental health if left untreated. Painful chewing, tooth decay, and tooth loss are some of the results of gum disease. All of these can be easily avoided when flossing is part of your daily routine.

Other Health Problems

Our bodies function as one entity. Oral problems such as gum disease directly affect your overall health. Untreated gum disease can lead to other problems such as diabetes, heart disease, kidney disease, respiratory disease, stroke, and premature birth. When you floss regularly, you take care of your teeth and gums and in turn, take care of your whole body.

How to Floss Correctly

We recommend flossing once a day, preferably at the end of the day. Including flossing in your nighttime routine ensures plaque and bacteria do not sit on your teeth while you sleep. Follow these guidelines to make sure you’re properly flossing:

• String out 8 inches of floss
• Wrap one end around your index finger on your left hand and wrap the other end around your finger on your right hand
• Place your index finger on the center of the floss to keep it steady
• Gently press the floss between your teeth
• Hold the floss against one side of your tooth and gently rub the floss up and down
• Rinse your floss if food particles or plaque comes out from between your floss
• Repeat the process as you rub the floss against each side of every tooth
• Don’t forget both sides of your back teeth
• Rinse your mouth and throw the floss away. Do not use the same string of floss multiple times

Schedule an appointment with us at Atkins & Anderson, DDS if you have concerns about your oral hygiene or have any cavities or symptoms of gum disease. It doesn’t matter how long it’s been since you’ve seen a dentist or flossed your teeth, call us. There’s no judgment here! We want to help you be as healthy as possible and protect your teeth and gums from future issues.

Your entire body works as a unit. This might sound like an obvious statement; however, we tend to separate our oral health from our overall health. In reality, the two have proved to be closely linked. The health of your heart, mind, respiratory tract and digestive system impacts your oral health–and vice versa. Learn how everything is connected and how you can protect your overall health by prioritizing your oral health.

What’s the Connection?

Your mouth is full of bacteria. While this bacteria is mostly harmless, if harmful bacteria enters your mouth, it quickly spreads to other parts of your body. Your mouth is the front door to your respiratory tract and digestive tract. Bacteria not kept at bay in your mouth can spread to other areas and may cause disease or oral infections. In most cases, oral hygiene routines can keep harmful bacteria at bay. Medications that reduce the production of saliva—antihistamines, antidepressants, decongestants, and painkillers—reduce your number one defense against bacteria growth. Saliva neutralizes acid, washes away food debris, and protects against the growth of bacteria.

How Oral Health Impacts Various Health Conditions

Below is a list of diseases or health conditions that your oral health directly impacts:

• Endocarditis: This is an infection of the inner lining of your heart chambers or valves that occurs when bacteria from your mouth spread through your bloodstream and enter your heart.
• Cardiovascular Disease: Research suggests that heart disease, stroke, and clogged arteries are linked to the bacteria that cause inflammation and infection in your mouth.
• Pregnancy and Birth Complications: Periodontitis is linked to low birth weight and premature births.
• Pneumonia: Pneumonia and other respiratory diseases can be caused by oral bacteria pulled into your lungs.

How Health Conditions Impact Oral Health

Below is a list of health conditions that can negatively impact your oral health:

• Diabetes: Gum disease is often more frequent and severe in men and women with diabetes. People with gum disease tend to have difficulty managing their blood sugar. However, periodontal control enhances diabetes control.
• HIV/AIDS: Oral problems are commonly found in men and women with HIV/AIDS.
• Osteoporosis: Periodontal bone loss and tooth loss are commonly found in people with osteoporosis.
• Alzheimer’s Disease: As Alzheimer’s Disease progresses, oral health seems to decline.

How Can I Protect My Oral Health?

Prioritizing your oral health is critical in protecting yourself from various health problems or preventing worsening dental issues. Here’s how:

• Brush your teeth at least twice a day for two minutes. Use a soft-bristled toothbrush and a toothpaste that contains fluoride for optimum protection.
• Floss daily.
• Rinse with mouthwash as another layer of protection after your brush and floss.
• Eat a healthy diet and limit your consumption of sugary food and beverages.
• Replace your toothbrush every three to four months.
• Avoid tobacco products.
• Schedule a routine cleaning with your dentist.

At Atkins and Anderson, DDS, we want to come alongside you to protect your teeth and gums as well as your overall health. Routine cleanings and check-ups are the best way to evaluate potential problems and protect your mouth from preventable issues. Click here to schedule an appointment today.