Healthy Smiles Family Dental

Do you have a toothache? At Healthy Smiles Family Dental in Salem, we’ve removed a lot of dental pulp infections, allowing patients to feel better and retain the use of their natural teeth. But new research has shown that smokers have an especially difficult time with dental pulp infections, and we want our patients to understand this peril and how closely connected dental health is to the overall immune system. We refer to pulp inflammation as “pulpitis.” This is an immune response, and while it can be triggered by an injury, it is usually due to an infection. Anytime the dental pulp is exposed there is a high risk of infection, but pulpitis can also occur if decay of the enamel becomes severe enough for the acid produced by bacteria to irritate the inner portion of the tooth. Pulp infections are not only painful, they are dangerous. If left untreated, they can lead to blood poisoning and facial abscesses. Smokers have compromised immune systems and suffer from high rates of oral infe...

Sleep apnea is a sleeping disorder that occurs when a person’s breathing is interrupted during sleep and when untreated breathing stops repeatedly. When this occurs the brain and rest of the body are being deprived of oxygen. The cause of sleep apnea is usually blockage in the back of the throat where soft tissue collapses. There is a greater risk to develop sleep apnea if you are male, overweight, and history of it in your family. Side effects are high blood pressure, stroke, diabetes, and depression. If you snore loudly and wake up feeling tired after a long night sleep regularly, these may be signs of sleep apnea. A lifestyle change that helps cure sleep apnea is weight loss. Medical alternatives include different devices to be worn while you sleep to prevent blockage of the airways and in more severe cases surgery can be done to help with sleep apnea. For questions about sleep apnea and possible solutions, give us a call at Healthy Smiles. To learn about our services provided at ou...

Cavities are permanent damage done to teeth that develop into small openings or holes on the hard surfaces of teeth. Cavities can develop by drinking too many sugary drinks and consuming too many sweets and other sugary snacks. Not brushing your teeth thoroughly enough is a telltale sign there is bacteria building up and cavities are forming. For cavity prevention there are a few ways to ensure your teeth are healthy and clean. Using toothpaste and brushing all areas of your teeth along with rinsing with fluoride makes for a good combination of healthy teeth. At Healthy Smiles we know that it’s hard to avoid soda and other sugary drinks but drinking water and other alternatives like tea or milk will go a long way in preventing cavities. Putting healthier things in your body make for healthier and stronger teeth. If patients experience any toothaches, tooth sensitivity, or pain when you bite down, there may be a cavity that needs to be filled and we can do that here at Healthy Smiles. ...

You’re probably aware that wisdom tooth extractions are followed by swelling. We work closely with patients at Healthy Smiles Family Dental to ensure that their recoveries go as smoothly as possible, but it’s true that swelling is almost inevitable. We want to reassure patients that this is normally not a problem and to provide them with information they need to protect themselves in case something does go wrong. When a tooth is removed, the bone at the base of the socket is briefly exposed before the blood clots and seals it off. Inflammation is an additional immune defense against the spread of outside pathogens, but it usually isn’t necessary. For the first few days after an extraction, patients should attempt to limit swelling by applying cold packs to their jaws. They should apply the cold pack for fifteen minutes at a time, with fifteen minutes in between applications. Swelling is usually proportional to the complexity of an extraction, with incisions resulting in more swelling t...