Healthy Smiles Family Dental

  If you’ve ever had an issue inside your mouth, you’re probably aware of the varying degrees of pain that come with it. Sometimes it can feel like your whole head is exploding just from a toothache and tenderness. Healthy Smiles Family Dental is committed to helping you correct your problem and manage any pain associated as well. Your Salem, OR, dentist also takes pride in educating patients about how to prevent future oral problems.    Myofascial Pain Syndrome (MPS) commonly occurs in the temporomandibular joint (TMJ). The pain is caused by tension, fatigue, or spasms in the jaw muscles. MPS is usually triggered by bruxism, a condition where a person clenches or grinds their teeth during sleep. Nightguards are a great way to prevent bruxism and ultimately the jaw soreness that is felt in the morning. MPS is not limited to just the jaw muscles, it can occur anywhere in the body including the back and neck muscles.    Other treatments/preventions of MPS include:   - Splint guard, mout...

Do you feel a shooting pain in your teeth when you bite into a frozen treat? Don’t let that ruin your summer. We provide general dental care at Healthy Smiles Family Dental in Salem to keep our patient’s teeth comfortable as well as beautiful. If your teeth are overly sensitive, it could indicate a problem with their enamel. Enamel is the hardest substance in the human body, while the pulp inside each tooth contains blood and a nerve. Between the pulp and enamel is a substance called dentin. This substance is a yellow-gray color and can be seen when enamel is thin. It is made up of tiny tubes, making heat easily transferable through it. Without sufficient enamel, dentin is vulnerable to sudden changes in heat that will be felt in the pulp. It is common for teeth to be sensitive immediately after whitening. Enamel can also be broken down through mechanical damage. But in most cases, enamel erosion is due to acid from infectious bacteria or acid reflux. Drinks such as sodas and citrus ju...

Cracking a tooth is a dental emergency. If this happens to one of our patients, they should call us at Healthy Smiles Family Dental in Salem unless they also have series facial lacerations, in which case they should go to an emergency room. The good news is that we can usually save cracked teeth, but we thought our patients would be calmer if they knew ahead of time what usually happens. Our molars distribute bite force over their wide surfaces. Other teeth are likelier to crack or be pushed outward if used for chewing, while molars can withstand incredible force. But they are also the likeliest teeth to crack or chip a cuspid. A patient should swish salt water in their mouth if they have a dental emergency and should cover a broken tooth with orthodontic wax if they have any available. If not, sugar-free gum will do. The smallest cracks, called craze lines, can be fixed with bonding or covered with a veneer. When a larger part of a tooth chips off, it may be fixable with a partial cro...