Healthy Smiles Family Dental

Do you always seem to have tartar and bleeding gums despite your best effort at brushing? It may be time for you to look into getting an electric toothbrush. Healthy Smiles Family Dental treats patients with all kinds of needs. We’re happy to guide our struggling patients toward hygiene products that might improve their oral health. The old model manual toothbrushes are highly effective at preventing tooth decay when they are used correctly. They need to be used twice a day for two minutes at a time, and the patient needs to pay enough attention to cover every tooth surface. Electric toothbrushes are particularly useful for people with physical disabilities or difficulty focusing. They make tens of thousands of brushstrokes per minute, contrasting with the dozens made by manual toothbrushes, and can be used more quickly and with fewer hand motions. Electric toothbrushes could create a risk of overbrushing, but many of them now come with smartphone apps to prevent that. A user would not...

Usually losing a baby tooth is an exciting developmental milestone. But what happens when one just never falls out? Healthy Smiles Family Dental is a trusted provider of tooth extractions to the Salem community. We can help when an adult still retains some of their baby, or deciduous, teeth. Normally, the roots of baby teeth dissolve as the adult tooth makes its way toward the gum line. This is why the deciduous tooth's crown pops out shortly before the adult tooth emerges. But sometimes, the teeth are extremely misaligned, and the adult tooth doesn’t come in at the right angle to push the baby tooth out. This tends to happen more often to the central lower incisors. There are also a few cases in which an adult tooth never develops or pushes through, which is likelier to happen to the upper lateral incisors and canines. Having both baby teeth and adult teeth often leads to overcrowding. The jumbled teeth are also difficult to keep clean. If the baby tooth root isn’t attached to the...

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...

Did you know that good oral health could protect you from Alzheimer’s disease? That’s the conclusion of break-through scientific studies published in the last year. We provide patients with regular cleanings at Healthy Smiles Family Dental in Salem, but we hope our patients will come see us whenever they notice the signs of gingivitis. The bacteria that cause it could become a big problem. Porphyromonas gingivalis is a species of bacteria that causes gum disease. It excretes toxins called gingipains as a means of defending itself against white blood cells. These toxins are common, but are found in especially high levels in the brains and spinal fluid of people who suffered from Alzheimer’s disease. Testing on animals confirmed that the gingipains from oral bacteria that affects their species trigger the production of neural plaque. Another study found that P. gingivalis is able to travel from the mouth to the brain in humans. Scientists caution that gum disease is probably not the ...

Cleaning your teeth and gums is important, but what about your tongue? Your tongue is often ignored in your daily dental routine. That’s why Drs. Na Xu and Mark Thomas of Healthy Smiles Family Dental recommend Tongue Cleaners/Scrapers. These cleaning apparatuses are sold at most supermarkets and grocery stores. Use them to scrape bacteria and coatings off of your tongue. To learn more, contact our office in Salem, OR.   Tongue cleaners are an inexpensive and critical investment. They’re easy to buy and use! Start off by placing the tongue cleaner at the back of your tongue. Slowly scrape it forward down the tongue. Rinse off the device after every full rotation. Clean out your mouth too. Do this for as many times as necessary.   The main benefit of using a tongue cleaner is removing tongue coatings. A coating on your tongue can be caused by yeast infections, dry mouth, smoking, medications, and poor oral hygiene. Dead cells and bacteria make up the coating. Removing the coating improve...

Mouthwash is a great addition to your oral hygiene routine. Only by using mouthwash can you fully clean certain areas of your mouth. Not only does it eliminate bad breath, but it keeps your mouth healthy! Drs. Na Xu and Mark Thomas of Healthy Smiles Family Dental recommend mouthwash not as a replacement for brushing and flossing, but as a supplement. Contact our office in Salem, OR, to learn more dental health tips.   Mouthwash comes in two types: therapeutic and cosmetic. Cosmetic is used for getting rid of and preventing bad breath. Therapeutic provides benefits in combating gingivitis, cavities, and plaque buildup. Each mouthwash has its own added bonuses, so pay attention to the packaging when buying.   Follow these general mouthwash use instructions: -Pour the recommended dosage into your mouth. -Vigorously swish the mouthwash around your closed mouth. Try to be thorough, reaching every area. Do this for around 30 seconds. -Spit into the sink when done. Never swallow the mouthwash...

Patients commonly mistake flossing as being an optional hygiene practice. In reality, flossing is just as important as brushing. Drs. Na Xu and Mark Thomas hear many reasons why patients aren’t flossing at their bi-annual checkups. Don’t be one of them! That’s why Healthy Smiles Family Dental, located in Salem, OR, is providing this flossing guide and some tips.   The majority of the patients treated at your Salem dental office never learned to floss properly. Proper technique makes all the difference in your teeth. First, remove around 18 inches of floss from the packet. Twirl one end around each of your middle fingers. One finger will control the clean floss, the other the dirty floss. Next, hold the floss taut and carefully move it between your teeth. Wrap the floss around one of the two teeth in a “C” shape. Move the floss up and down, rubbing between the teeth. Repeat this for all of your teeth.   One of the biggest dental mistakes possible is not flossing daily. Only through flos...