If you’re pregnant, you may find yourself pondering decisions you didn’t have to think about before. Should you have that glass of wine… or skip it, because of the alcohol; go for the sushi… or avoid uncooked foods; take the pain reliever… or live with the headache. And if you have a toothache — or even if you’re overdue for a checkup and a cleaning — you may also be wondering whether having dental treatment (especially treatment that might involve local anesthetics) is safe for you and your developing baby.

Fortunately, a study that recently appeared in the Journal of the American Dental Association (JADA) should let expectant moms breathe a little easier. The research concludes that it’s safe for pregnant women to undergo dental treatment, including procedures that use local anesthetics.

And that’s good news indeed, because while maintaining good oral health during pregnancy is critical for the developing baby, many expectant moms experience problems during this period.  Some common issues include a higher risk of tooth decay due to increased carbohydrate consumption, and sore or bleeding gums from a condition called pregnancy gingivitis.

According to the study’s lead author, Aharon Hagai, D.M.D., "[Pregnancy] is a crucial period of time in a woman’s life, and maintaining oral health is directly related to good overall health." Yet, as Dr. Hagai notes, pregnant women sometimes avoid the dentist even if they have a problem. So his team set out to determine whether having dental treatment with anesthesia affected the outcome of pregnancies. They compared a total of 1,004 women, some of whom had dental treatment with local anesthesia, and some who did not.

The research showed there was no significant difference between the two groups. This applied in terms of both major medical problems (such as cleft palate, heart defects or cerebral palsy) and other issues, including low birth weight and preterm delivery. Dr. Hagai summed it up this way: "We aimed to determine if there was a significant risk associated with dental treatment with anesthesia and pregnancy outcomes. We did not find any."

So if you’re pregnant, there’s one less thing to worry about. Go ahead and schedule your routine dental check up — and remember that it is particularly important to have cleanings during pregnancy.  If you experience changes in your oral health, don’t hesitate to come in for an office visit and cleaning; that way, you can make sure your hormonal changes are not playing havoc with your gums. There is an old saying in some cultures that for every child a woman has, she loses a tooth. Don’t let that happen to you.

If you have questions about oral health and pregnancy, please call our office to schedule a consultation. You can read more in the Dear Doctor magazine article “Expectant Mothers: Dental facts you need to know” and “Pregnancy and Oral Health.”

Twenty-six percent of American adults between 65 and 74 have lost all their teeth to dental disease. This isn’t an appearance problem only—lack of teeth can also harm nutrition and physical well-being.

Fortunately, we have advanced restorative options that can effectively replace missing teeth. Of these, there’s a tried and true one that’s both affordable and effective: removable dentures.

Dentures are simple in design: a plastic or resin base, colored with a pinkish-red hue to resemble gums to which we attach prosthetic (false) teeth. But while the design concept isn’t complicated, the process for creating and fitting them can be quite involved: they must conform to an individual patient’s jaws and facial structure if they’re going to appear natural.

If you’re considering dentures, here’s some of what it will take to achieve a successful outcome.

Positioning the teeth. The position of the prosthetic teeth on the base greatly determines how natural they’ll appear and how well they’ll function. So, we’ll need to plan tooth placement beforehand based on your facial and jaw structures, as well as photos taken of you before tooth loss. We’ll also consider how large the teeth should be, how far to place them forward or back from the lips, and whether to include “imperfections” from your old look that you see as part of your appearance.

Simulating the gums. While the teeth are your smile’s stars, the gums are the supporting cast. It’s important that we create a denture base that attractively frames the teeth by determining how much of the gums show when you smile, or adding color and even textures to better resemble gum tissue. We can also add ridges behind the upper teeth to support speech.

Balancing the bite. Upper and lower dentures don’t operate in and of themselves—they must work cooperatively and efficiently with each other during eating or speaking. So while appearance matters, the bite’s bite adjustment or balance might matter more. That’s why we place a lot of attention into balancing and adjusting the bite after you receive your dentures to make sure you’re comfortable.

This is a detailed process that we may need to revisit from time to time to make sure your dentures’ fit remains tight and comfortable. Even so, modern advances in this traditional restoration continue to make them a solid choice for total tooth loss.

If you would like more information on denture restorations, please contact us or schedule an appointment for a consultation. You can also learn more about this topic by reading the Dear Doctor article “Removable Dentures.”

For generations, dentures have helped people avoid the dire consequences of total teeth loss. Now, implant technology is making them even better.

Composed of life-like prosthetic teeth fixed within a plastic or resin gum-colored base, dentures are manufactured to fit an individual patient’s mouth for maximum fit, comfort and performance. But dentures also have a critical drawback—they can’t stop bone loss in the jaw.

Bone is constantly regenerating as older cells dissolve and then are replaced by newer cells. In the jawbone, the forces generated when we chew travel through the teeth to the bone and help stimulate this new cell growth. When teeth are missing, though, the bone doesn’t receive this stimulus and may not regenerate at a healthy rate, resulting in gradual bone loss.

Dentures can’t transmit this chewing stimulus to the bone. In fact, the pressure they produce as they rest on top of the gums may actually accelerate bone loss. Over time then, a denture’s once secure and comfortable fit becomes loose.

In the past, most patients with loose dentures have had them relined with new dental material to improve fit, or have new dentures created to conform to the changed contours of the jaws. But implant technology now offers another alternative.

Implants are in essence a tooth root replacement. Dentists surgically implant a titanium metal post directly into the jawbone that naturally attracts bone cells to grow and adhere to it over time (a process called osseointegration). This not only creates a secure and lasting hold, it can also stop or even reverse bone loss.

Most people know implants as single tooth replacements with a porcelain crown attached to the titanium post. But a few strategically placed implants can also support either removable or fixed dentures. Removable dentures (also called overdentures) usually need only 3 or 4 implants on the top jaw and 2 on the bottom jaw for support through built-in connectors in the dentures that attach to the implants. A fixed bridge may require 4-6 implants to which they are permanently attached.

There are pros and cons for each of these options and they’re both more expensive than traditional dentures. In the long run, though, implant-supported dentures could be more beneficial for your bone health and hold their fit longer.

If you would like more information on implant-supported dental work, please contact us or schedule an appointment for a consultation.