Tooth Tales
Here are some very essential facts about teeth presented in Question & Answer format -
Q: Is it okay to bleach your teeth if you have caps and crowns?
Ans: Artificial tooth surfaces don’t respond to the chemicals used for bleaching, so if your crowns or caps were shaded to match less-than-pearly whites, they’ll look yellow compared with your newly bleached teeth.
Q: Do tongue cleaners really stop bad breath?
Ans: They certainly help. Bacteria and their-by-products (volatile sulfur compounds) are the prime culprits in bad breath and thrive in the nooks and crannies of the tongue. A toothbrush can remove some of the detritus and bacteria from tongue surfaces but can’t reach the back surfaces of the tongue without prompting the gag reflex. When used correctly, the broad, flat surfaces of tongue-cleaning devices tend to do a better job of cleaning the whole tongue surface.
Q: What does it mean when you dream about losing your teeth?
Ans: Modern dream interpreters say that dreams of loose or missing teeth are often about stress. These dreams may also suggest a fear of loss during waking life- for example, loss of power, loss of control, loss of a loved one. On the other hand, they could just mean it’s time to go to the dentist.
Q: What’s the difference between at-home bleaching kits and the ones you get from the dentist?
Ans: dentist supervised products are applied in a controlled fashion that limits the risk of irritation. Over-the-counter products don’t work all that well and carry pretty high risk of gum irritation.
Dentist supervised bleaching procedures also confer other benefits of dentist input - such as identifying unexpected dental problems. However, bleaching is not always the answer to discolored teeth. Deep staining could be the result of old fillings, medications or even the death of the nerve.
Q: Are silver fillings dangerous?
Ans: It depends on who you ask. “Silver” fillings are really an amalgam of silver, tin, cooper and mercury. As mercury can be highly toxic, some health advocates claim that the mercury in amalgam fillings can leach out and cause everything from neurological disorders to kidney disease, but after 150 years of use, and several decades of research, no one has been able to confirm scientifically that amalgam fillings have any negative health effects. As a result most dental experts including ADA and British Dental Health Foundation, say that the mercury in a dental amalgam is “essentially harmless”.
Their one caveat is pregnancy. A the greatest exposure to mercury occurs when amalgam fillings are installed or removed, experts advise pregnant women to avoid these procedures.