Diet is Important to Good Oral Hygiene

At Alta Loma Dental Care, we advise our patients to eat as healthy as possible. To prevent cavities and maintain good oral health, it is important to understand how certain foods can damage your teeth.

When possible, we encourage our patients to avoid eating foods that are high in carbohydrates and sugar. Bacteria in your mouth turns sugars and carbohydrates into acids that break down your tooth enamel and cause tooth decay.

Foods that are healthy for your body and your teeth include lean meats, cheese, nuts, fruits, and green vegetables. The calcium and phosphorus in these foods help to protect your tooth enamel and gives your teeth minerals that are removed by acidic foods.

Along with following a healthy diet, we encourage you to floss and brush your teeth twice a day to prevent tooth decay. Don’t forget to make an appointment with us for cleaning and a check-up twice a year.

To learn more about all of the services we provide at our practice, visit www.altalomadental.comfor more information. To schedule in our Alta Loma, CA office, call Alta Loma Dental Care at 909-987-6268. 

Electronic verses Traditional Toothbrushes

There are a lot of options to choose when getting a new toothbrush. We advise our patients to change toothbrushes every 3-4 months or when their bristles are worn down. If the bristles begin to get splayed and distorted, means you are no longer effectively brushing your teeth.

You have two options when choosing a toothbrush: you can use a traditional toothbrush or an electric one. We encourage our patients who have trouble brushing for a full two minutes to get an electric toothbrush. Electric bristles rotate to help you remove plaque from your teeth and gums more effectively. If you are thorough with brushing your teeth for two minutes, a traditional toothbrush works perfectly fine.

It doesn’t matter what kind of toothbrush you use as long as you are brushing twice a day with fluoride toothpaste. We advise our patients to schedule an appointment for cleaning twice a year with us. We want you to have your best smile!

To learn more about all of the services we provide at our practice, visit www.altalomadental.comfor more information. To schedule in our Alta Loma, CA office, call Alta Loma Dental Care at 909-987-6268. 

How to Clean a Night Guard

One of our specialties at Alta Loma Dental Care is providing customized night guards for patients with obstructive sleep apnea. Also called snore guards, night guards are removable oral appliances that keep the teeth apart during the patient’s sleep so they won’t rub together. They also reposition the jaw to help keep the patient’s airways open. But as with any oral appliance, bacteria will build up on the night guard unless it is kept clean.

Nightguard manufacturers also make cleaning solutions and other hygiene products they advertise on their website. These products are often of high quality, but the patient should still brush the appliance after removing it each morning. A soft-bristled toothbrush will remove the bacterial film that develops in the patient’s mouth. However, the patient should not use toothpaste on the night guard, as the gritty minerals are likely to scratch its soft plastic and do not provide any benefit.

Unlike dentures, some night guards are meant to be kept dry when not in use. But regardless of how they are stored, the case should be cleaned every day with antibacterial soap. It’s also important to keep the case away from anything too hot and out of sunlight because the night guard’s shape could be distorted. A patient’s teeth may migrate naturally over time, which would require the night guard to be adjusted, but patients should not attempt to do this on their own.

Alta Loma Dental Care is at 7283 Carnelian St, Alta Loma, California, 91701. To schedule an appointment, call 909-987-6268 or visit Alta Loma Dental Care and fill out a contact sheet.

 

Why Do Gums Get Swollen Around Stuck Teeth?

If you have half-erupted wisdom teeth, dental overcrowding isn’t your only problem. You could also be at risk for pericoronitis: inflammation around a dental crown. At Alta Loma Dental Care, we care for patients of all ages and keep a sharp eye out for problems in how adolescent patients’ teeth erupt. If pericoronitis is not stopped, it could lead to pain and a worse infection.

Dentists say teeth are “impacted” when they are unable to fully push through the gum line. It is common for the upper canines to be impacted and for the lower wisdom teeth to get stuck after partially erupting. The wisdom teeth can be especially troublesome because they often do not emerge until the patient has already undergone orthodontic work and is old enough for their jaw bone to have become more resistant to tooth migration. An impacted wisdom tooth will often be partially covered by a flap of gum tissue called an operculum. The operculum is a trap for food debris and bacterial build-up, causing the gum tissue to be inflamed.

Patients will struggle to clean a partially-covered tooth. They may try oral antibiotics and swishing warm salt water around their mouths, but the infections will likely recur. At our office, we can cut away an operculum and extract most impacted wisdom teeth. The procedure will leave the patient free from the risk of overcrowding and any additional discomfort that could result. But if patients maintain regular dental appointments, we will be able to identify stalled wisdom teeth earlier.

Alta Loma Dental Care is at 7283 Carnelian St, Alta Loma, California, 91701. To schedule an appointment, call 909-987-6268 or visit Alta Loma Dental Care and fill out a contact sheet.

 

Invisalign

Invisalign is a system of straightening teeth without the use of conventional braces. A series of clear plastic aligners are utilized to create tooth movement. New technology has developed that can generate a series of aligners with small changes to each aligner and doesn’t require traditional braces. A new aligner is given to patients every few weeks to continue moving the teeth into the desired position.

Made from a clear plastic material and fit tightly over the teeth, Invisalign can be removed for eating, brushing, and flossing. At Alta Loma Dental Care we make the aligners so they are virtually impossible to notice, comfortable, and easy to wear.

Invisalign is recommended for young adults and adults with fully developed mouths so the Invisalign fits appropriately and their mouth structure isn’t still changing. Children’s mouths aren’t fully developed at a young age so they are a better fit for traditional braces. Patients who have only a mild to moderate case of spacing and crowding with their teeth are the best fit for invisalign.

At Alta Loma Dental Care we specialize in Invisalign and can get patients on the right track to making their teeth healthier and straighter.

To learn more about Invisalign and the services we provide at our practice, visit www.altalomadental.com for more information. To schedule in our Alta Loma, CA office, call Alta Loma Dental Care at 909-987-6268.

Teeth Grinding

Patients affected by bruxism, also known as teeth grinding, need a customized night guard from Alta Loma Dental Care. Teeth grinding can damage enamel, wear down teeth, create jaw pain, and irritate your gums. The only way to prevent teeth grinding is a customized night guard that we make to protect the top and bottom of your teeth from grinding while you sleep.

The reason people most likely grind their teeth is due to an abnormal bite, or missing or crooked teeth. Patients who experience high levels of stress and anxiety are also more prone to teeth grinding.

It is difficult for patients that grind their teeth to know they do it because they are sleeping. Patients waking up with headaches or sore jaws regularly are likely grinding their teeth. Teeth grinding is loud and can be heard by other people who are present while you asleep and should tell you.

Night guards are the only defense against teeth grinding and guards can be made at Alta Loma Dental to prevent your teeth from ruining a good night's sleep.

To learn more about night guards and the services we provide at our practice, visit www.altalomadental.com. To schedule an appointment at our Alta Loma, CA office, call Alta Loma Dental Care at 909-987-6268.

Dental Phobia

If you are afraid of going to the dentist, you may suffer from dental phobia which is a more serious condition than anxiety. It leaves people panic-stricken and terrified to visit the dentist, an estimated 10-20% of people suffer from dental phobia. Many patients simply avoid the dentist to solve the problem until the pain in their mouth is no longer tolerable. At Alta Loma Dental Care, we work with our patients to make their experience as comfortable and stress-free as possible.

Patients who have trouble sleeping the night before the dentist may suffer from dental phobia. If while at the dentist's office patients feel physically ill, nervous, or experience intense uneasiness they should talk to their dentist to find a solution. Dentists should always take your concerns seriously and do everything they can to put your mind at ease.

At Alta Loma Dental Care, we talk to our patients to make sure they are comfortable and feel at ease while in the chair. If patients have issues that cause them duress while at our practice, we work with them to find common ground and make the experience is as pleasant as possible.

To learn more about the services we provide at our practice, visit www.altalomadental.com for more information. To schedule in our Alta Loma, CA office, call Alta Loma Dental Care at 909-987-6268.

Do You Know Your Dental Instruments?

The instruments at a dental office are hopefully a familiar sight to you, but you may not know their names. At Alta Loma Dental Care, we’re always happy to answer patients’ questions, but often, people may struggle with what to ask if they don’t feel equipped for a discussion. We thought it would be a good idea to let patients know a little more about our instruments and how we use them.

We’re providers of 6-month braces, but most of our patients come in for cleanings and fillings. During cleanings, our hygienists will rely heavily on the handheld mirror and hooked instruments called probes or explorers. Probes have a hook that forms a ninety-degree angle with the handle and are used to test the cleanliness of gum pockets. Explorers are used to break apart calculus, the mineral and bacterial build-up on teeth, and to test the hardness of enamel. One of the things that sets our office apart is that we also use lasers to remove bacterial build-up. While breaking apart calculus, we occasionally have the patient close their lips around an evacuator, which is the tube that vacuums out debris.

Larger evacuators are needed for drilling away tooth decay. Before drilling begins, patients are numbed with an anesthetic delivered through a syringe. The drill sprays water to prevent overheating. Following the decay’s removal, we apply the filling in layers using a blunt instrument called a burnisher. We can also use a laser to desensitize tooth roots and then apply sealants to them.

Alta Loma Dental Care is at 7283 Carnelian St, Alta Loma, California, 91701. To schedule an appointment, call 909-987-6268 or visit Alta Loma Dental Care and fill out a contact sheet.