Archive for the ‘Health information’ Category

Bad Breath?

If you have bad breath, you are not alone.  As a Media PA dentist, I treat many patients in our Delaware county dental office for this common problem.  Nearly 100 million people suffer from chronic bad breath, also known as halitosis. Bad breath can be embarrassing, and so offensive that people step away from the affected person as they speak. If you want to make a great impression, make sure your breath does not send a foul-smelling message.

What Causes My Bad Breath?

When your breath gives off an unpleasant odor, the bacteria in your mouth may be responsible.  The warm, moist conditions in your mouth are an ideal place for bacteria to multiply.  Bad breath often affects people who aren’t properly taking care of their oral health, or those with infections such as periodontal gum disease.  If you are properly brushing and flossing and still have bad breath, consider these causes: 

• Infections in the mouth — Periodontal (gum) disease
• Respiratory tract infections — Throat infections, sinus infections, lung infections
• External agents — Garlic, onions, coffee, cigarette smoking, chewing tobacco
• Dry mouth, also called xerostomia—This can be caused by salivary gland problems, a number of medications or by “mouth breathing.”
• Systemic illnesses — Diabetes, liver disease, kidney disease, lung disease, sinus disease, reflux disease and other illnesses.

Your MediaPADentist recommends some simple steps to avoid this problem and keep your breath fresh.

Properly taking care of your oral health is the key to preventing bad breath. Brushing and flossing will help reduce odor caused by decaying food particles and bacteria in your mouth. Brush and floss several times a day and after meals. Don’t forget to also brush your tongue to eliminate even more bacteria.

Mouthwash is great for freshening up your breath but it is doesn’t fix the source of the problem. Rinse with a non-alcohol containing mouthwash after brushing, especially after eating highly pungent foods like onions.

If you have tooth decay or gum disease, see your dentist or vist Dr. Bodak, your MediaPADentist.  Tooth decay and gum disease are caused by active infections; you cannot fix these problems on your own.

Keep your mouth hydrated.  Chewing sugarless gum is a great way to remove food particles and bacteria that cause bad breath and odor. Kicking the tobacco habit can sweeten your breath and brighten your smile.

Proper dental care is the key to eliminating bad breath.  Schedule your regular dental checkup with a professional cleaning today.

Wishing you a lifetime of sweet breath and beautiful, healthy smiles!

Your dental care is important to me.

Dr. L. Z. Bodak-G
Media PA Dentist

Media PA Dentist Dr. Bodak asks: Is your smile ready for success? 

GREAT…You landed an important job interview!  (And isn’t every job interview important?) Naturally, you have thought about your resume, listing your education, accomplishments and experience.  You’ve selected what you will wear, and whether you will carry a briefcase or portfolio.  You have decided on your references, whether or not  you need a haircut,  and what shoes to choose. So have each of your competitors!

So how do you stand out from the job interview crowd? Don’t overlook the most important thing you can wear…a great smile!  Is your smile ready for success?  After your eyes, it is the second facial feature people will notice.   Your smile is your calling card, the way you present yourself to the world and to your future employer.  Shy, confident, or barely there…each smile sends a different message, setting the tone for your interview,and possibly for your future.

You want to impress your interviewer as the ONE and ONLY candidate your prospective employer should hire. I see patients in my Delaware County dental office who worry that their teeth will not make a fantastic first impression.  So many people suffer with discolored, broken or missing teeth or problem breath.  You may feel that your teeth are crowded, or you may not like that gap between your teeth.  As a Media PA Dentist, I knw these  embarassing conditions can prevent you from demonstrating confidence and success.

Before your job interview, Media PA Dentist Dr. Bodak offers 10 tips for a great and successful smile.

Several weeks before your interview:

• Take a few moments to honestly evaluate your teeth, gums, breath and smile.  Are you satisfied or is there an obvious problem?
•  If it has been a while since you have visited the dentist, make an appointment to have your teeth examined and professionally cleaned. Yellowish tartar buildup is not healthy or attractive. 
• After your dental cleaning, ask for an enamel shade analysis.  If you want brighter whiter teeth, consider professional cosmetic whitening. It is affordable and can be done in a short period of time.  As a MediaPADentist, I find that many patients are candidates for this service.
• Some minor problems may be addressed by simple procedures, such as contouring or cosmetic bonding, during a regular dental visit.
• For those with more extensive cosmetic dental issues, there may be a temporary solution. If you do not have the available time or funds to adress your cosmetic dental needs immediately, your dentist may be able to provide a  custom-made cosmetic retainer which can give the the look you want until you are able to complete the dental procedures required.

In the 24 hours before your job interview:

• Avoid highly pungent foods like garlic and onions for 24 hours before your interview.  The odors from these foods are excreted in your body oils and saliva for many hours.
• On the day of your interview, brush and floss well before you leave home for your appointment.  Don’t forget to gently brush your tongue, then smile!
• Since some beverages can stain, sip water, rather than soda, coffee or tea, until your interview is concluded.
• If the job interview is scheduled later in the day, invest in a small travel toothbrush, travel sized toothpaste and floss. Visit the restroom to use them, if possible, just before your meeting. 
• Not sure about your breath? Bring along a travel sized bottle of non-alcoholic mouthwash.
• Now You are Ready to Relax and Smile for Success!

If you would like to address your dental concerns with an expert in Delaware County, Pennsylvania near Philadelphia, call our friendly office at (610) 565-2868 to schedule your apppointment.  You will feel comfortable and welcome here because I care about your comfort and dental health, and I never hurt anyone!  We offer a number of affordable discount programs and special offers. Together, we can restore your healthy, confident smile with gentle, personalized and care by Dr. Bodak, Mdia PA Dentist. 

Wishing you success and a lifetime of beautiful, healthy smiles!

So what does that have to do with a dental blog? Plenty. It is all about form, fit and function. While we all love the looks of a great smile, your teeth have an important function; they are designed to bite and chew your food for a lifetime of proper digestion.  Just as tap shoes do not transform an elephant into a tap dancer, a mouth full of malpositioned teeth, ill-fitting crowns or loose dentures will not produce an effective bite, which dentists call occlusion.  Your teeth, ligaments, nerves, muscles and bone, all working together, control occlusion. Your teeth must be in alignment to withstand the normal pressures of chewing food. 

Inch for inch, your jaw muscles are among the most powerful in the human body.  Normal chewing places about 70 lbs/sq inch of pressure on the back teeth, and clenching your teeth can increase that force to 150-300 lbs/sq inch.  Bruxism is teeth grinding, often during sleep.  The forces in bruxism during sleep have been measured at over 1000 lbs/sq inch of force, enough to crush the front end of a car.  If normal pressure is applied evenly to your teeth, the force is comfortable.  But if you have occlusal problems and all that pressure is applied to just a few spots, the teeth, ligaments and nerves can signal pain.  Over time, the tooth absorbing this punishment can fracture. 

You may have an unstable bite (malocclusion) due to missing teeth or periodontal disease, or if your teeth are worn down or out of place.  Ill-fitting crowns or bridges can also disturb your bite.  That powerful force, misdirected due to an incorrect bite, can cause pain and damage to your remaining teeth.  The upper and lower teeth should fit together well, without causing your TMJ (temporomandibular joint) to become unstable.  TMJ dysfunction can lead to pain in your jaw or face, as well as headaches and other complaints.

 If you have an unstable on ineffective bite, bruxism, misaligned teeth or TMJ pain, see your dentist and request a bite analysis. A small adjustment may be all that is needed to correct the situation and prevent problems later. A custom night dental guard can help with bruxism, and other types of dental treatment can improve occlusion. And while we can’t guarantee that a visit to our office will give you a new superpower like tap dancing, we can relieve pain, restore occlusion and allow you to chew your food comfortably again.

You and Your Family Are Eating a  Healthy Diet for life, right?

We all know the importance of a diet rich in fruits and vegetables for the health of our digestive and cardiac systems.  These essentials provide fiber, water, minerals, vitamins and phytonutrients that help protect our cells.  Dentists also recommend firm and crunchy foods, such as apples and vegetables, to stimulate the flow of saliva that helps to clean and protect our teeth.

The best food choices for the health of your mouth include cheeses, chicken or other animal protein, nuts, and milk. We believe these foods protect tooth enamel by providing the calcium and phosphorus to remineralize tooth enamel.  These minerals are removed  by acids, but can be restored by our diet.

But Here’s the Problem…

Your healthy food choices may be contaminated with tasteless, odorless chemicals like antibiotics, fungicides, pesticides, hormones and other agents that may be far from healthy.   These chemicals can run off the crops and enter our water supply, persisting for years.  Some of these compounds in higher concentrations have been linked to childhood diseases, reproductive disorders in men, and breast cancer in women.  How much is safe? We really don’t know for sure.  But we should be especially cautious regarding the diets of children and pregnant women.

So What Can We Do? 

For one thing, avoid the foods that usually test as the most heavily contaminated, the “Dirty Dozen”,  and choose the foods with the lowest tested residue, the “Clean Fifteen” .  (More to come in the next blog post about those!)  Organic foods are a great choice, because they are produced without the use of antibiotics, fungicides, pesticides, hormones and other chemicals, and have a much lower chemical residue.  Organic foods are available at local farmers’ markets; they are increasing found in supermarkets as well.  Ask where you shop and let them know you want a selection of organic foods.  

Try growing your own organic berries and vegetables.  In our backyard, we grew these tomatoes organically, along with organic peppers, lettuce, cucumber, and zucchini.  It takes about the same effort as a non-organic garden, the food is fresh and delectable, and you will be doing your body and our planet a huge favor.  Doesn’t that sound delicious?

We have all heard for many years that one small glass of red wine (3-4 ounces) each day may enhance your heart health, lower your cholesterol levels and may be associated with longevity.  Now we have see that red wine, as well as foods like grapes, apples and dark chocolate,  may have added benefit in keeping your mouth, teeth and gums healthy too.  Red wine appears to inhibit tooth decay and reduce the risk of gum disease by helping to counteract  the effect of Streptoccus mutans (S. mutans), a bacterial infection linked to tooth loss. 

Antioxidant chemicals called proanthocyanidins are found in red wine and other foods such as dark chocolate. These phytonutrients prevent S. mutans from sticking to saliva and teeth.  Italian researchers removed the alcohol from a high-quality Italian red wine. They added the nonalcoholic red wine to cultures of S. mutans in saliva, saliva-coated extracted teeth and saliva-coated calcium ceramic beads.  They found that the addition of the non-alcoholic wine prevented the bacteria from clinging to the saliva and to the teeth.  These investigators plan to extend their study to the effects of grape juice on S. mutans in the future.

Research from Cornell University and Université Laval in Quebec, Canada studied polyphenols, the chemicals in grape seeds and red wine that help neutralize the damaging effect of free radicals in the body.  Free radicals can damage our cells’ DNA.  Polyphenols from red wine also help control inflammation caused by gingivitis, or bacterial infections of the gums. Limiting inflammation may also protect against periodontal disease, a more serious form of gum disease that can lead to tooth decay or tooth loss, and has been linked to heart disease and stroke.

Unfortunately, the news is not as convincing when it comes to white wines.  White wines have lower concentrations of phytonutrients and polyphenols, and some researchers fear that the high acid content of white wine might help erode tooth enamel.

So smile tonight, when you have a small glass of red wine with your dinner and a half ounce of dark chocolate for dessert, knowing that your teeth and gums will be a little healthier. (don’t forget to brush and floss afterwards). Here’s a toast to staying healthy!