Braces and Invisalign in Puyallup and Everett, WA
Categories Orthodontics

Why Retainers Are Essential After Braces and Invisalign?

Your teeth and the rest of your body will keep evolving for the remainder of your life. This is why you must wear your retainer as advised by our Orthodontists in Puyallup WA once your treatment is over. Discover the other reasons for wearing your retainer following orthodontic treatment by reading on.

How Do Retainers Prevent Movement of Teeth?

Once your braces are taken off, we can better appreciate your reluctance to wear another mouth item. On the other hand, improper wearing of your retainer will cause your teeth to progressively move into their natural alignment.

Although at first you might not see your teeth moving, as time changes, it becomes increasingly obvious. If you haven’t worn your retainer in a few days, for instance, it could feel tight and uncomfortable. As long as you routinely use your retainers, they will fit.

Twelve months after braces or Invisalign: what should I expect?

The surrounding jawbone helps to somewhat hold your teeth in place. Your jawbone typically softens or vanishes during orthodontic therapy, so teeth may migrate into their correct places.

You must wear orthodontic retainers once you stop wearing metal braces or Invisalign to help hold your teeth in place while fresh bone is deposited. Your body needs nine to twelve months to grow sufficient bone to stabilize teeth.

Twelve months should have seen enough fresh bone deposited around your teeth to maintain their stability.

Does Invisalign call for retainer wear?

Indeed, following Invisalign treatment, you will have to wear a retainer. The outcome is the same even though Invisalign moves teeth differently than braces. Following any type of tooth alignment, you will have to wear retainers.

Different Types of Retainers

There are two main kinds of retainers: fixed and detachable. Your particular dental condition will determine the kind of retainer you are given, but it is not unusual for people to get both. For the front teeth, for instance, a detachable retainer; for the bottom, a fixed retainer.

They are exactly what they are—removable retainers. Our orthodontists will let you know exactly how long you will need to wear your retainer full-time and then how often it should be used long-term. You must make sure to follow the directions on cleaning the retainer.

Fixed retainers are fastened to your teeth in an invisible manner, say on the rear of your teeth. Extra care will be needed with this kind of retainer since it cannot be taken off to eliminate food particles and stop periodontal problems.

What happens if I lose my retainer?

Just call our office to make an appointment should you misplace your retainer. Whether the dog ate your retainer or you unintentionally dropped it on your lunch plate, we can get you fitted for a new retainer right away to prevent losing the advancement achieved with orthodontic treatment. We will imprint your teeth during your visit to make a new retainer.

Should your retainer be tight? What does that mean?

If you haven’t worn your retainer as often as our orthodontists advised or recently, it could feel tight. This is so because your teeth start moving toward their natural locations very slowly. As you age, your teeth naturally move a little.

See one of our orthodontists if your retainer seems quite tight. Try not to shove the appliance between your teeth.

Early Dental Care for Children in Puyallup and Everett, WA
Categories Dental Care

Importance of Early Dental Care for Children

Since smiling is contagious, everyone wants their children to have brilliant, healthy grins. To reach this goal, though, early dental treatment is vital. Dentists advise beginning dental appointments early on for many reasons, from preventing tooth decay to guaranteeing appropriate growth of the jaw and teeth. Our blog post is here to help your children have a lifetime of great oral health!

The Value of Early Dental Work

For many different reasons, early dental care is vital. The most common chronic illness in children, tooth decay, can be avoided with care. Early dental treatment also teaches youngsters lifelong, lifetime-lasting healthy oral hygiene practices. Regular dental appointments can identify minor issues before they become major ones and lower the likelihood of having costly, lengthy treatments later in life.

Early dental treatment can also result in better general health since studies have linked general well-being to oral health. Parents should begin bringing their children to the dentist either by age one, whichever comes first, or right away after their first tooth erupts. It can also assist youngsters in forming lifetime-lasting good habits.

If you show no concern for your children’s teeth, dental decay will result. Usually, bacteria in the mouth create acids that eat away at tooth enamel, thereby causing tooth decay. Regular brushing and flossing help to eliminate the germs that cause tooth decay most successfully. Furthermore helping to maintain teeth strong and healthy is fluoridated water.

Early dental treatment has advantages.

Children benefit from early dental treatment for several different reasons. It can give first aid against cavities. Teeth are quite prone to decay when they first start to erupt. Early and frequent dental visits for your child will help prevent cavities and other issues downstream.

Early dental care can also help to guarantee that your child’s teeth are growing correctly. Early identification of problems helps you prevent more major difficulties down the road. In conclusion, frequent dental appointments can also help your youngster develop a lifetime of good oral hygiene practices and get used to the dentist.

Effects of inadequate dental health in children

Children’s general health and well-being can be greatly affected by the several effects of inadequate dental health. Among other major oral health issues, poor dental health can cause gum disease and tooth decay. Children may find it challenging to eat and speak correctly, and pain and discomfort may result from it. Furthermore, affecting children’s self-esteem and anxiety is inadequate dental health.

  • Advice on cleaning your child’s teeth
  • On their toothbrush, dab a pea-sized bit of toothpaste.
  • Twice a day, help them brush for two minutes.
  • Check that they also brush their tongue!
  • Encourage daily flossing for them.
  • Bring them in for cleanings and routine dental visits.

 Conclusion

Children should receive early dental treatment since it guarantees that their teeth are robust and healthy. From avoiding cavities to developing appropriate oral hygiene practices, effective dental care is crucial to maintaining children’s teeth in a perfect state. Remember these reasons why early dental care is crucial for children, and the next time you bring them to see the dentist, Don’t overlook flossing and brushing two times a day!

Sleep Apnea treatment in Puyallup and Everett WA
Categories Sleep Apnea

Discover the Secrets to Combating Sleep Apnea with Targeted Treatment Plans

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a severe sleep problem. Those with sleep apnea cease breathing momentarily during sleep. Hundreds of times a night, these pauses disrupt sleep and cause health problems. Should you have sleep apnea, there are steps you can take to enhance your well-being and quality of sleep.

Changing Lifestyle to Prevent Sleep Apnea

These good lifestyle choices can aid with milder forms of sleep apnea:

  1. Not gaining weight: Most often occurring in those who are obese or overweight is sleep apnea. Obesity can aggravate neck fat deposits, which raises your risk of airway collapse. Keeping a good weight by eating a good diet and consistent exercise will help you lower your risk of sleep apnea.
  2. Frequent Movement: Three to five times weekly at least thirty-minute exercise helps lower your risk of sleep apnea. Moreover, exercise helps to regulate your sleep pattern and quality.
  3. Keep away from alcohol: Reducing your alcohol intake will help lower your chances of sleep apnea, especially near bedtime. If you do not wake up should your oxygen level drop, alcohol might cause more heavy sleep and aggravate snoring. Moreover, drinking can cause your tongue to relax more, which would lead to snoring.
  4. Cut back on smoking: By aggravating upper airway inflammation and affecting upper airway muscle actions and arousal mechanisms, smoking can worsen sleep apnea. Untreated sleep apnea has a correlation with smoking addiction.
  5. Mouth workouts: Mouth exercises to strengthen your tongue and throat muscles—oropharyngeal muscular exercises—may help ease symptoms of sleep apnea.

Practice of Sleep Hygiene

Apart from implementing good lifestyle choices, keeping consistent and good sleeping habits helps to reduce symptoms:

Change your posture for sleeping. Sleeping on your back raises your chance of constriction of the airways. Sleeping on your side, though, can help the airways remain open.

Sit in a sleep posture. Try putting a sleep positioner—wedge-type pillow—behind you to stop you from turning onto your back should you wake up on your back in the middle of the night.

Keep to a sleeping regimen. Although this won’t cure sleep apnea, regular sleep hygiene helps to create a normal sleep pattern.

Moist your bedroom. A humidifier can help ease sleep apnea’s dry mouth effects.

Attach a nasal strip. Nighttime nasal strips or dilators help to increase airflow and lessen snoring. Usually found over-counter in any drugstore, nasal strips and dilators are not expensive.

Medical Actions Against Sleep Apnea

If your sleep apnea is mild to severe and lifestyle adjustments have little effect on symptoms. Devices exist to help open airways. Possibly required is surgery as well. Medical therapies used to stop sleep apnea consist of:

Constant positive air pressure (CPAP). Many times used to treat sleep apnea, the CPAP machine is a breathing aid. Wearing a mask over your nose or mouth, a CPAP lets you sleep by continuously pressing your upper airways. While sleeping, the air pressure facilitates breathing and helps to keep your airways open.

Oral devices. Form-fitting dental appliances, sleep apnea mouth guards move your tongue, jaw, or soft palate to widen the airways as you sleep.

For those suffering with sleep apnea, there are several surgical choices available:

  • Implants: A palatal implant is a minimally invasive procedure used to strengthen the soft palate therefore lessening snoring.
  • Uvulopalatomy with laser assistance: A surgeon removes tissues from your mouth and throat in laser-assisted uvulopalatoplasty to widen your upper airways and boost airflow.

Call us right now for an evaluation if you have sleep apnea.

Sedation Dentistry in Puyallup and Everett WA
Categories Sedation Dentistry

Is Sedation Dentistry Right for You? Factors to Consider

Are you scheduled for especially protracted dental surgery not too far off? Perhaps you find yourself somewhat nervous before a routine exam or visit. Whatever the case, we are here to make sure your time seated in the dentist’s chair is comfortable and simple. This is exactly the reason we provide patients of all ages with sedative dental treatment.

Sedation Dentistry

Let’s examine this treatment closer up. Sedation dentistry mostly serves to enable patients to relax during several dental treatments. One of the most often used methods is a local anesthetic injection; a specific medicine is given to you to relax your nerves and can be taken in numerous ways.

Patients who find it difficult to remain motionless for prolonged durations can find especially helpful sedation dentistry close by.

  • Calls for specialized treatment.
  • Battle dental phobia—fear of the dentist.
  • Have specific requirements.
  • Deal with great sensitivity or have a very strong gag reflex.
  • To eradicate all discomfort or suffering.

This service will help the dentist work fast and effectively; you will be out of the chair in no time. Over the appointment, your vital signs and reactions will be under close observation.

Note that sedation dentistry should only be carried out by a licensed dentist with training in this particular field of treatment.

Which Kind of Sedation Is Applied in Dentistry?

Dentists most often administer sedation in two forms:

Because of the exhilaration and relaxation patients feel, most people refer to nitrous oxide as “laughing gas.” One wears a mask covering their nose to inhale the gas. You will be awake when the dentist treats you.

Speaking Orally:

Taken either before or the morning of the appointment, oral sedatives are pills. Their degree of sedation will vary depending on the dosage from mild to moderate.

Intravenous: The medicine is straight into your veins via an injection in your hand or arm. You will go into a state of great relaxation and lowered consciousness. More difficult or invasive dental treatments often call for this.

General or deep sedation could possibly be advised depending on your circumstances. The appointment will be totally inconvenient for you. Here to provide this to patients is an anesthesiologist brought in.

To what extent safe is sedation dentistry?

It’s quite okay if you feel a little nervous before having sedation dentistry. Still, patients of all ages should be quite safe. Still, it’s good to keep in mind that sedation dentistry carries potential hazards, much as any medical treatment does. Several elements determine the degree of risk: the type of sedation utilized, the dosage given, the general health of the patient, and the training and experience of the dentist delivering the sedation.

Dentists have to follow rigorous procedures and criteria, including having emergency equipment always on hand and getting a complete medical history and physical examination before the operation, thereby guaranteeing the safety of every recipient.

Before agreeing to anything, be sure your dentist addresses the advantages and possible risks of sedation dentistry.

dental crowns in Puyallup and Everett WA
Categories Crowns

Comparing Temporary vs. Permanent Dental Crowns: What You Should Know

Starting to become somewhat trendy today, cosmetic dentistry has many people spending more time in the dental office. You really should have a dental crown if bad oral hygiene causes decay in your tooth. It is designed to guard the deteriorated teeth. We shall go over the variations between permanent and temporary crowns in this blog.

Temporary Dental crown:

An implant or natural tooth is protected by a temporary cap until your permanent crown is created and installed. Made with a substance meant only for a brief period, it is joined with temporary cement. It might cover a tooth restored, a dental implant, or a tooth with a root canal.

The transient cap is fragile. This is why, while you have a temporary cap in place, you should especially pay additional attention when brushing or flossing your teeth.

You have to keep your next dental appointment for a permanent crown since a temporary crown is only a band-aid treatment. Two to three weeks or more will pass with your temporary cap in place.

Permanent Dental Crown:

Most main dental issues related to your teeth, such as broken, damaged, chipped, etc., will call for a permanent crown.

The dental practitioner files down and shapes your tooth to create room for the permanent crown. They next lay a strong bonding cement to guarantee the caps remain in their original position permanently.

Why would one choose a permanent crown rather than a temporary crown?

The following explains why you should choose a permanent dental cap over a temporary dental crown:

  1. Made From Strong Materials: Human teeth endure much wear and strain. This is hence why the materials used to make dental caps have to be able to withstand this. One can design a permanent crown out of several materials, including porcelain, ceramic porcelain, etc. These materials’ great strength stops chipping on the outside of the rebuilt tooth and breaking.
  2. Improved Attention: Your teeth will grow more susceptible to infections and other disorders the longer you wait. A permanent cap fits better than a temporary crown, hence it has more retention. The seal is tight, hence it stops a new cavity from developing around the restoration.
  3. Beautiful appearance: Improved appearances are still another main benefit of a permanent crown. Designed at the dental lab according to teeth impressions to match the patient’s remaining teeth, they seem natural. It is then returned to the dental office where the dentist will gently cover the patient’s decayed tooth.
  4. Last longer: This long-lasting fix for permanent teeth restoration is Remember, your cap will stay on your teeth longer the better you treat it. Usually, the permanent cap needs replacement five to fifteen years after it is installed.

Make sure you therefore arrange regular dentist visits. It will guarantee that your crown will operate as it should. Visit our website now or give our dental professional a call to learn more about varieties of dental crowns.