Post: #51

What are the risks of performing oral sex on a woman???

Post: #52

Thanks bro.

Post: #53

(04-17-2013 01:16 PM)Giovonny Wrote:  What are the risks of performing oral sex on a woman???

This is not dental per se, but here goes.

In undergrad, I took a microbiology class. STD topics come about...

Teachers says gonorhea is a common STD. You can get it in various places... vagina, rectum, mouth, throat and eyes (hehehe).

I started laughing hysterically and then start hiccuping from lack of air (I was the only one). Everybody stares at me. Hahah.

I guess somebody busted in somebody's eyes or something. Or maybe dude fingered some girl and rubbed his eyes. What a shitty way to get a STD...

Post: #54

(04-17-2013 01:16 PM)Giovonny Wrote:  What are the risks of performing oral sex on a woman???

If you are worried about chipping a tooth you are doing it wrong.

Post: #55

Today has been a weird day. Apparently the new way scumbag dentists rip off patients is w/recommending expensive gum surgeries or implanting people's mouths w/antibiotic chips (Arrestin) (and charging an arm and a leg for it). ANYTIME a dentist offers you expensive dental work it is wise to GET a 2nd opinion Both of these patients didn't need it.

These f-ckers give the honest ones a bad rep.

I will be posting new information soon, but I want to hammer the point home about acid. ----Young kid came into today. Perfect teeth w/no cavities. Complaining about sensitivity to hot and cold (this is the #1 most common complaint today from people aged 15-35).

Questions- Do you use whitening toothpastes? Yes
Do you have a lot of acid in your diet? Umm, not sure. I am vegetarian and juice a lot.
Do you add lemons to your juice? Yes.
Do you use apple-cider-vingegar? Yes
Do you brush your teeth after you drink juice at night? No

Anecdotes aside, I see this pattern ALL the time. Its a pandemic of healthy people who are destroying their teeth by acid consumption.

My advice to him 1) Use sensodyne toothpaste for 3 months exclusively. No more whitening. 2) Rinse mouth w/water after consuming acid. One good example of the evidence of acid damage is bulimia, or vomitting after food. Stomach acid is around pH of 2 (basically the same as lemons/coca cola)- see picture below 3) Making sure the acid is buffered before sleep. After drinking juice at night, brush your teeth. Nothing but water after brushing. IF you drink juice, you need to re-brush

Post: #56

Not sure if this has been answered, but what's the best over the counter tooth whitening kit?
I have had good luck with this rembrandt kit but just curious if there are drawbacks to it that I'm not aware of.

Post: #57

Most of the dentists I know seem to use Aquafresh. Is there some reason for that? Is it the best toothpaste, or just personal pref?

Post: #58

@Hades- not read up on the studies or research. From personal anecdotes, they work about the same because most have the same ingredients- peroxides.

My thoughts on it are this- You can use whitening if you have no issues and are willing to risk hot-cold sensitivity. But if you have sensitivity, STOP.

We also have in-office chair-side and bleaching tray whitening, but if anything we discourage the use. If patients really want it, well give it to them.

Our prices are 200 for the bleaching trays plus the gels and acessories. This would be a very reasonable price. 200-300 for trays+ gels/stuff.

@sugar- Honestly, aquafresh has good marketing. I haven't purchased toothpaste ever. I get all of mine free... =). I use whatever they send me. My teeth are pretty strong, so I use whatever.

My personal preferences are Pronamel or Aquafresh. No whitening or tartar control.

Post: #59

awesome thread
simple question: listerine vs. ACT vs. hydrogen peroxide.
which do you recommend for daily rinsing?

Post: #60

DVY, thanks for this thread. Couple questions.

Waterpik vs. floss - which one do you recommend?

Brushing your tongue - good or bad? This device has done wonders for me: http://www.amazon.com/Dr-Tungs-Products-...00064JGBO/

Coffee - is it a breath killer when you start your day with it? Better to just kick the habit?

Post: #61

delete

Post: #62

@clever alias- really depends. I like all of them. They all serve different purposes. As long as you have fluoride t-paste, I would get Listerine. Some people have issues w/the burn, so you can dilute 50% w/water. Hydrogen peroxide 3% I rinse maybe 2-3x/week.

@ Smitty- Flossing is still #1, because it mechanically removes plaque. But waterpik is a lot easier to use. For most people I would recommened waterpik because patient compliance is much better. A good compromise is 2x/week flossing w/everyday waterpik.

Brushing your tongue- helps remove bacteria. That device is fine. If you dont have a tongue scraper, you can also use a flat-ish spoon.

Coffee- Yes, its acidic and not the best for your teeth. But I personally drink coffee and understand that some people can't survive the day w/out it.

Its impracticable to be perfect because everybody has vices. The key is to have behaviors that minimize the negative consequences (i.e. its acceptable to eat cake sparingly, as long as you are physically active). Drink your coffee and then buffer the acidity w/water- after the coffee, rinse your mouth w/water for 15 seconds.

Prolonged repeated exposure to acid=bad for teeth. This usually happens w/people who drink 10 cans of coke/day or babies who constantly suck on their bottle of fruit juice all day and night

Baby bottle caries (Age is around 5-6 years old)


Characteristic pattern- as tongue moves forward to suck on bottle so lingual(tongue surfaces) of lower front teeth are spared but everything else is in terrible shape esp the upper front teeth.

Post: #63

Dvy how about green tea? Just switched from coffee to tea.

Post: #64

Tea is beta, but I am wondering about the same....

Post: #65

@Westcoast- Green tea is slightly acidic (6.0-6.4) but above the de-mineralization range pH of 5.5. It does superficially stain teeth, but professional cleaning every 6-months will help remove this.

I am beating this to death, but a pH of 4-5 (coffee) is 1-2 pH points below tea. 1 pH point =10x more acidity, 2pH points =100x more acidity. Green tea to lemon (6 to 2) is 4 points= 10^4 or 10,000 times more acidic.

This is why buffering is so important especially after you eat sour foods/drinks.

Post: #66

Is a sonicare an adequate replacement for waterpik/flossing? Sonicare advertises it is, whereas my dental hygenist says otherwise.

Post: #67

@Bolthouse- No brushing alone can't reach the inter-proximal spaces (between teeth). Some else is needed.

Post: #68

Very helpful thread. Thanks.

My question:

My set is on the not-so-good to look at side. I am missing one on the right lower jaw (2nd tooth to the right of the front lower incisors) so there is an empty space there. Some of the individual tooth are oddly shaped. My two front canines are really pointy (look like fangs really and I even like it that way). The gaps in between are somewhat wider than what they are suppose to be. And the color is far from being pearly whites.

I don't smoke, drink beer, coffee or soda at all, and I brush and floss regularly for much of my mature life. So this condition is pretty much brought about by bad genetics and/or poor nutrition/hygiene when I was young -- lived a very poor rural life back then. Never bothered me until I started trying to improve my social life recently because I am the stoic type who almost never smiles.

I have the money to burn now to fix this and I am considering it. The question is, how much am I looking to spend to get this fixed. I know this is a tough one to answer because you have to see the condition before you can make an assessment. But let's just say it's not that bad (i've never been refused a kiss) but my set could benefit a lot from some work and polish. A general estimate will do. Am I looking at $1k, $2k, $3k, $4k, $5k? More? Less? What's the downtime in the event I want to undergo the procedure? A few days? A week? More? Less?

Thanks in advance, doc.

Post: #69

@Diego- It seems like you have a couple of concerns. I will try to break it down, but I am not sure I understand 100% your goals and your situations. Function? Aesthetics (namely missing tooth, teeth color, teeth positioning)?

1) Not so-good to look at side? Not sure what this means.
2) Missing tooth on the LR is a premolar (this is a somewhat common missing tooth). You can fix this with an implant or bridge. Price 1.5-2.5k. Implants are slightly more expensive (2-2.5k) , but you don't have to grind the adjacent teeth.
3) Color- Whitening. In office-bleaching or take-home trays for bleaching. Be warned a large % of people experience sensitivity. This means its painful to eat ice-cream, drink beer, drink vodka-soda limes, have soup. If you can take that, go for it. Its also not permanent and slowly reverts (usually over 2-6 months).
4) You (and everybody here) should be going in AT LEAST once a year for checkup and cleaning. Best is 6-months. This will remove stains from coffee/tea etc and make sure you don't get any small cavities which from neglect become bigger. Bigger cavities usually become RCT/post and crown or extraction.

Tough to say what prices you are looking at. But if the office takes a full-mouth x-ray set (usually around 70 dollars), you can bring this to other offices and shop prices. Most offices have digital x-rays and thus can email you the X-rays.

Post: #70

Do you know Steven Seagal's dentist? Serious question. I met the dude in Vegas. He was in town for a convention that Steve Martin and Martin Short were playing at.

Post: #71

DVY - mad props for this thread and sharing your professional knowledge.

My questions for you - my first exposure to the 'paleo' diet was the works of Dr. Weston Price, ever heard of him? As a dentist, I think you would find his free online book very interesting:

http://journeytoforever.org/farm_library...cetoc.html

Long story short, he was an American dentist in the 1920's who noticed the connection between diet, a lot of health diseases and dental caries. He travelled the world and sought out traditional cultures and studied the differences in dental health and development of those that ate their traditional diets and of those who adopted Western diets (white flour, white sugar, vegetable oils). The book is full of photos documenting the differences.

One of his main thesis is that bad dental health is indicative of dietary malnourishment, because white flour especially blocks the absorption of minerals from other foods, causing the body to "steal" the minerals from the teeth and bones.

He also claims to have discovered that lost teeth can actually be re-grown if a person eats a mineral and vitamin rich diet.

In his studies of native diets, he talks about a nutrient he named "activator x" which scientists now a days have identified as vitamin K2 as the key nutrient in dental health.

On a anecdotal note, I drink 3 cups of coffee every day, I smoke tobacco (cigars and pipes) frequently (not daily, but several times a week) and I drink beer, whiskey and/or tequila frequently as well. Other then coffee and booze, the only other thing I drink daily besides water is my daily dose of juice (H/T to MikeCF). Yet my teeth don't have coffee stains nor tobacco stains, and my gums are fine. I believe this has something to do with my nutrient dense diet, as I know other folks who smoke and drink regularly, and they have the stained teeth most people associate with smoking and coffee drinking. Like everything else related to health, I'm coming more and more to the viewpoint that diet really is the be all end all to health, dental health included.

As a thoughtful and caring professional as you appear to be here, I'd appreciate it if you could check out that book and give us your thoughts on his work.

Post: #72

@renotime- I dont celebrity stalk. That being said, if its Bill Dorfman (From celebrity make-over), I meet him once at my school. He was giving a speech. My impression on him is he is a borderline sociopath. He is extremely smart and driven, but I think he has done so much harm for the general American population that I can't applaud his philosophy on life- hawking a physically impossible "beautiful pearly-white smile". Not my definition of ethical dentistry. In my eyes, I put in the same category as Vogue or other fashion magazines that hawk anorexically thin, airbrushed photos to the masses.

Living in LA, Ive met "models" and its honestly nothing special.

@KGalt- keep in mind- published in 1920. This was documented almost 100 years ago. Thats insane. Some of his stuff is pure fantasy, but I am sure he will raise some valid points. Ill check it out eventually.

The thing is periodontitis/gum disease is a silent disease. Most people don't know it. That being said, if you have good home-care, this might be a distinct possiblity. I still recommend regular checkups and cleanings.

Post: #73

(04-13-2013 01:12 PM)DVY Wrote:  @michelin- Do you have notches in your teeth along the gumline? These notches are sometimes filled because of sensitivity. High-fluoride seems to reduce sensitivity.

Thanks for your advice. .
No, fortunately I don't see any notches (yet) but the gum line has been withdrawing a little, apparently. Occasionnaly it is also reddish and, also occasionnaly it can bleed a little (without hurting) after flossing - I like to floss well as I hate the feeling of anything sticking around in my mouth.

Using Sensodyne seems to have helped lately, although I can't say it's over.

PS: can bad breath be caused by kissing? I got the impression (hopefully I'm wrong) some smoking cougar once left rubbish behind. Even doing Listerine baths has proven limited efficient to get over it.

I' ve been reducing citric acids (I check products such as sodas first, use less lemons, etc), I heard these acids can be very harmful to the protection layer near the gum line.

Post: #74

(04-29-2013 11:57 AM)DVY Wrote:  @KGalt- keep in mind- published in 1920. This was documented almost 100 years ago. Thats insane. Some of his stuff is pure fantasy, but I am sure he will raise some valid points. Ill check it out eventually.

Oh yes, I'm well aware of that...but that's an advantage to his book, as his goal was to study the differences in native populations on their traditional diets versus those that had transitioned to Western diets. In the 1920's, there were still a large number of populations around the world that had not been changed by globalized processed food availability.

But the most compelling thing about the book is his comparison photography. In every locale he visited, he took copious photo's of both natives on traditional diets vs. those that had eaten western diets. The photo evidence itself is quite damning of Western Diets...

...and this was before the era of High Fructose Corn Syrup and partially hydrogenated vegetable oils were in everything!

From the Swiss Alps, to Africa, to Polynesia, Dr. Price went around the world. His documentation of the evidence does seem to back up his contention that most of Western dental problems are based on the diet.

As he quotes in Ch 2:

"Dryer, (6) in discussing dental caries in the pre-historic South Africans, makes this comment:

In not one of a very large collection of teeth from skulls obtained in the Matjes River Shelter (Holocene) was there the slightest sign of dental caries. The indication from this area, therefore, bears out the experience of European anthropologists that caries is a comparatively modern disease and that no skull showing this condition can be regarded as ancient."

Post: #75

@michelin- Kissing causing bad breath. Maybe there is some bacterial transfer, but I wouldnt worry about it. Just brush, floss/waterpik, and use mouthwash.

Hydrogen peroxide 3% is also a good anti-bacterial.