Dr. BreeAnn Christiansen

Transcribed: “Hi there! I’m Dr BreeAnn Christiansen, a holistic dentist in San Diego at San Diego Dentist. Today I’m going to talk to you about gum disease and how it relates to women.

So what is gum disease? Gum disease is characterized by inflammation of the gum tissue, which eventually leads to
deep pocketing in the issues around the teeth, gum recession and in more seriously involved cases, bone less.
We may hear this referred as gum diseases, gingivitis or periodontitis. The only difference is that in periodontitis, bone loss has occurred.

Gum diseases in most cases require a cause for this inflammation. Usually plaque or tartar is present on the teeth and in the gums. Plaque most usually looks like white or yellowish build-ups on your teeth and it’s mostly particles of food debris and bacterial colonies. These bacterial colonies are what cause the inflammation and require a response from your body.

The inflammation leads to bleeding when brushing or flossing and it causes some discomfort. Eventually, this inflammation is what causes the bone loss and reduced stability of your teeth. The worst thing we can give to this plaque and tartar is time, time to grow and divide and have a lot of damage to occur.
Now, what you probably do not know is that being a woman with hormones fluctuating at predictable times month to month, you are at risk for hormonal periodontal disease. Great, right! Just when you thought you know all the other fun reasons for being a woman, here’s another.

The sex hormones, estrogen and progesterone are to blame for this menstruation gingivitis. It usually flares up a week before menstruating and clears up right when it starts. The increase in sex hormones causes an increase of blood supply to your gums and this is the cause for increased sensitivity.
In most cases, the change will not create too much discomfort if the gum disease is controlled. If not, it can get carried away and your teeth will feel extra sensitivity and your gums will start to appear more red around that time of the month.

Another cause for concern of your gum health is the use of long-term oral contraceptives. The research is still not clear, but gingivitis has been found to accelerate in women who have a long history of taking oral birth control.

I hope you’re wondering at this time, “How do I know if I have gum disease and how can I make sure I’m not giving this bacteria time to live and prosper?” There are several ways to address this.
First, it is very important that you have regular check-ups with your dentist or hygienist who will measure your periodontal pockets. What they do is use a little probe to measure the depth of your pockets around each tooth in specific sites. This is the most important way for them to determine your disease status and how to treat it from there.

Second, it is very important for you to have regular cleanings. Although you do a lot of care at home, the cleanings get those hard to reach places and it polishes your teeth, so that it makes it more difficult for the bacteria to latch on.

Following the care taken at your dental office, it’s extremely important for you to have a steady home care regiment. At San Diego Dentist, we have a homemade toothpaste recipe that we recommend you brush with. And of course, flossing is the gold standard for cleaning the places in between your teeth.
We also recommend the use of a water pick with ozone water. The ozone water is useful because the bacteria that cause gingivitis hates oxygen. And so now, you’re blasting these little bacterial colonies with oxygen-rich water instantly killing the bacteria.

It sounds really tiresome, I know. But I promise you, the care you take at home will not only make it possible for your teeth and gums last your lifetime, but it may also make that middle-of-the-month flare-up a little more tolerable.

So to all my female friends, take care of your gums and I look forward to seeing you regularly for check-ups and cleanings. ”

More about Dr. BreeAnn at http://www./our-practice/meet-dr-christiansen/

Appointments: (619) 630-7174

Full transcription: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbC659Bv4gg

See these 3 recipe options for healthy homemade toothpaste at: http://craftingagreenworld.com/2015/01/17/spotted-how-to-make-toothpaste-no-really/

full transcription:
http://drvinograd.com/holistic-dentist/holistic-dentistry-dr-vinograds-latest-lecture-gerson-institute/

New dental treatment methods are making dentistry easier, less painful and more effective than ever before. If you haven’t visited a dentist in a while, you may not realize how much things have changed. And no change shows more promise and is providing more real results than the introduction of dental ozone therapy.

This kind of minimally invasive treatment is a clean and comfortable way to improve a variety of oral health issues. In particular, dental ozone therapy can be especially effective in treating early decay, often preventing the need for fillings. When we’ve used dental ozone therapy on teeth that are just starting to show signs of decay, we’ve often avoided drilling, saving many teeth that would have otherwise required fillings.

The most astounding thing about dental ozone therapy is that it can actually penetrate through the enamel layer of your teeth and help improve and even heal the inner structures of tooth. No other treatment method can do that effectively. Depending on exactly how long an area is exposed to ozone and the concentration, the penetration can go several millimeters deep.

Before any small filling, we must now ask ourselves whether its better to try to heal the issue with dental ozone or to solve the issue with a filling. Drilling and cutting is still required in some cases, but it isn’t always. And it’s great to have additional tools in our toolkit for treating early decay.

Since cavities begin in an acid environment that exists below the surface of the tooth, we can use ozone to kill the bacteria that’s in the acid and make the waste products safe as well. This generates a new and healthier environment within the entire mouth that’s hostile to bacteria and other pathogens that can do you harm. It’s possible that this newly created health oral environment can be maintained with repeated treatment.

Defining Ozone

It isn’t hard to understand ozone at all. Put in the simplest way possible, ozone is three oxygen atoms that are joined up. That’s all there is to it. Ozone is an elemental type of oxygen that happens naturally in the atmosphere as a result of the interaction of oxygen with UV light or lightning, for example.

But here’s the great thing: in a dental clinic, we can use a machine called an ozone generator to create an effect similar to lightning and create safe and beneficial ozone. That’s the same natural ozone that’s found in decreasing quantity 50,000 feet up in the air. And in situations where there’s air pollution, ozone is present as evidence of the planet attempting to heal itself.

In dentistry, ozone is proving particularly useful because of its impact as a powerful oxidizer. This kind of oxidant can kill things like fungi, bacteria, virus and other pathogens with relative ease. We can also accomplish the same thing with chlorine, but chlorine is a toxic chemical that can have harmful side effects. Plus, a single ozone molecule can do the work of 3,000 to perhaps as many as 10,000 chlorine molecules — and do that work thousands of times quicker.

We Can Actually Undo Cavities And More

Millions of people around the world have been treated using effective and safe dental ozone, but there have never been any recorded side effects when dental ozone is used correctly. The amazing ozone generator creates a very richly oxygenated atmosphere in your mouth that can help put a stop to decay, help the body remineralize and heal the tooth damage and so much more.

Other healthcare and related fields are finding benefits from ozone therapy as well, further proving its usefulness. These include places like the vet’s office, the dermatologist’s office and in the HIV+ community where nothing’s more important than killing harmful virus and bacteria. Ozone is also proving useful in treating foot ulcers in diabetics and MRSA infections that, by definition, don’t respond well to traditional antibiotic remedies.

Today, thousands of dentists join these other offices and communities where ozone is making a real difference. In dentistry, we’re using dental ozone for disease, decay, root canals, canker sores and even bone infections and problems with sensitivity.

Oral Infections Are The Enemy

Oral infections are the enemy of good oral health, but our ozone generator can help with infections of the mouth. We can take simple medical-grade oxygen that’s been used in medicine for decades and turn it into ozone that can heal and treat mouth conditions. Our ozone generator uses a corona discharge reaction that mimics the way lightning works. Research has proven that a machine like the one we use in our office can generate ozone in the proper concentration for killing pathogens of many types.

Much of what we do in this office involves fighting off dental infections. Bacteria as well as fungi and viruses are the causes of these insidious infections. In some cases, a single organism is responsible for a patient’s misery while sometimes many organisms of different types are involved. And these pathogens interact with other systems in the body in the same way that problems elsewhere in the body can lead to dental infections. That’s why dental infections can be so much of problem to bring under control. Infected areas continually get reinfected, leading to long-term problems with dental health and overall health in general.

But most pathogenic organisms share something in common: they can be destroyed when ozone punches a hole through their cellular membrane and causes them to die. In fact, there aren’t many pathogens that can survive when there’s ozone around. Studies have indicated that your body’s own antibodies actually make ozone to kill some kinds of invading organisms, but your body may not be able to create enough ozone to do the job. That’s where dental ozone can come to the rescue. We continue the work where nature leaves off.

Goals Of Ozone Therapy

There are many things we do with dental ozone therapy. Evidence-based science proves that ozone can be effectively used as part of the usual standard of care for these purposes:

• getting rid of pathogens
• setting up the correct oxygen metabolism situation
• created a friendly ecology in the mouth
• increasing circulation in the mouth
• activating your own immune system
• stimulating your natural antioxidant system
• and more.

Click play, then on ‘Ozonized Water & Preventing Gum Disease From Home’

Let Us Help You

Isn’t it time for you to explore the how dental ozone therapy can help you? We have solutions available for every kind of dental and oral health issue, and dental ozone is often part of the solution.

Our complete ozone periodontal program consists of many elements, including complete and periodic oral health evaluations, regular cleanings, oral cancer screenings, removal of damaged tissue throughout the mouth, coaching about how to perform your own oral hygiene program at home, irrigation with ozone, injection of ozone with MI desensitizer paste for increased comfort and a take-home kit with instructions you can follow up to enhance results.

It’s possible that dental ozone can be part of your total oral healthcare plan, and we want to help you reach your goal of increasing the health of your mouth and keeping it healthy for the long term. It’s what we do for people like you every day. Just call (619) 630-7174

For some strange reason, not every dentist is fully aware of the remarkable difference that homeopathic remedies could make to their patients. It is, after all, vital for dentists to fully inform their patients about the different options that they have open to them when it comes to dental treatment, and yet homeopathic remedies and solutions often seem to be ignored. Despite that, there are now ever increasing numbers of patients that want to know about how homeopathy can really aid them in their dental treatment, which means that many dentists are having to wise up very quickly.

There are a wealth of different homeopathic remedies that have been found to aid in a dentist’s normal practice. For example, taking Arnica before an appointment will calm a patient down, make them much less likely to feel nausea, and will keep them calm during the entire appointment. For many people who are afraid of the dentist, this is unheard of! And yet it works every single time. Another brilliant homeopathic remedy is Hypericum, which has been proven again and again to help stimulate nerve re-growth. This is vital when a patient has had recent dental surgery, when the nerves need to heal quickly. It also minimises the amount of time that a dental patient is in pain – and who can say no to that!

Almost every single dental ailment and treatment seems to have a corresponding homeopathic remedy. Of course, no one is suggesting that we abandon modern dental science, but it is difficult to ignore the fact that natural sources of healing can be found around us, and they can be used together with dental practices to help our bodies remain as healthy as possible. Why not talk to Dr. Vinograd about how homeopathic remedies can help you and your teeth be as healthy as possible?

Full article – http://drvinograd.com/holistic-dentist/homeopathy-dentistry/

The Carestream CS 3500 intraoral scanner is an exciting new handheld device that provides a fast and easy way to obtain dental impressions that are much more accurate than traditional methods.

The scanner connects directly to our computers with a USB connection.  Not only are we able to send your images directly to the lab in minutes, because the scanner plugs directly into our computers, we are able to keep all of your information in one secure location.  This also cuts down on our administrative tasks, freeing us up to focus on what’s truly important, patient care.

Once the scanner is connected to the computer, it can be used right-handed or left-handed.  It has a light projection system that lets us focus on you, not a computer monitor, while creating a highly detailed and accurate digital impression, allowing our lab to then create a precise crown or other restoration.

The scanner has two modes.  The first is a guide mode, useful for learning to use the device.  In guide mode, the scanner analyzes the field of view to ensure that the device will be able to get a good scan.  This allows all of our staff to be proficient in the use of the device, meaning you don’t have to wait for one specific person to be able to do your scan.

The second mode is feedback mode.  In this mode, the scanner uses two small lights, a green light when the device is getting a good impression, and a red light when an error has occurred.  When the red light appears, we are able to correct the error immediately.

Once the scanner is plugged into the computer, the scan is complete in a minute or so, two minutes for a full arch.  No mixing up powders, or waiting for the mold to set.  Once the scan is complete, the digital images can be sent directly to the lab in minutes.  The scanner can also obtain full-color close up images so the technicians in the lab can confidently create a precise restoration with no uncertainty.  The full color images clearly show the difference between enamel/dentin and and soft tissue.

The device has two sizes of tip, standard for adults, and small for children or those with a strong gag reflex.  The CS 3500 was designed to make your intraoral impressions as easy and comfortable as possible.

Patients with substantial bone loss in the lower jaw who wear traditional lower dentures often deal with several issues, including difficulty holding them in place, trouble with speaking and eating, pain especially from pressure spots and friction, and sores caused by rubbing. Some patients are able to have implants in the lower jaw that can be used with fixed bridges, denture prostheses, removable dentures to help restore function in the jaw when the teeth are missing.

Use of dentures that are supported by 2 to 4 implants has has been proven approximately 96% successful for oral restoration.

The problem is that the jaws of patients without teeth tend to lose bone over time. Successful placement of implants requires a certain amount of bone and insufficient bone compromises the number and type of implants that can be used. Standard implants require invasive surgery to place and may require additional surgery to transplant additional bone in the jaw before the implants can be placed in order to hold them.  Either surgery can cause surgical complications especially in elderly patients or those whose health is compromised.

There are now smaller diameter implants that can support existing dentures and can be placed without surgery. Smaller implants require less bone for support and standard implants. Placing the smaller implants causes minimal bleeding and significantly less pain. Because they are so much easier, they cost less.

This study was conducted on data from an Implant Dentistry Database kept by the New York University College of Dentistry Kriser Dental Center’s Department of Periodontology and Implant Dentistry.  The data had no identifying information in compliance with Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) requirements.  The database information is certified by the Office of Quality Assurance at the University.

Questionnaires were given to, and completed by patients two months after placement of small-diameter implants. The patients reported wearing the dentures for greater portions of the day than patients with traditional ventures. Patients also reported greater satisfaction, with increased retention, greater comfort, and less use of adhesive. Patients also indicated that they had better contact between upper and lower teeth. Finally, it was reported that patients with implant supported dentures easier to understand than those with traditional dentures. Patients reported greater comfort overall and increased confidence with implants as opposed to traditional dentures.

People who have a lot of cavities or other troubles with their teeth sometimes get to feeling like they want nothing more than to end the pain. For many of these people the obvious and immediate answer is to get rid of the problem, even if it means pulling the teeth that are causing the pain. What they may not realize is that dentures can cause even more problems and people frequently struggle more with dentures than with natural teeth. These people do not realize how much trouble dentures, lower dentures in particular, can be.
Thanks to modern dentistry, fewer people are having trouble with lowers dentures then used to be the case, but many do still experience a lot of pain from dentures that place pressure on the gums, and embarrassment caused by dentures that move when talking or eating.

Problems occur much more frequently with lower dentures than with upper dentures. There was once a dentist went so far as to tell people,“I usually charge only for my upper dentures and I give my lower dentures for free because inevitably, patients come back with great problems with their lower dentures.”

Why do lower dentures cause so much more trouble than upper dentures? There are a number of reasons. Well-made upper dentures can get a good, effective seal with just a good impression. The seal is even better when denture flanges and post stem are stable. Because the upper arch of the mouth does not move, upper dentures can be held in place with just a good seal. All of the work in the mouth, including chewing and talking, is done by the jaw on the lower part of the mouth. Not only are the lower jaw in the tongue constantly moving during these activities, the lower part of the mouth tends to move with the tongue, causing the lower dentures to move as well.

Added to this, teeth are critical to the structure of the jawbone. Without teeth, the bone in the jaw tends to wear away. This causes the gums to shrink the dentures to longer fit the same. Ill fitting dentures cause friction and pressure that can cause sores which can become infected.

All of these factors together make lower dentures difficult.

Statistics show that about 90% of people with lower dentures are dissatisfied, the opposite is true for upper dentures. Most denture wearers are happy with upper dentures. Many dentists find lower dentures to be the most challenging aspect of dentistry, and the one that causes the most problems for the patient.

Some denture wearers have been able to get relief through the use of implants, but traditional standard diameter implants post two major obstacles for many patients. The first obstacle has been the cost of placement. Standard diameter implants are large and require invasive and costly surgery, which can run into the tens of thousands of dollars. Even for patients who might be able to afford the cost of surgery, insufficient bone in the jaw can make them poor candidates, because implants require certain amount of bone in the jaw to properly support them.

New advances in dental implant technology can help lower dentures to fit better and stay firmly in place. Small-diameter implants can drastically change the quality of life for many denture wearers and offer them a feeling of confidence that some may have not had in years.

Smaller diameter implants are much easier and less costly to place. Miniature sized implants are placed using a less invasive procedure requiring only local anesthesia and no stitches. Even better, the patient’s existing dentures can be refitted to work with the new implants. This can all be done in one visit, and with much less expense than traditional implants. The new implants also require much less bone than larger implants.

With the smaller implants, dentists can refit existing dentures so that they simply snap onto the implants and remain firmly in place even during speech meeting. Of course the ideal circumstance involves natural healthy teeth, but when natural teeth do deteriorate, smaller implants can make the transition to dentures easier.
Being able to improve the quality of a patient’s life is a great feeling for any dentist especially when the patient has suffered for years believing there was no other option. Watching a patient smile, perhaps for the first time in years, is heartwarming.

If you are one of the many to have struggled with pain and embarrassment due to ill fitting dentures talk to your dentist to find out if implants are right for you.
If you prefer, you can talk to your dentist about whether you have sufficient bone for a fixed prosthetic with traditional implants, but if this is not a good option for you, you do not have to suffer.

Related article: http://drvinograd.com/holistic-dentist/examinations-oral-cancer-denture-wearers/

When dentures are placed in the mouth, there is a tiny gap between the denture in the gums. When dentures are new, and fit well, the space is virtually microscopic and as soon as the dentures are in place the gap fills with saliva and a seal is created that holds the denture firmly on the gums.

Over time however, bone in the jaw tends to erode, causing changes to gum tissue. This increases the gap between the denture and the gums which changes the way the denture fits. In addition to these natural and inevitable changes, a lack of care can also change the way dentures fit. Some things that can warp your dentures include allowing them to dry out, or placing them in water that is too hot. Regardless of the cause of the changes in fit, improper fit causes the dentures to become less secure, making them harder to hold in place. This is especially true of the lower denture, which tends to move with the tongue.

Denture adhesives are designed to both help fill in the space, and hold the denture securely. Denture adhesives stick to the gums improving the section that holds the denture in place. Adhesives come and pastes or powders, but most users prefer the paste as it is less messy.

While denture adhesives can improve retention hold the denture firmly, it can also lead to a false sense of security in the wearer. Denture adhesives are not much more than a temporary solution to ill fitting dentures that should be relined or replaced.

Though they may be helpful, denture adhesives do have some downsides. The first and biggest of these is that they are messy to use. Dentures and mouth should both be thoroughly cleaned every day, and the adhesive removed. This can be difficult and messy. In addition, adhesive can also get expensive, and and one wonders if a good alternative exists.

There is good news. New smaller implants can be placed that can provide excellent stability without messy adhesives. New implants are easily placed without incisions or stitches, using only local anesthesia. Existing dentures are easily refitted to snap into place on the implants.

Implants have also been shown to help protect the bone in the jaw. Increasing the stability of the dentures combined with protecting bone can help to prevent sores that are a common problem with dentures rubbing on the gums.

Related article: http://drvinograd.com/holistic-dentist/examinations-oral-cancer-denture-wearers/