While the general population talks about “the bite” when referring to how the teeth fit together, dentists, for some reason, talk about “occlusion.” We’ll stick with “the bite.”  When the public asks about “adjusting the bite,”  dentists are thinking “occlusal equilibration.”  I mention these terms in case you run across them while talking to insurance companies or wandering about the Internet. I’ll try...Read More

by Bruna Mucaj, RRDH. To an enormous extent, dental disease is preventable. But by far the most effective prevention is done by the teeth’s owners, (or the owner’s parents) – not by the dental profession and not by the government! We believe that of all the services we provide, Oral Hygiene Instruction is right up there with Nutritional Counselling as the most valuable. Alas,...Read More

One of the most important problems in dentistry is infection control. The oral cavity is like an ocean full of microorganisms normally living in balance with the entire body. Under certain conditions, pathogenic (“disease causing”) micro-organisms can become the dominant life forms, thus creating what is known as infection. These pathogenic microorganisms live together to form...Read More

Dentures (“false teeth”) need to be cleaned. They won’t decay, but they will acquire an unpleasant odour. An unpleasant odour is a good clue that there are unhealthy micro-organisms predominating.  In the Office Using an ultrasonic stain/debris removal solution to remove debris from full and partial dentures, gives us a way to “scrub” their surface at a microscopic level.Read More

Before we get into non-surgical gum treatment, let’s clear up some vocabulary. We need to understand what gum disease is. We need to get an idea of what surgical treatment is about. Surgery is very commonly recommend by the mainstream. The Vocabulary We dentists and hygienists have really messed up communications in this area.Read More

If your first visit to Growing Beautiful Smiles was for some purpose other than a New Patient Complete Dental Examination, then once that other bothersome issue is disposed of, a complete dental exam should become a priority. Sometimes people ask us why this is necessary.Read More

  What patients call  a “cleaning,” dental professionals call scaling and polishing. Instead of polishing we sometimes use the word  “prophylaxis” which means “prevention.” As much as it thrills?us to use important sounding words like “prophylaxis” we often can’t be bothered with all those pesky syllables. So we just say “prophy.” Let’s settle for “polishing.” What, Exactly, Are...Read More

Removing (“pulling,” “extracting”) a tooth is sort of dentistry’s ultimate failure. That is a common view when the goal of dentistry is considered to be “preserving teeth so that they last a lifetime.” That sounds like a noble and worthwhile goal, but it’s not quite complete.  Read More