July is Park and Recreation Month, when we Americans celebrate our ongoing love affair with the great outdoors. Since Yellowstone became our first national park in 1872, we've been passionate about preserving our country's natural resources for the enjoyment of this and future generations. As dental providers, it also reminds us of something else worth preserving: our natural teeth.

Not that we don't have amazing restoration options for lost teeth. With the advent of dental implants, you can get a replacement that looks and functions like the real thing. But even though implants are an exceptional choice, they are still not superior in terms of the overall health protections of real teeth. So unless keeping a sick tooth would cause more harm than good, going the extra mile to save it is often the best choice for long-term dental health.

First, though: Preserving natural teeth doesn't start when they're in peril, but with daily and regular care. The “daily” part is your job—brushing and flossing to remove dental plaque, the single biggest factor in the occurrence of dental disease. Doing this every day is critical in preserving your teeth in the long run.

The “regular” part is our job—professional teeth cleaning every six months. Using special tools, we clear away any plaque you might have missed, plus any tartar (hardened plaque), which can't be removed with brushing and flossing. Routine dental visits also give us a chance to check your teeth and gums for any signs of developing decay or infection.

That's important because although prevention can minimize your risk of tooth decay or gum disease, it can't eliminate the risk altogether. If disease does occur, we'll need to treat it as soon as possible to avoid the worst case scenario of a lost tooth. Often, root canal therapy can save a tooth that is diseased on the inside. Using dental treatments, even extensive ones, as needed to preserve teeth remains the best way to optimize dental health.

Teeth treated for disease may still be viable, but they may look the worse for wear. Fortunately, we can often give unattractive teeth a cosmetic makeover. Tooth-colored fillings and porcelain veneers or crowns, for example, can completely change a tooth's appearance for the better. With the right enhancement procedure, you can keep both your natural teeth and your smile.

It takes an ongoing effort to maintain your natural teeth. But just like preserving the natural surroundings of our national parks, it's well worth the effort.

If you would like more information about daily and regular dental care, please contact us or schedule a consultation.

A shingles outbreak can be painful and embarrassing. It could also interfere with many areas of your life—including your dental care.

Known medically as herpes zoster, shingles is a viral form of chicken pox. The virus can lie dormant for many years or decades in people that had chicken pox as a child, breaking out later in life (sometimes repeatedly). It's estimated about a quarter of people who had chicken pox as a child, about 90% of adults, will experience a shingles outbreak.

In the beginning, a person with shingles may notice an itching or burning skin irritation, as well as numbness or sensitivity to touch. In time, a red, crusty rash can develop, usually forming a belted or striped pattern on the torso, head or facial areas. The patterning is caused by the virus's disruption of nerves that serve those parts of the body.

Shingles could impact your dental care because it can be contagious early in an outbreak. As such, it can be transmitted to other people via contact with the rash or through airborne respiratory particles. Dental staff members or other patients who are pregnant, undergoing cancer treatment or with other conditions that compromise their immune systems can develop serious health problems if they contract the virus.

If you have an upcoming appointment, it's best then to let your dentist know you've been diagnosed with shingles. If your treatment involves physical contact that could spread the virus, they may wish to reschedule you until the outbreak clears up.

There are ways to hasten the healing process with antiviral treatments like acyclovir or famciclovir. For best results, these treatments should begin within 3 days of a shingles outbreak. There is also a shingles vaccine that can help you avoid an outbreak altogether. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommend it for adults over 60.

Having shingles can be painful and stressful, and pose a major interruption of your daily life and routine. With proper management, though, it can be contained so you can get on with your life—and your dental care.

If you would like more information on managing shingles and dental care, please contact us or schedule an appointment for a consultation. You can also learn more about this topic by reading the Dear Doctor magazine article “Shingles, Herpes Zoster.”

You probably wouldn't be surprised to hear that someone playing hockey, racing motocross or duking it out in an ultimate fighter match had a tooth knocked out. But acting in a movie? That's exactly what happened to Howie Mandel, well-known comedian and host of TV's America's Got Talent and Deal or No Deal. And not just any tooth, but one of his upper front teeth—with the other one heavily damaged in the process.

The accident occurred during the 1987 filming of Walk Like a Man in which Mandel played a young man raised by wolves. In one scene, a co-star was supposed to yank a bone from Howie's mouth. The actor, however, pulled the bone a second too early while Howie still had it clamped between his teeth. Mandel says you can see the tooth fly out of his mouth in the movie.

But trooper that he is, Mandel immediately had two crowns placed to restore the damaged teeth and went back to filming. The restoration was a good one, and all was well with his smile for the next few decades.

Until, that is, he began to notice a peculiar discoloration pattern. Years of coffee drinking had stained his other natural teeth, but not the two prosthetic (“false”) crowns in the middle of his smile. The two crowns, bright as ever, stuck out prominently from the rest of his teeth, giving him a distinctive look: “I looked like Bugs Bunny,” Mandel told Dear Doctor—Dentistry & Oral Health magazine.

His dentist, though, had a solution: dental veneers. These thin wafers of porcelain are bonded to the front of teeth to mask slight imperfections like chipping, gaps or discoloration. Veneers are popular way to get an updated and more attractive smile. Each veneer is custom-shaped and color-matched to the individual tooth so that it blends seamlessly with the rest of the teeth.

One caveat, though: most veneers can look bulky if placed directly on the teeth. To accommodate this, traditional veneers require that some of the enamel be removed from your tooth so that the veneer does not add bulk when it is placed over the front-facing side of your tooth. This permanently alters the tooth and requires it have a restoration from then on.

In many instances, however, a “minimal prep” or “no-prep” veneer may be possible, where, as the names suggest, very little or even none of the tooth's surface needs to be reduced before the veneer is placed. The type of veneer that is recommended for you will depend on the condition of your enamel and the particular flaw you wish to correct.

Many dental patients opt for veneers because they can be used in a variety of cosmetic situations, including upgrades to previous dental work as Howie Mandel experienced. So if slight imperfections are putting a damper on your smile, veneers could be the answer.

If you would like more information about veneers and other cosmetic dental enhancements, please contact us or schedule a consultation. To learn more, read the Dear Doctor magazine articles “Porcelain Veneers” and “Porcelain Dental Crowns.”