Chocolate for Teeth?!?!?

Photo Credit: Wikipedia Commons

Chocolate to the rescue! Eh? … It turns out theobromine, a natural alkaloid found in cocoa works perhaps as well as fluoride to remineralize teeth that have begun to decay. A preliminary laboratory study of the alkaloid comparing it with fluoride to reverse the demineralizing process in tooth decay found them statistically equal.
Can you imagine it now? Brush your teeth clean and then smear a bit of chocolate on them before bed. For those of you on the cutting edge, there is already an “up-scale” chocolate toothpaste emphasizing the theobromine.

Don't jump to conclusions just yet. There is more research going on to verify these preliminary results.

Join us at PIONEER DAY for some fun wall climbing, bounce housing, sack racing and other fun stuff.

Your Teeth Can Last Forever!!!

Photo Credit: Wikipedia Commons

Sure!!  No way! Really?  So just think about it. We have jaws full of teeth from Neanderthal Man, and from Cro-Magnon Man, and countless other pre-historic cultures. Perfect teeth with no cavities that are thousands of years old. So ... Why does modern man suffer cavities that destroy teeth in a matter of a few years?  Why, as a children's dentist, do I see teeth totally destroyed, disintegrated, in as little as 2 years?


Are you aware that cavities were not an issue for the average man until about 250 to 300 years ago? Towns and villages didn't need a dentist because average folks didn't get cavities. Interesting?
But wait. There are archeological findings of jewels being used to fill cavities in king's and pharaoh's teeth. Indeed. Pharaohs had cavities and they had a dentist in the royal court. And why?  Because they also had the money to import sugar with their spice. So pharaohs and kings paid the price for their indulgences, both financially and in the discomfort of dental disease and the rudimentary level of dental science. Ouch!

Will a Clean Tooth Decay?

A Clean Tooth Will Not Decay.

The reality that a clean tooth will not decay was demonstrated in multiple experiments in the 1950s and 60s. Since then scientific research has not only re-demonstrated it countless times, we have advanced the science to allowing patients to stop decay after is has started ... and ... if the decay has not progressed too far the patient can reverse the decay (that would be heal the cavity).

And yet! ... People clean their teeth daily, they visit their dentist regularly, and they still get cavities. Why? The answer lies in the reality that most people's attempts to clean their teeth are not effective. The teeth don't get clean. And so they get cavities in those places, ... repeatedly.

When was the last time your dentist and/or hygienist helped you learn how to effectively (the key is effectively) clean your teeth ... AND ... showed you how to evaluate your own effectiveness at home? In other words, be able to check any day, in your own home, whether you actually get your teeth clean. A CLEAN TOOTH WILL NOT DECAY!

And those of you who have cavities already that need filling, how about creating an environment in your mouth that will prevent new decay from destroying that rather expensive investment called "dental restorations."

For more information or just to discuss your child's oral health, feel free to give me a call -

Dr. Scott Thompson - Pediatric Dentistry

Babies Don't Come with Cavities.

We don't inherit “soft teeth” from our parents and babies don’t come with cavities.

Cavities are caused by a bacterial disease called “caries.”  We catch this disease from our close family and friends.  Like any other contagious disease, how we take care of ourselves determines how our body will handle the disease.  How the family takes care of oral health will affect the cavity rate of the infant and toddler.  Correct family oral care will limit the contagion of the disease.  Correct oral care for the infant and toddler will limit the survival of the bacteria that cause cavities.  Diet and beverage patterns for infants and toddlers will either limit or support the cavity causing bacteria.  The disease, “caries,” establishes its lifetime pattern while the baby teeth are emerging from age 6 months to 30 months old.

Establishing a dental home with a dental office that offers well baby exams will give you the information you need to create a lifetime of dental health for your baby.  Other advantages of establishing an early dental home with your family dentist or pediatric dentist are:

1)      Money savings.  Children who visit the dentist before their fast birthday have an average 40 % lower dental cost during their first 5 years.  These savings will continue through life.

2)      Enamel defects, if addressed early, can be remedied with simple techniques to prevent tooth deterioration.

3)      Early dental cavities can be healed rather than filled if detected early enough and addressed at home with proper information and prevention.  Infants don't come with cavities.  Creating a no cavity environment for your baby can lead to a no cavity environment for a lifetime.

The first tooth deserves a dental home.

Next Blog: 1% or 50%?

Fillings Don't Stop Cavities

Few people realize that a filling does nothing to prevent another cavity. Cavities are caused by bacteria (germs) that live in our mouth. These bacteria infect our mouths as soon as we have teeth. The disease they cause is called caries. The acids and metabolic by products of these bacteria attack the teeth and gums. For the teeth the end product of the disease is a hole in the tooth; a cavity.

When you think about it, cleaning out that hole and patching it with a filling does absolutely nothing to stop the bacterial disease that is active in your entire mouth. As a matter of fact, the edge of the filling, no matter how good the filling, is a perfect niche for the bacteria to gather and begin eroding the tooth down the side of the filling. The result is a new cavity under the filling! Very discouraging.

The answer we all want is how to control the disease. If you are willing to dedicate 2 minutes of your day to the job you can control the disease. Controlling the disease means no more cavities. Even for people at high risk for cavities the disease can be controlled and cavities prevented.

Most people brush their teeth but do not get their teeth adequately clean because they have never known how to measure how well they are doing. When you establish a relationship with a dentist the very first task should be to learn from the dentist, hygienist and staff how to control caries (the disease) in your mouth. Any fillings done before the disease is controlled are at high risk of failing because new decay will invade the edges of the filling.

People who control the disease can get their fillings with confidence they will last for a very very long time.

If you have not learned from your dentist how to control caries in your mouth and how to measure at home how effective you are, then that is the first thing you should do, before more cavities are filled.

Next Blogs: 1) Measuring Effective Tooth Brushing.  2) The inherent weakness of the bacteria.  3) Help for High Risk Mouths  4) Reading Your Gums