Save Your Smile with Simple Steps

By Scheduling an Appointment for Dental Cleanings in Mentor OH, Your Smile can Last that Much Longer!

It can be easy to get caught in the whirlwind that is your everyday routine. Distractions are everywhere and they’re common; whether you’re at school, at work, or even at home where you want to relax. This can cause people to easily forget or skip certain short parts of their day in order to potentially save time in order to get the necessary steps completed first. Below, we’ll explain why it’s important to keep up with your oral hygiene routine and how it can benefit more than just a pretty smile in the future.

Visiting our office in Mentor OH for dental cleanings twice a year can dramatically improve your oral and dental health more than you may think! During your visit, we will work to not only improve your teeth and gums, but we can also tell if a patient is at risk for any serious chronical diseases. Having poor oral and dental health can lead to severe issues if they’re not properly addressed and taken care of as soon as possible. With good oral health, it will lessen the chances of any diseases even occurring or erupting!

A patient having poor oral health can easily lead to periodontitis (also known as gum disease) at an alarming pace. There are known relationships between gum disease and overall health issues like heart disease and a high risk for strokes. Other diseases can have side effects that occur in the mouth, like swollen gums, dry mouth, and more. Diabetes, oral cancer, and kidney disease are only a few, but they can still have a negative effect to your teeth and gums.

There are only a few simple steps to avoid serious dental disasters! Keeping up with your daily dental routine of brushing and flossing your teeth for at least two minutes and twice a day is the most important step to improving your smile. Avoiding harmful foods, drinks, and habits like smoking and chewing tobacco are also ways to improve your oral and dental health. And, last but not least, visiting our practice in Mentor OH for dental cleanings for your bi-annual check-up will let us help you!

To schedule an appointment with your Mentor OH dentist, call our office at (440) 357-1222 today!

Beat Bad Breath

Cosmetic Dentist in Mentor OH Explains how Bad Breath May Stick Around for Too Long

One of the most common issues that many people face in the morning is bad breath. Even if you brush your teeth before you go to bed, there can still be a lingering scent that offends your nose the moment you first yawn while waking up. Bad breath can also stick around for a while once you’ve eaten something pungent. But what happens if you’re suffering from bad breath throughout your entire day? Below, your cosmetic dentist in Mentor OH breaks down how halitosis can harm your smile.

According to the Academy of General Dentistry, there are up to 80 million people who suffer from halitosis. No matter how often or how well you brush and floss your teeth or use mouthwash, sometimes bad breath still sticks around for the long run. This can negatively affect your daily routine if you’re embarrassed to talk near anyone in fear of sharing your bad breath and may result in personal isolation.

We want to help patients tackle the root of their bad breath and what they can do to protect their smile. Of course, we know that there are a lot of foods that can cause bad breath (garlic and onions), but sometimes that smell can linger even as the food is being digested. Other major contributors to bad breath are habits like smoking cigarettes and chewing tobacco, poor dental and oral health, dry mouth, and certain medications. While some of these can be out of your control (mostly medications), it’s still important to address these issues in order to save your smile!

Some solutions that you can look into while you’re at home or on the go are:
• Mouthwash specified for bad breath: there are mouthwashes tailored to different oral issues, like dry mouth and bad breath. Check out the ones that you think can help!
• Scrape your tongue: a lot of the smelly bacteria tends to linger at the back of your tongue, to look into buying a specialized tongue cleaner and going back to front to remove harmful particles

If you’re interested in learning about more solutions for bad breath, don’t hesitate to schedule a consultation with your cosmetic dentist in Mentor OH by calling our office at (440) 357-1222 today.

Abscessed Tooth Truth

Your top cosmetic dentists in Mentor OH at Erieview Dental want you to know that an abscessed tooth is no laughing matter. Abscesses usually can be caused by infection, leading to the tooth being surrounding by a pocket of pus. They can occur both at the gum level, and at the root of the tooth. Each of these will have their own symptoms and complications- which we cover below:

Symptoms of an Abscessed Tooth:

Pain and swelling that progressively gets worse.

A swollen and tender mass around/next to the tooth.

Bleeding gums.

Cold and hot sensitivity.

Fever and/or taking in less food and drink.

Complications of an abscessed tooth:

Infection of surrounding tissue or bone.

Sinus or facial infections

Ludwig angina- swelling of the neck or tongue that can block airways and even result in death.

Most cases of tooth abscess can start because of tooth decay, plaque, cavities and even dental work or surgery- but can obviously progress into a much more serious issue. If you feel you are suffering from an abscess in your mouth, call your dentists in Mentor OH for us to assess and treat you right away. However, if you are suffering from the more advanced swelling complications, seek emergency care right away.

Manage Dental Anxiety with Music

Dental anxiety can be an absolutely devastating issue to try and tackle. Patients who suffer with this condition can be lose sleep before appointments, have panic attacks, get sick or have trouble breathing. This can cause some patients to skip coming to their appointments for years on end in some cases, resulting in higher risks of gum disease, cavities, tooth loss and more.

While your Mentor Ohio dentists at Erieview Dental have done all they can to not only accommodate patients with dental anxiety, but to prevent it, sometimes a great atmosphere, relaxing staff and pain-free methods aren’t even enough. Sometimes when a patient is in their own head, only they can break themselves free of their anxiety.

One thing that is proving to help reduce anxiety and pain more and more is the usage of music in the office. Studies have shown that music can help reduce pain, influence mood, reduce anxiety and even lower blood pressure or heart rate. Relaxing classical and piano based music has proven to be the best for these results- but any music can help distract a patient- especially with anxiety.

You should always be comfortable when seeking care, or even when thinking about seeking care. If you are a bit apprehensive about making an appointment with your Mentor Ohio dentists at Erieview Dental, maybe think about bringing along an iPod next time with your favorite tunes! We will work with you to ensure your treatment is always as pain and anxiety free as possible!

For more information or to schedule your next visit- call us today at (440) 357-1222.

Decoding Dental Terms

Mentor OH Dentist Clears Up the Conversation

Patient education is a crucial pillar of the work performed by your Mentor OH dentists at Erieview Dental. We make sure to spend enough time with every patient discussing their treatment and why it is being done that way, as well as what can be done to keep them healthy outside of our office walls.

Unfortunately, sometimes specific technical medical terms may be used in these conversations…as they are just common place to dental professionals. We will never use terms you do not know to confuse you or keep you in the dark…it is just a phenomenon of practicing a specialty so long. For example, you may be a professional musician and use the terms “crescendo” and “staccato” on a daily basis…where we may use terms like “prophylaxis” in our office instead. The result of both conversations can be confusion- which is never desired.

If we ever happen to use a term you are unfamiliar with directly, or it is overheard in office, please feel free to ask us about it! We know that not every patient may not be completely comfortable with inquiring about these types of situations though. For that very reason, we have provided the following website for you to catch up on your dental terminology at your own leisure: Click Here for More.

Whether you know the difference between “occlusal” and “occlusion” may not matter much in your day to day. Knowing that you should keep regularly schedule appointments with your Mentor OH dentists, however, THAT is something to know and hold onto! Call our office today to schedule an appointment at (440) 357-1222.

Dentist in Mentor vs Grinding

The battle of bruxism, or teeth grinding, is something your cosmetic dentists in Mentor OH at Erieview Dental take part in every day. We help our patients overcome this, oftentimes, subconscious clenching or chronic grinding that experts feel is tied to stress specifically the best ways we know how. More often than not, bruxing can occur while sleeping, making a patient not even know they are really committing the act. With that in mind, today we have arranged a list of some of the signs and symptoms that can be associated with grinding:

-Substantial tooth wear or cracks in the teeth.

-Loose teeth or sensitive teeth.

-Newly formed popping or clicking sounds when you move the jaw.

-Severe jaw or facial pain.

-Chronic headaches.

And while this list is not 100% complete, these will be some of the “red flags” you should consider when self-diagnosing your potential bruxism. Left untreated, this condition can lead to decay, disease, tooth loss, structural damage and more. Your Mentor OH dentists suggest taking a look at occlusal night guards, mouth guards that you wear while you sleep, behavioral cognitive therapy and stress management classes to resolve your issue before turning to something like surgery to correct the problem.

For more information on the damage bruxism can do, or if you fear you may be grinding your teeth while you sleep, contact your Mentor cosmetic dentists at Erieview Dental today at (440) 357-1222.

Dental Fossils

Dentist in Mentor OH Provides Historic Information about Our Ancestors’ Teeth

We’ve come a long way in terms of evolution, but have you ever wondered how our teeth have progressed, as well? Our smiles have gone through a lot and still do to this day, even with all of the advances in technology that is at our disposal. Your dentist in Mentor OH wants to share some history about the way our teeth have molded to how they look now.

The most common fossils of our ancestors, also known as hominin, are mostly teeth since they’re the hardest part of the human body. This provides a lot of helpful information of the time period that they’re from, their diet and more. As humans continued to evolve, the teeth actually shrink. It’s most noticeable in the teeth in the back, which are your wisdom teeth. Nowadays, because of the work done to wisdom teeth over a period of time, most wisdom teeth are extremely small and in some cases, not even developed. But with hominins, their wisdom teeth were about two to four times larger than that.

The reason that modern human’s teeth have shrunk is because of the professional work that has been done over the years, molding smiles in the future.

There are also other speculations and ideas for the shift, literally and figuratively, in our teeth. Click here to read more about what researchers and scientists have to say about these fossils.

Make sure you’re always taking care of your smile by visiting your dentist in Mentor OH! Contact our office today to schedule an appointment by calling (440) 357-1222.

The Guide to Mouth Rinsing

Mentor OH General Dentist on Rinsing The Right Way

On a daily basis, your top providers of general dentistry in Mentor OH at Erieview Dental help patients in establishing a proper at-home oral health regimen. As dental professionals, we always recommend and see the benefit of, twice daily brushing for at least two minutes per session and daily flossing for most patients.

Once we make this recommendation, however, most patients will ask about mouthwash. And while mouth washing is not 100% needed in every patient’s regimen, it does have some great benefits. Not only does mouthwash help your breath smell nice and fresh after a meal or a smoke, but it can help destroy bacteria that lead to gum disease, reduce your risk for tooth decay, eliminate tartar build up and even help whiten the teeth.

But how does one choose a mouthwash with all the options out there? Or how do you know what ingredients in mouthwash are beneficial to you? When it comes to action- how long should you be swishing? And ultimately- do you actually really NEED to mouthwash?

While we acknowledge that every patient is a unique case, we found a WebMD page that answered a great number of these questions in a similar fashion to how we would. You can review that mouthwash guide here: Click Here.

For any more questions concerning your oral health and/or mouth washing, schedule an appointment with your top dentists in Mentor OH by calling (440) 357-1222.

National Nutrition Month

Dentist in Mentor OH on March (Nutrition) Madness!

While it may be a little too late to qualify for a “New Year’s Resolution” diet- your dentist in Mentor OH at Erieview Dental wants you to know it is never too late to change the way you eat! This coming March marks another National Nutrition Month, where the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics try to make everyday people more aware of what they eat and drink on a daily basis. We wanted to do our part today to let you know how your nutrition can impact your oral health in particular.

It is safe to say that most people aren’t thinking about oral health as soon as they eat something. They may consider how it tastes…smells…what it will do to their waistline and a whole load of other thoughts before the damage it can do to a smile. Even the small things, or supposedly healthy ones, such as “diet” products or a little lemon, can slide under the radar completely.

Items high in acid content (like those above) or especially sugary ones can lead to all sorts of dental detriments. Cavities, gum disease, lost teeth- you name it, and it is possible from your diet alone. Without being overly pessimistic, there are a whole group of things that can do your oral health good too.

Yes, milk, albeit a cliché- can do your mouth good. It, along with whole grain and wheat foods and more, contain vitamins and nutrients that not only improve your overall health- but the health of your mouth too. Many fruits and vegetables can also deliver mouth-saving blasts of vitamins and nutrients that ward off bacteria, whiten your smile and keep you healthy.

As with many things in the world of food and drink, there is a fine line between just enough and too much. The world won’t end if you have a soda every once and a while, but if you have a few a day, your mouth and body may not be thanking you for it in due time. Being aware of the difference between these two realities and knowing what it is you put in your body is the main National Nutrition Month- and we hope you stay vigilant of your diet not only through March but year-round as well.

For more information on National Nutrition Month as it relates to your oral health, call the office of your dentist in Mentor today at (440) 357-1222 to schedule an appointment!

Stop Smoking - Save Your Smile

Dentist in Mentor OH On Saving Your Smile

It seems that for years, health professionals like our dentist in Mentor have played a dual role in the world of smoking. On one hand, we warn patients about all the hazards that such a habit can present and strongly advise against it. On the other hand, we are there to pick up the pieces when a smoking habit has led to staining, tooth loss, and even oral cancers or more.

Why more patients don’t quit smoking sooner is ultimately beyond us. However, one theory we have revolves around seeing results. Most of the more substantial damage that comes from smoking happens over the course of a few years, not a few individual cigarettes. While you won’t typically have any health issues like cancer, heart or lung complications for quite some time…you can see damage to your mouth immediately. Below we have provided a few examples of how quitting smoking can improve your oral health. For even more examples and detailed information- you can head to the following article here.

Whiter Teeth- from smoke numero uno, tar, nicotine and other ingredients can start to yellow your smile. After a while, these stains can turn from just surface stains to being deeper rooted, but by quitting early and making an appointment with our Mentor OH dentist- there is still hope for a nice, white smile.

Fresher Breath- smoking is one of the most common causes of chronic bad breath. Smokers even know how unpleasant the smell can be to others, so use gum or mints to cover it up after. Overall, if you quit smoking, you will see a major improvement in the scent of your breath rather immediately.

For more information on how quitting smoking can help improve your oral health, click the above link and call our dentist in Mentor OH at Erieview Dental today at (440) 357-1222.

Bye-Bye Microbeads

After a cosmetic dental procedure with your Mentor OH cosmetic dentist at Erieview Dental, you may be wondering what the best means of keeping your teeth nice and white may be. For many patients, this results in a healthy diet and lots of water drinking, coupled with the ultimate at-home solution: teeth brushing.

Twice daily brushing not only helps eliminate plaque, bacteria and disease from ruining the mouth- but can also keep them LOOKING good as well. Many patients will make their toothpaste of choice one of the whitening variety to help boost the brightness of their smile as well.

Most whitening toothpastes come either with, or without, little plastic beads inside of them that help scrape away the surface stains on the teeth. Your Mentor OH cosmetic dentist is here to tell you today that if you are one of the patients using these pastes, you won’t be for much longer.

After years of studies performed, it has been determined that the plastic microbeads in these products are too harmful to the environment to allow them to continue. When these beads get flushed down the drain, they don’t properly biodegrade- resulting in toxins in our water supply and in the animals that reside in that water supply as well.

For more information on the studies leading to this ban, as well as what manufacturers plan to do following it- you can Click Here.

But wait! Don’t go rushing out to the store to buy a new paste yet! Make sure you consult you cosmetic dentist in Mentor OH at your next appointment to see what paste may be the best buy for you!

You can schedule that appointment with Erieview Dental today by calling (440) 357-1222.

Transform with Cosmetic Dentistry

Cosmetic procedures have been one of the most beneficial parts of dentistry for years, allowing patients to have the smile that they’ve always wanted instead of feeling like they need to hide their smile. But many patients believe that they’re unable to achieve their perfect smile, either because of expenses or that they’re not sure what procedure would best suit them.

This is what your dentist is for! We provide several cosmetic procedures like teeth whitening, dental veneers, Invisalign in Painesville and more that allow patients to start their journey to a healthy, strong smile.

Click here to view a slideshow of before and after photos of various cosmetic procedures!