Dental hygienists are licensed professionals who specialize in preventive oral care. By conducting regular, comprehensive tooth cleanings that involve removing calculus and plaque (hard and soft deposits), the hygienist helps patients avoid tooth decay and gum disease. Just as importantly, the dental hygienist can teach patients oral hygiene strategies that help them maintain oral health. This very important member of the dental team also screens for oral cancer and counsels about good nutrition that plays a big role in preserving tooth health. Dental charting, taking x-rays, and reviewing health history are but a few of the other valuable tasks that dental hygienists are trained to perform with the goal of furthering patient health and awareness.

Our dental hygienists are oral health care professionals who provide educational, clinical, and therapeutic services to our patients. At DISTINCTIVE SMILES OF DUBLIN, oral health is a long-term commitment we share with each patient and we encourage you to make us aware of any special needs you may have. We provide excellent clinical skills and state of the art equipment. Please call 614.792.1800 to schedule an appointment. We’re located at 5142 Blazer Parkway, Dublin, where our goal is to help you preserve your natural teeth for a lifetime. Creating Healthy Beautiful Smiles.

P.S. If patients have questions about their oral health that require a detailed explanation, they are encouraged to ask the dental hygienist.

When a cold drink causes tooth pain, the root structure of one or more teeth may be overly exposed. If so, the focus should be on the “dentin” layer, which lies beneath the enamel and contains millions of tiny tubules connected to nerve endings. Gum recession and enamel erosion lay bare this sensitive tissue, which is usually protected by enamel and gums. Even hard brushing can wear away gum tissue to the point where dentin tubules are exposed to hot and cold drinks. Dentin can also become irritated by the overuse of tooth-whitening agents at home. In any case, the dentist can help reduce sensitivity by sealing exposed dentin and eliminating the cause(s) of dentin exposure.

Tooth pain can be a rather huge pain and irritation. It can completely dull your thinking, make your entire face feel painful, and can also keep you from eating properly. At DISTINCTIVE SMILES OF DUBLIN, we are a highly qualified and experienced team of oral health care professionals. We will discuss all of your options with you. We’re located at 5142 Blazer Parkway, Dublin, where our entire staff is thoroughly trained, skilled, and sensitive to your needs. Our goal is to make each visit to our office a comfortable and positive experience. Call us today at 614.792.1800 to schedule an appointment. Creating Healthy Beautiful Smiles.

P.S. Gum recession may require corrective periodontal surgery that involves grafting tissue.

While patients may automatically assume that orthodontic treatment is needed to correct crooked, rotated, and overlapping teeth, it may only take a few subtle alterations by the dentist to correct problem teeth. Tooth contouring and reshaping are cosmetic techniques that can make a big difference, and they only require a single visit to the dentist. With a few deft touches, the dentist can change the shape, length, or position of teeth with minimal discomfort to the patient. A sanding drill or laser may be utilized to remove small amounts of surface enamel gradually, after which abrasive strips are slid back and forth on the teeth’s inside edges to shape the surfaces in between teeth. Finally, teeth are smoothed and polished.

We are a wide-ranging dental office and are proud and pleased to perform a wide variety of procedures, just about everything you could need in a dental office. We place a special emphasis on smile design and smile enhancement. At DISTINCTIVE SMILES OF DUBLIN, we are dedicated to excellence in dental care. We’re located at 5142 Blazer Parkway, Dublin, where we offer a full array of dental procedures. We want you and your family to look and feel the very best. Please call us at 614.792.1800 to schedule an appointment. New patients are always welcome. Creating Healthy Beautiful Smiles.

P.S. Bonding teeth with resin that matches tooth color can build up areas of tooth surfaces that require supplementation.

By maintaining good oral-health practices at home and scheduling regular office visits, most patients can avoid many common dental problems. Daily brushing and flossing, and the application of sealants, can help youngsters avoid tooth decay. Adults can avert their most common problem, gum disease, with regular professional care. In cases where tooth loss, breakage, or misalignment does occur, the dentist is expert in a variety of advanced restoration and replacement techniques. In addition, there are a number of cosmetic procedures, including tooth whitening, veneers, and bonding, that effectively remedy chipped, discolored, and gapped teeth. The more patients know about dental health, the better their smiles. In the weeks and months ahead, this column will address all aspects of dental care.

Today’s column is brought to you as a public service. At DISTINCTIVE SMILES OF DUBLIN our goal is getting you into optimal health and having a beautiful smile. Preventative dentistry is our focus and it may not be where we start, but it’s where we would like to finish. It’s been shown that healthy teeth allow you to live 7-10 years longer with a higher quality of life. Good oral hygiene, a proper diet, and regular preventative hygiene appointments will keep you healthy. We are always accepting new patients of all ages and would love to meet you and your family. Please visit us at distinctive-smiles.com or call us at 614.792.1800 to schedule an appointment. We’re located at 5142 Blazer Parkway, Dublin, where we are “Creating Healthy Beautiful Smiles. “

P.S. Flossing is every bit as important as daily brushing in fighting plaque buildup and tooth decay.

Dentistry has been characterized in several ways such as a vocation, profession, or even industry. But another way would be that dentisty is its own culture. As dentists, we are influenced by innate beliefs, patient behaviors, collegue influence, business pressures, among others. But as a group, we are pretty much siloed and isolated, especially if one is a solo practitioner. Over time, dentistry has become more scientifically precise, technologically driven, and philosophically refined. That leads to a disconnect between those in the dental field and those that are not. It’s hard for a non-dentist to grasp the scope and meaning of modern dentistry, as they cling onto their own cultural memories and experiences from previous eras of dentistry. Things are moving so fast, “modern dentistry” should be considered dentistry of the past two years. And in a time, when we move faster and faster through life, the time is not always spent explaining the benefits to recommended care.
This disconnect between patients and dentists can be quite a wide gap. Dentists see promise, many patients still see pain. Dentists celebrate problem-solving, patients still cringe at cost. Dentists strive for durability, some patients see unrealistic permanence. It’s a matter of communication and expecations that really can reduce that distance between each side. The more we dentists embed ourselves in the values of our culture, the harder we have to work to understand our patients’ external points of view.
Professors always used to tell me that you have to raise the patient’s dental IQ and educate them then your patient acceptance will skyrocket. Patient education only works to the extent that doctors recognize what laypeople already expect. I’ve discovered that a dentist needs to ask questions to determine the wants and concerns that the patient has, not the other way around. Once that is determined, then a dialogue can begin and some education can enlightened some areas that will help the patient understand. Many times, as I peel back the layers of the onion during a patient consult, I’ve discovered that what is keeping the patient from not scheduling their recommended treatment was something different than what I thought.
The take home message is that your doctor (MD, DDS, DO, OMFS, PhD, etc) should always create a dialogue with you as a patient. It’s your teeth, your eyes, your body, so make sure you get the explanation and education you expect. But that goes both ways, you as a patient need to let your provider know your expecations and wants so that dialogue can begin. This dialogue will put you both in a position to have a successful outcome.
I am a member of several associations including the ADA, ODA, CDA, AGD, AOS, DSN. I’ll discuss all those acronyms at another time, but they all have helped me in one way or another in becoming a better dentist and supporting the dental cause to provide good care to our patients. One of my favorites is the Academy of General Dentistry (AGD). Boring name, but they provide really good continuing education and reading sources. I was reading an article by Eric Curtis, DDS, MA, MAGD who the editor of their magazine. So some of this content from this post comes from Dr. Curtis and I wanted to give some credit to him.

Halloween has come and gone for another year. My kids sure had fun even though it was a little cold this year. My six year old filled his bucket and a little of his sisters. And no I didn’t pass out toothbrushes, toothpaste, and apples. That’s a lame idea plus I didn’t want our house to get TP’d. There is nothing wrong with the kids (and the parents) eating a little candy in moderation. Just brush and floss those teeth before you go to bed so those tooth bugs don’t eat away at your teeth. It’s usually not the first month that we see those cavities, it’s usually a few months down the road.

I don’t know about you, but we’re going to have lots of left over candy. So I went to a website call Mom On Timeout and got some ideas for all that leftover candy.

•Donate it. There are many opportunities to donate your Halloween candy. Here are a few that I know of:
-Ronald McDonald House Charities-accepts candy donations for kids. You can search for a local branch here.
-Many churches and other places of worship have candy drop-offs or accept candy donations.
-Operation Gratitude-sends care packages to troops overseas.
-Any Soldier-sends packages to individual volunteers who then pass them on to soldiers who don’t get much mail.
That soldier then shares his package with his troop.

•Other places to donate would be food pantries, pediatric wards, and nursing homes.

•Another option is to freeze your extra candy. Chocolate freezes very well and can be stored for up to a year in an airtight container (I use a ziploc bag.) This is also great because when you want a piece you have to wait for it to thaw 🙂

•Christmas is coming up and advent calendars are a perfect use for leftover candy. Make your own advent calendar or chain and count down to Christmas be enjoying one piece of candy a day. (You might want to let your kids take turns instead of having a piece every day.)

•We enjoy cookie decorating parties during the holiday season. Pull out the candy that can be used to decorate cookies and save yourself the expense of buying them later on.

•Use it for crafts. Have your kids make a candy wreath by gluing packaged candies onto a wreath. Fun and decorative at the same time!

•Use the candy to decorate your gingerbread houses. Twix bars could be used for the logs on your log cabin gingerbread house. Snickers would make cute benches. Lollipops make perfect trees. Just use your imagination and your gingerbread house this year will be better than ever!

•Use the candy to bake with. There are lots of recipes that call for candy. You can use M&Ms and pretty much any chocolate candy bar to make delicious cookies. Just chop them up and throw it in your favorite cookie recipe or top your cupcakes with them. Yummy!
•Leftover candy is perfect for ice cream toppings as well. Almost every chocolate candy can be used as an ice cream topping. Just chop them up when you are ready to use.

•Share that candy! You can always take the candy to co-workers or send in with your spouse to his office.