Children's Oral Health Month

At Elite Dental Arts, we advise parents to start taking care of their children’s teeth at a young age. This February is National Children’s Dental Health Month, which stresses the importance of kids developing a good relationship with oral hygiene. Tooth Decay is the leading chronic disease among children despite it being controllable.

When your children’s baby teeth first come in, you should brush their teeth with a soft-bristled toothbrush and a dab of toothpaste. Children’s baby teeth act as placeholders for their permanent teeth so keeping them clean and cavity free is important. When your child is capable of brushing properly on their own, we encourage you to show them how to floss and get all of the access food and bacteria off.

Regardless of how well your children brush, we want all of our patients to follow a healthy diet. A diet that consists of plenty of vitamins and nutrients will help your teeth to be clean and healthy.

Don’t forget, bringing in your children for a cleaning twice a year will help ensure their teeth are clean and developing as they should. We want all of our patients to have the brightest smile! 

To learn more about children’s dental health and all the services provided at the practice, visit www.elitedentalarts.com for more information.  To schedule an appointment with Dr. Nick Mobilia at Elite Dental Arts in New York, NY, call 212-681-0939.

Causes of Bad Breath

As cosmetic and prosthodontic specialists, we at Elite Dental Arts in Midtown have provided lots of patients with assistance cleaning their removable oral appliances. Keeping dentures clean is good for your health as well as your breath, and advances in denture retention have allowed more people to get by without the odor-causing denture gel that led people to avoid prosthetic teeth in past decades. But there are other sources of bad breath that patients should know about, too.

Halitosis is caused by the odor of decay-causing bacteria. These bacteria not only live between the teeth and in the gum pockets, but also on the tongue and in the spaces between the gums and removable dentures. As they metabolize sugar, they secrete acid, imperiling natural and artificial oral structures alike. Bacteria on the tongue can be controlled with daily use of a tongue scraper, as well as by brushing the tongue and using mouthwash. Gums also require brushing before dentures are put in, and the undersides of dentures need to be brushed as well as the toothy parts.

Dry mouth puts patients at higher risk for oral infections, and therefore at higher risk for halitosis. Drinking plenty of water, as opposed to sugary, caffeinated, or alcoholic beverages can mitigate this risk. Garlic and onions can cause bad breath because the gases they carry are transmitted to the lungs, but they can also trigger acid reflux, which would leave the odor of stomach acid on the tongue. Chewing gum is a strategy for combatting dietary risks, as long as the gum is sugar-free.

Nick M. Mobilia, DDS
ELITE DENTAL ARTS
9 East 45th Street, 6th Floor
New York, NY 10017

 

Wisdom Teeth Extractions

Wisdom teeth extractions are the removal of any teeth from the third sets of molars. There are four wisdom teeth and depending on the patient and doctor’s discretion, not all four may necessarily be removed.

When a wisdom tooth is impacted, it means the tooth is coming in at an angle and not straight through the gum line. This can cause pain, overcrowding, or the tooth may only emerge partially. Impacted wisdom teeth can also become traps for infections. Removal is a quick operation that can take as few as 45 minutes. During the removal, patients are either numbed or given general anesthetic for sedation.

Post surgery patients will be on a soft food diet for a few days while the gums heal and swelling goes down. Foods such as ice cream, yogurt, thin soup, mashed potatoes, and pudding are recommended.

To learn more about the wisdom teeth and extraction of them, along with other services we offer, visit our website at www.elitedentalarts.com for more information. To schedule an appointment with Dr. Nick Mobilia at Elite Dental Arts in New York, NY, call 212-681-0939.

Nick M. Mobilia, DDS

Elite Dental Arts

9 East 45^th Street, 6^th Floor

New York, NY, 10017

Toothbrush Care and Storage

Studies have shown that people who share a bathroom are more likely to have contaminated toothbrushes that are loaded with bacteria. This is due to bacteria that builds up from sources such as the toilet, shower, and other toothbrushes. The storing of toothbrushes should be done carefully and in a spot where bacteria will have difficulty accessing. At Elite Dental Arts we recommend keeping your toothbrush away from the sink so water doesn’t splash when hands are being washed and contracting bacteria. Avoiding the toilet area for storage is also suggested for obvious bacterial reasons.

Some tips to keep toothbrushes safe that Dr. Nick Mobilia recommends are changing your toothbrush every 3-4 months, avoiding sharing, and rinsing the excess water after brushing. Something that people don't realize is that when toothbrushes touch they spread bacteria and the brushes can become contaminated and unsafe to use.

To learn more about the importance of properly storing your toothbrush along with other services we offer, visit our website at www.elitedentalarts.com for more information.

Nick M. Mobilia, DDS
ELITE DENTAL ARTS
9 East 45th Street, 6th Floor
New York, NY 10017

Acid Reflux and Teeth

Preventive dental care usually focuses on oral hygiene, but tooth decay isn’t the only threat to tooth structure. At Elite Dental Arts in Midtown, we want our patients to enjoy a healthy lifestyle and diet that will protect their teeth from acid reflux.

Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD) refers to chronic, recurring acid reflux. Commonly but inaccurately known as heartburn, acid reflux happens when the sphincter separating the stomach from the esophagus opens at the wrong time. Stomach acid travels upward, burning the esophagus as it goes, and it sometimes gets as far as the oral cavity. When that happens, it erodes enamel, beginning with the inward-facing sides of the upper back teeth. As enamel loses minerals, it takes on a chalky appearance and the teeth become more sensitive.

Acid reflux can have many causes, but there are steps patients can take to prevent it. Those include not smoking, avoiding large meals before lying down, and avoiding large quantities of food such as red meat, spices, citric juice, tomatoes, garlic, and onions, as well as avoiding caffeine and alcohol. Patients should also take care that they eat in an upright posture and that they drink plenty of fluids, since adequate saliva production is one of the body’s best defenses against acid reflux.

Nick M. Mobilia, DDS
ELITE DENTAL ARTS
9 East 45th Street, 6th Floor
New York, NY 10017

 

Gum Disease and Cirrhosis

We offer comprehensive treatment at Elite Dental Arts in Midtown, including restorations for people who have been impacted by gum disease. More evidence is emerging of how closely gum disease is tied to other conditions, establishing a possibility that periodontal treatments could benefit a patient in unexpected ways. One of the new areas of research is into a connection between gum disease and cirrhosis.

The liver filters toxins out of the blood. But it can become inflamed, and when long-term inflammation results in scarring, the patient develops cirrhosis. People with cirrhosis suffer from inflammation throughout their bodies, including in their brains, with cognitive fog and mood swings resulting. Gum disease is also unusually common in people with cirrhosis. Scientists had thought this was because both can be caused by smoking and alcohol use, but gum disease is also common in people with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, which isn’t directly related to either.

An experiment at Virginia Commonwealth University split patients with both diseases into groups to determine how they would respond to gum treatment. They found that after periodontal therapy, cirrhosis patients had significant cognitive improvements and higher counts of anti-inflammatory gut bacteria than untreated patients. We’re excited to see more research into the importance of fighting oral bacteria, and we want people suffering from gum disease to know how much treatment could help them.

Nick M. Mobilia, DDS
ELITE DENTAL ARTS
9 East 45th Street, 6th Floor
New York, NY 10017

 

Driving With A Sleep Disorder

An average of 1.3 million people die in the US every year as the result of a car accident, and fatigued driving is responsible for a lot of accidents.  People living with untreated sleep apnea or other sleep disorder may not realize how much it impacts their alertness and how dangerous it is to drive.  Dr. Nick Mobilia and the staff of Elite Dental Arts can help you find relief from sleep apnea, so please schedule a visit for evaluation.

Patients who don’t seek treatment for their poor sleep may think they are used to feeling tired all the time and are unimpaired.  However a chronic lack of restful sleep is shown to have the same effects has being intoxicated by drugs or alcohol.  Excessive sleepiness causes problems with focus and attention, which you need in order to drive.  The lack of focusing and inability to react quickly makes high-risk drivers. If you are planning to drive somewhere but feel sleepy, take a minute to assess your alertness.  A short nap can even revive you for a 30 minute drive.  Caffeine is of course a temporary fix, but it can keep you alert and prevent falling asleep at the wheel.  If you ever notice yourself dozing at the wheel, pull over to rest. 

Don’t live with a sleep disorder any longer.  Visit www.elitedentalarts.com for more information. To schedule an appointment with Dr. Nick Mobilia at Elite Dental Arts in New York, NY, call 212-681-0939.

 

Nick M. Mobilia, DDS
ELITE DENTAL ARTS
9 East 45th Street, 6th Floor
New York, NY 10017