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There’s been a lot of hype around the Internet, social media and even on store shelves about using activated charcoal for its teeth whitening affects. Like any trendy new dental hygiene tip, we decided to take a closer look at the charcoal teeth whitening trend, and here is what we want you to know.
We’ve seen posts and articles about using raw activated charcoal or toothpastes with charcoal mixed in to clean your teeth with the expectation that it has natural teeth whitening properties. The logic comes from the fact that activated charcoal is used in emergency rooms to absorb toxins and that the charcoal will do the same thing to your teeth. Some sources also say that the charcoal will remove bacteria and freshen your breath by restoring pH balance.
While it is possible that charcoal may remove surface stains and have other benefits, as dental professionals, we also worry that it may be too abrasive (i.e. rough) for enamel that makes up the outside layer of your teeth and protects them from decay or sensitivity. Regular toothpastes, especially whitening toothpastes, contain abrasives that are known to be safe on teeth. It’s possible that charcoal is dangerously rough on teeth, but we don’t know yet.
The American Dental Association conducted a review of all the available research on the use of charcoal in oral hygiene and came to the conclusion that there isn’t enough scientific evidence supporting or refuting claims that many charcoal products make. They called for more studies to be done in the future to get to the bottom of charcoal’s affect on teeth and advised that dentists tell their patients to be cautious about using charcoal on their teeth.
When it comes trendy tooth care, whether charcoal or any other trend you see online or hear about from a friend, use this analogy: Think of your mouth like the engine of your car. Imagine coming around saying they discovered you can use a cheap household product like rubbing alcohol to fuel your car. The alcohol will make your car run really smoothly for the first few hundred miles, then it might start wearing away at the parts inside your engine so it doesn’t run right anymore. Would you want to fuel up with the alcohol, or stick to good old gasoline?
The truth is, we’re just not sure if charcoal is good for your teeth or bad. Since there’s no proof that it’s safe, we advise sticking to tried and true dental hygiene tools: your toothbrush, floss, fluoride toothpaste and if needed, occasional professional teeth whitening at the dentist.
Electronic cigarettes and vaporizers have quickly become a trendy alternative to smoking, in large part because people believe they are safe to use. We’d like to send this vaping myth up in smoke.
For those who are unfamiliar, electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) and vaporizers are products that heat up a nicotine-containing liquid to produce vapor instead of smoke—hence the term “vaping.” Vaping doesn’t involve burning tobacco, so users can avoid inhaling many of the nastier cancer-causing chemicals found in regular cigarettes. Because of this, e-cigarette manufacturers claim that vaping is a safe alternative to smoking tobacco. In reality, there are a number of health problems associated with the use of nicotine vaporizing devices.
While vapor is likely less toxic than smoke, you are still putting your oral health at risk if you inhale it. Researchers have found that after exposure to e-cigarette vapor on multiple days in a row, the rate of death in mouth tissue cells skyrockets! Like cigarettes, nicotine vapor is also known to dry out your mouth and reduce the flow of saliva, which is your body’s natural mechanism for cleaning your teeth and gums. You can also expect some bad breath and an increased risk of tooth decay and gum disease. Some e-cigarette users also get cold sores, which are most often on the roof of the mouth. (Gross!)
Though nicotine vapor does not contain the deadly chemicals found in tobacco smoke, it is still harmful. On its own, nicotine is a powerfully addictive drug—many former smokers claim it is one of the most difficult addictions to beat. Nicotine is a stimulant, meaning it makes you more wakeful and alert while also increasing your heart rate and blood pressure. As with many stimulants, overuse of nicotine can lead to teeth grinding and reduced blood flow. Teeth grinding damages your tooth enamel and can cause cracks and fractures. Reduced blood flow is a significant concern for dentists because it can mask inflammation and bleeding in the early stages of gum disease. You may think your gums are fine when they are really not—even your dentist may be fooled!
If the serious side effects listed above don’t scare you, the fact remains that e-cigarettes have not been around long enough for us to fully study and understand their potential health impacts. While there is evidence to suggest they are less harmful than regular cigarettes, this does not mean they are safe to use. Some people have even reported explosions from improperly made e-cigarettes! If you currently smoke tobacco or use e-cigarettes, we can help you find a healthier way to quit.
With hundreds of millions of diagnoses worldwide, diabetes is a major concern for all medical professionals, and dentists are no exception. We know that diabetic patients need to take special precautions when it comes to their health care, so we created this quick guide on what diabetes means for your dental care.
Higher levels of blood sugar increase the likelihood of getting infections throughout the body. For diabetic patients, the risk of developing periodontitis—the most severe form of gum disease—is much higher than for the general population. In fact, diabetes is believed to be one of the leading causes of gum disease. Furthermore, infected gums can increase blood sugar levels and therefore worsen diabetic symptoms, creating a vicious cycle as the two conditions feed into one another.
To prevent gum disease, it is essential that you consistently brush and floss. Inflamed gums that bleed when you brush or floss are not normal and you should tell us about them as soon as possible!
Diabetes is also known to increase the amount of sugar your saliva contains. While it may seem gross to most, saliva is actually one of the most important parts of a healthy mouth! Saliva’s power to remove leftover food particles and kill bacteria is your first-line defense against oral disease. Oral bacteria loves to feed on sugar, so excess sugar in your saliva puts you at a greater risk of developing infections and poor oral hygiene. Additionally, diabetes—and even some medications used to treat it—can cause dry mouth (xerostomia), which means you may not be producing enough saliva in the first place!
Two of the most common problems encountered by diabetic patients with deficient saliva are tooth decay and bacterial or fungal infections. While you are probably already aware of cavities, you should also look out for a fungal infection known as thrush. This most often presents itself as red or white patches or sores inside your mouth and on your tongue.
Your best weapons against these dental enemies are hydration (six to eight 8-ounce glasses of water every day) and maintaining stable blood sugar levels. If you have dry mouth, you can try chewing sugarless gum to help stimulate saliva production.
If you have diabetes and must undergo a dental procedure that your mouth will need time to recover from, it is extremely important to discuss the risks with your dentist. You may need to take special precautions or wait until your blood sugar levels are lower before receiving any dental treatments. Diabetes restricts blood circulation, making it more difficult for your body to repair itself. This can lead to infections and a variety of other complications.
We think it is important to remind you not to stress out over these things; all of them can be avoided with thorough oral hygiene. If you have diabetes, we encourage you to talk to us about your options so we can give you the specialized care you need.
Some foods that are genuinely good for your overall health can actually damage your teeth when eaten too often. Here are a few particularly popular culprits. We’re not saying to avoid these foods completely, but you should know which ones to consume in moderation.
In case you didn’t know, it’s not sugar itself that causes tooth decay, it’s the acid that bacteria turns sugar into by digesting it. Acid is the enemy of tooth enamel. Lemon juice is quite acidic, so consuming it too often can actually weaken your enamel just like eating too much sugar. Lemons are rich in vitamin C. Without enough vitamin C in your diet, you can get scurvy, which ironically can cause your teeth to loosen and fall out. So, lemon is good for you in moderation, but try to avoid adding it to your water and sipping on it all day. You’d be giving your teeth a constant bath in cavity-causing acids!
Blueberries are known for being rich in antioxidants, vitamins and inflammation-fighting compounds. They’re also nature’s candy and totally delicious. But if you’ve ever dropped a fresh, juicy berry on light clothing, you also know that they create a pretty stubborn stain. What’s true of your favorite cotton shirt is also true of your tooth enamel. If you eat blueberries too frequently, you can contribute to staining and darkening your teeth. So if you’re trying to keep your smile bright after a teeth whitening treatment, we recommend limiting your blueberry intake. After all, the best teeth whitening is avoiding staining foods and drinks all together!
While not nearly as bad for your teeth as soda pop or carbonated energy drinks, carbonated water is not without guilt when it comes to tooth health. All carbonated drinks, including popular sugar-free, calorie-free flavor-infused waters, contain acid created by the carbonation process. All those fun fizzy little bubbles can actually damage your teeth over time if you drink too many carbonated drinks.
Wondering if the latest health fad or superfood is bad for your teeth? Feel free to ask the dentist or dental hygienist at your next visit. We’re always happy to share our dental expertise!
We all know that the only tried and true method of preventing cavities is regular brushing and flossing. However, that doesn’t stop researchers and dental patients alike from seeking other “life hacks” to maintain shiny smiles. Of course, the best way to promote good oral hygiene is to control what we put in our mouths in the first place!
As consumers are becoming more health-conscious, companies are seeking alternative sweeteners to sugar. As a well-known contributor to tooth decay and other health problems, sugar is always facing new competition. For certain products like chewing gum, the American Dental Association will only award its Seal of Acceptance to sugarless varieties.
With this incentive, many chewing gum manufacturers are now using sugar substitutes to satisfy your sweet tooth (without putting holes in it!). One of the most common sugar alternatives in chewing gum is xylitol. Unlike many other sweeteners, xylitol is not artificial and can be found in a variety of plants. Many claim that it effectively prevents the growth of cavity-causing bacteria and it has quickly become a popular ingredient in products on store shelves worldwide.
However, the American Dental Association says that the benefits of xylitol may be exaggerated. In recent studies of the sweetener, there has not been enough evidence to prove that xylitol prevents tooth decay. Despite anecdotal reports of success, we can’t say for sure that this sweetener has special teeth cleaning properties.
Don’t let this leave a bad taste in your mouth—there’s still good news! All forms of sugar-free gum, including xylitol-flavored gum, are still much better for your teeth than gum with sugar. The advantages are twofold: First, oral bacteria have a harder time surviving without sugar to feed them. The other benefit of chewing sugarless gum is that it increases the flow of saliva. Saliva is essential to preventing tooth decay because it washes away food particles and remineralizes your teeth to keep them strong.
While we can’t say xylitol is a dental care savior, feel free to pick up some sugar-free gum the next time you’re out shopping—your teeth will thank you! Just remember that a sugar substitute is never a substitute for thorough brushing and flossing.
As dental professionals, we feel like broken records telling people to reduce the amount of sugar in their diets to reduce tooth decay. We know we’ve gotten through to some of you and you have made important changes, such as cutting back your sugary latte or soda pop consumption to just one per day followed by a thorough tooth brushing. But some of you who have made these positive changes are still shocked when we tell you that you we’re still finding new cavities.
We assure you, the dentist isn’t making it up when new cavities appear. What we’ve realized is there’s a gap in the information we’re giving you about sugary treats. Here’s the missing piece: it’s not always how much sugar you consume, but how you consume it that leads to tooth decay!
This is what the dentist knows that all patients should know too: sustained sugar consumption, even in moderation, over a long period of time can damage your oral health.
For example, you stop by the coffee shop on the way to work and pick up your favorite caramel latte and sip on it gradually from 8am until 11am, at which point you brush your teeth. Sure, your teeth are nice and clean now, but for the previous 3 hours you’ve been continuously bathing your teeth in sugar, providing a feast for the bacteria in your mouth. And those bacteria aren’t going to politely wait until you brush your teeth at 11am to start making holes in your tooth enamel or get under your gums and become gingivitis.
This same concept holds true for soda pop or a baggie of fruit-flavored candies. If you’re going to enjoy any sugary treats, make sure you consume it fairly quickly to avoid exposing your teeth to sugar for a long period of time. Of course, brushing right afterward is still a good habit. But if you don’t have access to a toothbrush right away, drinking plain non-carbonated water can help flush away at least some of the sugar.
So remember, moderation is important both in terms of quantity of sugary treats and how long it takes you to eat or drink them!
A toothache is your body’s way of telling you something has gone wrong in your mouth. There is no convenient time or place to get a toothache, but we always strive to see our toothache patients as soon as possible. But chances are you won’t be at our office when a toothache strikes, so here are a few things NOT to do between when you notice the discomfort and when you see the dentist.
Spoiler alert: it won’t just get better on its own. It’s possible that if you use home toothache remedies you can reduce your discomfort, but that doesn’t mean that you’ve fixed the underlying problem that caused the toothache in the first place. If there is a singular truth to oral health it is this: nothing ever gets better by putting off seeing the dentist.
Yes, there is a right and wrong way to take painkillers when you have a toothache! The best option is to take ibuprofen (Advil) consistently and don’t stop when the pain starts getting better. Taking the indicated dose regularly until you see the dentist will prevent swelling from coming back and causing more discomfort. We should note that not everyone can take ibuprofen or other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) due to health concerns. Chances are you know if you can’t take NSAIDs, but please ask your primary care doctor if you aren’t sure.
There are a few symptoms that may accompany a toothache that are serious and may require a visit to urgent care or the ER. These include a fever, severe swelling, eyes swelling shut, trouble breathing or swallowing. All of these are signs of a serious infection or injury that could be life-threatening in extreme and rare situations. Please don’t take a chance: if you have these symptoms, go to the hospital first and call us after.
Even if it’s a Sunday night or a national holiday, don’t hesitate to call us. If you don’t get someone on the phone right away, you can leave a message about what’s going on and your phone number, and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible. The sooner we know about your situation, the sooner we can help!
Every few years a new dental care fad pops up and we dentists and hygienists start hearing tons of questions about whether the latest dental home remedy or DIY tooth care product really works. One of the most popular ones we’ve seen lately is using activated charcoal paste to whiten teeth. Some video bloggers are claiming amazing teeth whitening effects, but many patients are wondering whether this technique really works, and more importantly, whether it is safe.
The quick answer to both questions is: we don’t know yet. Viable studies have not been completed yet on whether charcoal can remove stains from teeth or whether charcoal can damage teeth.
In case you aren’t familiar with it, charcoal teeth whitening involves adding water to a fine powder of charcoal to make a paste. You then use this paste to brush your teeth with a regular toothbrush for three to five minutes. Supposedly, after you rinse the ghoulish-looking black paste from your mouth, you’re left with an ultra-white, megawatt smile.
The idea behind the trend is reasonable enough. Charcoal has been used for centuries as a purifying agent. Activated charcoal is very porous, and all the tiny little holes on its surface grab on to toxins and particles. That’s why charcoal is used in water filters and by as poison control in emergency rooms. However, whether this purifying effect works on teeth is not known, though in theory the concept does make sense.
Regardless of whether charcoal can be effective for teeth whitening, the more important question is if it is safe. It is possible that charcoal is too abrasive for your teeth, meaning that if the charcoal is too rough, it can damage and strip away the outer layer of your teeth (the enamel). This may not cause a problem after just one use, however, if a patient uses charcoal on their teeth repeatedly over time, they may wear out their teeth, leaving them vulnerable to sensitivity and decay.
Given that we don’t really have any evidence or studies to prove either the effectiveness or safety of charcoal teeth whitening, we can’t say that we recommend it. There are plenty of reasonably priced tooth whitening products at the drugstore that are known to be effective and safe that we’d rather patients use. And remember, the best person to ask for advice about whitening your smile is your dentist, your smile-care professional!
Anyone who has been around babies and toddlers knows that tiny humans use their mouths to learn about their surroundings. For the most part, using our mouths to explore is something that we grow out of, but in some cases oral bad habits and compulsions continue into later childhood or develop in adulthood, which can pose risks to your dental health. Here are a few habits that you should nip in the bud as soon as possible, and some suggestions for how to stop them.
When we provide dentistry for children, thumbsucking is one of the bad habits we watch out for. The biggest risk with sustained thumbsucking is how it affects the bite. Frequently having a thumb in the mouth causes teeth to shift around it. This can lead to problems such as an open bite, where the front teeth protrude and cause a large gap between top and bottom teeth, which can affect the function of the teeth while eating and speaking and affect facial aesthetics. Patients with an unaddressed thumbsucking habit that goes on for years usually end up needing orthodontic treatment (braces) that could have been avoided if the habit had been addressed.
The other risk of thumbsucking is that it can introduce bacteria from the fingers into the mouth, which can cause tooth decay. Thumbsucking is considered normal up until age 3. After that point, you should consult with the dentist or your pediatrician to find a solution to stop the habit, such as oral appliances that block the thumb from entering the mouth or thumb shields that are worn on hands.
Chewing fingernails is a very common bad habit, but many people don’t know it’s just as bad for the health and appearance of your smile as it is for your hands. The protein that makes up your fingernails may be soft enough to bite through, but it’s actually hard enough that it can cause wear to your teeth over time. As a result, the bottom edges of front teeth start to look ragged or uneven and become more vulnerable to cracks or other damage. Ultimately, chewing fingernails is a compulsive behavior related to stress and is often a habit that people inherit. Luckily, because this habit is so common, there are lots of solutions out there. Try putting a bitter tasting solution on your fingers, occupying your hands with a fidget spinner or something else to fiddle with, occupying your mouth with sugar-free gum, or getting a manicure so there are no tempting rough edges or dry cuticles to gnaw on. If your habit has already caused damage to your teeth, the dentist can assess it and repair it with tooth-colored fillings and bonding to return your smile to it’s original appearance.
This may be one of the worst habits for your dental health. While liquid water is great for flushing debris and bacteria away from your teeth, chewing on frozen water is not that far off from chewing on rocks. Ice can wear out your tooth enamel, making teeth more vulnerable to cracking, tooth decay, and sensitivity to hot and cold. If you have fillings, chewing on ice can make them more brittle and prone to failure. Chewing on ice is like asking for a toothache. Like biting your fingernails, you can cope with your urge to chew by substituting ice for sugar-free gum. If you continue to find yourself tempted, consider not including ice in your beverages.
The paleo diet is a nutritional lifestyle that only includes the types of foods that paleolithic humans (a.k.a. cavemen) had access to. Among many other health benefits, many people who advocate for the paleo diet also claim that it can prevent tooth decay. But it turns out this might not be true.
The logic behind this theory makes sense. Ancient humans ate mostly meat from wild animals, seeds, nuts, and fruits. For years, the common wisdom among paleontologists and anthropologists was that ancient humans got many fewer cavities than modern humans because their diet was low in tooth decay-causing sugars and carbohydrates. It wasn’t until the advent of agriculture that the teeth ancient human skeletons started showing rates of tooth decay that resemble modern humans. The gist of the evidence seemed to be that once humans started consuming domesticated wheat and dairy from domesticated animals, our teeth started paying the price despite having a more stable source of food.
Paleo dieters logically assume that if they stick to a pre-agrarian diet, they won’t have to visit the dentist to fix dental problems as often. While we highly recommend a diet high in good fats and proteins and low in sugar like the paleo diet, we have to emphasize that it doesn’t make you immune to tooth decay. And it turns out, that was true for ancient humans too.
Recent evidence from an ancient burial site in Morocco has revealed a hunter gatherer population from about 15,000 years ago that had tooth decay just as prevalent as modern humans. The explanation is that unlike some paleo populations, these people had access to high-carbohydrate food in the form of acorns. (Carbohydrates turn into sugar in your mouth, which then feeds the bacteria that produces cavity-causing acids onto your teeth.) It remains true that ancient human populations that didn’t have access to lots of carbs from foods like acorns did not have the same problem with tooth decay. Still, this discovery disproves the idea that prevalent tooth decay first appeared during the agricultural revolution 10,000 years ago.
The moral of the story is, if you’re going to eat a paleo diet, be careful about how you choose to imitate ancient humans. They weren’t immune to tooth decay because of their all-natural diet. Even our paleo patients should come to the dentist regularly for checkups!
