Straight teeth can be easily attained in our modern world with orthodontics.  Orthodontists are specialized dentists who have the ability to move teeth in the jaws and even to realign the bones involved with chewing.  The results of their labors are readily evident in beautiful smiles with straight teeth.  Big smiles build self-esteem.

Beautiful smiles and straight teeth may be the end result but, during the process of teeth movement, cleaning the teeth is more of a challenge.

Healthy teeth and gums are important for everyone and good brushing and flossing with well-defined patterns of cleaning can be the difference between disease and health.  Frequently, good brushers and flossers are best trained while in braces.  The brackets, bands, wires, rubber bands, and general hardware make it more difficult to reach and clean all the nooks and crannies.  If a patient is able to clean teeth well, while in braces, he/she will probably have developed the proper oral care to do a good job for life.

However, because of the areas created by this orthodontic hardware, which are more difficult to reach with brushes and floss, such effort becomes more even critical.  Plaque is bacteria with all the sticky toxins and waste products it produces while residing on one’s teeth and gums.  In orthodontic treatment, reaching all the hidden areas while cleaning becomes a seemingly never-ending challenge.  Acids, a waste product that may be left on enamel for longer than 24 hours, begin to etch or demineralize (decalcify) teeth producing, if left unchecked, chalky surfaces or decay on teeth.

Proper brushing and flossing cannot be replaced, but…fluoride can be topically applied to the surface of teeth to recalcify or remineralize tooth enamel.  Fluoride treatments, with various formulas, can be prescribed by your dentist or orthodontist to make your teeth “super teeth” and drastically more resistant to tooth decay.  Again, just as with brushing and flossing – Repetition is the mother of skill – the more you brush and floss, the more proficient you become.  Likewise, the more you apply fluoride to the surfaces of your teeth, the more skilled (if enamel can have skill) your teeth become at resisting decay.  Voila! – super teeth!

The results of people who have worn braces without proper oral care is readily evident on teeth with chalky or decayed areas at the gum line (below brackets holding orthodontic wires) once braces are removed.

Dentists can, at the non-brushers’ expense, restore these teeth, but isn’t diligent care while in braces a good investment?

Keep brushing and flossing,

Dr. James G. Hood

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

Dental Care Associates of Spokane Valley, P.S.
Family and Cosmetic Dentistry Welcomes Patients
from Age 2 to 102!

James G. Hood, D.D.S., M.A.
507 North Sullivan Road, Suite A-1
Spokane Valley, WA 99037-8576  USA
Phone: (509) 928-9100  |  Fax: (509) 928-0414
Email: drhood@drhood.com

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Autoimmune diseases are the result of the body responding in an inappropriate manner to normal tissues and/or substances present in the body, causing prolonged inflammation followed by tissue destruction.  The body is fooled and can’t recognize the difference between healthy tissue and disease.  The body, therefore, mounts an immune response (directs antibodies against its own tissues) against itself, as if allergic to itself.  The cause of this dysfunctional behavior is unknown, it may be caused by a drug or toxin or bacterial or viral infection or environmental exposure to foreign substances.  The result of the body’s inability to recognize the difference between normal tissue and disease results in destruction.  As we age, this alone causes our immune system to decline in effectiveness.  Autoimmune diseases affect over 24 million Americans and are one of our society’s leading causes of death and disability.  Autoimmune diseases are ranked as the number one cause of heart disease, cancer, and all diseases.

A couple of the most common autoimmune diseases are diabetes (Type 1), rheumatoid arthritis, and allergies.  Many autoimmune diseases also may have a genetic or traumatic component.

Here is a short additional list of autoimmune diseases and more are being discovered all the time.  All of these diseases should have the autoimmune prefix:

Autoimmune Disease Causes:  The immune system is also thought to be suppressed by multiple factors, including abuse of:

• alcohol
• caffeine
• tobacco
• sugar (this cannot be over-emphasized)
• drugs
• food (poor diet or contaminated with herbicides, hormones, etc.)
• sleep (lack of)

As well as exposure to environmental pollution, including:

• automobile exhaust
• chemical fertilizers
• cigarette smoke
• heavy metal
• herbicides
• industrial waste
• pesticides
• stress

So, what has autoimmune diseases and oral disease (periodontal disease and tooth decay) have in common?  Well, much more than one might think:  Plaque and calculus left on teeth cause inflammation, initially gingivitis, followed often by periodontal disease (which we used to refer to as periodontitis).  Any time you see –itis on the end of a word, it is screaming inflammation.  Remember:  it is always means it is inflammation.  Chronic inflammation causes destruction of tissue.  Periodontal disease causes destruction of all periodontal tissues, gum, bone, and periodontal ligament, causing loss of teeth.  Tooth decay causes loss of tooth structure.  Since periodontal tissues are all tissues supporting teeth in the mouth, without them – no teeth.

How periodontal disease (inflammation of all periodontal tissues) leads to loss at of oral tissues, including teeth, is a simple model demonstration for what happens to a body with autoimmune diseases.

Anything that a patient can do to minimize or eliminate inflammation will lessen the effects of the disease.  A few of the things a patient can do to lessen the effects of many of these diseases are to avoid abuse of/or exposure to the above mentioned factors.  Also, as always, eat lots of antioxidants found in fresh fruit and vegetables.  Include vitamin C, vitamin E, green tea extract, beta-carotene, grape seed-skin extract, coenzyme Q-10 (coQ10) and selenium in your diet.

Also, talk to your dental and medical professionals on current treatments.  Find support groups, ask others with your particular autoimmune disease how they cope.

Good luck…keep brushing and flossing,

Dr. James G. Hood

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

Dental Care Associates of Spokane Valley, P.S.
Family and Cosmetic Dentistry Welcomes Patients
from Age 2 to 102!

James G. Hood, D.D.S., M.A.
507 North Sullivan Road, Suite A-1
Spokane Valley, WA 99037-8576  USA
Phone: (509) 928-9100  |  Fax: (509) 928-0414
Email: drhood@drhood.com

Websites: www.drhood.com
www.dentalcareassociatesofspokanevalley.com
Blogs: www.drjamesghoodblog.com
www.dentalhealthandnutritionblog.com
www.dentalcareassociatesofspokanevalleyblog.com
www.jamesandkarenhoodfoundationblog.org
www.sjogrensblog.org
Online Store: www.dentalhealthandnutritionstore.com

Sjögren’s syndrome is a common autoimmune disorder affecting nearly four million people in the U.S.  If you have Sjögren’s syndrome, you may have dry mouth symptoms.  Dry mouth (xerostomia) can have multiple sources, for example:

- Lifestyle (smoking, chewing tobacco, mouth breathing)

- Dehydration

- Chemotherapy

- Nerve damage (to head and neck)

- Medications used as, or to treat:

And certain diseases such as:

- Alzheimer’s Disease

- Cystic Fibrosis

- Diabetes

- HIV/AIDS

- Hypertension

- Mumps

- Parkinson’s Disease

- Rheumatoid Arthritis

- Sjögren’s – a disease which I also am affected with

- Stroke

SJÖGREN’S DISEASE

Sjögren’s disease is an autoimmune disease that attacks the exocrine glands of the human body.  The most common first symptom of the disease is DRY MOUTH and dry eyes.  Because of the gradual onset of the disease, most patients are affected by the disease for five to seven years before a diagnosis of Sjögren’s disease is made.

Your dentist is often the medical professional to first recognize the symptoms of this chronic disease.  Your dentist is also a most significant professional to have to support you if you are diagnosed with Sjögren’s or any of the above listed maladies, which result in DRY MOUTH.

People with dry mouth should carry water with them where ever they go, have it readily available at work, in the car, and next to their bed.  The simplest solutions to a problem often offer the most immediate benefit.

Dry mouth leaves teeth without the protective enzymes found in saliva, making teeth much more prone to rampant decay.  We, as dentists, can fluoridate teeth in various ways, to remineralize teeth and make them more resistant to tooth decay.

Anyone with Sjögren’s disease needs a dentist as part of their support group, to advise and treat the results of this disease.  Anyone with dry mouth, for any reason, would benefit with a support dentist.

Always here for your support,

Dr. James G. Hood

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

Dental Care Associates of Spokane Valley, P.S.
Family and Cosmetic Dentistry Welcomes Patients
from Age 2 to 102!

James G. Hood, D.D.S., M.A.
507 North Sullivan Road, Suite A-1
Spokane Valley, WA 99037-8576  USA
Phone: (509) 928-9100  |  Fax: (509) 928-0414
Email: drhood@drhood.com

Websites: www.drhood.com
www.dentalcareassociatesofspokanevalley.com
Blogs: www.drjamesghoodblog.com
www.dentalhealthandnutritionblog.com
www.dentalcareassociatesofspokanevalleyblog.com
www.jamesandkarenhoodfoundationblog.org
www.sjogrensblog.org
Online Store: www.dentalhealthandnutritionstore.com