Teeth whitening

One common excuse often given by people who don’t floss is that the practice is difficult to fit into their daily schedule. If you’ve found this to be true, and feel like you are too busy to floss, here are some suggestions for when to fit this critical dental health habit into your day.

• The most common time is right before bed, but make sure you aren’t too tired to do a good job.
• Right when you wake up is also an option, but if food is left between teeth all night, it can result in plaque.
• Try just after lunch, before you go back to work.
• Floss while you are in the car sitting in traffic. It’s easier one-handed with the pre-strung floss pics. (You might get some odd looks from other drivers, but it’s worth it.)
• Keep some floss in your gym bag so you can floss after you exercise.
  
• While you’re watching the nightly news.

I hope this gives you some helpful ideas to help you make flossing part of your daily routine. Flossing is vital for anyone in Casper who wants to have a healthy smile.

If you want to improve your smile, look into cosmetic dentistry procedures such as porcelain veneers, invisible braces, teeth whitening, or dental implants.

My name is Doctor Ben Emery. Helping my dental patients establish good habits is important to me, as well as helping them obtain the smile they want with cosmetic dentistry procedures such as veneers, teeth whitening, and complete smile makeovers.

We are currently accepting new patients, so give us a call at 307-333-6285 to make an appointment!

your dental home

Contact Priority Dental:

307-333-6285

Location (Tap to open in Google Maps):

1224 E. 2nd St.
Casper, Wyoming
82601

If you are a teenager or the parent of a teenager, today’s Priority Dental post is for you. Today’s post discusses dental issues of special concern to adolescents. Dental risks for Casper teens include both developmental and lifestyle-related factors.

At Priority Dental, we see cavities and gum disease far too often in teens. Possible causes and complicating circumstances include insufficient dental hygiene, unhealthy diet, malocclusion (misaligned bite), smoking, hormonal changes, tooth grinding, mouth breathing, eating disorders, and side effects of medications.

As children become more independent, some get lax about brushing and flossing. In addition, some teens’ diets become worse when they have more freedom to choose what to eat. Few parents let their four year-old drink an energy drink, but they are consumed frequently by Casper adolescents – presumably without their parents’ knowledge.

Malocclusion can make proper brushing and flossing problematic, leaving even vigilant brushers with decay from food particles that are almost impossible to remove. Malocclusion can also trigger TMD (Temporomandibular disorder). If you suspect that your teen’s bite is not aligned properly, or if your teen sees a clicking sound in the jaw joint, call Priority Dental at 307-333-6285 to schedule an exam.

In spite of numerous Wyoming public service campaigns aimed at preventing teen smoking, many adolescents take up the harmful habit even before they graduate from high school. Smoking wrecks teeth as surely as it wrecks lungs.

Casper parents of youth are well aware that puberty has a significant impact on physical and emotional health. Puberty causes all sorts of changes in the body, and the mouth is no exception. Increased hormone levels (especially in females) can cause the body to react to a very small amount of plaque, triggering inflammation of gum tissue and increased risk of the more advanced form of gum disease known as periodontitis. Your dentist can counsel you if more frequent professional cleanings are needed to preserve gum health.

If you visit any soccer field or basketball court in Wyoming, you will see that many young athletes fail to protect their teeth. If your adolescent participates in a contact sport, talk to us about custom athletic mouthguards.

One of the teen dental issues that impact most young men and women is wisdom teeth. It’s best to start monitoring your teen’s wisdom teeth early so they can be treated before they lead to dilemmas with the jaw or surrounding teeth. And you certainly don’t want to send your high-school grad to an out-of-state college without addressing his or her third molars. If problems arise, your youth won’t be near their regular dentist, will probably miss class, and will either need to come home or use an out-of-network dentist or oral surgeon. If you don’t have a family dentist, Ben Emery of Priority Dental can examine your teen and evaluate X-rays to advise you on the best course of action for his or her wisdom teeth.

This article is by no means exhaustive on the critical subject of adolescent oral health. Future posts will discuss orthodontia, oral piercings, eating disorders, and abnormal teeth growth.

If you are looking for a family dentist in the Casper area, I invite you to schedule an appointment at Priority Dental by calling 307-333-6285. We have been providing first-rate dental care to Casper families since 2014.  For more information about teen dental health or porcelain veneers, teeth whitening, or orthodontics, call today.

Contact Priority Dental:

307-333-6285

Location (Tap to open in Google Maps):

1224 E. 2nd St.
Casper, Wyoming
82601