Archives for September 2019

Whitening Your Teeth with Clorox Bleach

Posted on September 30, 2019 by writeradmin.

I have a friend who bleaches her teeth with Clorox. I was worried when I heard about this. Is she going to damage her health from this, or is it okay?

A worried friend

Dear Worried,

You sound like a good friend who is trying to do everything you can to keep your friend safe. The good news is, unless she’s swallowing it, she’s not likely to die. I have a cosmetic dentist friend who had a patient who did this too. He joked that, although he couldn’t recommend it, for reasons I’ll elucidate in a moment, he wasn’t that concerned.

Here are some of the issues to consider when it comes to using something like Clorox bleach. This chemical is a base, which makes it very corrosive and can burn living tissue. Additionally, if it mixes with certain other types of chemicals it can react and turn into toxic chlorine gas. But if she is swishing with it quickly, she may be avoiding any tissue damage.

When is it Safe?

Almost all dentists were taught in dental school to use bleach to dissolve the dead organic debris and disinfect the canals in a root canal treatment.

According to PubMed, it is also safe to do periodically as an oral rinse, but only diluted. They recommend a 1:20 ratio in the dilution.

Get Teeth Whitened in One Appointment

The Clorox is a slow process that has to be repeated over and over. While it may get her teeth a bit whiter, it is also likely causing tissue damage. Instead, she can get her teeth as white as they can get in just one appointment with Zoom Whitening. It’s fast and safe. That may appeal to her.

Avoid the Bleaching Police with Professional Teeth Whitening

According to a label on Clorox Bleach, “It is a violation of federal law to use this product in a manner inconsistent with its labeling.” If she doesn’t listen to the fact that it can burn the tissue in her mouth, maybe you can tell her about the bleaching police.

Suggesting she get her teeth whitened safely with a dentist is a good thing. Maybe she’ll listen. Then again, she may live on the wild side and already be a federal fugitive by ripping off the tag on her mattress.

I’m sure she’ll appreciate how much you care about her.
This blog is brought to you by East Cobb Dentist Dr. Cristi Cheek.

Crown Doesn’t Match

Posted on September 13, 2019 by writeradmin.

I don’t know what to do. I had to get a dental crown on front tooth. My dentist can’t seem to get them to match. The first one was way too dark. The next one was way too white. The third one is close. I thought I could live with it and he bonded it one but now every time I look in the mirror I feel like my smile looks fake. Am I being too picky? My dentist said if I really want to do it again he will.

Candace

Dear Candace,

The tendency for most patients in your situation is to finally just settle for a crown that doesn’t look quite right. If this is a front tooth, however, even a slight variation in the color between the crown and adjacent teeth will be noticeable to others and will make the crown look fake.

Your dentist seems to be very ethical and is doing everything he can to make this right. I just think he is in over his head. Matching a single dental crown to a front tooth is a highly developed skill. Additionally, the dentist has to have a great working relationship with artistic skill. Their relationship needs to be very communicative where they understand one another the way best friends would.

An expert cosmetic dentist will do try-ins to make sure it matches perfectly. I don’t think your dentist has the expertise necessary and didn’t even know about temporary try-in pastes.

Another method being used very effectively to match crowns on front teeth is photography. Using sophisticated camera equipment designed for taking dental photographs, the dentist will start by taking a photograph of a standard shade tab of a shade that is close to the shade of your natural teeth. The shade tab will be put up against your natural teeth and photographed, and this photograph will be sent to the ceramist as a guide in re-creating the natural color of the tooth. Then, if the crown provided by the ceramist doesn’t match perfectly, that crown is tried in on the tooth and a new photograph is taken. The ceramist then will be able to see, in the lab, exactly what color modifications need to be made to get it to match perfectly. Your typical family dentist won’t have this type of photographic equipment.

So what do you do if your dentist doesn’t have the skills necessary? Your dentist is willing to keep trying. If you are willing to let him, you can. However, it’s likely he’ll never get it quite right. You could have a conversation with him and tell him you think it would be better if he transferred your information to a dentist with more expertise and the tools necessary to do it properly.

This blog is brought to you by East Cobb Dentist Dr. Cristi Cheek.

Can I Trust Aspen Dental?

Posted on September 5, 2019 by writeradmin.

I need some advice. I’ve been to two dental clinics both of which are giving me completely different treatment plan suggestions. First, I should tell you what is wrong. I had my front incisors replaced with a bridge. My canine teeth were the anchor teeth. They became super loose which how this all started. So, I went to Aspen Dental and they said the teeth need to be removed. So now I have to replace two more teeth. They suggested replacing the canine teeth with mini implants connected to a bridge. My sister told me they have some bad reviews so I decided to get a second opinion. This dentist wants me to replace the canine teeth with full-sized implants then attach a bridge to it, but only with an additional implant in the middle of the bridge. I’m tempted to just go with the cheaper plan, but when I told this dentist what Aspen said, he told me the plan they suggested won’t work. Who is right?

Marla

Dear Marla,

One thing you should know about Aspen is it is a corporate dental chain. These tend to attract new dental graduates with the design of getting some real-world experience in before starting their own practice. There is high turnover and you will likely be dealing with different people quite often.

A Tale of Two Dental Implants

As for the two treatment plans. I agree with the local dentist. What Aspen Dental is suggesting for you, won’t work for long. There are some important dental bridge engineering principles being ignored by them which will cause this bridge to fail. A dental bridge is a false tooth (or in your case teeth) which are suspended between two dental crowns on anchor teeth. You know that because of what you had to begin with. Their lack of adherence to sound principles is likely why you lost your canine teeth. In your new case, they’re suggesting suspending them between abutment teeth with mini implants.

I’m going to ignore the fact that mini implants aren’t designed to support a tooth. They’re mostly to help anchor a denture and you’d need several of them. Even then, they still wouldn’t last as long.

Instead, I want to focus on the engineering.

For illustrative purposes, let’s suppose you needed to replace your first premolar, as seen on the left. It is the tooth in the center of the three teeth which have the blue line. The two adjacent teeth would be considered the abutment teeth which you’d anchor your bridge onto. Notice that these three teeth lie in essentially a straight line. This is good because there won’t be any twisting stress on the teeth.

Now, let’s look at what Aspen is suggesting for you.

Here they are suggesting replacing all your incisors with a bridge and place dental implants on the lost canines as the abutment teeth. This will put a tremendous amount of twisting stress on your new canine teeth causing them to eventually fail.

To prevent that, the second opinion dentist is suggesting you put an additional dental implant in the middle of the bridge. This will work and eliminate all twisting.

I know it is more expensive, but only in the short term. If you go with the “cheaper” treatment, you’re going to end up with serious problems and having to re-do the procedure when it eventually fails (and it will) then have the added expense of bone grafting so you can even have implants again.

Sometimes it is better to go with the treatment that costs more in order to save money.

I hope this helps with your decision.
This blog is brought to you by East Cobb Dentist Dr. Cristi Cheek.