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The Oral Hygiene Olympics: Gold Medalists!

🏅 The Oral Hygiene Olympics: Gold Medalists!🏅

Welcome to the Oral Hygiene Olympics, where we honor the unsung heroes that keep our smiles bright and healthy! After fierce competition, we’re excited to announce the gold medalists in each category:
🥇 Best Toothpaste: Clinpro rx toothpaste – This gold medal goes to the toothpaste that not only cleans but also leaves your breath fresh and invigorated, ensuring you’re ready for any close-up moment!
🥇 Top Toothbrush: Philips Sonicare – With its perfectly angled bristles and ergonomic design, this toothbrush takes the gold for providing a superior clean with every brush stroke.
🥇 Flossing Favorite: Unwaxed floss- Winning the gold for effortlessly sliding between teeth, Coco Floss and Listerine Ultraclean floss removes plaque like a true champion, ensuring no food particles are left behind. Honorable mentions are Dr. Tung’s floss and Risewell floss!
🥇 Interdental aids: Taking the top spot for its ability to eliminate germs between the teeth GUM® brand Proxabrushes® and/or Soft-Picks ® are safe and easy to use for cleaning between natural teeth and around crowns, bridges, dental implants and orthodontic appliances.
🥇 Innovative Gadgets: TePe specialty brushes & rubbertip stimulators and The Plaque Buster- these specially angled brushes make the most challenging oral care both effective and exciting.
Congratulations to all the winners! Keep your oral hygiene routine at the top of the podium with these gold medalists, and enjoy a healthy, winning smile every day! 🦷✨

Oral Changes Associated with Tobacco Use

Oral Changes Associated with Tobacco Use

The evidence is overwhelming that smoking contributes to periodontal disease and that continued smoking results in a reduced response to periodontal treatment. There is a greater amount of bone loss around teeth in smokers and individuals who smoke are more likely to lose teeth than nonsmokers. It is reported that more than half of advanced gum disease can be linked to tobacco use.

Nicotinic Stomatitis
In nicotinic stomatitis, the hard palate (roof of the mouth- pictured above) appears white instead of pink, and numerous, small raised areas with red centers are found throughout the palate. These red areas are irritated minor salivary glands whose duct openings are inflamed in response to the heat from tobacco products. This lesion is most commonly seen in older male tobacco users who smoke pipes but it also can be found in cigar and cigarette smokers.

There is an increased risk for cancer of the tonsils, posterior mouth, and lungs in individuals who develop nicotinic stomatitis from their tobacco use. However, if the individual stops their tobacco use, the appearance of hard palate typically returns to normal within a few weeks.

What is a Dental Implant?

While regular brushing, flossing, and checkups allow many of us to maintain our natural smiles for a lifetime, sometimes our teeth just can’t keep up. If you’ve lost a tooth (or a few teeth) due to injury or disease, dental implants can rejuvenate both your smile and your oral health.

An implant is a synthetic tooth root in the shape of a post that is surgically placed into the jawbone. The “root” is usually made of titanium (the same material used in many replacement hips and knees), a metal that is well suited to pairing with human bone. A replacement tooth is then fixed to the post. The tooth can be either permanently attached or removable. Permanent teeth are more stable and feel more like natural teeth.

The ideal candidate for implants is a non­-smoker who has good oral health, including a sufficient amount of bone in the jaw and healthy gums with no sign of gum disease.

We are so excited to introduce our newest team member – Maggie! Maggie will be the first smiling face you will see when you walk in our office. 😊 She will also be one of the pleasant voices you will hear answering our phones!  Maggie has been a gem to get to know and work with. We know you will feel the same way!

Keep Smiling,

Dr. Todd Britten & Team

What is a Frenectomy

Frenum:  The tissue that connects your cheeks, tongue or lips to your gum area. You have several frenums in your body.

Diastema:  Diastema refers to a gap between your teeth. Gaps can occur anywhere in your mouth, but they’re most common between your two front teeth. This condition is usually a cosmetic concern.

The labial frenum, or muscle attachment connecting  of the upper lip to the gums can be located too “low” which may prevent the front two teeth to touch together, causing a space. An upper lip tie can also affect craniofacial development in severe cases. Typically, the frenum is removed in conjunction with braces to close the gap. If not removed, the frenum may cause the gap to reopen. The procedure to remove a frenum is known as a frenectomy.

A frenectomy is a procedure we performed in our Clearwater, FL office.

Laser Periodontal Surgery: Before and After

Laser Periodontal Surgery: Before and After

Dr. Todd Britten offers his patients at Britten Periodontics & Implant Dentistry in Clearwater, Florida, the PerioLase and LANAP® protocol for treatment of periodontal disease. LANAP, or the Laser Assisted New Attachment Procedure, is an alternative to traditional periodontal surgery for the treatment of gum disease. Dr. Britten also offers LAPIP®, the Laser Assisted Peri-Implantitis Procedure, to treat infected and/or save failing dental implants.

Dr. Todd Britten cites that the benefits of laser periodontal dentistry include:

  • Precision

The precise dental laser used in our practice can accurately target and remove harmful bacteria without causing damage to healthy gum tissue.

  • Fast Recovery

Laser surgery involves no incisions and little to no post-operative inflammation. Therefore, patients experience a much faster healing period and often do not need pain medication.

  • Minimal Gum Recession

In traditional gum surgery, gum recession is commonly unavoidable. Laser gum surgery never harms healthy gum tissue, which means there is little to no gum recession.

  • Stronger Support

Laser gum surgery is scientifically proven to generate new bone growth in the jaw, leading to added support for existing teeth.

Using the PerioLase MVP-7 dental laser in both the LANAP and LAPIP protocols, we can effectively target and kills harmful bacteria that causes inflammation around natural teeth or dental implants. Killing the bacteria helps to treat the cause of the disease, not just the symptoms.

Soda Destruction in Kids & Teens

Soda Destruction in Kids & Teens

From ADA:  “It’s not just soda that’s contributing to an increase in tooth decay. Nationwide, students are drinking more sports drinks and fruit juices, which also contain high concentrations of sugar. The problem is with the frequency that a child’s teeth are exposed to sugar throughout the day. Nursing soft drinks significantly contributes to the development of tooth decay.

For example, if a student takes one small sip of soda, and then a minute later, takes another small sip, and then another sip—and this goes on during the course of one day—teeth are exposed over and over again to high concentrations of sugar and acid without any kind of break.

Even sugar-free soda is harmful to teeth because it contains high amounts of acid, leading to a breakdown in dental enamel. Because students typically do not brush their teeth during school hours, their risk of getting cavities increases dramatically.”

Benefits of Drinking Water:

“There are many benefits to drinking water:

  • Reduces muscle cramping and fatigue when consumed before, during, and after exercise.
  • Regulates body temperature. To sweat, you need plenty of water.
  • Helps you get well when you’re sick by controlling fever and replacing lost fluid.
  • Keeps you hydrated, alert, and energized. Even minor dehydration can cause a loss of concentration, fatigue, and irritability.
  • Prevents you from confusing hunger with thirst, which can help you control your weight.”

In the above picutre, we have both photos and x-ray images of a healthy mouth vs. a mouth that has had major decay caused by a soda drinking habit. Soda: It’s not hip to sip!

Broken Crown: Before and After

Broken Crown – Before and After

Your dentist can either repair or replace a broken crown

For a broken crown, your dentist will assess the issue and correct it right away. If the crown is still repairable, the dentist will use techniques like dental bonding to revitalize it. Yet, if the broken crown is beyond repair, replacing it will be the only option. Seeing your dentist for an evaluation will help determine which suits your case.

You can see in this picture the tooth in the middle was repaired with a beautiful new crown by one of our talented referring dentists! Materials in dentistry continue to improve function, esthetics and strength of crowns!

Normal Teeth Vs. Acid Attack

Normal Teeth Vs. Acid Attack

Not only is enamel the most highly mineralized substance in the body, but it also acts as defensive “shell” that protects your teeth from the damaging effects of acid and plaque. However, unlike your immune system that can bounce back after a crippling blow, enamel doesn’t regenerate. Once it’s lost, it’s gone forever.
 
Typically, a healthy mouth is sitting somewhere between 6 and 8 on the pH scale, with 7 being considered neutral. As you start to move lower on the scale and things become more acidic, you’re at a higher risk of causing damage to your teeth. To put things into perspective, enamel erosion begins at a pH level of 4. Common household items such as orange juice and soda come in around 3, while some “sour” candy can get as low as 2 – almost the equivalent of battery acid!
 
Whenever you consume something acidic, you expose your teeth to what’s commonly known as an “acid attack”. Lasting about 20
minutes with each exposure, acid attacks work to slowly demineralize your enamel. What ends up happening is the bacteria in your mouth
reacts with food to produce lactic acid and other harmful byproducts begin to eat away at your teeth.
 
Over time, if you don’t take proper care of your dental health, enamel will completely erode and leave your teeth exposed. 

Back to School Supply Drive and Contest

Back to School Drive & Contest

Back to School Drive
WHAT: In partnership with A Kid’s Place Tampa Bay, we are collecting back-to-school items
WHEN: Collection Dates June 12th-July 19th.
WHERE: Drop off items at
Britten Periodontics & Implant Dentistry
1472 Jordan Hills Court
Clearwater, Florida 33756
Some suggestions & most-needed items are:
· Teenage backpacks & lunch boxes
· Gel pens
· Mechanical pencils
· Post-it Notes
· Flash Drives
Your supply donation will allow you to enter your guess for our BACK TO SCHOOL CONTEST!
Back to School Contest
Guess The Weight of Each Backpack in our reception area and enter to win a summer-themed gift basket!
Contest Rules:
· Must bring in school supplies to enter contest.
· 1 Guess per patient (with donation) per backpack
· Closest guess without going over wins
· If there is a tie, names will be placed in a hat and drawn
· Guesses end the last day of the school drive
Best,
Dr. Todd Britten & Staff

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