• (727) 586-2681
  • 1472 Jordan Hills Court, Clearwater, FL 33756

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Committed to Your Oral Health: Dr. Todd Britten’s Comprehensive Care for a Beautiful Smile

Dr. Todd Britten and his team are dedicated to promoting optimum oral health through preventive, restorative and aesthetic periodontics.

We offer a full range of services… including the prevention and treatment of gum disease, gum and bone regeneration, and dental implants… using the latest technology.

Dr. Britten works closely with your general dentist to develop a program to restore your dental health and comfort.

We treat each patient like an important part of our dental family.

How to Use a Rubbertip Stimulator for Better Gum Health

Has your dental professional ever recommended using a rubbertip? A rubbertip stimulator can promote healthy and firm gums by massaging the gingival tissues and stimulating the blood flow. It works great around the margins of crowns and bridges that might be slighly ledgy and collecting plaque that you’re missing while brushing.
 
Here’s how to use a rubber tip for dental care:
– Wet the Tip (Optional): You may dampen the rubber tip slightly for easier use and to reduce friction.
– Angle the Tip: Hold the rubber tip at a 45-degree angle to your gums.
– Insert Gently: Place the tip at the gum line, gently inserting it into the sulcus (the space between your teeth and gums).
– Massage the Gums: Use a gentle, circular motion to massage the gums. This helps stimulate blood flow and can aid in gum health.
– Clean (Jiggle/Wiggle) Between Each Tooth: Move the rubber tip between your teeth to help remove debris and plaque. Be careful not to apply too much pressure.
– Rinse After Use: Rinse your mouth with water after using the rubber tip to wash away any loosened debris.
– Clean the Rubbertip: After use, clean the rubber tip thoroughly to maintain hygiene. Store it in a dry place.
 
Using a rubbertip can enhance your oral care routine, especially for gum health and cleaning hard-to-reach areas!

Antioxidants for Oral and Overall Health

Adding antioxidants to your diet has been shown to fight inflammation naturally and help protect from disease. Chronic inflammatory diseases are becoming more severe and common and currently contribute to more than half of the deaths worldwide. Inflammation is associated with autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, cardiovascular diseases like hypertension and heart disease, lung and airway diseases like asthma, metabolic diseases such as type 2 diabetes, mental illnesses like depression, and some forms of cancer such as colon cancer.

Both for oral health and overall health, it is helpful to regularly take antioxidants and/or natural anti-inflammatory items into your diet to help reduce inflammation systemically.

 Anti-inflammatory foods

Not every food (or antioxidant) works for every person but encouraging your patients to include them in their diet could provide them with an extra line of defense.

According to the American Heart Association, the following foods are high in antioxidants or have a high degree of anti-inflammatory effect.

  • Fatty fishes high in omega-3 fatty acids are well known for reducing inflammation. They include fish such as salmon, tuna, sardines, and mackerel. Some of these can be high in mercury, so eating them more than three times per week is generally not recommended.
  • Dark leafy greens. Generally, the darker or more colorful the vegetable, the higher the antioxidative effect. Remember, patients on certain anticoagulants and those with a specific type of kidney stone disease need to limit their intake of some dark leafy greens.
  • Tea is well known for containing many types of antioxidants. Green tea has been shown to have a higher level of antioxidants, but they are present in black and white teas also.
  • Whole grains. One current diet fad is to go “gluten-free.” Unless you have celiac disease or a medically confirmed gluten intolerance whole grains are an important source of protein and fiber in addition to their anti-inflammatory effect on the body. Examples of healthy whole grains include whole-wheat bread, oatmeal, barley, brown rice, and popcorn (with minimal salt and butter).
  • Nuts are full of antioxidants and reduce inflammation. In addition, they are high in fiber which makes you feel full.
  • Ginger. In addition to its anti-inflammatory effect, ginger helps to settle an upset stomach, reduce the effects of motion sickness, and reduces muscle soreness.

Source: Dr. Robert Winter, Spear Digest

Sensitive Teeth: Causes and Options You Need to Know About

Many patients suffer from tooth hypersensitivity that can range from mild to severe, and from just one area or tooth to their whole mouth.
Dentin tubules that are open and exposed are a leading cause of tooth or root sensitivity to cold, touch, or dental visits.
Treatment options can vary per patient, with some in-office treatments or special products to be used at home daily, or a combination of both. The trick is to “plug” those open tubules with minerals and keep them as free from acids and plaque as much possible. Quite often, finding the right product or combination can produce immediate results
and provide instant relief!
Talk to your dental professional to decide the best treatment for tooth hypersensitivity which can make your daily activities and dental hygiene visits a lot more pleasant.

Dental Benefits: How Can They Help Pay for Periodontal Treatment

Dr. Britten accepts your dental insurance as an out of network provider. What does this mean for you?
 
Understandably, many patients often have questions when it comes to understanding and utilizing dental insurance benefits, especially if extensive dentistry is needed. Dental insurance can provide assistance for dental health care expenses, however, often procedures that are covered often vary widely and the benefit to us is often below the actual cost of treatment.
 
When choosing how to budget for dental health care, or choosing the right benefit plan, it is important to take into consideration the different types of plans available. There are usually two main kinds of insurance plans: group plans or individual plans. A group plan, typically offered by your employer, is often a better value for your money when it comes to dental insurance. These plans have lower premiums and reasonable benefit coverage. Your benefit package can vary greatly depending upon what your employer has negotiated with the insurance company. Group plans often include dental HMOs, PPOs and indemnity plans. It is important to investigate if the plan that you select will allow you to see the doctor you want to see as well as receive the care you deserve. HMO’s typically only let you visit a doctor within your network, whereas a PPO and indemnity plan will still allow you coverage outside the insurance company’s “network”. Another type of plan, an individual plan, is also available. These plans are often more costly in the long run than simply “paying as you go” for your dental care. These plans can have high premiums and restrictive limitations on treatment and reimbursement.
 
As an out-of-network provider, our office can provide a treatment plan that is based on your clinical needs, overall health, financial limitations and desires and preferences. Following an extensive exam, and thorough consultation with Dr. Britten, you can make better decisions for your dental health care that are in your best interest to support lasting oral health:
 
Your periodontal health has an effect on your daily quality of life as well as your overall health. Addressing dental issues in earlier stages will save money in the long run. But no matter if you are experiencing a minor or isolated issue, or a more generalized or even severe issue, Dr. Britten and his staff are dedicated to helping you attain the best possible quality of life through conservative, comprehensive periodontal care. Our goal is to help our patients to restore our patients’ smiles to what was naturally intended: a healthy, natural, beautiful, and functional smile.

Smoking and Gum Disease: What You Should Know

Dr. Britten is highly concerned about his patients who smoke. The likelihood of developing advanced periodontal disease or gum disease can be up to six times higher in smokers. Periodontal disease is an extremely serious condition affecting not only the gums, but also the membranes and ligaments and bone supporting the teeth.

Many studies on smoking and periodontal disease have concluded that smokers have:

  • Deeper probing depths and a larger number of deep pockets in the gums.
  • More attachment loss including more gingival recession
  • More alveolar boneloss & tooth loss
  • Less gingivitis and less bleeding on probing
  • One of the major problems with smoking is that it tends to mask the damage being caused to teeth and gums. This damage can be difficult to detect, producing very few early warning signs of advanced periodontal disease.
  • For years it was thought that nicotine being a vasoconstrictor was causing less blood flow to the gums, causing less infection-fighting white blood cells to reach the area. Newer studies are showing that smoking appears to have a long-term effect on the inflammatory lesions, or diseased gums of smokers, which have less blood vessels in them than in non-smokers.
  • More teeth with furcation involvement (where the bone levels have been destroyed below the area where the roots of the teeth meet, leaving this area exposed, making it prone to further destruction as well as decay.
  • Additionally, nicotine affects saliva, causing it to become thicker so it is less able to wash away acid created after eating. As a result, heavy smokers can be more likely to suffer from tooth decay than non-smokers, even though they may practice good oral hygiene.
  • Smoking has a profound effect on the immune and inflammatory system. Smokers have more infection-fighting cells in their body, but fewer of these helpful cells make it into the gingival pocket. Studies also show that these good cells have a decreased ability to accomplish their function, which is to destroy harmful periodontal bacteria.
  • Adhesion molecules are found within smoker’s tissues, in the white blood cells, in the inflammatory lesions, and even in the supporting gingival tissues. Studies have shown impairment in defensive functions of other defensive blood cells, even those using smokeless tobacco due to the high concentrations of nicotine.
  • Smoking also impairs the healing of dental implants and even in the healing from all other aspects of periodontal treatment including non-surgical treatments (including scaling and root planing or “deep cleaning”), surgical treatment, bone grafting and tissue grafting.
  • Studies have shown that tobacco smoke and nicotine affect blood vessels in the gums, healthy bone-building cells, connective tissue matrix, the jaw bone and even the root surface itself. Tooth root surfaces in smokers have actually been shown to be contaminated by products of smoking such as nicotine, cotinine, acrolein and acetaldehyde, which may inhibit the gum tissue from healing around the roots of teeth as they should.
  • Smoking has been shown to affect human bone, and is a risk factor for osteoporosis, which is also a risk factor for periodontal disease.

As a periodontist, Dr. Britten is a specialist in treating advanced periodontal disease and is able to provide patients with the very latest techniques and treatments to help slow down this condition. Where teeth are lost then one option is to replace them with dental implants, but smoking is not advisable during this treatment because it does slow down healing.

If you do currently smoke and value your smile, it’s worth thinking about quitting.

I was recently diagnosed with periodontal disease. How often should I see my periodontist for an examination?

Regular examinations are very important to keep track of the present status of your disease and any disease progression over time. Your periodontist will work with you to create a maintenance schedule depending on how advanced your periodontal disease is at that time. Based on many variable factors such as your overall health, the severity of bone loss, and risk factors such as smoking and genetics, your periodontist will constantly tailor your care so your periodontal disease does not progress further. He or she may recommend exams every six months for mild periodontal disease, or every few months for more advanced stages.

–Perio.org

Who should treat my periodontal disease: my general dentist or a periodontist?

Instead of leaving your treatment to one dental professional, you should consider having both your general dentist and a periodontist be actively involved in the diagnosis and treatment of your periodontal disease. This team approach will help your general dentist (who is familiar with your dental and medical history) and your periodontist (who has extensive experience treating periodontal disease) collaborate to tailor a treatment plan that works best for your individual case.

–Perio.org

I have heard there is a connection between gum disease and heart disease. Is this true? Where can I find more information?

The connection between gum disease and heart disease is a very hot topic in the field of periodontics right now! Several research studies have indicated that heart disease and gum disease may be linked, and researchers suspect that inflammation may be the basis behind this relationship. If you are at risk for heart disease, it is a good idea to mention this to your periodontist, since gum disease may increase this risk. Get additional information on the connection between heart disease and gum disease (https://www.perio.org/consumer/gum-disease-and-heart-disease), as well as the connection between gum disease and other systemic conditions. https://www.perio.org/consum…/gum-disease-and-other-diseases

– Perio.org

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