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Flossing has been making headlines recently thanks to the U.S. departments of Health and Human Services Agriculture’s Dietary Guidelines for Americans. The most recently released guidelines did not include flossing, which was once a recommended activity for daily health. But does this mean you shouldn’t floss every day? No, not at all. Not flossing can lead to serious dental problems. Trust us - we’ve seen how skipping the string can damage your oral health over and over again.

Though the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services didn’t include flossing in its 2015 dietary guidelines due to a lack of evidence, the department stated that this does not imply that flossing is not an important oral hygiene practice. In fact, the department stated that cleaning between teeth with floss is an important oral hygiene practice, and, along with professional cleanings and tooth brushing, has been shown to disrupt and remove plaque, according to the American Dental Association (ADA).
When it comes down to it, the U.S. Department of Health and Services didn’t include flossing this year because of a lack of documented research that flossing benefits you, not because it doesn’t actually provide any benefits. Flossing research is notoriously known for being high in costs and taking a long time, which explains why there isn’t a substantial amount of research showing its benefits. After all, it can take years to develop gum disease or tooth decay due to not flossing.
Here are four reasons why flossing every day is extremely important, and why you definitely shouldn’t stop now.

Clears Out Plaque in Tight Spaces

Sure, brushing can take care of plaque. But brush bristles can’t effectively clean out the tight spaces in between your teeth. And mouthwash typically isn’t powerful enough to move plaque that’s stuck between teeth. This is where floss comes in. Floss and interdental cleaners can clean out plaque that builds up between your teeth better than any other tools. Getting rid of that plaque will help to prevent cavities from forming in between your teeth and lower your risk of developing gum disease.

Fights Off Gum Disease and Tooth Decay

Scraps of food and bacteria can easily get stuck in the areas where your teeth and gums meet. These particles and bacteria can eventually transform from plaque into tartar, a hard deposit that can lead to tooth decay and gum disease.
If you don’t get rid of hard-to-reach plaque with floss, you may notice that your gums become red and swollen and bleed easily. This is a sign that you have gingivitis, a mild form of gum disease. Left untreated, the plaque and tartar can spread deeper into your gum line, causing more severe gum disease (periodontitis), which can lead to tooth and bone loss. Bacteria can also eat away at your enamel and teeth, causing tooth decay.

Gets Your Teeth Looking as Good as New

Nobody wants to look at a smile only to find big clumps of plaque and rotting food between the teeth. Flossing your teeth can help to make your smile look beautiful by keeping it clear of the nasty stuff that can build up inside your mouth. This will result in a bolder, brighter smile.

Fresher Breath

Flossing isn’t all about oral health and appearance. It can also make your breath smell better than ever! If you don’t floss, food can sit in between your teeth and rot for weeks. As you can imagine, this doesn’t make your breath smell too great. Flossing will keep rotting food particles out of your mouth and allow saliva to effectively move through your teeth, keeping everything clean and smelling great!
Flossing every day is essential to your oral health. Without flossing, you wouldn’t be able to get rid of hard-to-reach plaque, which can lead to serious gum disease and tooth decay over time. Learn more about how often you should floss and common flossing mistakes here.

Think flossing and brushing are the only paths to healthy gums? While doing both of these things is essential to the health of your gums, there are a lot of other ways you can keep your gums as healthy as possible. We asked our dentists at Water Tower Dental Care to share some of the most effective tips for keeping your gums healthy that you might not have heard before. Here are 5 unusual tips to keep your gums in tip-top shape from our dentists!

Scrape your tongue

Tongue scrapers aren’t just for bad breath. The bacteria on your tongue that causes bad breath can also spread to your gums and cause serious damage, leading to periodontal disease, gum infections and gum recession. With its ridges, small bumps and moist surface, your tongue offers the perfect place for bacteria to grow. You want to make sure to scrape the bacteria off of your tongue to keep it from spreading. Using a tongue scraper will also keep your breath smelling fresh.

Rub essential oils on your gums

Essential oils are described as essential for a reason: they are extremely important for our health. We’ve found that essential oils work wonders on our patients’ gums. We use PerioScience Essential Oils in the form of a gel. Rubbing these natural oils on your gums every evening after you brush and floss can help keep your breath fresh, soothe your gums, keep bacteria away, and prevent gingivitis.

Chew gum

Chewing gum can keep your gums in great shape! But you can’t just chew any old gum. The xylitol in gum is what really keeps your gums healthy. Look for a sugar-free gum with xylitol. Since bacteria can’t digest xylitol like it digest sugar, it won’t grow from xylitol. Xylitol also actively works to keep the pH level neutral in your mouth. The less acidic your pH levels are, the less bacteria will be able to grow, which means less of a risk of gingivitis and gum disease. Xylitol also helps to keep bacteria off your teeth, which can damage your gums.
Along with chewing gum, you can find xylitol in toothpaste, mouthwash, candy, and mints.

Wash your mouth out with antimicrobial mouth rinse

Bacteria are your gums’ number one enemy. Antimicrobial mouth rinses destroy the bacteria that cause gum disease until they are almost completely gone. These rinses are much more effective than over-the-counter mouthwashes. We typically only suggest antimicrobial mouth rinses to patients who suffer with moderate to severe periodontal disease. Feel free to contact us to see if you would benefit from antimicrobial mouthwash.

Take oral probiotics specifically for your mouth

Probiotics are no longer used only for digestive and immune health. There are now probiotics designed specifically for oral health that can improve the health of your gums! Oral probiotics stimulate the production of healthy bacteria that keep your gums and mouth healthy. They also help to battle bad breath.
We hope you use these unusual tips alongside your normal brushing, flossing and rinsing routine to make your gums even healthier! Check out our dentists’ unusual tips for keeping your teeth healthy. We’re always here to help put you on a path to a healthier mouth!

Over the years, the use of fluoride in both water and toothpaste has been very controversial. Some people argue that fluoride can cause serious health issues, while experts have found that fluoride can significantly improve dental health. So what’s the truth? Today, we’re going to look at the scientific facts to determine whether fluoride is good or bad for your teeth.

What is It?

Remember that periodic table you were forced to learn about in high school? Well fluorine is on that table. The fluoride ion comes from fluorine, which is an element. Fluorine is found naturally all over the earth, in soil, food, water, and minerals. Fluoride can also be made in laboratories to be added to water and dental products, like toothpaste. Fluoride is commonly added to water to reduce tooth decay in communities.

Why is Fluoride Good for Your Teeth?

Studies have shown that adding fluoride to water has reduced dental decay by 20 to 40%, according to American Dental Association (ADA). That’s a huge positive effect! In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stated that adding fluoride to water is one of the ten great public health achievements of the 20th century.
So why is fluoride so good for your teeth? When you consume fluoride, it collects in areas that are high in calcium, including your teeth. This helps teeth in several ways:

• When children with developing teeth eat or drink fluoride in safe amounts, it builds up inside their teeth. This provides them with extra lasting strength and protection against acids.
• Fluoride can also strengthen enamel in adult teeth. When you eat or drink fluoride, it becomes a part of your saliva. Since your saliva constantly soaks your teeth, it provides your teeth’s surface with fluoride, strengthening enamel and preventing decay.
• Topical fluoride, like toothpaste and mouthwash, help to make the surface of your teeth more resistant to decay.
• Your saliva works to keep your enamel hard by constantly replenishing your teeth with minerals, like calcium and phosphorous. When there’s fluoride in your saliva along with these other minerals, the minerals that replenish your teeth are extra strong. This keeps your teeth as hard and protected against decay as possible.

As long as you have healthy teeth and a low risk of tooth decay, drinking water that contains a safe amount of fluoride and brushing regularly with a fluoride toothpaste should provide you with a sufficient amount of fluoride.

Can Fluoride Be Bad for Your Teeth?

If fluoride is so great for your teeth, why is it so controversial? Some people think that it can cause serious health issues, including cancer, kidney failure or bone disease. It’s true that too much fluoride may cause issues. But as long as it is consumed properly, it is safe and effective, according to the ADA. In fact, for generations, millions of people have been drinking natural water with fluoride in higher concentrations than those now recommended.
Since fluoride in toothpastes and mouthwashes isn’t ingested, the real fear people have is when it’s found in water, other drinks and food. The ADA notes that 60 years of research and practical experience has given us sufficient evidence that indicates that fluoride in community water is safe and effective. American Cancer Society (ACA) also states that the general consensus of scientific reviews is that there’s no strong evidence of a link between fluoride in water and cancer. However, more research can be done to clarify the link.
As long as you use fluoride in the correct dosage, it should provide safe and effective protection against tooth decay. You should never swallow toothpaste, mouthwash, or other dental products that warn against ingestion. If you or your child receives fluoride supplements, you or your child must take only the amount that is prescribed to avoid overdose. If you’re worried about the amount of fluoride in your local public water, the ACA recommends contacting your local community water system.

Where Can You Get It?

There are many ways you can get fluoride to support your dental health. Just make sure to follow the indicated instructions and use the correct dose. Here are some common sources of fluoride:

• Toothpaste
• Mouthwash
• Water
• Dietary fluoride supplements
• Food
• Beverages
• Professionally applied foams, gels and varnishes

It’s important that you get enough fluoride to keep your teeth healthy. If you’re worried that you’re experiencing tooth decay, come on into Water Tower Dental Care! We can help you find out if you need more fluoride and can tell you the most efficient way to get it. Feel free to contact us today!

Babies are incredibly cute - especially your own baby. But what happens when your baby’s teeth start coming through and you notice a big gap between their front teeth? You may start to wonder if there’s something wrong with your baby’s mouth, or if you did something wrong. Before you rush your baby to the dentist, read this article. It’s likely that your baby’s gaps are completely normal! In fact, they can actually be a good sign.

Why Baby Teeth Are Important

Why worry about your baby’s teeth when they are bound to fall out one day anyway? Baby teeth are actually very important, both for your child’s health right now and their future.
It goes without saying that baby teeth help your child chew food and speak. But a lesser known fact is that baby teeth actually create a path for your child’s adult teeth to grow in by holding a space for them, according to the American Dental Association (ADA). If your baby loses a tooth too early, then a permanent tooth may drift into the area, making less room for adult teeth to come in later. This can lead to a crooked or crowded smile.

What Causes Gaps Between Your Child’s Teeth?

Now that you know how important baby teeth are to your child’s future smile, we’re here to hopefully alleviate your worry It’s very normal for children to have gaps between their baby teeth. In fact, it’s typically a good thing! Many children have gaps between their teeth because of natural development, their teeth are small, or their frenulum. While the first two causes are relatively self-explanatory, let’s explain the third a little more.
Your frenulum is the piece of connective tissue that connects your gum between your two front teeth and upper lip. If you lift up your upper lip, you can probably feel it! This frenulum is thought to help position your baby’s teeth, according to Victoria State Government. When the frenulum is oversized, it can cause a gap between your front teeth. Typically, when your baby turns one, the frenulum will naturally shorten. More teeth will grow in to fill the gaps. If there’s still a gap in your baby’s front teeth, large molars may close it when they grow in.
Other causes of gaps, like small teeth, also typically resolve themselves when your child gets their adult teeth. Large gaps can actually be a good thing because they give your adult teeth more space to grow in. This could mean you don’t have to cough up the money for braces when your child grows up.

When Gaps Between Your Baby’s Front Teeth is a Bad Thing

If your child has excessive gaps in their teeth, which is uncommon, it may be a sign that something is wrong. Gaps in your baby’s teeth can also be caused by extra teeth that prevent other teeth from growing in, missing teeth, a large jaw compared to their teeth size, or an oversized frenulum. These causes may affect your baby’s adult teeth, leading to teeth misalignment or a permanent gap.

Treatments for a Gap Between Your Front Teeth

Like we said earlier, it’s likely that the gap in your baby’s front teeth will close naturally. However, there are some uncommon incidents in which the gap persists into your child’s adult teeth. If you think your child is experiencing a gap between his or her front teeth because of extra teeth, missing teeth, a large jaw, or an oversized frenulum, you should take your child do the dentist.
The ADA recommends visiting the dentist within 6 months after your baby’s first tooth comes in. This visit should help you to identify what’s really at the root of your baby’s front tooth gap.
If your baby’s front tooth gap isn’t normal and won’t naturally fix itself, you have several options. Remember, a tooth gap could just be a cosmetic issue. A tooth gap can affect your child’s self esteem, but it can also be a unique and loved feature in your child’s appearance. Make sure to think long and hard about getting your child’s gap closed if it’s purely cosmetic. Gapped teeth may also cause teeth misalignment. In this case, it will likely be best to fix the problem.
Here are some treatments your dentist may recommend to close a gap between your baby’s front teeth.

• Veneers can be placed on your child’s front teeth to close a small gap between the teeth. These veneers will be slightly wider than your child’s normal teeth to close up the gap.
• Frenectomy is a surgery that can remove the oversized frenulum that is causing a gap between your child’s front teeth. This will typically be done before the teeth are moved with the other treatments.
• Removable treatments, like a plate or Invisalign, can be used to move the teeth closer together.
• Fixed treatments, like braces, can be used with rubber bands and wires to move the teeth closer together.

As you can see, gaps between your child’s front teeth are typically not anything to be worried about. That being said, it’s important to bring your baby to the dentist regularly in case there is a more serious issue behind your baby’s gap. Make sure to bring your baby into the dentist if there are any issues after their first tooth grows in - and not later than their 3rd birthday. The ADA actually even recommends after their 1st birthday. This way, your dentist will be able to closely monitor your child’s baby teeth to see if any issues arise.
There’s no better place to bring your child in for a checkup than Water Tower Dental Care! We’re experts in baby teeth and will make sure to keep you and your child comfortable during your child’s first dentist appointment. Contact us to make an appointment today!