How Clean Is Your Tongue?
Snoqualmie Valley Orthodontics Blog
by Becky Spencer
4y ago
“BRUSH YOUR TEETH for two full minutes twice a day and floss your teeth once a day.” You’ve probably lost count of how many times you’ve heard that, but how often have you heard that you should be cleaning your tongue every day too? The Difference A Clean Tongue Makes More bacteria likes to live on our tongues than just about anywhere else on our bodies. That’s because all those tiny crevices in the tongue’s surface are prime real estate for all kinds of pathogens. If we don’t actively keep our tongues clean, the harmful bacteria will stay put and multiply, causing bad breath and co ..read more
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Plaque, Tartar, And Your Teeth
Snoqualmie Valley Orthodontics Blog
by Becky Spencer
4y ago
PLAQUE AND TARTAR are two words that you probably hear a lot when you come in for a dental cleaning. You might already know that they cause tooth decay and gum disease, but do you know what they are? Let’s take a closer look at these two substances that are a constant threat to our oral health. Stage 1: Plaque Dental plaque is a soft, sticky, colorless biofilm composed of bacteria, food particles, and saliva. It builds up on and between our teeth and beneath our gums every day. If you’ve ever forgotten to brush in the morning or at night, you’ve probably felt that unpleasa ..read more
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It’s Time To Kick That Ice-Chewing Habit
Snoqualmie Valley Orthodontics Blog
by Becky Spencer
4y ago
CHEWING ICE MIGHT SEEM refreshing in the moment, but it’s not doing any favors for your teeth in the long run. Today we’re going to take a look at why ice chewing is such a common habit despite the dangers it poses, as well as what someone with this habit can do to stop. Compulsive Ice Eating The scientific name for compulsive ice eating is pagophagia. This goes beyond a simple habit and enters the territory of a mental disorder. Getting cravings for ice can be a sign of an eating disorder called pica, which involves a compulsion to eat things with no nutritional value, such as ice, clay ..read more
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Tooth Impaction: Teeth Trapped In The Gums
Snoqualmie Valley Orthodontics Blog
by Becky Spencer
4y ago
EVERYONE’S TEETH ARE DIFFERENT. Some people’s adult teeth come in early, some come in late. In rare cases, not all of the adult teeth will come in on their own, which could be because they’re trapped beneath the gums. Impacted Teeth Overcrowding is a fairly common issue for adult teeth, but sometimes when there isn’t room for a new tooth to come in, it stays partially or fully under the gums instead. This happens most often with wisdom teeth, which can actually endanger the roots of neighboring molars when they are crooked or sideways in the jaw. After wisdom teeth, t ..read more
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Enamel Hypoplasia
Snoqualmie Valley Orthodontics Blog
by Becky Spencer
4y ago
WE ALL WANT a perfect, pearly-white smile. Sometimes all it takes is a good brushing and flossing habit and regular dental visits, but not everyone is lucky enough to have naturally strong teeth that are easy to take care of. For some people, a healthy smile is much harder to achieve because of a condition called enamel hypoplasia.   The Importance Of Tooth Enamel Tooth enamel makes up the outermost layer of our teeth. It’s the hardest substance in the human body, and it’s composed of minerals like hydroxyapatite. It forms a barrier to protect the more vulnerable inner layers o ..read more
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Defeating Bad Breath
Snoqualmie Valley Orthodontics Blog
by Becky Spencer
4y ago
WE’VE ALL BEEN THERE BEFORE — sitting in the middle of a job interview or a first date and realizing that our breath is far from minty fresh. Even when everything else is going perfectly, bad breath can be enough to ruin your confidence and turn a good experience sour. Why do we get bad breath, and what can we do to stop it? Oral Bacteria And The Food We Eat In order to effectively fight bad breath, it’s important to figure out what’s causing it. The simplest and most common cause is leftover food particles stuck between our teeth after a meal. The bacteria in our mouths break down these ..read more
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Why Are My Teeth So Sensitive?
Snoqualmie Valley Orthodontics Blog
by Becky Spencer
4y ago
IS A SIMPLE SPOONFUL of ice cream enough to make you cringe because of the pain in your teeth? Do you have to be careful when you drink hot coffee that none of it touches your chompers? If you know the feeling, then you’re one of millions who experience tooth sensitivity. Let’s take a closer look at what causes tooth sensitivity and what can we do about it. How We Feel Sensation In Our Teeth Each of our teeth is covered in a layer of protective enamel. Underneath this is dentin, which is a lot like bone. Dentin contains thousands of microscopic tubules that run through it from ..read more
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Temporomandibular Disorders
Snoqualmie Valley Orthodontics Blog
by Becky Spencer
4y ago
OUR JAWS DO A LOT of work throughout the day, opening and closing over and over so that we can do ordinary things like talk, eat, and yawn. Ideally, all of the anatomy involved functions as it should and we can perform these tasks without trouble, but many people struggle with temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorders because something has gone wrong.   The Anatomy Of The Temporomandibular Joints The joints on both sides of our jaw, located between the ear and the cheekbone, consists of three parts: the socket (part of the temporal bone), the ball (the top part of the jawbone), a ..read more
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A Closer Look At Our Teeth
Snoqualmie Valley Orthodontics Blog
by Becky Spencer
4y ago
WE USE OUR TEETH all day, every day, for chewing, talking, and flashing big smiles at friends and family, but what are the structures that allow our teeth to do so much? Let’s take a look at what our teeth are made of.   Layer 1: Tooth Enamel The portion of each tooth that we can see above our gum tissue is the crown, and it has three different layers. On the outside is a protective layer of enamel, the hardest substance in our entire bodies. It has to be so that we can chew our food effectively. Unlike bone, enamel isn’t made of living cells, so it can’t repair itself as ..read more
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Debunking 8 Braces Myths
Snoqualmie Valley Orthodontics Blog
by Becky Spencer
4y ago
EVEN IF YOU’VE NEVER had braces before, you’ve probably still heard a lot of things about what they’re like. Well, don’t believe everything you hear, because there is some bad information out there. That’s why today we’re going to bust eight of the most common braces myths.   1. Braces Rust While braces are often made of metal, they do not rust. The metals in braces are stainless steel and titanium, so you don’t have to worry about them rusting in your mouth. 2. You Can’t Play An Instrument With Braces It certainly takes some adjusting to play brass or woodwind instruments with ..read more
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