Your Child’s Impacted Front Teeth can be Saved – but Don’t Wait too Long

Your Child's Impacted Front Teeth can be Saved

Children’s permanent teeth normally erupt over several years after first forming below the gum line. All their permanent teeth should come in by the time they reach early adolescence. Unfortunately, this process doesn’t always happen as it should. If the erupting teeth become crowded due to a poor bite (malocclusion), teeth still to come in may not have enough room to fully erupt. They become impacted, a condition in which the visible crown remains partially or completely submerged below the gum line. Impacted teeth create consequences for other teeth and dental health overall. They more readily cause abscesses (a localized … Continue reading

Why Big Bang Theory Actress Mayim Bialik Couldn’t Have Braces

Why Big Bang Theory Actress Mayim Bialik Couldn't Have Braces

Mayim Bialik has spent a good part of her life in front of TV cameras: first as the child star of the hit comedy series Blossom, and more recently as Sheldon Cooper’s love interest — a nerdy neuroscientist — on The Big Bang Theory. (In between, she actually earned a PhD in neuroscience from UCLA…but that’s another story.) As a child, Bialik had a serious overbite — but with all her time on camera, braces were just not an option. “I never had braces,” she recently told Dear Doctor – Dentistry & Oral Health magazine. “I was on TV at … Continue reading

What You Should Know About Veneers for Teenagers

What You Should Know About Veneers for Teenagers

Porcelain veneers are a great way to enhance an unattractive smile. But are they appropriate for teenagers? The answer usually depends on a patient’s current development stage and the type of veneer used. Veneers are thin layers of porcelain bonded to the front of teeth. But even though quite thin, they can appear bulky if we don’t first remove some of the tooth’s enamel surface. This is irreversible, so the tooth may require a restoration from then on. This could be a major issue for teens whose permanent teeth are still developing. During this period the tooth’s central pulp is … Continue reading

Vivica’s Veneers: the Making of a Hollywood Smile

Vivica's Veneers: the Making of a Hollywood Smile

What’s an actor’s most important feature? According to Vivica A. Fox, whose most recent big-screen role was in Independence Day: Resurgence, it’s what you see right up front. “On screen, your smile and your eyes are the most inviting things that bring the audience in” she said. “Especially if you play the hot chick.” But like lots of people, Vivica reached a point where she felt her smile needed a little help in order to look its best. That’s when she turned to a popular cosmetic dental treatment. “I got veneers years ago,” Ms. Fox told Dear Doctor magazine in … Continue reading

Understanding the Aging Process Leads to More Effective Orthodontics

Understanding the Aging Process Leads to More Effective Orthodontics

If you’ve ever looked at younger photos of yourself, you’re sure to notice differences with your present appearance. Of course, your basic features might appear much the same. But maybe your lips seemed a little thicker back then, or your nose a bit less prominent. This is because your facial features don’t stop growing when you reach adulthood—they continue to change throughout your life. For example, lips reach their maximum thickness by around age 14 for girls or age 16 for boys; they’ll remain at that level of thickness for a few years before gradually thinning throughout adulthood. The nose … Continue reading

Tom Hanks’ Abscessed Tooth Gets Cast Away

Tom Hanks' Abscessed Tooth Gets Cast Away

Did you see the move Cast Away starring Tom Hanks? If so, you probably remember the scene where Hanks, stranded on a remote island, knocks out his own abscessed tooth — with an ice skate, no less — to stop the pain. Recently, Dear Doctor TV interviewed Gary Archer, the dental technician who created that special effect and many others. “They wanted to have an abscess above the tooth with all sorts of gunk and pus and stuff coming out of it,” Archer explained. “I met with Tom and I took impressions [of his mouth] and we came up with … Continue reading

Timing is Everything When Replacing a Teenager’s Missing Tooth

Replacing a Teenager's Missing Tooth

There are good reasons, for both health and appearance, to replace a missing tooth with a dental implant or similar restoration as soon as is practical. The bone around a tooth socket diminishes the longer it remains empty, up to 25% the first year. And, of course, your smile is less attractive, especially with a highly visible tooth. If it’s your teenager, though, you may need to wait on a permanent restoration because their jaws are still developing. An implant placed before completion of jaw development could eventually appear out of alignment with neighboring teeth. Our biggest concern is protecting … Continue reading

The Dangers of DIY Braces

The Dangers of DIY Braces

Let’s say you’ve always wanted to have straighter teeth, and you’re wondering if it’s time to seek help from a dentist or orthodontist. So you search online and find a YouTube video called “Cheap easy braces!! Without going to the dentist!!!!!” Your instincts are screaming “NO,” but you can’t help wondering… could it really be worth trying? First of all, in case all of the exclamation points didn’t clue you in, the teenager who made this video doesn’t have any medical or dental training whatsoever. And just to make it clear right now, there’s no such thing as do-it-yourself braces … Continue reading

Support Your Child’s Dental Development with Preventive Care

Support Your Child's Dental Development with Preventive Care

The development of your child’s teeth, gums and jaw structure is an amazing process. But while it largely occurs on its own, we can’t take it for granted—we’ll need to do our part to ensure their mouth stays free from the effects of disease and injury. That starts first and foremost with early oral hygiene practices. And we do mean early, even before teeth begin to erupt: a simple habit of wiping their gums after feeding with a clean, damp cloth helps reduce the growth of bacteria, the leading cause of dental disease. Once teeth do appear, you can begin … Continue reading

Spice Up Your Teeth

Spice Up Your Teeth

As a member of the best-selling pop group Spice Girls, Mel C (AKA Sporty Spice) enjoyed her share of musical superstardom. At the band’s peak in the Nineties, the young singer’s signature look featured baggy sweatpants, an assortment of tattoos, a nose stud and a gold-capped incisor, front and center in her mouth. Today, Melanie Chisholm is still singing — but now she’s a mom, an amateur triathlete… and that gold tooth is just a memory. Not only that, her smile looks more evenly spaced and whiter than it did when she was referred to as the “tomboy” of the … Continue reading