Our Spokane Dentistry Blog

For years, xylitol has been FDA-approved as a sugar substitute in a variety of products that are commonly used today. Usually, xylitol is found in gum, hard candies, and other products labeled as “sugar-free.” Not only is xylitol lower in calories than sugar, the ingredient has proved to be very beneficial to dental health. In fact, studies have shown that xylitol prevents dry mouth, reduces plaque formation and the risk of tooth decay; and it is even helpful in promoting stronger and healthier teeth. That said, while xylitol does have some obvious benefits; consumers should be wary of some common additives that often appear in xylitol-sweetened products.

Protecting your teeth from erosion

A study published on October 7 in the British Dental Journal found that products that have xylitol as an ingredient also commonly have other ingredients, such as preservatives and acidic flavorings, that can be harmful to the teeth. Preservatives and acidic flavorings may contribute to dental erosion. These ingredients are often used in fruit-flavored gums and candies, and can make such products more harmful than beneficial, even though xylitol is present.

Both preservatives and acidic flavorings are highly acidic, and when acid comes into contact with the teeth for a long period of time on a continuous basis, it can cause tooth decay, which can result in complete tooth loss. Consumers don’t necessarily have to completely stop eating or chewing candy or gum; but limiting consumption may be a good idea. That said, with proper dental hygiene, such as brushing and flossing, your teeth should remain healthy as long as you don’t over-indulge.

Of course, another important part of keeping a healthy mouth and smile is scheduling routine visits to your dentist. No ingredient or food is able to take proper care of your teeth, which means scheduled visits to the dentist are a must-have. Contact Dr. Ken and Marnie Collins’ dental office today to schedule an appointment to help you maintain your smile and health.

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, in 2012, Americans will spend about $110 billion dollars on dental care expenses. More than likely, a large percentage of this money will be spent on cosmetic dentistry procedures which are available for patients who want to improve the look of their smile. Some of the most common cosmetic dentistry procedures include teeth whitening, smile makeovers, and smile straightening through the use of traditional or clear braces.

With these numbers in mind, it’s clear that Americans hold flawless smiles in high value. But thousands of smiles away in Japan, the general population is at the entirely other end of the spectrum; in fact, the newest fad to hit the country involves dental procedures that disarrange the teeth to make them appear less perfect.

Known as “yaeba,” the procedure makes the teeth appear to be misaligned and disarranged. In the Japanese culture, tooth-overcrowding is attractive to men. When a woman undergoes yaeba, none of her natural teeth are harmed in any way. Instead, dentists put a plastic front on the patient’s real teeth to create a flawed smile. To many in Japanese society, a perfect smile makes a woman come off as unapproachable, while a disarranged smile does just the opposite.

While we all strive for perfection, in some cultures perfection obviously is not ideal. Though this fad has become the new “to-do” in Japan, it’s not likely to become popular in the United States, where Americans tend to prefer flashing an eye-catching and aesthetic smile not only to appear more attractive to others, but to improve self-esteem.

If you’re looking to restore or revamp your smile, be sure to contact Drs. Ken & Marnie Collins’ office to schedule an appointment to learn more about the cosmetic dentistry procedures that we offer. Celebrate and enjoy your smile today by calling or emailing us to set up a consultation.

Virtually all human beings procrastinate over one thing or another. While procrastination doesn’t always cause severe problems; in some situations, it can compromise your oral and dental health.

Procrastinating on fixing a simple dental problem or even procrastinating on attending routine check-ups only leads to more serious conditions. Though not a very widely heard of or talked about problem, jaw bone loss is a issue for many Americans. Often caused as a result of seemingly minor dental problems, this problem is easily avoidable, when people seek treatment in a timely manner.

The three most common causes of jaw bone loss include teeth grinding, gum disease, and improper extraction of a tooth or teeth. But, with routine visits to your dentist, these problems can be caught before they lead to more serious trouble.

While jaw bone loss isn’t a complication that most patients are aware of; it can be very detrimental, even to everyday life. Jaw bone loss, when left undetected and untreated, can make talking, smiling, chewing, and even eating very uncomfortable. Would you want to go through life suffering from a problem that is treatable, let alone entirely avoidable with routine appointments with a quality Spokane dentist?

Preventing jaw bone loss should be tackled on two fronts: by the patient and by the dentist. Patients should practice routine dental hygiene, including flossing and brushing, to keep the mouth as clean and healthy as possible. At the same time, dentists should be well aware of the symptoms of jaw bone loss, and – if symptoms are present – the diagnosis should be given to the patient directly, in a straight-forward manner.

Sugar-coating a diagnosis as serious as jaw bone loss can make the situation worse. Patients should be well aware of the state of their oral health, and dentists should never avoid telling their patients exactly what is wrong.

Ensure that your oral and dental health are at optimal levels by scheduling routine visits to Drs. Ken and Marnie Collins today. We are available by phone and email to take your appointment requests. Get started today for a lifetime of healthy teeth, gums, and jaw!

If you brush and floss your teeth on a regular basis, each time you’re finished, you may be inclined to take a look in the mirror to check out your teeth and see how they look. If you’ve ever observed your mouth and saw something unexpected, you’ve probably had a lot of questions, anxiety, and worry running through your mind.

When inspecting your mouth, have you ever observed something that appears to be a bony growth located at the jaw line or on your gums? While they may look scary or even gross; these growths, known as tori or “exostoses” can occur in any patient.

What Are Exostoses?

Exostoses are symptomatic boney outgrowths that grow when there is an excessive amount of stress and tension placed on the teeth’s underlying structures. Tori are widely seen in patients who clench their teeth – which is known to cause higher levels of stress – but the condition has also been found in patients who do not suffer from TMJ symptoms.

A very common cause of exostoses is a bad bite, also known as malocclusion. Malocclusion occurs when the teeth do not align properly. When the teeth are not aligned, the jaw joint experiences higher levels of stress and tension as the jaw joint is put into a torque position that then encourage the growth of tori. At the same time, malocclusion can also cause pain and discomfort.

Whether the excess strain and tension placed on the teeth and jaw joints is caused by teeth clenching, malocclusion, or some other underlying problem, the body’s natural defense is to produce extra bone material to support the teeth. When these bone materials grow, they often become very visible.

Getting Rid of Tori

Generally, the treatment of Tori involves removing the boney growths from the mouth through surgery. While surgery is successful for some; for other patients, tori may return if the underlying cause of the problem isn’t corrected with surgical extraction. For the treatment of tori to be permanent, it’s important that the root cause of the problem be diagnosed and treated accordingly. Tori will only go away when the cause of the excess pressure and tension is gone.

If you suffer from exostoses, call Drs. Ken & Marnie Collins’ office today to determine the treatment method that is right for you. Drs. Ken & Marnie Collins will properly examine you to decide which treatment method is most suitable for you. To get started, simply call or email our office today.

TMJ can cause all sorts of problems, from sore jaws to migraines to muscle tenderness. To understand how a bad bite impacts your life, take a look at the following informative video. To put a stop to your TMJ pain, contact Drs. Ken and Marnie Collins to learn about treatment options that can improve your quality of life.

Youth sports offer adolescents a great way to build sportsmanship, master a skill, and have fun. Unfortunately, they can also have unexpected consequences. Studies have shown that certain types of activities can pose a threat to a child’s dental health, and tooth loss has become a common occurrence in youth sports today.

The National Youth Sports Safety Foundation estimates that over 3 million teeth will be lost in 2011, thanks to youth sporting events. According to the organization, the most dangerous sports tend to be baseball and basketball, which require less protective gear, such as mouthguards and helmets. To help remedy such problems, various companies now offer custom-fitted mouthguards to protect the lips, tongue, gums and teeth.

Dealing With Tooth Loss

When tooth-loss occurs, it’s critical that parents and coaches take appropriate action in a timely manner. A cracked, broken, or completely extracted tooth requires immediate attention from a dentist, preferably within 24 hours of the incident. If a tooth is completely separated from the mouth, you can either attempt to place it back into its socket or put it in milk to help preserve it.

When teeth are damaged during a youth sporting event, adults must take appropriate steps to prevent serious problems from occurring. Whether you are a coach or parent, don’t hesitate to get medical assistance for a broken, cracked, or missing tooth. Call or email Drs. Ken & Marnie Collins’ office to schedule a consultation.

For decades, having straight teeth meant using metal braces to reposition the teeth into a more aesthetic alignment. While traditional metal braces can and have fixed many smiles, the end result is only achieved after months or years of having a not-so-attractive smile. Metal braces don’t blend in, don’t look natural, and can be distracting – all reasons why clear braces were created. Though clear braces are suitable for many, they are ideal for working adults who want a straighter smile that isn’t unnatural looking and eye-catching for the wrong reasons.

Clear braces are an excellent solution for CEOs, businessmen, professional speakers, and any other person whose job involves daily direct communication with others. Some professionals find that having traditional braces draws the wrong kind of attention, usually because the metal appears obvious and unnatural; however, modern aesthetic dentistry has provided new options. With the growing use of clear braces, adult workers no longer have to worry about feeling embarrassed or suffering with a crooked smile.

Natural Blend for a Straighter Smile

Clear braces are just that, clear. They are meant to blend into your existing smile so that they are, for the most part, undetectable. Clear braces are much more natural looking and feeling when compared to alternative options. While clear braces are not entirely invisible, they rarely draw as much attention as metal braces do. Clear braces work while allowing you to keep a professional reputation.

In the professional world, especially in a career that involves direct communication on a consistent basis, looking professional and polished is a must. Having a crooked smile may not only make you feel insecure, it can distract others and bring on unwanted attention. Don’t let a crooked smile ruin your professional life! Contact Drs. Ken & Marnie Collins’ office today to learn more about clear braces. Schedule an appointment by phone or email to get started on a straighter smile.

If your dental pain is driving you to drink, don’t waste time researching “home remedies” on the Web. Contact your dentist today!

The Internet is free-range, truly. Nowadays there is nothing you can’t do or find online. From banking to communication to recipes and even self-diagnosis and at home remedy sites, there truly is no limit to the information that is available. However, sometimes Internet users need to filter the information they come across as some of it could potentially be harmful or outright wrong.

Take for instance a newly launched website named e-Toothache Remedies. The website gives visitors a variety of remedies for treating a toothache at home in the event that a patient cannot pay for or make time to visit a dentist. While the provided information seems to be quite harmless, the fact is that it is information provided by people who have no dental experience. When looking at the website, it’s obvious that it’s not own, run, or maintained by a dentist or a dental professional. Instead it is ran by a web developer that probably knows nothing at all about taking care of an aching tooth.

While websites such as e-Toothache Remedies seem to be considerate and helpful from the outside, the fact is that websites like these are often created to provide information that will draw a lot of traffic so that the website owner can more than likely make money off of click through fees as well as Google Adsense ads. In the end, these websites shouldn’t be used as a way to avoid the dentist altogether. While they may be cheaper than a visit to the dentist, patients are only putting their health at risk by using the provided information.

Whether you have the symptoms of a toothache, gum disease, or some other dental ailment, patients should know that self-diagnosis and at home remedies are not the best option. While a toothache may seem like a non-life threatening problem, if left untreated a toothache could be fatal. Whenever a dental problem arises, don’t hesitate to contact Drs. Ken & Marnie Collins’ office by phone or by email. Schedule routine appointments with us to ensure that your mouth remains as healthy as possible!

Families across the United States are slowly but surely emptying pillow cases and plastic buckets filled with candy after Halloween. The question is, are they flossing more in light of their increased sugar intake? Chances are, probably not.

More than likely when you first learned about dental hygiene, you were told to eat a healthy diet, to make routine trips to the dentist, and to brush and floss after every meal. Today’s quick-paced and jam-packed lifestyle rarely allows for time to brush and floss after every meal but at the same time it seems that a large majority of society only brushes. How often do you pick up a piece of floss and get rid of the food particles and bacteria between your teeth? Bets have it that you, along with plenty of others, rarely floss, if you even floss at all. So why has flossing taken the back seat, despite many of us being told that it’s a must do?

Some of the most common reasons that patients don’t floss is due to a lack of time to dedicate to floss between each tooth as well as the fact that gum pain may be experienced when a patient flosses improperly. But, to ward off any good (or bad) excuses,

While the answer isn’t the same for everyone, flossing often goes neglected because it can be very time consuming and for some the process is overly tedious and sometimes painful. When flossing inappropriately you can cause the gums to bleed, which may make a patient turn up their nose to using a piece of string between their teeth ever again. However, what many people fail to realize is that taking care of your mouth is a step-by-step process. Brushing alone will not get rid of all of the plaque and other bacteria within your mouth. Philips, the makers of Sonicare, have created the Sonicare AirFloss which eliminates the need for floss. Instead, the product uses air and water to clean the teeth and process is much quicker and is pain-free.

Why Is Flossing So Important?

While you may not think that a piece of string, or the newest Sonicare AirFloss makes a huge difference in your oral health, flossing definitely has it’s importance. Though proper brushing using a quality toothpaste will help remove a good portion of the bacteria and plaque that houses on your teeth, a toothbrush cannot reach between your teeth. However, both traditional floss and the Sonicare AirFloss are designed to reach the small crevices between the teeth that are often left untouched by a toothbrush.

If you do not floss often, now is a good time to start-up a new habit. Remember that part of maintaining a healthy smile and mouth is by planning routine visits to your dentist for check-ups and professional cleanings. Drs. Ken & Marnie Collins are experienced dentists that will always have your dental health as a top priority. Don’t let plaque and bacteria between your teeth cause a decline in your dental health. Contact our office today, by phone or by email. To schedule an appointment online, click here.

What do your dog’s teeth and your own pearly whites have in common? In dogs, humans, cats, hippos, and any other animal with teeth, proper dental care is a must in order to keep your teeth not only looking good but functioning as they should. Recently, Mayo Clinic, the Journal of the American Dental Association (JADA), and other associations reasserted something that we have all been taught for years: a healthy body includes having healthy teeth. Whether you think of it or not, the overall health of your teeth has a big determination on how healthy the rest of your body is. When your oral health is lacking, more than likely your overall health will suffer as well. So what does this mean? Simply put, be sure to brush and floss your teeth on a daily basis and don’t neglect Fido’s teeth either. Studies have shown that, just as in humans, good oral health can ensure that your best furry friend lives a longer and healthier life.

Is It Really That Easy?

Many may think that taking proper care of your teeth can’t be as simple as daily brushing and flossing. However, keeping up with your oral health doesn’t require strenuous work, effort, or time. Keeping your teeth, gums, and tongue clean along with flossing and routine visits to the dentist is really all one needs to have a healthy smile. Brushing after every meal is ideal but in some cases it isn’t a possibility. In the end the important part is that a majority of the bacteria housed within the mouth is gotten rid of through brushing and flossing. Patients should also ensure that the mouth remains properly hydrated as dehydration leaves the mouth susceptible to bacteria growth.

At the same time, dentists and veterinarians alike have determined that what we eat and drink too plays a role in the health of your teeth (or your dog’s teeth). Eating a few pieces of candy won’t rot your teeth in an instant, but a consistently unhealthy diet high in refined carbohydrates and sugars can cause tooth decay which may lead to tooth loss. In short: eat a diet of mainly whole foods, keep your mouth hydrated by drinking water, and follow the daily practices of brushing and flossing.

Dentists obviously play an important role in the health of your teeth. If you ever run into a problem that requires more assistance than you can provide, don’t hesitate to schedule an appointment with Drs. Ken & Marnie Collins. Routine visits to the dentist are a must to ensure that your smile remains healthy as sometimes there are problems beneath the surface that aren’t always detected by the untrained eye. Contact us today to schedule an appointment or if you have any questions.