To Keep A Nice Smile, Just Do These 5 Things!

-‘Sup! The weekly HSR is guaranteed to HYPERIZE your  “NSFW” smile!-

1) Floss at least once a day to remove left-behind food and growing biofilm from between and under the gums. Effective flossing can prevent and heal gingivitis, can help prevent and slow the progression of periodontitis (tooth-pain- and tooth-loss-causing gum problems), and can efficaciously remove hidden food remnants, which are delicious and bountiful edible resources for hungry bacteria. All of this oral-debris-and-fluid mixture exposes itself as significant sources of bad breath vapors with every exhalation.

2) Agitate and debride the dentition at least twice a day with a new-looking toothbrush, lubricated and potentiated with water and a safe, reliable, and beneficial active-ingredient-containing dentifrice (fluoride, non-fluoride, natural, curative, etc.). The Internet is replete with market versions. Perform for at least two minutes, taking care to remove any plaque and food from all accessible enamel surfaces, and strive to penetrate under the gums and between teeth with the brush’s bristle tips as far as possible.

Instead of using the default Horizontal brush-stroke technique, which can cause gum abrasion and notches in teeth along the gum line over time, try the Bass technique, which purposefully directs the bristle tips of the toothbrush under the gums, while using small circular or small back-and-forth jiggle motions. 

But the Bass method doesn't address all of the other acessible surfaces of the teeth…

To mechanically displace plaque on the other surfaces...

Try the nimble Winge Bounce toothbrushing method,  or the versatile Winge Swing, or the  powerful Winge Slide method, the three of which are the newest styles of toothbrushing, all developed at the turn of this new century. All of the other known techniques (Bass, Charters, Stillman, Fones, Smith Bell, and Leonard) were established on or before 1953. All of the techniques propose to aggressively remove dental plaque from teeth areas using light to moderate forces.

3) Rinse for at least 20-30 seconds, or as long as you can stand, with a safe, commercially-available fluoride rinse, to resaturate the top layers of enamel with protective minerals and adjuncts that might have been lost as a result of previous eating and drinking. Antiseptic mouthwashes, which may contain strong ingredients like alcohol, probably don’t include fluoride in the same formulation, are great at temporarily reducing and masking “fetor oris,” or bad breath.

4) Visit your dental home at least every six months, to vigilantly maintain your elevated oral health.

5) And most of all…MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS!

Don’t confront others in a mean-spirited manner, bullying included.

Come on, you know how to make other people upset: by butting in front of them in a line, mouthing four-letter words, obnoxiously staring at people on public transportation, in a bar, or on the street, and by spreading malicious lies and falsehoods about your neighbors, family members, and coworkers…the list goes on!

Road rage is especially to be avoided. You never know what the other person may carry in his or her car. Drive defensively and try to anticipate what other drivers in front, in back, and on both sides of you may do. Let other drivers who may be in a hurry pass in front of you. Turn on a good radio station and consciously smooth out your trip. Be courteous. Good karma goes a long way, and you’ll cut down any chances of emerging dents ruining your transportation…and your show-room-like, new-car smile!

We want to daily maintain our smiles as “light, bright, and (…) near white!”

May you have many…gossip-free-and-clear…all of the necessary ingredients are gleefully included herein…like an 80-inch big screen…smiles!

You Can Always Come Back Home…To Your Dental Home!

-Inject your weekly dose of HSR to SUPERSATURATE your “it’s what’s on the surface that really matters” smile!-

You are wanted! You are needed! We don’t want to lose you!

You are cared for and cherished at your dental home!

The professionals there are just like family who are in the gentle business of taking care of your most intimate dental needs on a continuing basis. They want to keep you at the top of your smile game!

The American Dental Association recommends that patients visit their dentists at least every six months or whenever any noticeable, unexplained, or painful changes present themselves in the mouth.

Be informed about your health. In these matters, it is much better to be safe than sorry. There’s a wise saying that goes “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

And if you are suffering from a significant dental ailment, or even a non-dental ailment, the joyful and carefree life with no worries is immediately put on hold, with your thoughts and actions concerning how you will deal with your health needs, or rather, demands, put quickly on center stage.

Body pain and tooth pain have ways of deprioritizing and making you not care about everything else in life.

Getting relief from pain is all that matters. And, the sooner, the better!

So, if a tooth is broken, or if anything else is wrong (you’ll know!), then engage your first line of health defense by seeing your health professionals.

Your social life demands that your smile stay in shape.

Your job requires that your teeth be presentable.

Your family wants you to be, look, and act in a healthy manner, and be in good spirits, not doubled over in tearful pain.

And the integral and concerned members of your dental home team would be excited to see you, and would love to remaximize your dental status…without delay!

Give them a call today, and ask them if they miss you, and if they value you!

May you have many…come on in and let’s have a party!....I’m where I can rest and reconstitute my weary bones…I’m home, so I can put my feet up and turn on the humungous flat-panel…smiles!

Fun Floss Facts, Part 5.

NUCLEARIZE your “easy on the eyes” smile with the help of the weekly "The Hollywood Smiles Report: Where Dentistry Meets the Red Carpet!”  

Floss helps to remove plaque between the teeth and under the gums before it gets a chance to harden over time into calculus.

The silk floss tree, found in South America's tropical forests, yields seeds that are covered with fine fibers that resemble dental floss.

Radius Cranberry Floss uses cranberry essence from Ocean Spray to coat its floss, because a substance in cranberries has been found to help break up interdental plaque.

Synthetic floss is made from one of three polymers: nylon, polyethylene, or Teflon.

Butler-Weave, a dental tape floss is produced by the John O. Butler Company.

Synthetic or plastic floss is a byproduct derived from crude oil.

OralB makes UltraFloss and SuperFloss. Both have an alternating spongy then firm make up along the string. The spongy part of the floss expands when no tension is placed on it. In its expanded or stretched state, it can, when passed through the teeth, engage and extract more interdental plaque, when pulled out from the side.

The American Dental Association recommends flossing at least once a day.

Yucca-leaf fibers were used as floss by some Native Americans.

Some prehistoric human teeth, found during archeological digs, had grooves notched in them. Those markings may have come from attempts by the early humans from whom it came, to remove stubborn meat or other items from between the teeth. Maybe sharp stones were used interdentally back then.

The average person in the U.S. uses 18 yards of dental floss annually.

Dental floss was used by a character in the novel, "Ulysses," written by James Joyce in 1918.

The Teflon in dental floss is made from the polymer polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE).

Nylon floss first starts out as a nylon salt that is polymerized, then melted, and poured out as a ribbon. It is then cut up, melted again, and then pumped through a spinning machine into filaments. The cooled nylon filaments are then combined to make a floss strand, which is then twisted to give it strength.

May you have many…red (gums)-and-white (teeth)...flossing is more important than brushing...I was out of thread so I used floss to emergency fix my low-cut-short-skirt dress… smiles!

Are Your Teeth “Sexy” Or “T-Rexy?”

Step right up and smell the coffee at "The Hollywood Smiles Report: Where Dentistry Meets the Red Carpet," your best venue every week to learn how to INFLATE your “burst it wide open” smile!  

Does your smile possess smooth and harmonic gum-line curves, along with golden-proportioned, properly-positioned, functionally-tight, and almost-light-bulb-white teeth?

Or do your specialized oral bones (teeth) present themselves as jagged, crooked, or otherwise broken, in some, or all parts, from living a rough life, or eating way-too-hard food, with front teeth that stick out so far that they seem to “want to reach out and touch me?” Are the gum tissues red-alert swollen, pus-filled, and in need of an immediate penicillin shot right there on the spot? Or do we hot-line call the CDC for “immaculate disinfection?”

In the wild, predator animals hunt and catch prey without regards to “dentally-cosmetic good looks.” They have to eat, to get energy to live another day. So what if a tooth breaks off in the vigorous pursuit of live meat. The fun is in the hunt…and in the munching and belly-rubbing sleep afterward!

In the animal kingdom, functionality rules, bottom line. But with our civilized human race, socially-acceptable physical looks are a must-have, especially if you want to be connected to main-stream society. One doesn’t want to stick out like a sore thumb…or a Godzilla!

When humans argue or play competitive sports they bare and growl with their teeth to some extent to emphasize that they are battle-ready and want “chew you up and spit you out!” Have you ever been…never mind!

Fact of the matter is that many athletes in “gladiator” types of sports have had rehabilitation of their front teeth because of the brute force pounding that they must dish out…and receive. Many otherwise beautiful front teeth have been laid to rest through such activities.

So if the architecture of your smile needs corrective construction services and heavy lifting to boot, move over to your dentist. Not brontosaurus-slow, but fleet-footed-raptor quick.

That is, if you don’t mind looking like Ex-Heavyweight Boxing Champ Leon Spinks with his world-famous open grill. He was one of the few to ever beat Muhammed Ali. I would instantly beg for forgiveness over any perceived slight, and quickly slip out the back door! Because I don’t want to get pounded and end up looking the same way!

May you have many…wow--Halloween mouth all year ‘round...are those teeth live or are they Memorex...excuse me—can I just stare at your beautiful teeth for a bit—but don’t bite me!…smiles!