This Year, Make a New Year’s Resolution to Smile About!

Categories: Oral Health

Let’s face it- when was the last time you managed to keep a New Year’s resolution? We at Dr. Bruce Stewart’s office believe the key to sticking to a goal is picking one that is both reasonable and attainable. If you haven’t yet picked a New Year’s resolution, consider setting one that will improve your oral health!

For example, resolve to brush twice and floss once a day. Good oral hygiene only takes a few minutes a day, and can make a big difference in your oral health and overall health too! For more oral health-themed resolutions for you and your family, check out this article.

We would love to see what you come up with, share with us by commenting on this post or on our Facebook page. Whatever your New Year’s Resolution, we wish you the very best for 2012!

-Happy New Year, from your friends at Dr. Stewart’s office

Happy Holidays! From Dr. Stewart and team

In this season given to tidings of comfort and joy, and as Dr. Stewart and our team reflect on the year that was, we’d like to ask you, our wonderful patients: What do you love about the holidays this year? Being with your loved ones? A clean slate for 2012? Opening presents by the fireplace? All the delicious food? Also, what gift are you most looking forward to getting this year?

We’d love if you shared with us all the things you love about the holidays. Stay warm, and don’t forget to stay away from those sweets!

Emergency Care at Dr. Bruce Stewart’s office

Categories: Dentistry

At Dr. Bruce Stewart’s office we know dental emergencies are never convenient or timely. If you are a patient of record, we are committed to your dental health and are more than willing to see you.

We are here to help you, any time, any day, and when your dental health is at risk, we’ll do everything we can to make sure that you’re treated as soon as possible. While dental emergencies are rare, we know they can happen at any moment, and it’s important to know how to take care of your teeth no matter what.

Common dental emergencies include:

• A bitten lip or tongue
• Broken or cracked tooth/teeth
• Broken jaw
• Permanent tooth that has been knocked out
• Object caught between teeth
• Severe toothache

If you have a dental emergency after regular office hours, please give us a call. If you are calling us after hours, please follow the emergency prompts to contact Dr. Stewart. We proudly serve patients from Grand Rapids, among other surrounding communities.

Dr. Stewart’s Office Has A Magical Christmas Party

On Sunday, December 4th, Dr. Bruce Stewart’s office had our annual Christmas party, but with a magical twist! Usually an adult affair, the party this year was for families. Our staff brought either their children or grandchildren, and we had 17 adults and 25 children in attendance. Stormy the Magician made an appearance at the party and entertained young and old with his tricks and jokes. After the 45 minute Magic Show, Stormy made animal balloons for all the children. We all left with warm smiles and happy memories of children laughing and being awed by the magic.

We wish you all a very happy holiday season!

Have you had a check-up with Dr. Bruce Stewart lately?

Categories: Oral Health

Even if you brush and floss daily, it is still important to see Dr. Bruce Stewart every 6 months, or as recommended. Why?

• We can detect and treat tooth and gum problems that you may have never felt or noticed.
• Even thorough daily oral care may not be enough to prevent cavities and oral decay.
• Frequent visits can allow us to treat a problem early to prevent future complications.

If you are overdue for an appointment with us, please give us a call today!

Dr. Bruce Stewart & Team

Christmas Ornaments Are Coming!

Categories: About Our Office

We are pleased to announce that the beautiful hand blown glass ornaments that have decorated Dr. Bruce Stewart’s office the past two years are back! Women at Risk International installed the decorated Christmas tree on November 18, and it looks beautiful. The ornaments on our tree are made in Egypt and include several different shapes, such as humming birds, and all sell for $15. This annual fundraiser for WAR International places roughly 450 decorated trees around Grand Rapids in various offices. WAR International raises money to help educate women and children in underdeveloped countries and helps them escape human trafficking and slavery.

Many of our patients were sorry to have missed the opportunity to purchase these unique ornaments when they found out about them last January. If you have never seen the ornaments, please come in and take a look. They make beautiful Christmas and hostess gifts, and help a wonderful cause. The ornaments may also be purchased at the WAR Boutique in Rockford or Wyoming. You can see what they look like or learn more about this great organization by visiting the Women at Risk International website.

Thank you so much for your support this holiday season. Have a very happy Thanksgiving!

Chewing tobacco and its side effects

Categories: Oral Health

Everyone knows that smoking causes lung cancer, but did you also know that smokers and tobacco users are susceptible to a variety of oral health problems at a faster rate than non-smokers? Smokeless tobacco use in the United States continues to increase each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It may be smokeless, but it certainly isn’t harmless.

You’ve probably seen baseball players chewing or dipping tobacco, but it’s important to know that as soon as you use tobacco products, you risk developing serious health issues, including cancer, heart attack or stroke. You are also more likely to experience any of these oral health problems:

• Gum disease
• Tooth loss
• Loss of bone in the jaw
• Gum recession
• Delayed/impaired healing process after oral surgery or any other treatment
• Decreased success rate of dental implant (tooth replacement) procedures
• Mouth sores
• Loss of your sense of taste and smell
• Bad breath
• Tooth and tongue stains

Quitting tobacco is difficult because all forms of it—cigarettes, cigars and spit (chewing) tobacco—contain nicotine, which is the highly addictive agent in tobacco. If you are interested in protecting your oral health, we strongly recommend you quit using tobacco products! We suggest all tobacco users come in for regular dental check-ups with Dr. Bruce A. Stewart.

Halloween Candy Buy-Back Success

All of us at Dr. Bruce Stewart’s office are happy to announce that our Halloween Candy Buy-Back program was a success again this year. However, there is always room for more families to participate!

We had twelve children participate, representing seven families. We enjoyed seeing the children come in, and smiled when some of them had trouble parting with their candy. The youngest children seemed to have the most difficult time saying goodbye to their candy, and did not quite understand why they were leaving their candy behind. The children brought 53 pounds of candy and we paid a total of $93 to those who participated. Some children left us over five pounds of candy, even though the individual limit for purchase was five pounds. Just think of the possible cavities prevented and how much healthier their young bodies are because they did not consume an additional 53 pounds of candy! We will be taking the candy to a subsidized, independent living, senior citizen apartment complex where people do not have much income available for extra treats.

Our Halloween candy purchase program is an annual event and we would like to double or triple the amount of participants next year. Please consider bringing your children to the office to sell us their candy for $2 a pound. Even if they only part with some of their treats, their bodies and piggy banks will be healthier. Once again, thank you to everyone who participated this year!

5 ways you can avoid plaque

Categories: Oral Health

At Dr. Bruce Stewart’s office, we know nobody likes getting plaque on their teeth. Here are five other ways you can avoid that dreaded enemy of the teeth, courtesy of WebMD.

Let’s start with brushing regularly. Brushing your teeth twice a day with a fluoride-containing toothpaste is vital to a healthy mouth. Make sure you softly brush all the surfaces of your teeth.

Next on the list is flossing daily: a simple daily flossing between teeth clears away plaque before it can cause damage and can also clean plaque at the gum line. Plaque is known to reach the spaces between teeth.

Also, evading a trip to visit Dr. Stewart is probably not a great idea. Let’s say you brush and floss daily. You’re still at risk for plaque. With time, the plaque hardens and turns into tartar. Consider visiting Dr. Stewart’s office at least twice a year or as recommended, and you have a lower chance of getting cavities or losing your natural teeth.

You’ll also want to stop avoiding those fruits and veggies. Believe it or not, there are foods out there that play a key role in keeping plaque off our teeth. They include apples, carrots, cucumbers and other raw fruits and vegetables. You can still eat these types of fruits and veggies if you’re wearing braces, but be sure to cut them up into bite sized pieces to avoid breaking off brackets.

Finally, before you pick up that candy bar, remember to not give in to your sweet tooth. Consuming sugary drinks or eating candy or other junk food allows sugar to stick to our teeth. The bacteria, then, becomes plaque, which turns into acid and damages our teeth. Avoiding these five bad habits keeps your plaque in check and your mouth as healthy as can be. If you have any questions, give us a call or ask us on Facebook!

How technology helps us all, from Dr. Bruce A. Stewart

Categories: Dentistry

Dr. Bruce A. Stewart wanted to share this story about how technology helped a recent patient get expert advice without leaving our office.

I had a patient the other day who had a severely damaged tooth. I wasn’t sure if it could be saved, so we took an intra-oral picture and an x-ray of the tooth. We emailed it to a periodontist who looked at the x-ray and the picture and decided that the best option was extraction and an implant. He felt the tooth could be removed and an implant placed the same day.

Our patient was extremely happy to get all this information while sitting in our office. He saved the time and cost involved with an office visit to the specialist to get this diagnosis, as well as gasoline costs.

I thought you would enjoy this story of how our technology can be of help to you, should you have a problem.