Smile! October is National Dental Hygiene Month!

Categories: Oral Health

Did you know that October is National Dental Hygiene Month? For our staff at Dr. Stewart’s office, that means only one thing: Reminding you that your teeth are an important part of your body, and keeping them clean helps keep your mouth and your body healthy. By taking care of your teeth, eating a balanced diet and visiting our convenient Comstock Park, MI office on a regular basis, you can have healthy teeth and an attractive smile throughout your entire life.

We encourage you to check out the American Dental Association website as well, which provides pointers on keeping your mouth clean and healthy. Lastly, has it been six months since your last checkup? If the answer is yes, we encourage you to give us a call to set up an appointment with Dr. Stewart.

Second Annual Candy Buy-Back

Halloween is an exciting time of year for children, with Halloween parties in elementary schools and trick-or-treating on Halloween night. Most of us remember the excitement of running from house to house filling our bags with lots of treats, mostly candy. As adults we have a slightly different view of these festivities, as we understand the link between the sugars in sweets and tooth decay and overall health. This cache of candy can mean trouble for teeth, and is particularly bad for children with braces. So why not encourage your children to sell their candy to us at Dr. Bruce Stewart’s office? Have them pick out a few of their favorite pieces and then bring the rest of the loot to our office.

From Tuesday, November 1 through Thursday, November 10, we encourage all former costumed characters to bring us their candy loot. We will pay $2 for every pound of candy, up to $10 per child. Parents of these former ghosts and goblins can enter their name into a drawing for a $40 gift card to Meijers. The drawing will be held at the end of the day on November 10 and the winner will be notified that day.

Cash versus cavities—the choice is easy. Choose Cash!!!

Biofilm–What is it? Why do we need to be aware of Biofilm?

Categories: Oral Health

Biofilm is a group of micro-organisms existing together in a moist, gel-like film. It is everywhere that water contacts a non-sterile surface. It is found in the human body and in nature. Here are a few facts about biofilm:

• We all have biofilm in our mouths, cheeks, teeth, gums, tongue.
• These biofilms cause tooth decay, gingivitis and periodontitis.
• The inflammation in the mouth caused by microbes in biofilm has been implicated in general health problems, such as cardiovascular disease.
• Dental plaque, or biofilm, can contain as many as 500 different microbes.
• The longer the biofilm stays uninterrupted, the greater the potential for dental problems.
• Disrupting the biofilm growth through brushing, flossing and rinsing is key to your dental health.

If you have any questions about biofilm, feel free to ask us at Dr. Eric Hull’s office!

Dr. Stewart answers your frequently asked questions

Categories: Dentistry

Today, Dr. Bruce Stewart wanted to address some questions that our office hears regularly and may be of interest to many of our patients. If you have any more questions, feel free to leave us a comment or ask us at the office!

Q. Are x-rays really necessary?

A. X-rays allow us to see cysts, abscesses, and decay between the teeth, as well as periodontal disease damage. Without x-rays, we would not be able to see the problem until it was larger.

Q. Why, in my retirement, am I suddenly getting new cavities when I went many years without cavities?

A. Often cavities in advanced years are associated with decreased saliva flow. This can occur simply with age. However, more likely it is medication that has a side effect of making the mouth dry. A significant number of common medications can cause dry mouth. Snacking between meals and sucking on mints, lemon drops, etc…can also promote rapid tooth decay.

Q. How can I prevent decay when I have receding gums?

A. The result of gum recession is exposed roots. They are much more susceptible to tooth decay than the upper portion of the tooth which has an enamel covering. Professionally applied fluoride varnish, xylitol gum and mints, and prescription-level fluoride toothpaste are all beneficial in helping to prevent, or minimize, decay around exposed roots.

Q.How can I help my decay-prone teenagers prevent tooth decay?

A. Caution them about the high sugar and acid levels in sports and energy drinks, which are often comparable to the levels in soft drinks. What dentists have been saying for years is true: candy and soft drinks (sugar) are bad for teeth. The same products that can help prevent decay around exposed roots will help prevent or minimize tooth decay in teenagers. Brushing and flossing daily are very beneficial in preventing decay. Decay really can be controlled and is preventable!

Link Between Alzheimer’s Disease and Cold Sores

Categories: Oral Health

The link between Alzheimer’s Disease and the cold sore has been in the news lately, with Oprah and Dr. Oz on TV and John Tesh on the radio. In fact, researchers from the University of New Mexico School of Medicine and the University of Manchester in England and have found a link between cold sores and Alzheimer’s Disease. They stress that cold sores do not cause Alzheimer’s, but can be one co-factor in developing Alzheimer’s.

The research indicates that the HSV1 (herpes virus) travels to the nerve cells of the brain as we age and alters the brain’s waste-removal capabilities. The virus also releases chemicals in the brain that cause abnormal twisted fibers to develop, similar to what is found in Alzheimer’s sufferers. As a result of these findings, experts advise treating a cold sore quickly to minimize the time the virus is active.

If you get a cold sore, please call Dr. Bruce Stewart’s office and get treatment. We can call in medication that will hasten the healing of your cold sore. A better alternative would be to come in and have us use a laser on your cold sore. The laser has been effective in hastening healing, preventing spreading, and containing the size of the herpes outbreak.

Check Your Flex and Health Savings Accounts

Categories: About Our Office

School has begun, the air is getting cooler and fall will officially arrive next week. After a summer filled with warm-weather activities and relaxed schedules, we are all getting into our new fall routines. This is a good time to check your Flex Accounts and Health Savings Accounts to make sure you will use all the money you have set aside. If you have dental treatment that was diagnosed but not completed, we will be happy to give you estimates on the costs of the treatment. If you have insurance we will do our best to give you an accurate estimate of your portion after insurance. Let us help you maximize your benefits. In the process you will be improving your dental health and over-all physical health. That is a win-win!

Dr. Stewart and team

ArtPrize is Fast Approaching

School has begun, fall is in the air and ArtPrize is coming soon! Only in its third year, this competition of various forms of art has drawn national and international attention to Grand Rapids.

Each year, more and more people visit downtown during this period, filling our restaurants, museums and streets and enjoying art displayed on bridges, lawns, sidewalks, and in many buildings.

Kay and I look forward to ArtPrize and go downtown several times during its duration. Many of our staff visit ArtPrize as a family activity or as a couples’ night out. We would enjoy supporting any of our patients whose work is displayed in ArtPrize. So, if you have an entry in ArtPrize this year, please let us know. We will make every effort to seek you out and support you. It’s fun for us to see another side of our patients and the remarkable talent they have. Good luck to all of our participants. This seems like something where everyone wins, artists, citizens and our great city.

Have you shared your e-mail address with us?

Categories: About Our Office

If you have not shared your e-mail address with us at Dr. Bruce Stewarts office, you may want to do so the next time you are in the office. When patients give us their e-mail they will receive an e-mail from Sesame Communications giving them a temporary password. Once you open the e-mail from Sesame you can change your password and you are ready to go. There are many benefits to providing us your e-mail, including:

1. You can go online and view your account balance and check to see if your insurance has paid on your account.

2. You can check your appointment times online.

3. You can receive e-mail confirmations of your appointments.

4. If you are an Invisalign patient you can view your clin-check in the comfort of your home. Plus, you can forward your clin-check to your family and friends and show them how Invisalign will change your smile. You can even post your clin-check on Facebook!

5. Occasionally there is something we want to bring to our patients’ attention and we will send out an e-mail on that subject. That said, we do not flood you with e-mail and have only sent out one large e-mail to this point, which was about a drawing we were having with prizes over $1,100.

You can be assured that if you share your e-mail with us we will not share it with
anyone other than Sesame Communications, who will not share it with anyone or any company. Your information is secure. Feel free to contact our office if you would like your e-mail address added, or let us know at your next appointment.

Digital Impressions, at Dr. Stewart’s office

Categories: Dentistry

The office of Dr. Bruce Stewart is pleased to announce that we are now using the Cadent iTero digital Impression System to take all crown and bridge impressions at our office. We have been waiting patiently for our training days to arrive, and they did this week. We had a trainer from Cadent iTero in the office all day Tuesday and Wednesday teaching us the techniques of using the iTero and guiding us through taking digital impressions. Training went very well and we are up and running and confident that our new system will be a real benefit to our patients. You will no longer experience the messy and uncomfortable trays with impression material, and the gagging they can cause.

The iTero impression process takes about five minutes, and creates an exact copy of the crown site as well as a more accurate fitting crown. This will shorten the time needed to seat crowns, which is another benefit to the patient. If you have been putting off getting a crown because of the impressions, give our office a call and see how easy and relatively comfortable the impression process is now that it is digital.

The health benefits of dairy, from Dr. Stewart

Categories: Oral Health

Dr. Stewart wants to know: Is dairy a major part of your diet? If not, it should be! A study from the American Academy of Periodontology (AAP) found that regular consumption of dairy products, such as milk, cheese and yogurt, can actually lower your chances of contracting periodontal disease (also known as gum disease). Results of the study also showed that adults who consume at least 55 grams of lactic acid a day are less at risk for gum disease.

Cheese is one of the healthiest snacks for your child’s teeth. In addition to providing large amounts of much-needed calcium, cheese also does its part to fight cavities. Cheddar, Swiss, Mozzarella, and Monterey Jack all stimulate the body’s salivary glands to clear the mouth of debris and protect them from acids that weaken them, according to the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry. This means cheese disrupts the development of cavities, especially when eaten as a snack or at the end of a meal. Calcium and phosphorous found in cheese reduce or prevent decreases in the plaque’s ph level and work to re-mineralize the enamel of your child’s teeth.

Gum disease is caused by a bacterial infection in the mouth that affects the gums and jaw. Gum disease results in a loss of teeth and bone, and has been connected to certain cases of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, respiratory disease and osteoporosis.

Eating dairy is not just healthy for building strong bones, but is essential for maintaining a strong, healthy mouth. Next time you reach for a quick snack, choose some cheese, or a glass of milk, and remember with each bite, and every sip you are preserving your teeth for a lifetime of smiles and good oral health!

For more information about which dairy foods are best for keeping your teeth healthy, please give us a call.