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
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!
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.
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!
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!
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.
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.
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 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!
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!
