Tag Archives: flossing

Healthcare

Dakota Dental Helps Children Go Back to School with the Basics of Dental Care

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Dakota Dental encourages patients to establish a regular brushing and flossing routine as the school year gets underway.

Apple Valley, MN, USA — With students headed back to school, now is the perfect time to establish healthy habits into a family’s daily routine. If brushing and flossing habits have faded throughout the summer, the structure of a school routine may be just the thing to help build back the habit of taking care of your teeth.

While everyone knows the basics and the importance of dental health, some people may have trouble being consistent in their brushing and flossing. In addition to brushing teeth twice a day, patients should be sure to take their time to do a thorough job. Each brushing session should last about two minutes, but brushing harder does not mean brushing better. The ideal way to brush teeth is to hold the toothbrush at a slight angle and use short, light back-and-forth motions.

Changing out a toothbrush every three to four months is another key to having healthy teeth. If it’s been awhile since you’ve bought a toothbrush, the start of the school year is a good time to get everyone in the family new toothbrushes as well. Rinse out your toothbrush after each use and store it upright to allow it to air-dry to reduce germs.

Flossing every day is another important habit to embrace in order to have a healthy smile. Flossing reduces the likelihood of gingivitis by reducing plaque buildup and strengthening gums. It only takes a minute or two a day and is very inexpensive – making it a worthwhile habit to prevent tooth decay.

The Apple Valley dentists at Dakota Dental specialize in educating their patients about preventive dental care (http://www.dakotadental.com/general-dental-services/preventative-care-program/education) and giving practical advice about good oral health. As everyone gets back into the swing of the school routine, now is an ideal time to put these basics into practice and schedule your next dental appointment.

Dakota Dental offers children’s dental services and can help teach children the importance of regular brushing and flossing. The family dentists at Dakota Dental work with patients of all ages to ensure they have the best smile possible.

To make an appointment or for more information, contact Dakota Dental today.

Media Contact:
Dr. Shelley Wakefield
Dakota Dental
14682 Pennock Avenue
Apple Valley, MN 55124
952-431-5774
swakefield@dakotadental.com

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Healthcare

Dakota Dental Advances the History of Dental Floss

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Dakota Dental encourages patients to take care of their teeth by regularly flossing.

Apple Valley, MN, USA — Flossing is a crucial way to maintain a healthy smile, but many patients don’t floss daily – or at all. Dakota Dental encourages patients to brush up on the importance of flossing, as well as learn more about the history of flossing and taking care of your teeth.

The simple concept of flossing, or using a thin thread between the teeth to remove food and buildup, has been around for centuries. Discoveries made by researchers have suggested that cleaning between teeth has been practiced and can be traced back as early as the Prehistoric period. Grooves from floss and marks from toothpicks were found in the mouths of prehistoric humans. It’s also presumed that thicker horse hair was used as floss and things like small twigs were used like a type of toothpick. So though the overall concept of flossing hasn’t varied much over time, there have been some improvements and changes to floss.

By 1815, American dentist Dr. Levi Spear Parmly used waxed silk thread as floss. A few decades later, un-waxed silk floss begins being mass-produced for patients to use. By the 1940s, nylon replaces silk as the go-to material for floss, due to the rising costs of silk during World War II and silk’s tendency to shred. Today, floss comes in different flavors, thicknesses, waxed or un-waxed, as floss picks, and more.

Ultimately, each of these different types of floss serves the same purpose. Flossing can help reduce gingivitis and gum irritation, as well as reduce plaque and tartar. As important as flossing is, a recent study showed that only 30% of Americans floss daily and 32% never floss.

If you’re not in the habit of flossing, knowing the benefits that flossing can have for your teeth may be the incentive to start now. The cost of treatment for gum disease far outweighs the cost of buying some floss and the practice of flossing only takes a few minutes a day. The dentists at Dakota Dental work with patients to educate them about preventive dental care and good oral health practices including proper flossing techniques. Regular brushing and flossing will make trips to the dentist even easier.

If you have questions about how to clean your teeth properly, feel free to ask the dentists at Dakota Dental at your next appointment. Request an appointment today.

Media Contact:
Dr. Shelley Wakefield
Dakota Dental
14682 Pennock Avenue
Apple Valley, MN 55124
952-431-5774
swakefield@dakotadental.com

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Education

Mark W. Montgomery, DMD: Addressing Core Office Principles of Dentistry

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Dr. Montgomery has been a leader and innovator across a number of continuing education fronts in the dental industry. If you want to know what is new and useful in dentistry, the “go-to guy” is definitely Mark Montgomery.

Salt Lake City, UT, February 04, 2011 — Dr. Montgomery has been a leader and innovator across a number of continuing education fronts in the dental industry. If you want to know what is new and useful in dentistry, the “go-to guy” is definitely Mark Montgomery.

As an early adopter, he has embraced new methods and systems for the profession with considerable enthusiasm and precision. Many of these new applications over the past 30 years of his practice are now mainstream; as a matter of fact, there are too many to list in this short release. Often, Dr. Montgomery has gone on to become the authority and instructor for these new standards for care.

In talking with Dr. Montgomery, ( http://www.MarkMontgomeryDMD.com ) he feels understanding the patients’ needs and desires relative to dentistry is critical. This doesn’t mean the typical routine cleanings that lead to a procedure or repair for something that is damaged. This is more about embracing what the patients want. Knowing what method and process to achieve the desired results is the practitioner’s job, as well as the patient education.

More often than not, when properly presented, patients will elect for much more than just the minimum of a single repair procedure. This is where we separate dentists who wish to have patients elect for care programs that may last from months to years from those who are just addressing what is broken as discovered.

Unless practitioners interact with and educate their patients – just like it is done by hygienists relative to brushing and flossing – how are these patients to know what is available other than by observance of others that have better smiles or better functioning teeth?

This isn’t rocket science. Practitioners need to embrace the dynamics that exist between patients and providers. This means office involvement from practitioner to staff members. If patients aren’t given the options and tools to make an informed decision, whose fault is that? Dr. Montgomery would argue the profession or the individual practitioner. ( http://www.MarkMontgomeryDMD.com )

There is effort to learn the process, but most dentists are already learning on a continual basis, but fall short on the integration and application of what they learn. Perhaps it is time to address and take the lead from others who have been successful in the integration portion of the learning process.

For more details visit http://www.MarkMontgomeryDMD.com

Press & Media Contact:
Jay Tipton
Public Relations Specialist
Mark W. Montgomery DMD
Salt Lake City, UT
203.654.7725
JayTiptonPR@aol.com
http://www.markmontgomerydmd.com