WHILE MOST PEOPLE HAVE thirty-two permanent teeth that develop (including the wisdom teeth) some people’s permanent teeth never grow in at all. These are called congenitally missing teeth—teeth missing from birth—and it’s actually more common than you think! So, what do you do if you find out you or your child have one or more congenitally missing teeth? Why Would a Tooth Be Congenitally Missing? A lot of factors are at play when it comes to the complex process of tooth formation. Congenitally missing teeth can run in families, meaning that often it is simply an inherited trait. Certain systemic conditions can also result in missing teeth. Whatever the reason for congenitally missing teeth, the good news is that there are effective ways to treat it. What Kinds of Treatments Are [...]

What is gum disease and how can I prevent it? Two of the most common questions I hear in the office. Gum disease is a very common disease in the adult population of my practice. While most of us will experience it to some degree at some time during our lifetimes, credible estimates of the number of stricken adults run from 75-90%. That’s a lot of potential suffering. Having said that, gum disease is preventable, treatable, and if caught early enough, reversible. It’s what happens when it isn’t caught in a timely fashion that’s the problem. To appreciate why time is so crucial, it’s important to understand that gum disease is progressive and is caused when unhealthy oral bacteria overwhelm the healthy ones, inhibiting your body’s ability to fight them off naturally. [...]

Sweet Seduction Have you ever heard of the Law Of Unintended Consequences? It’s most commonly used in economics, but it has other applications where the best intentions go unexpectedly awry. Think email/spam, dieting/yoyo weight gain, lower fat/higher sugar for taste. It’s this last one that is of concern to me. Our sugar intake has increased at an alarming rate, and it’s not all because of larger portions and succumbing to ad campaigns. Some of it has arisen due to misguided attempts to improve and streamline our food production and reduce our dietary fat intake. Sugar is often added to food to replace the taste loss when fat is reduced. Is Sugar Toxic?, a comprehensive and rather alarming article written by Gary Taubs and published in the New York Times, explores the confounding and contradictory evidence [...]

Everyone is susceptible to cavities, and I mean everyone. In fact, they are so common and lacking in mystery that most people think they have a good understanding of them. Interestingly, that’s not what I see and hear when I talk to some patients at my practice, so I thought I’d take a few minutes to go back to the basics with you. For more information check out the BC Dental Association for great resources on cavity prevention. What is a cavity? “Cavity” actually refers to the hole in your enamel that is formed when you have caries – the bacterial disease that causes them. When the food we eat interacts with bacteria in our mouths, the result is a chemical reaction which produces an acid which can erode the [...]

Every chance I get, I remind my patients about the negative effects of tobacco – increased risk of cancers, high blood pressure, and heart disease – things you usually associate with age. But tooth loss does not need be associated with age. The Academy Of General Dentistry reports that pack-a-day smokers are twice as likely to lose teeth than their non-smoking peers. That means that an 18-year-old smoker could lose between four and five teeth by age 35. If heart disease seems too far down the road to worry about, then maybe losing your teeth at such a young age, brings the problem closer to home. The study used 495 healthy men, including smokers, non-smokers, and those who quit smoking during the study. By examining their teeth every three years, [...]

Snoring and Obstructive Sleep Apnea are similar respiratory sleep disorders. The noise of Snoring is a result of the air that you breathe vibrating the tissues of your airway due to a blockage or narrowing of the airways of the nose or throat. Snoring could be an indicator of something more serious called “Obstructive Sleep Apnea”. “OSA” occurs when regular breathing stops or is slowed for 10 seconds or longer due to a narrowed or blocked airway. The blockage of the airway may be caused by excessive tissue of the throat or nasal passages, large tonsils, large tongue and sometimes the jaw structure itself. OSA symptoms may include: excessive daytime sleepiness waking up feeling exhausted headaches Symptoms that your bed partner is likely aware of: frequent episodes of obstructive breathing [...]