The Parts of a Tooth, from Your Richardson Dentist

Posted September 20, 2012 by Dr. Truong

The importance of your teeth is obvious when you do something like bite into corn on the cob. Beyond the role of breaking food down into digestible particles, your teeth provide the structure for your smile. Confident smiles can affect job performance, relationships, and general quality of life. Did you know that you wouldn’t even be able to whistle if you didn’t have teeth? The part of a tooth that we can see is called the crown, but there’s a lot going on in the roots of your teeth, below the gumline. Dallas and Richardson dentist, Dr. Truong, discusses the anatomy of your teeth.

Tooth Enamel

Can you believe that the second hardest material on earth is the enamel on your teeth? Diamonds are the only substance that is harder. Tooth enamel covers the crowns of teeth, and is designed to protect everything beneath it. The strong barrier is not infallible, however, and can fall victim to chips and cracks from injuries, or chewing things that are too hard, like ice cubes. Food and drinks that produce acid can also damage tooth enamel. (more…)

How Much Do You Know About Fluoride?

Posted September 13, 2012 by Dr. Truong

Fluoride is synonymous with taking care of your teeth. You can find it in most toothpastes and mouthwashes, and for children who aren’t getting enough fluoride, supplemental tablets and fluoride treatments are often prescribed. Fluoride has the ability to strengthen teeth topically and internally. What else do you know about fluoride? Test your knowledge and try this quiz from your Dallas dentist, Dr. Truong:

Fluoride Quiz

1. True or False: Fluoride is a man-made chemical additive.

2. Victims of fluorosis fall into which age category:

Under 6
6-12
70 and older
Any age

3. True or False: Many American neighborhoods infuse tap water with fluoride.

4. Which foods contain small amounts of fluoride:

Fish
Eggs
Meat
All of the above (more…)

Dallas Dentist Offers Kid-Friendly Dental Appointments

Posted September 7, 2012 by Dr. Truong

New experiences can be frightening, and when you are a child, most experiences are new. Being accustomed to regular dental check-ups might evoke fear, but it is important that a child embrace the process of dental maintenance. Your Dallas dentist, Dr. Truong, explains ways that parents and dentists can work together to ensure that children experience positive feelings in connection with dental appointments.

Advice for Parents

While honesty is a great policy between parents and children, there is a time and place for details. Be selective regarding what you tell your child about the dentist. You might feel tempted to share stories of your childhood dental experiences, but make sure you stick to the pleasant memories.

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The Importance of Your Dental Checkup in Dallas

Posted August 26, 2012 by Dr. Truong

Brushing and flossing your teeth twice a day is an excellent way to help protect them against issues like tooth decay and gum disease, but it is not the only part to a healthy hygiene routine. As vigilant as we can be against plaque buildup and left-behind food debris, there is always a possibility of leaving a little something behind that can affect your oral health. Luckily, there’s hope. Your Dallas dentist Dr. Truong explains the importance and benefits of attending your six-month dental checkup and cleaning.

That Extra-Clean Feeling

When plaque is allowed to remain on your teeth for more than 48 hours, it calcifies, or hardens, into tartar. No matter how persistent you are, brushing your teeth will not suffice to remove tartar. At your Dallas dental checkup and cleaning, Dr. Truong or our talented hygienist will carefully remove residual traces of plaque and tartar, including under the gumline. Often, tartar will accumulate where your tooth meets your gums, and irritate your gums enough to separate from the tooth. This separation creates pockets where bacteria can collect and cause infection. Removing the tartar from under the gums allows the connective tissue to heal and helps prevent gum disease and tooth loss. (more…)

Dallas Dentist Brings You Good News About Coffee

Posted August 20, 2012 by Dr. Truong

If you’re a coffee drinker, you may start every morning in slight distress. You cherish the refreshing, awakening power of freshly roasted coffee, but you worry about all of the reports that state coffee can be detrimental to your health. At early hours of the morning, many people disregard the possible dangers to enjoy their first cup of steaming java. Now, every coffee drinker may be able to do the same. Your Dallas dentist Dr. Truong explores research that suggests previous assumptions about coffee and your health may be wrong.

Dispelling the Myth

At one point, the only time coffee and heart health were mentioned together was as a warning against risks. Coffee was believed to cause ulcers, aggravate nerves, and increase your risk of heart disease. Research now, however, may put these myths to rest. In a long-term observational study that followed over 130,000 men and women, researchers at the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research in Oakland, California, discovered that drinking coffee did not relate to increased heart health risks. In fact, drinking one to three cups of coffee a day seemed to lower the risks of heart disease and failure. As for coffee’s previous bad rap, experts believe old studies did not account for other bad habits that were common among coffee drinkers, including smoking tobacco and inadequate physical activity. (more…)

A Brighter Smile for the New School Year with Dallas Dentist

Posted August 12, 2012 by Dr. Truong

Whether you’re a student who wishes to make a stunning impression on the first day of school, or a teacher who aims to appear flawless before your new students, your smile will help determine the outcome of either situation. A bright, strong, confident smile will infect others around you with the same smiling exuberance. A weak, insincere smile, however, can have the exact opposite effect, and cause some people to feel uneasy in your presence. When your teeth are not as white you wish them to be, your confidence can diminish slightly. The change can be seen as you attempt to hide your teeth instead of proudly showing them. Dallas dentist Dr. Truong offers a variety of options to whiten your teeth and bring the joy back to your smile.

Removing the Stains

Most toothpastes on the market today consist of mild abrasives that lift some stains from your tooth’s surface. Some toothpastes are specifically marketed as tooth-whitening products, and contain chemical agents that provide additional stain-removal power. Other abrasive products, such as baking soda, are also popular home-remedy choices for whitening your teeth, and operate on the same basis of stain-removal as whitening toothpastes. Stain removal may whiten your smile up to a whole shade. If you require more whitening power, consult with Dr. Truong to determine the best treatment to suit your needs. (more…)

Dallas Dentist Extols Tooth-Colored Fillings

Posted August 3, 2012 by Dr. Truong

Humans have been practicing dentistry almost as long as humans have had teeth. In fact, teeth found in a Neolithic graveyard in Pakistan showed evidence of near-perfect holes made into the back teeth of some skulls. The remains dated as far back as 7,000 BC. In modern times, dentistry still involves removing decayed tooth tissue. Advances in dentistry and science, however, have provided us the tools to remove tooth decay and discretely fill the remaining cavity without anyone having to notice. Dallas dentist Dr. Truong discusses tooth-colored composite resin fillings, and how they’ve changed the face of dentistry.

Before There was Composite Resin…

For over 150 years, the dental filling material of choice was amalgam, a metal compound that consists of tin, copper, silver, mercury, and other metals. Almost immediately upon its arrival in America, metal dental amalgam caused a heated debate among dentists that refused to use the material on their patients. Mercury exposure is linked to adverse health effects, and the American Society of Dental Surgeons (ASDS) asked its members to pledge never to use it. However, patients were not exhibiting signs of mercury poisoning upon leaving their dentists’ office, and the only other filling alternative at the time was gold. It was not long before the worries of the ASDS were outweighed by economics, and metal fillings were established as the material of choice. (more…)

The Bare Facts About Your Teeth, from Your Dallas Dentist

Posted July 29, 2012 by Dr. Truong

Knowing your teeth well is the first step to giving them the excellent care they deserve. Although most people can recite the main reasons why you should brush and floss your teeth at least twice a day, not nearly as many can describe the anatomy of your tooth, or even how many different kinds of teeth there are in a human mouth. If you’d like to learn more about the tools that allow you to eat and speak, review these tooth facts, brought to you by your Dallas area dentist Dr. Truong.

Get to Know Your Teeth

Humans develop two separate sets of teeth in our lifetimes; our first set consists of 20 baby teeth (or milk teeth) that usually begin to fall out by age six. Our baby teeth are replaced by our 32 permanent teeth, which grow in stages until about 12 years old (the last teeth to grow in are our wisdom teeth, which typically begin to grown in during the late teens and early twenties.
Our mouths contain four different kinds of permanent teeth: incisors, canines, premolars, and molars (wisdom teeth are considered third, or last, molars).
The human tooth is divided into two main parts: the crown, which protrudes above the gum line and is the only part of the tooth that is visible. The crown is protected by a layer of enamel, a highly mineralized substance that is almost as hard as diamond. The enamel does not extend under the gum line to protect the second half of your tooth, the root, which anchors into your supporting jaw bone. (more…)

Dallas Dentist Explains the Rule of Seven for Healthy Teeth

Posted July 20, 2012 by Dr. Truong

Do you maintain a disciplined oral hygiene routine by brushing and flossing your teeth at least twice a day, but your teeth still develop cavities? Rest easy, you’re not going crazy. There is a scientific reason why your teeth can still be susceptible to decay, even if you maintain an exceptional daily routine. Dallas dentist Dr. Truong explains how the rule of seven can reduce acid attacks on your teeth in between brushing times.

Seven Minutes and Counting…

If you brush your teeth twelve hours apart, you are probably doing a good job of controlling the bacterial population within your mouth before it has a chance to infect your oral tissue. Unfortunately, it only takes seven minutes for the acid from your food to cause damage to your teeth. The first “seven” in the Rule of Seven is the natural pH (acid alkaline balance) of your mouth. A pH of seven means your mouth is neutral (seven is also the pH of water). If a solution has a pH of less than seven, it is considered acidic. When foods and beverages drop the pH level in your mouth to 5.5 or below, the acids begin to attack your teeth. In normal cases, your saliva has natural pH-balancing properties that help regulate the acidity in your mouth to prevent it from attacking. However, what we eat can change the pH of saliva as well. The second “seven” measures an amount of time; it only takes seven minutes for your teeth to incur damage from acid attacks, which leads to tooth decay (cavities). (more…)

Is Bottled Water Really Better than Tap?

Posted July 14, 2012 by Dr. Truong

If you asked a random person this question, you’d have about a 50% chance of them agreeing that bottled water is indeed better than tap. Judging by the $50 to $100 billion that America spends on bottled water every year, a safe assumption would be that many people agree. Contrary to popular belief, however, mass agreement does not make something true. Your Dallas area dentist Dr. Truong gives you these facts that may make you think twice before shelling out your hard earned money for a few ounces of water.

Bottled Water vs. Tap Water

Assuming that a 20 oz. bottle of water costs one dollar, the bottle would equal out to five cents an ounce. At approximately one cent per gallon, tap water proves undeniably more economical than bottled water.
Aside from cost, one of the main advantages of tap water is fluoride. By 1960, water fluoridation was widely used throughout the United States and continues today. Studies have shown that small amounts of fluoride (the common ratio of fluoride to water is 1:1,000,000) can help promote healthy teeth and prevent the formation of dental caries (cavities). Fluoride is a major mineral in the formation of your tooth’s enamel, and fluoride treatment can strengthen enamel by replenishing it with this mineral. By contrast, bottled water has little to no fluoride and even less benefit to your oral health. (more…)

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