Dental Erosion

Dental erosion, or a chemical dissolving of the teeth, can come from many sources and is one of the most under-treated and recognized conditions. What you eat and drink matters! Essentially, anything that has acidity in food can cause dental erosion. Citrus, soda (pop for you northerners), Gatorade (sport drinks) and even coffee have a high acid content. The constant bathing of the teeth in these mild / not so mild acids can cause severe damage to your teeth. Habits such as swishing acidic sodas, sucking / chewing on lemons can speed up the process and wreak havoc on your teeth.

Example of Erosion

There are several medical conditions which may cause harm to your teeth and are related to the acids produced in your stomach. Bulimia is a condition where people voluntarily induce vomiting on a regular basis to help control their self-perception of overeating. Acid reflux, or GERD, is the result of acids from the stomach leaking up to the oral cavity at regular intervals, pooling around the teeth during sleep and dissolving the enamel and dentin. Diet, a “leaky esophagus,” sleep apnea, and other conditions may introduce these acids into the mouth. These strong acids, if not checked, will dissolve teeth quickly.

Treatment depends on the condition that you have. Eliminating acidic foods and habits, getting medical treatment for GERD, sleep apnea and other conditions by your physician and dentist are some of the ways to help control erosion. Some treatments, such as high fluoride toothpastes, rinses, and bathing the teeth in solutions to initiate remineralization of the teeth, can be tried. Eating a healthy diet, with lower acid content, and drinking water instead of sodas can be helpful.

Please join our team this July, as we honor our Apex emergency responders by hosting a Water Drive to provide them with a supply of healthy, “non-acidic” water for the hot summer months. We are honored and proud of our local responders and would like to support them this summer. Let’s show our emergency responders how much we value them and the work they do. We invite you to stop by our office with a bottle or case of water to support our emergency responders. Every drop counts! Apex Dental is conveniently located in the Apex Medical Park at 1021 West Williams Street, Suite 101, Apex NC (next to Lab Corp).

Thanks for enduring my first blog. I hope that you enjoyed it! Please check back for more helpful dental health tips and ways to support the wonderful community we call home.

—Dr John Kitzmiller, DDS


Useful links from The Academy of General Dentistry, Spear Education and the American Dental Association. I belong to these professional organizations.

Also, go to http://www.apexdentalgroup.com/education/education.html  for more dental educational information:

1. Acidic value of foods
2. GERD / Acid reflux
3. Erosion Video
4. Acid content by GSK
5. Sleep Apnea – Spear Education

Sport Guards - Support Our Teachers with their Wish List

The school year is fast approaching, kids are winding up their summer activities and they are getting ready for the school year. Soon, middle school, high school and club sports will begin their summer preparation to get ready for the fall game schedule. 

With any sport, mouth guards help protect your teeth, lips tongue, brain (concussions) and face should be use in practice and games while playing. As sited in the article below, you are 60 times more likely to damage your teeth while playing sports without a mouth guard.

I will never forget my sister’s frantic call to me when her son traumatized his upper right front tooth. Like any good mother, she took photos, sent them to me and asked me what she should do. It was a simple fracture of the front tooth, but it might have been prevented with a sport guard.

Some of the most overlooked sports are cheerleading and chess 😊 – just kidding. Cheerleading has become more and more physical and athletic, and more stunts have become more physically demanding and potentially dangerous. Every athlete may have the potential to damage their teeth and should wear a sport guard. 

Types of Sport Guards

 

An example of a sports mouth guard

Sport guards come in many forms from the store. The two most popular are the stock and boil and bite guards. In my opinion, the most effective store bought guards are the “boil and bite” ones. Essentially, you place a heated plastic material in your mouth and mold it to your teeth and gums as it cools. They fit much better and are more comfortable. Properly done these are very effective and easy to replace; especially when your kids are more forgetful and misplace them.

Mold and custom guard made by Apex Dental Group

Dentists can also make comfortable and tight-fitting guards if you are unable to get one to fit well. It’s a very simple appointment: molds of your teeth are taken; the plastic is formed outside of your mouth and they can be ready for you in about one day.

At Apex Dental group, we will be offering greatly reduced sport guards to you and your children. We believe that they are a great value to protect you from the bigger consequences of not having one. 

Helping Our Teachers

Now that our kids are taken care of, we are helping our teachers from elementary school to high school get items that that they need in the classroom. Often these items are on the teachers wish list for parents to buy and generally are not funded by the school.

Through August and Mid-September, we will be gathering these items for our local schools. We want our teachers to be ready for the school year. We will be publishing a list generated by our local school teachers. Your donations can be dropped off at our office. If you would like to provide a gift card, we can use that to purchase these items for you. Walmart and Target cards are preferred to keep costs low.

Other Resources on Mouth Guards

•  The American Dental Association - Super article, “Protecting teeth with mouthguards”, pg. 1772 JADA, Vol. 137, December 2006. http://jada.ada.org 
• Dentistry Today – Good but technical, “Athletic Mouthguards: Indications, Types, and Benefits”
• The Academy of General Dentistry, “EnGuard”  (PDF)
•  Know your Teeth, Mouth Guards (multiple articles).

1.  What Is a Mouthguard?
2.  Women Need to be ''On Guard'' When it Comes to Athletics
3.   Rolls Royce of Mouthguard Line Provides Maximum Injury Protection
4.  Mouthguards Fight ''Weekend Warrior'' Syndrome 
5. To Keep Mouths Safe, Don’t Just Wear a Mouthguard; Keep it Clean!

Thanks Apex Police, EMS and Firefighters!

As veterans in the US Army, my wife and I appreciate the way in which our community supports our family. Sometimes, even the smallest of things can be the greatest to those who receive them. Our Apex Police, EMS and firefighters are among the best in our country.

Apex Fire, Police and EMS are the Best!
Thanks for your Service

Thanks to Apex Dental Groups patients’ kind donations of water and my team’s hard work, Cindy and I delivered coolers and water to five fire stations, one police station and one EMS station. August can be one of the hottest summer months, having that water in an ice chest provides a little needed respite. 

 

Cindy Prepping for water delivery

Ready to go!

Our bad selfie!

Car is loaded to the hilt.

I learned a lot on Friday 3 August, 2018 about what a great job our responders do and how well Apex’s town managers have organized our emergency system. What’s even more impressive is how fast we are growing – 10 new residents a day (fastest town growth in the US) and our managers have kept up with emergency services for our residents! I’d like to share a few personal stories about our emergency service team.

Our newest! Fire Station 5.

Grand tour. With all the rain, they loaded their water rescue in the back.

View from back seat of the Fire Truck! Computerized and state of the art. Go Apex!

 A few years ago, our neighbor two houses down had a lightning strike on their house from an incredibly powerful storm. They were downstairs together, I believe they were watching TV and about 10 minutes later noticed water coming into the room. At about the same time, another neighbor noticed that their house was on fire and our emergency services went into action. EMS and emergency vehicles were on the scene in minutes. Once the fire department arrived, they moved all the furniture and valuables to the middle of the room, tarped their belongings to protect them from the impending water deluge and then began to extinguish the roaring fire. They saved family valuables and memories that may have been lost. How amazing is the organization and training of our EMS and fire fighters!

Neighbor’s Fire

About 1 year into starting the dental practice, my office alarm went off about 1:00 am in the morning. I arrived to find several Police officers searching the area and evaluating the situation. Someone tried to break in the back door of our office and were scared away by the alarm and the quick response of our Police department. The response time and attention to detail was super!

I have one final story to tell about our heroic police and investigative team before I go. One extremely hot summer about 10 years ago, I entered my office and wondered why my office was so hot. I checked the fuses and checked out to see the the AC units were running, and to my surprise, one unit was gone! Other residents of our complex had their units stolen as well.

The police department came immediately, and they sent out their investigative team to document the crimes. They took fingerprint samples and photos to help them in solving the crime. The thieves were stealing units to obtain and sell the copper in them, and they were eventually caught due to Apex’s Polices investigative efforts!

Cindy turning herself in at the Apex Police Station.

Great display case reviewing Apex Police’s History

While visiting each station to deliver the water, I noticed that our emergency services team members are professional, courteous, respectful and dedicated. Cindy and I were able to meet many of members. They gave us tours of their facilities, described what they do, and how they function as a team. We were there to help them, but they went above and beyond to show us what they do! It merely reinforces my experiences as a resident and how proud we are of them. Again, thanks to our Emergency Services. I encourage others in our community to support them.

Our first Stop Fire Station 3. We got a little wet

All delivered

Fire Station 4. Great looking team!

We had to spice up the photo. 😀

Apex EMS. Everyone else was out working.

Fire Station 1 Downtown Apex. Everyone seems to out on calls…….

Reliving my childhood dreams……..

The best tour guides and Firefighters

Fire station 2 with more water rescue!

I spent about 45 minutes talking with the team. What an awesome group!

Apex Fire, Police and EMS are the Best!
Thanks for your Service

Thanks again! Let me know how you like our blog. 

Dr. John S Kitzmiller, DDS