Tips in Caring for Your Dentures

Tips for Denture Care

Dentures can be considered part of your personality, an extension of your oral health, and hence, must have the proper care they deserve. Dentures can last for a long time but if they are neglected or mistreated, they can hurt your overall look or damage other oral structures.

Brush and rinse dentures daily, especially after a heavy or starchy meal. Do not use toothpaste, though, as it can create small scratches on the surface where food or liquid can cling to and cause staining. Use soft bristled brushes and gentle strokes, holding them firmly so they don’t fall, but not too hard as you can bend the attachments. Ask your dentist for a cleansing recommendation, but household cleaners and bleaching agents are harsh and damaging.

Keep your dentures moist when not wearing them for they can dry out and lose their shape. Plain water or a soaking solution will do, however, if there are metal attachments in your denture, the solution can tarnish the metal. Definitely, do not pour hot water on your appliance or soak it for the heat can cause warping.

Leave it to Experts in Bellevue

Do not attempt to try to fix your denture on your own. If you see bends, cracks, or warping, go to your dentist and let him take care of it. Don’t think you can handle such a small appliance by yourself for any change you apply – re-aligning, bending, pushing, or even using adhesives – can cause changes to the structure and can be detrimental to your tissues. Remember that your denture is a precise appliance.

Your Bellevue dentist is your resource person for the care of dentures. Overlake Dental is concern with your smiles, which extends to the appliances you wear for your continuing oral health.

Anesthesia and Sedation at Bellevue Overlake Dental

Different Ways to Block Pain

The choice of the right type of anesthesia and sedation for you will depend on several factors. Your dentist and you will agree on the particular treatment procedure you need, your level of apprehension will have to be considered, as well as history of allergies and your overall health.

Sedation methods come in various forms and strengths. One form is via inhalation, such as nitrous oxide gas, while there are also oral drugs and injectable sedatives. They can provide mild to moderate or deep sedation depending on the dental treatment employed. Sedatives can be administered before or during a procedure. You are actually conscious with mild or moderate sedation and can respond but maybe not speak.

Together with an anesthetic to block the pain, you are just more relaxed, more comfortable, and your recovery would be quick and easy. But if your treatment is complex and lengthy, deep sedation would be necessary.

Local anesthesia comes in injectable form. It aims to numb the area the dentist is going to work on by blocking the pain signals of the nerves therein. Sometimes, you might even request for topical anesthesia, which is an ointment applied to the area so you don’t feel the pain where the needle is to be injected. You are fully awake and able to respond under local anesthetics. On the other hand, there are situations that might merit using general anesthesia where there is total absence of consciousness during a procedure.

Painless Dentistry in Bellevue

Overlake Dental in Bellevue offers different forms of sedation and anesthesia for pain numbing in our various dental procedures. Our methods are safe and effective and performed by certified and qualified practitioners. While we strive to achieve excellent treatment outcomes, we do this with our
patients’ overall comfort and well-being in a stress-free environment.

Bellevue Overlake Dental: An Awesome Experience

Why you should choose us

Sometimes a dental office visit can be a very unpleasant experience in spite of the clinic’s good intentions. You come in for treatment and all your senses open up to even the slightest discomfort. We totally understand that.

Here at Overlake, you might say that we bring ‘friendly’ to a whole new level of experience. Our dentist and staff are very people-oriented; all who come through our doors are treated as family. We always ask how you feel, if there is any discomfort, fear, or concern that need to be addressed. We also are great listeners, believing that what you have to say matters.

Our treatments are personalized, seeing that outcomes fit your personality, your lifestyle, and contribute to your overall oral health. We use high-end tech instrumentations and equipment to deliver sound and time-saving solutions in the treatment of choice. Whenever indicated and as much as it is possible, we resort to minimally-invasive methods, saving viable structures and preserving the natural look of teeth.

We value your time and see to it that we work within the period it takes to deliver the service. No time is wasted from the moment you walk in for your appointment, no unplanned treatment, and no unnecessary expense. We provide the New Patient Kit for new customers to streamline the initial process and prepare us both for our engagement.

Bellevue Overlake Dental

We invite you to come to Overlake Dental and see what our rave reviews are all about. Have a great experience with us. Rest assured that we deliver quality, professional service and continue to do so in our neighborhood.

Pregnancy and Oral Care

Is it Safe?

Yes, it is safe. It’s not only safe, but highly recommended.

If you’re pregnant, your hormone levels are elevated during a pregnancy and as such you become highly prone to gum infections. Gums tend to be sensitive to irritation and sometimes will swell or bleed. So, preventive dentistry is really necessary to keep teeth and gums in top performing condition even while you are pregnant.

Be sure to keep regular dental appointments so your dentist can keep track of your oral status and forewarn you about unfavorable habits you might have acquired that are detrimental to you and your baby. Your dentist can also spot beginnings of decay or infection that can be addressed immediately.

When it comes to dental work like cavity fillings and extractions, which may be necessary to keep infection at bay, those can be done safely. However, cosmetic treatments and other multi-visit treatments are better deferred until after delivery. The second trimester will be most ideal for any dental work, while any work done in the third trimester will make lying on one’s back too long highly uncomfortable.

Advice from your Bellevue Dentist

Your Bellevue dentist is well aware about the needs of this particular population of patients. Because of your delicate situation, he understands which treatments are necessary. He will allay your concerns about safety, keep your treatments precise and short, limit X-ray exposures if done at all, use as little anesthesia as can be allowed, and prescribe the safest antibiotics for the pregnant user.

Does Baking Soda Work as a Toothpaste?

There are some people who like to use baking soda instead of toothpaste, mixture of toothpaste and baking soda, or even toothpaste that has baking soda. But is this a viable substitute? Granted, since certain toothpastes will make a big deal out of advertising that they contain baking soda, it can be easy to assume that it would be perfectly acceptable for use on your teeth.

However, the truth is not so simple.

It is true that baking soda can give you many of the benefits you need from a toothpaste. It neutralizes the acids that break down your enamel, it kills bacteria, and it is abrasive enough to scrub away harmful plaque. The problem is that pure baking soda can be too abrasive, and inflict damage upon your sensitive gum tissues. Meanwhile, without a proper fluoride toothpaste, you are unable to rebuild your enamel as well.

A baking soda toothpaste is able to dilute the abrasive nature of baking soda to manageable levels. People appreciate such products for the fresh minty feeling they leave you with. For more information on choosing a good toothpaste, talk to our dentist at our Bellevue dentistry clinic.