We’re here to talk about some green flag things that we love it when our patients do.
Hi, I’m Dr. Brett Langston.
Hi, I am Dr. Rachel Miro.
We’re with Dental Implant and Aesthetic Specialist in Brookhaven, Georgia, and we’re here to help you. Watch your mouth, watch your mouth.
Brookhaven Whip Smile, shine by Dr. Brett Langton, work related to the night with hands steady, and the best you’ve ever seen. So we have a lot of great patients, and our patients, I call them great because they have wonderful dental habits. So we’re going to go through a couple of green flags that we love seeing in our patients and so that you at home can make sure that you’re doing this yourself.
Brushing Your Teeth and Flossing Twice a Day
Green flag. If you’re brushing your teeth twice a day and you’re flossing twice a day, you’re really setting yourself up for success. You’re making sure that to the best of your ability, you’re doing what you can at home to take care of your teeth. Other things are obviously important, but if you’re brushing twice a day and you’re flossing twice a day, your chances of having an emergency or something come up are a lot less.
Going to the Dentist Twice a Year for Your Dental Cleanings
Green flag. It’s really important that you come in to see us at least every six months, even if you’ve got a healthy mouth with no cavities, no problems, because at those checkups, not only do we do a full medical review to make sure everything is healthy, we also do dental x-rays, cancer screenings, and an overall check to make sure there’s no issues that are sneaking up on us.
Drinking Through a Straw Instead of Sipping All Day Long
Green flag. If you’re using a straw, it’s a green flag. Whether you’re drinking wine or Coke or sweet tea, you want to make sure that you’re drinking it through a straw. When you use a straw, you’re basically bypassing your teeth, and that’s great. When you drink straight out of the cup and you’re drinking that sweet tea or that Coke, it allows for that sugar to just get into all the crevices in between the teeth, and that puts you at a higher risk of getting cavities. This is really important for those patients that drink a lot of lemon water, apple cider vinegar, things like that as well, because that can cause erosion of the teeth. So if you can bypass that on the teeth, then you’re really setting yourself up for success.
Bringing a Long List of Medications
Green flag. No matter how many medications you have, we want to make sure that we know what they are here in the dental office. We want to make sure that we have an accurate medical history of our patients. It’s really important. So when patients show up and they’ve got that list of medications for us, that’s a huge green flag. They’re setting themselves up for success here at our office.
Following Postoperative Instructions to the T
Green flag. It’s really important to follow the postoperative instructions because we have done everything we can to set you up for successful healing, and a lot of behaviors that people don’t think about can actually impact that healing. So following those instructions is really important for you to heal successfully.
Avoiding Saltwater Taffy, Caramel Candy, or Hard Frozen Treats
Green flag. You want to make sure that you’re avoiding those really hard candies, really sticky treats. Things like that can cause damage to your teeth. It’s really common that we have patients come in, and they’re like, “Well, I was just having that one sticky candy, and I popped off my crown,” or, “I was having that Jolly Rancher, and I just happened to bite into it, and I broke my tooth.”
If you avoid these things or use them with caution, you’re a lot less likely to get yourself into the dental chair for a dental emergency. That being said, if you do have a dental emergency and you couldn’t avoid that sticky candy, you definitely want to make sure that you get in to see the dentist if you do break your tooth or you pop off your crown.
Reaching Out About Crowding
Let’s say you’re an older patient and you’re at home and you start to notice some crowding and the first thing you do is reach out to your dentist because you’re concerned about this crowding?
Green flag. For sure. Crowding can lead to a lot of issues more than just the aesthetic complication. One of the most important things to do when you see crowding and you’re concerned about it is give us a call. We’ll get you in. We can talk through your options. A lot of times, something as simple as clear aligner therapy can realign the teeth, which not only have an aesthetic result, but it also prevents further breakdown and damage to your teeth.
It’s really important even as you age to maintain good oral hygiene and maintain good proper relationships with your dental team because as you get older, sometimes it gets trickier to care and maintain for those teeth, and so it’s really important that you don’t just give up and say, “Hey, guess what? I’ve reached the age where I don’t care anymore.” It’s really important to maintain those teeth for your lifetime.
Calling the Dentist About Jaw Pain
Green flag. If you’re waking up in the morning with jaw pain or tenderness, you want to make sure you call your dentist. Over-the-counter night guards aren’t as durable as the ones you can get at the dental office, but also they’re not custom to you. You might have other problems or underlying issues that are causing this, and if your dentist isn’t able to address that for you, the over-the-counter night guard can progress your problem instead of making it better.
Here, our office, we make custom night guards for our patients that are suffering from TMJ pain in the morning, things of the sort. But when we make them, we make sure that they’re custom to our patients. We make sure that we adjust them so that they’re properly biting on them, and we make sure that they are customized to assure that the issues that the patients have are properly addressed.
Addressing Denture Discomfort
Green flag. For sure. A lot of times, as the mouth changes, the acrylic of a denture is not going to change with it. So, if you have a sore spot or you have an appliance that’s really digging in, is not comfortable, and you’re not able to use it 100 percent, we want you to come in and let us address it.
A lot of times it’s not going to get better on its own. It’s one of those things where, if you come in, let us adjust it, make it comfortable, then you can actually start to use the appliance because you’ve made this investment in helping you function and eat, and if you can’t use it, then what was the point of going through all that?
So absolutely, please give us a call. We’d love to come in and make sure you can use your denture or your partial.
The last thing we want you to do is be uncomfortable and in pain with the dental appliance. So, if you’re facing the situation, please give our office a call. We’d love to have you come in and take care of you.
I’m Dr. Brett Langston.
And I’m Dr. Rachel Miro.
We’re here to help you. Watch your mouth. Your mouth.
With a smile shine about Dr. Brett Langston, working late into the night whip, hands steady and ga so keen. He’s the best on Fox Darnest you’ve ever seen.
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