Know Your Teeth

By Dr. Doyle Williams

In celebration of Children’s Dental Health Month, I thought all my readers -- young and not so young -- would like to learn more about their teeth.

Have you ever thought about the life cycle of your teeth?

Yes, teeth do have a life cycle. From birth onward, teeth go through different stages and at each stage, they need a specific type of care.

Good oral health starts at birth -- even though teeth are typically not visible when a baby is born. Underneath those newborn gums, teeth are already forming and lining up in place. Start cleaning them (with a soft damp cloth) as soon as the first teeth come through the gums. They deserve careful care every day for the rest your life. One year of age is the time to schedule the baby’s first visit to a dental care professional.

I’d like to introduce you to website that takes you through the life of a tooth brought to you by the Academy of General Dentistry. Click the link and you’ll learn what to expect from dental visits at different ages, when you should go, and you’ll find tips on dental care routines that you should follow as your teeth mature.

I want to remind you that baby teeth are very important. They are for chewing and much more. Baby teeth serve as space-holders for adult teeth. A child’s permanent tooth will grow into the space left behind when the baby tooth falls out. If a child looses a baby tooth before the permanent tooth is ready to erupt into place, the child can have problems eating and even learning to speak properly.

Help your young children develop healthy teeth by avoiding giving them baby bottles at bedtime, use only water in sippy cups, use toothpaste with fluoride (after age 2), and limit snacking on sugary and starchy foods throughout the day.

Your mouth is a window to your good health. Take care of your teeth and they should last a lifetime!


*Photo source: http://baby-cosmetics.com/2011/07/27/baby-care-tips/

Mouth Power!

By Dr. Doyle Williams

Did you know that there is a National Museum of Dentistry?

It’s in Baltimore, next to the University of Maryland School of Dentistry, and about a 10 minute walk from Camden Yards, home of the Baltimore Orioles and M&T Bank Stadium where the Baltimore Ravens play. If you’re in Baltimore on vacation and looking for something different to do, think about a visit to this Museum.

You’ll see George Washington’s teeth (and find out if they are really made of wood), learn about braces and beautiful teeth, get to play dentist/assistant/hygienist, sing along to old toothpaste commercials, and get hands on time with giant teeth and other fascinating exhibitions that encourage good oral health and celebrate the wonderful world of dentistry. There’s even a 13-foot, life-size model of a male narwhal with a 5-foot-long tusk! This museum is an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution, and the nation’s official museum of the dental profession.

If you can’t go in person, check out the Museum online. At MouthPower, the Museum’s interactive online site, children can explore “Mouthie’s Laboratory” a virtual world of entertaining (and educational) oral health activities. This interactive approach is a great way for younger children to learn about the importance of good brushing and flossing habits, good eating habits for healthy teeth, what tobacco does to teeth, and why there are so many different kinds of dental instruments.

The activities in MouthPower program are also good for use in:

• Classrooms
• Dental offices, clinics and screening centers
• Community centers and libraries
• Boy Scout, Girl Scout and Camp Fire troop meetings

Teachers and group leaders can get additional resources by contacting the Museum.

And, the Museum hasn’t forgotten moms, dads, and grandparents. There’s GetMouthPower.org for you! Check out this site -- its filled with tips for keeping a healthy adult smile all through your life!

Love Your Heart

By Dr. Doyle Williams



In support of the American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women Campaign and American Heart Month, I’m taking a brief break from blogs in celebration of Children’s Dental Health Month to speak to women and men about oral health and heart disease.

The connection between oral health and overall health tells us something important: the mouth is a vital health indicator for the rest of the body.

The bacteria in our mouths that contribute to bleeding gums and tooth loss have also been found in our arteries. Some researchers believe that the presence of gum disease-causing bacteria in the arteries may contribute to our chances of heart disease.

How? The thinking is that the inflammation in our gums causes swelling of our arteries which constricts them and may make cholesterol blockage easier.

It is also thought that the gum disease bacteria actually stick to cholesterols and fats in our arteries making the blockage more likely as they accumulate.

Whatever the cause and effect, people with gum disease are twice as likely to also have heart disease. And, bleeding gums, which are a symptom of gum disease, may be the earliest indicator before any other signs of heart disease can be detected.

That’s another reason why it is important to brush and floss daily – to remove the bacteria from your mouth. If you see signs of blood when you brush, make an appointment with your oral health professional. Gum (periodontal) disease can be managed and controlled if it is caught early.

In 2010, the American Heart Association set a strategic goal of reducing death and disability from cardiovascular disease and strokes by 20% while improving the cardiovascular health of all Americans by 20% by the year 2020.

Make heart health a habit – brush and floss every day.

“Bombing” Away Tooth Decay

By Doyle Williams, Chief Dental Officer

Tooth decay better watch out; there’s a new oral health weapon on the horizon – and it comes in liquid form.

The new (and not yet approved for release to market) “Smart bomb” mouthwash, developed by Wenyuan Shi, chair of the oral biology section of the UCLA School of Dentistry, targets S. mutans, the strain of bacteria largely responsible for tooth decay.

This smart mouthwash works by targeting only the harmful bacteria, the S. mutans, without damaging helpful bacteria. In other words, it identifies the bad guys and bombs them away while leaving the good guys to carry on with their regular job of protecting your mouth.

A “Smart Bomb” mouthwash study has been published in the November issue of the Caries Research journal. The next step is getting FDA approval. If approved, this mouthwash would be the first preventive drug developed to fight tooth decay since fluoride. I always get excited about the potential for new ways to stop tooth decay. I’ll keep watching the progress of this drug, and report back if it’s approved.

February is National Children's Dental Health Month and that means a great opportunity to remind parents and caregivers to teach their children that cavities are preventable! Coach your children to brush their teeth twice a day, and to floss daily. Encourage them to eat healthy foods and to drink beverages that are not high in sugar. And make sure they visit a dental care provider at least once a year for a check up.

Having more preventive measures against tooth decay is one of the best ways to make sure our children keep their teeth healthy.

Let’s Focus on Quality, not Quantity

By Mark Doherty, DMD, Executive Director, DentaQuest Institute

It’s hard to miss the fact that our health care system is in the middle of a lot of change. I read about “pay for performance,” “accountable care organizations” and “value-based care” all the time. Oral health is not usually part of the discussion but that won’t be for long. The growing cost of care, the variation in treatments and care outcomes and the significant disparities faced by disadvantaged groups are important issues for dental care delivery too.

So I am very excited by the strong interest and motivation among my peers to find opportunities to focus on quality rather than quantity in America’s oral health care delivery system. I just returned from a meeting in Washington, D.C. with leaders in oral health and health care from across the care delivery spectrum (ADA, ADEA, CDHP, ADHA, CDC, HRSA, IHI, CMS, dental educators, providers, hospitals, health policy experts, insurers and more) where quality improvement and accountability were the central topics. Folks left the meeting ready to take part in this Quality Journey.

The impetus for the meeting was a new report (just released), edited by Paul Glassman DDS, MA, MBA, professor of dental practice and director of the Pacific Center for Special Care at the University of the Pacific Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry. The report, Oral Health Quality Improvement in the Era of Accountability, is a call for a new dialogue on how to improve quality and increase access to affordable dental care.

Until now, the limited evidence of best practice for most dental procedures has led to widespread variation in clinical decisions among dentists; [Read the blog post, To Fill or Not to Fill by my colleague Dr. Doyle Williams to understand the variability in treatment approaches.] And today, there are few incentives to implement quality improvement programs.

But we need to. Dental expenses are now one of the highest out-of-pocket health costs for consumers. And 37 percent of African American children and 41 percent of Hispanic children have untreated tooth decay, compared to 25 percent of white children. The disparity is unacceptable.

Take a close look at the ideas in this report. We need to look at the opportunities to do better.

At the DentaQuest Institute, we’re emphasizing prevention and disease management in our quality improvement initiatives. The good news is that this approach works. When we apply a disease management model to the care of a chronic disease like Early Childhood Caries (ECC), we are seeing longer-term improvements in the patient’s oral health.

The DentaQuest Institute will post the presentations from the meeting in Washington on our website.

This is an exciting time for those of us who are passionate about better oral health for all.

New Year, New Design

From the Oral Health Matters team

You may have noticed some changes here at Oral Health Matters. We decided to improve the blog, much like our commitment to improving oral health.

We redesigned the blog so it’s easier for you to read. You’ll notice there is more white space in the new design, and the photos of our contributors have been moved to a new column on the left to help keep them in view. Tools for sharing and searching the blog are more prominently displayed at the top of the right hand column, making it simple to share posts and search by topic.

We will continue to share our thoughts, ideas, stories and news in oral health innovations with you in 2012.

We invite you all to tweet at us to let us know what you think! If you’re not already following us on Twitter, come check us out: @dentaquest

Best,
Doyle, Fay, Steve, Ralph, & Mark

A [Dental] Wake Up Call for Baby Boomers

Guest Post by Dr. Michael Monopoli, DentaQuest Foundation Director of Policy and Programs

The baby boom generation has consistently enjoyed better health and better oral health than any previous generation. Thanks to community water fluoridation, fluoride toothpastes and having dental insurance as part of employer-sponsored health plans, this generation is the first where a majority will keep and maintain their natural teeth over their entire lifetime.

This is wonderful news, and the facts support it. CDC data shows that over the past decade, the number of adults missing all their natural teeth has declined from 31 percent to 25 percent for those aged 60 years and older. And more good news: Seventy percent of adults at or above the poverty level said they visited a dentist in the past 12 months (CDC Fact Sheet). This is a generation that cares about and values its good oral health.

But there’s a serious dental wake-up call on the horizon for this first wave of boomer retirees. Even with largely good oral health, today’s retiring adults are realizing they will have to plan to pay largely out of pocket for dental care to maintain their oral health beyond their working years.

Many have all of their teeth and received routine dental care through their lives. They are now struggling with the realization that Medicare generally doesn’t cover routine dental procedures, such as cleanings or fillings. Medicaid, the jointly-funded Federal-State health insurance program for low-income people, funds dental care for low income and disabled elderly in a few states, but reimbursements are low. Most dental plans that cover the necessary services to maintain good oral health are based on employment and these dental benefits are lost with retirement. Retirees now have to figure out how they can continue the level of dental care they enjoyed through their working lives, and will need to balance these expenses along with other important needs like food, housing, and the rest.

And to add insult to injury, over the past decade, the value of retirement funds and IRAs has been shrinking with the ups and downs of the economy. Some retirees are facing the fact that their retirement funds may no longer support the lifestyle they were used to or hoped for – including good preventive health services.

It’s not a comfortable feeling to have to decide what dental care you are willing to pay for in order to have good oral health -- especially when we know good oral health is an integral part of overall health.

This is one of the issues that was discussed by the new U.S. National Oral Health Alliance, leaders from dentistry, medicine, dental education and the dental industry, health advocates, policy makers and philanthropy at their first leadership colloquium in 2011. Without access to oral health care and prevention, our nation’s most vulnerable families are at high risk. Many middle class elders will begin to face dental issues that our nation’s most vulnerable families have faced for many years. Hopefully, this larger group will change the conversation.