This is the way we brush our teeth, brush our teeth, brush our teeth.
This is the way we brush our teeth, early in the morning.

It may be a nursery rhyme dating back to the early eighteen hundreds, but this cute little ditty has saved many a child from a toothless smile.  Even our ancestors valued the importance of maintaining and preserving the health of baby teeth – and went to great lengths to conjure up any form of encouragement to make sure little ones brushed diligently.  Times may have moved on – and the birth of the electric toothbrush has made brushing time less stressful and more effective – but the underlying message remains the same – baby teeth (or deciduous teeth) play an important role in the development of healthy adult teeth, arch formation, speech, and overall oral health.

NE Calgary Dentists at Discover Dental in Falconridge are passionate about informing patients about the importance of keeping baby teeth healthy and for the desired amount of time.  Acknowledging that some people may view baby teeth as expendable as a set of permanent (adult teeth) are waiting to erupt – the reality is that baby teeth play a vital role in the healthy development of adult teeth, effective chewing, and the formation of words (speech).  And though the Tooth Fairy may make the odd visit to a child’s pillow – regular visits by this fantasy creature is not the goal.

NE General Dentists at Discover Dental go on to explain that early loss of baby teeth; due to decay or trauma, causes the undeveloped adult tooth to erupt prematurely and/or not in the desired position due to space being lost by the early loss of the baby tooth.  Tooth decay is the number one cause of premature loss of baby teeth – but can be easily prevented by maintaining great home care, eating a healthy balanced diet, and ensuring your child visits a Calgary Dentist regularly for routine exams and cleaning.  Regular visits to a NE Calgary Dentist provide an opportunity for any dental concerns to be detected early and treated swiftly.  Allowing a Dentist in Calgary to take x-rays also increases the chance for decay to be diagnosed in its early stages – and for the tooth to be saved.

Dentists in NE Calgary at Discover Dental want every child to have a healthy smile and encourage parents to schedule an appointment for their child to have an exam and cleaning.  Call today 403.285.0222

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NE Calgary Dentists – Dr’s Dhesi, Dhillon, Minhas and Chattha – make it a priority to share tips on how to keep your oral health in tip-top condition.  Obviously, visiting a Calgary Dentist regularly is a great start to maintaining healthy teeth and gums – but what about other influences like food choices – which foods help to keep your teeth shining bright, and which foods contribute to tooth decay and premature tooth loss?

When your nutrition is lacking your entire immune system is affected – leading to vulnerability to develop disorders such as periodontal disease.  Recent studies have discovered the correlation between systemic health and oral health; with conditions like diabetes and cardiovascular disease being directly affected by the condition of a person’s oral health.  Can you believe that there may be more bacteria in the mouth then people on earth!! Yikes – that’s motivation to go brush your teeth.  And though the large amount of bacteria found in an individual’s mouth seems alarming – not all of the bacteria is harmful.  Some bacteria is healthy and essential to destroying other harmful bacteria – the concern is when the balance between healthy and bad bacteria is lost – and lack of effective home care, dental cleanings, and good nutritional choices all contribute to raising the level of harmful bacteria in the mouth.

Lack of good nutrition impacts every cell in the body – including teeth and gums – and bad food choices that are loaded with sugars and starch contributes to the formation of plaque and inflammation in the mouth.  When you eat starchy food you’re not just satisfying your own hunger pangs but the cravings of bacteria living in your mouth.  And when you have a late night snack sugary snack and then jump in to bed without brushing your teeth (you wouldn’t do that) the acid that is produced by plaque (bacteria), to break down the sugar on the teeth, eats away at enamel and weakens teeth.   Plaque also releases toxins that contribute to the destruction of gum tissue and bone – so brushing and flossing regularly along with eating less starchy, sugary food, and avoiding sugary drinks, is the first line of defense in keeping your mouth healthy.

Calgary General Dentists at Discover Dental in NE Calgary want you to make smart food choices not just for your dental health, but your overall health.  So, what should you be snacking on to keep your teeth healthy?  How about loading up on fresh fruit and vegetables, cheese and yoghurt, sugar-free gum, and drink plenty of water or green tea.  Green tea is rich in polyphenols – an antioxidant – which helps to break down bad bacteria in the mouth.

Discover Dental welcomes new patients and invites you to contact the office to schedule an appointment – 403.285.0222

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NE Calgary Dentists at Discover Dental in Falconridge want to explain the importance x-rays play in maintaining dental health.  For some of us it seems easy to decline x-rays when we go to the dentist.  We just want them to ‘look’ at the sore tooth, inflamed gum, or annoying sore on the inside of our cheek.  Well when you think about it, we’d never get away with that if we went to a medical doctor and asked them to just ‘look’ at our symptoms.  We often agree to blood tests and other forms of diagnosing from our medical doctor – so why are we so reluctant to agree to dental x-rays?

Some people use the excuse that dental x-rays emit high amounts of radiation.  That just isn’t true. Most progressive dental offices in Calgary take digital x-rays – technology that reduces the amount of radiation that traditional x-rays emit by up to 90%.  To explain it in terms of sun exposure – one full day in the sun equates to roughly twenty dental x-rays.  That’s an awful lot of x-rays, as the average adult has just four x-rays taken on an annual basis – so one day in the sun is the same as five years’ worth of dental x-rays – so pretty minimal exposure to radiation per x-ray.

Now that we’ve explained just how safe dental x-rays are – let’s go on to share the many benefits there are to having routine x-rays taken by your dental provider. Your NE Calgary Dentist will recommend dental x-rays so that tissue that is not visible to the eye can be viewed and examined for health.  Teeth are supported by bone – but bone is not visible to your dentist during a routine check-up exam – so an x-ray is taken to make sure that bone and other dental tissues below the gum level are healthy.  Interproximal areas – or areas in-between teeth – are also not visible to the dentist, especially in adult patients when teeth are larger and tend to butt up against one another.  Taking an x-ray allows your Calgary Dentist to view the area in-between teeth and will show any areas when decay is starting.  Being able to detect dental decay in its early stages will help avoid more involved and costly treatment down the road – so the benefit of early detection far outweighs the cost of the x-ray.

Dental x-rays are used to diagnose dental abscesses, tumours, abnormal jaw growth, and normal eruption of adult teeth in young patients.  By refusing dental x-rays you are limiting your dentist’s ability to make a full and accurate diagnosis.  Calgary Dentists at Discover Dental understand patients’ concerns regarding the need for dental x-rays and welcome your questions to discuss the many advantages x-rays offer.  Discover Dental is welcoming new patients and is happy to address any concerns you may have regarding your dental health.  Call today 403.285.0222

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A dental abscess refers to an infection inside the tooth – affecting the nerve (pulp) of the tooth. This type of infection occurs when tooth decay has gone untreated, a tooth is cracked, a trauma has happened, resulting in not only the hard tissue of a tooth being destroyed but soft tissue as well – the nerve.

You may have a dental abscess if you’re experiencing swelling, pain when chewing, constant dull toothache, bad breath and/or a bitter taste in your mouth. You may also experience fluid draining from the tissues around the tooth.  This is the abscess draining.  Immediate contact with your Calgary dentist is required as the infection needs to be addressed as soon as possible to prevent further tissue being destroyed.

NE Calgary Dentists – Dr`s Dhesi, Dhillon, Jandu and Minhas are knowledgeable in diagnosing and treating the signs and symptoms of a dental abscess.  This team of Calgary General Dentists will take an x-ray of teeth to accurately diagnose the issue and which tooth is affected.  An x-ray can confirm an abscess and reveal any damage to surrounding tissue (bone).  Your Calgary Dentist will probably test the tooth’s sensitivity with a pressure and temperature test.

Treatment options for a tooth that is abscessed can include Root Canal Therapy or Tooth Extraction – depending on how severe the infection is and how badly damaged the tooth is.
Root Canal Therapy involves cleaning out the infected soft tissue – pulp – and sealing the roots which allows the tooth to be saved.  However, if it’s a wisdom tooth that is abscessed the probable treatment recommendation will be an extraction as the long-term prognosis will be guarded.

Having regular check-up exams and x-rays with your NE Calgary Dentist will allow your dentist to monitor the health of your teeth.  Avoiding x-rays will increase the chance of potential concerns going undetected – leading to more extensive treatment.  Call today to schedule an appointment with a dentist at Discover Dental in NE Calgary – 403.285.0222 – and discover the many health benefits of maintaining regular dental care.

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Dentists in Calgary know that wisdom teeth can be troublesome – that’s if you’ve got them!

Anthropologists believe that wisdom teeth – also known as third molars – were present due to our ancestors diet of course dry meat, roots and hard berries, which required a lot more chewing than today’s soft diet.  As a result, wisdom teeth are now viewed as non-essential teeth from an evolutionary perspective.

Regardless of evolutionary advancements, if your wisdom teeth have fully erupted without concern – that’s great.  Just make sure that you pay extra care and attention when it comes to brushing and flossing these teeth as you want to make sure that you floss the back of these teeth – even though it can be tricky – as food tends to get easily trapped around wisdom teeth which causes inflammation of the gums and can lead to infection.  Your NE Calgary Dentist may still recommend that you have your wisdom teeth extracted, even though they are fully erupted, because of the challenges of keeping them clean and debris free.

Partially erupted wisdom teeth – teeth that have erupted through bone and some gum tissue – can become particularly concerning due to the high risk of developing Peri-Coronitis which is a condition where the tissue covering the partially erupted tooth becomes inflamed and infected.   Because the tooth is partly covered by gum tissue food particles and bacteria are constantly becoming trapped under the gum.  The trapped food and bacteria causes the tissue to become infected – leading to extreme discomfort.  Peri-Coronitis requires antibiotic intervention to get rid of the infection – and then extraction of the wisdom tooth to ensure ongoing infection doesn’t occur.  Dentists at Discover Dental in NE Calgary are experienced in diagnosing and treating wisdom teeth issues and encourage patients who are suffering discomfort to schedule an appointment as soon as possible.  These NE Calgary dentists stress the importance of contacting your Calgary Dentist if you suspect you have an infection.  Infection in your mouth travels throughout your body – affecting your entire health.

Wisdom teeth that have not erupted – due to positioning as they are often lying on their side – need to be extracted to prevent further issues, such as, pushing forward against other teeth.  A molar that is being pushed on by a wisdom tooth can develop root decay – which if left undetected can result in tooth loss.  Wisdom teeth pushing forward against other teeth can also lead to crowding as other teeth get pushed out of alignment.

Whether erupted or non-erupted; Wisdom Teeth require regular monitoring to ensure all potential concerns are diagnosed early.  Allowing your Calgary Dental team to take regular x-rays lets your Calgary Dentist to see the condition of your wisdom teeth and treatment plan accordingly.  Patients around the age of 17 often experience discomfort as wisdom teeth start erupting. Maintaining regular cleaning and check-up appointments gives your dentist every opportunity to monitor the eruption and handle concerns as they arise.

NE Calgary Dentists – Dr’s Dhesi, Dhillon, Jandu and Minhas of Discover Dental welcome new patients of all ages – call today 403.285.0222

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As shocking as it may sound; babies can get cavities, especially if they are exposed to high amounts of sugar in juice or go to bed with a bottle. It’s important to keep gums and teeth (even if there’s only one tooth) clean. Using a wash cloth or finger cloth to wipe over gums and teeth after each and every feeding will remove the sticky residue of milk and therefore removing the sugar bugs that leads to dental decay. If your child has a few teeth a small amount of a child’s toothpaste can be used.

When preparing your child to visit your Calgary Dentist it’s a good idea to incorporate child’s play in to the process. Pretend to go to the dentist by using stuffed animals as patients and by adding props like dental floss and toothbrushes. Your child can even be the dentist and count your teeth, just remember to focus on having fun and using positive words to reinforce the good experience.

Talking about the importance of teeth and why a Family Dentist in Calgary needs to ‘check them’ or ‘count them’ or ‘take a picture of them’ will help your child begin a lifelong habit of taking care of their teeth. Understanding that teeth allow us to chew food, make a smile unique, and are needed to be kept healthy for a lifetime, plant seeds of making dental health a priority and that daily brushing and flossing is just part of a normal daily routine.

Dentists in Calgary agree that ‘families who brush together stay together’. Children learn what they see so setting a good example of great home care and trust in the dentist will ‘brush’ off on your child. Calgary Dentists understand that adults may have anxiety associated with visiting the dentist. If this is the case, it’s always good to have the non-anxious parent bring a child to the dental appointment. This small act will make life easier for everyone.

At Discover Dental in NE Calgary, Dr’s Dhesi, Dhillon, Jandu and Minhas strive to make your child’s first dental visit, and every visit, a fun and positive experience. These NE Calgary Dentists recommend bringing your child to ‘meet the dentist’ prior to their first appointment. Coming in with older siblings is always a great introduction to the dental world for a young child. Above all, always reassure your child that going to the dentist is a safe, positive thing to do. Bringing your child in early and regularly; before problems present, is a great start to their dental health.

Discover Dental is located in the NE neighbourhood of Falconridge. This family centred General Dental Office welcomes New Patients and is happy to provide more tips on how to make your child’s visit a happy one.

Call today to discover how this Calgary Dental team will make you smile 403.285.0222

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Gingivitis is an inflammation of the gums which looks like red, swollen, puffy gums that bleed easily.

The good news is that gingivitis can be easily stopped when diagnosed in its early stages. Seeing a Calgary Dentist for regular check-ups and dental cleanings, along with maintaining excellent home care, will prevent gingivitis from starting or advancing to a more serious condition called periodontitis.

Periodontitis is inflammation of the tissues surrounding teeth, including bone and fibers. Unfortunately this advanced inflammation causes gums to recede and ‘pockets’ to form where food and plaque get trapped, only contributing to more inflammation and destruction. Seeing a Dentist in Calgary for treatment is essential to help prevent the loss of teeth. Calgary Dentists are skilled in the diagnosis and treatment of gingivitis and gum disease and regular appointments with your hygienist will help prevent, stop and/or maintain gum and tooth issues. Be aware of the signs and symptoms and follow-up with your Calgary Dental office.

Signs and Symptoms of Gingivitis:

– Red Swollen Gums
– Receding Gums
– Bleeding When Brushing
– Bad Breath
– Feeling of ‘Itchy’ Gums

Prevention is better than cure – so help yourself prevent gingivitis by – Visiting your Calgary Dentist regularly, brushing several times a day and flossing daily. Eat nutritious food to keep tissues healthy and try to quit smoking and other negative habits that impact the health of your mouth.

Don’t ignore the early signs and symptoms of gingivitis as early treatment can prevent further problems. Dentists in Calgary acknowledge that other conditions can contribute to gingivitis such as, being chronically stressed, hormonal imbalance, diabetes, certain medications and mouth breathing. If you experience any of these concerns make sure you stay on top of your home care and visit a Calgary Dentist regularly.

Calgary NE Dentists, at Discover Dental in Falconridge, welcome patients questions regarding the prevention and treatment of Gingivitis. Accepting New Patients this General Dental Practice looks forward to seeing your smile soon – call today at 403.285.0222

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