Mouth Guards - Protect yourself from sports-related mouth injuries

Anyone who participates in a sport that carries a significant risk of injury should wear a mouth protector. Sports like basketball, baseball, gymnastics, and volleyball all pose risks to your gum tissues, as well as your teeth. We usually think of football and hockey as the most dangerous to the teeth, but nearly half of sports-related mouth injuries occur in basketball and baseball.

A mouth guard can prevent serious injuries such as concussions, cerebral hemorrhages, incidents of unconsciousness, jaw fractures and neck injuries by helping to avoid situations where the lower jaw gets jammed into the upper jaw. Mouth guards are effective in moving soft issue in the oral cavity away from the teeth, preventing laceration and bruising of the lips and cheeks, especially for those who wear orthodontic appliances.

Mouth protectors, which typically cover the upper teeth, can cushion a blow to the face, minimizing the risk of broken teeth and injuries to the soft tissues of the mouth. If you wear braces or another fixed dental appliance on your lower jaw, a mouth protector is available for these teeth as well.

A properly fitted mouth protector may be especially important for people who wear braces or have fixed bridge work. A blow to the face could damage the brackets or other fixed orthodontic appliances. A mouth protector also provides a barrier between the braces and your cheek or lips, limiting the risk of soft tissue injuries. Although mouth protectors typically only cover the upper teeth, your dentist or orthodontist may suggest that you use a mouth protector on the lower teeth if you have braces on these teeth too. If you have a retainer or other removable appliance, do not wear it during any contact sports.

Types of mouth guards

There are three types of mouth protectors:

Stock - Inexpensive and come pre-formed, ready to wear. Unfortunately, they often don't fit very well. They can be bulky and can make breathing and talking difficult.

Boil and bite - Can be bought at many sporting goods stores and may offer a better fit than stock mouth protectors. They should be softened in water, then inserted and allowed to adapt to the shape of your mouth. If you don't follow the directions carefully you can wind up with a poor-fitting mouth protector.

Custom-fitted - Made by your dentist for you personally. They are more expensive than the other versions, but because they are customized, they can offer a better fit than anything you can buy off the shelf.

Serving Waukesha, Oconomowoc, and Hartland Wisconsin, Bailey Family Dental is most concerned with your comfort. Hartland Dentists Drs Terese and Richard Bailey and their friendly staff will explain treatment options and give estimates before you begin your treatments. To learn more, feel free to go to our website at www.bailyfamilydental.com, or call us at 262-369-8633. Our office is located at 557 Cottonwood avenue, Hartland Wisconsin.

Bone and Gums Critical in better smile with dental implants | Bailey Family dental

You may be considering dental implants for a lot of reasons: durability, functionality and imperviousness to decay. But perhaps the winning reason is how they will make you look — their life-like quality can restore a smile marred by missing or disfigured teeth. Achieving that result, though, requires your dental team to determine beforehand the state of your bone and gums, and treat any conditions that would interfere with the final result.
The first area to look at is the amount of bone available to support the implant. An adequate amount is necessary not only to stabilize the implant, but to also ensure proper placement needed to achieve the best “smile” result. Your specialist, then, will take steps to protect available bone during procedures, or even aid in building up the bone structure by inserting grafting materials that encourage new bone growth.

The degree of bone volume in adjacent natural teeth is also important because it can greatly affect the health of the papillae. This is the triangular-shaped gum tissue that occurs between each tooth that gives normal teeth their arched appearance. Insufficient bone in these areas could cause the papillae not to regenerate properly around the implant site, which creates unsightly dark spaces in the gum tissue known as “black hole disease.”
We must next consider the quality and health of your gum tissue. Patients whose gum tissue tends to be thin face difficulties during cosmetic surgical procedures; their thinner tissues are also more prone for objects behind them to be visible, including metal or other crown materials.
Our aim is an implant crown emerging from the surrounding gum tissue just as a natural tooth would. To achieve this requires knowing first what we have to work with regarding your bone and gums, and to address any issues that are problematic. One aid in this process is to affix a temporary “prototype” crown on the implant to wear while the permanent crown is manufactured. This allows you to “test-drive” the new look, and make adjustments in the final product regarding color and materials.
Accounting for all these factors — and then making adjustments along the way — will help ensure the final crown meets your expectations for function and appearance.
If you would like more information on the fabrication of implant crowns, please contact us or schedule an appointment for a consultation. You can also learn more about this topic by reading the Dear Doctor magazine article “Matching Teeth & Implants.”

Serving Waukesha, Oconomowoc, and Hartland Wisconsin, Bailey Family Dental is most concerned with your comfort. Hartland Dentists Drs Terese and Richard Bailey and their friendly staff will explain treatment options and give estimates before you begin your treatments. To learn more, feel free to go to our website at www.bailyfamilydental.com, or call us at 262-369-8633. Our office is located at 557 Cottonwood avenue, Hartland Wisconsin.

Gum Disease | Dentists Hartland WI

Periodontal or gum disease is a serious condition that could lead to tooth and bone loss. Unfortunately, you may not even realize you have it — the disease in its early stages can be difficult to detect. If you know what to look for, however, a few signs can tell you something isn’t quite right.
Bleeding gums after brushing, for example, are a likely indication that your gum tissues are inflammed due to an infection caused by bacterial plaque. Coupled with chronic inflammation from the body’s response to the infection, the unhealthy tissues bleed easily.
As the disease progresses, you may also notice changes in your gums’ appearance: redness at the gum line, as well as some slight swelling. Receding gums expose more of the tooth below the enamel crown. As roots become exposed to the oral environment, you’ll begin to notice painful sensitivity to hot or cold. In time, the disease may cause bone loss producing other signs like loose teeth or teeth shifting from their original position.
In some cases, gum disease can cause a painfully acute abscess. This occurs when the bacterial infection becomes isolated in a pocket of space between the teeth and gums. As the body attempts to fight the infection, its defenses are overwhelmed and the abscess becomes painful, swollen and filled with pus.
If you encounter any of these signs, it’s important to take action quickly to minimize the damage and stop the disease’s progress. Our first priority is to remove as much bacterial plaque and calculus as possible and may consider antibacterial and antibiotic treatments. This may take more than one session, but it’s necessary in stopping the disease.
Long-term success, though, will depend on improved oral hygiene (brushing and flossing), regular office cleanings to remove difficult to reach plaque and calculus, and checkups to monitor the condition of your gums. You can also lower the risk of reoccurrence with improvements in diet and life-style (such as quitting smoking). Instituting better hygiene and lifestyle habits, as well as keeping alert to any signs of recurring disease will go a long way in preserving your teeth and overall oral health.
If you would like more information about periodontal disease and its effect on your health, please contact us or schedule an appointment for a consultation.Serving Waukesha, Oconomowoc, and Hartland Wisconsin, Bailey Family Dental is most concerned with your comfort. Hartland Dentists Drs Terese and Richard Bailey and their friendly staff will explain treatment options and give estimates before you begin your treatments. To learn more, feel free to go to our website at www.bailyfamilydental.com, or call us at 262-369-8633. Our office is located at 557 Cottonwood avenue, Hartland Wisconsin.