Not long ago, Jane Fonda gave a British interviewer a clue as to how she manages to look so young at her advanced age. During the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, the septuagenarian actress and fitness guru said to a journalist from the London-based Daily Mail, “See these teeth? They cost $55,000. It was teeth or a new car — and I opted for the teeth.”

We think she made the right choice — though she might have overpaid just a tad. Most people don't have that kind of cash to spend on either a car or new teeth. But luckily, you can get either for a lot less — particularly the teeth!

The truth is, at a reasonable cost, cosmetic dentistry really can make you look a lot younger while giving your self-esteem a tremendous boost. It's an investment in both your emotional and oral health as we will never implement a smile makeover without first making sure we've addressed any underlying dental disease. Best of all, it doesn't have to cost anywhere near what you'd pay for the latest-model Jaguar, the price tag of Fonda's smile notwithstanding. Here is a list of the more common cosmetic dental techniques used to enhance a person's smile:

• Whitening — a peroxide-based bleach is applied directly to the teeth to remove minor staining and discoloration.
• Bonding — an acrylic material is applied to a tooth, colored and shaped to match the person's other teeth. Primarily used for chipped, broken or decayed teeth.
• Enamel Shaping — the removal of very tiny amounts of enamel, the tooth's outer layer, for a more pleasing tooth shape.
• Veneers — a thin shell of custom-designed tooth-colored material, usually porcelain, affixed to the front surface of the teeth.
• Crowns and Bridgework — a technique that covers heavily damaged teeth or replaces missing teeth by capping them, or using capped teeth to support one or more false teeth.
• Dental Implants — a small titanium post is surgically implanted in the jawbone to replace the root-part of a missing tooth. A lifelike crown is attached to the implant above the gum line and is the only part of the whole tooth restoration that is visible in the mouth.
• Gum Contouring — a minor surgical procedure altering the position of the gum tissue to improve the look and regularity of the gum line around the teeth.

If you'd like more information on cosmetic dentistry, please contact us or schedule an appointment. To learn more, please read the Dear Doctor magazine articles, “Beautiful Smiles by Design” and “The impact of a Smile Makeover.”

Congratulations! In a few months, you're expecting a new baby... but, in the mean time, your body is adjusting to nausea, weight gain, food cravings, and a hundred other changes. Is this really the time to worry about your teeth and gums?

Yes and no — don't worry, but do be aware of a few basic facts about your oral health and your pregnancy, and how they affect each other.

Being pregnant may make your teeth and gums more sensitive. It also puts you at greater risk for some periodontal diseases, like pregnancy gingivitis (“gingival” – gum tissue; “itis” – inflammation of) and benign growths on the gum called “pregnancy tumors.” You may think these problems are just uncomfortable, but you should really have them evaluated as soon as they develop. Why?

Once upon a time, it was believed that periodontal (gum) diseases just affected the mouth. Today, we think these diseases and their associated bacteria may be involved with the whole body, playing a role in cardiovascular ailments, heart attacks, strokes, diabetes, and other illnesses.

What's more, recent studies suggest that these oral bacteria may be able to cross the placenta, stimulating an inflammatory response that may lead to preterm delivery. Babies who are born pre-term often have low birth weight, and are at greater risk for a number of health complications. That's one reason why maintaining good oral health is so important to expectant moms.

So, what should you do? First of all, keep in mind that maintaining your own general and dental health is the best thing you can do for your developing baby. Eat a balanced diet, keep up healthy habits — like limiting sugary between-meal snacks and brushing regularly — and don't put off visiting your dentist to get your dental cleanings. Those cleanings and a thorough evaluation can set your mind at ease and give your baby the best chance at a healthy start.

If you would like more information about pregnancy and oral health, please contact us or schedule an appointment for a consultation. You can also learn more about this topic by reading the Dear Doctor magazine articles “Pregnancy and Oral Health,” and “Expectant Mothers.”

Most people agree that bad breath is more than embarrassing. It affects personal, social and business relationships. Although Americans spend roughly $3 billion annually on gum, mints and mouth rinses that promise relief, they are nothing more than temporary cover ups. Discovering the underlying cause of the problem is the only way to effectively eliminate the halitosis (“halitus” – breath; “osis” – disorder) long term. If you have bad breath, we can help.

While it's true that there are a few systemic (general body) medical conditions that can cause bad breath, including lung infections, liver disease, diabetes and cancer, the majority of causes originate in the mouth. We can conduct a simple oral examination to help diagnose the underlying cause of your bad breath. We will check your mouth thoroughly for signs of any dental problems that can produce an odor, including decayed or abscessed teeth, diseased gums, a coated tongue or infected tonsils. Typically, halitosis occurs when bacteria collect on the surface and back of the tongue where it is drier. Bacteria thrive in this environment, resulting in a “rotten egg” odor that so many of us are all too familiar with. This odor actually emanates from volatile sulfur compounds (VSFs), but will go away with proper treatment.

Once the exact cause is pinpointed, your halitosis can be treated in several ways. For example, we can show you how to brush and floss properly to more effectively remove bacteria responsible for tooth decay and gum disease — don't be embarrassed, nobody really knows until they're shown by a professional. We can also show you how to use a tongue scraper or brush to carefully clean the surface of your tongue. Treatment of tooth decay, the repair of defective or broken fillings, extraction of wisdom teeth (third molars) and periodontal (gum) therapy such as scaling and root planing (deep cleaning) will all help treat infection and consequently bad breath.

You don't have to be embarrassed by bad breath any longer! The sooner you call our office to schedule an examination, the sooner you will be able to breathe a lot more freely. For more information about the causes of bad breath, read the Dear Doctor magazine article “Bad Breath: More Than Just Embarrassing.”

Bad breath, or halitosis, is bad news in any social situation — whether you're having an intimate conversation with a date or simply saying hello as you shake someone's hand. Halitosis, from the Latin halitus (exhalation) and the Greek osis (a condition or disease causing process), can also be a warning that something's amiss healthwise — usually in your mouth (85% to 90% of the time) but sometimes elsewhere in your body.

Most Common Causes of a Malodorous Mouth
Most unpleasant odors emanating from the mouth result from the processing of food remnants by certain strains of bacteria that typically populate the oral environment. As they feed on food particles, these microbes produce nasty-smelling byproducts — mostly volatile sulfur compounds, which have a distinctive “rotten egg” odor. That's why diligent dental care is front and center when it comes to banishing bad breath. Brushing, flossing and routine professional cleanings will help ensure that traces of last night's dinner or your midday candy bar don't stick around for bacteria to dine on.

Especially important, but often overlooked, during routine home oral care is the back of the tongue. This is actually the most common location for mouth-related bad breath to develop. Unlike the front of your tongue, which is bathed in saliva, the back of the tongue is relatively dry and poorly cleansed — an ideal setting in which microbe-laden plaque can form and flourish.

Even if you're industrious when it comes to brushing and flossing, food debris can get trapped and plaque can build up in hard-to-reach places such as between teeth (interdental), under the gums (subgingival) and around faulty dental work (e.g., ill-fitting crowns or veneers) contributing to overall oral odor. Other culprits include unclean dentures and oral disease such as tooth decay, gum disease, and abscesses.

Halitosis may accompany dry mouth, or xerostomia (xero – dry, stomia – mouth), a condition in which the normal flow of saliva, which cleanses the oral environment and keeps odor-producing bacteria in check, is interrupted. Most of us wake up with a temporary case of halitosis or “morning breath” because our salivary glands are less active while we sleep, but it usually disappears after a good brushing. If dry mouth is persistent, other possible triggers include: breathing through your mouth, a medication side effect, fasting or dehydration, or even stress.

Clearly, maintaining or restoring a healthy oral environment is your greatest defense against halitosis. Take care of your teeth and there's no reason your breath should be any less attractive than your smile!

If you would like more information about halitosis and ways to prevent or treat it, 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 “Bad Breath.”

Olivia Newton-John, now in her early 60's, is still a fresh-faced picture of health — with a radiant smile to match. How does she do it? She does it with healthy habits learned from her German-born mother, Irene.

“I love greens, and as many organic vegetables as possible,” Olivia recently told Dear Doctor magazine. “From spinach to salads to beets — pretty much any and all greens!”

Olivia credits her mom with instilling her lifelong love of healthy foods. Irene used dark bread rather than white bread for sandwiches and even made her own yogurt — which she used as a topping on baked fruit for dessert.

“Growing up, my mum really taught us some great eating habits,” Olivia told the magazine. “When I was a girl in school, all of my friends would have cakes and cookies and fun foods but my mum was all about teaching us to eat healthy foods and to be very aware of what we were putting into our bodies. At the time I was annoyed about it, but looking back now I thank her for teaching me at an early age to eat healthily.”

Irene paid particular attention to her children's oral health. “My mum always made us brush and floss after every meal so, once again, like the foods we ate, she taught us early about the importance of great dental hygiene,” said Olivia, who has an older brother and sister.

As a mom herself, Olivia passed those healthy habits down to her daughter, Chloe.

“I always insisted on regular dental checkups and limited sugar, especially in soft drinks — they were never in our fridge,” she said.

Parents do play an important role in developing healthy oral habits from the very beginning, starting with proper tooth-brushing techniques. By age 2, a brushing routine should be established using a smear of fluoride toothpaste. For older toddlers, parents can use a child's size soft toothbrush with water and a pea-sized amount of fluoride toothpaste. Children need help brushing until at least age 6, when they can generally take over brushing by themselves and also learn to floss.

The point of a good daily oral hygiene routine is to remove the film of bacteria that collects daily along the gum line, and in the nooks and crannies of teeth. Effective daily removal of this biofilm will do more to prevent tooth decay and promote lifelong dental health than anything else.

If you would like to learn more about preventing tooth decay or teaching your child to brush and floss correctly, please contact us or schedule an appointment for a consultation. If you would like to read Dear Doctor's entire interview with Olivia Newton-John, please see “Olivia Newton-John.” Dear Doctor also has more on “How to Help Your Child Develop the Best Habits for Oral Health.”