Dr. Kelley Ryals, DDS

Gingivitis is a fancy term for bacteria in her gum tissues. There are several options for gingivitis. A good cleaning with your dentist and great home care including, brushing, flossing, water picks and mouthwash can help reduce the bacteria and reduce or eliminate gingivitis. Other gingivitis is chronic and may bee extra help from a dental professional including treatments like Laser or antibiotic irrigation. Kelley Ryals DDS | Owner Dentist Santa Fe Modern Dentistry 3569 Zafarano Drive Santa Fe, NM 87507 T 505-986-8000 C 505-450-2232 E ryalsk@pacden.com<mailto:email@pacden.com> W pacificdentalservices.com<http://www.pacificdentalservices.com/> + smilegeneration.com<http://www.smilegeneration.com/> This electronic transmission, and any documents attached hereto, may contain confidential and/or legally privileged information. The information is intended only for use by the recipient named above. If you have received this electronic message in error, please notify sender and delete the electronic message. Any disclosure, copying, distribution, or use of the contents of information received in error is strictly prohibited.

A crown is much strong than Floss. The only damage I have ever seen floss do to a crown is cause it to be uncemented.

Initially it will be hard to eat anything. You need to relearn how to chew with your new denture. With dentures it is a plate so you have to divide your food and eat with both sides. Also understand that its a prosthetic, so just like a prosthetic hand, it can do a lot of same functions but its not the same as the original. Essentially, you can eat most foods, its just learning how to eat. I have patients that eat apples and steak because they learn how to eat those foods. I would say stay away from the food that are bad for your teeth like ice and hard nuts, those wont be able to be chewed well with your denture.

Usually gum pain when you get dentures is from the dentures rubbing. I recommended that you get the dentures adjusted. However, your gums do take time to adjust to the pressure of a denture and the gums tissues need to thicken to accommodate the new pressure. It usually takes 6-8 weeks

Yes is the short answer. There are many reasons why you may have jaw pain. Most likely its muscle related. I recommend heat, ibuprofen, massages and time.

Theres not a lot of restrictions after a root canal from the actual surgery. Its mostly managing pain and also if you have a final restoration on the tooth like a crown or a filling after the root canal is done. Many times dentists will leave you in a temporary crown or filling. If thats the case, be very careful in what youre eating. No hard crunchy food or sticky chewy foods. If you have a final filling or crown on the root canal tooth, then its mostly managing discomfort. So if your tooth is hurting, giving it time and not over using it. It can takes several weeks for the discomfort to go away.

Essentially you can wear your dentures as often as you feel comfortable. As a dentist I recommend wearing your dentures all day because your tissue mold into your denture and the more your wear them, the more they feel natural. However, it is imperative that you remove your denture at night. Your gums still need air to heal and remove bacteria from your gums. So the gum tissues need at least 8 hours of time with out denture to be healthy.

It depends on how crowded your teeth are when you start and what type of orthodontics youre using. So in general it can take 3 months to 6+ years to get teeth aligned.

It depends. Normally you should be numb and then you shouldn’t feel any difference between a root canal or a filling. However, if you need a root canal, it means that the tooth is usually infected. Infection is very acidic and can keep anesthetic from getting your tissue numb. Your dentist or Endodontist should have techniques to numb you more substantially or place you on antibiotics to aid in this.

A bump in the mouth can be many things from a traumatic lesion, virus, clogged salivary glands, infection, etc. so it’s hard to explain what to do. Salt water helps to dehydrate the lesion. There are several OTC products that can be used to help sooth a lesion until it heals. Orajel, anbesol, Kana-a etc. Normal lesions should resolve in 2 weeks. If you bump doesn’t heal in 2 weeks, see you dentist.

When it comes to blood thinners, every surgeon is different. Some surgeons require an INR within 24 hours of placing your implant to check how quickly you stop bleeding. Usually they prefer you not to stop Eliquis before a surgeon because of how the medications work.

Yes absolutely. They are the main reason people get mouth sores. I would recommend going to your drug store like Walgreens and getting some tooth wax and putting it over your braces that are causing the sore. It will give you some relief until the gum tissue get thicker and stops creating sores.

It depends on each person and the type of treatment you are going through. But they should start working immediately. However teeth need to move around to make space to allow for crowded teeth to unravel. So even when you think nothing is happening, they are. Make sure the aligners go all the way down in order for the aligners to be effective.

Yes, most people seek braces due to crowding. Invisalign has been around over 20 year and has evolved tremendously even on extreme crowding cases

Teeth like to be touching where you floss and also where you chew. So when you are missing important teeth, your bite will be unbalance. When you don’t have something to chew against , your teeth will start over erupting and if your teeth don’t touch where you floss, teeth start tipping. So it’s very important to replace teeth that have been extracted. If you can’t place implants or bridges, then a partial is a great alternative. Partials will replace multiple teeth and keep your bite stable and it’s the least expensive option. Please understand that a partial is a prosthetic. So just like a prosthetic hand, it has limitations. It uses the remaining teeth to stabilize the partial, so if you are missing a lot of teeth, if puts a lot of pressure on your other teeth. Partials can make your remaining teeth loose. It also clasps around your teeth so it holds bacteria up against your remaining teeth so it’s important to keep your partial clean. You just remove it at night to allow your gum tissue to breathe.

They don’t have a particular life span. It usually depends on how well the veneers were prepared, the lab that was used, the type of porcelain, and the patient. Veneers are made very thin so most labs will advise that the life span for porcelain is 5 years. However, I have see 20-30 year old veneers in patients mouths. It’s important to understand veneers are like having thin glass over your teeth, if you are grinder, clencher or use your front teeth to open packages, bite your nails, chew ice etc. you will probably fracture or break your veneers and require a new one. Also understand that it is extremely hard to match shades of 1 veneer. So sometimes I change additional veneers to get the color to match.

It depends on what type of cement the dentist used. Some cements take a full 24 hours to completely harden. While others are instantly cured. If you are not sure what type of cement a dentist used then I would make sure not to use the crown for heavy chewing, hard crunchy or sticky foods. After 24 hours, you should be good to use the crown. It is also important to remember that if you are still numb, you should wait until you are no longer numb so you don’t bite your cheek or tongue. Also, crowns are high in strength but can still fracture, please don’t use the crown to chew things like ice, peanut brittle or extremely sticky foods like starbursts or hard caramels.

Salt water rinses, over the counter mouth gels like orajel or anbesol, or clove oil all help. There is an underlining issue if your gums are sore after brushing. I would consult your dentist. It usually is a gum infection or worse.

It depends, if you got your dentures right after an extraction, they may hurt until the extraction site is heal and even several weeks after. If you did not extract any teeth, there is an adjustment period but if they hurt, you need to return back to your dentist to have them adjusted. Your gum tissues are not use to something rubbing on them all day, so there is a time where your gum tissues will need to get tougher also.

Unfortunately not. There is not an over the counter reline material. The best thing to do if your dentures are loose is to use denture adhesive. I recommend going to see your local dentist. They can do an office reline.