darkoshi | Entries tagged with dentists

Silver diamine fluoride (SDF) is a liquid substance used to help prevent tooth cavities (or caries) from forming, growing, or spreading to other teeth. ...
SDF was first approved for use in Japan more than 80 years ago. SDF was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2014 for use in the United States.
...
It’s sold in some stores for home use, but it’s most commonly and safely used in dental clinics.
...
SDF is most commonly used on areas affected by cavities. Research shows that SDF can be just as helpful when used as a preventive measure by being applied to healthy tooth surfaces.

Research also suggests that dentists don’t need to treat cavities with fillings or tooth surface modification before using SDF.

Traditionally, many dentists have used a fluoride varnish to help stop cavity development. SDF has proven to be much more successful at reducing cavity growth than varnish. SDF also requires fewer treatments over time.

There’s no set number of applications required for SDF to work. Most dentists only apply SDF once per year. Varnishes often need to be applied four or more times per year.

UCSF Protocol for Caries Arrest Using Silver Diamine Fluoride: Rationale, Indications, and Consent (2016)
Figure 3 outlines the application procedure. It indicates the SDF is applied to the teeth with a microsponge, allowed to sit and be absorbed for a minute or so, then rinsed off.

The main drawback I read is that it stains the cavity a dark color.

Atraumatic restorative treatment

Atraumatic restorative treatment (ART) is a method for cleaning out tooth decay (dental caries) from teeth using only hand instruments (dental hatchet and spoon-excavator) and placing a filling. It does not use rotary dental instruments (dental drills) to prepare the tooth and can be performed in settings with no access to dental equipment. No drilling or local anaesthetic injections are required.
...
Although ART was initially developed in response to the needs of populations with less access to dental care, it had similar outcomes to more invasive treatments (local anaesthetic and drilling the tooth with dental bur). This means that it is suitable for use in any type of setting (from deprived communities to dental clinics) and it has been widely adopted into mainstream care.

I'd like to someday finish recording my and my mom's audio cassettes to MP3 files. But all my cassette players have encountered problems. The last one I used for the task still works, but started making a rattling noise while playing which gets carried over into the MP3 recordings too. Another boombox with dual cassettes has that same rattling noise problem, as well as its speakers not working.

I watched some videos of people replacing the rubber belts in their cassette players. In one video, after the belt was replaced and the cassette deck was being tested, I heard it making the same sound as mine! So even replacing the belts might not help with that problem.

Each time I go looking online for a new cassette player to buy, however, I am scared off by reviewers who say NOT to get this one, because it eats tapes. Every single one I look at has at least one, if not several reviews like that. Or other deal-breakers are mentioned, like the player being mono rather than stereo.

.

I got my 2nd Shingrix (Shingles) vaccine shot.

A bit of my rear molar chipped off. I went to the dentist and had the edges smoothed.

My thumb still does not bend.

.

A section of the garage ceiling panels, which I had lately noticed was sagging, broke and fell down before I could reinforce it. Luckily there was nothing underneath that area, so no collateral damage. But the cellulose insulation on top of the panel came down with it, making a big mess. I cleaned it up.

Did I ever mention the reinforcements I added to the other garage ceiling panels which had been sagging? That was 5 years ago. I attached wood boards along the seams of the panels. I still remember it feeling like quite an accomplishment. It was tricky, bracing the boards against the ceiling on both sides, while I screwed the screws in. Those sagging panels were a problem that I'd noticed and worried about for quite a while, and I couldn't find anyone to fix it, and then I figured out how to fix it myself!

.

Today it was very rainy. Happy Lunar New Year!
I succeeded in getting the new mailbox post in the ground. Perhaps tomorrow I'll get the mailbox transferred over to the new post, in between working for work.

One of the gateposts on the gate that got knocked down last summer has concrete anchoring it. If it weren't for that, I'd probably have been able to get it out and replace it myself by now. I keep going back and forth between thinking I can do it myself, and thinking I will hire someone to do it. Then other things take precedence for a while. Now I'm wavering again, because I was able to rock the post back and forth a bit. Maybe if I can just get leverage... I had a couple ideas to try... I could get it out of the ground. But I really ought to just hire someone. Yeah. I really should.

.

In the past, I used a product called Tub Grip to add traction to the bottom of my tub, to make it less slippery. It works very well, but it seems to capture dirt and makes the tub harder to get clean-looking. It also wears away over time.

Before applying a new coating of it, it's best to remove the rest of the old layer.
This time I used a product called "Citristrip" to remove it. It got the residue off, but also etched up the tub surface. Oops. It's a synthetic tub, fiberglass, I think. All the comments I found indicated this Citristrip works fine on fiberglass without damaging it, but no, not in my case it didn't.

The tub being etched makes it less slippery now even without applying new Tub Grip. But in some directions it still feels slippery so I probably still should apply new Tub Grip on top.

I spoke to my regular dentist, who thinks the problem with my bite / occlusion may be due to the lateral pterygoid muscles having tensed up. Considering that I can't see any difference when comparing old photos of my teeth to how they look now, and how suddenly this problem came on, that seems reasonable. He prescribed me prescription strength ibuprofen - 800mg 4 times a day (which is the very max recommended amount for an adult), for one week. It may improve things by reducing any inflammation that may be present.

I was afraid that the Rx pills would be too large for me to easily swallow, so I got the OTC ones instead which are 200mg each and small. So I've been taking 4 of those, 4 times a day.

I've been taking them since yesterday, and haven't noticed any difference so far. If anything, my jaw muscles feel more tense/sore, but I think that is from the dentist having pressed on them yesterday to see if I felt any soreness (I didn't yesterday). My shoulder muscles also feel tense now.

If it is tense muscles, maybe it is a side effect of not getting enough sleep. Though I'd have thought the problem would have gotten better during my vacation if that were the case.

Do any of you have experience using a discount dental plan (as opposed to dental insurance)?

From the ads I've looked at, they sound a bit too good to be true. It sounds like you get charged in-network insurance prices, without having actual insurance, for a yearly fee between $100 and $200 dollars. The ones I've looked at advertise "sample savings" of 20% or even 40 to 50%, even for things like orthodontics or implants which can cost thousands of dollars. Even 20% off of $3000 would be a net savings. You're limited to whichever dentists accept the plan, but insurance is the same way.

Examples:
https://www.aetnadentaloffers.com/plans/aetna-dental-access

https://www.dentalplans.com/how-it-works

Maybe fewer dentists accept these plans, than accept insurance? That Aetna plan only lists 2 orthodontists in my area, and both are at the same address. But a couple other plans I looked at had more dentists participating.

Maybe the sample savings is the best you can hope to get, and most dentists give a much smaller discount?

This is the end of 2 nice relaxing (sort of) weeks of vacation. At least I was able to sleep as long as I wanted nearly every morning, in spite of going to bed very late. I got various things done. Some things finished, some things further along.

I didn't manage to make an orthodontic appointment yet; still need to get together a list of potential ones to call. It's too bad that this tooth problem manifested a few weeks after our yearly benefits enrollment period at work. Not knowing that I'd need it, I chose a dental plan without adult orthodontic coverage. But it's not a big deal. Even the plans that cover it, only cover a certain amount anyway. But now, not having one of those plans makes choosing an orthodontist more complicated. Should I sign up for a discount program, and see who in my area is in such a program? Or should I use one of the orthodontists in my dental insurance's network (though I don't see what the point of that is, as I'm not covered)? Or try to find overlap between the two? And so on.

I had been feeling optimistic about getting braces, but reading several pages which indicated that dentists now recommend that retainers be worn ***for the rest of your life*** to prevent teeth from shifting back got me feeling down about it. Which is why I let the matter drop for now. I went through all that trouble last year or the year before, getting myself a doctor, and it didn't even really do any good with the problem I have with my hands. Well... It did relieve my worries about having degenerative arthritis. So it did do some good, even though I still have no explanation for what is wrong. But my hands got significantly better on their own.

At the moment, I don't think it's possible that my teeth will get better on their own, but who knows? I discovered something today, about eating when one's upper and lower molars don't touch. Eating individual pieces of raw spinach (or other raw greens) is not a good idea, as it's nearly impossible to chew them up, and without chewing them, they tend to stick in one's throat. But when they are in a sandwich, I can chew them up ok, because there's an extra layer of bread and stuff filling up the space between the lower and upper teeth.

Anyway, I got home too late tonight (considering I need to be up early for work), after spending most of my vacation at Qiao's place. I went to turn on the heat, and discovered that the thermostat's batteries needed to be changed, and of course the old settings were lost, so I had to reset them. One setting always gives me trouble (getting it into "Hold" mode instead of "Vacation" mode). I had thought I might be able to make it to bed by 1am. But now, I hadn't even unpacked my car, I just wanted to turn on the heat, and this garbedly gook dangnabit thing won't work!!! I lost my temper and yelled obscenities.

Not a good way to end a nice relaxing (sort of) vacation. But it's ok; I'm calm again now. I checked the notes on my computer from last time, which thankfully say how to put it into Hold mode, and got it working. I still have my pretty Christmas tree here, and I haven't turned off the pretty lights on the porch yet either. Though I'll probably take them (not the tree) down later this week.

Ok. There's a good chance I can make it to bed by 2:15am now, if I apply myself to it.

In preparation for making an orthodontist appointment, I've been researching braces and Invisalign.

I also looked into the Smile Direct club, which seems like Invisalign, but without an in-person orthodontist overseeing your treatment. From some things I read & watched, it may be more likely to result in problems with your bite. Something I hadn't realized before was that to give crowded teeth more room, they may be pushed outwards as part of the treatment. But if you push your upper teeth outwards, for instance, you may also need to push your lower teeth outwards too, depending on how good or not-so-good your bite was to begin with.

At first, Invisalign sounded like the obvious choice. I don't want anything glued to my teeth. I don't want metal and wires in my mouth*. I want to be able to floss my teeth like normal. And it sounds like Invisalign generally takes half the time to correct teeth as braces do. Plus, you don't need to have appointments as often, etc.

*I had my teeth wired shut once for about 6 weeks, for a fractured jaw to heal. It was awful. But most of the awfulness was in how it pressed my teeth together so tightly, and in not being able to brush the insides of my teeth. The wires were probably unpleasant, but that's not the part I remember.

With Invisalign, every time after you eat, you're supposed to brush your teeth and the aligners. At first, that seemed like a minor thing. But the more I think about it, the harder it sounds. I'm used to eating whenever I want, and I snack a lot in the evenings. Having to remove the aligners, brush my teeth and the aligners, and put the aligners in each time would be a hassle. And having toothpaste aftertaste in my mouth each time... meh. Some people say it made them eat less, and they lost weight. I don't need to lose weight though, and I worry about being hungry and not being able to fall asleep.

Secondly, I'm not sure I'd like the feeling of the plastic aligners against my tongue. With braces, the metal would at least only be on the outside of my teeth, so shouldn't bother me as much. My mouth should feel normal from the inside.

With Invisalign, sometimes they have to put "attachments" on the teeth, which may be as bad or worse than the glue of metal braces. I doubt I would need that, but until I speak to some orthodontists, I won't know.

So now I'm leaning towards metal braces possibly being the better option.

Our vet advised us to give our dogs delmopinol-containing chews to improve their oral/dental health. They are fairly expensive, so I wanted to see if they've been shown to really help.

I didn't find any third-party dog-based studies on the chews. The OraVet site itself claims the chews reduce both plaque and calculus, based on their own clinical study.

But I came across something odd while reading about delmopinol and chlorhexidine, both of which are active ingredients used in anti-plaque mouthwashes for humans.

Dental plaque is: "a biofilm or mass of bacteria that grows on surfaces within the mouth. It is a sticky colorless deposit at first, but when it forms tartar it is brown or pale yellow..."

Dental calculus, aka tartar is: "a form of hardened dental plaque. It is caused by precipitation of minerals from saliva and gingival crevicular fluid (GCF) in plaque on the teeth. This process of precipitation kills the bacterial cells within dental plaque, but the rough and hardened surface that is formed provides an ideal surface for further plaque formation. This leads to calculus buildup, which compromises the health of the gingiva (gums)."

So, it sounds like calculus can't form without there first being plaque.

But if I'm understanding correctly, according to studies, using delmopinol or chlorhexidine mouthrinses reduces plaque, yet leads to increased amounts of calculus. How can that be?

6-month use of 0.2% delmopinol hydrochloride in comparison with 0.2% chlorhexidine digluconate and placebo. (I). Effect on plaque formation and gingivitis. (1998 study) :
"Delmopinol showed 22% lower plaque index scores than placebo after 3 months (p<0.01) and 13% lower scores after 6 months. The corresponding figures for chlorhexidine were 38% (p<0.001) and 38% (p<0.001) after 3 and 6 months, respectively."
"Both active solutions showed an increased amount of dental calculus in comparison with placebo."

Staining and calculus formation after 0.12% chlorhexidine rinses in plaque-free and plaque covered surfaces: a randomized trial (2010 study):
"CXH has proven in many clinical trials to be effective in reducing the formation of dental plaque and preventing gingivitis. However, calculus formation seems to be increased. "
This particular study showed that teeth with pre-existing plaque had more calculus formation after use of chlorhexidine, compared to teeth without pre-existing plaque. But it didn't compare the amount of calculus formation on teeth exposed to chlorhexidine vs not exposed.

Plaque formation and gingivitis after supervised mouthrinsing with 0.2% delmopinol hydrochloride, 0.2% chlorhexidine digluconate and placebo for 6 months. (1998 study):
"Delmopinol and chlorhexidine exhibited lower scores of the mean PI [plaque index ]and the BOP [bleeding on probing] percentage than placebo, both at the 3-month and 6-month examinations."
"Chlorhexidine showed lower scores for plaque formation and gingivitis development but higher scores of supragingival dental calculus (after 6 months) and tooth staining than did delmopinol."

Maybe the mouthrinses cause plaque to be transformed into calculus faster than otherwise. That's the only explanation I can think of for there being less plaque and more tartar. Then again, the delmopinol is supposed to keep plaque from sticking to teeth, so why would it also result in more tartar?

It sounds like both still result in improved oral health, at least.
But I wonder. For dogs who don't get tooth cleanings (for removing the tartar), is it still a good thing?

This document has some general info on oral care for pets, but is missing some of the references which might give important details:
Top 5 Tools & Techniques for Oral Home Care
Brushing their teeth daily would probably be best, but I can't see me doing that.

Crossposts: http://darkoshi.livejournal.com/682784.html

I'm over 40 years old. Thinking about it the other day, it seemed to me that 40 years isn't that long at all. 40 winters. 40 Christmases. 40 summers. Four sets of double-handprints. You could put down a mark for each year it wouldn't take up much space at all.

And yet, when I was 10 years old, didn't it seem that those 10 years were an eternity?

And these 40 years have been an eternity too.

.

Nasal rhymes with Basil*. Where that thought came from? Oh, I was misreading the 2nd word in "Africa Brasil".

*Now that I think of it, they wouldn't rhyme in a British accent.
.

11 audio cassettes laying on the table. I recorded them to the computer, but still need to process the files. Need to do that before I record any more.

A German/English dictionary. For when I get back to reading the family letters.

A washcloth. For wiping off tears. Left on the table from the last time I had a cry, quite a while back. I rarely cry anymore, in comparison to how much I used to. I still feel like it once in a while, but it seems pointless, and I can usually distract myself from it.

A lamp socket. There's another lamp that I need to fix.

Xylitol wintergreen mints. For my teeth. The mints taste so good I could eat them all up at once. Some of my teeth are eroded at the gum line, and I want the enamel to grow back. I'm experimenting. Since my last dental cleaning, every evening after brushing my teeth, I've flossed, and then swished with a mild children's fluoride rinse. Plus xylitol mints and gum during the day.

.

It's as if I'm determined to go to bed late every time.

.

Oh and these weird sudden itches out of the blue. Like on the back of my knee, yesterday. Right now, on my left ankle.

Crossposts: http://darkoshi.livejournal.com/544033.html

Qiao's dentist recommended that he use a Waterpik flosser, so he got one. I've used it a few times myself. We each picked out separate tips for ourselves; we don't share the same tips.

Each time I've used the Waterpik, when I first turn the unit on after having filled the reservoir with water, the water that comes out of the tip has a clearly noticeable, unpleasant odor. I don't know how to describe the odor... it's sort of bitter, but not like anything else I'm familiar with. After about 5 to 10 seconds, the odor is gone. Because of that, after the first or 2nd time, I don't even put the tip in my mouth to begin with, but rather flush water out directly into the sink until the odor is gone.

Neither Qiao nor I have been using the Waterpik very often or regularly. My suspicion is that after the Waterpik is used, some water remains inside it, and that the odor comes about from the water sitting in there for some period of time. But the manual makes no mention of this being a potential problem.

I've done some internet searches, and found no reports of anyone else with the same problem. That seems odd. I'm posting this here, so that anyone else who may have noticed the same thing can post a comment if they wish.

Because I found no indication that this is a normal problem, I'm hesitant to even continue using the Waterpik.