Our Blog

If you notice every imperfection in your smile and you are aiming for a more ideal-looking smile, veneers might be for you. Veneers are common tools in cosmetic dentistry for improving the look of your teeth. They are thin layers, either made of resin composite or dental porcelain, that go over your teeth. If you are considering dental veneers, these five reasons to choose them may help persuade you.

1. They hide imperfections.

The basis of cosmetic dentistry is providing an attractive smile, and veneers are designed to hide imperfections such as chipped, uneven, or badly aligned teeth. With veneers, teeth are even and uniformly colored.

2. They are durable.

Dental veneers can last for a decade to up to 30 years, so you do not need to continually go back to our Mason office to replace them. On average, veneers last longer than standard fillings.

3. You can get the process done quickly.

Often, you can get a full set of dental veneers in a three visits and within a few weeks. The first appointment is a consultation to evaluate your teeth and plan your treatment. At the next visit, Dr. Nymberg and our team prepare your teeth for veneers and take an impression of your teeth so the laboratory can custom-make your veneers. During the final visit, we bond the new veneers to the surfaces of your teeth.

4. They can whiten the appearance of your teeth.

Coffee, smoking, excessive fluoride, and certain drugs can yellow your teeth over time. Dental veneers can be colored to have a bright white appearance so your teeth appear noticeably whiter. This can be especially beneficial for individuals whose teeth are naturally off-white and do not respond well to bleach-based whitening treatments.

5. They can fix minor dental problems.

Dental veneers are not solely cosmetic. They can improve a variety of dental concerns, such as teeth with uneven spaces. They can hide the appearance of chipped and broken teeth, and make more even teeth that are worn down, spaced unevenly, or shaped irregularly. Since Dr. Nymberg can manufacture the veneers to match your natural tooth color, these thin layers are more attractive than unsightly fixes such as metal fillings.

You might have noticed that the dental aisle of your drugstore is larger than ever, with more options than ever for getting the spaces between your teeth their cleanest. Flosses made with different shapes, materials, and coatings. Wooden dental sticks. Flexible plastic picks. Tiny interproximal brushes. Water flossers. With all these choices, what’s a conscientious person to do?

• Find What Works Best for You!

We’ve come a long way from the one-size-fits-all floss of our grandparents. Today’s plaque-removing tools are designed to make interdental cleaning easier and more efficient for users with a variety of different needs.

• Floss Choices

Flossing properly is a very effective way to get rid of the plaque that builds up between your teeth and along your gum line—not to mention the food particles which your brush may have missed. And now there are options to suit both your needs and your preferences.

Modern flosses come waxed or unwaxed, flat or rounded, made of natural or synthetic material, flavored or unflavored. There are flosses designed for specifically for braces and eco-friendly, biodegradable flosses. If you’re not happy with your regular floss, a different size, material, or texture might make all the difference.

Even with all these choices, though, flosses don’t always suit everyone. Luckily, if you’ve had trouble with floss, you have many other options available for interdental cleaning:

• Floss Picks

These tiny, handled tools hold a piece of dental floss in their curved end. You can direct the floss to the perfect spot, which is especially useful if you’re having trouble reaching your back teeth or have mobility issues. Floss picks can be disposable or refillable, and come in different sizes to accommodate adults and children.

• Dental Picks

Back in the day, toothpicks were the go-to for dislodging food particles. But they weren’t designed for gum health and safety. Today, we have gentler, more efficient options for those of us who like the ease of using a pick and the convenience of being able to clean our teeth at work, at school, or on the go.

Triangular wooden picks are tapered to fit between the teeth and massage the gum line as they scour plaque from tooth enamel. Soft plastic picks are popular because their flexible tips fit easily in between the teeth, while their texture provides gentle scrubbing for your tooth enamel.

• Interproximal Brushes

Big name; tiny brush. These little cone-shaped brushes come in various sizes so they can fit snugly and comfortably between teeth whether widely or narrowly spaced. They’re especially handy for getting around wires if you wear braces.

• Water Flossers

These high-tech tools provide a pulsing stream of water to clean between the teeth. They’re particularly helpful for those with mobility issues and those with traditional or lingual braces. To make sure you’re getting the job done, choose a model with a dental seal of approval, which means it has been tested for safety and effectiveness.                                                                                                                                                                   

With so many options, you can sample different flossing alternatives until you find the one that works best for you.

• Technique Is Key

No matter which product you choose, the key to effective plaque removal is your technique. You need to be thorough. You need to be gentle enough to protect your delicate gums, but not so gentle that you don’t remove any plaque.

Whichever method you choose, carefully follow directions to get optimal cleaning benefits while protecting tooth enamel and gum tissue. And remember, you have an expert ally in your corner—Dr. Nymberg and your team at All Smiles Family Dental! If your hygienist is seeing a lot of plaque buildup at your next exam, ask for tips to improve your interdental cleaning technique and suggestions for the best products to accommodate your specific needs.

• Choose It—Then Use It!

Even after deciding on the best tool and technique, your teeth and gums won’t benefit from your research if your floss or pick or brush or water flosser is languishing in the medicine cabinet. While dentists recommend flossing at least once each day, if you have braces or a tendency toward cavities or gum disease, your dentist might recommend flossing more often.

Why is flossing so important? Even with the best brushing technique, it can be hard to reach plaque and food particles caught between the teeth and near the gum line. Removing plaque from between teeth can help prevent cavities, and it’s especially important for gum health.

Plaque and tartar are extremely irritating to gum tissue. This irritation causes inflammation, and you’ll soon start to see the first signs of gingivitis (early gum disease)—swelling, redness, bleeding, bad breath—when flossing is hit or miss. Over time, left untreated, gingivitis can lead to periodontitis, a serious form of gum disease that can cause tooth and bone loss.

When caught early, you can often reverse the irritation, inflammation, and unpleasant symptoms of gingivitis with a week or two of careful brushing and flossing. If your gums are bothering you despite your careful cleaning, it’s time to visit our Mason dental office. There are lots of options available for getting your teeth their cleanest—but you have only one smile!

You might suspect that your wisdom teeth are starting to emerge, but knowing the signs of impacted wisdom teeth can help you be more proactive about your dental care. Impacted wisdom teeth can be extremely painful and can make your life truly miserable until they are removed. Therefore, looking for the early warning signs listed below, and seeing Dr. Nymberg if you experience them, can help you conquer the problem before it conquers you.

There are three primary signs of impacted wisdom teeth. While every person may not have all three of these signs, you can usually expect to experience at least one of these if your wisdom teeth are impacted.

Unusual Pain

If you are feeling a type of teeth pain you've never felt before, especially when it is focused in the back area of your jaw, this may be a sign that you have a tooth impaction. You may be fortunate enough to catch it early, before all of your wisdom teeth become impacted, if you see Dr. Nymberg as soon as you feel the pain.

Swollen Jaw

If your jaw is suddenly swollen and the area feels tender to the touch, you have a high chance of having an impacted tooth. Since the wisdom teeth are set so far back in your jaw, the swelling tends to show itself low in the jaw, towards the ears, when they are impacted.

Bleeding Gums

If your gums are bleeding, something you may notice when you see a pink or red tinged toothbrush, you may be dealing with a wisdom tooth issue. When the wisdom teeth are impacted, they put a lot of pressure on your back teeth and gums, which often leads to bleeding.

Visit our Mason office as soon as possible if you have any of the above signs of impacted wisdom teeth. The sooner you get treatment, the sooner the pain will be behind you for good!

Sleep apnea is an increasingly common medical condition, and one that can have a truly devastating effect on the waking life of the sufferer. Those who suffer from the disorder may find that they suffer any or all of the following side effects:

• Saliva has several important jobs, and one of them is to protect and heal your tongue, your gums, and the inside of your mouth. Snoring and sleep apnea dry out your mouth, meaning there isn’t enough time for your saliva to do all this vital work.
• Over an extended period of sleep apnea, it’s likely that the sockets of your teeth will begin to dry out overnight as a result of your gasping for air and snoring between breaths. If this happens too frequently over a long a period of time, it can start to loosen your teeth.
• Those with sleep apnea often also practice bruxism, which is the habit of clenching and grinding your teeth together as you sleep. This can lead to all manner of problems, including TMJ disorder, damage to the enamel, headaches, and toothaches.
• For obvious reasons, sleep apnea does not lead to a particularly good night’s sleep. This means that sufferers are often tired and irritable, and suffer from the many other ill effects of sleep deprivation.
• While it is unclear whether the reasons behind this are correlative or causative, it has been suggested there are links between sleep apnea and cardiac arrests, depressive disorders, Type Two diabetes, cancerous tumors, “silent” strokes, and various complications of pregnancy.

While sleep apnea can be a troubling condition, Dr. Nymberg and our team at All Smiles Family Dental will tell you it is eminently treatable. There are a number of ways to combat it, ranging from simple sleep hygiene to use of a CPAP machine. Of course, if it is possible for you to reduce your weight a little in a safe and healthy way, some have found that is also helpful in combating the problem. Sleep apnea is very easy to treat, once it has been correctly identified.

If you think you may be suffering from sleep apnea, or if you would like to know more about the condition, please give us a call at our convenient Mason office to schedule an appointment with Dr. Nymberg.