Deep Cleaning for Gums

Deep cleaning your teeth is not something you do after eating a messy meal. A deep cleaning is required to treat gum and periodontal disease. If you haven’t been to the dentist in quite some time, you not only increase your chances of developing gum disease, you risk needing costly procedures to reverse the damage. The treatment that Dr. Dipika Shah, DDS, uses to do so is called scaling and root planing and here we are going to explain when it’s necessary.

Deep cleanings are offered when dental X-rays show bone loss and a full-mouth exam reveals one or more gum pockets greater than 4 millimeters deep. Ideally, normal healthy pockets will be no more than 3 millimeters deep. If the pockets are greater than 5 millimeters, our doctor might prescribe a deep scaling and root planing appointment. Gum disease is a chronic condition, meaning develops over long preiod of time and you may not even feel any pain till it gets severe. To prevent it you should practice proper oral hygiene at home and schedule regular cleanings twice a year.

If you think you may benefit from a deep cleaning, if you have bleeding, swollen gums, please give us a call. To learn more about the services we provide at the practice, visit www.dentistnj.com for more information. To schedule an appointment with Dr. Dipika Shah, DDS, here in our Holmdel, NJ office, call 732-264-8180. 

The Temporomandibular Joint: Explained

The temporomandibular joint (TMJ) is the jaw joint. You have two of them which work together as a pair, one in front of each ear. Without this joint, you would not be able to chew your food, yawn, or even speak. The joints connect the lower jaw bone (mandible) to the temporal bones of the skull on each side of the head. When this joint begins to cause facial pain, headaches, and/or jaw muscle spasm, Dr. Dipika Shah, DDS can develop a treatment plan.

When you open your mouth, the rounded upper ends of the mandible on each side of the jaw glide along the joint socket at the base of the skull. They slide back to their original position when you close your mouth. This joint is unique in the sense that the articular surfaces of the bones never actually come in contact with one another – they are separated by an articular disk. This disk splits the joint into two synovial joint cavities, each lined by a synovial membrane. If you have a serious concern for TMD, like headadche, ringing in the ears, neck or shoulder pain etc, you should schedule a consultation with Dr. Dipika Shah, DDS.

If you have questions about the temporomandibular joint or TMJ/TMD, please give us a call. To learn more about the services we provide at the practice, visit www.dentistnj.com for more information. To schedule an appointment with Dr. Dipika Shah, DDS, here in our Holmdel, NJ office, call 732-264-8180. 

Replace missing teeth

If you do not have enough bone to place implants or your health does not allow invasive procedure, dentures can be great alternative to replace teeth, chew better, talk better and support your oral  and facila tissue to regain good esthetics. Sometimes poor fitting or poorly adjusted dentures can give pain.. It may also be a result of new dentures, worn over soft tissues that have not developed thick, toughened layers of protective keratin. If you are experiencing gum and mouth irritation, problems eating and speaking, mouth infections and/or dentures that move around in your mouth, give Dr. Dipika Shah, DDS a call to discuss your treatment options.

If you wear dentures, it is very important you keep your mouth clean and healthy. In addition, you should never experience pain when wearing your dentures. If you do experience pain from your dentures and this discomfort is not treated by speaking slowly, eating soft foods or using an adhesive, your dentures may need to be replaced. At the dental practice of Dr. Dipika Shah, DDS, we have plenty of tooth-replacement options for you to choose from if dentures aren’t working out.

If you have dentures that are causing you pain, please give us a call. To learn more about the services we provide at the practice, visit www.dentistnj.com for more information. To schedule an appointment with Dr. Dipika Shah, DDS, here in our Holmdel, NJ office, call 732-264-8180. 

Toothbrush Care

Brushing your teeth plays an important everyday role for personal oral hygiene and effective plaque removal. You may not give much thought to cleaning your toothbrush; however appropriate toothbrush care and maintenance are important considerations for oral hygiene. At the dental practice of Dr. Dipika Shah, DDS, we want you to know how and when to replace, clean, and store your toothbrush.

The American Dental Association recommends replacing your toothbrush approximately every three to four months or sooner if bristles are frayed. However, toothbrushes will wear out more rapidly depending on factors unique to each patient. It is also important to never share a toothbrush because this practice could be a concern for people with compromised immune systems or existing infectious diseases. If your toothbrush comes in contact with another, thoroughly rinse the brush with warm tap water to remove any remaining toothbrush and debris. When you are done using the toothbrush, store it in an upright position and allow the toothbrush to air-dry until used again.

If you have further questions regarding toothbrush care, give us a call. To learn more about the services we provide at the practice, visit www.dentistnj.com for more information. To schedule an appointment with Dr. Dipika Shah, DDS, here in our Holmdel, NJ office, call 732-264-8180. 

Wisdom Tooth Decay

As we age, we acquire wisdom, and the same goes for wisdom teeth. Wisdom teeth appear between the ages of 17-21 and are known as the third set of molars. When they erupt correctly, healthy wisdom teeth can help you chomp your food.  However, if they start to cause you pain and discomfort, you may need to schedule a consultation with Dr. Dipika Shah, DDS, to discuss extraction.

If you bite on a piece of food that is too hard or you experience a mouth injury, wisdom teeth may become troublesome. They can also become cracked, broken, and decayed. Decay can form on any tooth surface, but when the decay begins to attack the wisdom teeth, depending on the position of the tooth it becomes difficult to clean. Depending on the individual case, Dr. Shah may be able to fill the tooth, but even in cases where a filling could be successfully placed, if the wisdom tooth cannot be adequately maintained, recurrent decay can occur. Though many patients tend to procrastinate through the process, extraction may be the  best route to avoid infection.

If your wisdom teeth are still intact and you have questions about removal, please give us a call. To learn more about the services we provide at the practice, visit www.dentistnj.com for more information. To schedule an appointment with Dr. Dipika Shah, DDS, here in our Holmdel, NJ office, call 732-264-8180. 

Mini-Implants

At Dr. Dipika Shah’s Holmdel, New Jersey practice, we perform dental implants on patients who require tooth restorations. For people who cannot receive full-size implants for medical conditions or lack of jaw bone to support regular implants, mini-implants can substitute some of the functions.

Mini-implants are titanium screws or ceramic rods used as mini implants to support missing tooth. Because of this, they can be placed without Dr. Shah needing to make incisions in the patient’s gums, reducing recovery time. Though stabilizing the jaw bone is one of the benefits of full-size implants, they also require a significant amount of jaw bone tissue to be present to fuse with. Mini-implants obviously require less, and can be placed in situations where full-size implants would be too cumbersome or lead to complications.

While full-size implants replace individual teeth, mini-implants are most commonly used to anchor dentures. People who have lost a lot of jaw bone tissue tend to have also lost a lot of teeth, and it makes more sense for all the teeth in a jaw to all be replaced at once with a less invasive procedure than to do it one-by-one in a multi-step process. Mini-implants used in this way provide a mild amount of reinforcement to the jaw bone, which could make it less likely to shift and warp the patient’s face around the dentures.

Dr. Dipika Shah, MAGD, operates at 723 North Beers Street, Suite 2F, Holmdel, New Jersey, 07733-1512. To schedule an appointment, call 732-264-8180 or visit DentistNJ.com and fill out a contact sheet.

 

Oral Cancers and HPV

As a Master in the Academy of General Dentistry, Dr. Dipika Shah has maintained an up-to-date knowledge of trends in oral health and dentistry. As such, she is concerned with recent studies finding that the rate of new oral cancer diagnoses has remained steady despite progress in educating the public about the dangers of tobacco. It is likely that the continued commonality of oral cancers, even while the frequency of most other cancers is declining, is due to a particular strain of the human papilloma virus (HPV).

While oral cancers resulting from nicotine and alcohol use are most commonly found in elderly men, cancers of the mouth and throat with HPV DNA occur most often in men between the ages of thirty and fifty. It is likely that people who are sexually active but are not smokers or heavy drinkers are unaware that they are in a high-risk group. Most HPV infections heal without the host having ever been aware of them, and HPV-related oral cancers tend to occur far back in the throat, where patients are unlikely to notice them until they are experiencing problems from tumors or lesions. However, HPV-related oral cancers are responsive to treatment if caught early, so it is greatly beneficial for younger people to undergo oral cancer screenings.

Dr. Dipika Shah, MAGD, operates at 723 North Beers Street, Suite 2F, Holmdel, New Jersey, 07733-1512. To schedule an appointment, call 732-264-8180 or visit DentistNJ.com and fill out a contact sheet.