Tooth surface abrasion, gum recession and toothpaste.

Toothpaste abrasion and brushing too hard and long have been known to cause gum recession and wear of teeth and exposed roots for years. This is now getting more attention in the media and has been researched more carefully.

Please refer to these links:

http://www.epinions.com/content_3128664196

http://www.saveyoursmile.com/toothpaste/toothpaste-d.html

http://jada.ada.org/content/135/11/1516.2.full

I definitely recommend using the lowest rated abrasivity toothpaste with fluoride and a tartar control formulation.

Please also remember to only brush your natural teeth with a soft or extra soft toothbrush. All of us should only brush 5 to 10 circular strokes along the cheek and lip sides of the teeth and the tongue sides of the teeth. The chewing surfaces can be brushed more vigorously. This will help avoid gum recession and root surface wear. Brushing harder does NOT replace flossing. All of us need to floss every 36 hours also to prevent plaque from hardening into tartar.

Remember you don't need to brush AND floss all of your teeth every day, only the teeth you want to keep!

Thanksgiving, a great holiday!

It is truly one of my favorite holidays. It is nice to get together with friends and family with a focus only on enjoying one another and being reflective on the wonderful world we have to live in.

Hopefully you will be able to spend some time over this holiday weekend appreciating the world we live in, including your significant others of many different degrees of separation. According to some of the latest research for the social media, we are closer to anyone else in the world than 6 degrees of separation.

The world seems huge but it really isn't that large. Hopefully we will be mindful of that in every aspect of our lives and behave accordingly. It is truly best to think globally and act locally. All of us have a direct impact on our part of the world and our part of the world is a significant part of the entire planet.

My best to you and yours during this holiday weekend and always!

Watch for our new, totally redesigned website.

We are in the process of remaking our professional office website. Fortunately we are employing some very competent help in the form of Mike Yublosky of www.diywebjem.com who is quite proficient in setting up this type of technology. He has done some wonderful work for us already.

The new website will be on a WordPress platform. We will have space for all of our Dental Family to post comments directly on the website on its blog pages. This is a very convenient way to participate and share your questions with me and the rest of our dental family at Smiles of Skokie.

I am personally very excited about this. The new design will make it very easy to communicate with everyone and update the information the website contains in a very simple fashion also. It will be a wonderful resource for all of us.