Secrets Your Dentist Won't Tell

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130 TELL YOU BY CHRIS WOOLSTON Never SECRETS YOUR DENTIST WILL readersdigest.com 7/09

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Contributed to the reporting of this fun story, which appeared in the July 2009 issue of Reader's Digest

Transcript of Secrets Your Dentist Won't Tell

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TELLYOUB Y C H R I S W O O L S T O N

NeverSECRETSYOURDENTISTWILL

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What your insurancecompanywantsustodo isn’t necessarilywhat’s best for you.‘ ,

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YouDon’tGet It>> Some truly educated people thinkthat if nothing in their mouth hurts,they’re fine. High cholesterol doesn’thurt, either, but it’s a big problem. Ihonestly think that the general popu-lation doesn’t understand that theirmouth is part of their body.

Danine Fresch Gray, DDS,general dentist, Arlington, Virginia

>> If your hands bledwhenyouwashedthem, you’d run to the doctor. But inthe public’s mind, bleeding gums areokay.Unless you’re reallywhaling awaywith your brush, if your gums bleedeven a little, that’s periodontal disease,period. Ron Schefdore, DMD,

general dentist, Chicago, Illinois

>> The advice to see your dentisttwice a year applies only if you havehealthy gums. Most people don’t.

Chris Kammer, DDS,cosmetic dentist, Middleton, Wisconsin

Doyouflossaboutasoftenasyouflipyourmattress?Do you spendmore time putting toothpaste on your brushthan actually cleaning your teeth? Dentists notice thesethings. And that’s not all. They also knowwhenyou’re askingfor a procedure that’s going to disappoint you and wheninsurancecompaniesarestintingonthecareyoursmileneeds.Weasked 22dentists fromacross the country to tell uswhatthey’re really thinking as they peer at our teeth. What cameout of theirmouthswill change theway you treat yours.

>>Many of my patients have peri-odontal disease affecting their backteeth, but their front teeth are fine.Evidently, they brush only what otherssee. Joel Slaven, DDS,

general dentist, Valencia, California

>> Dentists often tell patients withadvanced gum disease to floss moreoften. But flossing is useless at thatpoint. Imagine trying to clean out thebottom of a shirt pocket with a pieceof string tied to your fingers.

Reid Winick, DDS,holistic dentist, New York, New York

>>People come tomewith amouthfulof tooth decay and say, “I gotmy grand-father’s soft teeth.” I don’t even knowwhat soft teeth are. Bryan Tervo, DDS,

general dentist, Trenton, Ohio

>>When someone meets you for thefirst time, the first thing they noticeis eyes. Second is teeth, and third is

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hair. But people spend way moremoney on their hair than their teeth.

Damian Dachowski , DMD,general dentist, Horsham, Pennsylvania

>> Proper oral hygiene requires tenminutes of brushing and flossing everyday. The average adult spends two orthree minutes total, and kids do evenworse. Joel Slaven, DDS

OurNoses StillWork>> People who smoke try to cover itup with mints or mouthwash, but thatstench is steeped into their gum tis-sue and the tissues in their mouth.

Jennifer Jablow, DDS,cosmetic dentist, New York, New York

>> Brushing doesn’t go deep enoughinto the gums to reach the plaque thatcauses bad breath. You need to flossevery day and get a cleaning every fewmonths. If you do all that and still havebad breath, I start looking into diet andchecking for health problems.

Ned Windmil ler, DDS,general dentist, Stillwater, Minnesota

>> A mouthwash with alcohol driesout your mouth—you’ll smell nice and

minty for a half hour, but then the badbreath comes back worse than ever.

Gary Herskovits, DDS

“Newand Improved”?Yeah,Right>> There’s no reason to sanitize atoothbrush unless you’re sharing itwith other people. Those UV devices

and other germ zappers are totallyunnecessary. Joel Slaven, DDS

>>There’s a limit to what toothpastecan do. Newwhitening formula? It canget rid of surface stains, but it can’twhiten like a bleach.

Careen Young, DDS,prosthodontist, Beverly Hills, California

>> The electric toothbrush is one ofthe best things to ever happen to den-tistry. The newer ones replicate pro-fessional cleaning—they won’t reachmuch below the gum line, but they’refar superior to regular toothbrushes.The cheap ones are okay for kids, butyou’ll have to pay more than $75 for areally good brush with a warranty andreplacement heads.

Danine Fresch Gray, DDS

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’‘ IF YOUR BREATHIS BAD,WEWON’T TELLYOU UNLESS YOU ASK.

Gary Herskovits, DDS, family dentist, Brooklyn, New York

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>> I wish people still used theWater-pik [a water-shooting device that waspopular in the 1970s]. Each tooth issurrounded by a putrid, germymoat ofsaliva. If you replace that moat everyday, you’ll go a long way toward keep-ing your mouth clean and your gumshealthy. Chris Kammer, DDS

WeBlameYouWhenBabyTeethGoBad>> It’s not unusual for me to see abeautiful little child dressed to thenines with teeth rotted down to the

gums. And I’ll see teenagers fromaffluent homes with nine cavities.It’s just a total breakdown in parentalsupervision. Joel Slaven, DDS

>> For the past 20 years, we’ve beentelling parents about baby bottle toothdecay and not to let a child go to sleepwith a bottle. But I haven’t seen muchof a change. Winifred J. Booker, DDS,

pediatric dentist, Owings Mills, Maryland

>> The bacteria that cause cavitiescan be spread from mother to babythrough saliva. If you have poor den-

tal health and you taste your baby’sfood and then pop the same spoon intohis mouth, you’re putting him at risk.

Mark Helpin, DMD,pediatric dentist, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

>> Kids with dental problems oftenstruggle in school. They’re distractedand easily agitated. Teachers will saythey have behavior problems, but theyreally have toothaches.

Winifred J. Booker, DDS

>> I have to extract a lot of baby teeththat are abscessed or heavily decayed.

Parents think there’s no reason to payattention to baby teeth because theyfall out. But when a tooth comes outprematurely, other teeth crowd in tofill up the space. Without the righttreatment, it turns into a mess.

Paul Hettinger, DMD,general dentist, Orlando, Florida

FreeAdvice>> If you want to reduce the bad bac-teria in your mouth, you should be allover xylitol [a sugar substitute foundin chewing gum]. It changes the chem-istry of yourmouth. Six or seven pieces

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’‘ I CALL SODA POP THE LIQUIDCHAIN SAW. IT CUTS THROUGHTEETH.AND IT’S NOT JUST THE

SUGAR—IT’S THE ACID.Chris Kammer, DDS

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of xylitol gum every daywill help keepcavities away. Chris Kammer, DDS

>> Some people give up on toothwhitening because the gel irritates theirteeth and gums. Just use a fluoride rinseor gel before and after—it’ll make yourteeth much less sensitive.

Ned Windmil ler, DDS

>>With any kind of mouth piercing,there’s a huge risk of infection if it’snot done in a really sterile environ-ment. I’ve seen cases where we’ve hadto cut out pieces of the tongue becausethe infection was so rampant. Evenwhen things go well, virtually every-one I see with a tongue piercing haschipped front teeth. Don’t pierce yourtongue. Jay Grossman, DDS,

cosmetic dentist, Brentwood, California

QuitWorrying>>Amalgam [silver] fillings do releasea small amount of mercury throughwear and tear in the mouth. But you’dhave to have about 300 fillings for themercury level to get high enough topose even the smallest risk.

Edmond Hewlett, DDS,prosthodontist, Los Angeles, California

>>Takingmetal fillings out can releasemore mercury than leaving them in.Brody Hildebrand, DDS, orthodontist,Dallas,Texas

>>Composite [tooth-colored] fillingsare popular, but a metal filling is goingto be more durable, especially for big-ger jobs. Brody Hildebrand, DDS

>> I have amalgam fillings in my ownmouth. There’s no proof that they doany harm. Convincing patients to re-move their fillings for health reasonsis quackery. Michael Alkon, DMD,

general dentist, Holmdel, New Jersey

>>A lot of patients are worried thatdental X-rays can cause cancer, but ifyou’re outside for an hour, you’re ex-posed to more radiation than you’dget from a full set of dental X-rays.What I worry about is that if I don’ttake an X-ray, I might miss somethingserious. Bryan Tervo, DDS

WeHate InsurersToo>>A few decades ago, most insuranceplans would cover up to $1,000 or$1,500 in dental bills every year. Today,a single crown can cost that much, butmost policies still have the same limit.People are getting teeth pulled thatcould be fixed because they can’t af-ford to pay for the work.

Bryan Tervo, DDS

>> Patients seem receptive to every-thing I say until I tell them howmuchit costs. I feel really good when pa-tients accept 40 percent of what Irecommend. Joel Slaven, DDS

>> If you’re missing teeth, chancesare that your insurance companywon’t cover implants—only one out22 insurance companies I deal withcovers them, even though they’re bet-ter than dentures in every way.

Joel Slaven, DDS

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YourTeethCanAlertUs toDisease>> Misaligned teeth can cause mi-graine headaches. If we can align theteeth and fix the bite, the pain oftengoes away. Mai-Ly Ramirez, DDS,

general dentist, San Francisco, California

>>One of the first signs of diabetes isbleeding gums. I started taking bloodsamples from all my patients withbleeding gums and bone loss around

the teeth and discovered that many ofthem were diabetic or prediabetic.

Ron Schefdore, DMD

We’reNotMiracleWorkers>> Patients come in with pictures ofcelebrities and say, “I want to look justlike her.” I’m sitting there thinking, Youcan’t have a smile that looks like An-gelina Jolie’s, because you don’t have aface that fits those teeth. It’s like whenyou get your hair color done—you can’tjust put the samehighlights or lowlightsin everybody’s hair. Jay Grossman, DDS

>> Teeth get whiter when they dryout. Some dentists promise that theiroffice procedures will make yourteeth four shades whiter. But if youleave your mouth open for an hour,you could easily be two shades whiterjust from dehydration.

Careen Young, DDS

>> If you bleach your teeth too often,it can thin the enamel. Your teeth canend up almost translucent.

Jennifer Jablow, DDS

WeFeelYourPain>> People say something difficult islike pulling teeth. But pulling teeth isreally fast and easy. Mark Mutschler, DDS,

pediatric dentist, Oregon City, Oregon

>> Everyone should be able to getbasic dental care. At our public healthclinic in the Shenandoah Valley, wesee a lot of people who don’t havemoney, and some of them need to haveevery tooth in their head taken out.It’s like a Third World country.

Lori Wilson, DDS,general dentist, Petersburg, Virginia

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’‘WHENCHOOSINGADENTIST,CHECKIFTHEMAGAZINES INTHEWAITINGROOMARECURRENT.THAT

SHOWSATTENTIONTODETAIL.Michael Alkon, DMD

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>> I tell nervous patients that we cangive them the sedative triazolam anhour or so before their appointment—they just need to have someone elsedrive. It works so well that sometimesthey don’t remember the appointment.

Chris Kammer, DDS

>>A study showed that tooth implantsincrease libido, probably because peo-ple feel muchmore confident withoutmissing teeth or dentures sliding allover the place. Jim Janakievski , DDS,

periodontist, Tacoma, Washington

>>Many people without insurancedon’t go to a dentist until they’re in atragic situation. They could wind upneeding $20,000 worth of work.

Paul Hettinger, DMD

WeChooseOurOwnDentistsCarefully>>Cosmetic dentistry works only ona healthy mouth—you can’t build ahouse on a swamp. But if you lookaround, you can find a dentist whowilldo cosmetic work without treatingyour gum disease first. There are a lotof incompetents and outright charla-tans in my profession.

Joel Slaven, DDS

>> I put in veneers for a living, butthey’re really overused. At some of-fices, patients come in for a simplecleaning and are sold on the idea ofgetting veneers too. Veneers are ex-cellent for making teeth longer, but ifwhat you want is to get your teeth

whiter, use a bleach. If they’re toocrowded, get them straightened.

Careen Young, DDS

>> Some dentists will say you needa deep cleaning because they cancharge your insurance company morefor that than for a standard cleaning.But unless an exam shows you havea lot of tartar on your roots or otherspecific signs of disease, you proba-bly don’t need it. Careen Young, DDS

>>People assume that themore a den-tist charges, the better the dentist is.But I see no correlation. Ask cowork-ers or friends and family for a recom-mendation, but make sure they’vebeen going to their dentist for at leastfive years. It takes that long to know ifcrowns and fillings are any good.

Paul Hettinger, DMD

WeWishYou’dThinkAhead>> People come in for an appoint-ment without knowing what their in-surance covers. They think we havea crystal ball that tells us everyone’sinsurance information. We don’t. Andwe need to find out what’s coveredbefore we can do anything.

Damian Dachowski , DMD

>>Don’t eat a heavy garlic lunch be-fore coming to see us—we’d appreci-ate that. Jennifer Jablow, DDS

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Keep your smile healthy: Get info aboutbad breath, gum disease, and more at

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