October is National Dental Hygiene Month.
How do I maintain good oral health?
Understanding proper brushing and flossing techniques and eating a well-balanced diet can go a long way toward preventing cavities. It’s also essential to see your dentist on a regular basis to help remove tartar build-up and detect any potential problems before they worsen. This can even help you save money by avoiding costly dental treatments down the road.
Being Cavity Free
For all our best intentions to brush and floss consistently, it seems that we can’t always avoid the cavity diagnosis. While brushing and flossing daily is good for your teeth and important for battling gum disease there are other things that we can do to prevent cavities from forming.
Use a mouthwash after brushing help clear out remaining cavity-forming bacteria.
Avoid snacking between meals, especially on sugary or chewy foods can accelerate the forming of cavities. But chewing vegetable fiber, like celery, after meals can help stimulate saliva, cleansing the fissures and pits where cavities typically form.
For those with braces, water picks can be used to do replace flossing which is impossible with most braces.
Chewing sugar free gum between meals, particularly sweetened by natural xylitol, can help prevent cavities by helping neutralize the PH balance in your mouth and suppressing bacteria growth.
Visit our office regularly to ensure the application of fluoride, which strengthens enamel thereby preventing tooth decay. Also, if you are prone to cavities, it’s a good idea to have ongoing checkups to catch cavities early while they are small before they can become larger problems.
Proper dental care goes beyond just brushing and flossing. Protecting our smiles isn’t always convenient, but it is rewarding.
If I am drinking water with fluoride, why do I need to also brush with a toothpaste that contains fluoride?
Both drinking water and toothpaste with fluoride provide important and complementary benefits. Fluoridated water keeps a low level of fluoride in saliva and dental plaque all day. The much higher concentration of fluoride in toothpaste offers additional benefit. Fluoride slows the activity of bacteria that cause decay and combines with enamel on the tooth surface to make it stronger and better able to resist decay. Together, the two sources offer more protection than using either one alone.
With everything going on in the world today, there are so many conflicting statements being put out by the CDC, WHO, ADA, etc.. about Dentistry and COVID-19, it's hard to know what to believe. We would like you know we understand your confusion and want to reassure you that we are taking more than the recommended precautions to protect our patients and staff.
We are a small family practice and the staff consists of Dr Ellis, Kara (his assistant) and Becky(me)(the office manager). We are only seeing one patient at a time, doing temp checks on all staff and patients, wearing (2) masks as well as face shields, antimicrobial rinses for patients before treatment, UV lights in the office when not occupied along with our already exceptional sterilization techniques.
We care about the concerns of our patients and want you to know that we are doing our part to keep everyone safe. If you have any questions about our procedures, please feel free to call.
Take advantage of your dental benefits!
Most dental insurances cover two annual cleanings and exams at little or no cost. If you have dental insurance and haven’t had your second visit for the year, now’s the time to take advantage of your benefits and schedule your appointment. If you do not have insurance, don’t worry. Give us a call and ask about the discount options available to you.
We’re open and ready to provide the dentistry you need and want, including ClearCorrect clear aligners. Call us today at (757)428-5491 to reserve time on the schedule and ask about special financing available with the CareCredit credit card.*
*Subject to credit approval. Minimum monthly payments required. See carecredit.com for details.
Think of CareCredit as your own health, wellness and beauty credit card. Whether it's oral surgery, getting a crown or a general check up, you shouldn't have to worry about how to get the procedures you want. That’s why we're pleased to accept the CareCredit health, wellness and beauty credit card. CareCredit lets you say "Yes" to recommended surgical and non-surgical dental procedures, and pay for them in convenient monthly payments that fit your financial situation.
CareCredit is a healthcare credit card that helps you pay for treatments and procedures for you or your family that may not be covered by insurance. With special financing options* You can use your CareCredit card again and again for your dental needs, as well as at 200,000 other healthcare providers, including dentists, optometrists, veterinarians, ophthalmologists and hearing specialists.
It’s free and easy to apply and you’ll receive a decision immediately. If you’re approved, you can schedule your procedures even before you receive your card. With more than 21 million accounts opened since CareCredit began nearly 30 years ago, they are the trusted source for healthcare credit cards.
Learn more by visiting www.carecredit.com or contacting our office. Ready to apply? Apply online for your CareCredit healthcare credit card today.
You'll be smiling brighter in no time! Apply Now
*Subject to credit approval. Minimum monthly payments required. Visit www.carecredit.com for details.
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What is CareCredit? | CareCredit
MESSENGER
Dr. Kevin Ellis, Family and Cosmetic Dentistry updated their business hours.
Welcome to 2021, we hope everyone is well. We are all signed up to get the vaccine in the next week. Just want to remind you that insurance benefits have renewed if you have been waiting to get your dental work done. Call us to schedule your appointment.
Dr. Ellis and staff would like to wish you all a very Happy and safe New Year. We look forward to seeing you in 2021.
We only have 13 working days left to use your dental benefits for the year and our appointments are filling fast. Don't forget to use them or lose them.
