After a year of lockdowns and other COVID-19 restrictions, people are itching this summer to get back out into the great outdoors. The good news is that quite a number of national and state parks are open. But there may still be some restrictions, and you might need reservations in busier parks. The key is to plan ahead—and that includes for normal contingencies like dental emergencies.

Anyone who's physically active can encounter brunt force to the face and jaws. A tumble on a hike or a mishap with a rental bike could injure your teeth and gums, sometimes severely. But if you're already prepared, you might be able to lessen the damage yourself.

Here's a guide for protecting your family's teeth during that long-awaited summer vacation.

Locate dental and medical care. If you're heading away from home, be sure you identify healthcare providers (like hospitals or emergency rooms and clinics) in close proximity to your vacation site. Be sure your list of emergency providers also includes a dentist. Besides online searches, your family dentist may also be able to make recommendations.

Wear protective mouth gear. If your vacation involves physical activity or sports participation, a mouthguard could save you a world of trouble. Mouthguards, especially custom-made and fitted by a dentist, protect the teeth, gums and jaws from sudden blows to the face. They're a must for any activity or sport with a risk of blunt force trauma to the face and jaws, and just as important as helmets, pads or other protective gear.

Know what to do for a dental injury. Outdoor activities do carry a risk for oral and dental injuries. Knowing what to do if an accident does occur can ease discomfort and may reduce long-term consequences. For example, quickly placing a knocked out tooth back into its socket (cleaned off and handled by the crown only) could save the tooth. To make dental first aid easier, here's a handy dental injury pocket guide (//www.deardoctor.com/dental-injuries/) to print and carry with you.

And regardless of the injury, it's best to see a dentist as soon as possible after an accident. Following up with a dentist is necessary to tidy up any initial first aid, or to check the extent of an injury. This post-injury dental follow-up will help reduce the chances of adverse long-term consequences to the teeth and gums.

Your family deserves to recharge after this tumultuous year with a happy and restful summer. Just be sure you're ready for a dental injury that could put a damper on your outdoor vacation.

If you would like more information about preventing or treating dental injuries, please contact us or schedule a consultation. To learn more, read the Dear Doctor magazine article “An Introduction to Sports Injuries & Dentistry.”

Picture yourself with a beautiful smile…what do you see? Besides straight and uniform teeth framed by the gums, you should also see one other thing indicative of a great smile—your teeth an attractive shade of translucent white.

But as you age your teeth can begin to dull as the enamel loses its translucency and the underlying dentin thickens and yellows. You no longer have the bright smile you once had in younger days.

But if the discoloration is mainly on the outer enamel, teeth whitening could be your answer for regaining your youthful smile. This is a procedure in which we apply a solution containing a bleaching agent (usually hydrogen peroxide) to your teeth. Aided by heat or light to activate it, the solution can temporarily whiten the enamel.

Teeth whitening isn't an exclusive treatment provided by a dentist—there are a number of retail products that enable you to bleach your teeth at home. But there are distinct advantages to having your teeth professionally whitened.

For one, we can control the level of brightness by adjusting the strength of the bleaching solution. This allows you to achieve the kind of look you want—from a more natural and subtler shade to a more dazzling color often called “Hollywood White.”

Any external teeth whitening application will fade with time, regardless of whether they're professional or DIY. But a dental office whitening may last longer due to our stronger solutions and curing techniques. And, by caring for your whitening (by avoiding tobacco and food items that stain teeth) and obtaining occasional touch-ups in our office, the shine could last for a few years.

Again, this particular whitening technique only works with outer staining and yellowing. If your discoloration originates from inside the teeth, you'll need a more invasive method. And your teeth should be reasonably healthy before undergoing whitening.

All in all, though, teeth whitening is an easy and affordable way to brighten your smile. It could help you take years off your appearance.

If you would like more information on teeth whitening, please contact us or schedule an appointment for a consultation. You can also learn more about this topic by reading the Dear Doctor magazine article “Teeth Whitening: Brighter, Lighter, Whiter….”

The timing around losing a tooth may not always sync with your financial ability. It's not unusual for people to postpone getting a dental implant—by far the best option for replacing a missing tooth—because of its expense.

So, if you have to postpone dental implants until you can afford them, what do you do in the meantime to keep your smile intact? One affordable option is a temporary restoration known as a flexible removable partial denture (RPD).

Composed of a kind of nylon developed in the 1950s, flexible RPDs are made by first heating the nylon and injecting its softened form into a custom mold. This creates a gum-colored denture base to which prosthetic (false) teeth are affixed at the exact locations for missing teeth.

Differing from a permanent RPD made with rigid acrylic plastic, a nylon-based RPD is flexible and lightweight, making them comfortable to wear. They're kept in place with small nylon extensions that fit into the natural concave spaces of teeth. And, with a bit of custom crafting, they can look quite realistic.

RPDs are helpful in another way, especially if you're waiting for an implant down the road: They help preserve the missing tooth space. Without a prosthetic tooth occupying that space, neighboring teeth can drift in. You might then need orthodontic treatment to move errant teeth to where they should be before obtaining a permanent restoration.

Flexible RPDs may not be as durable as acrylic RPDs, and can be difficult to repair or reline if needed to adjust the fit. Though they may not stain as readily as acrylic dentures, you'll still need to clean them regularly to help them keep looking their best. This also aids in protecting the rest of your mouth from dental disease by removing any buildup of harmful bacterial plaque on the RPD.

But even with these limitations, patients choose RPDs for the simple fact that they're affordable and temporary. And the latter is their greatest benefit—providing you a “bridge” between losing a tooth and replacing it with a durable dental implant.

If you would like more information on tooth replacement options, please contact us or schedule an appointment for a consultation. You can also learn more about this topic by reading the Dear Doctor magazine article “Flexible Partial Dentures.”

Ashley Graham has a beautiful and valuable smile—an important asset to her bustling career as a plus-size model and television host. But she recently revealed on Instagram a “confrontation” between one of her teeth and a frozen oatmeal cookie. The cookie won.

Holding her hand over her mouth during the video until the last moment, Graham explained how she sneaked a cookie from her mom's freezer and took a bite of the frozen treat. Taking her hand from her mouth, she revealed her broken tooth.

Okay, maybe it wasn't an actual tooth that was broken: the denticle in question appeared to have been previously altered to accommodate a porcelain veneer or crown. But whatever was once there wasn't there anymore.

Although her smile was restored without too much fuss, Graham's experience is still a cautionary tale for anyone with dental work (and kudos to her for being a good sport and sharing it). Although dental work in general is quite durable, it is not immune to damage. Biting down on something hard, even as delicious as one of mom's frozen oatmeal cookies, could run you the risk of popping off a veneer or loosening a crown.

To paraphrase an old saying: Take care of your dental work, and it will take care of you. Don't use your teeth in ways that put your dental work at risk, tempting as it may be given your mouth's mechanical capabilities.

 Even so, it's unwise—both for dental work and for natural teeth—to use your teeth and jaws for tasks like cracking nuts or prying open containers. You should also avoid biting into foods or substances with hard textures like ice or a rock-hard cookie from the freezer, especially if you have veneers or other cosmetic improvements.

It's equally important to clean your mouth daily, and undergo professional cleanings at least twice a year. That might not seem so important at first since disease-causing organisms won't infect your dental work's nonliving materials. But infection can wreak havoc on natural tissues like gums, remaining teeth or underlying bone that together often support dental enhancements. Losing that support could lead to losing your dental work.

And it's always a good idea to have dental work, particularly dentures, checked regularly. Conditions in the mouth can change, sometimes without you noticing them, so periodic examinations by a trained dental provider could prevent or treat a problem before it adversely affects your dental work.

We're glad Ashley Graham's trademark smile wasn't permanently harmed by that frozen cookie, and yours probably wouldn't be either in a similar situation. But don't take any chances, and follow these common sense tips for protecting your dental work.

If you would like more information on care and maintenance of cosmetic dental work, please contact us or schedule a consultation. To learn more, read the Dear Doctor magazine articles “Porcelain Veneers: Strength & Beauty as Never Before” and “Dental Implant Maintenance.”

There's a lot to like about porcelain veneers, especially as you get older. For one, they can be less expensive and invasive than other cosmetic restorations. More importantly, though, they're versatile—they can solve a variety of dental appearance problems.

Veneers are thin shells of porcelain that are bonded to the front of teeth to alter their appearance—a work of custom art crafted by a dental technician to fit an individual patient's dental needs. They can turn back the clock on a less than attractive smile, and, with a little care, could last for years.

Here are some dental appearance problems you might encounter in your later years that veneers may help you improve.

Discoloration. As we get older, our teeth color can change—and not for the better. Teeth whitening temporarily brightens dull and dingy teeth, but the effect will fade over time. Additionally, there are some forms of staining, particularly those arising from within a tooth, for which external whitening can't help. Veneers can mask discoloration and give a new, permanent shine to teeth.

Unattractive shape. As we age, wearing on teeth can cause them to appear shorter and create sharper angles around the edges. Veneers can be used to restore length and soften the shape of teeth. Because veneers can be customized, we can actually create a tooth shape that you believe will improve your appearance.

Dental flaws. A lifetime of biting and chewing, not to mention a chance injury, can lead to chips, cracks or other dental defects. But veneers can cover over unsightly flaws that cause you to be less confident in your smile. Veneers can give you back the smile you once had or, if you were born with dental flaws, the smile you never had.

Misalignments. The biting forces we encounter throughout our lifetime can move teeth out of alignment, or widen gaps between them. You can undergo orthodontic treatment to correct these misalignments problems, but if they're relatively minor, we may be able to use veneers to “straighten” your smile.

If you're concerned about the effects of aging on your smile, veneers could help you look younger. Visit us for a full dental evaluation to see if a veneer restoration is right for you.

If you would like more information on porcelain veneers, please contact us or schedule an appointment for a consultation. You can also learn more about this topic by reading the Dear Doctor magazine article “Porcelain Veneers: Strength & Beauty as Never Before.”