Category: Dental Care

Q

What’s the best manual toothbrush?

A

I get asked this a lot. For something as basic as brushing twice daily, we sure have made it complicated!

Here, I’ll walk you through…

1. What actually matters when choosing a brush

2. The three that I most commonly recommend

What matters when choosing a brush

The things I look for, in order of importance:

Soft (or extra) soft bristles: This is priority number one. Medium and hard bristles can cause gingival abrasion or create microabrasions in enamel, which can leave the teeth more susceptible to cavities, gum recession, and sensitivity.Quality bristles: This is a must-have because of the potential for bristles to do major damage. I’ve seen this damage first-hand in my patients. When a manufacturer takes shortcuts, the result is low quality bristles with sharp or jagged edges which damage teeth.STOP using medium or hard bristles, which can cause gingival abrasion + create microabrasions in enamel.

Bristles should be
1. soft
2. quality
3. replaced often@AmerDentalAssn seal of acceptance is a good guide for determining bristle quality

— Dr. Mark Burhenne (@askthedentist) February 21, 2021

How Important is the ADA Seal?

The ADA Seal of Acceptance lays out a good framework for how to judge whether bristles are safe. That said, there are some great toothbrushes out there that couldn’t afford going through the ADA Seal process even though they meet the requirements—two of these is included in my list below, the Oral-B and the Nimbus. To qualify for the seal, the manufacturer must provide evidence that their bristles are “free of sharp or jagged edges and endpoints” as well as pay a fee to be able to use the seal in their marketing.

In other words, if you’re in a hurry, the ADA Seal is a good shortcut. But, there aren’t that many brushes that have it. If in doubt, consult your dentist to ask if a brush has quality bristles or not.

Ask the Dentist is supported by readers. If you use one of the links below and buy something, Ask the Dentist makes a little bit of money at no additional cost to you. I rigorously research, test, and use thousands of products every year, but recommend only a small fraction of these. I only promote products that I truly feel will be valuable to you in improving your oral health.

Which Manual Brushes I Recommend

Best Manual Toothbrush for People Who Brush Too Hard

Radius Source

The wide massaging head helps prevent doing enamel and gum damage, since the forces are spread over a great surface area.The Radius Source reduces toothbrush waste by 93%. You keep the same handle and just change the replacement heads.The super-soft vegetable nylon bristles are great for bleeding, receding, or sensitive gums.Personally, I love the grip on this one. This is my personal go-to that I use daily. I also travel with the Radius Travel, which has the exact same head as the regular model.

Best Budget-friendly Manual Toothbrush

Oral-B Cross Action Manual Toothbrush

I gave these out in my private practice for over 30 years, so I’ve seen the long term effects of this brush, so I trust it implicitly. This is the old standby, you can’t go wrong.This brush works out to be just under $2.50 per brush.The value pack size is something I hope will encourage you to replace your toothbrush often (every 4-6 weeks to prevent bristles from wearing out and doing damage).I like to keep these on hand for guests who forgot their toothbrush.

Best Manual Toothbrush for Bleeding or Receding Gums

Nimbus Extra Soft Toothbrushes

This brush does NOT have the ADA Seal of Acceptance, simply because they are a small business that hasn’t paid for it. But it certainly meets the requirements. This is a great example of why the ADA Seal of Acceptance is a good shortcut, but it certainly misses a lot of great brushes.Invented by a periodontist, designed to get in between spaces, which is especially great for people with gingivitis or gum recession.The first time you use this brush, you might notice your teeth don’t feel as clean. Give it time to adjust—your teeth are getting clean without the harsh scrubbing, I promise.The beauty of the Nimbus is that it alerts you to areas in your mouth where you have recession or gingivitis. You’ll notice tenderness whenever the Nimbus bristles come to an area of the gums that inflamed—alerting you to focus a bit more on that area. I noticed this the first time I tried the Nimbus on myself—it caused tenderness in all of my usual areas of inflammation. By knowing the areas I needed to work on, over time, those areas got better! What wonderful feedback to be getting from a toothbrush, and a manual one at that!

So, there you have it. Those are my go-to manual toothbrush recommendations, but certainly not the only great manual brushes to choose from.

To recap, bristles should be…

SoftQuality (Use ADA Seal of Acceptance guidelines to determine this—not necessarily the Seal itself, which is pay to play)Replaced often (every 4-6 weeks, because even the best quality toothbrush will wear out and become too sharp for enamel)

Hope that simplifies things for you a bit! For further reading, I recommend my guide How to Brush Your Teeth to improve your technique as well as my guide to the best electric toothbrushes. 

Referenceshttps://www.mouthhealthy.org/en/ada-seal-products/category-display/compare-products/product-report?productid=3987&company=Radius+Corp.https://www.ada.org/en/member-center/oral-health-topics/toothbrushesAmerican National Standards Institute/American Dental Association. Standard No. 119 Manual Toothbrushes. Chicago, IL: American Dental Association; 2015.https://www.ada.org/en/science-research/ada-seal-of-acceptance/how-to-earn-the-ada-seal/general-criteria-for-acceptance

The post The Top 3 Manual Toothbrushes I Recommend to Patients appeared first on Ask the Dentist.

Did you miss our previous article…
https://www.cosmeticdentists-usa.com/?p=374

A new study, conducted by a team at the University of Buffalo, reports that a bacterium called Veillonella parvula plays a supporting role in causing gum diseases by inducing the multiplication of the pathogen Porphyromonas gingivalis.

The aim of the study, published in The ISME Journal, was to understand the ways by which P.gingivalis forms colonies inside the mouth.

The question was how this pathogen could populate without growth molecules. The researchers found out that it obtained growth molecules from Vparvula, a common bacterium of our oral microbiome.

The presence of V. parvula alone is not harmful. It is their proliferation, which occurs in a mouth with poor hygiene, that kickstarts the replication of P. gingivalis.

Highlights of The Study

The researchers at the UB School of Dental Medicine investigated Pgingivalis for around two decades. The study could be summarised as follows:

The study was conducted on a pertinent mouse model and in vitro culture systems and was focused on understanding how the growth molecules controlled the growth and colonization of P. gingivalisFive bacterial species that are prevalent during gum disease were selected and the interaction between the growth molecules of these bacteria with P. gingivalis was tested.Of the five types of bacteria, it was noticed that only the growth molecules of V. parvula influenced the multiplication of P. gingivalis.Another interesting finding was that P. gingivalis stopped multiplying when V. paravula was eliminated from the microbiome. However, the presence of V. paravula was not enough as the replication of P. gingivalis was triggered only when V. paravula existed in a large population.The study suggested that P. gingivalis enjoyed a unidirectional relationship with V. paravula as the sharing of growth molecules brought no obvious advantage to the latter.Apart from the growth molecules, V. paravula forms heme (blood) that served as an excellent source of iron for P. gingivalis.The unidirectional relationship was further confirmed by an increase in periodontal bone loss caused by P. gingivalis in the presence of V.paravula.It remains unclear if the growth-stimulating molecules produced by P. gingivalis are similar to that of V.paravula and more research is needed.

Why This Matters

Over 47% of adults above 30 years of age have some form of gum disease, according to the CDC.

Researchers could formulate specific therapies to manage periodontitis with the help of a deeper insight into the relation between Vparvula and Pgingivalis. Here are a few points that the investigators came up with:

In a person with good oral health, P.gingivalis forms a very small percentage of the microflora inside the mouth and it cannot multiply.On the other hand, in individuals with poor oral hygiene and minimal plaque control, V.parvula multiplies at a rapid rate and produces sufficient growth molecules that can trigger the replication process of Pgingivalis

Therapies that aim at removing V. parvula from the oral microflora can prove beneficial in keeping gum diseases at bay. However, we should bear in mind that their presence alone is not harmful. It is their proliferation, which occurs in a mouth with poor hygiene, that kickstarts the replication of P. gingivalis. Hence, plaque control and maintenance of good oral hygiene are certainly the best ways of preventing and treating periodontal disease.

ReferencesAnilei Hoare, Hui Wang, Archana Meethil, Loreto Abusleme, Bo-Young Hong, Niki M. Moutsopoulos, Philip D. Marsh, George Hajishengallis & Patricia I. Diaz (2020). The ISME Journal Multidisciplinary Journal of Microbial Ecology. A cross-species interaction with a symbiotic commensal enables cell-density-dependent growth and in vivo virulence of an oral pathogen. Full text: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41396-020-00865-y

The post New Study: How Does P. Gingivalis Colonize the Mouth? appeared first on Ask the Dentist.

Did you miss our previous article…
https://www.cosmeticdentists-usa.com/?p=373

Many health-related articles and websites point to having a healthy gut microbiome as the key to living an overall healthy lifestyle. However, before the gut microbiome comes into the picture, it’s the oral microbiome that is at the forefront of keeping you and your immune system in good condition. 

Maintaining a healthy oral microbiome is a major focus of my dentistry, so I am always looking for resources that will help guide people in taking the best care of their mouths.

That’s where the book, Heal Your Oral Microbiome, by Cass Nelson-Dooley comes in. This book focuses exclusively on the oral microbiome and teaches you how your mouth paves the way towards full-body health, as well as important steps to take in order to heal and balance your oral microbiome.

It’s the first book of its kind. During 40 years of dental practice, I had never before read information like this- all in one place. Yet, as dentists, we are working with the oral microbiome every day. I’m so happy this information is finally available to patients and dentists alike. This is why I call Heal Your Oral Microbiome a “pillar book.” It’s one of my top four most highly recommended books.

These “Pillar Books” Are Game-Changers in the Field of Dental Health

Heal Your Oral MicrobiomeVitamin K2 and the Calcium ParadoxTongue-TiedJaws

What is Heal Your Oral Microbiome about? 

Heal Your Oral Microbiome dives into the world of bacteria contained within your mouth and offers science-based tips on how you can improve your health by first fixing your mouth-gut microbiome connection. 

Qualified Author

The author, Cass Nelson-Dooley, M.S., began her career in the field of science and natural medicine after she studied medicinal plants in the rain forests of Panama, in 2003. She researched the pharmacology of medicinal plants at the University of Georgia and AptoTec, Inc, and then started a career in laboratory testing at Metametrix Clinical Laboratory. She has over a decade of experience teaching doctors about integrative and functional laboratory results. She owns Health First Consulting, LLC, a medical communications company with the mission to improve human health using the written word. In addition to Heal Your Oral Microbiome, Ms. Nelson-Dooley has published case studies, book chapters, and journal articles about natural medicine, nutrition, and laboratory testing.  

What This Book Will Tell You

From the start of her book, Nelson-Dooley aims for the reader to recognize that the oral microbiome is made up of 99 percent “good,” or necessary, bacteria and only about one percent “bad,” or infectious, bacteria, and the key to having a healthy oral microbiome is actively nourishing those good bacteria instead of trying to kill off the tiny amount of bad ones.

The author highlights the essential roles that the good bacteria in your oral microbiome perform, including protecting you from pathogens, regulating your immune response, making vitamins, and even helping you lose weight. But most importantly, the good bacteria in your oral microbiome help you build up a resistance to infections from any bad bacteria that manage to slip past your defenses. 

Amidst an informative tour of the oral cavity and easy-to-understand scientific descriptions of the most common oral diseases, Heal Your Oral Microbiome focuses on the natural, safe things you can do to optimize your oral microbiome.

Key Tips from the Book

Here are a few key takeaways from Heal Your Microbiome that I found to be the most helpful and that you can easily apply to your day-to-day life. 

Eat more prebiotic-rich foods such as vegetables and fruits to build your oral microbiome

A diet that is low in sugar and refined carbohydrates can encourage a healthier oral microbiome. Sugar and packaged foods (those containing refined carbohydrates) promote dysbiosis of the oral microbiome, which show up as cavities, gum disease, or root canal infections. To feed your healthy oral bacteria with the prebiotics they crave, it’s best to eat whole foods rich in fiber, and eat the rainbow of fruits and vegetables. But you can also take prebiotics in a powder form or a chewable, like Hyperbiotics’ Prebiotic.

Boost your dental health and say goodbye to the bacterium that causes stomach ulcers, Helicobacter pylori

It’s hard to believe that brushing and flossing can reduce stomach ulcers, but Nelson-Dooley shows that the mouth is intimately linked to the gut in Heal Your Oral Microbiome. People who get regular dental cleanings can get rid of ulcers and H. pylori more effectively than those who don’t. The benefits of dental hygiene for whole-body health don’t stop there. Brushing and flossing can also lower inflammatory markers in your blood and reduce the risk of heart attacks.

Stay away from antiseptic mouthwashes

Bacteria that live in your mouth help you make a chemical called nitric oxide, which plays a critical role in your cardiovascular system by making blood flow smoothly. However, using antiseptic mouthwash usually kills both the bad and good bacteria in your mouth. And once the good bacteria is damaged, it can no longer produce nitric oxide, and your blood pressure can increase.

Final Thoughts on Heal Your Oral Microbiome

Heal Your Oral Microbiome is a must read if you truly want to understand oral health and how it affects the health of your overall systemic wellbeing. I have been practicing dentistry for 40 years and I think this should be required reading in dental schools. Easily read by both the layperson and professional, this book is a healthcare gem, and will, by reading it, greatly improve the quality of your life. An essential read for better health!

The post ‘Heal Your Oral Microbiome’ Book Review appeared first on Ask the Dentist.