The History of Wisdom Teeth

Wisdom teeth can be a pain in the neck or more specifically the mouth. These teeth appear later in life, emerging in the upper and lower back areas of the mouth in the 17-25 age years. After wisdom teeth grow in completely, your dentist may recommend a tooth extraction to prevent infection. At Kidz Connextion located in Phoenix, AZ, your dentist provides safe and effective wisdom tooth extractions. But first, the question remains, why do we have wisdom teeth anyway?

History of Wisdom Teeth

Since they are the last to appear in the human mouth, wisdom teeth garnered the title “wisdom” presumably because they make you wiser. Wisdom teeth were once very useful in human history, aiding our ancestors to chew and tear tough roots, meats, nuts, and plants. But because most of the human diet today is soft and cooked foods, the need for wisdom teeth is virtually none, with anthropologists suggesting their DNA may soon completely disappear from genetics.

Wisdom Teeth Today: Extractions and Removal

Since wisdom teeth aren’t needed anymore today, they are more likely to do harm than good to your mouth. When a wisdom tooth can’t break through the gums or is stuck under the gums, this means it’s impacted. A wisdom tooth that grows at the wrong angle due to lack of room in the mouth also is impacted. Partially impacted wisdom teeth, which only slightly emerge from the gums are also a cause for concern. 

Your Phoenix, AZ dentist recommends an extraction when your wisdom tooth is impacted and if you experience the following symptoms:

-Pain

-Infection

-Ulcers near the tooth

-Tooth decay

-Damage to nearby teeth

-Gum disease

-Trouble opening jaw

-Bleeding gums

-Sudden bad breath

Sometimes wisdom teeth, even if not impacted, don’t need to be removed because they cause no oral health issues. Here are examples of when you don’t need an extraction:

-Your wisdom teeth are healthy and fully grown in

-Your wisdom teeth are positioned correctly

-Your wisdom teeth are easily reached for proper dental hygiene

Kidz Connextion has three convenient locations in Phoenix, Arizona. To schedule an appointment at 2533 N 75th St, text 623-232-0749. For our office at 2046 N 24th St, text 480-666-5984. For our office at 524 E Baseline Rd, text 480-405-4714. Or, visit Kidz Connextion on our website.

How Stress Affects Your Dental Health

When it comes to stress, mental or emotional strain may be the first thought to come to mind, but stress also greatly impacts a person’s dental health. At Kids Connextion located in Phoenix, AZ, your dentists pride themselves in treating all things teeth, including any stress-induced condition you may face. Here are a few ways stress affects your dental health. 

Teeth Grinding

Bruxism or clenching and grinding of the teeth can be caused by stress and anxiety. Oftentimes, you’re unaware you’re even grinding since occurs during sleep, leading to enamel damage and even jaw soreness and headaches. To protect your teeth from the damaging effects of grinding, your Phoenix, AZ dentists recommend a dental night guard to wear. 

Gum Disease

Another condition potentially caused by stress is gum disease. If you’re under extreme stress, you are more inclined to snacking on sugary food or even forgetting to take care of your teeth. Failure to brush or floss regularly increases your risk of tooth decay and gum disease.

Canker Sores

Wondering why those pesky and painful spots appear in your mouth? Canker sores or mouth ulcers are also thought to be triggered by stress or a decreased immune system. These shallow wounds occur around the insides of your lips and make it difficult to eat or talk. These sores naturally disappear after 7-10 days, but if your sores are recurring, your dentists at Kids Connextion in Phoenix, AZ, will provide other forms of treatment.

Kidz Connextion has three convenient locations in Phoenix, Arizona. To schedule an appointment at 2533 N 75th St, text 623-232-0749. For our office at 2046 N 24th St, text 480-666-5984. For our office at 524 E Baseline Rd, text 480-405-4714. Or, visit Kidz Connextion on our website.

4 Reasons to Clean Your Tongue

Brushing and flossing shouldn’t be the only steps included in your dental hygiene routine. Recent studies suggest tongue cleaning reduces harmful bacteria in your mouth. At Kidz Connextion located in Phoenix, your dentist is passionate about dental hygiene, including the importance of tongue cleaning. Here are four reasons to clean your tongue.

Combat Bad Breath

Do you suffer stinky breath and have tried everything from special toothpaste to mouthwash with no results? A 2014 study by the Journal of Periodontology revealed that cleaning your tongue is one solution to reduce bad breath. The study discovered tongue cleaning removes up to 75 percent of the compounds that cause bad breath versus a toothbrush only removes 45 percent of the tongue’s compounds.

Eliminate White Tongue

A white tongue is a condition that results from poor hygiene, trapping bacteria and debris into the tongue’s tiny bumps, or papillae. Your Phoenix, AZ dentists advise a gentle scraping of the tongue to solve this usually harmless condition.

Reduce Plaque

Plaque is a thin sticky film of bacteria typically found on your teeth and tongue. Regular flossing and brushing removes this bacteria on your teeth, but what about your tongue? That’s why tongue cleaning is important for removing these harmful bacteria and preventing plaque from spreading across your body through your saliva. 

Improve Taste

It’s no wonder your tongue’s build-up of bacteria and plaque has a profound effect on taste. According to a study published in the Journal of Clinical Periodontology, taste sensations improved significantly after two weeks of tongue cleaning using a tongue scraper. 

Kidz Connextion has three convenient locations in Phoenix, Arizona. To schedule an appointment at 2533 N 75th St, text 623-232-0749. For our office at 2046 N 24th St, text 480-666-5984. For our office at 524 E Baseline Rd, text 480-405-4714. Or, visit Kidz Connextion on our website.

Do You Have a Chipped Tooth?

If you have a chipped or cracked tooth, don’t wait too long to seek treatment. At Kids Connextion located in Phoenix, AZ, your dentist specializes in crowns, sealants, and much more to preserve your beautiful smile, but also prevent further damage. 

Teeth can break or chip in many different ways, but some of the most common ways are sports injuries, eating hard foods including ice cubes, and falling. Whether the damage is big or small, your dentist offers a variety of treatment options to fix your chipped tooth.

Bonding

For minor fractures, tooth bonding is a great procedure to fix chipped teeth. This safe and affordable solution molds a resin over an adhesive gel. Using ultraviolet light, this resin is then hardened on top of the affected tooth. 

Crowns

If your teeth have deeper cracks and are susceptible to damage, your Phoenix, AZ dentist recommends crowns as a treatment option. A dental crown restores your tooth by covering it with a cap or crown. For a painless procedure, you will receive anesthesia while we file down your tooth to fit the crown. Once the tooth is reduced in size, an impression of the tooth and surrounding teeth will be taken for the mold. Typically, this restoration process takes 2-3 weeks.

 

Sealants

Sealants are great options for people interested in fixing tooth holes in their mouth. Your dentist will first place an adhesive on the teeth. The next step is to place the liquid sealant that hardens and protects the tooth from food particles, debris, bacteria, and any cavities. Sealants are a wonderful treatment method for many issues since they last for 10 years. 

Kidz Connextion has three convenient locations in Phoenix, Arizona. To schedule an appointment at 2533 N 75th St, text 623-232-0749. For our office at 2046 N 24th St, text 480-666-5984. For our office at 524 E Baseline Rd, text 480-405-4714. Or, visit Kidz Connextion on our website.

Dental Crowns for Children

Just because baby teeth will fall out doesn’t mean they’re unimportant. Children still need them to eat and speak, and an ache or break in one could cause them a lot of trouble. Although there are circumstances in which it would be necessary to extract one, we at Kidz Connextion would always rather save a natural tooth. This week, we’re discussing the process of getting a dental crown, and why it may be the best option.

 

Dental crowns are artificial replacements for the part of the tooth you can see. They are used if a tooth is too decayed or broken to support a filling or partial crown. If a tooth requires a new crown, but we determine that it’s root is still stable, the replacement process will involve cementing an artificial crown onto the root. In the cases of front teeth, when we want the crown to look like a natural tooth, this is done by smoothing the remaining enamel down into an abutment, and making a mold of the patient’s mouth. The patient will wear an artificial crown while the mold is sent to a dental laboratory, and a crown is custom-manufactured. During a return visit a few weeks later, the crown will be cemented over the abutment, and the patient will be eating normally within a few days. 

 

If the tooth getting a crown is a molar or premolar, we may determine that a stainless steel crown is a better option. This might allow us to adjust a pre-made crown to fit your child, which would only take a single visit. Patients are always numbed while crowns are being placed, and we offer additional sedation options to ensure each child’s comfort and safety. 

During the placement process, a patient may also require a root canal to remove infected dental pulp. Although it is always important to brush and floss regularly, a steel crown is more resistant to decay than other material. With a tooth in place, a child won’t need an orthodontic spacer to hold open a gap until its permanent replacement erupts, and they’ll be able to chew and speak without difficulty.

 

Kidz Connextion has three convenient locations in Phoenix, Arizona. To schedule an appointment at 2533 N 75th St, text 623-232-0749. For our office at 2046 N 24th St, text 480-666-5984. For our office at 524 E Baseline Rd, text 480-405-4714. Or, visit Kidz Connextion on our website.

Panoramic X-Rays

Kidz Connexion in Phoenix maintains high standards for care, and part of that means having up-to-date equipment. Our practice utilizes panoramic x-ray machines, and you may have seen them on previous visits. These devices allow us to provide reliable orthodontic assessments and to intervene early if there’s an issue with a child’s facial growth, allowing them to be treated more effectively.

 

Panoramic x-rays provide a complete picture of a patient’s skull by observing them from all angles. This is an improvement over 2-d pictures, in which x-rays may be blocked by prosthetics such as fillings. In adult patients, panoramic x-rays are usually used to monitor the integration of implants, observe the progression of gum disease, and check for oral cancer. But in pediatric patients, 3-d x-rays allow us to observe the placement of impacted teeth and to better determine how to guide their eruption or plan their extraction. They also allow us to plan for orthognathic treatment such as palate expansion.

 

Panoramic x-rays are easy and safe for the patient. After removing metal jewelry, they simply have to bite their front teeth down on a plastic tab to help position their jaws while the scanners rotate around their head. The whole process only takes about a minute, and the scanners can be adjusted for people of different heights or who are in wheelchairs. There’s a limited time in a person’s life before their jaw bones solidify too much for unerupted canines and incisors to be guided into place, but with more accurate x-rays, we can plan for orthodontic treatments that will spare a pediatric patient from needing oral surgery as an adult.

 

Kidz Connextion has three convenient locations in Phoenix, Arizona. To schedule an appointment at 2533 N 75th St, text 623-232-0749. For our office at 2046 N 24th St, text 480-666-5984. For our office at 524 E Baseline Rd, text 480-405-4714. Or, visit Kidz Connextion on our website.

What are Sealants?

If you have children, it’s almost certain that we recommend they get dental sealants. This type of preventive care is nearly always covered by insurance and goes a long way toward reducing cavities. In fact, many adults could benefit from them, as well. But although you’ve probably heard sealants are helpful, you may still be unclear on what they are. At Kidz Connextion in Phoenix, we want the families we treat to feel confident in their care, so let’s take a closer look at what sealants do and why they should be applied in a timely manner.

 

A sealant is a plastic barrier between a tooth and decay-causing bacteria. It can’t substitute for regular brushing and flossing, but it can slow down the rate of decay. This is especially important for children, whose teeth are softer and who have more difficulty maintaining their oral hygiene. The process of receiving a sealant is simple and easy on the patient. After a professional cleaning, the teeth are etched with a mild acid in order to increase their surface area. The sealant is then painted on in liquid form and hardened under a blue light. The patient should be able to eat normally within a few hours, and the sealant can be expected to last for several years.

 

Usually, sealants are applied to the molars and premolars. These teeth have indentations between their cusps, which are used for chewing, and the indentations are where starchy food debris is most likely to get caught and fuel decay. In addition to providing a shield, sealants somewhat even out the tooth, removing the trap for food, while still allowing the cusps to serve their grinding function. Sealant plastic isn’t immune from acidic erosion and food debris still has to be brushed away, but sealants, along with brushing and drinking plenty of water, will allow a child to eat their favorite foods with significantly less risk of developing cavities on the teeth that are most vulnerable.

 

Kidz Connextion has three convenient locations in Phoenix, Arizona. To schedule an appointment at 2533 N 75th St, text 623-232-0749. For our office at 2046 N 24th St, text 480-666-5984. For our office at 524 E Baseline Rd, text 480-405-4714. Or, visit Kidz Connextion on our website.