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10 Things You Should Know About Flossing

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10 Things You Should Know About Flossing

Posted on: March 29th, 2023 by admin

Look, we understand. A lot of people just don’t like to floss. In fact, up to half of all Americans don’t floss as often as they should.

But since flossing helps protect you from oral infections, bad breath, gum disease and more, this is really not a good thing!

Take a look at these 10 things you may not know about flossing and perhaps you’ll change your mind about this all-important hygiene habit.

  1. Some dentists in Southern Ocean County recommend flossing before you brush, not after, to help the fluoride from your toothpaste get between your teeth. However, this advice is not universal. There remains debate over whether or not this actually has any impact. Most dentists agree, though, that the most important thing is that you floss in the first place.
  2. If your gums bleed when you floss, you may be flossing improperly or at irregular intervals. Flossing on a regular basis with a good technique is essential.
  3. If you are not using clean floss for each tooth, you risk transferring bacteria around your mouth!
  4. Floss comes in flavors. You can find all the expected stuff – mint flavors, fruit flavors – and even bacon!
  5. If you have bridgework or wider spaces between your teeth, it may be best to use wide floss, also known as dental tape. This will give better coverage and ensure they remain cleaner and healthier.
  6. If you have closely spaced teeth, consider using waxed floss. This can be easier to slide between your teeth.
  7. Listen for the squeaking sound. You can hear when unwaxed floss is moving against clean teeth. This tells you that plaque has been removed.
  8. According to the American Dental Association, only about 50% of Americans floss daily, and 18% don’t floss at ALL.
  9. 27 percent of people LIE about how often they floss!
  10. If using floss feels weird to you, ask your Barnegat dental hygienist about other options. There are products that can provide the same sort of cleaning, including rubber-tips cleaners, pre-threaded flossers, tiny brushes, and more.

If you want to learn more about the importance of flossing, good flossing techniques, and how we can help, reach out to us at 609-698-1155 to set up an appointment with our hygienist, or contact us on Facebook.

How the pros brush their teeth

Posted on: September 29th, 2021 by admin

It might surprise you to learn this, but your Southern Ocean County dentist will verify that it’s true: a huge number of patients do not brush their teeth properly.

It’s true.  This part of our daily routine might appear as if it should be something easy and simple to do, but the truth is that even the best of us can start to pick up bad habits over the years.

 

And as we all know, once those bad habits are formed, they can be very hard to break.  And as dentists near Forked River, believe us, bad brushing habits can make your work to maintain good oral hygiene far less effective.

Thankfully, you’re reading this blog post. The team at Bayside, a dental office near Lacey, is about to change your brushing for he better! Here are some tips to keep in mind:

Brush twice a day, three times if you can – In the morning after you get up and in the evening just before bed are the best times to brush, as that’s when you can best target the bacteria that are running amok. Also brush after meals when you can, especially if you’ve eaten acidic foods, sweets, or food and drink that can stain your teeth.

Brush for two minutes – The basic rule of thumb is to brush for two minutes. This gives you enough time to get to all corners of your mouth, brushing away the nasty bacteria that will do damage to your teeth over time.

Don’t brush too hard; it might damage your enamel – Believe it or not, you shouldn’t be too aggressive when you are brushing. Instead, use gentle strokes as you brush. You’re looking to brush away bacteria and food waste, not scrape off your tooth enamel.

Use short strokes as you brush – When brushing, short, swift strokes are ideal. This will focus your energy on specific sections of your mouth. Using long strokes make it too easy to miss spots in your mouth, and when that happens bacteria and plaque can get a foothold in your mouth.

Don’t forget the tongue! – Your tongue is often a haven for bacteria and can be a cause for bad breath, so be sure to brush it! Brush gently, but do so thoroughly. A clean tongue not only gives you a nicer appearance, it’s good for your oral health.

One Last Tip – A good way to make sure your tooth brushing is effective is to mentally divide your mouth into four sections: bottom left, bottom right, top left, and top right. Now you’ve got specific areas to target.  Brush each section for 30 seconds.

Make this into a part of your daily routine. Do this two to three times per day, and your dentist near Forked River will probably think you’ve mastered the art of brushing – and you will have!

With good habits like these, you’ll not only save money on your dentist visits and cleanings, you’ll also live a happier, healthier life with more confidence.

These 6 dental procedures are common, so don’t fear them!

Posted on: April 28th, 2021 by admin

Over the years, your Barnegat dentist has done and seen it all. You name the procedure and they have probably done it. There are, however, a few that stand out as far more common than others. Here are the 6 procedures we find ourselves doing more than any other:

1) Fillings

One of the most common dental procedures is also one of the easiest: getting fillings. This is nothing more than using restorative materials to repair damage to your teeth, usually cavities. In addition to filling holes left by tooth decay, aka cavities, these materials might be used to repair chipping, cracks, and other tooth damage. The resins used are colored to match your teeth, giving you a natural look that blends in seamlessly with your existing teeth.

2) Caps or Crowns

Dental crowns or caps are covers usually made of porcelain that go over or around existing teeth. These procedures are usually performed to help repair the appearance of broken or cracked teeth. These crowns not only improve the appearance of teeth that have been chipped in accidents and other events, they also help strengthen what is left of the teeth.

 

3) Tooth Whitening

More common than ever these days, the professional tooth whitening offered by your dentist in Ocean County is a cut about over-the-counter solutions. Using one of several types of treatments, your teeth can be whitened by several shades, reversing the damage done by years of coffee drinking, juice, smoking, and other ways to stain your teeth. Even better? The procedure is fast, easy and affordable.

4) Bridges and Implants

When teeth are missing or removed, it’s usually a good idea to replace them in some way. This is not just for the sake of appearance, but to protect your gums and to make eating easier. One of the most common ways of doing this is with a bridge, sometimes called dentures. These are false teeth with crowns used to fill in gaps in your mouth. Another is through the use of implants, metal posts that are placed in your mouth to serve as anchors for false teeth. In both cases, technology used by dentists near Manahawkin has come so far that you’ll never notice the difference.

5) Root Canals

Also known as Endodontics, root canals are a procedure often talked about with fear, but that doesn’t have to be the case. Modern advances in how these procedures are done have made them far less uncomfortable than in the past. Root canals are the removal of the pulpy, thread-like tissue in the center of the tooth. This is done when decay had advanced far enough so that it might cause infection inside the tooth. Root canals can save teeth from being extracted, but more importantly, they can prevent the formation of abscesses, buildups of pus that can destroy tissue and cause extreme pain – and sometimes worse.

6) Extractions

This one is pretty self-explanatory. An extraction is when a tooth is removed. These procedures may be done for a myriad of reasons, whether the tooth is damaged, decay has progressed too far, unwanted extra teeth are coming in, and more. In most cases, extractions are relatively easy procedures that any experienced dentist near Forked River can perform.

9 Fun Things You Didn’t Know About Long Beach Island

Posted on: April 7th, 2021 by admin

Anyone who has been to LBI knows it’s a beautiful, cozy community that thrives during the summer months. Whether you own a home there or you just take day trips to the beach, you probably love to visit.

So if you love to visit Long Beach Island, you might enjoy knowing a little more about it. With that in mind, we have some interesting facts for you. Take a look:

  • Long Beach Island has been battered by some major storms. In 1920, most of the island was destroyed by a devastating winter storm that even reopened a once closed inlet in Holgate. In 1923, another storm smashed the island and knocked out rail service for a full three years, and in 1935, a storm washed out the railroad bridge to the mainland.
  • Perhaps the worst storm was the Ash Wednesday Storm of 1962. That storm split the island into several pieces and causes the USS Monssen, a Navy destroyer, to run aground. The storm is considered one of the 10 worst storms of the 20th Century in the United States, and almost destroyed all of Long Beach Island.
  • Long Beach Island was also battered by Hurricane Sandy in 2012. The storm flooded the island and cause the bridge to the island to be closed for 13 days.
  • The current causeway that connects Long Beach Island to the mainland was constructed in the late 1950s.
  • Long Beach Island is known as a fairly well to do area of New Jersey. Even as far back as 1970, Philadelphia Magazine joked that “the haves turn right and the have mores turn left,” referring to the turns south and north people make after arriving on the island.
  • The communities on the north of the island, including Loveladies and North Beach, feature sprawling Victorian homes that often spark rumors of celebrities vacationing there.
  • Though Long Beach Island is a highly desirable resort and vacation area, it is not comparable to nearby Jersey Shore communities like Seaside Heights, Wildwood, and Belmar. Instead of a thriving night club scene and rides and boardwalks, it’s a family oriented vacation spot with more focus on restaurants, museums, and beaches.
  • Long Beach Island is home to many fishing and charter boats, some of which get 100 or more miles off the coast.
  • Long Beach Island is home to the famed Surflight Theater. Built in 1950 by Joseph P. Hayes, for decades the theater has offered a place for the local arts to be performed, including music, dance, theater, and comedy.

What do you know about the Long Beach Island community? How in touch with its history are you? If you know some interesting facts we didn’t mention, tell us about them in the comments!

10 Facts You NEED to Know About Flossing

Posted on: March 17th, 2021 by admin

Look, we get it. A lot of people just don’t like to floss. In fact, up to half of all Americans don’t floss as often as they should.

But since flossing helps protect you from oral infections, bad breath, gum disease and more, this is really not a good thing!

pexels-photo-925301

Take a look at these 10 things you may not know about flossing and perhaps you’ll change your mind about this all-important hygiene habit.

  1. Some dentists in Southern Ocean County recommend flossing before you brush, not after, to help the fluoride from your toothpaste get between your teeth. However, this advice is not universal. There remains debate over whether or not this actually has any impact. Most dentists agree, though, that the most important thing is that you floss in the first place.
  2. If your gums bleed when you floss, you may be flossing improperly or at irregular intervals. Flossing on a regular basis with a good technique is essential.
  3. If you are not using clean floss for each tooth, you risk transferring bacteria around your mouth!
  4. Floss comes in flavors. You can find all the expected stuff – mint flavors, fruit flavors – and even bacon!
  5. If you have bridgework or wider spaces between your teeth, it may be best to use wide floss, also known as dental tape. This will give better coverage and ensure they remain cleaner and healthier.
  6. If you have closely spaced teeth, consider using waxed floss. This can be easier to slide between your teeth.
  7. Listen for the squeaking sound. You can hear when unwaxed floss is moving against clean teeth. This tells you that plaque has been removed.
  8. According to the American Dental Association, only about 50% of Americans floss daily, and 18% don’t floss at ALL.
  9. 27 percent of people LIE about how often they floss!
  10. If using floss feels weird to you, ask your Barnegat dental hygienist about other options. There are products that can provide the same sort of cleaning, including rubber-tips cleaners, pre-threaded flossers, tiny brushes, and more.

If you want to learn more about the importance of flossing, good flossing techniques, and how we can help, reach out to us at 609-698-1155 to set up an appointment with our hygienist, or contact us on Facebook.