Ask The Dental Hygienist

If there is anything that is supremely important about your appearance, it is your smile. You want to take proper care of your teeth so that you can feel good about yourself and show off your white, beautiful teeth.

We all eat food and drink beverages that cause our teeth to get yellow and dingy, and now there are great ways to get your teeth back to prime condition. The teeth whitening gel products are particularly effective, and not only that but very easy to use as well.

We could all use teeth whitening gel at one time or another, and from whitening toothpaste to whitening strips, there are a variety of options to choose from.

How to Use

Although there are several different makes of teeth whitening gel out there, they are all basically used the same way. You simply take the teeth whitening gel and apply it to your teeth, and then leave on for the recommended amount of time.

The over the counter gels are the ones that you can use yourself, but there are also stronger whitening gel formulas that you can have your dentist apply. These are usually a bit more expensive, but also generally provide you with better, longer lasting results.

Aftercare

Keep in mind that no matter what teeth whitening gel you decide to use, there are a few aftercare steps that you are going to need to be aware of. After all, the last thing you want is to get your teeth looking white and beautiful only to have them go back to their original state a few weeks or months later.

To keep your teeth looking their best, more than anything you are going to need to brush and floss your teeth regularly.

You are also going to want to eat a healthy diet because this plays more of a role on the condition of your teeth than you probably realize. You may also want to go back once a year from then on to get a revitalizing whitening, which will not need to be as thorough as the first but which will help maintain the whiteness of your teeth.

As long as you follow these important steps, you will be able to have a healthy, beautiful smile and feel so much better about yourself. Everyone feels better when they have a smile that they are proud of, and this advice will give you the whitest most beautiful smile around.

Even though they aren’t life threatening like bleeding or abscesses, dry sockets can be extremely painful. They are very common following surgery, and happen to be one of the most painful post extraction problems. Dry sockets are more common with removal of the lower teeth than they are with removal of upper teeth. No matter what type of extraction you have performed, a dry socket can occur with any type.

Although there is really no way to prevent a dry socket, you can help to reduce the risk by following your after surgery directions. Even though you may be following the directly precisely, you could still end up with a dry socket. They are known as a quirk of nature, and will make you feel like you are on your death bed – although you really aren’t. Those who are more at risk to dry sockets include those who smoke following extractions, and those who like to grind their teeth frequently.

A dry socket is a condition where the blood clot that forms after an extraction detaches itself from the socket walls. Sometimes, the clot will dissolve, leaving the bone exposed to food, the weather, and even saliva. Once the bone is exposed, it can become inflamed. The inflammation that occurs is very painful, often times being a deep pain that makes you feel as if you are dying.

If you leave it alone, the dry socket will heal. It will normally take around a month or so, although the pain won’t let up during the healing period. If you have a dry socket, you’ll find that antibiotics and even the strongest of prescription drug won’t cure it. An antibiotic will normally cure infections, although a dry socket isn’t considered to be an infection.

The best way to fight a dry socket is to go back to your dentist and have him pack the socket. Packing the socket is done without any anesthesia and can be quite painful. It doesn’t take long to complete, and it can provide relief from the pain. Once you have a dry socket, you won’t care about anything but stopping the pain. The pain can be so intense at times that you will be willing to do anything to stop the pain – even for a few minutes.

Once the socket has been packed, you will be relived from pain for a day or so. If you go back to your dentist, he will remove the old packing, wash the socket out, and place a new packing in. This way, you can get relief from the pain and help the socket heal. Keep in mind that it will take time to heal – and the best way to stop the pain is to do your best to avoid a dry socket at all costs.