TMJ

After Dental Treatment – Getting Your Bite Right

I have been doing a lot of  bite corrections lately.  Most of the time, it is to help people with their TMD and headaches, but frequently people come in to see me complaining that their bite does not feel right.   Sometimes, I am doing bite corrections on natural teeth due to spacing or crowding, …

How Do You Know If You Have TMD ?

Lots of people suffer from aches and pains and jaw problems and have been told that they have TMD.   For many, it is a minor irritation, like a click or a pop in their jaw when they open their mouth wide, or muscle stiffness, or occasional tooth sensitivity.  For others, it can be frequent headaches.  …

Getting Your Bite Right

Do your teeth come together properly? All together at the same time. Or does one side hit first? Or 1 tooth hit first? Or maybe just in the back? If your teeth do not work properly, it will cause damage to your teeth, fillings or crowns, notches form along the gun line, gums recede, but …

Treating Headaches & TMD with Disclusion Time Reduction (DTR)

According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), more than 10 million Americans suffer from Temporomandibular Joint Disfunction (TMD). They define TMD as “a group of conditions that cause pain and dysfunction in the jaw joint and the muscles that control jaw movement.” TMD symptoms include pain, muscle tension, headaches, limited movement, joint noises, arthritis, …

Headaches from Chewing Gum

A study reported in the December 2013 issue of Pediatric Neurology looked at chewing gum as a cause of migraine headaches in teenagers.  Thirty teens who chewed gum and suffered from migraines or tension headaches were asked to stop chewing gum for one month.  26 reported significant improvement.  19 had complete headache resolution.  According to …

General Dental

0bstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA)

Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) is a breathing condition that affects most American adults, men and women over age 60, but we frequently see sufferers in their 20s and 30s! Up to 1 out of 3 people over age 70. The biggest concern with OSA is that you may stop breathing in your sleep and die, …

Oral Systemic Connection

There is new research coming out every month that confirms that if your mouth is not healthy, your body is not healthy. Most people have somewhere between 600 and 700 different types of micro-organisms in their mouth. These bacteria form a film on the surface of your teeth and gums, called a biofilm. The organisms …

Ozone

Ozone is a naturally occurring form of oxygen gas. It is common in the air after a lightening storm. Ozone is a very powerful anti-microbial and has proven to be effective in killing every type of germ that it has been tested with. It is commonly used to sterilize surgical equipment in countries where there …

Laser Dentistry

Lasers are an exciting addition to dental care. Many dentists use lasers to treat gum disease or to remove or re-shape tissue, like for a biopsy. Laser soft tissue procedures are more comfortable and heal more quickly. In 2011, we became one of the first dental offices in Montana to use a laser for fillings …

The Latest Concepts in Diagnosis and Dental Treatment for Sleep Apnea

The big news in treating Sleep Apnea is that home sleep studies are now the accepted way to screen sleep disturbances, and dental offices can now bill your medical insurance for coverage.  Sleep Center exams are still needed to accurately diagnose the many other sleep disturbances, but we now can screen with a home sleep …

Confirmed Link Between Gum Disease and Heart Disease

An article in a recent issue of the journal Infection and Immunity confirms the link between gum disease and heart disease.  This study looked at the effect of a dental bacteria that is found embedded in arterial plaques, the areas of buildup that clog arteries and lead to heart attack, stroke and death. In the …

Filling Materials

Dentists have been searching for the best filling material for hundreds of years.  In the mid-1800s, dentists started using a mixture of silver, tin, mercury and other metals.  They called it amalgam, meaning a mixture of metals.  The material was soft when mixed together, but then got hard over time.  Amalgam allowed the dentist to …

Latest News On Oral Cancer

The understanding of what causes cancer has changed.  We know that some cancers are genetic, while others are caused by exposure to radiation or certain chemicals.  In the last few years, we have learned that some viruses attack normal cells to turn them into cancer cells.  Until recently, the  most common types of oral cancer …

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PO Box 7007
Missoula, MT 59807