Now that warm weather has arrived and children are spending more time outdoors, it’s a good time to warn them about accidents that could result in fractured teeth.

Share the following safety rules with your child.

• Remain seated on a swing.  Don’t jump from or walk under a moving swing.  Children often lose teeth from being hit in the mouth by a swing.
• Don’t run or push on the pool deck.  Always use a ladder to climb out of a swimming pool.  Each year many children hit their mouth on the concrete or tile edge of swimming pools, often damaging teeth.
• Leave the person drinking from a fountain alone until he or she is finished.  Hitting, pushing or throwing things could cause the person to hit their teeth on the metal faucet or edge of the fountain, possibly injuring them.
• Never trip or push anyone during outdoor games.  The person could lose their balance, fall and hit their mouth or teeth.
• If you have to ride your bicycle in the rain, be very careful.  Wet pavement is slippery and dangerous.  And always remember to wear a helmet.

Hopefully, your summer will be safe and healthy.  But should an accident occur, Shwedel Family and Cosmetic Dentistry will be there for you.  Just call us at 313-292-5590.  Even on weekends, one of our highly trained office staff is available to take your call and get you the dental care you need.  It is our goal to keep your smile beautiful and your mouth healthy.  For more dental health information visit our website www.shwedeldental.com. Enjoy your summer!

PatientFYI: When the days are long, the weather gets hot, and the kids are out of school, families tend to raid the refrigerator more often – for snacks and cold drinks.  In fact, studies have shown that people develop more tooth decay during the summer months than at any other time of the year.  So it’s even more important to have lots of sugar-free, nutritious foods and beverages on hand, because they’re better for your family’s teeth, as well as being low in calories and easy on the budget. read more…

Tags: Dental Health, Improve Your Smile

PatientFYI: A kiss is not JUST a kiss!!!  Researchers at Case Western Reserve University School of Dentistry had dental students kiss bacterial culture plates to tell how much bacteria is transferred in a kiss. read more…

Tags: dental, Dental Health, Find a Dentist, Gum Disease, Improve Your Smile, Patient Reviews

PatientFYI: Recent research has shown that most Americans are not doing a simple activity that will keep their smiles looking beautiful, reduce cavities, prevent tooth loss and as many dentist and physicians now believe – significantly reduce the chance of heart disease and strokes.

Even though most of our patients swear they do this activity, according to the American Dental Association, more than 90% of Americans don’t!  That simple activity?  You guessed it – it’s flossing your teeth.  And a quick and strenuous attempt to floss right before your dental visit doesn’t fool us!  But please read on, because there is hope for everyone!!

Flossing is the best way to clean bacteria and debris from the spaces in between your teeth and underneath your gums.  Left in place, that harmful film can cause cavities and gum disease, eating away at the bone that actually holds your teeth in place and causing your teeth to loosen and eventually be lost.  Scarier yet – recent research has linked gum disease to heart disease and strokes.   So don’t throw in the towel (or floss!) yet.

Any activity requires practice.  You couldn’t drive without lessons and a few thousand miles on the road.  You couldn’t type the first time you sat down at a keyboard.  And though flossing is much easier than either of those activities, many people try it a few times and then frustratingly proclaim “I can’t floss!”  Well with a little patience and practice you can!  And some of the better flosses on the market (such as “Glide”) make it much easier than it was in the past.

At Shwedel Family and Cosmetic Dentistry we really want you to keep your teeth the rest of your life and be as healthy as you possibly can.  That definitely involves flossing every single day – and we know you can do it!  Feel free to give us a call at 313-292-5590 and we will arrange for one of our fantastic hygienists, Gaye, Cheryl or Marissa, to give you a free flossing lesson.  Or just ask during your regular cleaning appointments.  No one is a “natural born flosser,” it takes practice.  So there is nothing to be embarrassed about, and your beautiful smile will last a lifetime!

Tags: dental, Dental Health, Diabetes, Gum Disease, heart disease, Improve Your Smile, Patient Reviews

Dr. Guy Mangia: Comprehensive Dental Examination is a service we provide for all new patients and for our adult patients of record every 2 years. Similar to a complete medical examination with your physician, this examination  process is considered the current Standard of Care with the American Dental Association.  During this examination we are able to document and compare the findings that are significant to your oral health.  Being able to compare these findings at a two year interval allows us to detect changes in your dental health that may be subtle to the human eye, resulting in early detection and correction of oral problems.  Of course, we will continue to provide updated examinations at the time of your  periodontal maintenance visit in between your comprehensive dental evaluations.

The Comprehensive Examination and Evaluation consists of six areas of your oral health: read more…

Tags: Cosmetic Dentistry, Cosmetic Dentists, dental, Dental Health, Dental Implants, Dentist Reviews, Find a Cosmetic Dentist, Gum Disease, Improve Your Smile, Teeth Whitening, Veneers, Whiter Teeth

There has been many articles written in recent months about how Americans are sleeping less than we used to. Seven to eight hours is the amount that most adults need to fully rejuvenate both body and mind. Yet, one study, reported in the National Geographic news of February 2005, shows that Americans are sleeping a full hour less than we did as recently as twenty to thirty years ago.

This same article reports that the cost of this lack of sleep, in added health care costs, is as much as $15 billion and perhaps as much as $50 billion in lost productivity.

These are staggering amounts of money. But the cost in health and quality of life are immeasurable.

All animals need sleep to repair damage done to our physical systems. Without adequate sleep our immune system becomes compromised and less effective, body temperature can decrease, and blood pressure may even rise. There is also an association between diminished sleep and diabetes.

So, how does this relate to weight management and specifically weight gain? There are two hormones that control appetite in the human body: ghrelin and leptin. Ghrelin is made in the GI system and stimulates appetite, while leptin is produced in fat cells and signals to the brain the feeling of fullness. Thus, they work together as a sort of  biological checks and balances.

With sleep loss, ghrelin production increases and leptin decreases. Thus, when we sleep less, we are often dramatically hungrier than we might otherwise be, and it becomes difficult to be sated. This leads to overeating. Too many sleepless nights can lead to weight gain.

So, one way to help keep weight under control is to get a good night’s sleep. It won’t do it by itself of course, but proper sleep will help, along with proper nutrition and exercise, maintain a healthy weight,

More on this later.

Sources: WebMD:  The Dream Diet: Losing Weight While You Sleep (online article)
National Geographic News  Feb 24, 2005 (online article)

Tags: Better Health, Sleep Disorders, Weight Loss