DesertSmiles

34,000 people a year are diagnosed with oral cancer, and 7,500 die from it. Just half of those diagnosed survive five years, according to the American Cancer Society. A typical oral cancer is life-threatening “largely because it is detected too late,” says Richard Price, consumer adviser for the American Dental Association (www.ada.org).

Symptoms of oral cancer can include:

*Patches inside the mouth that are white, red or a mixture of red and white.

*A sore on the lip or in the mouth that will not heal.

*Bleeding in the mouth or loose teeth.

*Difficulty or pain when swallowing or difficulty in wearing dentures.

*A lump in the neck or an earache.

The cornerstone of oral-cancer detection is an exam performed by your dentist or hygienist during a regular checkup. It should include the following:

*Look and feel inside the lips and the front of the gums and the roof of the mouth.

*Pull the cheeks out to see inside surfaces and back of the gums.

*Pull out the tongue and examine its surfaces and bordering areas.

*Feel for lumps or enlarged lymph nodes in the neck, including under the lower jaw.

In addition to the above oral cancer exam at DesertSmiles Cosmetic and Restorative Dentistry, we offer the Vizilite Plus for cancer screening. Vizilite Plus is a simple, painless exam that gives the best chance to find any oral abnormalities at the earliet possible stage, and save your life.

It is recommended patients age 18+ be screened annually using the Vizilite Plus exam.

For more information about the Vizilite product, or cosmetic and restorative dentistry in the Phoenix and Glendale areas visit our website at www.DesertSmiles.com.

An increasing number of U.S. children are overweight, but a new study suggests it’s not because they are pigging out on cookies and candy.

Being overweight is linked to a slew of health problems in kids, ranging from type 2 diabietes to sleep apnea to behavioral problems.  But apparently, tooth decay is not one of them.  Overweight children and teens ages 6 through 18 actually had less tooth decay than normal weight kids, according to a study in the April 2008 issue of Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology.  University of Rochester researchers analyzed data from nearly 18,000 kids who participated in a nationwide health and nutrition survey.

The American Dental Association (www.ada.org) has more information about kids’ and teens’ dental health.

For more information about restorative and cosmetic dentistry in the Phoenix and Glendale, Arizona area go to www.DesertSmiles.com.

A case was reported recently by the American Dental Association (www.ada.org) in Ohio where eight crowns were tested by an analytic company that had been outsourced to a lab in China. One crown tested positive for lead at 210 parts per million (ppm). The story also included news of a woman whose bridge tested positive for lead at 160 ppm.

What is the safe limit of lead? The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends a level of 40 ppm as the maximum that should be allowed in children’s products. And apparently, a level of 600 ppm would trigger a federal recall of lead paint. Yes, that is lead paint that has too much lead.

The American Dental Association has asked the Food and Drug Administration and Center for Disease Control to investigate. The ADA reported it is estimated up to 15 to 20 percent of prostheses used in the USA originate in foreign labs, although the percent from China is presumably lower.

The ADA has encouraged patients to ask the following questions of their dentists:

1. Do you fashion your own crowns, bridges and other dental materials in the office or purchase them from a dental laboratory?

2. Where is the dental lab located?

3. Does the lab outsource crowns or bridges to a foreign country?

We use the cerec system to mill all porcelain crowns within the office. These are purchased from the Ivoclar company and contain no lead. We also use Microdental Laboratory in Dublin, CA., to make our traditional porcelain veneers (Macveneers). Our Durathin veneers (no prep alternative to Lumineers) are fabricated by Experience Dental Lab in Provo, Utah. Neither lab outsources any work to a foreign country.

One of the reason we do not use the Lumineer product is their restorations are fabricated in China.

For more information about restorative and cosmetic dentistry in the Phoenix and Glendale, Arizona areas go to www.desertsmiles.com.

December 3, 2007 is now a watershed moment in the history of fluoridation in the United States.  At that moment, California’s largest water agency completed its efforts to fluoridate the water that reaches some 18 million residents in southern California - the single largest expansion of fluoridation in the U. S.

The California Dental Associaiton Foundaton worked with the California Fluoridation Workgroup - a broad coalition of experts and stakeholders - to bring the issue to the MWD board of directors.  They provided scientific, educational and financial support to assist the water agency in approving tnd implmenting the plan.

For more information on restorative and cosmetic dentistry in the Phoenix and Glendale, Arizona areas contact Dr. Donald Wilcox DDS at 602-978-1790 or visit www.DesertSmiles.com.  

Nearly one in five adults or more than 40 million Americans say they do not have adequate access to the health care they need because they can’t afford it.  This is according to the Health, United States, 2007 report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The report indicates that nearly 20% of adults said they needed but could not afford one or more medical, oral health, prescription medicine, mental health or vision services.

Dental data cited in the report:

Sixty one percent of adults in 2001 had dental coverage compared with 86% of adults with medical insurance.

On average Americans paid out-of-pocket for about half of the costs of their dental care in 2003.

About one-quarter of persons aged 65 and older were edentulous in 2005.

For more information on restorative and cosmetic dentistry in the Phoenix and Glendale, Arizona areas contact Dr. Donald Wilcox DDS at DesertSmiles, 602-978-1790 or visit www.DesertSmiles.com.