Understanding & Eliminating Bad Breath with Spath Dentistry

Living with bad breath also known as halitosis isn’t just frustrating, it’s embarrassing and inconvenient. Millions of people suffer from halitosis and don’t fully grasp why it occurs and what to do if they have it. Occasional bad breath from dietary choices, dry mouth, or skipping out on your dental hygiene routine can be normal. Persistent halitosis despite best efforts can be indicative of an underlying dental condition that requires intervention from your local dentist. Dentists play a crucial role in identifying the causes of bad breath and creating a personalized treatment plan. Join us as we explore insights from our Spath Dentistry team on the causes of bad breath and effective treatment strategies.

Identifying the Causes of Bad Breath:

Our Newport Beach dentists are trained to recognize the various factors that can contribute to bad breath. During your dental examination, our dentists will assess your oral health and assess for the following potential causes:

  • Poor Oral Hygiene: One of the most common causes of bad breath is due to poor oral hygiene. It’s important to remember to brush twice daily and floss once to remove food from between your teeth and reduce plaque buildup. Poor oral hygiene can lead to tooth decay, gum disease, and malodorous breath.
  • Gum Disease: Gum disease, also called periodontal disease, is a bacterial infection of the gums. This is associated with red, irritated, swollen gums and loose or shifting teeth. Gum disease has a distinct odor that can be detected by your dentist in Newport Beach especially when accompanied by physical symptoms.
  • Dry Mouth: Reduced saliva production can lead to dry mouth making your mouth hospitable for bacteria to thrive and contribute to bad breath. To combat bacteria stay hydrated and drink plenty of water throughout the day.
  • Dietary Factors: Certain foods and beverages like garlic and coffee can leave behind strong odors that contribute to bad breath. Prevent these lingering odors by limiting odorous foods and beverages or try chewing on mint or parsley to neutralize the odors.
  • Underlying Dental Issues: Dental issues like tooth decay, oral infections, and poorly fitting dental appliances can contribute to bad breath. During a thorough dental exam examination our dentists can identify any underlying dental issues and recommend comprehensive treatment options.

Effective Treatment Strategies:

Conquering bad breath can be done independently at home through proper oral hygiene, staying hydrated, and more. If your bad breath persists despite your best efforts it’s time to seek dental help from Spath Dentistry in Newport Beach, California.

  • Improving Oral Hygiene: Improving your oral hygiene routine and incorporating new techniques like a water flosser or mouthwash can transform your dental health and help eliminate bad breath.
  • Treating Gum Disease: If you’re experiencing gum disease, your local dentist can perform professional dental cleanings and recommend periodontal therapy to remove plaque and tartar buildup and restore gum health.
  • Addressing Dry Mouth: It’s important to get to the root of your dry mouth issues whether it’s due to low salivary production or something more serious like diabetes. Once you’ve narrowed down the cause you can improve saliva production through drinking copious amounts of water, appropriate medication, and, other suggestions depending on the severity and cause.
  • Managing Dietary Factors: Being intentional with your diet and opting for foods and drinks that aren’t packed with strong odors can help you manage your bad breath and reduce it. If you’re opting for food like onions, garlic, and coffee bring sugar-free gum or mints to freshen your breath afterwards.
  • Addressing Underlying Dental Issues: Seeing your Newport Beach, California dentist regularly allows us to detect dental issues early on, treat them, and prevent future dental issues from arising. Being proactive with your dental health can reduce and even eliminate bad breath.

Attending regular dental exams at Spath Dentistry is essential to having optimal oral health. Regular dental exams allow our Orange County dentists to identify the causes of bad breath, create an effective treatment plan, and prevent further dental issues and ordor from occurring.  Enjoy improved oral health and get rid of bad breath through improving your oral hygiene, increasing your saliva production, and addressing any underlying dental issues with your local Newport Beach dentist. Reclaim your smile and quality of life when you schedule an appointment with us at Spath Dentistry for a thorough evaluation and customized treatment plan. Not local but want the same quality dentistry that we provide? Not to worry, enjoy our complimentary consultation, and get quality dentistry from the comfort of your home.

Oral Cancer Awareness Month

In dentistry, nothing is more feared than oral cancer. This terrible disease claims around 10,000 lives every year, and it’s often preventable! This April, join us on our oral cancer awareness month journey to help prevent this disease.

What is Oral Cancer?

In addition to tumors inside of the mouth, oral cancer also covers growths that occur in the sinuses, throat, and lips. Often, this cancer is diagnosed after it has started to spread. At this late stage of the disease, the five year survival rate is only 66%. Those who survive this stage are often left with terrible disfigurement from surgery, and they may be unable to eat or drink.

How Can a Dentist Near Me Help Prevent Oral Cancer?

Fortunately, there are ways to prevent oral cancer. If you have a history of the disease, be sure to attend regular dental checkups. Likewise, if you happen to have a history of HPV, you’ll want to ask a dentist if your strain has increased the likelihood of oral cancer. You can also cut habits that contribute to oral cancer’s development, such as:

  • Excessive alcohol consumption
  • Poor oral hygiene
  • Poor diet
  • Smoking and vaping

Dentists may not be able to entirely prevent oral cancer, but we wish we could! Fortunately, we can easily screen you for the disease. The earlier oral cancer is found, the better the outcome will be. For cases of oral cancer that are found in its early stage, the five year survival rate is 85%! Because the cancer has not had a chance to spread in these early stages, surgical intervention is often minimal, which means that visual and functional outcomes are often positive.

By visiting us at Spath Dentistry in Newport Beach, California you can consult with Dr. Spath expert on how to best improve your oral health. Proper brushing and flossing are essential parts of your routine, and we can show you how to perform these tasks properly. Regardless of if you ask for it, we’ll also screen you for signs of oral cancer whenever we perform a routine cleaning and checkup.

This April, schedule a dentist appointment! In addition to making your smile sparkle, our oral cancer scans just might end up saving your life.

Quality Sleep Starts with Quality Oral Health

Quality sleep is a novelty that we’re all after. It’s not uncommon to have a poor night’s sleep every now and then but having sleep disturbances consistently is cause for concern. What’s even more concerning is that your oral health could be at the root of the problem. Prioritizing your sleep and your teeth go hand in hand so taking the time to plan your next appointment with your local dentist is essential.

  • Bruxism (aka teeth grinding): Most people are unaware that they grind their teeth in their sleep. Especially if they sleep primarily alone. Unfortunately, teeth grinding can cause severe damage to teeth by wearing them down leading to cavity formation.
  • TMJ (temporomandibular joint syndrome): If you are experiencing clicking noises, tightness in your muscles along the jawline, or locking of the jaw you most likely have an issue with your jaw joint. It’s important to bring up your concerns with your dentist and create a plan of action.
  • Difficulty Breathing: If labored breathing, or multiple bouts of breathing complications interrupt your sleep it is time to raise your concerns to your general health practitioner as well as your dentist.
  • Dry Mouth: Are you waking up in the morning and feeling like your mouth is akin to the desert? Then your saliva is unable to do its job and break down the harmful bacteria that can easily decay your teeth.

Are you experiencing any of the symptoms above or a combination of them? It’s time to put your oral health and your sleep first. Check in with Spath Dentistry in NewPort Beach California to see how your teeth are affecting your sleep. During your visit the dentist can do a thorough examination of your teeth, gums, bite and determine if intervention is necessary. Intervention could be brush tips, flossing recommendations, and even a mouth guard depending on the severity. Don’t forget to see your dentist regularly for cleaning and dental exams to reduce the risk of sleep disturbance and ensure a better night’s sleep. Have more questions? Schedule your next appointment with Spath Dentistry to chat about them!

How to Choose the Right Toothpaste

One of the most common questions we get as dentists is what kind of toothpaste we recommend. The answer is that it depends on your current situation. If you’re somebody that gets many cavities, our recommendation is the CTx4 Gel by CariFree. This can come with or without fluoride and is available here in our office. You can also purchase it on Amazon! For everyone else, our recommendation would be the Sensodyne toothpaste. It tends to be nonabrasive and help with sensitivity. Particularly because our diets tend to be very acidic, which creates a lot of sensitivity within the teeth. Sensodyne is very effective for this!

What you really want to avoid is any toothpaste with whitening in it. Whitening toothpaste scrapes off the surface of the tooth over time, and while taking away the stain, also takes away tooth structure. However, you can still whiten your teeth in other ways, but the whitening toothpaste is not an effective or safe way of whitening the teeth.

If you have any questions, stop by and see us or give us a call! (949) 612-2356

COVID-19 Update

We hope you and your family in good health. Our community has been through a lot over the last few months, and all of us are looking forward to resuming our normal habits and routines. While many things have changed, one thing has remained the same: our commitment to your safety. Infection control has always been a top priority for our practice as you may have seen during your previous visits to our office. Our infection control processes are made so that when you receive care, it’s both safe and comfortable. We want to tell you a about the infection control procedures we follow in our practice to keep patients and staff safe. Our office follows infection control recommendations made by the American Dental Association (ADA), the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). We follow the activities of these agencies so that we are up-to-date on any new rulings or guidance that may be issued. We do this to make sure that our infection control procedures are current and adhere to each agencies’ recommendations. You may see some changes when it is time for your next appointment. We made these changes to help protect our patients and staff. For example for your safety when returning to our office the following protocols will be in effect.

  • All staff will be wearing appropriate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) that is disposed of after each patient.
  • We have installed new state of the art HEPA air filters in each operatory. Each filter is designed for a space of 700 sq. ft. and each operatory is approximately 100 sq. ft.
  • We are lengthening the procedure times and the times between appointments to allow for double sterilization of each operatory after each procedure. You may notice a slight changing in your appointment time due to this.
  • Your temperature will be taken and documented upon arrival.
  • A quick health questionnaire will be requested from you upon arrival
  • Only one patient will be allowed in the reception area at a time to ensure social distancing.
  • We will be requesting patients wear a face mask when able to during their visit.
  • Each morning our staff will undergo a series of questions that would indicate any risk for COVID-19 in addition to having their temperature taken.
  • We will be working the landlord on cleaning all common areas in the building including the elevator, door handles, and bathrooms.
  • Patients over the age of 65 are advised to consider postponing any non-emergency or elective dental care.
  • As added safety measures we recommend that patients with known pre-existing medical conditions including obesity, diabetes, COPD, hypertension, cardio-vascular, or immune-suppressed individuals consider postponing any non-emergency or elective dental care.

In addition to the protocols above we will be implementing precautions to limit production of aerosols including utilization of rubber dam, Isolite suction, and temporarily eliminating the use of the dental hygiene air polisher and ultrasonic instrument.

We appreciate your cooperation and understanding while these safety protocols are in place. We feel confident that by following these protocols we can safely practice dentistry and provide you the best possible care. Thank you for being our patient. We value your trust and loyalty and look forward to welcoming back our patients, neighbors and friends to the office.

When to Consider Dentures & Today’s Technology

Transitioning to prosthetic teeth or dentures can be a cumbersome time that many don’t want to accept.. However, with breakthroughs in dental & denture technology, today’s denture offers a very realistic and very function option for teeth. Listen to Newport Beach Dentist Dr. Andrew Spath go over dentures options for his patients.

To learn more, ask a question, or anything else oabout the adavances in dentures, call our office and one our friendly staff will be there to greet you, (949) 612-2356 or reach us via our email!

Gum Disease: Causes, Detection, and Treatment of Periodontal Disease

Have you noticed blood in your sink after brushing your teeth lately? Bleeding while brushing can be one of the first warning signs of Periodontal Disease. In its earliest stages, it manifests as gingivitis and only infects your gums. However, if left untreated, the disease can travel below your gum line, infecting your bones, and evolving into Periodontal Disease.

The Prevalence of Periodontal Disease

Periodontal Disease, or more commonly known as gum disease, is a common infection that involves inflammation around the tooth. This inflammation damages the soft tissue and bone supporting the tooth. Without treatment, the alveolar bone around the teeth can be lost over time. The disease can also cause tooth loss and can increase the risk of stroke, heart attack, and other health complications.

According to the recent findings of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), approximately half of Americans aged 30 and up have periodontal disease. These findings indicate that the disease affects upwards of 64.7 million Americans. A variety of risk factors can be an indicator if someone will experience the disease. Some can be attributed to inherited or genetic susceptibility, but others are caused by smoking, lack of adequate hygiene practices, age, diet, health history, and certain medications.

What Causes Periodontal Disease

Microorganisms, such as bacteria, can stick to both the surface of the tooth and in the pockets surrounding it. Once this bacteria has the opportunity to multiply, the immune system reacts, releasing toxins, and inflammation occurs. Bacterial plaque, which takes the form of a sticky, colorless membrane, can develop over the surface of the teeth and is often the most common cause of Periodontal Disease. If the plaque is not removed, it can eventually harden to form tartar.

Luckily, most cases of gum disease are completely preventable through good dental hygiene!

Treating Periodontal Disease

Maintaining good oral hygiene practices is one of the easiest and most effective ways to treat gum disease. Proper dental care involves brushing twice daily and flossing once daily.

A more in-depth treatment can include scaling, which involves a dental professional cleaning below the gumline. This can be done using hand tools or an ultrasonic device that breaks up plaque and tartar. This method of cleaning is recommended to be completed twice a year.

While these tips can be useful in preventing and treating the disease, it’s important to note that there is no replacement for 6-month check-ups with a dental professional.

Finally, A Self-Assessment App For Your Oral Health

Don’t waste your time searching resources for your oral health care through search engines anymore! The Healthy Mouth App the Kois Center recently released has everything you need. From smile reports to the contact info of dentists near you. Check out what this app is all about:

mouth app

Key Features

  • Take the assessment and check out what the app has to say about the 4 different categories it reports for you:
    1) Smile Characteristics.
    2) Gum Health.
    3) Bite and Jaw Health.
    4) Tooth Health.
  • See the forecast on your heart disease risk score.
  • Bring your tracked brushing and flossing habits into your dental appointments.
  • Have access to over 75 articles in the Patient Education Section.
  • Locate dentists that are uniquely trained to review the reports with you and schedule directly through the app.

Process

5 Minutes. That’s all you need from start to finish to get through the initial setup! This app can get you registered, the algorithm and analysis reports, and local dentist’s contact info in the time it takes you to listen to your favorite song!

  • Download, then create your account within the app.
  • The apps algorithm that will analyze your responses and provide you with risk estimates for all aspects of your mouth.
  • You will then be directed, within the app, to local dental offices that can interpret your results.
  • Once you pick the dental office of your choice, you can schedule an appointment for any concerns you may have that may have come up in your assessment results.

Benefit

Just a tap away and you have all the resources that the internet could provide you with, but in about half the time and almost no effort. This app will centralize your oral care and  make your dental care easier to maintain in the long run.

Contact us and we can answer any questions you have about the app process and reports produced! Give a call (949) 612-2356 or reach us via our email!

Download The Healthy Mouth App

Download Now

Sleep Apnea and Your Oral Health

Sleep Apnea and Your Oral Health

Image result for cant sleep gif

Have you been waking up feeling lethargic and exhausted, even after 8 hours of sleep? Sleep apnea could be the reason! What is sleep apnea? What causes it? And who can help me? These are some of the very first questions that come to mind when experiencing symptoms of sleep apnea. After asking said questions, it’s important to know exactly what these answers are before moving on to the next possible causes of your sleep issues.

Let’s go over these questions and if you need to follow up with more concerns… you know where to find us!

What is sleep apnea?

The straight forward definition for sleep apnea is: A chronic condition that causes people to stop breathing at different times throughout their sleep cycles. Now, there are 2 different kinds of sleep apneas: Obstructive and central. If you have any of the below symptoms it could mean you have one of these:

Potential Symptoms

  • Long pauses in your breathing while asleep.
  • Gasping for air while sleeping.
  • Restless sleep.
  • Dry mouth or sore throat when waking up.
  • Being exhausted every morning, even after 8 hours of sleep.

What causes sleep apnea?

As discussed above, there are 2 forms of it- Obstructive and central sleep apnea.
Let’s start with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). This is the most common form and is when your upper airway gets blocked when you’re asleep, making it hard on your diaphragm to draw in air. You can reduce your risk of having this form of sleep apnea by losing weight, avoiding drinking alcohol 4-6 hours before bed, and sleeping on your side.

Central sleep apnea (CSA) is when your brain isn’t sending your muscles the right signals to breathe correctly. This is sometimes caused by medications that you may be taking, or it could be related to an illness from which your lower brain stem is affected.

Who can help?

Now we come to the most important question of all, who can help? Dentists are valuable partners when it comes to the study and treatment of sleep apnea- they know the ins and outs of the mouth. Not to mention they are the experts on your oral health and breathing is a huge part of that! These are a few things that dentists can prescribe and help you with once you have been diagnosed with sleep apnea by your doctor:

  • An oral appliance is a “mouth-guard” type of appliance and the most widely preferred! It is quiet, portable, and easy to wear.
  • CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) machine. This is very effective for OSA because it provides forced air to prevent any obstruction from happening. However, you do have to wear a mask when you sleep.

There is a surgery that can help treat sleep apnea as well. This surgery is done by implanting a medical device that electrically stimulates the hypoglossal nerve to the tongue- basically a pacemaker for your tongue. This does not cause pain and all it really does is cause your tongue to be pushed forward, away from the back of your airway. This is only a treatment for OSA, not CSA, and is usually only performed when the other 2 treatments are not tolerated.

Contact us and we can set up an initial exam to give you the proper information you need to proceed with whichever treatment option works best for you! Give a call (949) 612-2356 or reach us via our email!

Non-opioid pain management for dentistry with exparel

Let’s put an END to Opioid abuse.

It’s been in the media for sometime now and the matter of fact is that the opioid epidemic is still too prevalent. That is why Dr. Andrew Spath and his talented Newport Beach staff has made a point to further their treatment education and learn about Exparel, a newer dental option that allows pain management for days after the procedure. Watch Dr. Spath give a bit of insight to this product in this quick video.

What is Exparel?

EXPAREL is a single-dose infiltration or as an interscalene brachial plexus nerve block that provides significant long-lasting pain control in effort to reduce the use of opioids during post surgical pain.
– Original Source: Exparel.com

How it Works

Exparel is revolutionary nerve blocking injection that is done soon after an operation, in this case a dental operation. It’s intended to provide ample pain management for 3-4 days after the operation which is the average recovery time for most dental procedures. While some procedures will require extra pain management, the idea behind Exparel is to reduce the number of pills a patient has to take and to deter the growth of the Opioid epidemic.

A Patient’s Experience with Exparel

A recent patient of ours was nice enough to jump in front of the spotlight for a little Q & A about his experience using this Exparel. He had a new set of dental implants just a few days prior. Not only does he look fantastic, his normalcy of life has stayed pretty consistent.

I’m always hesitant with Doctors and procedures, but you made it so easy. There was a little pain the first day, but I only took two pills.
-Edwin

To learn more about this product, a certain procedure, to ask a question, or anything else dental related, be sure to call our office and one our friendly staff members will be there to greet you, (949) 612-2356 or reach us via our email!