Our Blog

Time for some sweet talk! Many studies have been done to figure out why we enjoy sugar so much. Is it brain chemistry? Is it blood sugar getting a bit low? Is it our bodies craving a quick burst of energy?

It’s probably all of the above and more besides. After all, our biochemistry makes use of sugars on a cellular level. The carbohydrates in our diet break down into sugars, and these sugars are the body’s preferred source of energy.

Problems arise when we get too much of a good thing. There’s a difference between the carbs we need to fuel our bodies and the sugars we add to foods for flavor. Too many added sugars in the diet are linked to a number of medical conditions, including obesity, diabetes, heart disease, even prematurely aging skin.

And, of course, a sugar-heavy diet has a direct effect on your oral health.

There’s no way to sugar coat it. Plaque is mainly composed of bacteria, which feed on sugars. As they digest sugar, they produce acids. These acids attack our enamel, dissolving the calcium and phosphorus minerals which keep it strong. Weakened enamel leaves teeth vulnerable to decay, and decay creates cavities.

It’s natural to want a sweet treat every now and then, but without some attention, it’s easy to go overboard with added sugars and empty calories. If you’re searching for a middle way, balancing your love for sweet things with your love for cavity-free checkups, read on!

Be Choosy

• Check and compare labels for added sugars. You’ll be surprised how many foods have a high sugar content, even such health-oriented foods as flavored yogurts, sports drinks, fruit drinks, and protein bars.
• Consider the (sugar) source. White and brown table sugars and syrups break down easily as we’re eating them, adding empty calories which provide little nutrition, and increasing acidic conditions in the mouth.

Fruits, on the other hand, provide vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and fiber along with their natural sugars. Switch out cookies, cakes, and pastries and their processed sugars for fruit when you crave something sweet.

• Chocolate lovers, don’t despair! It’s true, unless you’re eating 100% cocoa, you are probably getting added sugar in your candy bar. But dark chocolate is rich in antioxidants, iron, zinc, magnesium, and other essential minerals, too. When you indulge in chocolate, give dark chocolate a try.
• Not all candies are created equal! Soft candy bars and candies are healthier for your teeth than sticky or chewy confections, which tend to remain on your enamel for quite some time. Choose a treat that won’t stick with you.

Watch Your Timing

• If you must snack during the day, it’s better to choose foods without a high sugar content. Bacteria use sugars to produce acids right away. Saliva can neutralize acids in the mouth, but it takes at least 20 minutes for the process to start.

More meals mean more sugar, more acid production, and more time for these acids to cause their damage. That’s why we also suggest you . . .

• Eat your favorite dessert with a meal instead of waiting until later. You’ll be able to enjoy it even more knowing you’re limiting your exposure to harmful acids.
• Taking your time is not a good idea when it comes to sweets. We don’t mean you should gobble your food. We do mean that taking sips of sugary beverages throughout the day, or sucking on slowly dissolving candies, gives you a lot more exposure to sugar over a longer period of time.

Small Changes Can Make a Big Difference

• Drink water after enjoying something sweet to help wash away and dilute sugar.
• Straws protect your teeth from a sugar-bath if you are drinking sodas, sweetened energy drinks, or other sugary beverages.
• Sugar-free gum provides a burst of sweet flavor without added sugar. And even better? Chewing gum increases saliva, washing away food particles and acids and bathing teeth in enamel-strengthening minerals.

It’s natural to appreciate a sweet treat every now and then. If you’re not ready for a completely treat-free life, talk to Drs. Kevin and Kami Marr at our Greeley office about the best ways to have your cake and eat it—or even better, to recommend healthy substitutes to satisfy your sweet tooth.

If you or your children suffer from dental anxiety, you aren’t alone. According to the Cleveland Clinic, between nine and 15 percent of Americans admit to feeling sufficiently afraid of going to the dentist to avoid making an appointment. The potential consequences of dental anxiety extend beyond poor oral health. Lack of dental care can cause serious but easily preventable medical conditions.

Dental Anxiety versus Dental Phobia

Dental anxiety provokes a sense of fear in people, typically before they arrive at Marr Family Dentistry. Those fears or worries are often exaggerated. Dental phobia shares many of the symptoms that characterize dental anxiety. It is a much more serious manifestation of that anxiety, and may provoke a sense of panic or terror in people. While people who suffer from dental phobias know that their feelings are irrational, they are unable to control, stop, or change those thoughts.

People who have dental phobias often avoid going to the dentist, and they come up with every possible excuse to justify not going. The only time a person who suffers from a dental phobia will go to the dentist is when he or she is forced to do so, or because of intense tooth pain. People who have dental anxiety don’t go to such extremes to avoid going to the dentist; anxiety usually begins in anticipation of the appointment.

What We Do to Ease Patient Anxiety

Drs. Kevin and Kami Marr and our staff have many techniques we can use to help patients feel more comfortable at their appointments. Dental Fear Central gives some simple suggestions to help children and adults who are apprehensive about going to the dentist, even if they suffer from the more severe form of anxiety: full-blown dental phobia.

• The Tell-Show-Do Approach: We help our patients relax by making sure they understand what is involved in the exam and any procedure they may undergo. We tell patients about the procedure, show them the tools and equipment we intend to use, and answer questions before actually performing the procedure. This is helpful for patients who don’t know what to expect.

• Distraction: We offer personal music players and a collection of CDs that patients can listen to. The relaxing qualities of music may help distract a patient enough to make the process less stressful. In-office televisions allow you to watch TV while waiting for your appointment.

Drs. Kevin and Kami Marr and our staff know that some patients are anxious about dental treatment, and we go to great lengths to make you feel more comfortable. Good oral health is very important, and when your mouth isn’t healthy, you can suffer from many other easily preventable medical problems.

One of the first exciting childhood experiences we outgrow is the excitement of discovering a loose tooth. Sadly, there’s no adult Tooth Fairy waiting to exchange a gift for a lost tooth, and, even worse, there’s no backup tooth all set to replace it.

If one of your permanent teeth is feeling a little less than permanent, don’t ignore the problem! Here are four things to do right away when you discover a loose tooth:

Eat Soft Foods

While you’ll probably automatically take caramels off the menu and ditch your chewing gum, crunchy foods such as nuts, chips, even apples can be a problem for a compromised tooth. Stick with soft foods and try to eat on the opposite side of your loose tooth.

Keep the Area Clean

The typical bacteria and food particles in your mouth won’t thoughtfully leave the area around your wiggly tooth untouched. But your normal brushing and flossing might be a little too much for a loose tooth. Gently rinsing with warm water should do the trick until you can see us.

Leave It Alone

Sometimes the hardest thing to do is to do nothing. But when it comes to a loose tooth, please choose this course of (in)action. You might recall having a loose tooth as a child, and how you’d automatically wiggle it with your tongue or your fingers. But you’ll also remember what happened at the end of all that wiggling—your baby tooth fell out.

Teeth are held in place by ligaments attached to the alveolar bone in the jaw. When those ligaments or bone are damaged because of injury or infection, your tooth feels loose. Wiggling your tooth back and forth can cause further detachment and expose you to more bacteria. So even though it might be tempting, leave your tooth alone until you can see us.

Call Your Dentist Immediately

The most important tip of all! Call Drs. Kevin and Kami Marr at once if you notice a loose tooth. It’s important to discover not only the best treatment, but the reason for your loose tooth as well. A loose tooth can be caused by several different conditions, and none of them should be ignored.

• A blow to your mouth

If your tooth, ligaments, or bone have suffered trauma, your dentist might be able to stabilize your loose tooth with a splint so that ligament and tissue can heal.

• Gum disease

Periodontitis (severe gum disease) is a chronic condition. Pockets form between your gums and teeth that become home to bacteria and infection. Over time, periodontitis can destroy gum, ligament, and bone tissue. Left untreated, it leads to loose teeth and even tooth loss. Gum disease is reversable when caught early enough, and even in later stages can respond well to a variety of treatments.

• Pregnancy

Hormonal changes during pregnancy can cause the ligaments and bones around your teeth to loosen, and loose teeth are the result. While this situation is usually temporary, taking care of your teeth and gums is essential during pregnancy, and Drs. Kevin and Kami Marr will have many important recommendations for your dental health.

• Teeth Grinding (Bruxism)

Your jaw and teeth can exert hundreds of pounds of pressure. When you spend your sleep hours grinding them, that force is applied to your teeth and the ligaments holding them. Small wonder that bruxism can lead to loose teeth. Your dentist will have ideas to help you stop teeth grinding, from behavioral changes to custom night guards.

Osteoporosis, bite problems, oral cancer, and other conditions can also cause loose teeth. Any condition that causes loose teeth should always be evaluated immediately to prevent more serious medical or dental problems.

Sometimes a loose tooth can’t be saved, and a professional extraction is the best solution. But if there’s a chance to save your tooth, treating the tooth carefully and visiting our Greeley office at once improve your odds considerably. Because there’s no adult Tooth Fairy, and really, no coins under a pillow will ever be as valuable as a beautiful, healthy smile.

Painful nails and cuticles, ruined manicures, reluctance to shake hands—there are so many good reasons to overcome the nail biting habit. But did you know that biting your nails is also bad for your dental health? Let’s look at a few more reasons to give our nails a break.

• Bacteria Bonanza

It’s a vicious—and unhealthy—circle. Nail biting leads to injuries to the nails, cuticles, and skin surrounding the nails. These broken, jagged nails can now cause injury to delicate gum tissue. And to make things worse, fingernails harbor a lot of germs and bacteria, leading to the risk of illness and oral infections.  At the same time, bacteria from our mouths can get into the area around the injured nail, potentially leading to painful infections in the fingers.

• Bruxism

Studies have indicated that nail biters have a greater risk of bruxism. Bruxism, better known as tooth grinding, can lead to a number of serious problems over time. Grinding and even clenching teeth on a regular basis can cause chronic headaches, worn enamel, fractured teeth, broken dental restorations, receding and inflamed gums, and loose teeth.

• Breakage & Bad Bites

Your nails suffer obvious breakage, clearly, but your teeth are also at risk. The constant pressure of nail biting can lead to cracking, chipping, and erosion in the front teeth. Further, the pressure put on your teeth can even move them out of alignment, leading to bite problems. As you can imagine, nail biting has an even greater impact if you are wearing braces, because those teeth are already under pressure.

Why do we bite? Nail biting, or onychophagia, is a habit often started in childhood. Some people quit on their own as they reach adulthood, but for others, it can be a lifelong and painful habit. The explanations for nail biting are many: some researchers regard the habit as a form of compulsive behavior, others believe it to be a grooming impulse gone haywire, still others think it’s a way that we respond to anxiety or other stresses.

Whatever the cause, if you want to break the habit, you have options. There are over the counter polishes that use an unpleasant taste to deter biting. Learning to recognize triggers such as stress or boredom can help you choose a different response, such as snapping a rubber band around your wrist or gripping a stress ball. Drs. Kevin and Kami Marr can recommend some techniques for modifying this behavior. And finally, we can offer you suggestions for quitting, or even customize a mouthguard at our Greeley office to discourage nail biting and prevent the problems that come with bruxism.

It’s never too late to quit. If nail biting has become more than a cosmetic problem, let’s work on a solution. Healthy, attractive nails are a great goal to work toward, but nothing beats a beautiful, healthy smile!