A Blog by Dr. Joyce

The ‘F-word’ in any dental office: FLOSS

drjoyceablog — Wed, 18 May 2011 23:21:53 +0000

You go outside to get the mail. In the middle of bills and junk mail is a postcard…from your DENTAL office. It is a reminder for your 6-month dental cleaning! “Oh…my CLEANING is coming up…uh…okay, now where’s that floss that they gave me six months ago? I’d better start flossing now.”

Does THAT sound familiar? Do you feel like you just got caught with your hand in the cookie jar? Do you ever feel like you’re going to be in TROUBLE because you haven’t been flossing like your hygienist/dentist has been telling you? Do you ever think that if you floss three times a day until your appointment that you can fool your hygienist/dentist? Sorry to break the news to you: we can tell whether or not the dental floss has crossed your teeth on a regular basis.

“Well, I brush three-four times a day, isn’t that enough?” patients often ask me. The answer is a resounding, “Sorry, no it’s not.”

Dental plaque is colonies of bacteria that exist naturally in the mouth. The bacteria LOVE sugars and sugary substances. Any food/candy not removed with normal dental home care becomes an ‘ALL-THE-BACTERIA-CAN-EAT-BUFFET!!’ The bacteria consumes the sugar, and its waste is ‘acid’. The ‘acidic bacterial waste’ breaks down the tooth structure, causing ‘cavities’.

Brushing in a circular motion at the gum-line, on the front AND back of the teeth is a GOOD thing, making sure that the dental plaque is removed. But what about in-BETWEEN the teeth? I’m glad you asked!

The F-word, FLOSS, is so important to do! It removes plaque AND food stuck in-between teeth, so that the plaque doesn’t have much on which to consume.

Start with a floss length shoulder width. Hold your hands in front of you, fingers extended, and touch your thumbs together. Wrap the floss around your middle fingers (that’s why God made the middle fingers; they are not used to ‘point’ at people). This is the good working length to floss. Use your index fingers to glide the floss between the teeth. Make a c-shape around the tooth and slide the floss up and down. Repeat for the tooth next to it. Repeat throughout your entire mouth. Rinse, then brush as usual, two minutes is optimal.

People say that they don’t have time, but you do have time to floss and brush before you go to bed.

Write on your calendar, for 21 days straight, to FLOSS. It takes 21 days to make a habit. Your dental appointments won’t be so STRESSFUL next time, I promise!

Operation Gratitude

drjoyceablog — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 14:55:24 +0000

It’s the little things that are missed when brave men and women are deployed by the various branches of the Armed Forces to fight/guard for our FREEDOM. Like the leisurely morning coffee while watching the news…or going out to a favorite restaurant with family/friends…or even eating…dare I say…a CANDY BAR!!!

I encourage my friends and patients to partner with Evansville Pediatric Dentistry in OPERATION FREEDOM. It’s a ‘Candy Buy-Back’ program. Kids of ALL ages bring in your Halloween Candy to Evansville Pediatric Dentistry at 7200 East Virginia Street on Nov. 1st at 5pm, and they well buy it back at $1 per pound. They will then send it in care packages overseas to our men and women of the military! How wonderful is that?

It’s just a little way to let our military know that they are always in our hearts!

Check out www.opgratitude.com for MORE ways to show them LOVE.

It’s Better to have GLOVED and FLOSSED…

drjoyceablog — Thu, 13 May 2010 22:11:56 +0000

There is a slight modification to old saying, “It’s better to have LOVED and LOST than to have never LOVED at all!” Truly, this speaks of those things of the HEART. But, the saying of it ’being better to have GLOVED and FLOSSED than to never have GLOVED at all’ should speak volumes to you as well…I want to talk about INFECTION CONTROL!

‘Infection Control’ is simply that, controlling the spread of infection. You know what your parents (hopefully) always said, “Wash you hands-you don’t know where you hands have been!” Well, being a dentist, I kinda know ‘where my hands have been’, or should I say ‘who’ they’ve been in! Whoa! But imagine IF I didn’t wash my hands between patients! Frankly, I don’t WANT to imagine that.

It was not too long ago when dentists and doctors practiced without forms of barrier protection, i.e. gloves/masks/gowns. I remember in dental school we had slide shows of various clinical scenarios and lessons, and none of the dentists had gloves on!!! Imagine dental cleanings, fillings, crowns, dentures, or even extractions without gloves! Times have certainly changed for the better.

In the clinical areas of ours and other dental offices, you’ll see everything covered with plastic, anything that the dentist/hygienist/assistant touches after they’ve been in the patients mouth. We wear gloves, gowns, and masks as well. Everything plastic is disposable, ‘single-use’ items, like the suction tips, cotton materials, patient napkins, and cups. Nobody wants to talk about this, but please know that the needles are ONE USE ONLY as well. And in case you were wondering about our ‘instruments’ that we use, each set is sterilized in our autoclaves, to further insure that there is no cross-contamination between patients.

I’ve been told before (at least once a day) that ‘going to the dentist is scary’. Well, if that is true, then you need not be afraid of cross-contamination. I felt that it is important to explain to you all that we take YOUR health seriously, not just your dental health. I just thought I’d explain about why we use these means of barrier protection and sterilization in case anyone was wondering. I hope it helped.

Well, for now, KEEP SMILING!!!!

-Dr. Joyce

Hello world!

drjoyceablog — Mon, 10 May 2010 18:52:51 +0000

Hello, everyone! This (blogging) is something new for me, so I thought I’d give this a try! My name is Joyce Ablog, DDS, and I am a general dentist. I thought that ‘blogging’ would be a great way to communicate to the world the things in my heart, as it relates to my occupation as a dentist. There are so many people out there, maybe you’re one of them, that are so SCARED to go to the dentist. I believe that it is my goal, my ministry, if you will, to change the paradigm of a ‘scary dental visit’. I want to treat YOU, as a PERSON, not just as someone with ‘broken’ or ‘painful’ teeth. I want to make people SMILE, while I am creating their own BEAUTIFUL smile. So, you’ll be reading various posts, random thoughts, from a dentist’s point of view. I hope that it will be enlightening and helpful.

Thanks for reading!

Dr. Joyce