01/14/2018
Dental Fitness Tips and Tricks, by Dr. Edwards
A few simple things you can do for tooth sensitivity:
Tooth sensitivity is quite common. You can see the most common causes in the image below. The internet has hundreds of decent articles about tooth sensitivity, causes and treatments. Therefore, I won’t waste time on that aspect. But one thing I’ve never seen is this tip that I’ve been doing for over 30 years:
• Buy a tube of sensitive teeth toothpaste – usually Sensodyne or Colgate for sensitive teeth, or any of the numerous other ones you may find – and brush your teeth with the toothpaste like usual and then spit out, etc. BUT, you’re not done yet ….
• … Sq**rt another glob of toothpaste onto your finger and smear it around the sensitive teeth, and then floss that toothpaste between the teeth. If you have tooth bleaching trays, you can glob toothpaste into the bleaching trays as well, and wear the bleaching trays.
• Let the toothpaste sit or “soak” on your teeth (like conditioner for hair) for five or ten minutes while you shower or get ready for work or for bed or whatever.
• This way, you can actually sort-of “condition” your teeth like you can condition your hair. But since teeth are much harder than hair, the “conditioner” must be in contact with the teeth for much longer than on hair, so it can soak into the enamel and dentin and do its job.
• Do this trick twice a day for a week.
• If the sensitivity goes away and doesn’t return, good.
• If the sensitivity merely declines and you must keep repeating the treatment, come in and let us evaluate your teeth.
Next week -- "Deadly Breath and The Oral-Systemic Stink"
