The Toothboss adds blood pressure screening to comprehensive exam services

For more than a few people, a trip to the dentist can raise their blood pressure. If that fear/anxiety raises your blood pressure to pre-hypertension levels—120-139 Systolic and greater than 80 Diastolic—then it might be risky treating that patient. That’s why we have added blood pressure screening as part of the comprehensive annual exam for patients.

Besides normal anxiety, some of the procedures we do utilize pharmacologies that can impact blood pressure. So having an accurate read prior to the start of treatment is extremely important, particularly if the patient has high blood pressure or is on medication for it.

Another reason is that many people are unaware that they have high blood pressure, largely because they don’t get an annual check-up with their physician. A visit to the dentist should not replace that, but checking BP as part of the exam can alert patients to a potential problem.

Hypertension or high blood pressure affects more than one in three adults in the United States. It’s also estimated that another 30 percent of the population has pre-hypertension. That’s blood pressure higher than what’s considered acceptable for an adult, 120 systolic/80 diastolic.

Prior to 2007, 135/85 had been considered an acceptable pressure. That now is considered pre-hypertension. So there’s a real need to stay on top of your blood pressure.

That’s something we do not take lightly at The Toothboss. As a dental student, one of my professors assigned us the task of practicing taking blood pressure readings on friends and family. I practiced on my father. The first reading was shocking so I took it again and again. Each came back with the same conclusion. My father had high blood pressure.

My practicing on him probably saved his life because I’m not sure he would have gone to the doctor on his own. It’s for people like my father that we are taking this extra step. First, I will do the BP screenings as part of the comprehensive exams. Once we upgrade our machinery, everybody who visits the Toothboss will have their blood pressure checked, by me and our hygienists.

Watch your mouth! The Toothboss adds valuable procedures to hygiene services

One of the biggest challenges dentists and hygienists face with patients is not only getting them to brush but addressing the problem areas that normal brushing might not take care of. As part of our hygiene services, we are now using a disclosing solution and a camera so patients can see those trouble spots so they can adjust brushing accordingly.

How it works is simple. The disclosing solution, when applied to the patient’s mouth, adheres to areas of plaque build-up. When we examine your teeth, those notable areas are identified with a pink marker. We can then show you the trouble areas so you know where to focus more attention.

In addition to use of disclosing solution to determine trouble spots, we have added a more complete charting of the gum pockets that surround the teeth, a review of the patient’s health history, a blood pressure screening, and other procedures to complement the normal services his hygienists provide.

The health history is particularly important, particularly if you are on a medication that gives you dry mouth. You see, saliva washes away plaque. If you are on a medication that gives you dry mouth, that means that plaque is not being washed away and potentially doing damage to your teeth and or gums. By making a health history review part of our re-care services, we can address the side effects of medication so it doesn’t harm your teeth.

Are you due for your next check-up? Please call 781-335-0604 to schedule an appointment.

The Toothboss adds full mouth periodontal probing once a year to hygiene services

Years ago, periodontitis was the number one cause of adults losing their teeth. While detection and treatment of periodontitis have dramatically improved over the years, those treatments can be quite expensive. That’s why we recently included periodontal probing as an annual part of our hygiene services.

Periodontitis is essentially plaque and tartar buildup under your gums. When the tartar buildup occurs under the gums, the bacteria within the tartar have a byproduct of acid that causes degeneration of the supporting structures of the tooth. Unfortunately, many dentists don’t include full mouth periodontal probing as part of their hygiene services. So, many cases go undetected until the condition becomes serious.

One out of every two American adults aged 30 and over has periodontal disease, according to recent findings from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). A study titled “Prevalence of Periodontitis in Adults in the United States: 2009 and 2010” estimates that 47.2 percent, or 64.7 million American adults, have mild, moderate or severe periodontitis, the more advanced form of periodontal disease. In adults 65 and older, prevalence rates increase to 70.1 percent.

As a preventative step, we recommend periodontal probing once a year. Periodontal probing involves the dentist or dental hygienist examining six sites on each tooth. This enables the dentist to detect a problem in its earliest stages when it’s treatable with better brushing and flossing and other non-intrusive procedures.

If it’s been a while since your last exam or if you are unsure if you’ve ever had a check for periodontitis, please give us a call at 781-335-0604 to set up an appointment. 

Sugar-free doesn’t exactly mean cavity-free

For those who drink diet soda and other diet drinks, one of your primary arguments for doing so is reducing your sugar intake. While there’s been some documentation that some of the chemicals in diet sodas can play a role in weight gain, there’s mounting evidence that diet drinks with artificial sweeteners can play a role in tooth decay.

The common perception is that if there’s no sugar in a drink then it’s better for your teeth. In theory, that’s true. A regular soda with sugar is worse for your teeth than a diet soda, but that doesn’t tell the entire story.

The bacteria in your mouth will not use artificial sweetener to form acid the way it does with regular sugars. But that doesn't mean a diet soda can't harm your teeth. The diet drinks are acidic on their own without the aid of the bacteria to help form the acid. Both regular and diet soda can demineralize a tooth, causing erosion and cavities. So, although a soda with sugar may be slightly worse at causing cavities and erosion, diet drinks are not without consequences.

So what should diet-conscious consumers drink if sugar and sugar sweeteners are both bad? Good old fashioned water from the tap doesn’t cause any erosion of your teeth over any amount of exposure. It also has no calories. And, depending on your community, even offers fluoride.

Of course, it’s probably not realistic to think that people can drink only water and never have a soft drink. Moderation, as it is with everything, is the key. And if you want to have a diet soda, be sure to brush or at least rinse your mouth out with water shortly after to lessen the exposure to those acids found in diet drinks.”

Beyond drinking water and careful brushing, select drinks that utilize sweeteners made from natural ingredients, like Stevia.

The news on artificial sweeteners, however, is not all bad. In fact, there are sweeteners out there that utilize sugar alcohols that can actually protect against dental cavities, for example, Xylitol.

Xylitol is a natural sweetener sourced from strawberries and other fruits. It’s not in drinks yet, but you can find Xylitol in chewing gums, syrups, candies and tooth pastes. Bacteria in your mouth are not able to breakdown Xylitol when you chew gum or eat candy containing the ingredients. Therefore, no bacterial acids are produced. In the absence of bacterial acids, the process of cavity formation is nullified before it even begins. This makes Xylitol that rare thing – a sweetener that’s actually good for your teeth.

A donation with some teeth to it. Rasin Foundation helps The Toothboss go paperless.

When my dental practice went to paperless files, our primary thought was making the office run more efficiently and being greener. We didn’t realize how this conversion could benefit fellow dentists thousands of miles away in Haiti. Yet that’s exactly what happened when we discovered the Rasin Foundation.

I first heard about the Rasin Foundation, a Milton, MA-based non-profit from a fellow National Guardsmen, Dr. Fidel Gabriel. Fidel is a native of Haiti and he told me of the Foundation’s efforts to get supplies to start a dental practice in Leogane, Haiti. When I asked what types of items the Foundation would accept and mentioned my filing system, it was a no-brainer on this end as to what to do.

The filing system itself costs approximately $2500 but I was prepared to eat the cost of that because I believe going paperless far outweighed the cost. To find an organization like the Rasin Foundation that could benefit from the donation of the filing system was icing on the cake. The fact it was going to help a dental practice was the cherry on top.

As you can imagine, the equipment and technology that we enjoy and perhaps take for granted here in the U.S. aren’t available in remote places like Leogane, Haiti. I encourage dentists, doctors and other health care professionals to visit The Raisin Foundation’s website to see if they need other items. One man’s upgrade is another’s treasure.


For more information, visit www.RasinFoundation.org.

Is a sports drink worse than a soda? Ask the Toothboss.

There’s the perception that sports drinks are good, soda is bad. Sports drinks hydrate, soda dehydrates you and, worse, is loaded with sugar. While you probably won’t find any dental health professional recommending a soda any time soon, it might surprise you to know what dentists view as the lesser of two evils—at least when it comes to the well-being of your teeth.

Most sports and energy drinks are loaded with sugar. In the short-term, they can re-energize you and rehydrate you somewhat. But if you drink several a day you are putting your teeth at serious risk. How? The sugar in the sports drink can combine with the bacteria in placque that has adhered to your tooth’s surface. These acids erode the enamel surface leading to cavities.

So is soda better for you than a sports or energy drink? According to a study contracted by the Academy of General Dentistry it is.

The AGD study considered what continuous exposure to a variety of “soft” drinks would do to your teeth, specifically the enamel portion of the tooth, over a 14-day period. Continuous exposure was considered several servings over the course of a 12-hour period.

The results revealed the erosion of a tooth’s enamel in milligrams:

·         Snapple Classic Lemonade – 30mg

·         Red Bull – 22mg

·         Gatorade (lemon-lime) – 20mg

·         Propel Fitness Water – 14mg

·         Arizona Iced Tea – 9 mg

·         Coca Cola – 3mg

So, technically, soda is better for your teeth than the sports drinks that promise to restore your electrolytes and other health benefits. But does that mean dentists endorse soda over sports drinks? Hardly.

The lesser of two evils is still an evil. What that study doesn’t reveal is that good old fashioned water from the tap doesn’t cause any erosion of your teeth over any amount of exposure. It also has no calories. And, depending on your community, even offers fluoride.

Of course, it’s probably not realistic to think that people can drink only water and never have a soft drink. Moderation, as it is with everything, is the key. And if you want to have a sports drink or soda, be sure to brush or at least rinse your mouth out with water shortly after to lessen the exposure to those sugars can do.

Going to the dentist is for the birds.

A patient's view at The Toothboss

Actually, the birds are for the patients. At least that’s what we tell patients when seated in our examination rooms and looking out the window to see a plethora of birds feasting at our bird feeder. The fact is we enjoy checking out the cardinals, finches, chickadees, woodpeckers and other birds those feeders attract.

Going to the dentist can be an unnerving experience for some patients. With our newly renovated waiting room and office area, as well as our examination rooms, we try to create a calming, stress-free environment. The bird feeders are part of that effort (we also have a fish tank in the dental hygienist’s examination room).

The bird feeders serve a couple of purposes. First, they offer a distraction for patients to take their mind off what the work being done (we positioned the feeders so patients can view the birds and keep their head in position for their examination). Second, bird-watching does have a soothing effect. This can be particularly effective with younger patients who are easily distracted.

For some patients, a trip to the dentist can cause debilitating anxiety that interferes with the dentist being able to do their work. For some people who are biters, their anxiety can create a dangerous situation for the dentist. That’s why many dental practices, including The Toothboss, offer sedation therapy as a stress-free way to get your dental work done.