Tag: Periodontal Disease

The Role of Dental Crowns in Dentistry

By: Dr. Elizabeth Eggert

Believe it or not, dental crowns have been around since ancient times. Thought to have originated in Italy in the 700s BC, these first crowns were made of gold and communicated status among the aristocratic population. Fast forward two millennia to 1903, when Dr. Charles Land developed the first crown with hints of porcelain material as a way to repair a broken tooth.

Today, the role of crowns is two-fold. Crowns are both structural and aesthetic. Let’s take a closer look!

What Are Dental Crowns?

If you’ve heard people talk about crowns but you’re not entirely sure what they are, think of a crown like a hat or helmet for your tooth. This “helmet” fits snugly over your natural tooth, protecting it from splitting or breaking. Then it’s bonded into place. Before placing a crown, Dr. Elizabeth Eggert or Dr. Jeff Eggert removes a small amount of enamel from your tooth to ensure a proper fit.

Crowns are available in porcelain, metal, or a combination of the two. With the steadily improving porcelains over the years, porcelain remains the most popular choice among today’s dentists. It is highly durable, looks natural, and can be matched closely to the color of your existing teeth. Porcelain is both functional and aesthetic.

How Are Dental Crowns Created?

Dr. Elizabeth Eggert or Dr. Jeff Eggert begins by examining your tooth and taking any necessary imagery to check its health and structure. If they determine that a crown is the best choice for your tooth, they will prepare the tooth by removing any decay and reshaping it to ready it for the crown. Then, they will take an impression or scan of your tooth either electronically or with putty.

In many cases, our amazing dentists can create your crown the same day with our CEREC method. If they need to order your crown from an outside dental lab, they will fit you with a temporary acrylic crown, and you will schedule an appointment for your permanent crown two weeks later. Any crown you receive at Eggert Family Dentistry will match the color, shape, and size of your natural tooth for a flawless appearance!

When Are Dental Crowns The Best Choice?

By nature, teeth are subjected to significant wear and tear. Over time, they can develop cracks, fractures and even start to decay. In these instances, Dr. Elizabeth Eggert and Dr. Jeff Eggert generally recommend dental crowns to strengthen these weak teeth and extend the life of the natural teeth as long as possible. Restoring the integrity of a tooth or teeth is a crown’s primary function.

A Crown’s Many Jobs

Indeed, crowns are champs when it comes to protecting compromised teeth. But crowns have other important jobs as well!

  • Crowns can be placed on the teeth adjacent to a missing tooth to anchor a dental bridge securely.
  • Crowns can cover discolored teeth, creating a brighter smile.
    Read Mary’s story!
  • Crowns should always be placed over a tooth after a root canal treatment to keep the tooth from cracking.
  • Crowns are placed on top of dental implants to restore function and appearance.

Extend Crown Life With Proper Maintenance

Crowns are durable, but they’re not indestructible. With proper care, crowns should last 5-15 years. In some cases, crowns must be prematurely replaced on account of poor dental hygiene or fractures to the crown itself. In most cases, however, Dr. Elizabeth Eggert and Dr. Jeff Eggert replace crowns because acidic and sugary foods or dry mouth cause the underlying tooth to decay.

A crown is a lasting investment in your dental health. Use these tips to help extend its lifespan:

1. Maintain a consistent daily dental care routine.

When you brush and floss regularly, you remove harmful bacteria and sticky plaque from the surface of your teeth and between your crown and your gum line, decreasing the likelihood of tooth decay.

2. Wear a custom night guard if you grind your teeth.

Limit excessive bite force with a custom night guard. This is especially important if you’ve been diagnosed with bruxism. Learn more about the custom night guards we create for our Eggert Family Dentistry patients!

3. Limit your intake of sugary or acidic foods.

You might not think that sugary and acidic foods can affect a crown, but these substances can hang out around the gum line and cause the underlying natural tooth to deteriorate. They can also eat enamel on surrounding teeth, creating a visible contrast between the color of your natural teeth and your crown.

4. Steer clear of sticky or hard, crunchy foods.

Biting on hard candies, popcorn kernels, and other crunchy foods can weaken crowns or cause them to crack, just like your natural teeth can. Sticky foods like taffy and gooey candies can actually dislodge crowns while increasing your risk of tooth decay. Foods in these categories are best avoided.

If it’s been awhile since your last recare visit, schedule an appointment at Eggert Family Dentistry in North Oaks, MN. In addition to a thorough cleaning and careful inspection of your jaws, teeth, and gums, Dr. Elizabeth Eggert and Dr. Jeff Eggert will closely inspect any existing dental work to make sure it’s structurally sound and doing its job and recommend dental crowns and other interventions when needed. Call us at 651.482.8412!

Kickstart the Year with a Brighter Smile: Exploring Safe and Effective Teeth-Whitening Options

By: Dr. Elizabeth Eggert

The new year stretches before us like a blank canvas, brimming with opportunities and untapped potential. It is a time to dream boldly, embrace fresh beginnings, and seize the promise of brighter days ahead. If you’ve been dreaming about a whiter, brighter smile, make 2025 the year you make this dream a reality. At Eggert Family Dentistry, we offer three effective teeth-whitening options guaranteed to boost your confidence! However, before we look at whitening options, let’s cover some causes of tooth discoloration.

Why Does Tooth Discoloration Occur?

Several factors can contribute to discoloration and dull your smile. Some of these include:

  • Tar in cigarettes, cigars, and chewing tobacco
  • Inadequate brushing and flossing, which allows plaque and tartar to build up on your teeth’s surfaces.
  • Tannins, pigments, and acids in foods and beverages such as coffee, tea, red wine, sodas, berries, chocolate, balsamic vinegar, and tomato-based sauces
  • Aging unfortunately darkens teeth

So, while some bad habits may be at play, you can also make healthy lifestyle choices and deal with tooth discoloration. Consequently, tooth discoloration can affect anyone. With this in mind, let’s explore some options to help you whiten your smile.

KöR Whitening Deep Bleaching™ System

One exciting teeth-whitening option is the KöR Whitening Deep Bleaching™ System. This option restores your teeth’s ability to absorb oxygen, allowing for effective whitening of up to 16 shades. The custom-made bleaching trays ensure a perfect fit. Kör is the most effective whitening system on the market and can bleach even tetracycline-stained teeth—something previously thought to be impossible. If you’ve been wanting to whiten your teeth but are concerned about sensitivity, Kör could be the perfect solution for you!

Philips Zoom Whitening Treatment

As the name suggests, Phillips Zoom Whitening Treatment is fast and effective. Completed in a single two-hour visit, this whitening option can whiten your teeth by 4-10 shades.

Here’s how it works:

  1. We start by determining your teeth’s current shade.
  2. We prep your mouth and apply a thin layer of whitening gel.
  3. We illuminate your teeth with a blue LED light to accelerate the whitening process.
  4. We repeat this process three times in 15-minute intervals.
  5. We verify you’ve obtained your desired shade.
  6. We apply a post-treatment gel to protect your enamel and reduce any sensitivity.

Talk about instant results! After your Zoom whitening treatment, we send you home with trays and gel to help you maintain your bright white smile.

Feeling skeptical? Check out these Zoom success stories and view before-and-after photos! 

Professional-Grade Strips and Whitening Trays

A final, effective option we offer at Eggert Family Dentistry is professional-grade strips and whitening trays. Unlike over-the-counter teeth-whitening kits, these strips and trays help whiten the entire surface of the tooth—including the crevices between teeth. They also minimize sensitivity and whiten teeth anywhere from 2-8 shades, lending themselves to more comfortable and noticeable results than over-the-counter options.

If you’re going into 2025 with a less-than-confident smile, Dr. Elizabeth Eggert or Dr. Jeff Eggert would love to help you explore which teeth-whitening option is right for you. Give our office a call at 651.482.8412 to schedule your appointment!

Hotdish and Healthy Teeth: Balancing Comfort Food with Dental Wellness During the Holidays

By: Dr. Elizabeth Eggert

During the long Midwestern winters, we love to surround ourselves with comfort and warmth. From big blankets and oversized hoodies to toasty fires and green bean casserole, keeping cozy is the key to embracing the extended cold. With the holidays right around the corner, hotdish, turkey and stuffing, soups, and other comfort foods will be making frequent appearances at the dinner table. Fortunately, your dental health doesn’t have to take a hit. Learn how you can embrace hotdish and healthy teeth for a delicious and celebratory holiday season!

Indulge in Holiday Goodness While Protecting Those Pearly Whites

When you think about hotdish and other traditional holiday foods, it’s not hard to see how carb and sugar-laden our diets become throughout the fall and winter months. We know that cookies and candy can easily wreak havoc on our dental health, but we may not realize that carbs from all that delicious bread and savory stuffing, the carbs and sugars in our favorite Christmas pie, and the sugars in Grandma’s homemade cranberry sauce are just as likely to cause issues.

Sugar, carbs, and sticky substances can linger on your teeth, inviting bad bacteria to join the party. These bacteria produce waste products, called plaque, which can eventually harden into tartar. The bacteria also play a role in the weakening of your enamel through an acidic and erosive process.

Does that mean you can’t indulge in all the goodies that make Thanksgiving and Christmas so magical?

Not at all!

Here are a few tips that will help you enjoy holiday meals and treats while protecting your teeth:

1. Stay hydrated.

Our saliva has an important job, continually rinsing harmful bacteria from our mouths and dislodging food particles. However, saliva alone isn’t enough to keep up with the demand, especially when we’re consuming more carbs, starches, and sugars. Keep your body hydrated to maintain adequate saliva production, and regularly rinse your teeth by drinking water frequently throughout the day.

2. Incorporate fiber-rich foods.

Adding regular sources of fiber into your holiday diet goes a long way toward keeping the surfaces of your teeth clean. Whether or not you realize it, fibrous foods actually scrub your teeth while at the same time promoting gut health and saliva production.

3. Chew sugar-free gum.

Did you know that gum does more than freshen your breath? Sugar-free gum removes food particles, sticky bacteria, and plaque from your teeth, reducing the risk of serious dental issues like tartar buildup, cavities, and gum disease.

Your Teeth Have a Wish List, Too!

You might be hoping for a designer bag or a new pair of skis this holiday season, but have you thought to ask Dr. Elizabeth Eggert or Dr. Jeff Eggert what your teeth might want? It can be easy to take your teeth for granted when they’re doing their job and not giving you any noticeable issues. However, a little love can go a long way in keeping them healthy and happy for life!

  • Keep up with daily brushing and flossing.

Between shorter workweeks, longer weekends, and out-of-town travel, it can be easy to get out of our regular routines in November and December. Unfortunately, harmful bacteria don’t observe holidays. Resolve to brush and floss twice daily and after big mid-day meals for optimal oral wellness.

  • Swish with mouthwash.

Once or twice a day after brushing and flossing, swish with mouthwash to reduce enamel-eating acidity, loosen any food particles, and strengthen enamel.

  • Keep up with recommended recare visits.

It’s easy to get so busy with day-to-day life that, unless you’re faced with a toothache or a dental emergency, you forget to make wellness appointments for yourself and your loved ones. There’s no better time than the present to get your end-of-the-year recare visit on the books!

Give Eggert Family Dentistry a call at 651.482.8412. Dr. Elizabeth Eggert and Dr. Jeff Eggert would love to see you in our office and partner with you to keep your teeth healthy all year long! And don’t despair that it’s all or nothing. With a proactive approach to your dental health, hotdish and healthy teeth can indeed go hand in hand!

The Link Between Periodontal Disease and Alzheimer’s Disease: What You Need to Know

By: Dr. Elizabeth Eggert

Keeping our teeth clean for the sake of a healthy mouth is nothing new. Over 5000 years ago, the ancient Egyptians created chew sticks—bamboo sticks with frayed ends—to get food out of their teeth and freshen their breath. They also developed toothpaste made from a combination of powdered ashes. However, in the past 30 years, we’ve learned that the benefits of proper oral hygiene extend far beyond a healthy mouth. In this post, we’ll focus on the link between periodontal disease and Alzheimer’s disease and steps each of us can take to invest in our oral health.

The Ripple Effect of Gingivitis

Every disease process begins somewhere, and periodontal disease is no exception. Periodontal disease starts when harmful bacteria in your mouth form sticky plaque. If thorough brushing and flossing aren’t part of your routine, this plaque can hang out on your teeth and harden into tartar. Tartar is virtually impossible to remove on your own and requires dental skill and instruments to do. If tartar is allowed to persist, it irritates and inflames the surrounding gum tissue, leading to a condition known as gingivitis.

Unfortunately, the cascade doesn’t always stop there. Left untreated, gingivitis can quickly escalate. Gum tissue and bone can start wearing down, and because the bone levels deteriorate, teeth can become loose or even fall out. At the same time, the bacteria that is inflaming the gums can leach into the bloodstream and circulate throughout the body.

This bacteria can cause plaque to build up in a person’s arteries, resulting in atherosclerosis, and putting a person at a higher risk for a heart attack. But it doesn’t stop there. That same bacteria can travel to the brain and destroy nerve cells, leading to memory loss, or Alzheimer’s.

Phew!

Learn more in this summary of a study from the journal of Science Advances.

Fortunately, there are some effective steps each one of us can take to ward off the disease process before it begins!

Prioritizing Oral Health Helps Protect Your Brain

Brush and floss regularly.

Dr. Elizabeth Eggert and Dr. Jeff Eggert can’t stress enough the importance of routine brushing and flossing. When you clean the surface of your teeth and in between your teeth, you remove residual food particles before they have a chance to break down and cause harmful bacteria to grow. In other words, regular brushing and flossing helps ward off gingivitis and periodontal disease. Dr. Elizabeth Eggert and Dr. Jeff Eggert also recommend using fluoridated toothpaste and swishing with a fluoridated mouthwash to keep your enamel strong.

Eat healthy.

The foods we eat have a surprising impact on our oral health and overall wellness. A diet low in sugars and starches minimizes the production of enamel-eating acid that leads to gum disease, tooth decay, and even tooth loss. We’ve established that these destructive bacteria that causes gingivitis and periodontitis can wreak havoc not only on your mouth but also on your heart and brain.

On the flip side, foods rich in healthy fats and omega fatty acids, such as nuts, olive oil, and fish, increase the production of acetylcholine, a chemical that helps your brain create new memories. Avocados, also high in healthy fats, can prevent high blood pressure and reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. And remember to incorporate proteins and foods rich in Vitamin D for optimal brain wellness.

Live healthy.

Tobacco, alcohol, and vaping can interrupt your mouth’s healthy microbiome and contribute to the disease process.

  • Tobacco raises the risk of gum disease and slows down the gums’ healing process.
  • Alcohol is high in sugar and can kick off the gum disease cascade.
  • Vaping contains acidic compounds that can erode tooth enamel, damage the gums, and increase the risk of gingivitis and periodontal disease.

These three habits cause dehydration, reducing saliva production. And because the primary function of saliva is to rinse harmful bacteria from the mouth, these bacteria may persist and grow, leading to eventual periodontal disease. Additionally, in excess, these habits can increase a person’s risk of oral cancer, which can metastasize throughout the body.

Conversely, limiting or avoiding these substances will promote a healthy mouth, brain, and body for life!

Control chronic conditions.

Some chronic conditions, such as diabetes, can increase a person’s risk of gum disease. Carefully managing diabetes and other chronic conditions with diet and medication is a first line of defense against periodontal disease. In addition, be mindful of any routine medications that cause a dry mouth, and take necessary steps to increase saliva production to ward off destructive bacteria.

Schedule regular recare visits.

At Eggert Family Dentistry, we know that one of the most important investments you can make toward oral health and wellness is routine wellness visits with us at Eggert Family Dentistry. At each recare visit, Dr. Elizabeth Eggert or Dr. Jeff Eggert performs several crucial assessments, interprets x-rays, and prescribes a fluoride treatment for your teeth. They proactively care for your teeth, search for early signs of periodontal disease, and take steps to correct or counteract any issues they detect.

Other Factors That Affect Oral Health

Lastly, be aware that other factors, including hormonal changes and genetics, can impact your oral health and ultimately, your brain health. Talk with Dr. Elizabeth Eggert or Dr. Jeff Eggert if you have any oral health concerns!

The link between periodontal disease and Alzheimer’s disease is undeniable, proving that Alzheimer’s disease can start in the mouth. Follow these tips to maintain oral wellness! If you need to set up your next recare visit, reach out to us at 651.482.8412!