Partial Dentures

National Wine Day falls on Saturday, May 25th this year and is a great time to celebrate with a glass of wine (or two, we won’t tell)! But wine is also one of the most common causes of tooth staining, along with tea and coffee.

How to Keep Your Smile Bright When Drinking Wine

Drinking wine won’t hurt your teeth, but it can stain them and make you feel self-conscious about your smile. Here are a few tips to keep your smile bright and avoid purple tinted teeth:

See your dentist regularly for teeth cleanings

Seeing a dentist for six-month oral exams and teeth cleanings will ensure that your teeth are free of plaque and tartar. Your teeth will be buffed and polished, which can help remove minor stains and discoloration.

Consider a white wine

White wine is free of the tannins and pigments that can stain your teeth, so think about switching to Riesling or pinot grigio

Brush before you drink wine

Since wine is acidic, it’s actually not a great idea to brush right after drinking it. Brushing immediately after drinking wine can cause premature wear to the teeth. Instead, brush your teeth before you drink. This will help remove plaque and prevent stains.

Rinse your mouth after drinking wine

Drinking a glass of water or gargling with a bit of mouthwash can help prevent wine from lingering on your teeth.

Have a salad with your wine

High-fiber foods help your mouth produce more saliva and “scrub” wine away from your teeth. Pair your wine with a salad and minimize your risk of a stained smile!
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Treating Stains – Teeth Whitening And Veneers

If your teeth have become stained due to a wine habit, don’t despair! You have options. Teeth whitening from Enamel Dentistry is an ideal way to reverse and remove wine stains. We offer both in-office and take-home kits. When the powerful peroxide is applied to your teeth, it breaks up the chemical bonds that hold the stains onto your enamel and bleaches them away.

If you have very dark or severe wine stains, or your teeth are stained due to tobacco use, veneers may be a better option. Porcelain veneers can be used to cover up the front surfaces of your teeth and replace them with a bright, white, completely non-stainable surface that permanently restores your smile!

Contact Us to Learn More About Cosmetic Dentistry in Austin!

If you’re interested in cosmetic dentistry in Austin, Enamel Dentistry is where you want to be. Our dentists have years of experience treating teeth stains with whitening and veneers. Come in for a consultation today and see what treatment may be right for you. We hope to see you soon!

If your gums start bleeding while you’re flossing, should you keep flossing? Absolutely!

Bleeding while flossing is often a sign that you need to be flossing your gums more thoroughly or frequently—not that they should be left alone. It might sound counterintuitive, but the more you floss, the less your gums will bleed, unless the bleeding is related to physical damage to your gum tissue or a systemic issue. Many patients will stop flossing an area that bleeds, but the best thing to do is to give that area more attention!

Other Reasons Why Your Gums Might Bleed During Flossing

For most patients, simply flossing more often is enough to stop bleeding gums. However, there are several other reasons why your gums could bleed while flossing, including:

• You could be using poor flossing techniques
• You may not be brushing your gums properly while brushing your teeth
• You may have an accumulation of plaque and tartar on your teeth
• You may have had your teeth cleaned recently and had a lot of build-up removed
• You may have gingivitis, the early stage of gum disease

If the bleeding hasn’t gone away within 3-10 days, schedule an appointment to have your dentist check it out. We’ll evaluate your flossing technique and determine whether you may need a cleaning or periodontal care. Gingivitis and gum disease are both very common, but the good news is that they can be reversed in the early stages.

How Often Should You Floss Your Teeth?

Flossing is very important because it can get into areas that your toothbrush bristles can’t. No matter how well you brush your teeth, if you’re not flossing, you’re essentially only cleaning about 50% of your mouth. If you only floss occasionally, your gums will probably bleed because the tissue isn’t used to the stimulation; regular flossing helps the gum tissue become more resilient.

Although some patients floss after every meal, simply flossing once a day will do wonders for your oral health! The best time to floss is typically before you brush your teeth at the end of the day. This will allow the fluoride to make the most contact with your teeth. If you have questions about how to floss your teeth properly, we’d be happy to give you a demonstration!

The bottom line: your gums may bleed from time to time, and generally, it’s not serious. Start flossing more often, and it should go away. But if your gums bleed regularly, it’s time to schedule an appointment with your dentist! Contact your closest Enamel location or book an appointment online.

If you don’t have any pain or sensitivity in your teeth, you may think it’s unecessary to visit the dentist. We’re sorry to break it to you, but that’s not the case! You’d be surprised at how often patients need a filling, root canal, or other procedure to address an issue they didn’t even know was there.

Regular Visits to the Dentist: It’s All About Prevention

Just like visits to your primary care doctor for annual exams, regular visits to the dentist are all about preventive care. Routine exams allow us to be proactive with your dental health and address minor issues before they have the chance to become a more serious—and expensive—problem. In some cases, addressing a cavity early on could actually save your tooth! And we all want to have happy, healthy, natural smiles, right?

If you wait to go to the dentist until you’re having pain, chances are the damage to your tooth will be greater than if you had been keeping up with your regular check-ups. Tooth decay and gum disease aren’t necessarily painful at first, and if we can treat them early, you won’t have to worry about more invasive or costly procedures in the future. 

For example, a cavity is a hole in the tooth caused by bacteria that eats away at the enamel, which is the outer layer of the tooth. Patients rarely feel pain from cavities until they get worse, and the hole makes its way down to the tooth’s nerve. When this nerve is exposed, it’s painful—and it means you’ll need a root canal to save the tooth. However, if we detect the cavity early on, all you’ll need is a simple filling.

Dental Anxiety & Cost: Two Reasons Patients Put Off Dental Care

Think back to how dentists have been portrayed in the media (Little Shop of Horrors, anyone?). Often, dental care has been portrayed as scary or painful. The good news is that modern dentistry has come a long way, even within the last 10 years. Beyond providing excellent care for your teeth and gums, our primary focus is on your comfort. 

It may sound strange, but patients often have dental anxiety because they haven’t visited the dentist enough—so they’re not sure exactly what to expect. Or, they may need more extensive procedures because their visits have been far and few between. The more often you visit us, the more comfortable you’ll be with the whole experience; we’ll also be able to be more proactive with your oral health. We understand that dental anxiety can be a real roadblock to dental care, which is why we offer three levels of dental sedation to help you have stress-free visits. If you have dental anxiety, don’t hesitate to let us know! 

Dental anxiety is a common reason why many people put off going to the dentist. Another reason? The cost. Here’s the thing to keep in mind: if you stick to a regular schedule for your dental exams, and practice good oral hygiene, you’re far less likely to need more invasive (and costly) procedures. Even better, the cost of visiting the dentist will be much more predictable! Waiting until you need more intensive treatment may also make it difficult to afford the care you need. 

Schedule an Exam at Enamel Dentistry Today!

Hopefully, this has given you a better understanding of why regular exams and teeth cleanings are so important—even if your teeth or gums feel perfectly fine. We want to help you keep them pain-free and prevent the need for more invasive and expensive procedures. If you’ve been putting off your dental care, don’t wait! Schedule an appointment with us today at one of our convenient locations. When you arrive, you’ll be given a comfort menu filled with amenities that will make you feel right at home. Sit back, relax, and let our team take care of you!