Magid Dental Care Blog

During the second week of April, we take a moment to acknowledge and express gratitude for the essential role that dental hygienists play through National Dental Hygienist Week. These highly skilled professionals work tirelessly to ensure that their patients’ smiles are healthy, clean, and radiant. Continue reading to learn about five major reasons why you should be thankful for your dental hygienist.

Even though life can be nonstop, it’s essential to tend to your health before anything becomes a major issue. By attending your dental checkups and cleanings every six months, you are not only keeping your smile in top condition but preventing any oral health issues from developing into something more serious. While your dentist is checking for early signs of tooth decay and gum disease, they are also looking for symptoms of oral cancer. By detecting this disease in its early stages, you can receive the necessary treatment to keep it from spreading. Read on to learn about the risk factors and symptoms of oral cancer.

Fun fact: in 2003, the toothbrush beat out both cars and cellphones for the #1 invention people can’t live without. Since this oral hygiene product plays an essential role in removing food particles, preventing cavities, and freshening breath, it’s fitting! With that said, they aren’t designed with longevity in mind. In fact, the American Dental Association recommends replacing it before the bristles become frayed, old, and home to numerous bacteria. So, keep reading to learn when you should change your toothbrush.

Don’t floss? The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shared that roughly 33% of Americans never do. Unfortunately, skipping this oral hygiene step can quickly wreak havoc on your gums, negatively impacting your oral and overall health in the process. In fact, recent studies have gone as far as reporting that flossing every day can save your life! To learn how, keep reading.

We at Magid Dental Care have always taken infection control very seriously.  We have always exceeded the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) guidelines.  Even more so, now, we have taken the months we were closed to propel our safety protocols beyond the current guidelines set forth by the American Dental Association, Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Occupational Safety and OSHA.  Our goal is to provide you with the absolute safest dental experience possible.

We want to assure our patients and friends that we are closely monitoring the recommendations and guidelines set forth by the ADA, CDC, and the New Jersey Dental Association.  We are committed to the safety of our team and our patients.  For this reason, we are currently open for Emergency Dental visits only.  If you have a true Dental Emergency, please don’t hesitate to call our office at 973-227-9211 to reach Dr. Magid directly. 

• Eat lots of sugary, sticky, and processed foods.  Especially dried fruit like raisins.  Yup, you heard me right.  Sticky raisins stay in the crevices of your teeth like a sticky fruit rollup would and can cause decay.

Hello everyone, I thought this would be a great opportunity to show you what happens when you lose a tooth or do not replace a tooth that has been missing. Patients will tell me that they are just fine with not doing anything about their missing tooth because they are not feeling any pain or discomfort. But the problem is that in most cases what follows is a silent non painful process until it becomes one. So I thought I would show you in the x-ray to the left what can happen. In the picture you can see there is a missing tooth on the bottom and the tooth next to it has started to tilt into the missing space. A healthy tooth is supposed to be situated in an up/down position with no tilting.

        The chewing surfaces of our back teeth have lots hills and valleys comprised of many grooves, fissures and pits. So although they are great for chewing and tearing to make our food more digestible, food can get stuck in these areas.  If this food happens to be processed or comprised mostly of sugar and the teeth are not properly cleaned, it will attract specific bacteria that would love nothing better than to eat those left over sugars and cause cavities.