Thursday, 29 August 2019 19:02

Pediatric Dentistry: The Key to Lifelong Oral Health

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Start ’em early! It’s never too soon to start imparting to your children the importance of good oral hygiene. Experts say as soon as your baby starts getting teeth in, you should begin cleaning them, and here at Tedford Family Dentistry we fully subscribe to this belief. You can start by wiping your baby’s teeth clean with a soft cloth and warm water. When your baby reaches the 18 months mark, you can begin brushing your baby’s teeth with a pea-sized amount of low-fluoride toothpaste. As they grow, they can begin taking more and more ownership of the task, but for a good while, they will need a lot of help and supervision. Establishing these good oral health habits out the gate will help reduce the risk of tooth decay and cavities in baby teeth, of course, but getting into an early routine of regular brushing will also likely carry…
Thursday, 25 July 2019 18:47

The Importance of Preventative Dentistry

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Preventative Dentistry Keep Your Mouth Healthy At Tedford Family Dentistry, we have been helping residents of Ooltewah and the surrounding areas maintain healthy mouths for years. While we offer services that help to fix dental issues once they have already happened, we feel that it is more important for our patients to understand that the benefits of maintaining a preventative dental routine in order to decrease the number of dental issues that can arise during their lifetime. If you don’t take care of your teeth and properly manage your oral health, you may find yourself forking over thousands of dollars in restorative dental care. Did you know that a full mouth reconstruction can cost between $45,000 and $80,000? By practicing preventive dentistry, you can safeguard yourself from these exorbitant dental costs. In today’s blog post, we are going to go over some of the steps that patients can take to…
Tuesday, 18 June 2019 18:24

Is Flossing That Important?

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Flossing Should be a Part of You Daily Routine If you ask most people how they feel about flossing, you are likely to be greeted with answers that are less than favorable. It seems that across the board, most people don’t enjoy flossing and even fewer people actually take the time to floss on a weekly, let alone daily, basis. Why is flossing such a tough sell for people? Mostly because it is time-consuming and can also lead to some uncomfortable feelings in the gums afterward. Despite the reluctance of the average person when it comes to flossing, we wanted to take some time in today’s blog post to go over the many reasons that flossing is one of the most important things a person can do in order to maintain good oral hygiene and reduce that amount of problems associated with bad oral health. Keep reading below to learn…
Thursday, 30 May 2019 12:18

Are Dental Implants Right For You?

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Here at Tedford Family Dentistry, we want to make sure that all of our Ooltewah clients fully understand the cosmetic dentistry services that we offer. In the world of dentistry, people generally place dental services into two main camps - things that need to be done and things people want to have done. For example, getting a cavity filled is a need-based service. Walking around with a cavity can be quite painful and, as such, is a service that most people would consider necessary in order to maintain the overall health of their mouth. However, in today’s post, we are going to talk about a service that, at first glance, doesn’t seem like a necessity but, after taking a moment to think about the benefits, can quickly blur the lines between what is necessary and what is wanted. What are Dental Implants? Before we dive into some of the benefits…
In our Ooltewah Dentist Office, we see patients who suffer from regular teeth grinding, also known as “bruxism.” Since stress is a major contributor to teeth grinding, we are dedicating this month’s post to suggestions to help you lower your stress levels.  Ways to Reduce Stress that Causes Teeth Grinding Pain in the jaw from clenching teeth too tightly is bad enough, but stress can trigger many negative responses in our bodies, including headaches, high blood pressure, tense muscles, high blood sugar, heartburn, depression, and a weakened immune system. Here are a few ideas for getting your stress under control. Ways to Relieve Stress at Home We’ve all felt stress and wished we could escape the pressures of modern life to experience complete relaxation like the people in those bath power commercials from the 70s and 80s, pleading, “Calgon, take me away…” The home is usually a sanctuary for taking…
We all want a more youthful appearance, especially as we approach middle-age and worry about getting passed over for jobs in favor of younger candidates or fear that we are losing our sex appeal. Millions of Americans fight to hide signs of the natural aging process with injections to tighten the skin and products to conceal gray hairs. One positive impact of cosmetic dentistry performed at our Ooltewah TN dental office is a more youthful appearance. For those with teeth in good condition, teeth whitening or dental veneers can give the illusion of a more youthful smile. For others who’ve lost teeth over the years, dental implants surgically positioned into the jawbone create a similar effect. Cosmetic Dentistry: The Fountain of Youth? Teeth Whitening and Dental Veneers Think back to when you were a younger person, perhaps in your twenties, with beautiful white teeth freshly aligned from wearing braces in…
Wednesday, 16 January 2019 19:47

TMJ Pain Treatment Ooltewah TN: Symptoms and Solutions

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If you experience frequent jaw pain, headaches, migraine, or a painful sensation around your ear, you may have an inflamed TMJ, or temporomandibular joint. You might hear clicking or popping while chewing or talking if this condition affects you. In this blog, we’ll talk about the symptoms and possible causes of TMJ pain, how Dr. Tedford diagnoses the disorders, and how to treat TMJ and the jaw damage causing the painful symptoms. TMJ Disorder Treatment in Ooltewah TN Possible Causes of TMJ Pain If you’re under a lot of stress, you may constantly clench or grind your teeth, which eventually damages the joint connecting the lower jaw to the bone on the side of the skull. You may not even be aware that you are doing this during the day in stressful situations or while asleep at night. This damage from putting pressure on the jaw usually rears its ugly…
Use of Laughing Gas for Ooltewah Pediatric Dental Procedures To ease anxiety during dental procedures, a mild form of sedation called Nitrous Oxide can be used. We are happy to explain the procedure, why it relaxes patients, and how it makes them feel. Among the benefits of its use are the reduction or elimination of anxiety in patients, enhancing patient communication and cooperation, raising the pain reaction threshold, making longer appointments more tolerable, aiding in the treatment of mentally or physically disabled patients, reduction of gagging, and general sedation. Who Discovered ‘Laughing Gas’? Nitrous Oxide, commonly known as “laughing gas,” is a colorless, almost odorless gas, first discovered in 1772 by the English scientist and clergyman Joseph Priestley (who was also famous for being the first to isolate other important gases such as oxygen, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, ammonia, and sulfur dioxide). He hoped it would serve as a preserving…
Chattanooga Preventive Dentistry Part of our mission for Chattanooga Preventive Dentistry is encouraging and educating patients to achieve a more balanced, healthy life in general. Poor nutrition affects oral health in ways that may not seem as obvious as usual culprits of gum disease or cavities.  Eating for Healthy Gums and Teeth Foods that can Damage Teeth and Gums You’ve probably already guessed what we are going to say. The American Dental Association (ADA) has promoted the message for years: Junk Food is bad for you and your teeth. Sugars are easily the arch-nemesis of many a dentist. Cake, cookies, candies, milk, and other sugary foods may taste delicious but these can cause tooth decay. Starchy foods like pretzels and potato chips aren’t good for teeth either. The longer these carbohydrates stay on the teeth, the more damage is done. Non-Food Consumables that can Damage Teeth and Gums This time…
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