Comprehensive Dental Care for Eugene Oregon
Here at Ardent Care, we’re passionate about preventing tooth decay, dental caries, and cavities with quality preventive dental services for our patients here in Eugene and Springfield, Oregon. Learn more about how cavities happen in our article about how cavities happen understanding cavities, caries, and tooth decay (at bottom). Dr. Renee Watts, DDS and the friendly, skilled dental staff at Eugene’s ArDent Care Dentistry offer a wide range of dental services to help you fight caries and keep your teeth healthy.
Preventive / Preventative Dental Cleanings, Checkups, and Exams:
- Treatment for Gum Disease, Periodontal Treatment prevents decay.
- Quick and Gentle dental teeth cleaning from our skilled and highly-experienced Eugene Oregon dental hygenists. Experience counts!…and makes your visit as painless and swift as possible!
- The latest dental care technology helps a lot too! We use ultrasonic plaque and tartar removal techniques, which are very effective in both preventive cleanings for healthy patients, and for treating gum disease.
- Digital x-rays for fast and safe dental care.
- Comprehensive and caring dental exams from Eugene Oregon Dentist Dr. Renee Watts, DDS.
Tooth Decay Risk Testing with the CariScreen Caries Risk Test:
- Know your risk for cavities! At ArDent Care, we provide the CariScreen Caries Risk Test as part of every examination, and can help you know if you’re at risk for tooth decay, and stop cavities before they happen!
- The CariScreen Caries Risk Test is State-of-the-art technology that is quick and painless painless cavity care; with just a quick little swab on your teeth and gums, the CariScreen provides a quick and highly accurate digital measurement of the amount of cavity-causing bacteria that is present.
- We can reccommend and provide at-home and in-office treatments and products to help you balance pH, kill unhealthy bacteria, and support healthy teeth, including:
Carifree products, including pH-balancing mouthwash, xylitol gum, anti-biofilm treatment rinse, and more.
Spry xylitol products- Follow-up testing is done for our patients who are more susceptible to cavities. After treatment, we’ll measure the levels of bacteria that cause cavities and determine when your risk for cavities has been lowered.
How Cavities Happen: Understanding Tooth Decay & Caries
Years ago, it was predicted that ‘cavities’ would someday be a thing of the past. However today, many adults and children still suffer from the infection we commonly call ‘tooth decay.’ While great advances have occurred in reducing decay rates over the past sixty years, it is still the most prevalent childhood disease in Oregon, five times more common than asthma.
Older adults (65+) also suffer from high rates of tooth decay, often due to exposed tooth root surfaces that are more susceptible to decay. Adults are more likely to have a dry mouth caused by medications or other health conditions, which increases their risk of cavities. In both children and adults, tooth decay can cause pain, time lost from school and work and tooth loss that can be disfiguring and impair eating.
We have new knowledge today about the process of tooth decay. Some people have a very difficult time avoiding cavities, however we have better information and tools than ever before to help people. There are several factors that can put people at risk for cavities and other factors that can help people avoid them. Our goal is to put as many factors as possible in our patients’ favor to lower their risk.
We usually think of a ‘cavity’ as a hole in a tooth. The hole is caused by decay-causing bacteria that can live in our mouth – an infection! Some germs in our mouth are friendly and cause us no harm, however the ones that cause cavities can be difficult to eliminate once they have established residence. While good brushing and flossing are important, often times the decay-causing bacteria cannot simply be brushed and flossed away. These microbes can be transmitted between people via saliva, such as with kissing or sharing utensils, just like a cold or flu can be passed from person to person. For this reason, it is especially important for expectant or new parents to make sure their own dental health is optimal so they can avoid passing the infection on to their children.
Some factors that make a person more likely to get cavities include a dry mouth (due to medications or medical conditions) and deep pits and grooves in the anatomy of teeth. Frequent intake of carbohydrates, including sports or energy drinks, fruit juice, dried fruit and other ‘sticky’ foods also increase a person’s risk. Family members or caregivers with tooth decay increase risk, especially for children.
Factors that can lower a person’s risk of tooth decay include good oral hygiene, reduced frequency of sugar intake, dental sealants, increasing saliva flow and the use of xylitol (a naturally occuring sugar) and fluoride.
State of the art dental care involves performing a risk assessment for each patient annually. Testing of saliva can be easily and routinely done to help determine someone’s risk for getting cavities. Ask your dental care professionals what your risk level is and how you can reduce it.