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If you or your children suffer from dental anxiety, you aren’t alone. According to the Cleveland Clinic, between nine and 15 percent of Americans admit to feeling sufficiently afraid of going to the dentist to avoid making an appointment. The potential consequences of dental anxiety extend beyond poor oral health. Lack of dental care can cause serious but easily preventable medical conditions.

Dental Anxiety versus Dental Phobia

Dental anxiety provokes a sense of fear in people, typically before they arrive at Gary Yanowitz, DDS. Those fears or worries are often exaggerated. Dental phobia shares many of the symptoms that characterize dental anxiety. It is a much more serious manifestation of that anxiety, and may provoke a sense of panic or terror in people. While people who suffer from dental phobias know that their feelings are irrational, they are unable to control, stop, or change those thoughts.

People who have dental phobias often avoid going to the dentist, and they come up with every possible excuse to justify not going. The only time a person who suffers from a dental phobia will go to the dentist is when he or she is forced to do so, or because of intense tooth pain. People who have dental anxiety don’t go to such extremes to avoid going to the dentist; anxiety usually begins in anticipation of the appointment.

What We Do to Ease Patient Anxiety

Dr. Gary Yanowitz and our staff have many techniques we can use to help patients feel more comfortable at their appointments. Dental Fear Central gives some simple suggestions to help children and adults who are apprehensive about going to the dentist, even if they suffer from the more severe form of anxiety: full-blown dental phobia.

• The Tell-Show-Do Approach: We help our patients relax by making sure they understand what is involved in the exam and any procedure they may undergo. We tell patients about the procedure, show them the tools and equipment we intend to use, and answer questions before actually performing the procedure. This is helpful for patients who don’t know what to expect.

• Distraction: We offer personal music players and a collection of CDs that patients can listen to. The relaxing qualities of music may help distract a patient enough to make the process less stressful. In-office televisions allow you to watch TV while waiting for your appointment.

Dr. Gary Yanowitz and our staff know that some patients are anxious about dental treatment, and we go to great lengths to make you feel more comfortable. Good oral health is very important, and when your mouth isn’t healthy, you can suffer from many other easily preventable medical problems.

Our team at Gary Yanowitz, DDS will tell you brushing on a regular basis is critical for a healthy mouth, but you can definitely overdo a good thing. Known as “toothbrush abrasion,” over brushing can lead to sensitive teeth and receding gums, not to mention the wearing down of the protective layers of your tooth enamel. Over brushing can also push back your gums, and in the process, expose the dentin layer under the enamel.

“So, how do I avoid over brushing?”

• Use a soft or extra-soft bristled toothbrush to prevent gum damage and wear on the soft tooth dentin
• Keep in mind which direction bristles face when you brush. They should be perpendicular, not parallel. Place the head of your toothbrush with the tips of the bristles at a 45-degree angle to the gum line and brush away!
• Move the toothbrush with short strokes and a scrubbing motion, several times in each spot – don’t saw back and forth across the teeth with your toothbrush.
• Apply just enough pressure to feel the bristles against the gums. If you are squashing the bristles, you're brushing too hard.
• Replace your toothbrush when you notice frayed and bent bristles.
• Brush for two minutes at a time

If you have any questions about proper brushing techniques, ask us about it at your next appointment or give us a call today!

Do you dread the dentist? Do you hate the sound of the drill, fear anesthesia or needles, and put off your regular checkups because you dread being told you will have to undergo dental procedures? Then drill-free air abrasion dentistry is for you. Air abrasion is a drill-free technique used by Dr. Gary Yanowitz to remove tooth decay, prepare teeth for bonding, and remove old fillings and stains. It is particularly appropriate for young children or people with dental anxiety, because it is sound- and vibration-free. It allows the creation of a relaxing atmosphere, requires less anesthesia in many cases, and involves much less noise.

How does drill-free dentistry work?

Air abrasion is like a mini sandblaster; it sprays away decay-causing tartar and plaque. Tartar and plaque is removed by a fine stream of particles, comprised of silica, aluminum oxide, or a baking soda mixture, which is sprayed toward the tooth by compressed air or a gas in a dental hand-piece. The debris is then suctioned away.

Advantages of air abrasion dentistry

• Leaves more of the healthy tooth matter
• Reduces the risk of chipping or fracturing the tooth
• Generates no heat, sound, vibration, or pressure
• Reduces the need for anesthesia
• Is a relatively simple, quick procedure
• Allows treatment of multiple teeth in one visit
• Is a relatively dry procedure, which allows for easy placement of composite fillings

Drill-free dentistry can go a long way to easing your dental anxiety. To enter Gary Yanowitz, DDS and not hear the high-pitched squealing of the drill is, in itself, a big plus. Then to know you will have to receive little or no anesthesia to have a cavity filled with air abrasion, and that this method will be a quiet, relatively pain-free procedure … can you imagine it?

Contact Gary Yanowitz, DDS at our convenient Pembroke Pines, FL office to see if air abrasion dentistry is right for you!

Scientists have discovered tooth decay in specimens that are more than 15,000 years old. The ancients once thought that cavities were caused by something called “tooth worms” … Eew! They didn’t exist, of course, but how else could humans explain the holes that cavities make in teeth?

The appearance of cavities on a widespread basis is often traced to the rise of farming. The new diet filled with grains and carbs made our mouths a haven for cavity-causing bacteria. As we added more sugar to our diets, our teeth got worse.

The “tooth worm” idea didn’t completely disappear until the 1700s when scientists finally began to understand the process of dental caries. Once that part of the puzzle was solved, they began focusing on filling existing cavities and preventing new ones.

Dental Fillings Come of Age

Many different materials, including beeswax, cork, aluminum, tin, and even asbestos, have been used to fill the holes caused by dental decay. Sometime in the mid-1800s, however, dentists began to use metal fillings such as gold, platinum, silver and lead amalgams.

The amalgam we use today is mixed from liquid mercury, silver, tin, copper, zinc, and other metals, but some patients still like the look of a gold filling. Newer options include composite-resin fillings, which are made from a tooth-colored mixture of plastic resin and finely ground glass-like or quartz particles that form a durable and discreet filling. Porcelain or ceramic fillings are natural in color, but more resistant to staining.

Dr. Gary Yanowitz can help decide which filling is best for you, based on cost as well as your dental and lifestyle needs. You may not have “tooth worms,” but if you have cavities, contact our Pembroke Pines, FL office so we can take the proper action to protect the health of your mouth.