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Wednesday, August 29, 2018

What Is TMD?

The temporomandibular joint is a hinge that connects your jaw bone (mandible) to the temporal bones in your skull, in front of each ear.  A general term for any problem or issue with this joint is temporomandibular disorder, or TMD. Dr. Lis Bradley, DDS can help patients prevent and recover from the negative effects of TMD.


Patients that grind or clench their teeth often end up with a sore jaw.  Other patients experience injuries with facial trauma that cause jaw pain, or result in the patient feeling their jaw gets stuck or ‘locks’ in either an open or closed position.  A custom night guard keeps the jaw in a neutral position during sleep, and this helps many patients find relief from TMD symptoms.  For any pain, your dentist may recommend an over-the-counter painkiller or warm and cold compresses.  To prevent further discomfort, you may be assigned stretches for your jaw. 


Whatever your symptoms, you don’t have to suffer from discomfort in your jaw.  To learn more about TMD and the services provided at the practice, visit www.lisbradleydds.com for more information. To schedule an appointment with Dr. Lis Bradley, DDS in Brentwood, TN, call 615-778-0810.

Friday, August 24, 2018

Tooth Sensitivity in Children

Patients at Dr. Lis Bradley’s Brentwood dental practice can expect compassionate care for their whole family. Nobody, including children, should have to endure toothaches. But when diagnosing the cause of tooth sensitivity in children, there are some additional factors to keep in mind.


Adult teeth are often somewhat sensitive when they first break through the gum line. This problem will usually go away on its own and until then we can point parents toward safe pain relievers. But if a tooth is impacted (meaning it is trapped), extraction or orthodontic work may be necessary, which is why it’s safer to take children’s complaints seriously.


Children suffer from higher rates of tooth decay than people of any other age, and this is the most likely cause of their toothaches. However, it is also possible that they are brushing too hard and damaging their gums. We can teach them better brushing technique in either case. Children also suffer from high rates of sinus infections, which can cause pain that radiates into the upper teeth. Dental problems may be an indicator of an undiagnosed disease such as diabetes or the result of medications which cause dry mouth as a side effect, so it’s important for parents to think of dentists as part of a larger medical care team.


Lis Bradley, DDS, operates at 8112 Isabella Ln, Suite 101, Brentwood, Tennessee. To schedule an appointment, visit Lis Bradley or call 615-778-0810.


 

Monday, August 20, 2018

Scaling and Root Planing

In its most advanced stages, gum disease can lead to gum recession and even tooth loss.  Dr. Lis Bradley, DDS wants to make sure it never gets to that point for you and your family!  When plaque builds up on a tooth, the gum starts to pull away from the tooth and form a pocket around the buildup, which only leads to more gum recession.  A scaling and root planing procedure is used to treat this buildup and prevent the later stages of gum disease.


Scaling and root planning are two parts of a deep cleaning procedure your dentist can perform to help reverse the progress of gum disease.  The procedure beings with scaling, which is the process of the dentist removing plaque from the surface of the teeth, all the way down to the gums. Root planing is the term for any minor contouring to smooth the surface of a tooth near the root.  When plaque has been removed and the tooth root has been smoothed, the gums that have pulled away will have a clean, smooth surface to reattach to as they heal.


To learn more about deep periodontal cleaning and the other services provided at our practice, visit www.lisbradleydds.com for more information. To schedule an appointment with Dr. Lis Bradley, DDS in Brentwood, TN, call 615-778-0810.

Thursday, August 16, 2018

Dental Instruments

Our instruments at Dr. Lis Bradley’s Brentwood dental practice are naturally objects of curiosity. They may also be objects of apprehension. To help patients become more comfortable with their dental care, we thought it would be a good idea to explain a little about what our tools are for.


Dental explorers are the instruments we use the most frequently, along with the handheld mirror. Also known as probes, explorers are small metal hooks that can be used to scrape away bits of tartar. They are used to push against enamel and examine gum pockets to determine whether there is an active infection. A variety of probes exist to check the various parts of teeth from different angles and scrape tartar from under the gums.


When we find tooth decay, we numb the patient with an injection and remove damaged enamel with a drill. The drill sprays water onto the teeth while in use to prevent heat damage. Once the decayed enamel has been removed, we mix the composites for a filling on a small spatula. Application and shaping of the filling are done using burnishers, which are instruments with blunt or rounded ends. If a filling needs to be removed, we remove debris with an evacuator, which is a more powerful version of the ejector used to vacuum away saliva.


Lis Bradley, DDS, operates at 8112 Isabella Ln, Suite 101, Brentwood, Tennessee. To schedule an appointment, visit Lis Bradley or call 615-778-0810.


 

What is Gum Contouring?

At the dental practice of Dr. Lis Bradley, DDS we see many patients who are unhappy with their smiles for various reasons.  The overall look...