When you find the ADA Seal of Acceptance on a dental product such as a toothpaste or mouthwash, you can be certain that the product meets or exceeds the American Dental Association's standards of quality, purity, safety and effectiveness. 

From its inception the ADA has sought to protect consumers by placing great emphasis on dental product safety and efficacy.  Although dental products are monitored and regulated by the FDA (Food & Drug Administration), the standards of the ADA exceed those of the FDA.  That is why it is possible to find FDA-approved dental products like toothpaste that do not have the ADA Seal of Acceptance.

A manufacturer who applies for the ADA Seal must do the following:

• Supply objective data from clinical and/or laboratory studies in compliance with ADA guidelines that support the product’s safety and effectiveness
• Submit ingredient lists, labeling claims and other pertinent product information for review and approval
• Provide evidence that manufacturing and laboratory facilities are properly supervised and are adequate to ensure purity and uniformity of the product.

In skimming over the bullet list above, it's easy to miss some critical things that make products with the ADA Seal outstanding.  Take for instance the following features of a product like a mouthwash you may be considering purchasing: Safety, effectiveness, purity, uniformity.  These are all characteristic that you would want in a mouthwash, right?  That's why it's important to pick the product with the ADA Seal, because you can be certain those features will be in the product you buy.  Products that do not have the ADA Seal of Acceptance have not gone through extensive clinical and/or laboratory testing in the way that products with the ADA Seal have.

Think back to the bullet list above: do you remember that part about the "review and approval" of "labeling claims?"  The fact that the ADA monitors and verifies labeling claims is tremendously important to you as a consumer!!  It means that what the product is advertised to do for you, it will actually do!  Another way of putting this is that the dental product manufacturer cannot lie to you about how wonderful their product is; what you read on the labeling is true.

So, next time you're choosing between similar dental products, remember that the ADA seal ensures that the product is not only pure and safe, but also that it does what it claims to do on the packaging.

The Phillips Sonicare Flexcare Plus toothbrush is, in my opinion the best toothbrush on the market and I highly recommend it to anyone looking to improve their dental home care. 

I like to compare a Sonicare toothbrush to a power tool for cleaning your teeth: sure, you could get by without one, just like you could get by without a car, but why would you want to do it the hard way?

Check out the video that follows!
 

We’ve all heard the old adage: “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”  This adage couldn’t be truer when it comes to dental hygiene at home.  Proper daily oral hygiene lays the groundwork for a healthy smile.

To help you perfect the art of proper oral hygiene at home, here are a few tips:

• Brush at least twice a day – Brushing your teeth removes food debris, plaque and bacteria off of your teeth.   
• Never go to bed without freshly brushed teeth – Leaving food debris on the teeth accelerates dental decay and gum disease
• Place your brush at a 45 degree angle when brushing – Brushing with the bristles of the brush at a 45 degree angle to the tooth surface is more effective than brushing at a 90 degree angle (perpendicular) to the tooth.
• Floss once a day – Did you know that flossing is the ONLY way you can clean between your teeth effectively at home?  That’s why flossing is so highly recommended by dentists.
• Brush with a Phillips Sonicare electric toothbrush – Think of a Sonicare toothbrush  like a power tool for cleaning your teeth: sure, you could get by without one, just like you could get by without a car, but why would you want to do it the hard way?
• Use a gentle touch – Brushing too vigorously can damage the gums and even cause them to recede
• Concentrate on brushing all sides of your teeth – Don’t forget the back sides of your back teeth!
• Brush your tongue – Brushing the tongue is strange at first but it’s important to dislodge the bacteria that could be living there.
• Rinse with Listerine at last once per day for 1 minute – Rinsing with an antimicrobial agent like Listerine can kill 99% of gum disease-causing bacteria in your mouth.  If such a terrific antimicrobial rinse exists, why not use it?!

And remember: You don't have to brush and floss ALL of your teeth; just brush and floss the teeth you want to keep! :-)

Most dental accidents happen to children and teens when they’re playing outdoors, particularly when bicycles, skateboards, baseball bats, monkey bars or swimming pools are involved. However, dental accidents can happen to anyone in a very large variety of “safe” and unsafe situations.

Here are some statistics:

• Every 2 ½ minutes a child is injured on a playground
• Approximately 10% of children who participate in sports receive some type of injury to their face
• 35% of injuries to children are sports related
• 5 million teeth are knocked out each year
  

Although we all strive to prevent injuries, sometimes accidents do happen. In case of a dental emergency, the following are some good on-site first-aid steps to follow; these steps should be followed up by a visit to your dentist.

On-site first-aid steps for dental injuries:

• If the tooth is loose, push the tooth back into its original position, bite down in the normal bite pattern so the tooth does not move.  Locate any chipped fragments in the mouth or on the ground and store them in Save-A-Tooth solution or a sealed container of milk, saline solution or saliva.  Call your dentist right away.
• If the tooth is knocked out completely, pick the tooth up by the crown (white part), NOT by the root. (handling the root may damage the cells necessary for bone re-attachment and hider replacing the tooth).  If the tooth cannot be replaced in its socket on site, do not let the tooth dry out.  Place it in a Save-A-Tooth solution or a sealed container of milk, saline solution or saliva.  Call your dentist immediately, the longer the tooth is out of the mouth the less likely the tooth will be able to be saved.

(Adapted from DentalNotes Summer 2000)

Achieving excellent dental home care is incredibly important to your overall health.  After all, you have the ability to clean your teeth several times a day, 365 days a year.  Whereas a dentist only has the opportunity to clean your teeth twice a year!.

To help you with your home care, I've posted a new page on this site that lists my Home Care Tips & Product Recommendations.  Most of these products are available at local stores like Costco and Wal-Mart, as well as from online retailers like Amazon.com.