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Flossing is one of the most important parts of your oral care routine. Many patients know they need to do it but find it difficult to fit into their busy lives. Well, here's the good news: flossing once a day is enough if you're doing a good job!

Some patients like to brush before they floss and others like to floss before they brush. Some like to floss in the morning when they have more energy, others like to floss at night so they can go to bed with a clean mouth. Don't get hung up on any of this, the important thing is that you floss and floss effectively no matter when you do it.

Effective flossing contributes to oral health in these ways:

• It reduces the chance of cavities between teeth, since cavities can only form on teeth covered with dental plaque and you're scraping that plaque away when you floss.
• Along with brushing, it reduces the amount of time the plaque is left on your teeth, allowing them to be in a state of healing and remineralization for longer.
• It removes plaque that accumulates at or below the gum line, aiding in the prevention of gum disease.

As you can see, flossing offers many benefits for such a simple and inexpensive technique. So if you're still wondering how much to floss, don't worry about it. Don't mistake the frequency of your flossing with the effectiveness of it. Choose a dental floss that you like and one time during the day when you can floss thoroughly and just do it! If you need more tips on how to floss correctly, ask Dr. Dale Scharine and Dr. Mark Pflum or any member of our Appleton, WI team—we'd be glad to help you pick up this healthy habit!

Sugar consumption can significantly impact your overall health, but especially your oral health. When we eat sugar, the naturally occurring bacteria in our mouth break the sugars down into acids. These acids in turn attack our enamel, or the hard outer layer of our teeth, breaking it down over time. As the enamel erodes, cavities start to form. Each time we sip a sugary drink or pop a piece of sugary candy, the acid attack starts over, and we continue to break down the enamel on our teeth.

Hidden sugars are prevalent in many foods. Things you don't even expect like ketchup (and other sauces), juices, bread and other baked goods, dairy products, salad dressings and more. There are also foods you may think of as "healthy" that hide a lot of sugars such as flavored kombucha drinks, green smoothies, nut butters, and protein bars. Some people think that you need to drink a case of soda a day or eat tons of candy to see the negative effects on your teeth, but this isn't always true. Even one can of soda a day can damage your teeth.

The truth is that any amount of sugar can contribute to tooth decay. Which leads us to question, how do you know you are experiencing tooth decay?

Well, some good indicators of decay in a tooth include but are not limited to:

• Dark spots on teeth
• Broken areas of teeth
• Sensitivity to sweets, hot, or cold
• Pain in the tooth to pressure or chewing
• Throbbing pain in the tooth

However, when a cavity is small, it is usually non-symptomatic. This makes it even more important to see your dentist regularly so they can detect cavities early with x-rays and other instruments designed to find decay early so it can be treated while small.

The way that your teeth begin to decay starts with your sugar intake habits. As sugar converts to acid in the body, the acid washes over our teeth and slowly erodes the hard protective layer of enamel on the outside. The dentin underneath the enamel is not nearly as hard and much more susceptible to decay. Once the acid has worn away enough enamel to reach the dentin, decay starts on that softer layer. Once decay has started, there is no turning it around.

The best thing that you can do to start lowering your sugar intake is to learn to read labels so that you can decide which foods are best for your personal situation. Eat as many whole foods as possible. And drink more water!

Healthier alternatives to sugary snacks include whole, raw fruits, which contain less harmful forms of sugar, and water, the best choice for hydration. While it's unrealistic to completely avoid sugar, being mindful about consumption and rinsing or brushing teeth after sugary treats can mitigate some damage.

Parents can encourage children to consume less sugar by modeling healthy eating habits and maintaining consistent oral care routines at home. Being a role model in terms of diet and oral hygiene sets a positive example for children.

Ultimately, no one has a perfect diet or oral care routine, but striving to do the "right" thing more often than the "wrong" is a good approach. Pairing a "want" with a "need" can also help maintain balance, such as allowing yourself a treat like ice cream only after a full week of consistent flossing.

Diabetes is a chronic disease that increases the risk for many serious health problems, including severe gum disease. November is Diabetes Awareness Month, and it’s a great time for us at Elite Smiles Dental to remind our patients that the way you care for your teeth at home doesn’t just affect your oral health; keeping your mouth healthy is vital to your overall health, too.

Diabetes is the result of a deficiency, or lack of the hormone insulin to properly transport glucose (blood sugar) to the cells throughout the body. According to the American Diabetes Association, the most common types of diabetes are Type One (90-95 percent of cases), Type Two (five percent), and gestational or pregnancy diabetes. Women who have had gestational diabetes have a 35 to 60 percent chance of developing diabetes, mostly Type Two, in the ten to 20 years following their pregnancy.

In the past decade, researchers have found links between periodontal (gum) disease and diabetes. Not only are people with diabetes more vulnerable to gum disease, but diabetes may also have the potential to affect blood glucose control, as well as contribute to the advancement of diabetes.

Nearly 26 million Americans currently live with the disease, with an additional 79 million in the pre-diabetes stage. There is some good news we want you to know, however; you can protect your gums and teeth from the effects of diabetes by visiting our Appleton, WI office for an exam. Patients who are living with diabetes may require more often visits to ensure their dental health remains in tip-top shape. Many insurance plans provide expanded benefits for diabetic patients, and Dr. Dale Scharine and Dr. Mark Pflum can tell you how often you need to come in for an appointment.

For more information on how we can help, please do not hesitate to give us a call at our Appleton, WI office.

All Hallows' Eve, more commonly known as Halloween, is a yearly event celebrated on October 31, and one that is anticipated by the young and young at heart all over the world. Some scholars claim that Halloween originated from Celtic festivals that honored the dead or that celebrated the harvest, while others doubt that there's any connection at all to Samhain (a Gaelic harvest festival.) Regardless of its origin, our team at the Dentist office of Dr. Dale Scharine and Dr. Mark Pflum hopes that Halloween is fun and enjoyed by all of our awesome patients!

Trick or treat?

In North America, Halloween is predominantly celebrated by children who dress up in costumes, which range from scary to cute, who then go around the neighborhood knocking on doors asking "trick or treat", and they are given candy in return. Trick-or-treating is a time honored tradition, and though many parents groan at the pounds and pounds of candy collected by youngsters and fear for the health of their teeth, there are a few things you can do to help their teeth stay in great shape until the candy is gone:

• Limit the amount of candy they can consume each day
• Have them brush their teeth after eating candy
• Avoid hard, chewy candies as they can stick in hard to brush places
• Keep candy out of sight to reduce temptation
• Don't buy candy too far in advance to limit pre-Halloween consumption
• Help or encourage your children to floss

Halloween Fun

Halloween isn't just about gorging on candy; there are other events associated with this festive day including carving jack-o'-lanterns, painting pumpkins, decorating sugar cookies, bobbing for apples, going to haunted houses, or just curling up on the couch with a bowl full of popcorn and watching some classic, scary movies.

Halloween Around the World

Some countries, like Australia, frown upon Halloween, claiming it is an American event and not based in Australian culture, while others like Italy have embraced the fun and celebrate much as Canadians and Americans do. Mexicans have been celebrating this fun day since around 1960, and it marks the beginning of the Day of the Dead festival. Some countries in Europe have come late to the party, but since the 1990s, countries like Sweden, Norway, and Germany have started celebrating Halloween as well, and finding children in costumes or having ghosts hanging in windows has become commonplace.

Halloween is about fun; stepping outside our normal lives and donning a costume or gathering with friends to knock on doors and ask for candy is as much a part of our culture as hot dogs and barbecue on Labor Day. Have a safe and happy Halloween from the team at Elite Smiles Dental!