{"id":916,"date":"2019-03-19T12:51:41","date_gmt":"2019-03-19T12:51:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/?p=916"},"modified":"2019-03-19T12:51:42","modified_gmt":"2019-03-19T12:51:42","slug":"understand-the-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/understand-the-why\/","title":{"rendered":"UNDERSTAND THE \u201cWHY\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<ul class=\"wp-block-gallery columns-1 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\"><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"752\" src=\"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/54519678_2584655358217785_7700676967871283200_o-1024x752.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"921\" data-link=\"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/?attachment_id=921\" class=\"wp-image-921\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/54519678_2584655358217785_7700676967871283200_o.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/54519678_2584655358217785_7700676967871283200_o-300x220.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/54519678_2584655358217785_7700676967871283200_o-768x564.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Change is\ninevitable. While there are some changes that take place we have little control\nover, there are other changes that we have to initiate to move forward. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Changing our\nbehavior, habits, attitude, or any aspect of our lives can be a challenge. I am\nnot writing as an expert on this subject as I have the same struggles as\neveryone else with change. However, repeated awareness of changes we want to\nmake is one strategy to move us closer to making that change; for example, your\ndental hygienist reminding you to floss. Effective?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mary, a patient\nof mine, is an adult who has had issues with decay (bacterial disease that\nbreaks down tooth structure), dental erosion (chemical breakdown of tooth structure),\nand gum recession (loss of the supporting structures of the teeth). When people\nlike Mary present with these problems, we dentists like to present treatment to\n\u201cfix\u201d the problems. However, the reasons \u201cWHY\u201d these issues are occurring are\njust as important, if not more so, than the \u201cfixes\u201d we propose. We have to\nunderstand the \u201cwhy\u201d in order to focus on changing the causes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mary drinks\ndiet soda. In fact, Mary doesn\u2019t just drink diet soda; she has a diet soda by\nher side all day long. At a recent event I saw Mary sitting and listening\nintently to the presentation. At her side was her diet soda. Every few minutes\nMary would unscrew the diet soda cap and take a swig. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The three main\ndental issues Mary has, decay, erosion, and recession, have many different\netiologies. One common denominator is pH, which is a scale used to describe the\nacidity or alkalinity of solutions or environments. The lower the pH, the more\nacidic the solution or environment is. In order for any of the three disease\nprocesses described above to occur, the pH of the oral environment has to be\nacidic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While there\nare many reasons the pH of the oral environment can be acidic, such as\nmedications or disease, dietary factors play a significant role. A pH lower\nthan 5.5 in the oral cavity puts you at risk for dental disease. Most tap\nwater, for example, has a pH of 7. The average diet soda has a pH of 3.28.\nStomach acid has a pH between 1-2. Diet soda is very acidic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Having a diet\nsoda with a meal on occasion is most likely not a problem. Typically, after\nconsumption of an acidic beverage, your saliva will neutralize (make your mouth\nmore alkaline and less acidic) within about a half hour. That is why you may\nhave heard that you should wait at least a half hour before brushing your teeth\nafter meals. The problem with Mary sipping the diet coke all day long is that\nthe pH of her mouth is always acidic. This creates a very dangerous\nenvironment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Quieter\ndrills, new materials and technologies will not solve these problems. While\netiologies such as medications that can cause dry mouth and a very acidic\nenvironment are difficult enough to manage, behavioral issues are often not\ndiscussed in enough detail, or at all because they can be more difficult to\nmanage. However, this is the key area for the dental provider to help the\npatient understand and initiate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Avoidable\ndental problems are the last thing a patient wants to hear about and a dentist\nwants to see. The next time your dentist or dental hygienist tells you there is\na problem, such as a new cavity, bleeding gums, or worn\/broken teeth, ask them\nto explain why this is occurring. Hopefully, this will lead to the start of\nchanges to help this from happening again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr. St. Clair\nmaintains a private dental practice in Rowley and Newburyport dedicated to\nhealth-centered family dentistry. If there are certain topics you would like to\nsee written about or questions you have please email them to him at <a href=\"mailto:jpstclair@stclairdmd.com\">jpstclair@stclairdmd.com<\/a>.\nYou can view all previously written columns at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\">www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Change is inevitable. While there are some changes that take place we have little control over, there are other changes that we have to initiate to move forward. Changing our behavior, habits, attitude, or any aspect of our lives can be a challenge. I am not writing as an expert on this subject as I have the same struggles as everyone else with change. However, repeated awareness of changes we want to make is one [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-916","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/916","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=916"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/916\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":922,"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/916\/revisions\/922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}