Wahl Family Dentistry Blog

Many dentists advise their patients not to suck through a straw after a tooth extraction so as to prevent dislodging the blood clot. Such dislodgment could cause a painful condition known as dry socket, which occurs mostly with lower molar extractions. Now there is some evidence that sucking through a straw doesn’t affect the incidence of dry socket after oral surgery here. So if you have a tooth or teeth removed — go ahead and drink through a straw afterward. It probably doesn’t matter if you do.

To prevent a dry socket after a dental extraction, it is important to keep pressure on the extraction site (biting on gauze) to stimulate clot formation and avoid vigorous rinsing, which could dislodge the clot.

There was an interesting question and answer “Ask an Expert” podcast with two dental professors here.

There is a touching story about a man (a pediatric dentist) and a woman who hadn’t seen each other in more than 50 years, when the woman, now in her 80s received a package from the man, now 90. You can hear the woman tell the story “The Case of the Curious Codes” here.

Annette Fredskov is a 41-year-old woman in Denmark who received a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis a few years ago.  Rather than let the disease defeat her, however, she chose to take up marathon running and actually ran a marathon every single day for one year, and just for good measure, she ran two marathons on the final day!  That’s 366 marathons in 365 days.  She went through 20 pairs if running shoes in the process.  She no longer has any symptoms of MS and no longer takes any medication.  What an inspiration she is for all of us to take control of our health and our bodies!  Certainly, we have a lot of control over our dental and systemic health: good home care (brushing and flossing) is important for dental health.  Similarly, diet and exercise are very important for our systemic health.

You may read about Annette and how she outran MS here.

The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry updated their fluoride recommendations in 2012: “Children at moderate caries risk should receive a professional fluoride treatment at least every 6 months; those with high caries risk should receive greater frequency of professional fluoride applications (ie, every 3-6 months).”

Fluoride is a very helpful preventive aid against cavities although children don’t always love the professionally-applied kind since it is in a very high concentration. The professionally-applied fluoride in combination with fluoridated water and fluoridated toothpaste is a great tool in the battle against tooth decay.

There was an interesting piece in the New York Times about “The Joy of Old Age,” by a man about to turn 80 and why his 8th decade was one of the best in his life. If that’s true, then I can’t wait — it’s only 30 years away.

Our family visited friends in Pittsburgh, where we went again to the Carnegie Science Center, a wonderful museum for people of all ages. Here’s Leah on a replica of one of those old-fashioned bikes with the big front tires. It was part of a very interesting bicycle exhibit.