Q:  Which type of toothbrush should I use and how should I brush?
  A:  The brand of the toothbrush is not as critical as the type of bristle and the size of the head.   Use a brand with a small rotating head with the finest bristles possible.   A small rotating head brush with very fine bristles allows you to get around each tooth more completely just like the professional who cleans your teeth. As long as you are brushing at least once a day for a full two minutes with a brush like that (brush one minute, toothpick & floss, and then brush another minute) and then scrape or brush your tongue, you will find that when you visit your dentist (hopefully, twice a year) he or she will find there will be a minimum of gum bleeding and you will have controlled your gum infection. 

Q: Is one tooth paste better than another?
  A:  Generally, no.   In fact toothpaste does not remove the sugars that develop into dental plaque.   Effective brushing, tooth picking, and flossing are the way to remove the sugars/dental plaque that germs feed on.   If you must use a tooth paste, find one that has a neutral fluoride in it, and a taste that suits you.

Q: How often and why should I tooth pick and floss?
  A:  Tooth picking and flossing between your teeth thoroughly, once a day, helps control your gum disease and tooth decay.   Yes!  Everyone has some level of gum disease.   By taking the time to tooth pick and floss you deny food, in the form of dental plaque (all the sugars you eat), to bacteria that live in and around your teeth under your gums and cause gum disease and tooth decay.

Q: Should I use a mouth rinse?
  A:  Mouth rinses do have some antibacterial activity.   If you tooth brush, tooth pick, floss, and scrap your tongue and then rinse with your favorite mouth rinse it may make your mouth “tingle”, kill some more bacteria and help control your gum disease, and in the process make your breath smell pleasant for a short time.

Q: Is clenching and grinding my teeth at night really all that harmful?
  A:  Next to uncontrolled gum disease it is the most destructive force going on in your mouth.   It causes loss of the bone around your teeth that in turn causes receding gums (that’s right, receding gums do not come from tooth brushing).   The loss of bone creates “pockets” in the gums around the teeth where germs can hide and cause more gum disease than you already have.   Over time, the forces from clenching and grinding also fatigues tooth structure and assists tooth decay, fracture, or loss of  the nerve inside a tooth.    Abscess's can then form and the tooth needs to be either extracted or have a root canal done.  The stress and subsequent grinding that most people experience is what keeps most dentists busy.

Q: Do night guards or splints really help me from grinding my teeth?
  A:  Yes.   If you show signs of night time grinding, then a well fitted, hard or soft, night guard worn 80% to 90% of the time, while you sleep, will deflect the majority of the traumatic forces that are carried to your teeth by this nocturnal habit.   If you watch in a hand mirror your dentist can show you where you have been grinding your teeth.  This can be done at the time of your routine dental examination.

Q: Will “silver” fillings harm me?
  A:  The U.S. Public Health Service issued a report in 1993 stating there is no health hazard from the mercury in mercury amalgam (silver) fillings.   The reason they did so is that once the mercury molecules in a mercury amalgam filling have crystallized (bonded) with the silver, copper, tin, and zinc molecules in that filling, there is no harm to the patient from free mercury molecules, like those found in sea food, for example.   The real danger is to the dental office staff (Dr., Assistant, etc.) who restore teeth with mercury amalgam (silver) fillings on a regular basis without strict sanitary methods to protect themselves from free mercury molecules.   The free mercury molecules have not yet bonded with the other molecules of  metals in a mercury amalgam (silver) filling at the time the staff is placing the material.   They may then be  exposed to excessive levels of  free mercury molecules, over years of time,  and may accululate enough in their bodies to cause sever diseases.