Dr. Cherry Harika, DMD

Everyone gets a little white coating after meals, etc. Along with brushing and flossing, it’s very important to scrape the tongue daily. Just like you would brush and floss 2/3 times a day, similarly, you would gently scrape the tongue; or sometimes use a toothbrush to gently scrape the coating from top surface of tongue. Make an appointment with your dentist office to rule out any other concerns.

Hope this helps,

Dr. Cherry Harika

Depends on many factors. How much bone is available, any medical concerns, current medications, gum and jaw bone health, etc. Best would be to sit down with your dentist and go over your X-rays/medical history etc and see what’s the best. In general, if an implant can be done, it’s a good long-term solution.

Hope this helps,

Dr. Cherry Harika

Always better to visit your dentist and have your gums and teeth checked at. Not every person is a good candidate for whitening. It can inflame gums and cause lot of sensitivity on teeth. Best to visit your dentist and then see if home whitening is better or in office whitening. Most offices have easy to do 2 hour whitening sessions, where it’s done in a professional supervised way. If that doesn’t work for you, they can take measurements of your teeth and make you custom made bleaching trays and give you professional gel to do home whitening.
Hope this helps

Dr. Harika

Sometimes when an extraction has been difficult, you might notice tinge of blood seeping out. Call your dentist office and have them take a look. Biting on an teabag also helps. And make sure you are following the post-op instructions your dentist gave you, in particular avoiding any hot/hard food and/or drinks.

Hope this helps,

Dr. Harika

Honest answer to question would be - Yes. Just like any surgical procedure, there would be some post operative pain and discomfort. Good news is, your dentist team can carefully manage and minimize that. Speak to them, they will review your medical history and have a good pain management program for you. We do surgical procedures everyday and have a well managed post operative plan for every patient. When patients follow instructions and the dentist office has a good surgical and post-operative management, there is minimal discomfort afterwards.

Hope this helps,

Dr. Harika

Sometimes it’s not possible to save teeth due to various reasons. Like anything else, teeth are part of your body and serve their function. Speak to your dentist about replacement options. Depending on gum health, bone health and health of surrounding teeth, they will be able to discuss your options. Generally speaking, if you are a good candidate for implant, that would be a good option to discuss with your dentist.

Best wishes,

Dr. Cherry Harika

See your dentist right away. Grinding causes not only tooth destruction, but also destruction of your gums/bone and not to mention joint. Long-term damages from grinding are huge. See your dentist and get fitted for a custom made nightguard to begin with. They will also suggest jaw exercises and some muscle relaxants as needed. For more severe cases, a TMD specialist or oral surgeon will be happy to help.

Dr Cherry Harika

It depends on how deep the decay is and it also depends on patient’s pain tolerance. You can always opt out and have the dentist start working, whenever you feel pain, let them know and they can numb you at that time.

Hope this helps. All the best :)

Dr. Harika

You can’t floss the dentures as there aren’t any gaps between the teeth on dentures. You should be taking them out at night - cleaning and brushing them. And you would rinse your dentures after a meal. Also your dentures can be cleaned at your dental office - when you go for your regular visits at dentist. Please remember, even if someone doesn’t have teeth and wears full set of dentures, they still should be seeing the dentist regularly to monitor the gum - jaw and joint health.

Also after certain number of years, dentures would need to be remade or relined to ensure proper fit and function.

Dr Harika

Dental X-rays are very safe. With new technologies, Digital X-rays and proper radiation protection equipment, radiation exposure is much less. Dental X-rays are very small - so much less exposure than medical X-rays.
Your dental professional will see the frequency needed for your specific conditions. In my office, we have full-mouth X-rays every 3 years and smaller Bitewing X-rays every year.
You would be surprised how many cavities you would see on X-rays which you/your dentist could have never seen without X-rays. It will save you lots of time, money, and effort in the long run.

Best wishes!!

Dr. Harika