www.BestOgdenDentist.com Blog

Dr Ellis product review. Bacon Flavored Toothpaste

2017-07-11T15:31:00.001-07:00

Oral Care Club

Does my child really need braces?

2017-07-10T12:52:00.003-07:00

Tooth completely broken in half!

2017-04-10T13:07:00.001-07:00

Sometimes people chip teeth.

Sometimes they crack them.

And sometimes .... they break them completely in half!!

This tooth below is broken completely in half.

What can be done!

Can it be saved?!

In short... No Way.

There is no magic here.

No miracle cure for something like this.

This tooth ended up in the jaws of the pliers.

Later down the road other options can be discussed.

As for now however, the tooth is in Heaven with

the patient's wisdom, and baby, teeth.

Dr Jim Ellis Website

Dr Jim Ellis on Facebook

Dr Jim Ellis on Twitter

Dental Implant

2017-03-23T12:45:00.001-07:00

Lots of people want to know what exactly happens

during a dental implant procedure.

Well, here it is from start to finish.

#1 Patient comes into the office with a tooth broken off at the gums.

#2 Tooth is extracted and implant is placed.

VERY IMPORTANT point her is that the person does

NOT leave with a tooth at this point.

The "implant" is merely the titanium screw that sits in the bone.

There is a period of healing that now has to happen.

#3 Once healing has happened a connecting piece is placed onto the implant.

An impression of the piece is then taken.

The final crown will cement down over this connector.

#4 Here is a picture of the tooth in place.

It is now completed. The 3 pieces (implant , connector, and tooth)

are all secured to one another and the patient is ready to

return to full function.

Can that tooth just be fixed with a filling?

2017-02-07T09:45:00.003-08:00

A common question I get is ..........

"can that broken tooth just be fixed with a filling"?

The answer to that is normally, yes.

But it is important to understand what a filling is.

A filling is NOT a new tooth.

A filling is a patch.

Like a patch in a pair of pants.

The patch relies on the strength of the remaining tooth for support.

This puts added stress on the remaining healthy tooth structure.

Here is a picture of 2 teeth where fillings were placed.

The fillings run the length of the tooth.

The sides of the tooth are now responsible to support the fillings.

The tooth on the bottom is holding but the tooth on the top has fractured.

The future of the top tooth is now in jeopardy.

How bad is the break?

Has the break extended into the nerve, thus requiring root canal?

Is there enough tooth for a crown?

Will the tooth need to be extracted?

Make sure to ask your dentist which is better for you.

Fixing that smile

2017-02-02T11:46:00.000-08:00

Always such a treat to do cases like this.

Colton had never been happy with his teeth.

He played High School and Collegiate sports.

The impacts from those years of playing sports had left him with

broken, chipped, and nerve damaged teeth.

He wanted to know what was possible.

So we showed him.

Colton before ....

Colton After

2 Appointments.

2 weeks in temporaries.

1 happy camper

Dr Jim Ellis Office Website

Fixing it BEFORE it breaks

2017-01-31T14:01:00.001-08:00

It's been a while since my last posting.

My wife and I celebrated my 20th wedding anniversary.

We traveled out of the country for a minute or two.

Anyway, I'm back.

Today we need to talk about getting regular dental visits so that

you can catch things BEFORE they get out of hand.

When people come into my office we use a digital camera to take

pictures. These pictures allow us to see more more detail then normal.

In the above picture we can see a metal filling in a molar.

The margins of the filling look decent enough.

What doesn't look decent is the cracks in the tooth that appear

to be extending in several directions.

In the above picture you can see what we did to rectify the situation.

We removed the old filling and the cracked enamel.

We then placed a filling.

There was no need for a crown because we caught it early.

I have no doubt that had we waited the cracks in this tooth would have progressed

and the tooth would have fractured.

Dr Jim Ellis on Facebook

Dr Jim Ellis on Twitter

Cosmetic Bonding

2016-11-22T15:40:00.001-08:00

What do you do if you have a small gap in between your teeth?

You could get braces.

You could get crowns or veneers.

But both of those options are expensive and time consuming.

What if there was a way to close gaps that didn't cost a lot that

could be done in 1 appointment?

There is!

It's called cosmetic bonding.

Here is a case that I just did today.

Before

After

Cosmetic bonding is a small amount of filling material that

is placed on the side of 1, or both, teeth in order to close the gap.

There are other types of cosmetic bonding but the same concept applies.

It's as strong as a normal filling because that's what it is.

No numbing shots

No big bill

No weeks or months of treatment

Dr Ellis Facebook Page

Which floss is the best?

2016-11-14T14:16:00.001-08:00

People ask me which type of floss is the "best" type of floss.

Thin Floss

Thick Floss

Waxed......

Unwaxed.......

Floss on a handle

etc.

The answer to this is easy.

The best floss is ........whichever floss you will use.

The percentage of people who will floss daily is around 40%.

And the number of people who will never floss is around 20%.

So the "type" of floss you use is not nearly as important

as actually "using" the floss. Because it really doesn't matter.

Dr Ellis Facebook page

What is a Root Canal?

2016-11-09T13:20:00.000-08:00

People ask me all the time....

"So what exactly is a root canal"?

Well it's really not that complicated.

Let's make it a little easier to understand shall we.

The inside of your teeth are hollow.

There is a CANAL running through them like a

canal that carries water.

The canals run down the entire length of the the ROOT.

The canals in your roots carry the nerves of the teeth.

When the nerve dies, and/or becomes infected, it will cause

pain and/or infection.

A root canal is simply going into the ROOT to clean out the CANAL.

Thus ROOT CANAL.

The picture here simplifies it really well.

The tooth on the left has a cavity that has gotten down into the nerve.

After a root canal, the picture on the right, there is no longer a nerve in

the canals. There is now a filling.

No nerve .......... No pain.

Why do I need regular dental visits?

2016-11-03T11:46:00.002-07:00

Some people refuse to come to the dentist unless it hurts

or unless they can see something wrong in the mirror at their house.

These very same people are usually the ones that end up with the

largest amount of crown, root canals, and broken teeth.

Below is a perfect example of why REGULAR dental

visits are so important.

The tooth below did not hurt.

The patient couldn't see anything wrong with it.

Once we took a digital image and blew it up a little however,

the problem became very clear.

There is a crack in the tooth.

We were able to remove the cracked portion and place a new

filling that will, hopefully, stop this small crack from progressing

into a much larger problem in the future.

The after image.

Please do not wait for pain, or actual tooth breakage,

before you go see your dentist.

ADA Statement on Silver Fillings

Replacing Amalgam Fillings

2016-10-27T12:30:00.001-07:00

Sadly, one of the tactics used by shady dentists out there is to

tell people that all of their silver fillings need to be replaced.

Do silver fillings need to be replaced?

Yes.

Almost everything artificial needs to be replaced.

BUT, ALL the silver going bad at one time?!

Let's take the 2 fillings below as an example.

This filling I WOULD replace.

The border between the filling and the tooth is

deteriorating and allowing bacteria to get down into the tooth.

This metal filling I would NOT replace.

You can see that the border is perfectly sound.

There is no reason to inject the patient with drugs,

and further traumatize the tooth by drilling into it to

remove a filling that is serving its' purpose just fine.

And NO there is no clinically proven studies that show that

keeping silver fillings in your mouth is dangerous to your health.

I will post a link below by the American Dental Association.

Dental Advertising

2016-10-24T14:01:00.001-07:00

You all have seen the billboards.

You've received the ads in the mail.

Dentists advertising half price treatments.

Offering cleanings, and/or whitenings for life.

Why do they do it?

Should you answer the ad?

Are there any catches?

Dr Ellis Facebook Page

My child hasn't lost any teeth yet. Should I be worried?

2016-09-29T14:51:00.001-07:00

I get lots of anxious parents coming into my office asking me

if they should be worried about their child who hasn't lost any teeth yet.

We live in a society built on comparisons.

We can't help it.

You think your home is big .... until the neighbors build one bigger.

You think your car is awesome ...... until the new model comes out.

Etc Etc Etc

So that is what is happening with most of these parents.

They think that their kid is normal ..... but then they see the neighbor's

kids loosing teeth and they start to question their kid's normalcy.

Well parents, just relax.

In about 97.625% of cases your kid's teeth will fall out on their own

and everything will turn out totally okay.

In a few cases, not many, your child may need help getting their teeth out.

Here is a chart to give you the AVERAGE age a child will lose their teeth.

Remember this is a AVERAGE (see how I am typing it in caps ; )

That means that half of kids will be older then the graph suggests

and half will be older.

"It's like pulling teeth!"

2016-09-07T15:20:00.000-07:00

When people think something is hard sometimes they say .....

"It's like pulling teeth!"

Well, here is exactly what they mean.

I extracted this tooth today.

One of the roots makes a complete 90 degree turn!

Inside of solid bone!

It's kind of like trying to pull a fence post out of the ground

if 5 feet under the ground the fence post bends 90 degrees.

So yah, it's hard.

A hole in your chin?! Why regular dental visits are so important.

2016-08-25T10:13:00.000-07:00

Are regular dental visits THAT important?

YES!!!

Here is an example.

A patient came into my office the other day complaining of

"pain in the chin area".

I took an x-ray and was a little shocked by what I saw.

Below you will see 2 x-rays.

One is the unaltered x-ray.

The other is the x-ray with the problem area circled in red.

The dark area is a problem.

Typically bone will have a look like cotton.

Some white, solid, areas but also many darker

air filled spaces as well.

A giant dark spot where bone should be is NOT a good sign.

A quick test of all of the teeth in the effected area revealed that

there was zero sensitivity related to the teeth themselves.

No discomfort with hot, cold, chewing, etc.

Still only pain when finger pressure was applied to the lower chin.

I phoned the oral surgeon and the patient was sent right over.

Below you will see a picture taken in the middle of the surgery.

There was a cyst below the lower anterior teeth.

The cyst was removed and is currently being biopsied.

Please make it a point to go into your local dentist on a regular basis.

It looks as if this patient will be just fine.

But things could have been much much worse.

The Same Sonic Toothbrush. Only Better.

2016-08-23T07:31:00.000-07:00

Wanting to buy an electric toothbrush?

Wanting the quality of the major brands?

Without the cost of the major brands?

Would it be a plus if that toothbrush was designed

by an actual dentist who has worked in the field for decades?

Sports Mouth Guards for Children

2016-08-18T08:20:00.000-07:00

Kids are getting into sports earlier and earlier these days.

It seems as if your child doesn't make a decision about what

sport they will choose, for life, by the age of 4 that they

are already too late.

With all of these kids getting into the sporting realm the

number of sports related injuries is bond to increase.

As a dentist one of the saddest things I see is broken, healthy, teeth.

Teeth that have been badly neglected break all the time, and the

person responsible for the neglect typically knew it was coming.

But the little 7 year old didn't.

To see a child headed for a lifetime of trouble due to a totally preventable

injury is not a happy day.

Please get your child a mouth guard.

It does not have to be expensive.

As long as the guard fits properly it should do the job.

The only worry is guards that fit so poorly that the child risks

have it come out during activity and fall into their throat

and become a choking hazard.

Sprained ankles and broken collar bones will heal .

Teeth won't.

Tooth still hurts AFTER root canal and crown!!

2016-08-04T08:48:00.001-07:00

Have you ever had a toothache?

Have you ever paid a lot for a root canal?

Have you ever paid even more for a crown?

Did it work, or does the tooth STILL hurt?!

What to do?

The tooth in the middle of the screen is just such a tooth.

This patient came to me at the end of her rope.

Too much time, to much money, and too much discomfort.

The failing tooth was extracted and an implant was placed.

The implant was then given 3 months for the bone to heal around it.

After 3 months a tooth was placed on the implant.

No more pain.

No more worry.

If the bone holds (which it should in most healthy patients)

this will be one of the strongest teeth in the mouth.

This tooth should need no more dental work for the lifetime of this patient.

Dr Ellis Facebook

Baby Bottle Tooth Decay

2016-07-28T11:25:00.001-07:00

Tooth decay is not a hard thing to understand.

Sugars from sweets, fruit, milk, etc etc etc etc get into

someone's mouth.

The bacteria, naturally occurring in the mouth, ingest the sugars.

The bi-product of this bacteria - sugar combination is acid.

The acids eat your teeth.

That's it.

Soooo, the take home point here is this........

The longer you have sugar in your mouth the more chances there

are for the bacteria to produce the acids that cause decay.

Time + Sugar = Decay

One of the saddest manifestations of this is Baby Bottle tooth decay.

Little tikes that get put to bed with a bottle.

They will drink a little, fall asleep, wake up and drink a little, then fall asleep.

The result is that they have sugars on their teeth, essentially, all night long.

Feed your little ones with a bottle if you so choose.

But then after that make sure to brush their teeth.

Or, at very least, give them a drink of water to help rinse the sugars away.

Getting your 2 year old to obey you is tough.

Getting them to sit still while I drill on their severely decayed teeth ......

nearly impossible.

Dr Jim Ellis Office Website

Teaching my kids.

2016-07-11T13:42:00.002-07:00

I wanted to let my kids know that they live in luxury. Not the giant ski boat, 4 car garage, 6,000 sq ft home, or vacation cabin in the woods kind of luxury. I don't own any of those things anyway. I mean food in the pantry, running water, and more than 1 set of clothes kind of luxury. So we went on a trip. We went to Peru. We wore flip flops in the hotel, at night, to keep from contracting anything. And during the day we worked side by side with local villagers in an attempt to give them a brighter future. My kids worked hard all day, ate simple food, and repeated the process, for days. All at 12,500 feet above sea level. It was very hard, and exactly what I wanted for my kids. We will never forget the experience and hopefully my children understand a little more about the world they live in and the blessings that are theirs. If anyone else has interest in going I would highly suggest it. Google search "eagle condor humanitarian Salt Lake City Utah" for more information.

"Doc, help!! Moving my Jaw is Agony!!"

2016-06-22T16:27:00.000-07:00

Patient came into the office the other day.

He stated that he "hadn't eaten for 2 days"

due to intense pain.

Click on the picture.

It will blow up on the screen.

See if you can see anything that might be look

different then anywhere else.

We are pretty symmetrical as humans.

There is another picture down below that will show you the problem.

I asked if anything he knew had triggered the pain.

He stated that he had gotten punched in the jaw

but that it didn't hurt too bad at the time.

But that over the last 2 days it had been increasing in pain.

Well, click on the next picture.

The red circle indicates where the patient's jaw is broken.

He had attempted to chew over the last two days with

a broken jaw bone.

Every time he went to chew the bones would move against each other.

He went directly to the oral surgeon where he was wired shut.

He will need to stay that way for 3 months.

Simply "getting punched" can hurt. A lot. Not only physically

but the financial ramifications will also be pretty tough here.

To purchase on Amazon click here

Electric Toothbrush

2016-06-21T15:38:00.000-07:00

The studies show that, hands down, an electric toothbrush

will clean your teeth 5x better then a manual one.

So what keeps some people from going out and getting one?

Price.

Some electric toothbrushes are $150-$200!!

My name is Dr Jim Ellis.

I was tired of my patients getting the short end of the brush ; )

So I designed, and had manufactured, an electric toothbrush

that is just as good as the other guys, but at about 1/3 the price.

30 second quadrant timer.

2 minute total brush timer.

2 weeks on a single charge.

3 different modes.

AFFORDABLE interchangeable heads.

And for my loyal Blog followers put the code

SMILEJIM

in the box at check out for 20% of.

Read the reviews.

Check it out for yourself.

Dentist designed with patients in mind.

I think they cracked my tooth in surgery.

2016-06-09T09:43:00.001-07:00

Um ...... Yah it's cracked.

Sadly we see a lot of this.

There is a reason why they have you sign those consent forms

that say, "during anesthesia your teeth may become damaged".

This patient went in for a throat scope and ended up having

to have her tooth removed.