Bernstein Dental Care: Blog

February is National Children’s Dental Health month, and at Dr. Paul Bernstein’s Bay Ridge dental practice, we wanted to observe it by sharing information about one of the worse scourges of children’s teeth: Baby Bottle Tooth Decay. This condition affects the youngest of children and can cause problems in their early dentation if not reversed. Babies are dependent on other people to brush their teeth for them. Many parents are attentive to this and follow doctors’ recommendations that they begin to do so as soon as the first tooth erupts. But because of how parents often use bottled milk and formulas, babies’ teeth are often exposed to sugar for much longer periods of time than other those of other people. Formula and milk will cling to a baby’s teeth for as long as the baby continues to take swigs from the bottle, which could be for several hours. This contributes a distinctive pattern of decay on the fronts of their incisors. The easiest way to avoid Baby Bottle Tooth Decay is to not...

While we make every effort to save compromised teeth, we at Bernstein Dental Care in Bay Ridge are experienced performers of implant dentistry.  Implants allow us to replace teeth in a manner that not only restores the patient’s bite function but also the strength and shape of their jaw bone. Implants are titanium-alloy posts which replace the root of a missing or unsalvageable tooth. In the absence of a tooth root, the jaw bone surrounding the void disintegrates, but when an implant is placed, it begins to regrow. Placing the implant requires an incision to be made into the gum line and the fusion of new bone tissue and titanium—known as osseointegration—takes some months. During this time, the patient will have a temporary artificial tooth crown. When the healing is complete, the top of the implant post will be surgically exposed and an impression will be made of the patient’s mouth to use as the basis for a new crown. The crown will be cemented onto the top of the implant, completin...

Dr. Paul Bernstein of Bernstein Dental Care offers Invisalign, the clear aligner system that straightens teeth without the metallic look of braces. Invisalign clear aligners require less maintenance than traditional braces and won’t prevent you from eating certain foods, but there are still guidelines you should follow to wear and care for your aligners! You should remove Invisalign each time you eat, but if you do eat anything while wearing the aligners make sure to clean them thoroughly afterwards. It is also best to brush and floss your teeth before putting the aligners back in.  Ideally when wearing clear aligners, you would only drink water. Colorful drinks can stain the aligners and too many hot drinks can eventually warp the plastic.  If you do drink anything other than water while wearing the aligners you should rinse them with warm water afterwards.    Cleaning the clear aligners regularly is important for your teeth and straightening treatment.  Clear aligners can become disc...