Bernstein Dental Care: Blog

During the summer, people tend to be more active outdoors and may be at greater risk for dental injuries. While nobody ever plans to get a tooth knocked out, we at Bernstein Dental Care thought it would be a good idea to remind our patients of what steps they can take during a dental emergency to have the best chance of preserving their teeth. When a tooth is knocked out entirely, we call that a “dental avulsion.” The tooth should be lifted by its crown, never its root. There are American Dental Association-approved tooth transport containers that will hopefully be available in a nearby first aid kit, but if not, the tooth should be rinsed with a saline solution. It should then be reinserted into the empty socket, with care to ensure it is facing the right way. If this is too uncomfortable, it may be held in the cheek or in a glass of milk or saltwater, but the patient should have facial lacerations attended to first. We can determine whether a tooth is salvageable. It may not be if th...

If you break a tooth, you can count on Bernstein Dental Care in Bay Ridge for restorations. We are experienced providers of implant-supported crowns, but we work hard to save natural teeth. Although nobody plans to chip or crack a crown, there are some steps we hope our patients will remember to take in order to make a successful restoration likelier. In ordinary circumstances, it is the molars that are most vulnerable to breaking. They have a large surface to distribute bite force across, but some things are still too hard for them and break their cusps or cause them to split down the middle. Our other teeth cannot handle nearly as much force and are likely to break or tilt if they are used for chewing. When a tooth breaks, patients should rinse their mouths with salt water. They should cover the broken tooth with sugar-free chewing gum or if they have any nearby, orthodontic wax. The smallest cracks, which are called craze lines, are a cosmetic issue and may be covered with veneers. ...

At Bernstein Dental Care in Brooklyn’s Bay Ridge neighborhood, our patients can count on us for their urgent dental needs. Make no mistake: if a permanent tooth has come loose, the need for repair is urgent, and the problem will only get worse without intervention. Loose teeth are the result of trauma to the gum and jaw bone structures. Primary occlusal trauma is the term used to describe damage from stress, such as night-time teeth grinding or violence. Secondary occlusal trauma occurs when a gum infection has eroded significant gum and bone tissue. Secondary occlusal trauma is more common, but primary occlusal trauma is a major reason why bruxism needs to be prevented. The teeth depend on each other to reinforce the jaw bone. The loss of one tooth root destabilizes the others, causing them to come loose, as well. This effect is even worse if the loose tooth is a molar and the patient attempts to compensate by chewing with their front teeth. The front teeth do not have the support to ...

We do everything we can at Bernstein Dental Care to save our patients’ teeth, but when they have to be extracted, we do it efficiently and with maximum care for the patient’s comfort. While not done lightly, extractions are a routine procedure and very rarely lead to complications. When something does go wrong, it’s usually a dry socket, which we endeavor to educate patients on how to prevent. After a tooth is pulled, a bit of blood will pool in the empty socket. This blood will ideally form a clot, which will protect the socket from dryness and infection while it closes. However, there are some medications which prevent blood from clotting, which is why it’s very important for patients to share their medication history with us. A successful clot could still be dislodged by suction, which is why patients shouldn’t suck on straws after surgery. If they are in severe pain more than two days after the extraction, they should come see us for painkillers, antibiotics, and moisturizing medic...