Think twice before using your teeth as tools. Many people get into a bad habit of opening a stubborn chip bag or holding objects in their mouth however doing so can  cause chipped or cracked teeth.

You do not live in the Stone Age, so there is really no excuse to use your teeth to open a bottle of beer, the bottle opener was made for that. Tools are easier to replace than your teeth, which were really meant to last you a lifetime.

When you have a dental PPO or Free choice of prior plan you normally have a annual dollar maximum benefit per person per year.   You want to try and pick a plan with the maximum dollar benefit that works will for current and future dental needs.

However there are times when you may need to have larger dental care services that exceed  your dollar maximum limitation in a given year.  As part of dental planning, you will want to consult with your dentists and, if possible, delay work that would push costs over what you are covered for by our dental plan.  For an example if your dental insurance works on a calendar year basis (Jan – Jan) You could start dental service towards the end of the year and finish in the being of next in order not to exceed you maximum limitation for your dental care.   The same is done if your plan is subject to other start and end dates you only need to know this time frame.  Call your dental insurance to find our prior to having larger dental issues address.

It is important to have good oral habits, therefore it is important to understand the consequences of having bad oral habits. Having bad oral habits can lead to bad oral hygiene over time, causing bad breath, tooth discoloration, red, swollen gums, cavities, gum disease and ultimately, tooth loss. It can affect not just your oral health, but also the following:

1) Bad oral heal can effect your chewing and speech. Dental decay will start to hurt if left untreated. Imagine grinding your food when your teeth are hurting.  Missing or broken teeth can effect the way you talk. Imagine say F and Th with out healthy front teeth.

2) Self-esteem. Now we can not speak for everyone, but having swollen gums, bad breath and stained teeth or no teeth, can indeed put a damper on ones confidence.

3) Budget/Finances:  Delaying needed dental treatment by not visiting the dentist regularly can cause more harm than good, even to your wallet. When you defer your dental treatments small dental issues that may have been address early on goes untreated and turn into larger more cost dental problems.

4) Overall Health. Many research studies has shown that gum disease is linked with health problems including heart disease, stroke, pneumonia and other systemic diseases. Bad oral health is also shown to increase the risk of pre-term delivery and low-birth-weight infants.

Before buying any dental insurance dental plan for you or your family make sure you know and understand what they plan as to offer you.  Dig into the plans details.   The availability of the plans information should be available to you before buying it on line.    Dental insurance is any investment and it is in your best interest to understand what you are paying for. You should be able to review the plans the coverages, limitations, and exclusions, before buying it to make sure it will work best for you and your family dental needs.

Did you know that the little things you do or do not do on a day to day basis affect your oral and dental health and may fall under a list of bad oral habits? These include not brushing or flossing enough, eating too many sweets too often, or even using your teeth to open a bag of chips.

In our challenging economy you want to make sure you are getting the most out of your dental insurance plan. One way to do that is to use it.  Many people have dental benefits either though their employment or they buy it on their own.

However often times it goes unused until there is a larger dental issue that needs to be address.  Larger dental issues means larger dental cost even with dental insurance. By using  your dental insurance plan and having the preventive care done (check up and cleaning) you can help to avoid having larger dental care needs.  Also many dental insurance plans provide preventive care services for free to very low cost. Taking advantage and using your dental insurance plan will help you safe money and provide you with good oral health.

Good oral health is essential for general health and well-being at any age. Oral health problems affect not only the ability to eat and speak but are inter-connected with serious health issues like diabetes, heart disease, stroke, osteoporosis, and preterm or low birth weight.

However there is good news, oral health problems are preventable. A healthy smile for life starts with healthy habits like brushing and flossing, using fluoride, making smart food choices and eating habits, and visiting the dentist at least twice a year.

It is safe to say if you are experiencing dental pain you should see a dentist as soon as possible to confirm the reason why you are having pain.  Dental pain although can be common complaints is not normal and it is a sign that you may need to address a larger dental issue.

Some signs and symptoms to toothache pain can include:  Pain when chewing food, Pain to hot or cold,  presistant pain, Swelling around the tooth or in your jaw, Pain that becomes more severe, dental decay,  and Bleeding from around the tooth or gum.

Toothache pain is caused when the never in the tooth root is irritated.  Some of the primary causes of dental pain is from dental infection, tooth decay, injury or loss of tooth.  Dental pain sometimes originates from other areas and radiates to the jaw, thus appearing to be tooth pain. The most common areas include the jaw joint, and ear pain.

University of Adelaide researchers have made advances in the understanding of one of the world’s most common medical conditions, gastric reflux, and how patients experience pain from it.Gastric reflux affects as many as one in five people in Western countries and is on the increase in Asia.

Got heartburn? More than 60 million adults in the U.S. have acid reflux, or heartburn, and approximately 10 percent are at risk for developing esophageal cancer, due in part to complications from Barrett’s esophagus. But researchers at Rhode Island Hospital discovered a pathway they believe links Barrett’s esophagus to the development of esophageal cancer.

Gingivitis occurs before periodontitis.  Gingivitis usually refers to gum inflammation, initially, with gingivitis, bacteria plaque accumulates on the surface of the tooth. When that happens, the gums get red and inflamed; teeth may bleed when brushing them. Even though the gums are irritated and bothersome, the teeth are not loose, and there is no irreversible damage to bone or surrounding tissue.

Periodontitis is what happens next when Gingivitis goes untreated. With periodontitis, the gum and bone pulls away from the teeth, forming large pockets. Debris collects in the spaces between the gums and teeth, and infect the area. The immune system will start to attack the bacteria as the plaque spreads below the gum line. Bone and connective tissue that hold the tooth start to break down, and teeth over time become loose and can fall out.

Because many seniors find themselves planning for retirement and managing their savings once they finish working, a number of investment schemes have been targeted at seniors looking to safeguard their cash for their later years.

From pyramid schemes like Bernie Madoff’s (which counted a number of senior citizens among its victims) to fables of a Nigerian prince looking for a partner to claim inheritance money to complex financial products that many economists don’t even understand, investment schemes have long been a successful way to take advantage of older people.

What is Periodontitis: Periodontitis is a serious gum infection that damages the soft tissue and bone that supports the tooth.  With periodontitis, the alveolar bone around the teeth is slowly and progressively lost. Untreated periodontitis will eventually result in tooth loss, and may increase the risk of stroke, heart attack and other health problems.   How do you get Periodontitis:  Bacterial plaque, a sticky, colorless membrane which can  develops over the surface of teeth, is the most common cause of periodontal disease. In most cases, periodontitis is preventable. It is usually caused by poor dental hygiene.

While using the Internet is a great skill at any age, the slower speed of adoption among some older people makes them easier targets for automated Internet scams that are ubiquitous on the web and email programs.

Pop-up browser windows simulating virus-scanning software will fool victims into either downloading a fake anti-virus program (at a substantial cost) or an actual virus that will open up whatever information is on the user’s computer to scammers.

Their unfamiliarity with the less visible aspects of browsing the web (firewalls and built-in virus protection, for example) make seniors especially susceptible to such traps.

One example includes:
Email/Phishing Scams

A senior receives email messages that appear to be from a legitimate company or institution, asking them to “update” or “verify” their personal information. A senior receives emails that appear to be from the IRS about a tax refund.

According to the The Renfrew Center Foundation up to 24 million people in the United States experience an eating disorder. This is dark figure that can be even high due to the fact that many people keep their eating disorder a secret.

According to a study by the University of Bergen in Norway, showed that patients who suffer from eating disorders, such as Anorexia and Bulimia, experienced substantially more dental health problems. For example, sensitive teeth, severe dental erosion and facial pain compared to those without.