Clinic
Health
CHA-MAY WEEYA - MEDICINETALK
Siletz
Communit
Tooth Talk
Siletz Relay Team Says Thanks
by Mary> Ellen Volansky, RDH MS
by Tamara Morrow, team captain, and Monica Bessette, co-captain
Chewing it Over: Fact or Fiction
The following topics have been
gleaned from the cumulative 83 years of
experience of the professionals at the
Siletz Dental Clinic. We have been asked
some surprising questions and been
offered some surprising treatments.
With the help of the Internet, the fol
lowing was compiled to help you sort out
the fact and fictions of everyday advice.
Aspirin: This over-the-counter
headache medicine is caustic. Aspirin
can bum, corrode, dissolve, or eat away
by chemical action. Sound painful? It is.
Aspirin’s burning effect happens
when it’s placed on the gum tissue of a
tooth that hurts. This does nothing to
resolve the pain. And it will hurt, add
ing one’s overall discomfort. You might
get some benefit from the amount you
eventually swallow.
Two patients, reported in the Jour
nal of the American Dental Associa
tion, chewed four to eight aspirin tab
lets per day for two to 10 years. A man
and a woman each developed erosion
of the teeth that chewed the aspirin.
Aspirin taken as directed on the
label or as prescribed by your practi
tioner is the healthful way to obtaining
its benefits.
Lemons and lemon juice: Can
swished lemon juice be used to treat pe
riodontal disease?
One Web page listed the benefits of
rinsing with lemon juice as “Due to its
high content of vitamin C,” it will
“strengthen the gums and teeth, is ef
fective for preventing and curing acute
inflammations of the gum margins,
pyorrhea, dental caries and other ora)
diseases.”
The Web site’s author and the medi-
cal/dental profession agree that vitamin
C is necessary for the health of our
entire body. The dental profession cau
tions against regular use of lemon juice
because it’s an acid and it’s also caus
tic. This caution extends to sucking
lemon wedges and vitamin C tablets.
This Web site also reported the ben
efits of lemon juice for scurvy, which hap
pens when the body doesn’t get enough
Vitamin C. Sailors were at sea for a long
periods of time, and ships didn’t carry
trees or plants with fruits or vegetables
for sailors to eat for their vitamin C. With
out vitamin C, scurvy is fatal.
In about 1753, James Lind wrote a
book saying the absence of vitamin C
was the cause of malaise and deaths
seen aboard ship. Symptoms of scurvy
include black-and-blue spots on the skin,
especially the legs; spongy gums or
other gum disease; bleeding mucous
membranes; poor healing of wounds;
thinning hair; anemia; pallor and partial
immobility; joint pain; and depression.
Folk medicine practitioners knew
scurvy for centuries, way before Lind
wrote his A Treatise of the Scurvy. Yet
many sailors continued to die of scurvy
in the British and German Navies. Af
ter 1753, British ships began carrying
lemons and limes. The Germans provided
sauerkraut, which is rich in vitamin C.
Now you know how the nicknames
of “limey” and “kraut” came from Brit
ish and German sailors.
Teething: At about 2-4 months old,
infants’ salivary glands begin function
ing. This “contributes to the constant
drooling, which parents may misinter
pret as a symptom of teething.”
Baby’s first teeth begin to erupt at
about 6 months old. Also, babies have
the physical ability to put their hand
into their mouth at this age. Again, the
article said these developments have
nothing to do with teething.
In 1964 a researcher working on
symptoms associated with teething
stated, “ ... teething produces nothing
but teeth.” And “nearly 40 years later,
evidence-based medicine confirms that
few symptoms can be attributed con
sistently to teething ... not fever, bit
ing, appetite for solids, irritability."
How many of you agree?
Eventually researchers felt it would
be prudent to acknowledge what par
ents have observed for generations.
They acknowledged that a “few exist
ing studies do demonstrate that teeth
ing infants may manifest some of the
symptoms” listed above. And they
stated parents might observe these
symptoms in their infants, “in the three
to five days preceding tooth eruption."
Cleanings cause teeth to become
moveable: You might not believe this,
but a few people don't take care of their
teeth. They don’t brush thoroughly or
floss daily and they do this for years.
Each day of not brushing or floss
ing causes plaque and calculus to build
on teeth. With this buildup happening
daily, bacteria will cause the gum and
bone to recede. With enough bone
loss, teeth become moveable.
When the quantities of calculus
building on individual teeth are large
enough, it merges to form a continu
ous bridge around all teeth. This cal
culus bridge holds teeth still while the
bone around the teeth continues to be
lost to periodontal disease.
If the calculus is then removed from
these teeth, bone will stop being lost. If
the calculus is removed, the teeth and
gums will be healthy. Depending on the
amount of bone loss, teeth may become
moveable when the calculus is removed.
Having moveable teeth does not
mean you will lose them. Having the
calculus gone, along with brushing and
flossing your teeth daily, is what will
help you keep your teeth.
Red or pink toothbrush and floss:
We talk with our mouth, but our mouth
can’t talk to us. Bleeding, tenderness, pain,
and swelling are not normal. Bleeding
and tenderness of our gums is our
mouths’ way of telling us they need help.
I would like to take this time to thank
all of my teammates for all the hard work
they did helping to raise money for the
American Cancer Society.
Our fund-raising consisted of a
burrito breakfast, car wash, bake sale,
raffle, selling moon and sun memories
cards, selling luminaria, and individual
donations.
I would like to personally thank
Pepsi for the donation of the water and
sport drinks for our burrito breakfast,
the Diabetes Program for the team reg
istration fee and food donations, the
tribe for the $1,000 donation, and the
Charitable Fund for the two $1,000
donations (one for luminaria sponsor
ship and one for team money raised).
I also would like to thank every
one who donated items for the raffle.
Thank you to everyone who bought
tickets and donated money. Our team
brought in a total of $4,800!
Our family (Mason) started this
team after our mother, Madge Mason,
passed on from cancer, in memory of
her, and we each have taken turns as the
team captain. 1 was honored to lead the
team this year and was fortunate enough
to have some very special teammates
who went above and beyond to help.
Thank you from the bottom of my
heart. It makes me feel good inside to
know we raised money to help fami
lies who are dealing with cancer and
know it will help them in the fight.
If you know of anyone who is deal
ing with cancer who is looking for any
kind of assistance, contact JC Chalupa
at the American Cancer Society office
in Eugene, Ore., at 1-877-221-3072 or
541-434-3114; or by e-mail at
JC.Chalupa@cancer.org.
Part of the Relay For Life team from Siletz: Jennifer Flores, Monica Bessette,
Melissa Butler, Tamara Morrow, Andrea Butler, Anthony Butler,
Kay Stainbrook, and Peggy Flores.
If there is just bleeding, but no pain
or swelling, you first should check the
thoroughness of your brushing and flos
sing. Are you reaching the gum line?
Bleeding and tenderness will stop in three
to four days if home care is the cause.
If you ignore bleeding gums, the
bleeding also will stop, but for the
wrong reason - not touching the gums
to stimulate the bleeding. Gentle touch
ing of our gums with a finger, a brush,
or floss should not cause bleeding.
If there is swelling of any kind, give
us a call that day. Together we can fig
ure out what needs to be done to bring
your mouth and gums back to health.
Superglue: All brands of superglue
are toxic to our bodies. Superglue
(cyanocrylate) was discovered in 1942
as part of a WWII research effort that
failed - plastic for gun sights.
Trying to glue chipped teeth, broken
fillings, or loose crowns with superglue
can have toxic effects on you. Over-
the counter-substances, or cements,
exist for this purpose. If you cannot get
to the dental clinic for an emergency
appointment, these over-the-counter
cements will temporarily ease your dis
comfort. Please call for a dental ap
pointment to get a lasting repair.
Another problem with superglue
inside the mouth is the possibility of
cementing your tongue to your teeth
or cementing your lips together. All
sources 1 found recommended against
using superglue in the mouth. And they
said it would take from two to four days
to separate cemented facial tissues.
Dentists and physicians use a form
of superglue, called meth methacrylate,
to repair teeth and skin, even finger»’
nails secured to their bed. Superglue
and meth methacrylate are not the same.
This is a special mention for
Heather Moore, TYEE participant, at
the Siletz. She collected information for
this article on the computer and con
tributed the information about teething.
Thank you, Heather.
For more information about the top
ics above, check out the tribal Web
page, the Dental Clinic, Tooth Talk sec
tion. The Web page addresses used for
this article are listed for you to explore.
We have a new e-mail address. Thi^
should be the last e-mail change for a
long time. If you have questions for Twth
Talk, send them to toothtalk@ctsi.nsn.us.
If you have topics you would like to
see covered, send an e-mail to me. I would
like to know your interest or answer
questions you have about oral health.
September 2006
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Siletz News
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