SmileCentre Blog

Sleep apnea, whether obstructive or central, can cause many different sufferable symptoms due to inadequate sleep. Fatigue, irritability, memory problems, and difficulty focusing are only some of the symptoms sleep apnea can cause.

This impact on the brain can lead to difficulty performing daily tasks, cause memory issues, and impact decision making. This Emotional Wellness Month, we’ll look at the link between sleep apnea and mental health.

Does Sleep Apnea Cause Depression?

Studies have shown a link between …

Braces treat malocclusion, the medical name for bite irregularities that prevent the teeth from aligning properly. An issue often treated during childhood or the early teen years, it is becoming more common for adults to seek this treatment as well.

At The Smile Center, we are pleased to offer several orthodontic options, including Invisalign®, to address the issue of malocclusion at any stage of life. If you suspect you might benefit from treatment, we encourage you to get in…

Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) is the most common treatment for sleep apnea. However, this does not mean it’s the most comfortable or the best for all needs.

A majority of sleep apnea cases are obstructive. This means the airways become blocked by soft tissue or the tongue during sleep. CPAP can be used to treat this type of sleep apnea, but many patients find the tubes and respirators required for these machines to be intrusive, uncomfortable, and unpleasant. And now, with the …

It’s good to brush your teeth after every meal. Brushing your teeth after every meal and snack is better. But, should you brush your teeth right after eating? And if not, just how long should you wait?

Immediately after eating, tooth enamel may be softened. Brushing your teeth right away can cause enamel loss, resulting in tooth discoloration, increased sensitivity, and increased risk for decay and infection. On the other hand, waiting too long can result in the development of plaque and tartar, increase the chances of tooth decay, cause unpleasant breath, and increase the risk of tooth loss.

When to Brush Your Teeth

It’s best to wait for 30-minutes after eating before you brush your teeth. Be sure to avoid food…

Orthodontic treatment is necessary to correct bite irregularities that impact your smile's strength, function, and appearance. With this treatment, issues such as crooked tooth presentation, large spaces between teeth, overbite, cross-bite, and more can be corrected, producing a straight and healthy-looking smile in their place.

There are several orthodontic treatment options. Fixed braces are among the most popular. These devices are comprised of brackets attached to the teeth and strung with archwire. Bite correction is completed through manual adjustments of the archwire, which pull your teeth into ideal alignment.

What About Invisalign®?

Invisalign is a…

Your smile is comprised of your lips, teeth, and gums, of course. But the appearance of your smile is impacted by all surrounding features. Improving your smile may, therefore, require both dental and non-dental techniques.

With age comes a loss of volume. This can result in wrinkles and lines close to the lips, along with a hollowing of the cheeks and sunken skin at the temples and beneath the eyes. At The Smile Centre, we use JUVÉDERM® to address these issues.

What is JUVÉDERM?

JUVÉDERM is a hyaluronic acid dermal filler designed to soften areas of the face that have lost volume. A safe and well-tolerated filler, JUVÉDERM…

At The Smile Centre, we offer in-office teeth whitening with Zoom! During Zoom! treatment, a whitening gel is applied to the teeth and then activated with a special light. This helps to maximize the effectiveness of the bleaching solution. 

After your Zoom! treatment at The Smile Centre, we will provide you with a take-home kit that can be used as needed to maintain your results. We can provide more teeth whitening solutions for at-home maintenance as needed.

Keeping Teeth Bright and Beautiful

Using the touch-up kits provided by our office can help extend the results of your teeth whitening treatment. These come with customized application…

July is National Ice Cream Month and there are some great options, both from national chains and local favorites, in and around Sarasota. Just remember, if you plan on enjoying an icy treat this month, be sure to take steps to protect your teeth from the harm that can follow.

Dairy products can be good for your teeth. Research has shown that caseins, found in dairy products, help to protect the teeth from decay while minerals such as calcium and phosphorous help to strengthen enamel. Ice cream has the minerals and caseins found in all dairy products, but it also has sugar, a lot of sugar, and this plays a direct role in how the product impacts oral health.

Sugar encourages the rapid formation of plaque bacteria. These bacteria feed on sugars, producing an acidic…

Gums that bleed easily, such as when you brush your teeth or eat crunchy foods, are showing symptoms of gingivitis, a mild form of gum disease. In its beginning stages, gingivitis may respond well to an enhanced at-home routine. This includes:

• Using a soft-bristled toothbrush and nonabrasive fluoride toothpaste to brush your teeth after every meal
• Flossing in between every tooth before you brush at least once a day
• Using an oral rinse designed to kill bacteria underneath the gum line

With diligent effort, these steps may be all it takes to restore health to your…

Chronic headaches are a common symptom of TMJ. A condition marked by the misalignment of the jaw, TMJ places pressure on the trigeminal nerve, the largest of the cranial nerves, which can result in pain that may seem unrelated to your jaw. Due to this pressure, TMJ may also result in ear pain and pressure or pressure and pain behind the eyes.

TMJ headaches are similar to migraines in that they are powerfully uncomfortable and have the potential of impacting work, family, and social life. However, TMJ headaches and migraines are not the same things, and treatment designed for one will not help, in the long term, with the other.

Treating TMJ

Treating TMJ involves…