Sleep Better in 2012 by Dr Mehmet Oz as featured in The Dallas Morning News Parade

See your dentist. Snorers may also benefit from a mouth guard—a small plastic device worn during sleep to help prevent the soft palate from collapsing. Even if you don’t have OSA, controlling snoring is ­important; a recent study showed that snoring more than doubles your risk of developing metabolic syndrome, one of the major predictors of future cardiovascular disease. Interrupted sleep, often a result of loud snoring, increases this risk even further

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Dental do’s & don’ts:How to keep your teeth healthy without going broke

Consumer Reports
February 1, 2012

Going to the dentist is no one’s idea of a good time, but the 51,768 Consumer Reports subscribers who told us about their oral health were nevertheless overwhelmingly satisfied with their dental care. In fact, they rated it higher than most other services and on a par with the care they got from their doctors. What’s more, few readers reported experiencing anything beyond mild pain-even for the infamous root canal.

That doesn’t mean all is well. Our survey revealed these problems:

· Only about a third of readers brushed and flossed as often as they should.

· Cost was the No. 1 reason they delayed dental care.

The experiences of our subscribers are most likely more positive than those of the public at large, in part because many of them are much better insured. Seventy-one percent of those who had at least one dental procedure in the last five years said they had dental insurance, but only 57 percent of the general public is covered, according to the National Association of Dental Plans, a trade group. “This segment of the population really appears to be getting very good dental care,” says Jay W. Friedman, D.D.S., M.P.H., an expert on dental public health and quality standards from Los Angeles.

Recent research suggests that poor dental health can affect a lot more than your smile. The plaque-causing bacteria on your teeth and gums, for example, could enter your bloodstream and clog arteries. People with diabetes and poor blood glucose control are at higher risk for tooth and gum problems, and that in turn can worsen diabetes. And oral infections left untreated can spread to other parts of the jaw and skull, causing major complications including brain injury and death.

Good oral hygiene can help prevent those problems. But our readers get mixed grades in preventive care. In fact, they show a tendency to leave the job to their dentists rather than doing it themselves.

Overall, 70 percent of respondents said they went to a dentist for a checkup or cleaning at least twice in the previous year. Another 19 percent went once, and 11 percent didn’t go at all.

Home care was a different story. Only 34 percent reported consistent, all-around good hygiene, which we defined as brushing at least 14 times a week and flossing at least 7 times a week. Fifty-seven percent reported brushing at least twice a day with a regular or electric toothbrush, and 53 percent said they flossed every day. But 30 percent said they never flossed, and 4 percent didn’t brush their teeth daily.

If you assume that getting your teeth cleaned every six months will compensate for lax home hygiene, think again. “There’s no evidence that it does,” says James Bader, D.D.S., a research professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. But it might improve gum health for some, he adds. And it’s a good idea to get plaque and tartar professionally cleaned from your teeth from time to time. (But there’s no harm in twice-a-year cleaning if you want it.)

Paradoxically, those in our survey who maintained consistent home hygiene were also more likely than others to go to the dentist at least twice a year for routine checkups or cleaning.

The most painful of the procedures we asked about turned out to be tooth extraction. That makes sense, Friedman says, because having a tooth pulled leaves you with a healing wound. Even so, only 6 percent of the respondents said the pain was severe; 61 percent reported mild pain.

Forty-four percent of those who had root-canal surgery experienced mild pain afterward, and 5 percent reported severe pain. “The pain you have associated with a root canal is largely the toothache preceding it,” Friedman says, adding that the treatment itself usually isn’t painful because it’s done under local anesthetic.

For mild pain after a tooth extraction, root canal, or other procedure, an over-the-counter pain medication usually does the trick after the local anesthetic wears off, Friedman advises. For severe pain, your dentist might prescribe a narcotic such as codeine.

It’s normal for mild pain or discomfort to linger for a few weeks after root-canal surgery. But if a dull ache continues longer than that or it still hurts to chew-or if the symptoms worsen-additional surgery might be required.

Swelling and pain is common for a day or two after an extraction. If the pain persists, gets worse, develops into a dull ache, or doesn’t go away after a couple of days, check with your dentist.

If you fear the dentist, your best strategy is to keep up with your regular cleaning and home hygiene so you don’t have to go as often. “It’s a self-perpetuating cycle,” says Albert H. Guay, D.M.D., chief policy adviser for the American Dental Association. “You avoid going because you fear it being difficult or painful, but that allows your problem to become more severe and require more extensive treatment, which reinforces the original fear.”

If you need a cavity filled or root-canal surgery, tell your dentist and his assistants that you’re an anxious patient so they can give you choices to deal with pain and discomfort. You can even arrange a hand signal that lets them know you need to take a break during a procedure.

If all else fails, an antianxiety drug might be an option, although it’s best to use it sparingly. General anesthesia should almost always be avoided, Friedman advises, because it can increase the risk of complications, including jaw injury if the dentist needs to force your mouth open.

And our survey suggests there’s another reason to deal with anxiety: Readers who delayed getting care were less satisfied with their dental work than those who got prompt care.

Among our readers, the most common problem after mild pain was poorly fitting dentures. Twenty-three percent with full dentures reported this. So did 18 percent of those who had a denture adjustment or repair, and 13 percent who received partial dentures. By contrast, only 6 percent of the respondents who got a bridge said it didn’t fit properly.

Ill-fitting partial dentures are not only uncomfortable but can also create sores on your gums and loosen your remaining teeth. Sometimes all it takes to restore a good fit is to have your dentist grind them down at certain pressure points. But if you continue to have discomfort or gum sores, ask your dentist for a realignment or even a replacement.

Full dentures should be checked for fit every year even if you’re not feeling discomfort. Grinding might relieve minor pressure points, but if you’re still having problems, ask about having the dentures relined. “Dentures need maintenance just like teeth,” Guay says.

If you can afford it, opt for dental implants. More people in our survey got them instead of full dentures, and just 2 percent reported problems with the way they fit. Only 3 percent reported severe pain or discomfort with implants, half the rate of those who got full dentures, though slightly more reported mild pain or discomfort.

Seventeen percent of the respondents who had a dental procedure for health reasons said they had delayed it. That’s a much lower percentage than in nationally representative surveys, in part because our respondents are better insured than the population at large.

Still, the biggest reason for delay, cited by 43 percent, was cost. Those without dental insurance were more likely to mention this than those who had it.

But even many of the people with insurance put off a treatment they needed; 23 percent because insurance wouldn’t cover the procedure, and 24 percent because they had already used up the maximum that their insurance plan would cover for the year.