The Sunshine Dentists Blog

When Was Your Last Dental Cleaning?

donohue.sesame105@gmail.com — Fri, 18 May 2012 21:32:52 +0000

You water the garden three times a week, you change your car’s oil every three months, and you replace the batteries in your smoke detectors once a year. Your teeth need to see your dentist on a regular schedule, too.
While daily oral hygiene habits are essential to good oral health, professional dental cleanings at our office ensure your teeth are treated to a deeper level of cleaning. We recommend for most of our patients to have a checkup at least every six months. In addition to a thorough cleaning and polishing of your teeth, these regular visits help us detect and prevent the onset of tooth decay and periodontal (gum) disease. During your visit, we’ll check the health of your mouth, teeth, gums, cheeks, and tongue. We’ll also check old fillings and restorations, as these can wear away over time from constant chewing, grinding, or clenching.
If you are predisposed to oral diseases, you may need to visit our office more often than every six months. Factors at play in these diseases include age, pregnancy, tobacco use, medical conditions (such as diabetes, dry mouth, or HIV infection), along with how well you take care of your teeth on a daily basis.
Make sure your teeth get the professional attention they deserve – If you’re overdue for your next cleaning, check with our office to schedule an appointment!

Race for the Cure with Sunshine Dentists

donohue.sesame105@gmail.com — Thu, 10 May 2012 15:54:16 +0000

Sunshine Dentists will be walking in this year’s Susan G. Komen Global Race for the Cure! We will be heading to Washington DC on June 2, 2012 for the 5K race. We hope that others can sponsor our team in our mission to help end breast cancer. Dr. Donohue and Patterson Dental have pledged over $1000!

Are you participating in this year’s event? Let us know in the comments below or on our Facebook page!

May is National Teen Self-Esteem Month!

donohue.sesame105@gmail.com — Fri, 04 May 2012 18:11:38 +0000

Our practice knows that image can be everything. May happens to be National Teen Self-Esteem Month, and during this time, parents are encouraged to act as positive role models, help stop negative self-images, and improve confidence and security among teenagers.
We know one of the great ways to improve your confidence is to improve your smile. And that begins with a visit to our office. Has your child visited our office in the past six months for his or her regular check-up? We invite you to give us a call to book your appointment!
See you soon!

Salivary Testing at Sunshine Dentists

donohue.sesame105@gmail.com — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 18:31:15 +0000

Salivary testing is a method that our team at Sunshine Dentists uses for the diagnosis and treatment of certain types of persistent periodontal disease. Lab tests have become a routine part of our medical care, yet dentists have historically just “guessed” about the types of bacteria that are present in their patients’ mouths, and therefore guessed about the optimal treatment.

With the help of a simple and painless salivary test, our patients will know they are receiving the appropriate treatments and antibiotics. It’s care like this that sets Sunshine Dentists apart from other dental practices. We want to treat our patients’ total health, not just their teeth.

To learn more about salivary testing, visit this great article or ask us at the office!

Using Digital X-rays to Improve Our Patients’ Health and Safety

donohue.sesame105@gmail.com — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 17:55:24 +0000

At Sunshine Dentists, our patients are like our family, and we want only what is best for their health, happiness, and safety. For this reason, we invested in a highly advanced digital X-ray system in 2010. This method of taking X-rays “dials down” our patients’ time exposed to radiation by 50% versus traditional X-ray film!

We believe that digital radiography is a win-win for everyone: it is much more precise in obtaining the needed information for better and more effective treatment results, and it also provides a much safer X-ray experience.

In every case, our doctors are very careful and prudent when deciding to use X-rays, especially for children. We do our best to balance our patients’ safety and our dedication to provide them with the highest level of treatments that they need and deserve. We share in our patients’ concerns about their dental health and overall health, including the risks involved with radiation exposure from X-rays. Given the low radiation levels involved in traditional X-rays (the American College of Radiology refers to this amount as “negligible”), our use of digital radiography makes all of our diagnostic efforts that much safer and more precise!

If you have any questions about radiation involved in X-rays, please do not hesitate to contact us! We are here for our patients, and we’re always striving to implement the safest and most effective and beneficial technology available so that we can give you the most brilliant and healthy smiles!

If I use fluoride toothpaste and the water in my area is fluoridated, do I still need additional fluoride?

donohue.sesame105@gmail.com — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 19:40:32 +0000

Cities have been adjusting the fluoride levels in water since 1964. Since that time, fluoridation has dramatically improved the oral health of tens of millions of Americans. Community water fluoridation is the single most effective public health measure to prevent tooth decay, but you may not be drinking as much fluoridated water as you may think. If bottled or home-purified water is your main source for drinking water, you may be missing out on this extremely safe and effective mineral that prevents tooth decay.

Of course, using toothpaste with the ADA Seal of Approval is a good source of fluoride, but optimal levels of absorption can only be achieved if you use it as directed: brushing twice a day for two to three minutes each time.

At our office, you can receive professionally applied topical fluoride during your next dental checkup. This is extremely important for people who are at high risk for tooth decay, including children, people with less than perfect oral hygiene, people undergoing orthodontic treatment, and people with weakened enamel due to lifestyle choices or genetic factors. If you have any questions regarding fluoride, please feel free to ask us at the office. We want you to have the healthiest smile possible.

Spring is here! Do we have your current contact info?

donohue.sesame105@gmail.com — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 03:57:30 +0000

Spring is in the air! As you probably know, you can always connect with us on our Facebook page, but we invite you to please contact our office with any updates to phone numbers and addresses, so that we may be able to reach you.

We also encourage you to call us and let us know if you have any new phone numbers or if your contact information has changed!

Thank you! Have a great week!

Why do you choose Sunshine Dentists?

donohue.sesame105@gmail.com — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 16:46:27 +0000

Sunshine Dentists, serving Burke, VA and surrounding areas, strives to provide exceptional treatment in an informative and friendly environment. Have you had a great experience at our office?

Share your story with the world!

Just select the “Review Us On Google Places” button above to write a review on our Google Place Page. We look forward to receiving your feedback!

Also, if you haven’t already, be sure to check out all of the new milestones on our Facebook page!

Thank you,
The team at Sunshine Dentists

Bad Breath is No Good

donohue.sesame105@gmail.com — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 18:23:57 +0000

Bad breath, also called halitosis, can result from poor dental health habits and may be a sign of other health problems. Bad breath can also be made worse by the types of foods you eat and other unhealthy lifestyle habits. You may not even be aware of your own bad breath, so if you’re concerned you may be suffering from it, talk to our team. We can help identify the cause and, if it’s due to an oral condition, develop a treatment plan to treat it.

There are many reasons for bad breath:
• What you eat can also affect the way your breath smells. Certain foods, such as garlic and onions, can have a very strong and lasting odor.
• If you don’t brush and floss daily, particles of food remain in the mouth, collecting bacteria, which can cause bad breath, not to mention tooth decay and gingivitis.
• Bad breath can be caused by dry mouth (xerostomia), which occurs when the flow of saliva decreases. Saliva is necessary to cleanse the mouth and remove particles that may cause odor.
• Tobacco products cause bad breath. If you use tobacco, ask us for tips on kicking the habit.
• Bad breath may be the sign of a medical disorder, such as a local infection in the respiratory tract, chronic sinusitis, postnasal drip, chronic bronchitis, diabetes, gastrointestinal disturbance, liver or kidney ailment. If this is the case, you may be referred to your family doctor or a specialist to determine the cause.

The good news is there are many ways to help eliminate bad breath from your life. Maintaining good oral health is essential to reducing bad breath, so schedule regular dental visits with our office for a professional cleaning and checkup. Brush twice a day with fluoride toothpaste to remove food debris and plaque, and don’t forget to brush your tongue, too!

The Scoop on Dental X-rays

donohue.sesame105@gmail.com — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 23:24:51 +0000

Dental X-rays are an essential and invaluable tool to help assist us in evaluating your oral health. With X-rays, we can see what’s happening beneath the surface of your teeth and gums and identify oral health issues otherwise hidden during a visual exam, including:

• small areas of decay between the teeth or below existing restorations (fillings)
• infections in the bone
• periodontal (gum) disease
• abscesses or cysts
• developmental abnormalities
• types of tumors

If left untreated, these problems can lead to expensive, time-consuming, and painful conditions, so it’s important to find and treat them early.

Dental X-rays are extremely safe, and our team is certified in the proper use of our digital X-ray equipment. The amount of radiation that you are exposed to from dental X-rays is very small compared to your daily exposure from things like atmospheric radiation and naturally-occurring radioactive elements, as well as medical X-rays you may have gotten at your doctor’s office or hospital. In fact our digital system dramatically decreases the already minimal amount of exposure even further. We try to be as conservative as possible when prescribing x-rays but do need them to see what is going on where our eyes can’t see.