When asked about her dazzling white smile, Cat Cora, the first female iron chef on the hit television series Iron Chef America, freely admits to maintaining the brightness of her smile with professional whitening sessions.

“With what I do, whitening your teeth is like getting your hair done, your nails done and everything else you have to do to be on television,” Cat recently told Dear Doctor magazine. However, she does have her limits. “I want my teeth to be white and healthy looking — but not stark white or looking like they could glow in the dark,” she said with a laugh.

Cat's perceptions and experiences with tooth whitening may accurately describe Hollywood, but through the power of media, celebrities and their respective fan bases, having attractive white teeth has become a goal for most people. This is because white teeth are subconsciously associated with youth and virility.

Here in the dental office, we can use professional-strength “power bleaching” to whiten teeth several shades in a single visit. To prevent irritation to the area surrounding the teeth being treated, we isolate the gums and skin of the mouth with a protective gel or a rubber barrier known as a dental dam. After the whitening solution is placed on the teeth, the process may be supplemented by heat or a light source to activate or enhance peroxide release.

For bleaching teeth at home, our office can make custom-fitted bleaching trays that you fill with a gel form of carbamide peroxide. Sometimes this whitening gel can cause a temporary tooth sensitivity to hot and cold, but this normally lasts for no more than four days after you stop bleaching your teeth.

To learn more about tooth whitening, you can continue reading the Dear Doctor magazine article “Teeth Whitening.” Or you can contact us today to schedule an appointment so that we can conduct a thorough examination and discuss what treatment options will be best for you. And to read the entire interview with Cat Cora, please see the article “Cat Cora.”

As a Pro Football Hall of Famer and first runner up on the hit television show Dancing with the Stars, Jerry Rice has a face and smile that truly has star quality. However, that was not always the case. During an interview with Dear Doctor magazine, the retired NFL pro discussed his good fortune to have had just a few minor dental injuries throughout his football career. He went on to say that his cosmetic dentist repaired several of his chipped teeth with full crowns. Rice now maintains his beautiful smile with routine cleanings and occasional tooth bleaching.

If you have chipped, broken or missing teeth, or are considering a smile makeover, we want to know exactly what you want to change about your smile, as the old adage is true: Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. This is one reason why we feel that listening is one of the most important skills we can use during your private, smile-makeover consultation. We want to use this time to ensure we see what you see as attractive and vice versa so that together we can design a realistic, achievable blueprint for your dream smile.

For this reason, we have put together some questions you should ask yourself prior to your appointment:

• What do you like and dislike about the color, size, shape and spacing of your teeth?
• Do you like how much of your teeth show when you smile and when your lips are relaxed?
• Are you happy with the amount of gum tissue that shows when you smile?
• Do you prefer a “Hollywood smile” with perfectly aligned, bright white teeth, or do you prefer a more natural looking smile with slight color, shape and shade variations?

To learn more about obtaining the smile you want, continue reading the Dear Doctor magazine article “Great Expectations — Perceptions In Smile Design.” Or you can contact us today to schedule an appointment so that we can conduct a thorough examination and discuss your cosmetic and restorative dentistry treatment goals. And if you want to read the entire feature article on Jerry Rice, continue reading “Jerry Rice — An Unbelievable Rise To NFL Stardom.”

Maria Menounos, an independent filmmaker, actress, and co-host of daily entertainment news program Extra, learned at an early age about the importance of maintaining good general and dental health when her father, Constantinos, a Greek immigrant, was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. As a result, her parents made sure the family consumed a diet filled with fresh fruits and vegetables, many of which they produced themselves. Maria and her family also consumed little-to-no junk food.

Menounos is still committed to helping those with diabetes. In fact, because she saw first hand the power of communication in the lives of diabetes patients and their families, Menounos is an avid ambassador for the American Diabetes Association.

Maria's experience with diabetes is one that she shares with millions of people worldwide. And if you or someone you care about is suffering from this disease, it's important to be aware of the connection between diabetes and oral health. Recent research has shown a link between two chronic inflammatory conditions: periodontal (gum) disease and diabetes. Evidence consistently reveals that diabetes is a risk factor for increased severity of periodontal disease and conversely, periodontitis is a risk factor for worsening blood glucose control in patients with diabetes and may also increase the risk of diabetic complications. Periodontal inflammation is also associated with an elevated systemic (general body) inflammatory state and an increased risk of major cardiovascular (“cardio” – heart; “vascular” – blood vessel) events such as heart attack, stroke, adverse pregnancy outcomes (e.g., low birth weight and preterm births) and altered blood sugar control in people with diabetes.

If you are interested in learning more about periodontal disease, you can continue reading the Dear Doctor magazine article “Diabetes & Periodontal Disease.” Or, if you are diabetic and fear you may have periodontal disease, you can contact us today to schedule an appointment so that we can conduct a thorough examination. During this private consultation, we will also discuss any questions you have as well as what treatment options will be best for you. And to read the entire interview with Maria, please see the Dear Doctor magazine article “Maria Menounos.”

Florence Henderson has inspired generations of people through her portrayal of America's most beloved TV mother, Carol Brady, on one of the longest running situational comedies, The Brady Brunch. Today Florence is still a role model but for a much different audience: senior citizens.

Henderson created the FloH Club as an organization to assist senior citizens with understanding and embracing technology, as she described in an interview with Dear Doctor magazine. “I was inspired to create the FloH Club because of my own fear of technology and because I didn't want to keep asking my children for help,” she said.

And while Henderson was blessed with naturally straight teeth and has had no cosmetic work done, she is not opposed to it. “I wouldn't care how old I was, if I had misaligned teeth or felt I needed cosmetic dentistry I would certainly do it!”

One teeth-straightening option many adults consider is clear orthodontic aligners. They are an excellent way for self-conscious adults to align their teeth without feeling that they will appear as an awkward “brace-faced” youth — a look that is commonplace for the teenage years.

But what are clear aligners? They are an alternative system to traditional braces that use a sequence of individual, custom-fitted trays that are clear and removable to gradually straighten teeth. They are usually recommended for correcting mild to moderate spacing problems or crowding of the teeth, and for cases in which there are no major issues with your bite (i.e., your back teeth fit together properly and biting forces are distributed evenly on all of your teeth).

To learn more about this method of aligning teeth, you can continue reading the Dear Doctor magazine article “Clear Orthodontic Aligners.” Or you can contact us today to schedule an appointment so that we can conduct a thorough examination and discuss what treatment options will be best for you. And to read the entire interview with Florence Henderson, please see the Dear Doctor article “Florence Henderson.”