March 20th is World Oral Health Day!

The theme this year is "Celebrating Healthy Smiles"

After all, we ALL notice someone's smile, the very first time that we meet them. So, we ALL would love to have a bright, healthy smile with healthy teeth, gums and fresh breath, so that they remember what a wonderful smile we have, Yes?

Unfortunately, this isn't always the case, and many people are ashamed of their teeth and hide their smiles away. 

The FDI World Dental Federation is an organization representing more than a million dentists worldwide. They help to develop health policy, education programs and support member associations (ADA - The American Dental Association is one of them). For World Oral Health Day they are helping to promote the opportunity to highlight the benefits of good oral health, promote awareness of oral health issues and emphasize the value of practicing good oral hygiene.

As we mentioned previoulsy, we ALL would love to have beautiful bright smiles, so let's all practice good oral hygiene. So, this year's message from the FDI is to celebrate beautiful smiles, while promoting the need to be aware of overall, good oral hygiene.

How do we do ensure good oral hygiene?

Brush at least twice a day (morning and night).

Floss regularly, especially after eating sticky or doughy foods.

Scrape your tongue regularly, to eliminate bacteria that cause bad breath (halitosis) .

Visit your dentist regularly, allowing him to spot any potential problems early on. Remember that your dentist can also detect early indicators of diabetes, heart disease and oral cancer.

Eat a healthy diet - this of course applies for general well-being too.

Don't let your out-dated fears overcome your need to be healthy. Today, dentists are well-versed in making you feel at ease and being comfortable and relaxed. Gone are the days of old, when the dentist visit was one to be feared. Children learn from early on, how to clean their teeth and take care of them. Dental offices nowadays are bright, cheerful and happy places to be. 

At Dr Schmidt's dental practice, we are promoting World Oral Health Day by posting dental health tips on our Facebook page throughout the month of March (though to be honest, we do that a lot of the time!).

We are also offering a FREE teeth whitening experience, to have a chance to win, all you have to do is visit, like and share one of our competition posts on our facebook page; www.facebook.com./ypsilantidentist 

Come on in and visit us, we'd love to see you.

February is National Heart Heath Month

We all know that our heart is the most important organ in our body. It pumps our blood via arteries and veins to all our other organs. Quite frankly, without it, we’d die.  So, we need to take extra special care of it to make sure that it functions as well as it possibly can, because a heart that is suffering from disease and doesn’t work properly can lead to other illnesses which can be equally as fatal as a heart that just stops pumping.

There are many things we can all do to help keep our hearts healthy and one of the best things we can do on a regular basis, is visit our dentist for our 6 monthly check-ups. For the laziest of us, this is probably the easiest as it requires little effort. In fact, you even get to sit or lay down for an hour or so and put your feet up while the dentist and hygienist go about their work.

Why are dental check-ups one of the easiest things we can do? Well, many of us may in fact see our dentist more often than we do our doctor.  And, since oral health can show signs of other things going on in our bodies, our dentist may well see something of importance before we even realize there is something wrong. For example, people who have some form of Periodontal (gum) disease are twice as likely to develop heart disease. One study has shown that gum disease, cavities and missing teeth are as good at predicting heart disease as cholesterol levels.

So, never mind those facts that our oral health can also be linked to respiratory diseases, arthritis, diabetes, gastrointestinal disease and pre-term, low weight babies; we need to keep up to date with our oral check-ups not only to keep our teeth and gums healthy, but to allow for those all important early warnings of possible heart disease or strokes.

Welcome to the Blog of David Schmidt, DDS

Whether you are an existing patient or searching for a dentist in the Ypsilanti, MI area, we’re excited you are here. With the dental industry advancing, we recognize the importance of keeping our patients and visitors up to date with all of the new and exciting things taking place in our practice.

As we move forward with our blog, we hope to promote dental awareness as a vital part of your healthy lifestyle. Here you will find a variety of articles and topics including dental news, advancements in dental technology and treatments, practical oral health advice and updates from our practice.

We hope you find our blog to be helpful, engaging and informational to ensure your best dental health. 

As always, feel free to contact our David Schmidt, DDS office with any dental questions or concerns.

-- David Schmidt, DDS