Diabetic patients were one-third less likely to need ER care or be hospitalized for their disease if they had regular dental care! What a simple way for our Bethesda diabetic patients to stay healthy.
Researchers reported these findings in the January issue of the Journal of the American Dental Association. This study is the latest to associate good oral health with better overall health. Similar results have been shown for heart disease, pre-term birth and other disorders.
Preventative dentistry keeps our Bethesda patients healthy by using regular dental hygiene visits to keep your smile sparkling white and your gums healthy. Avoiding gum disease and the accompanying inflammation is especially important for our diabetic patients. Previous studies have shown that active gum disease makes it much more difficult to regulate blood sugar levels.
Dr. Bernard L. Greenbaum and his Team provide Bethesda preventative dentistry for all patients. “Your whole body is connected. If you keep any part of it healthy, that will keep the whole body healthier.”
Keep your whole body healthier by scheduling your next dental hygiene visit at the office of Dr. Bernard L. Greenbaum. Please contact us today at 301-530-3600,
It has been proven that HPV infection increases risk for various cancers, including oral cancer. Thanks to a new study we now know that 7% of American adults and teenagers have the HPV virus in their mouths.
This study may help us understand why the rates of one type of head and neck cancer, oropharyngea cancer, increased over 200% between 1988 and 2004. The study also showed that HPV is not transmitted through casual contact or kissing. The research was published online by the Journal of the American Medical Association.
HPV has been known as the cause of cervical cancer but can cause other types of cancer as well. The infection is extremely common – and it usually produces no symptoms and clears up on its own. Screening for oral cancers is more important today than ever before for adults of all ages.
In years past the typical oral cancer patient was an older man who smoked heavily and drank alcohol. Today the fastest rise in cases is appearing in young adults. Don’t forget to include an oral cancer screening in your next visit and talk to us about DNA testing to assess your risk for head and neck cancers.
For more information about oral cancer screening and to schedule your appointment please contact the office of Dr. Bernard Greenbaum in Bethesda, MD at 301-530-3600.
Women who suffer from obstructive sleep apnea and treated their disease reduced their risk of dying from heart attack or stroke. A new study from Spain looked at women with sleep apnea and how treatment affected their cardiovascular risks. Previous studies have confirmed that men with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) have increased risk of heart attack and stroke.
The study found that women with untreated, severe sleep apnea were 3 1/2 times more likely to die from heart disease or stroke compared to women without OSA. The study focused on treating the women using CPAP which uses a machine to deliver pressurized air through a mask to keep the throat open at night. Researchers found that using the machine for at least 4 hours per night reduced the risk for the women to equal that of patients without sleep apnea. Great news for those patients who can tolerate sleeping with a CPAP machine.
Sleep Apnea Help for CPAP Intolerant
The problem is that a lot of people can’t tolerate sleeping with a CPAP machine. They can’t find a mask that is comfortable, the tubing bothers them, they just feel claustrophobic… there are lots of reasons. For mild to moderate sleep apnea and for patients with more severe cases who are CPAP intolerant an oral appliance may be the answer.
A custom oral appliance is created in a lab and designed to gently hold your jaw in a position that keeps your airway open during sleep. No masks or electricity needed.
For more information or to schedule a consultation to see if you may be a candidate for oral appliance therapy to treat your obstructive sleep apnea please contact Bethesda, MD sleep apnea dentist Dr. Bernard Greenbaum at 301-530-3600 today.
Here at the Bethesda office of Dr. Bernard Greenbaum we want patients to know that having a root canal is too important to joke about. Root canal therapy has been the subject of jokes about dental pain for many years. This is probably because many years ago it was not a pleasant procedure. Root canal therapy can stop the throbbing pain while saving the infected tooth and avoiding serious infection spreading throughout the body.
Good news — modern anesthetics allow this treatment with little discomfort.
“So what is a root canal and why do I need this procedure?” is a question I often hear.
Root canal therapy (also called endodontic therapy) deals with the inside structure of the tooth called the pulp. The pulp inside your tooth is made up of a complex of arteries, veins, nerves and lymphatic vessels. The pulp is what gives nourishment to the tooth from within keeping the tooth resilient and strong. The pulp of your tooth is also the part that feels the difference between hot and cold.
Problems with the pulp can start with bacterial infections caused by tooth decay, cracks in the tooth or trauma. The tissue in the tooth begins to break down and die and you begin to feel pain. At this point you can either remove the tooth or keep the tooth and clean out the pulp and replace it with a biocompatible sealer to fill the space — a root canal. Anesthetics ensure that you don’t feel discomfort during the procedure.
Dental pain in no laughing matter so please contact Bethesda dentist Dr. Bernard L. Greenbaum at 301-530-3600 today to schedule your appointment.
What is the secret to looking younger to others instantly? Smile. It seems that facial expressions such as smiling or laughing make others think we look younger than we are. No Botox or surgery needed.
A study published in Psychology and Aging reported that when people looked at pictures of happy faces they guessed a lower age for the person in the photo than in pictures of the same person with an angry or neutral expression on their face.
Researchers say that smiling has been shown to make people look more attractive, which may make them appear younger. This research gives us another reason to smile all day long… unless you are unhappy with the appearance of your smile.
Cosmetic dentistry can turn that frown upside down and give you the beautiful smile you’ve dreamed of. Perhaps your teeth have become yellowed or stained over time then a simple whitening procedure can restore your teeth to their youthful shade. The appearance of crooked teeth can be changed in just a couple of visits using dental veneers. Bethesda cosmetic dentist Dr. Bernard Greenbaum can also give you a complete smile makeover that is perfectly suited to your facial features and personality.
Please contact Bethesda cosmetic dentist Dr. Bernard Greenbaum today at 301-530-3600 to schedule a consultation to see how cosmetic dentistry can make you smile.
Please contact us today at today to schedule your consultation.Â
As a dentist treating sleep apnea patients in the Bethesda, MD area I usually ask all of my patients about their sleeping habits and if they have a sleep problem. A national survey asked the same type of questions and an astounding 99% percent of the people surveyed reported at least one sleep complaint even though they rated their own health as good, very good or excellent.
Over half said they didn’t feel as if they were getting enough sleep, 45% said they snore, 45% also said they suffer from excessive daytime sleepiness, 37% had trouble falling asleep and 12% knew that they stopped breathing or experienced gasping while asleep.
What is worse than the 99% number is the fact that only 24% had told their doctor about their sleep problem. The data from the survey showed that while 4.6% had received a sleep apnea diagnosis, 33% of the people actually had the signs of sleep apnea.
Living with an untreated sleep disorder such as obstructive sleep apnea can cause serious health problems including cardiovascular disease, depression, diabetes and sexual dysfunction. Getting diagnosed and treated can drastically improve your quality of life and give you back the energy and pep that you thought was long gone.
If you snore, feel excessively sleepy during the day, have experienced weight gain or difficulty in losing weight or if you have been told to stop breathing during sleep you may have obstructive sleep apnea. To learn more about diagnosing your sleep problem and how your Bethesda sleep apnea dentist can help please contact Dr. Bernard Greenbaum at 301-530-3600 today to schedule your consultation.
Bethesda sleep apnea sufferers should be aware of the effects of sleep apnea on atrial fibrillation. Sleep disordered breathing such as obstructive sleep apnea has been shown to increase the risk of heart arrhythmias like atrial fibrillation (afib). A study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology showed that the risk of having an abnormal heartbeat was 18 times higher immediately after an apnea episode compared to during normal sleep breathing.
Even more frightening, the sleep apnea did not have to be severe to raise the risk of afib. “Our focus was on individuals with mild to moderate apnea since it is those people we could compare periods of sleep where there were no apneas to periods where apneas occurred,” said coauthor Dr. Susan Redline of Case Western Reserve University. This work “underscores the tight link between heart disease and sleep apnea and the need to further evaluate the impact of sleep apnea treatment on reducing heart disease burden.”
Sleep apnea treatment is vital for maintaining a healthy heart. The gold standard for treating the disease is continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), however studies show that about half of patients discontinue CPAP within one year and those that do continue average only about 3 hours per night. Another treatment that has been declared effective by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine but is not well known is oral appliance therapy available from a sleep apnea dentist who is trained in dental sleep medicine. An oral appliance is a small mouthpiece that is worn while sleeping and it works by gently placing your lower jaw in a position that keeps the airway open during sleep. No more blocked airway – no more apnea events.
To find out more about oral appliance therapy to treat your sleep apnea please contact Bethesda Sleep Apnea dentist Dr. Bernard Greenbaum at 301-530-3600 today.
Sleep problems or sleep disorders of some kind affect one-third to one-half of all Americans. The cost to society in lost productivity and accidents is huge as well as the toll these problems take on the patients and their families. Recently almost 5,000 police officers in the US and Canada were screened for sleep problems and about 40% of them tested positive for at least one type of sleep disorder. The most common was obstructive sleep apnea. 
Dr. William Kohler of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine stated “Police officers are obviously a very important group because they are there to protect us, and unfortunately, at times when they are distracted because of tiredness, they are at risk to themselves and others.”
Obstructive sleep apnea is associated with being overweight and about a third of the officers in the study had a BMI higher than 30. Obstructive sleep apnea occurs when the soft tissues of the mouth and throat relax during sleep and block the airway. The sleeper stops breathing for several seconds until the lack of oxygen causes a partial wakening to begin breathing again. The sleeper does not remember these episodes which can occur from a few to hundreds of times each night. The bed partner of the sleeper is also wakened frequently because of the loud snoring and gasping for breath that accompanies the disorder. Both partners feel exhausted the next day.
Untreated obstructive sleep apnea is associated with cardiovascular disease, stroke, weight gain and increased risk of accident. Treatment usually begins with CPAP but many patients find it difficult to tolerate sleeping with machines. Oral appliance therapy is proven to be an effective treatment for obstructive sleep apnea and is available in the Bethesda, MD area from Dr. Barnard Greenbaum.
Police officers are not the only ones that need a good nights sleep in order to perform their jobs. Contact us today at 301-530-3600 to schedule your consultation to see if you may be a candidate for oral appliance therapy.
European researchers recently published a study estimating that 35 million worldwide suffer from dementia. They also stated that that figure may double every 20 years. Another study conducted by dental researchers at New York University illustrates a link between gum (periodontal) disease and Alzheimer’s Disease, the most common form of dementia.
As a leader in the fields of preventive, cosmetic, and restorative dentistry, Bethesda’s Dr. Bernard Greenbaum understands the interrelationship between oral and overall wellbeing. He offers targeted treatments to prevent and combat gum disease and help patients achieve life-long, whole-body health. (more…)
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Most of us have at least one metal filling. Amalgam (a mixture of metals, including mercury) used to be the only option a dentist had to fill a decayed tooth. Advances in dentistry have made it possible to ditch the metal. As a leader in progressive, patient-focused dental care, Dr. Bernard Greenbaum applies safe, durable, composite resin fillings. This material delivers outstanding results and protects teeth from further damage. Plus, the doctor tints it to match natural tooth color. No unsightly dark fillings to mar your smile!
Cavities aren’t just for kids. Adults get them, too. In fact, studies show that 90% of adults have experienced dental caries (the medical term for tooth decay). Tooth or mouth pain is a common symptom of a cavity. If you need a filling, don’t get a potentially damaging metal one – get a safe, tooth-colored one from your Bethesda dentist, Dr. Greenbaum. (more…)
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