Most of us do things that are recommended to keep our bodies healthy. Ranging from lower cholesterol diets and exercising to medications and supplements. Unfortunately, many of us don't know how the health of our mouths can be contributing to many undesirable health conditions. A healthy mouth should be free of bleeding of any sort. Bleeding is a sign of infection, which is free flowing through our entire body. Current evidence based studies report that inflammatory effects from periodontal (gum) disease could cause oral bacterial byproducts to enter the bloodstream and trigger the liver to make proteins such as CRP that inflame arteries. In addition, these effects may cause blood clots that contribute to clogged arteries leading to heart attacks or strokes. Considering that heart disease is the leading cause of death, while stroke is the third, this isn't something that should be taken lightly.

Diabetes, the sixth leading cause of death, is also something that is complicated by periodontal disease. It is nearly impossible to get an individual's blood sugar controlled if there is infection in the oral cavity. In fact, periodontal disease is often considered the sixth complication of diabetes. Severe periodontal disease can increase blood sugar, contributing to increased periods of time when the body functions with a high blood sugar. This puts diabetics at increased risk for diabetic complications.

There are many other serious health issues that have been linked to periodontal disease as well including, pre-term low birth weights and miscarriages, Alzheimer's disease, pancreatic cancer and obesity. All of these conditions are related to the amount of inflammation present in our bodies. Each and every one of us has a different level of health in our mouths, but all of us have the control to achieve the highest level of health.

We offer the latest technology to help get your mouth as healthy as possible. Please call today if you are not scheduled for your continuing dental care so that we can find a plan that is tailored to your specific needs, and hopefully add years to your life.

I've seen many patients who just hate their lower denture, and they've been told that there's no other solution to their problem except for denture adhesive.

For some this is true... but many people, they could have Mini Dental Implants placed. These are a breakthrough in the dental field. Read this excerpt from our website:

Do you hate your lower denture?
Is it too loose?
Have you been told that you DON'T have enough bone?

Mini-Implants are a GREAT solution for a loose lower or upper denture. They are only a fraction of the size of a traditional implant. This means that they can be used on people who never could have traditional implants.

Mini-Implants can be used to stabilize a lower or upper denture. Patients love how much better they can talk, chew, laugh... you name it.

It only takes one appointment to get your Mini-Implants. That's right, after your consultation and exam it only takes one appointment. You are numbed using The Wand so that you don't feel any pain. The implants are gently placed, without stitches. Then your existing denture is "retro-fitted" to attach to the new implants. When you leave the office, you will have a much better fitting denture!

Contact Us Today to see if you are a candidate for Mini-Implants.

Do you hate your CPAP, or do you know someone who does? Most people don't know there's an alternative or may not even know what a CPAP is.

Sleep Apnea is a condition that occurs when someone stops breathing for more than 10 seconds while sleeping. Lots of people don't even know they suffer from this condition. The symptoms can include:

• Snoring
• Daytime Sleepiness
• Nighttime Restlessness
• Diabetes
• High Blood Pressure
• Stroke
• Heart Attack
• Weight Gain
• Fibromyalgia
• And many more...

Just think about it, 1/3 of your life is spent sleeping. If you are not getting the restful sleep your body needs, then your body doesn't have the health that it should. Each pause in your breathing if you have sleep apnea can last 10-20 seconds, and these pauses can occur up to 20 to 30 even up to 90 times per hour! The dangers of snoring and sleep apnea are sometimes overlooked and left untreated. Sleep apnea is basically repetitive episodes of suffocation. According to recent studies people with mild sleep apnea have a 300-500% increase in motor vehicle accidents involving serious injuries.

People who suffer from snoring and sleep apnea are deprived of necessary oxygen while they sleep. While it may not seem like a serious problem because the sleep apnic eventually wakes up to take the necessary breath of air, the lack of oxygen to the body can have lasting effects. Sometimes the body can experience as much as a 50% reduction in the amount of oxygen being taken in. This lack of oxygen can lead to many health problems including an increased risk of heart attack and stroke. Disruption in sleep cycle creates hormonal and metabolic consequences.

Sleep Apnea Treatment

Treatment for Sleep Apnea varies with each patient's diagnosis, and treatment can be as simple as behavior and lifestyle changes. Dr. Strickland may recommend a change in diet or weight loss. CPAP is considered the gold standard of treatment but unfortunately CPAP is used by less than half of patients fitted for it.

Many patients feel the CPAP is too uncomfortable to sleep with. For these patients, oral appliances are the best form of treatment. Oral appliances are devices that you wear over your upper and lower teeth. The appliance holds your lower jaw slightly forward, which will open your airway and allow more air to flow into your lungs.

Surgery to prevent upper airway obstruction is available but is best used only after evaluating the effect of an oral appliance. The exception is opening of nasal airway and tonsil and adenoid removal in children.

Please contact Dr. Strickland today to learn more about Obstructive Sleep Apnea. See if we can help you get a good night's sleep, and give you a healthier and longer life!

If so, I would disagree. I don't believe there is a toothbrush sold in America today that is capable of damaging your teeth. Your teeth are the hardest substance in your body. And just think about all the lawsuits that would be flying around if Crest or Colgate were manufacturing toothbrushes that damaged teeth.

Another reason...

What I'm talking about here are those "notches" that occur on the teeth at the gumline. You can usually feel them with your fingernail. Sometimes they may be sensitive to hot or cold. Dentists used to believe that improper toothbrushing was wearing down the enamel and creating these "notches".

Not so. What really causes these notches is from grinding your teeth, or having an improper bite. Having an improper bite or grinding your teeth causes micro-flexing of the teeth. This micro-flexing stresses the teeth where they meet the gums. Enamel then begins to microscopically splinter away and over time a "notch" is created.

These notches are a sign of a bigger problem. An improper bite is the leading cause of TMJ problems. These problems can lead to loss of teeth, jaw pain, jaw popping and clicking, chronic headaches, migraine headaches, soreness in the neck and back and many others.

If you have this notching at the gumline, consider asking your dentist about it.

Does this look like your teeth? Go ahead and take a look. Get real close to the mirror and take a look inside. Are you surprised at what you see? We see many patients that once shown their teeth in a photograph are disgusted. They are upset to find out that the condition of their teeth is not as healthy as they had thought.

Why does this happen? You see there are basically 3 types of dental practices. What type of dental practice do you belong? If it's a fit then great, you will see what you expected to see when you looked in the mirror. However, if you are shocked at what you see, then chances are that you are in a dental practice that has differing values than yourself.

1. The first type of dental practice that we define is an "emergency" based dental practice. In this practice, the focus is primarily on treating teeth once they begin hurting. This works well for some people, however many times once a tooth begins to hurt it's too late. The resulting treatment is that the tooth must be pulled. Pulling teeth may be a good short-term decision, however, it causes many long-term problems that could have easily been avoided. If you go down this road, you should expect to end up with many dental problems, pain, and eventually dentures.

2. The second type of dental practice is an "insurance based" dental practice. This type of practice focuses on treatment that insurance covers the best. This may be the most common type of dental practice that you see today. Herein lies the problem... insurance companies pay best on the cheapest services. The cheapest solutions are often times not the ideal treatment. A cheap service will not last as long, and will be prone to causing more advanced problems later on in the future. A prime example is placing a large filling in a tooth, when a crown is the better alternative. The weak tooth will usually break if just a filling is used. The breaking tooth may cause the need for a root canal. Once this happens, then a crown will usually be made. Now, if the dentist had just strengthened the tooth and done the crown in the first place, the patient could have saved having the filling done, could have saved having the tooth break, could have saved having a root canal done, and most importantly could have saved pain and money.

3. The third type of dental practice is a practice that focuses on "ideal" treatment for the patient. What does ideal treatment mean? An easy way to define ideal treatment is what would the dentist choose to do for himself or his wife or his child. Ideal isn't always the most expensive treatment, but it is the most appropriate treatment for the long-term. In the instance above, the ideal treatment for the tooth would have been a crown. The crown would have strengthened the tooth, prevented it from breaking, and probably prevented the need for a root canal.

Our practice is this third type of practice. Does the dental practice that you belong follow the same beliefs that you have? When you look in the mirror closely at your teeth are you pleased with what you see? If not, then ask your dentist why they are in that shape. When it's all said and done...

Wouldn't you rather have teeth that look like these? (same person after treatment)

There are 3 basic risk factors. You probably know 2 of them very well, but the third you may have never heard of.

1. The first risk factor is cavities. Bacteria that live on the teeth eat holes in your teeth. We call these holes... cavities. The problem with a cavity is that it makes the tooth weak. A weak tooth can break. Cavities can grow into the nerve of the tooth causing extreme pain.

2. The second risk factor is gum disease also called periodontal disease. Those same bacteria that can cause cavities cause gum disease. These bacteria live at the base of the teeth next to the gums. If you don't brush and floss properly bacteria will thrive at the gum line. When this bacteria colonizes it destroys and eats away the bone. If the bone is destroyed, there is nothing to hold your tooth in your mouth. The result is your teeth will loosen and fall out just like baby teeth.

3. The third risk factor is bite disease. You don't have to have crooked teeth to have a bad bite. You can have a bad bite with either straight or crooked teeth. A bad bite may be the worst of the 3 risk factors because it causes teeth to be weak (like cavities do) and it causes your bone to be destroyed (like gum disease does).

We provide a very comprehensive examination on all patients of our practice. We will thoroughly check each risk factor and help you develop your own personalized dental plan. This plan becomes your "roadmap" of how to get your mouth and teeth as healthy as you want them to be.

With this in mind, let's look at the typical life of a tooth and how small problems grow into big problems if preventive action is not taken.

Let's begin at the "birth" of a tooth, you know, when it grows through the gums. At this time I call it a "virgin" tooth. It's strong, healthy, and probably good looking. Children usually aren't the best at brushing and flossing. Combine this with lots of sweets, and you have a recipe for a cavity. So if a child gets a cavity, hopefully the dentist finds the cavity early. The treatment for a small cavity is usually a filling. Lots of kids get fillings between the ages of 7-12. The child grows up with these fillings and grows into adulthood not even thinking about the fillings in their mouth. (Those fillings may be fine for 10-20 years)

Here becomes the problem... as the fillings age (10-20 years), a gap, or crevice, forms between the tooth and the filling, and the filling begins to leak.

In other words, bacteria can now creep into the tiny gap that develops between the tooth and the filling. At this time you're an adult and you are a great brusher and flosser (hopefully). Even though you now take great care of your teeth, you can't brush out the bacteria that live in that microscopic gap. As time passes, the bacteria colonize and begin forming a cavity below the surface of the tooth. This type of cavity rarely hurts until it's too late. This type of cavity is not easy to detect... that is until it is very large.

So here's the senario, you are in your 30's and up. You have several old fillings that were done when you were a child. Those old fillings have lived their lifespan and are worn out.

What generally happens next is the dentist sees a filling that "looks" old and worn out. And he/she says, "Let's watch it". I always think... "Watch what?" Watch it get worse? Why?

As the leaking continues and the cavity grows, the tooth becomes weaker and weaker. Eventually the tooth will either break, or the cavity will grow so deep that it kills the nerve. This is when it begins to hurt. So now what's your options? You can either fix it (usually requiring a root canal and a crown) or you can pull it. BUT, why has the problem got so large before fixing it? Couldn't you have fixed it when the filling first began leaking? Back when the problem was smaller. Why not think out of the box, and fix these problems when they are very small?

I think the reason is that dentists and patients choose not to fix these problems early because insurance companies don't like to pay for this early treatment. Lots of dentists hesitate to recommend treatment that may not be covered by insurance. But as you can see that delaying treatment only costs you more in the long run.

In our practice we believe in informing every patient when a tooth, teeth, filling, crown, or any dental work is not in ideal shape. We will inform you of your dental problems, give you the options of solutions, both short-term and long-term. We will inform you of the pros, cons, and consequences of those options. We will let YOU decide what works best for your situation.

For many Americans going to the dentist is a frightful event, even though dentistry has changed so much in the past years. A visit to the dentist can now be relaxing and fun. Unfortunately, this is not enough for the approximately 145 million people who avoid the dentist due to fear.

Dr. Strickland has completed special training that allows him to treat these fearful people. "That's right, using a small pill, people can now have their dental care accomplished while they are totally relaxed and absolutely comfortable."

Dr. Durham adds, "We have always been very sensitive to our patients with high fear and apprehension, and now we can offer them a safe and even more comfortable experience. We feel so many good people are avoiding needed care due to fear. We am looking forward to helping these people visit the dentist with this safe and wonderful technique of anxiety-free dentistry."

Dr. Strickland is a member of the fastest growing organization of its kind in dentistry, the Dental Organization for Conscious Sedation - D.O.C.S. "Dentistry is very high tech today with all sorts of gadgets that get the job done better and quicker, but now with anxiety-free dentistry I can bridge the gap between technology and comfort" said Dr. Strickland

He added, "You should see the look on the faces of my patients when they complete their care and they have a healthy mouth - there aren't words to describe it! That look is why I love dentistry. I helped to change someone's life".

So what is Invisalign teeth straightening? Instead of using traditional metal and wire braces, Invisalign uses clear, custom made medical grade plastic "Aligners" to gradually and sequentially move the teeth into the desired position.

Invisalign Aligners that are used to move the teeth are transparent and very difficult to detect when the patient is wearing them. The nearly invisible Aligners allow the patient to straighten their teeth without feeling self-conscious.

It's not just for kids. Adults are becoming one of the biggest demographic for teeth straightening and with the relatively painless process with Invisalign, the hassle associated with braces is a thing of the past. These clear almost unnoticeable braces steadily reposition the teeth to make them straight within six months to a year.

As with most cosmetic enhancement procedures, you can see how your new smile will look after Invisalign has straightened your teeth. Invisalign uses virtual 3-D modeling to show you a digital representation of your teeth and a time-lapse type demonstration of the movement of the teeth to the desired final result. The Invisalign software will simulate the teeth straightening process in stages. You also will get virtual images called ClinChek via a web browser to show you the proposed final results before the Aligners are fabricated. This is truly a one of a kind experience where you see and approve the final result before it happens so that satisfaction is for certain. The clear and invisible braces are made after your approval and look similar to teeth whitening trays, but are custom-made for a better fit to move teeth.

The problem with a bad bite is when the jaw is not allowed to "live" in its natural un-strained position. If the teeth are aligned in a way that the jaw has to shift, then this causes an imbalance in the jaw joint and jaw muscles.

This imbalance leads to joint and muscle strain. The strain can then lead to many problems such as clenching, grinding, jaw pain, headaches, ear problems, back problems and neck problems. All these things and even more can be traced back to a bad bite. These problems can lead to what has been called TMJ.

The way to fix it is to first identify or diagnose the problem. We do a computerized bite analysis. This gives us the information about the misalignment of the bite. A bite splint, or orthotic, is then made. You can wear this orthotic 24 hours a day to determine if your symptoms can be traced to your bite. After wearing the orthotic a more permanent course treatment can be discussed. In our practice, surgery is almost NEVER needed in treating TMJ problems.