Little-Known Dental Trivia

More and more Americans go to female dentists. According to a recent survey by the American Dental Association (ADA), an increasing number of patients are consulting female dentists, primarily because the ratio of male to female dentists favors the latter. The survey reports that the largest percentage of practicing dentists is in the 35 to 45 age group. This group has 48 percent female dentists and 32 percent male dentists.

If you want to keep all of your teeth well after the age of 65, it helps to live in Hawaii. In a 1998 report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia, only 14 percent of people aged 65 or older who live in Hawaii are completely toothless, a dental condition known as edentulism. In contrast, at least 48 percent of people of the same age in West Virginia have lost all their teeth.

The popular technique of baking pizza in a stone oven may actually be harmful to your overall oral health. The smoke coming from wood burning in stone ovens causes people to have two to three times increased risk of acquiring throat and oral cancer, according to the International Journal of Epidemiology. The journal also reports that wood burning stoves may be responsible for 30 percent of all such cancers.

Have you ever wished that your dentist in LA would turn up the music while drilling your teeth? The American Dental Association recommends that patients listen to music as a form of distraction. A combination of music and anesthetics during dental procedures can reduce the patient’s blood pressure and pulse rate more than anesthetics alone.

The ADA also notes that patients who listen to music tend to have lower stress-related hormones.

Dental injuries are the most common type of orofacial injury sustained during sports participation. According to the National Youth Sports Foundation for Safety, athletes are approximately 60 times more likely to incur damage to their teeth when not wearing a mouthpiece. Mouthguards professionally designed by a dentist in LA prevent injuries (such as concussions and other dental and mandibular injuries) when worn properly.

Each year, the total consumer spending on toothpastes amounts to approximately $ 1.8billion, while consumers spend about $ 775 million on toothbrushes. Given the numbers, it is quite ironic that almost 74 percent of Americans are affected by some type of periodontal or gum disease. This is probably due to their brushing time, among others. The average person only spends about 45 to 70 seconds brushing, when the dentist in LA recommends 2 to 3 minutes of brushing.