Beck Dental Care of Columbia Blog

The year is flying by, and before you know it, you’ll be sitting down with your family to a glorious Thanksgiving Day feast.

Do you want to be able to load your plate with all your favorite foods of the holiday? Do you want to chew your food without worrying about pain, discomfort, or loose dentures? Do you want to get up from the dinner table and pose for some long overdue family photos with a healthy, beautiful smile?

Beck Dental Care has good news for you! You can do all of those things this holiday season by replacing your missing teeth with

dental implants

!

While you do have several tooth replacement options in our Columbia, TN dental office, you will want a solution that’s as less disruptive to your quality of life as possible. Dental implants offer that kind of solution.

Dr. Beck and our highly-trained team want you to feel confident about the look and function of your teeth this Thanksgiving, and long after! Today, we’re talking about dental implants and how they can help you enjoy a better holiday this year, and many years to come!

Dental Implants For A Better Holiday

There are several reasons why dental implants are the most effective tooth replacement option in modern dentistry. One of them is security.

An implant is placed inside your jawbone where a tooth used to be and acts as a synthetic root. It will fuse itself to your jawbone, keeping it strong and healthy. The dental implant is covered with a tooth-colored, natural-looking dental crown for a complete, lovely smile.

Here are some ways dental implants can help you enjoy a better holiday season!

Enjoy Better Food!

Rather than rest on top of your gums like traditional dentures, dental implants fuse to your jawbone. This gives you nearly the same amount of bite strength as natural teeth, which is one of the things that makes them so successful as a tooth replacement option.

So instead of passing on all your favorites in exchange for soft, boring foods, you can bite and chew the foods you love with the confidence that your teeth will stay firmly in place!

Enjoy Better Health!

Dental implants don’t require any sort of extra maintenance. You can keep your teeth clean with regular brushing and flossing, unlike removable dentures that require you to take them out and scrub them everyday.

Another advantage of dental implants is that they help encourage healthy bone growth, keep your surrounding teeth strong, prevent further tooth loss and gum disease, and maintain the structural integrity of your face.

Enjoy A Better-Looking Smile!

Thanksgiving and the holidays that follow invite quite a lot of photo ops. That’s because it’s a time to visit with family, friends, distant relatives, and to meet new acquaintances.

You will be asked to huddle closely for group selfies or family photos and smile happily. If you’re missing teeth, you won’t be able to do that. You’ll instead have to smile with your mouth closed or you’ll feel compelled to hide in the bathroom or guest bedroom to avoid the camera altogether!

Dental implants and restorations can give you a natural-looking smile you’ll feel great about showing off for pictures. Years later, when you look back on those photos, you will remember the memories of the holiday with fondness, not regret because you didn’t do anything about your teeth.

Enjoy A Better Holiday Season With Dental Implants!

You deserve to spend the holidays with the ability to enjoy the foods you love and to feel good about your smile. As you’re visiting with close family, friends, and distant relatives, you should be able to focus on being fully present, free from worry or anxiety.

That’s why now is the time to do something about your missing teeth. With dental implants, you won’t have to pass on all your favorite holiday treats or come up with ways to avoid the cameras. You can eat and smile feeling confident and carefree!

Enjoy a better holiday season with dental implants from Beck Dental Care! Call our Columbia, TN dental office today at (931) 388-8452 or fill out our

online form

to schedule an appointment.

Keep your

children’s smile safe

this Halloween with help from our team at Beck Dental Care! They don’t have to suffer the consequences of all those sugary treats as long as they continue the good dental habits they learn with us here in Columbia, TN!

Here’s one mom who loves trusting Beck Dental Care for all the dental needs in her family. Check it out, then schedule your family’s next checkup!

Call our Columbia, TN dental office  today at (931) 388-8452 or fill out our

online form

to schedule an appointment.

If you’re one of those people who love the thrill of a good scare, then we’re guessing October is one of your favorite months of the year. The entire month is a celebration of frightful festivities like horror film marathons and haunted houses.

For you, it’s nothing at all to spend your hard-earned money to have ghosts, chainsaw murderers, and zombies jump out at you from the shadows. Thrill-seeking lovers of all things scary look forward to dark corridors, haunting music, and screams of terror!

And why wouldn’t you? After all, those things aren’t really scary. Maybe they are in the moment, but you know that when it’s all over, you come back to reality. You go home and snuggle up in bed with the peace of mind that here, you have nothing to fear.

Except maybe another night of restlessness because of your loud snoring! You’ve tried those drugstore snoring solutions, but none of them have worked. You’re still keeping everyone up with snoring so loud it could peel paint chips off the walls.

You feel terrible about it. Sure, you smile through the jokes thrown at you over breakfast, but inside, you have a mountain of guilt weighing heavily on your chest. That’s why you don’t share what your own nighttime experience is like.

You don’t ever mention that you’re the one dealing with a true, living nightmare. How you wake up night after night, all night long, gasping for air. How you drag your feet all throughout the day feeling like you’re walking through mud and sludge because of the fatigue. How you pull into the driveway each day after work and can barely remember the drive home because you were so distracted and sleepy.

It’s time to end the nightmare! Our team at Beck Dental Care wants you to schedule an appointment so we can determine if your problem goes beyond snoring. You could be suffering from a condition known as

sleep apnea

.

Today, we’re looking at this potentially deadly condition and how you can know if you’ve been tricked into thinking your snoring is annoying, but harmless.

Don’t Be Tricked By Persistent Snoring!

As we said, your loud snoring is probably fodder among the rest of the family. But it could be the sign of sleep apnea, which left untreated, can have a devastating impact on your life and your health.

Look For These Signs Of Sleep Apnea!

Sleep apnea is a ruthless cycle that occurs all throughout the night for the typical sufferer. What happens is that your airway becomes blocked while you sleep, either because your brain can’t send messages to your breathing mechanisms or your throat muscles are becoming lodged under too much pressure.

In either case, you stop breathing for a few seconds. But it’s long enough to make you jerk awake in terror as you desperately gasp for air. After several seconds, you can breathe again. You drift off back to sleep, but you never get a chance to fall into a deep sleep because the pattern will repeat over and over.

What does this do to you? Here are some signs that you’re suffering from sleep apnea:

-You wake up feeling tired and groggy.

-You wake up with a sore throat but aren’t sick.

-You drag your feet all day from fatigue.

-You’re easily distracted and can’t concentrate.

-You get headaches all the time.

-You’re struggling with memory problems.

-You feel irritable.

-You’ve gained weight for no apparent reason.

As if all those symptoms weren’t disrupting your life enough, you could also be developing health problems and not realizing it. That’s because sleep apnea sufferers are at a higher risk for heart disease, stroke, hypertension, and depression.

Get The Rest You Desperately Need!

At Beck Dental Care, you can find rest and relief with our sleep apnea treatment. In our Columbia, TN dental office, you can be fitted for a custom oral appliance that will keep your air passages open so you can breathe easily while you sleep.

This will not only stop the chronic snoring that’s keeping everyone else awake all night, but it will allow you fall asleep and stay asleep so you can wake up feeling refreshed and rested!

Don’t be tricked into thinking your snoring is just an annoying problem! Get tested for sleep apnea so you can get a good night’s rest and protect your overall health. Call our Columbia, TN dental office  today at (931) 388-8452 or fill out our

online form

to schedule an appointment.

The clock is ticking on those last minute Halloween preparations! Are your family’s teeth and gums going to stay healthy this season?

They will if our team at Beck Dental Care has anything to say about it! And we certainly do!

We love caring for

your family’s smiles

in our Columbia, TN dental office. That’s why we work so hard to inform you about best practices for healthy teeth. Halloween requires extra vigilance when it comes to dental care, so we thought today’s blog was in order.

It’s all about helpful ways to protect your kid’s teeth during all the sugar-coated Halloween festivities! We hope you find it informative and helpful as the night of fright lurks closer to a neighborhood near you.

Here are five easy ways to keep healthy teeth in your house of little ghosts, ghouls, and adorable monsters this Halloween season! And remember, we’re always a phone call away if you have questions or concerns about your family’s oral health.

Now let’s go trick-or-treating for some helpful dental care tips!

Prevent Dental Emergencies!

Halloween is definitely fun for the whole family. Parents enjoy trick-or-treating as much as the kids do. It’s fun watching the little monsters and superheroes excitedly hopping from house to house, building their treasure trove of candy.

But Halloween does invite the possibility for accidents and injuries. Despite your efforts to keep them safe by supervising and carrying a flashlight, it’s still hard to keep up with them every single step of the way.

Your child could easily trip over their costume or a large crack in the sidewalk, fall down, and knock out a tooth. They could also be chewing on a hard piece of candy and break a tooth, as well.

Prevent dental emergencies by avoiding hard candy, making sure they’re in a properly-fitted costume that allows them to walk easily, and by calling us when life laughs at your efforts and throws you a dental emergency anyway!

Be Choosy With Halloween Candy!

Speaking of hard candy, being choosy about your child’s candy choices can help keep their teeth cleaner and healthier. Along with hard candy, you should also steer clear of sticky substances like taffy, caramel, and nougat.

That’s because it’s the kind of gooey goodness that stays around in the nooks and crannies of their mouth long after they’ve eaten it. This only gives harmful bacteria more time to enjoy the sugar and create problems.

Protect Them From Cavities!

You can always take advantage of our preventive services at Beck Dental Care! Whether your family’s dental checkup comes before or after Halloween, a great way to prevent cavities all year long is with sealants and fluoride treatments in our Columbia, TN dental office!

This helps to give their teeth a coating of protection against plaque acids and bacteria that can seep into their teeth and develop into cavities, or worse!

Make Sure They’re Getting Plenty Of Water!

Water is essential to good oral and overall health, no matter what day of the year it is. At Halloween, it’s helpful to have even more water on hand than you normally do. The reason is because along with staying well-hydrated for your health, you can also have them rinse their mouth with water after they’ve eaten candy.

This will really give your teeth and gums some extra protection because it encourages healthy saliva production and helps wash away sugar and other debris in between brushing.

Get A Dental Cleaning & Exam This Season!

Keeping your family’s teeth healthy requires a proactive approach. Part of that is maintaining twice annual dental checkups at Beck Dental Care. So depending on where your next appointment falls on the calendar, you may need to try and fit one in before or schedule on a few weeks after Halloween.

If before, dental sealants and fluoride treatments are a smart choice, as we said earlier. If after, it’s a way to make sure the candy lovers in your household escaped Halloween unscathed by all the extra sugar.

To keep your family’s teeth safe and healthy this Halloween season, makes sure to call our Columbia, TN dental office today at (931) 388-8452 or fill out our

online form

to schedule an appointment.

It’s common this time of year to take time out to enjoy a friendly prank or two on friends and co-workers. Everyone enjoys a good scare every now and then, especially around Halloween.

That’s why you see long lines at haunted houses the whole month of October and at movie theatres when the latest horror film is released. People love the thrill of fear and the relief when they realize whatever scared them isn’t really going to hurt them.

But that’s not at all how someone with dental anxiety feels. Being afraid of the dentist to the point that you break appointments or don’t make appointments at all is the kind of fear that is never followed with a sigh of relief and the assurance that you’ll be okay.

That’s why our team at Beck Dental Care knows it takes more than just someone at your side to suffer with you the way you do for a scary movie or haunted house. It takes a warm, friendly staff and

sedation dentistry

like you’ll find in our Columbia, TN dental office!

Sedation Dentistry Eases Dental Fear

People suffer from dental fear for all sorts of reasons. You might have had a bad experience in the past during a dental appointment or are haunted by a particularly painful procedure.

Another possibility is because you’ve heard friends, co-workers, or even close family members who’ve told you horror stories about their own trauma at the dentist.

It’s even understandable for people to be afraid of dental care because they fear being out of control. If you’re used to being the one in charge in your daily life, at home or at work, it can feel incredibly uncomfortable to be completely vulnerable while someone else calling the shots.

Regardless of what’s causing your dental anxiety, sedation is a highly effective way to overcome it. Sedation dentistry can help patients who struggle with:

-Remembering Their Dental Procedure

-Strong Gag Reflex

-Fear Of Pain Or A Low Tolerance For Pain

-Extensive Dental Work They Require

When you come to Beck Dental Care, you’ll be able to talk to one of our caring professionals about what it would take to make you feel more comfortable. Depending on your level of fear and the dental work you require, we can help you decide which method of sedation is right for you.

The Sedation Method Depends On You

There are three options in sedation dentistry, and our team will make sure that you’re getting the method that best suits your needs.

Nitrous Oxide For Mild Anxiety

Also called laughing gas, nitrous oxide is suitable for patients who feel mildly anxious and perhaps require shorter or less invasive treatment. Nitrous oxide is safe for people regardless of age, and it’s great for giving you just enough sedation to help you feel relaxed.

Oral Sedation For Moderate Anxiety

Some patients need more help and find oral sedation best for their level of nervousness. This is where you take a sedative pill shortly before your appointment so that by the time you arrive, you’re very calm, relaxed, and ready to begin your treatment.

Because you take it before your procedure and it takes awhile to wear off after, you will need to arrange for a friend or family member to drive you to and from your appointment.

IV Sedation For Severe Anxiety

The strongest form of sedation you find in our dental office, or any dental office for that matter, is IV sedation. Here, you’re given a sedative through an IV and are in a sleep-like state during treatment. You likely won’t even remember the procedure itself!

Not all dentists are able to offer this method because it requires advanced training and certification, both of which our dentists have here at Beck Dental Care!

That’s how important your oral health is to us. We have gone above and beyond so that we’re able to help our most fearful patients get the dental care they need for a healthy smile!

Don’t Be Haunted By Dental Fear!

As Halloween approaches and you get geared up to enjoy the delightful frights of the season, consider letting go of the real horror that’s gripped your life for so long, and try sedation dentistry.

Our team at Beck Dental Care wants you to have the healthiest, most beautiful smile possible, and our sedation dentistry can help give you that. Call our Columbia, TN dental office  today at (931) 388-8452 or fill out our

online form

to schedule an appointment.

Our team at Beck Dental Care wants to help your child avoid the pitfalls of all that Halloween candy they’ll be collecting soon. We know it’s only once a year, but the candy bowl can last quite a long time before the last piece is unwrapped.

So before you get the kids decked out for trick-or-treating, make sure to keep these 5 tips in mind for

healthy Halloween teeth

!

We look forward to hearing all about your child’s spooky adventures at their next dental checkup! Call our Columbia, TN dental office  today at (931) 388-8452 or fill out our

online form

to schedule an appointment.

This fall season, consider

cosmetic dentistry

so you have a gorgeous smile in time for the holidays!

At Beck Dental Care, you’ll find a team of talented cosmetic dentists who can do wonders for your smile, just like what you see in today’s before and after image from one of our satisfied patients!

Come and see the difference cosmetic dentistry can make for your smile this fall! Call our Columbia, TN dental office today at (931) 388-8452 or fill out our

online form

to schedule a consultation!