A beautiful, healthy smile's important for overall health

Aspen Dental is a paid advertiser of Sonoran Living Live

Aspen Dental Dentist Dr. Brandon Arnow said are a number of studies indicating that your oral health impacts your overall health. For example, gum disease has been linked with the incidence of common health issues such as heart disease, diabetes, and stroke. And new research is coming out all the time. Recently, researchers at New York University found the first long-term evidence that gum disease may increase the risk of cognitive dysfunction associated with Alzheimer's disease in healthy individuals as well as in those who already are cognitively impaired.

So, it's incredibly important for people to maintain their oral health.

Unfortunately, people neglect their oral health for a variety of reasons: anxiety, fear, embarrassment. Another reason is that problems like gum disease don't necessarily cause pain - and patients assume that their oral health is in good standing as long as they're pain-free, so they don't see twice-yearly dental exams as a priority.

Aspen Dental's approach focuses on providing comprehensive care, which means addressing any immediate problems that may be causing pain, but also recommending treatment for long-lasting good health.

Back to Basics
Dr. Arnow explained that good oral hygiene at home is essential to help keep periodontal disease from becoming more serious or recurring. Even with the great new technologies that dentists have available, Dr. Arnow urged patients to remember the basics:

• Brush your teeth at least twice a day to help remove food and plaque on both natural teeth and dentures and floss at least once daily to remove plaque between teeth and below the gum line.
• Limit your intake of sweets, especially sugared, carbonated beverages.
• Eat more fruits and vegetables.
• Drink more water.
• And of course, have your mouth examined regularly by your dentist for signs of gum disease or infection.
• A Necessity for Denture Wearers, too

Dr. Arnow pointed out that good oral hygiene is equally as important for individuals with dentures, who should brush and rinse their dentures daily and clean with denture cleanser.

Denture-wearers should clean their gums to avoid plaque build-up that can irritate the tissue under dentures. Thoroughly clean dentures at night to avoid bacteria growth.

Another important tip for denture-wearers - pay attention to how much denture adhesive you use. If you're going through more than one tube of denture cream every three weeks, your dentures may not fit properly and need replacement.

The American Dental Association recommends that dentures be replaced every 5 to 7 years, but in Dr. Arnow's experience, many patients wait much longer than that, which can cause irritation or sores in the mouth over time.

A Wide Variety of Services
Aspen Dental, with eight offices in the Phoenix area, provides a wide variety of denture and dental services, ranging from comprehensive dental exams, dentures, hygiene services, fillings, oral surgery, whitening, and crown and bridge work. Aspen offers eight styles of full and partial dentures. Its heat-injected premium dentures are durable, custom-crafted and made with the best material for a natural look.

All Aspen Dental offices have a denture laboratory on-site, which means that patients can get dentures and adjustments done quickly.

Aspen Dental is open extended hours and on select Saturdays, so that patients are able to get dental care at a time that works for them outside of normal business hours. Practices work with all insurance carriers, and for patients without dental insurance, Aspen offers free new patient exams and X-rays. And, a number of payment programs are available to make sure that Aspen patients are able to access the care they need at a price they can afford.

A Wide Variety of Offers
Aspen Dental offers free exams and x-rays for new patients without dental insurance - a $200 value. And, for a limited time, Aspen Dental is offering $600 off a set of its premium dentures. To make an appointment call 800-ASPEN DENTAL or visit www.aspendental.com .

Aspen Dental is a paid advertiser of Sonoran Living Live