While it is not the goal of the Dental Health Blog to focus on bad news, we do believe in sharing important dental health information and news with our readers. With that in mind, a recent article at MedicalXpress.com was truly eye opening. Titled, The cavity in health insurance coverage – oral health, the article focuses on the lack of dental insurance coverage in the US, even despite implementation of the Affordable Care Act (nee Obamacare).

Naturally, the effects of tooth loss vary from person to person and depend on the number and location of the teeth you’ve lost. If you’ve lost a crown, you have lost the visible part of your tooth. If you have lost the root as well, you have lost the unseen part of your tooth and, indeed, the most important part of your tooth. is this a probelm dasdf

Dental implants are a titanium substitute for the missing roots of your natural teeth. They are utilized in many situations to restore areas where you are missing teeth: such as not having enough natural teeth to support a fixed bridge; to replace single-tooth areas; as well as to support and stabilize partial dentures or full dentures.

We cover a wide variety of topics here at The Dental Health Blog. From keeping your teeth as you age to replacing them, our goal is to educate and illuminate our audience in multiple ways.

This is a subject we’ve addressed before here at The Dental Health Blog and, while we occasionally like to believe we do not need to go over it again, that is just not the case.

As we’ve shared before here at the Dental Health Blog, oral health has been shown to have a direct effect on overall health, especially as we age. In fact, we’ve published multiple posts on the relationship between oral health and heart disease, as well as diabetes, gum disease and oral cancer, and even poor oral health and arthritis.

Bleeding gums are not a "normal" condition. Even if your gums bleed "only" when you brush your teeth, this is an indication of unhealthy gums, and potential gum disease. The state of your gums reflects the health of the underlying tissues that can’t be seen, and any bleeding at any time should alert you that more serious problems lie ahead if the condition is left untreated.

The leading causes of tooth loss among adults 65 and older are tooth decay and gum disease, with 25% no longer have any natural teeth remaining. And, while tooth loss among seniors has declined over the past four decades or so, the issue remains serious, as there are indications that tooth loss and seriously debilitating diseases in seniors are linked.

Not only is tooth loss embarrassing, losing your teeth can make eating difficult. It can also be a symptom of other health problems about which you may not be aware. If you're losing teeth, you should have two check-ups, one with your MD and another with your dental professional.

Finally, there is some Good News about oral health in the US. Even as the population ages, older Americans are keeping their teeth longer than ever before. Yet, while the average number of teeth people retain into old age is increasing, there can be more problems with keeping them – and keeping them healthy. This is why good dental hygiene and regular check-ups become ever more important as you age.

Are you too embarrassed to smile because you're missing some teeth? Do you struggle to eat the foods you enjoy most because of tooth loss? Have you grown tired of wearing traditional dentures, and would like to know more about dental implants as an alternative tooth replacement therapy?

Well, it’s that time of year again; the time for your New Year’s Resolutions. Here at the Dental Health Blog we understand how difficult it can be to follow through on any resolution, with some 80% of people who decide to make changes each year fail to sustain those changes within the first 30 days. And yet, during the past year, we’ve shared numerous blog posts with you that outline the importance of ongoing oral health, and how poor maintenance of your teeth, gums, and mouth can lead to a number of other health problems.

"Teeth in a Day" or "All-on-4" are just two of the various terms used to describe and market a relatively new technique in tooth replacement therapy. These phrases refer to situations where all of your teeth or dentures are replaced by dental implants and you receive new fixed teeth, i.e., non-removable, screwed-in replacements, on the same day.

Of course, when we say a "dirty mouth" we don’t mean telling off-color jokes. The Dental Health Blog enjoys a good joke as much as anyone. No, when we refer to a dirty mouth we mean one that is unhealthy.

A recent study by researchers at Case Western Reserve University, and published in the Journal of Virology, indicates that there may be a causal link between the bacteria that causes gum disease and incidents of oral cancer.

While the importance of brushing and flossing your teeth every day cannot be overestimated, did you know that brushing your tongue is also important? That’s right, for complete dental health, it is important to do all three. Here’s why you should add cleaning your tongue to your dental health routine.

We’ve all heard the old expression, "It takes fewer muscles to smile than it does to frown". While this is not actually true, it takes fewer muscles to frown, there is an increasing amount of evidence that shows that what you feel may not be merely reflected by facial expressions – but also driven by them. In other words, there are benefits of smiling more frequently, despite being in a "bad mood".

You must be aware that "Black Friday" is just around the corner. Did you also know that the day after Thanksgiving, the day that most of us eat more than we do on any other day of the year, is also National Flossing Day?

You’ve long been warned that sugar is bad for your teeth because it causes tooth decay. Do you know how this happens?

While it is not the goal of the Dental Health Blog to bring our readers bad news, we do feel the need to educate our readers. As part of that function, we must bring you the bad news that oral cancer rates are on the rise in the US.