Author: <span class="vcard">MichelleTyler</span>

Let’s be clear: the best toothpaste is home made tooth paste that you create yourself from safe, non-toxic ingredients. You simply can’t be sure what a manufacturer puts in its products, but when you make the best homemade toothpaste in the world right in your own home, you’ll know exactly what’s in it.

If you stubbornly insist that making your toothpaste is too much trouble or effort, some store-bought products are better than others. You want to make sure you use a fluoride-free toothpaste since fluoride is toxic and can cause reproductive issues. You also want to choose a toothpaste that doesn’t contain drying sodium lauryl sulfate, potentially harmful saccharin, carrageen, manganese gluconate or sorbitol either.

Very few products on the market are worthy of recommendation because almost all the natural brands contain at least one thing that holistic health experts don’t recommend. Using the wrong brand means you’re repeatedly exposing yourself and your precious family to unhealthy substances that can do untold harm.

If you must use a store-bought toothpaste instead of the best homemade toothpaste you can create yourself, be sure to stay with trusted brands and also read labels very carefully.

So what are the best brands? Formulas change all the time, so it isn’t possible make firm recommendations.

Still, you may find what you want by choosing something from Tom’s of Maine, now part of the Colgate family of companies. Other good brands include Desert Essence, Jasons, Dr. Ken’s, The Natural Dentist and Kiss My Face. New choices are coming on the market all the time, so look for fluoride-free, SLS-free products that have as short an ingredients list as possible.

The best thing to clean your teeth is the best homemade toothpaste you can make, but when you insist on an off-the-shelf solution, go with a natural brand with a reputation for integrity. And then check labels and ask questions to make sure you’re getting what you want and nothing else.

For our top recommended toothpaste recipe, visit  http://besttoothpaste.net

Dr. Vinograd has been working to perfect his San Diego based, gentle dental techniques with the goal of eliminating discomfort for all of his patients.  The following principles are key to his San Diego Gentle Methodology:

1. San Diego Gentle dentistry starts with diagnostics.  Using a handheld laser, Dr. Vinograd is able to determine whether a filling is actually necessary.  Unnecessary fillings equal unnecessary discomfort.  Laser diagnostics also allows detection of early stages of decay so they can be treated before they evolve into cavities.  Treating problems early is always easier than allowing them to progress.  This is especially important with the widespread use of fluoride.  Fluoride is effective at hardening the enamel, but decay can still occur in the dentin, the softer layer below the enamel.  X-rays cannot detect decay under the enamel until it has affected a significant portion of the tooth.  Lasers can detect this decay while it is still small.
2. Dr. Vinograd uses state of the art technology to blast decay with compressed air.  In many cases, especially minor decay, microabrasion can completely replace drilling.  Micro abrasion is gentle, non-invasive and can often be used without anaesthetic.  No drilling means no heat or sound and less damage to surrounding healthy tissue.  Less damage to healthy tooth means less chance of cracking and less chance of the restoration failing.
3. When a procedure does require anaesthetic, Dr. Vinograd uses two types of pain reliever to ensure the patient is comfortable.  First is a topical painkiller, followed by a pH neutral numbing agent.
4. The pain from drilling typically comes from heat generated by the high speed of common dental drills.  Dr. Vinograd uses a drill that runs at about a tenth the speed of other dental drills, 15,000 to 30,000 rpms vs 150,000 to 200,000 rpms, meaning less heat and less pain.
5. Perhaps the most important element of Dr. Vinograd’s San Diego gentle dental methods involves complete patient control.  If the patient feels the need to stop a procedure for any reason, they simply raise a hand and Dr. Vinograd will stop until the patient is ready to go on.  Loss of control can translate into higher sensitivity to pain, greater tension and more fear.  Simply putting control back into the hands of the patient can go a long way toward helping the patient to relax and experience less pain and fear.

With these five principles, there is no reason to experience pain or fear during dental procedures.  A quick internet search will reveal thousands of happy patients that have been able to overcome their fear of the dentist as a result of San Diego gentle dentistry.

To learn more about Dr. Vinograd’s San Diego dental practice, visit: http://brightondentalsd.com

Silver amalgam fillings, made up of 50% mercury, were brought over from France in the 1800s by the Crawcour brothers, but there is evidence that they had been used in China around the turn of the 16th century, during the Ming Dynasty.  By the middle of the century they were being used by dentists across the country.  Even then, mercury was recognized to be a toxic substance and the fillings were the subject of controversy in the dental community.  Shortly after the introduction of amalgam fillings, the Dental Society of American Surgeons was founded.  The Society banned the use of amalgam fillings by its members and declared their use to be malpractice until it was dissolved in 1859 and replaced by the American Dental Association.

The controversy over mercury fillings didn’t really go away, but mercury became so commonplace that most people didn’t really give it much thought.  Even after 2007 when the US Department of Health and Human Services Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry declared mercury to be the third most hazardous substance known.  Makers of these products are aware of their toxicity and include disclaimers on the packaging warning that the product is neurotoxic and nephrotoxic.

One would wonder, then, why these fillings are so popular.  In short, they work.  Amalgam fillings are strong, are easy to work with, last for years and work well for most patients, physically speaking, anyway.  Just because they work well from a physical standpoint, however, doesn’t mean they work well from a biological standpoint.  They can also expand over time, causing the tooth to crack.  Many holistic dentists spend a considerable amount of time in their practices placing crowns on teeth that have been significantly cracked by mercury fillings.

Nearly unanimously, Biological Dentists are opposed to mercury fillings and have been for many years.  Holistic dentists have been using tooth colored alternatives that work as well as or better than mercury.

Some people believe that mercury fillings are safe, others say they aren’t.  It may have made sense at one time to use them when they were one of the strongest, most durable materials available to fill cavities.  The question of the safety of mercury fillings still has not been definitively settled, so it may well prove to be safe.  But when the US government declares mercury to be among the most toxic materials known and when there are alternatives that are just as effective and without the controversy, there really is no reason to keep using them.

Author: http://biocompatibledentist.org/holistic_dentistry/biological-dental-background/

Holistic Dental Reference Site