home remedies

A burnt mouth: we’ve all done it before, and we all know how awful it feels. From a slice a pizza that just came from the oven, to a steaming cup of coffee, we’ve all experienced the awful pain. The sensitivity that your mouth must endure for the next day is often much more annoying than the original burn. There are a few remedies that can help sooth the pain, and make it go away a little faster. Here our tips.

 First, keep your cool:

If you can, immediately after burning your tongue or mouth, you should find something cool to apply to it. Whether a glass of ice water, an ice cube, Popsicle or ice cream, it all can help. Make sure the cold is left on the burnt area for at least a minute to help dissipate the heat and save your mouth or tongue cells from becoming too damaged.
Yogurt is a great cool food that can help revitalize the mouth and even help kill bad bacteria that might make the damage worse. If you have some available, use that to cool your mouth.

 Help It Heal

Next, you’re going to want to keep good care of your mouth to keep it from becoming infected or just having the burn last longer than it needs to. Consider using an anesthetic ointment or a mouthwash that will help maintain the bacteria levels in your mouth. This can also help numb the pain from the burn, just make sure not to use too much.
Furthermore, you’ll want to avoid goods that can upset your mouth. These include any kind of food that is high in acidity: lemons, vinegar, citrus, tomatoes, fruit juices, and so forth. These kinds of foods can make the burnt area throb with pain. As well, try to avoid foods that can be rough to bite or chew, think potato chips, popcorn, baguettes. The crispy crunch of these foods will be like sandpaper to a sensitive area of the mouth.

 Continue the Soothe

It may still take a day for a burn on the tongue or mouth to heal, so to help avoid more pain than you need, consider grabbing a few cough drops. Look for ones with menthol or benzocaine as an ingredient. These cough drops will have a cooling affect on your mouth and will help soothe the burnt area. A few of these throughout the day and you’ll barely notice the pain.

 Time is the Best Medicine

Of course, when it comes to a burnt tongue or mouth, time is going to be the best fix. Most burns take about a day to two days to heal. The mouth and especially the tongue, are very well maintaining areas of the body. Think of how many times you’ve bit your tongue, or accidentally burnt it.
However strong it may be, it can become much stronger when you apply proper oral hygiene techniques everyday. Brushing, flossing, and mouthwash help keep out harmful bacteria and plaque that can cause harm to your mouth. With a proper cleaning, good bacterias and cells can help maintain a strong and healthy mouth.
If you have any more questions about an injured tongue or mouth, contact Water Tower Dental today, we’d be happy to help.

Consider this: most people wear a new outfit every single day. We put on a clean shirt and a clean pair of pants to look presentable and respectable. If we were to spill coffee or some pasta sauce on our shirt, we wouldn't continue wearing that same shirt for three more days or probably even a day. So why would we treat our teeth any differently? We wear them everyday, with every outfit. Shouldn't they be as clean and respectable as the clothes we wear? Of course, pasta sauce and coffee reacts differently to our teeth, but over time, they will start to stain. Your pearly whites will slowly change to an off-white cream to a beige color to a mild yellow brown.
However, just like your clothes, there are ways to maintain a perfectly white smile. Other than brushing and flossing everyday to keep your teeth free of plaque, you can use whitener to remove the stains from teeth and bring them back to their original color. There are three main methods to teeth whitening that we'll review here so you can decide which method is best for you.

At Home Remedies for Teeth Whitening

The Dental world is filled with toothpastes, mouthwashes, and at-home whitening kits to choose from. Each offers different results, if any. Most of these products contain a special abrasive that gently polishes the teeth as well as special chemicals that aide in the process of breaking down and dissolving stains. Some of these products can contain a chemical called blue covarine, which creates the illusion that your teeth are whiter, but in reality, they are making your teeth appear less yellow. This is almost the equivalent of staining your teeth white. It makes the problem less noticeable.
However, there are some products that do garner results. Usually it takes about two to six weeks to see a change in shade. It is best to find products that are stamped with a dental organization's seal of approval. This helps assure that dentists have tested the brand and approve of its effectiveness in removing stains and whitening teeth.
Be sure to read a manufacturer's warning labels on the whitening product though, overuse can often damage tooth enamel over time.

'Over the Counter' Remedies for Teeth Whitening

While toothpastes and mouthwashes can help whiten teeth, they often are minimally effective. For better results in the privacy of your own home, an over the counter, take-home teeth whitening kit can be more effective.
The process of getting one of these kits starts by visiting your local dentist. At Water Tower Dental Care, we start by making impressions of your teeth to make custom trays. In as little as 1 day, the trays can be ready and, with a quick appointment to the office, we show you how to use the at-home kit. It's fairly simple; we provide your custom trays and a solution of whitening gel to use. We'll instruct you how to use the gel, for how long, and when you can expect results.
On average, we recommend the trays be used for one hour a day for a total of two weeks. At that time, a follow-up appointment is made to show you the change of shade and to recommend if you should continue the treatment or only refer to touch-up applications thereafter.
With our take-home teeth whitening kit, you're guaranteed to see whitening results within weeks. No more wasted money on toothpastes and mouthwashes that might work. Take-home kits work wonders for stained teeth.

In the Dentist's Chair

The third form of teeth whitening, and by far the quickest, is by visiting Water Tower Dental Care and having a team of trained professionals transform your smile from mediocre to extraordinary. We do this with the leading teeth whitening system in America, Zoom!
Zoom! Whitening can brighten your smile up to eight shades in an hour. It's a simple process.

• First, the Water Tower Dental Care team applies a special pH-balanced hydrogen peroxide solution to the surface of your teeth.
• Next, we use a special, low-heat light that activates the solution and breaks downs any unwanted stains.

The solution will penetrate the uppermost layers of teeth to undo discoloration caused by coffee, tea, tobacco, red wine, and other stain inducing products.
While Zoom! Whitening is by far the quickest method; any form of teeth care and cleaning is admirable by Water Tower Dental Care standards. If you choose to use at-home products, a take-home kit, or come into the office for Zoom! Whitening, Water Tower Dental Care is happy to help in the adventure. If you have any questions or would like to set up an appointment for whiter teeth, contact Water Tower Dental Care to get started on the path to a brighter smile.