Livonia Dentist Explains Sleep Cycles and Sleep Apnea

Posted June 6, 2012 by Dr. Stewart

Obstructive sleep apnea is a dangerous condition that affects millions of Americans. Unfortunately, many people do not realize that they suffer from sleep apnea and thus do not seek the treatment they need. Dr. Stewart has studied sleep apnea and dental sleep medicine. He feels that his patients need to first have a basic understanding of the sleep cycle before they can properly grasp the disruptive nature of sleep apnea.

Sleep Cycles

The sleep cycle divides into two distinct categories: REM sleep and non-REM sleep. The abbreviation REM stands for rapid eye movement, and it is the stage in when dreams occur.

Non-REM Sleep

Stage One: During this stage, which lasts between five and ten minutes, people can be awoken easily. The dream-like sensation of falling and the resulting muscle contraction often occur in this initial sleep state.

Stage Two: Light sleep happens in this stage, accompanied by a slowing of heart rate and a decrease in body temperature.

Stages Three and Four: By these phases, people are experiencing deep sleep, also known as slow-wave or delta sleep. When disrupted during these late stages, people feel disoriented.

REM Sleep

REM sleep, or dream sleep, transpires after you have been asleep for approximately 70–90 minutes. As the name suggests, your eyes move rapidly during this phase and dreaming sometimes takes place. Other factors of REM sleep include shallow breathing, an increase in heart rate and blood pressure, and stiffening of the arm and leg muscles. (more…)

Bruxism FAQS with Livonia Family Dentist

Posted May 25, 2012 by Dr. Stewart

Did you ever think that stress could affect your teeth? Stress is one of the many causes of bruxism, the act of teeth grinding. This nighttime habit can actually be quite dangerous, with many damaging effects on your teeth and muscles. Your Livonia Family dentist, Dr. James Stewart answers some frequently asked questions about bruxism.

Why do I Grind my Teeth at Night?

Teeth grinding can occur for a number of reasons, including stress, an aggressive personality type, an abnormal bite, and missing teeth. Bruxism can also be a side effect of certain anti-depressants and a complication of Huntington’s or Parkinson’s disease.

Can Bruxism Damage my Jaw Muscles?

Yes, excessive teeth grinding can lead to a temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorder. This joint is located in front of the ears on both sides of the face and can be felt moving whenever you open and close your mouth. A TMJ disorder has many symptoms that can cause chronic pain and decreased oral functioning, including difficulty chewing, headaches, and ear pain. (more…)

Livonia Family Dentist Offers Compassionate Dental Care for Seniors

Posted May 23, 2012 by Dr. Stewart

Age adds many wonderful joys to life, such as grandchildren and retirement. Unfortunately, seniors don’t always experience joy when it comes to their oral health. Your Livonia family dentist, Dr. James Stewart, understands this issue and offers compassionate care to his senior patients.

Dental Problems and Solutions for Older Adults

Certain complications can arise with age, which makes dental care difficult to maintain. For instance, some older patients experience decreased joint mobility, meaning a simple task such as using a toothbrush can become a laborious chore. An electric toothbrush can provide a partial solution to this problem, and professional teeth cleanings from your Livonia family dentist will also help. Dry mouth is another annoyance that seniors face due to medications or certain diseases. Many people suck on hard candies to help alleviate the symptoms, but that can actually lead to gum disease and tooth decay. A much better solution is drinking water and using a fluoride mouth rinse.

Dentures and Dental Implants

Ill-fitting dentures can cause great discomfort and serious oral health problems. Dr. Stewart works closely with his older patients to ensure that their dentures are properly functioning and correctly aligned. Dental implants are also an option for missing teeth, as well as a way to secure loose dentures. (more…)

The Importance of Prenatal Dental Care

Posted May 18, 2012 by Dr. Stewart

Your Livonia family dentist, Dr. James Stewart, cares deeply about the health of you and your loved ones. In honor of National Women’s Health Week, he would like to take the time to educate you on the importance of prenatal dental care with the following bits of information.

1. True or false. Pregnant women hardly ever develop gingivitis.

Answer: False. Pregnant women actually are more prone to gingivitis due to their heightened hormone levels, which cause their gums to react more severely to plaque. This condition is often called pregnancy gingivitis.

2. True of false. Women with gum disease are more likely to give birth to underdeveloped children than women without gum disease.

Answer: True. Periodontal disease, as it is officially known, puts women at three times the risk of giving birth to a baby that is underdeveloped or underweight. Gum disease during pregnancy also increases a woman’s chance of delivering her baby prematurely. (more…)

Mental Health Month: Dental Health and Mental Health Go Hand in Hand

Posted May 16, 2012 by Dr. Stewart

In honor of May being Mental Health Month, as declared by Mental Health America in 1949, Dr. James Stewart would like to enlighten you on the relationship between dental and mental health. What many people fail to realize is that they actually go hand in hand. Not only does a beautiful smile do wonders for your self-esteem, but good oral care can also help protect you against serious diseases, including those of a mental nature.

Alzheimer’s and Dementia

In the past few years, researchers have found links between gum disease and memory loss, the latter being a major part of diseases such as Alzheimer’s and dementia. Scientists are researching this further in an attempt to figure out exactly how the condition of one’s gums affects brain function. Hopefully, preventive dentistry treatments will one day be able to protect patients against these chronic diseases. Furthermore, studies have shown that those experiencing permanent tooth loss before the age of 35 may be at risk for developing Alzheimer’s. So be sure to protect those pearly whites, not just for the sake of your smile, but also for your mind. (more…)

Give Mom the Gift of a Beautiful Smile with Help from Your Livonia Dentist

Posted May 11, 2012 by Dr. Stewart

Mother’s Day is this weekend. What do you have planned to make your mom or wife smile this Sunday? Livonia, MI family dentist Dr. James Stewart wants you to consider a unique Mother’s Day gift: giving Mom a beautiful smile.

Help Mom Smile this Mother’s Day

There are two approaches you can take to make Mom smile this Mother’s Day. The first approach involves treating Mom to a top-of-the-line smile makeover. At our Farmington Hills-area dentist office, we offer the following cosmetic dental procedures:

Porcelain Veneers
Teeth Whitening
Bonding
Recontouring (more…)

Does Your Child Stutter? Livonia, MI Dentist Dr. Stewart can Help!

Posted May 9, 2012 by Dr. Stewart

National Stuttering Awareness Week is always observed during the second week in May, which means that we’re in the midst of this national health awareness week. Established in 1988, National Stuttering Awareness Week is designed to bring awareness to this unique and common mild disability. Today, Livonia, MI family dentist Dr. James Stewart wants to discuss how your child’s stuttering habit might be connected to his or her dental health.

What is Stuttering?

By definition, stuttering is a speech problem that is characterized by repetitions, pauses, or drawn out syllables, words, and phrases. Stutterers are different than people who experience more mainstream speech fluency problems because a stutterer’s disfluency is usually more severe and consistent than that of people who do not stutter. (more…)

The Link Between High Blood Pressure and Oral Health

Posted May 4, 2012 by Dr. Stewart

May is National High Blood Pressure Awareness month, and your Livonia dentist Dr. James Stewart wants you to know how hypertension can affect your oral health and vice versa. Have you ever wondered why your blood pressure is checked at dental visits? Because hypertension displays very few symptoms in early stages, this condition is often only discovered when a health care provider takes a blood pressure reading. High blood pressure affects one in three Americans and can lead to heart attack, stroke, and organ damage if not caught and treated in time, so the American Dental Association recommends that all dentists check patients’ blood pressure at their initial visit and once a year thereafter to help with early detection of this deadly condition.

Symptoms of Hypertension

Often called the “silent killer,” high blood pressure can show no symptoms until significant damage has already occurred to the heart, blood vessels, kidneys, and eyes. If you experience a sudden headache, shortness of breath, blurry vision, nausea, or vomiting, you should call your physician or 911 immediately, as these symptoms may indicate a dangerous elevation in blood pressure. If hypertension is not controlled with medication, diet, and lifestyle changes, it can lead to vision loss, heart attack, or stroke.

High Blood Pressure Medications

Life-saving medications used to control your high blood pressure can cause oral health problems. Xerostomia, or chronic dry mouth, is a side effect of many antihypertensive medicines. Saliva helps balance the pH of the mouth, kill oral bacteria, and neutralize acids that damage tooth enamel. Without enough saliva, you can develop rampant tooth decay and gum disease. Additionally, calcium channel blockers used to control hypertension can cause gingival overgrowth, which is characterized by an enlargement and swelling of the gum tissue. Both xerostomia and gingival overgrowth require meticulous oral care, and you may need to see Dr. Stewart for checkups and cleanings more frequently than every six months to prevent serious problems from developing. (more…)

Test Your Cosmetic Dentistry Knowledge

Posted May 2, 2012 by Dr. Stewart

How much do you know about cosmetic dentistry in Livonia?

Our Livonia cosmetic dentist, Dr. Stewart challenges you to see how much you know about cosmetic dentistry. Take this short quiz to find out more about improving your smile. You can check your answers by clicking “Read the rest of this entry.”

Cosmetic Dentistry Quiz

Q1. Which cosmetic dentistry procedure can lighten your smile, correct misshapen teeth, straighten your smile, and cover tooth chips in as little as two office visits?

A. Teeth whitening

B. Root canal treatment

C. Porcelain veneers

D. Gum recontouring

Q2. What can I do for a gummy smile?

A. Malocclusion correction

B. Gum recontouring

C. Facial surgery

D. All of the above

Q3. True or False: Teeth whitening is the most popular cosmetic dentistry procedure in the United States.

Q4. True or False: Dental bonding in Livonia is a less expensive alternative to porcelain veneers.

(more…)

Sleep Apnea Treatment from Your Livonia Dentist

Posted April 29, 2012 by Dr. Stewart

Did you know that Dr. James Stewart addresses sleep apnea and chronic snoring with oral appliances and sleep apnea masks? Studies show that up to 18 million people in the United States suffer from sleep apnea disorders. This sleeping disorder disrupts your body’s sleep cycle and may severely affect your wakefulness and memory. Patients with sleep apnea are unable to progress through the natural sleep cycle because they cease breathing hundreds of times throughout the night. As their airways are obstructed by soft oral tissues, the brain responds by waking the sleeper so they can resume breathing. Sleep apnea contributes to irritability, depression, impotence, chronic headaches, high blood pressure, and many other serious ailments.

Sleep Apnea Treatment Options

After a patient has been diagnosed with sleep apnea, Dr. Stewart will recommend treatment options. Dr. Stewart believes in treating sleep apnea with minimally invasive methods. He collaborates with sleep laboratories and sleep doctors to determine the best course of action for a patient’s needs.

CPAP Mask

CPAP stands for continuous positive airway pressure. The CPAP system consists of a mask that emits a stream of airflow which prevents the soft oral tissues from blocking air passageways. CPAP systems are one of the oldest treatments for obstructive sleep apnea. Although CPAP is effective, some patients find the CPAP mask uncomfortable. (more…)