Blog | Acute Dental

August 22, 2022September 21, 2022

The Dr. Porter Difference: A Proper Dental Cleaning Examination

The Dr. Porter Difference: A Proper Dental Cleaning Examination

What to Expect at a Dental Cleaning Appointment

At Acute Dental, we provide dental cleaning examinations to patients throughout Fountain Hills, AZ. We also serve patients in the surrounding areas. We believe that preventative care is essential for staying in good oral health.

My goal is to keep our patients as healthy as possible, and the best way to do so is through ongoing dental care and teaching our patients how to practice good oral hygiene at home.

Dr. John A. Porter

Adults should have their teeth cleaned and examined twice a year, Good oral health is important regardless of how old you are and as people age, their risk for an oral infection continues to increase. This is in part because, as teeth age, the protective enamel starts to wear away, and it can become easier to get a cavity. The best way to combat this is by brushing and flossing throughout the day in addition to visiting the dentist on a regular basis.

Call 480-816-6537 to schedule your exam and to learn how you can stay healthy year-round.

The Dr. Porter Difference

Most dentist offices in the Phoenix valley area, including Fountain Hills, employ dental hygienists to complete their patients’ teeth cleanings and examinations.

In fact, when you get a postcard in the mail offering you an extremely discounted teeth cleaning and/or examination, do not expect the services offered to be performed by any of the dentists in the practice. These appointments are almost always scheduled with a dental hygienist.
Do not get us wrong! There are some very talented hygienists working in the field today, BUT wouldn’t it be nice if your actual dentist took the time to perform your exams and cleanings?
Most people prefer, although they are not usually given an option, their dentist to perform their exams and cleanings. It simply makes sense for the dentist to perform patient exams and/or cleanings because, ultimately, he will be the one performing any procedures (if any) any, deemed necessary at said dental examinations.

Well, we have good news for you. Dr. Porter is the ONLY dentist in Fountain Hills (and the surrounding areas) that performs his own comprehensive dental exams and cleanings! (Oh, and in case you were wondering, patients are not charged more to have Dr. Porter himself complete their exams.)

In fact, if you are not convinced to set an appointment to come see us yet, there is one more thing you should know. Dr. Porter offers one of the lowest priced specials for new patients exams, x-ray, and cleanings, in Fountain Hills and the surrounding areas.
So, not only are you receiving an exam and cleaning from the dentist whose name is on the door, but you are receiving one of the best discounts for dental work in all of Fountain Hills and the Phoenix valley! See below for more information on our $65 dollar new patient special. We can not wait to hear from you! Call 480.816.6537 (if on mobile, press the ‘contact now’ button at the top of the page) to schedule and appointment and experience the Dr. Porter difference.

Dental Cleaning and Examinations for Adults

Dr. Porter's #1 Dental Hygiene Tip

I recommend using TePe tooth picks between brushes. TePe toothpicks are as effective, if not more so, as good old dental floss. Carry these in your pocket to quickly and easily remove food debris from your teeth after meals. TePe toothpicks can even be used in lieu of dental floss if you have a hard time with traditional flossing. I demonstrate how to use this affordable, effective dental hygiene tool for all my patients at their initial examination.

Dr. John A. Porter

If you want to be the apple of your dentist’s eye (at least Doctor Porter’s eye!) you should try Doctor Porter’s Dental Hygiene Tip! Clearing debris from your teeth between meals is one of the most effective things you can do to maintain good oral health! Purchase this innovative dental hygiene tool below.

If you live in Fountain Hills, AZ, or the surrounding area, and are looking for a dentist to get your teeth cleaned, Acute Dental of Fountain Hills should be your first choice!
We offer flexible appointment times so that you can schedule an appointment around your work or family schedule, making it easier than ever to get your teeth cleaned.

Dental Cleaning for Sensitive Teeth

At Acute Dental, Dr. Porter practices gentle dentistry and provides teeth cleanings for patients with sensitive teeth. Many adults avoid visiting the dentist because they are concerned that their teeth will hurt or feel worse during the exam or subsequent cleaning.

When working with the right dentist, you can feel comfortable regardless of how sensitive your teeth are. We offer a variety of sedation methods so that you don’t have to feel anything while getting your dental cleaning and examinations. For an extra fee, you can request nitrous oxide during your teeth cleaning appointment if that helps you. If you require medication to help you relax for to numb the pain, Dr. Porter will work with you to develop a proper treatment plan to make sure you stay comfortable during your cleaning.

Let us know ahead of time if you are struggling with sensitive teeth, so we can schedule accordingly!
It is important to understand the reason that teeth become sensitive. Very often, it is due to the enamel on the outside of the teeth wearing away. Enamel can wear away due to age, what you eat, and improper oral health care. While brushing with desensitizing toothpaste can help, you need to continue visiting the dentist to ensure that your teeth and gums stay healthy. Otherwise, the sensitivity can increase.

During your dental exam, let us know about the discomfort you have been feeling so that we can discuss ways to reduce it by using methods such as a fluoride treatment or sealant.

Dental Cleaning for Preventing Emergencies

Regularly scheduled dental cleaning and examinations in the 85268 area can help to prevent a dental emergency. Many adults go far too long in between visits to the dentist.

As a year or two goes by, infections can develop that can create a painful situation and lead to dental emergencies. For example, a minor cavity can be corrected with minimal discomfort but if the infection spreads into the center of the tooth the dental pulp can become infected and a root canal will become necessary.

Fortunately, these types of infections can typically be avoided by scheduling an appointment twice a year with Dr. Porter.

It is important to keep in mind that healthy teeth are also less likely to become damaged or injured so by staying in good health; you can prevent teeth from becoming cracked or chipped during an accident.

Further Education During Dental Cleaning and Examinations

While getting your teeth cleaned and examined, we will also discuss ways that you can keep your teeth and gums healthy at home. At Acute Dental, we believe that good oral hygiene at home is important to do in conjunction with visiting our office.

We recommend that you use a soft toothbrush to brush your teeth twice a day and use fluoride toothpaste. This will keep harmful sugar and bacteria off of your teeth and the fluoride will help to strengthen them.

You should also floss daily to get food particles and bacteria out of hard-to-reach places. (Note: Dr. Porter does not endorse the use of water flossers as an alternative to using old fashioned string floss or the TePe Picks mentioned above.)

Following up with an antibacterial mouthwash will help to kill any remaining germs. If you are having trouble removing all the food particles from your teeth during cleaning, Dr. Porter is always happy to give you brushing tips at your next scheduled appointment!

What Foods or Drinks Should I Avoid Between Cleanings?

Your diet is also important to good oral health. It is common knowledge that candy and sugary foods can be harmful to your teeth. However, many do not take into consideration how healthy foods, and even drinking plenty of water, can improve dental health.

Make sure to drink plenty of water and eat a diet that contains dairy products, lean protein, green vegetables, and complex carbs so that your body gets the nutrients it needs to stay healthy. This is vital for your oral health and your oral health is vital for your overall health and well being.

We can provide additional tips and information during your dental cleaning and examinations.

For additional tips, or if you have any questions about how you can improve your dental health, schedule an appointment today!

If you are a new patient, be sure to mention this article for a $65 new patient special,* which includes x-rays,* teeth cleaning,* and a full examination.

New Patient Special ONLY $65

Inlcudes X-rays, Comprehensive Exam, and Cleaning

Mention this article to recieve your $65 new patient special.*

*NEW PATIENTS ONLY. Cannot be used with insurance or other discounts. Insurance will be billed if applicable.
*X-rays include bitewings, diagnostic and a panoramic x-ray. If you would like a copy of your x-rays, an additional fee will apply.

*Does not include debriment.

*Exclusions apply. See above.

Posted on May 26, 2021June 29, 2022
Scaredy Cat?

Are You A Dental Scaredy Cat?

Visit the office of Dr. John A. Porter, DMD and become a dental HAPPY CAT!

BEFORE

AFTER

Special consideration for those patients afraid to go to the dentist. Scaredy Cats don’t need Halcion, Xanax, Prosac, or Lorazepam! What they need is TLC. We are here in this small office to hold your hand.

Schedule an Appointment
Today!

New Patient?
yes no

Posted on April 15, 2021June 29, 2022
Denture Story

Denture Story

The Disastrous Beginnings

In the nineteenth century, dentures were expensive, and could only be afforded by a fortunate few. In 1851, a “Miracle Rubber” was founded, which was of tremendous value to denture makers. The new rubber was called Vulcanite, and it was used to make the moldings for dentures. The discovery of this new material allowed dentists to drop the price of dentures and, finally, the average person was able to afford a pair. However, this would be short-lived.

Processing of vulcanite was still expensive and no one had claimed the processing patent. Almost ten years later, this all changed. In 1868, Josiah Bacon, a businessperson, gained control of this production process, purchasing the patent so he would have sole control over manufacturing and distribution of vulcanite. Bacon demanded fees from individual dental practices, raising the fees based on the size of the practice. To add insult to injury, he charged an extra dollar for each denture replacing up to five teeth, and two dollars for dentures with six or more teeth.

To put this in perspective, an extra dollar in the 1850s equals more than $30 today. Plus, average wages were significantly lower in the 19th century. In 1860, laborers made about 10 cents an hour! That is a mere $6 a week, and only $300 per year! Carpenter salaries were not much better at 14 cents an hour, which is $8.40 a day or $436 per year! If you were fortunate enough to have a higher paying job, wages were still shockingly low. For example, Union Army Privates earned $11 a week; that is only $572 per year! Firemen made a measly 15 cents an hour, averaging $9.00 a week or $468 per year!

Mr. Bacon decided he had the right to examine each and every dentist’s office and records to ensure his patent was being honored. He became a tyrant and eventually, the necessity of his product led dentists to resent him.

He only made matters worse by hiring spies to travel the country in search of any dentists who may be violating his rights and ignoring his patent. Mr. Bacon went so far as to advertise in newspapers to intimidate dentist, threatening to sue those who did not honor his monopoly over the vulcanite material. None of this helped his reputation. He was despised by dentists near and far.

On April 13th, 1879, Josiah Bacon was found shot to death in a San Francisco Hotel. (Surprised?! We did not think so.) During the investigation, officers discovered that all the San Francisco dentists they spoke to held a deep-seeded resentment toward the victim. In fact, witnesses recounted that several dentists had actually threatened Mr. Bacon’s life before his murder. The pool of suspects was enormous. Luckily, authorities caught a break.

Some days later, Dr. Samuel Chalfont, a dentist under the control of Mr. Bacon’s vulcanite monopoly, surrendered to police. Samuel Chalfant was a denture dentist in Delaware who was making vulcanite dentures without a patent and didn’t want to pay the fee, so he fled to St. Louis, then to San Francisco, where Bacon caught up with him and the two men had several confrontations. He claimed that Mr. Bacon had begun legal proceedings to prevent him from making the vulcanite dentures in Wilmington, Delaware.

Bacon’s murder trial was sensational, publicized throughout the country. Dr. Chafont was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 10 years in San Quentin prison. Remarkably, he escaped prison after 3 years, but authorities eventually recaptured him and he was forced to serve out the rest of his sentence. Finally, in 1881, the patents expired and dentists could finally live in peace, and make dentures as they chose once again.

Who would have thought that dentures had such a sordid, bloody history?

Posted on July 22, 2020May 26, 2022
Taylor Loves Her Job

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Taylor Loves Her Job!

Taylor, dental assistant at Dr. Porter's Fountain Hills dental office, talks about how much she loves her job. We pride ourselves on our ability to create a calm, welcoming environment for our patients. That being said, if our staff feels like Taylor does, our patients surely do too! Thanks for the glowing review, Taylor.

Posted on July 22, 2020June 29, 2022
Bicon Patient

Bicon Patient

Schedule an Appointment
Today!

New Patient?
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Contact Information

John A. Porter DMD

Phone: 480.816.3214

Address: 17100 E. Shea Blvd. # 450
Fountain Hills, AZ 85268

Posted on July 20, 2020June 29, 2022
What is Gum Disease?

What is Gum Disease?

Gum disease, or periodontal disease, is a very common malady effecting almost all adults over age 40. In fact other than the common cold it is the world’s most common affliction. And the most common cause of tooth loss. All mouths are “infected” with bacteria, commonly called “plaque”. To control the growth of plaque is why we brush our teeth. But no matter how well we brush our teeth plaque will be left behind. This left behind plaque will harden to become calculus, which can’t be removed by brushing alone.

Left behind plaque hardens to become calculus.

Plaque is left behind...

...and hardens to become calculus(tarter)

One common place for calculus is behind the lower anterior teeth:

Continued accumulation of calculus at the gum line and under the gum leads to the formation of “periodontal” pockets. As these pockets get deeper they become more difficult to clean and lead to progressive loss of tooth attachment. (gum tissue, cementum, and bone) Continued irritation by micro organisms in plaque and calculus lead to the formation of periodontal pockets. In the diagram captioned, ‘Periodontal Pocketing,’ note that not only are the gums inflamed and shrunken, but the bone that holds the tooth in place has been partially lost. Your dentist or hygienist will check the depth of your pockets to assess the severity of the disease. (periodontitis)

Periodontal Pocketing

Your dentist or hygienist will check for periodontal disease with a “perio probe”. Pocket depths 3 mm or less are considered normal, while pocket depths 6 mm and over are serious.

Perio Probe

Periodontitis causes inflamed, bleeding, and receding gums. It also causes bone loss.

Bone loss from periodontitis.

As periodontal disease continues untreated eventually the pockets reach the end or apex of the tooth. Up until this point the disease process has been painless. But at this point pain will be felt and the only alternative will be extraction. Teeth can become very mobile in the terminal stages of periodontal disease and can sometimes be pulled out with your fingers.

How to Avoid Periodontitis?

What you can do to help stop the progress of periodontal disease is to to improve oral hygiene and to make an effort to clean below the gum line. Vibrating your toothbrush bristles at a 45 degree angle under the gum line, and flossing under the gum line will help.

Vibrate Toothbrush at a 45 degree angle.

Floss under the gum line.

Periodontal disease is treated by scaling and root planing, that is, scraping calculus and debris from under the gum line. The is done by Dentists, Hygienists, and Periodontists (Dentists that specialize in treating gum disease)  Other treatments include bone and tissue grafting, antibiotics injected under the gum line, and laser cleanings. Consult your Dentist to see what he or she recommends.

Avoid Periodontal Disease!

Regular visits to your dentist will help prevent periodontitis. Our new patient special, including X-Rays, an exam, and cleaning, is only $65. During this visit, Dr. Porter checks periodontal pocketing with a perio probe to identify any problem areas. Schedule an appointment with Dr. Porter today!

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Posted on July 15, 2020August 18, 2022
Missing Back Teeth

Why Replace Missing Teeth

No one will see it back there! So, why should I replace my missing back teeth?
Well, it turns out your dental health is highly correlated with whether or not you make the decision to replace your missing back teeth.
When a back tooth is removed it is kind of a “two for one” deal. Teeth that touch together, when you shut your mouth to chew, are “biting partners.” Like many partnerships, the loss of one partner affects the other. With no biting partner, the opposing tooth is not useful and chewing power is diminished. If the “back tooth” is a first molar, or a tooth ahead of the first molar, it will present as a “black hole” in your smile. No one wants their appearance to be swallowed by a black hole.

Extracting teeth is a “two for one deal.”

Teeth erupt until they hit something. Making sure teeth touch is the principle behind “teething” and the reason children’s teeth come in at the same time.
With nothing to touch, a superfluous tooth continues erupting. The resulting contact relationships (or lack thereof) of adjacent teeth allow for the formation of food traps.

Contact relations change with hyper-eruption. Food becomes impacted.

The biting movement causes you teeth to move up and down a little bit. This process wears the contacts between them. However, over the course of your lifetime, your teeth stay together (usually). So, how does this happen?
There is a mechanism to move teeth forward (for molars) or backwards (for canines and premolars) to keep the contacts tight. With no tooth ahead of the last molar, it starts to move forward.

With no tooth ahead of it, the last molar drifts forward.

With the last molar tipped forward it becomes hard to clean the mesial. (the part of the tooth closest to the center of the mouth) Plaque and calculus accumulate at the gum line and cause periodontal pocketing. When this pocketing reaches the end of the root, abscesses (cavities filled with pus) form. This is painful and usually leads to extraction of the infected teeth.

Abscesses form when periodontal pockets reach the apex.

With the posterior teeth gone the same process starts again on the more anterior teeth, with the premolars drifting distally (toward the back if the mouth).

Loss of teeth continues with drifting, food impaction, and pocket formation.

In conclusion, failure to replace a single molar tooth may start chain of events: overeruption, tilt, drift, gum pockets, decay, and bone loss. Over the years, this chain of events may lead to loss of all your teeth.

Posted on July 6, 2020June 29, 2022
Root Canal!

Root Canal!

The very word “Root Canal” is enough to strike terror into the heart of an otherwise compliant dental patient. So what are root canals and why are they often feared?

Figure 1 shows the anatomy of a tooth with enamel (the white external part of a tooth) and dentin (the yellow part of the tooth under the enamel) and blood vessels and nerves (pulp) inside the tooth. For a variety of reasons the pulp can become inflamed or necrotic (dead) and have to be removed. The process of removal of the pulp and filling the pulp chamber is called a “root canal”.

Figure 1. Tooth Anatomy

The process of doing a root canal is the process of removing the pulp (either alive or necrotic), and filling up the resulting space. Figure 2 shows the pulp being removed with an endodontic hand file. Generally pulp is removed first with hand files and then with rotary Nickel Titanium files.

Figure 2. Pulp is Removed

The process of removing the pulp is frequently the most painful part of the root canal procedure. To be pain free it requires good anesthesia. Neither Nitrous Oxide (laughing gas) or IV Sedation (a needle in the arm) alone will give adequate anesthesia. Good block or Infiltration anesthesia or Intraosseous anesthesia is required for a pain free experience. Intraosseous anesthesia is the injection of local anesthesia directly into the bone surrounding the tooth, and nearly always gives a pain free result. A good question to ask your root canal doctor is whether or not he uses intraosseous anesthesia.

After the pulp is removed the empty space of the root canal system must be filled. The accepted filling material is called “Gutta Percha”. Usually the Gutta Percha filler is coated with a substance call “sealer” to fill in the gap between the GP Point and the canal walls, as illustrated in Figure 3.

Figure 3. Pulp Chamber is Filled with GP

After completion of the root canal process the tooth is “hollow”, and it is frequently recommended that the tooth have a crown (cap) to strengthen it. Sometimes it is also recommended that the canals be reinforced with metal “posts” to give the restored tooth more strength.
If all this sounds simple it really isnʼt. No discussion of root canals would be complete without mentioning the things that can go wrong. Figure 4 shows what is called an accessory (side) canal. Failure to fill these canals can result in root canal failure. Figure 5 shows a highly curved canal that could not be instrumented. Figure 6 shows a crack in the root of the tooth which frequently leads to root canal failure.

Figure 4. Accessory Canal

Figure 5. Highly Curved Canal

Figure 6. Cracked Root

So, should root canals be done by a specialist (endodontist)? Although the probability of success in root canal treatment is the same (90%), endodontists have tools that most general dentists donʼt have. Such things as CT Scan Machines, Surgical Microscopes, and Gentle Wave cleaning systems. Sometimes these things can make a difference.