Remembered fondly by fans as the wacky but loveable Carlton on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Alfonso Ribeiro is currently in his fifth year hosting America's Funniest Videos. It's the perfect gig for the 48-year-old actor, who loves to laugh and make others laugh as well. This is quite the opposite experience from one he had a few years ago that he remembers all too well: a severely decayed tooth.

After seeing his dentist for an intense toothache, Ribeiro learned he had advanced tooth decay and would need root canal treatment. Ribeiro wasn't thrilled by the news. Like many of us, he thought the procedure would be unpleasant. But he found afterward that not only was the root canal painless, his toothache had vanished.

More importantly, the root canal treatment saved his tooth, as it has for millions of others over the last century. If you're facing a situation similar to Alfonso Ribeiro's, here's a quick look at the procedure that could rescue your endangered tooth.

Getting ready. In preparation for root canal therapy, the tooth and surrounding gums are numbed, often first with a swab of local anesthesia to deaden the surface area in preparation for the injection of the main anesthesia below the surface. A dental dam is then placed to isolate the infected tooth from its neighbors to prevent cross-contamination.

Accessing the interior. To get to the infection, a small access hole is drilled. The location depends on the tooth: in larger back teeth, a hole is drilled through the biting surface, and in front teeth, a hole is drilled on the backside. This access allows us to insert special tools to accomplish the next steps in the procedure.

Cleaning, shaping and filling. Small tools are used to remove the diseased tissue from the interior tooth pulp and root canals. Then the empty spaces are disinfected. This, in effect, stops the infection. Next, the root canals inside the tooth are shaped to allow them to better accept a special filling called gutta percha. The access hole is then sealed to further protect the tooth from future infection, and a temporary crown is placed.

A new crown to boot. Within a couple weeks, we'll cap the tooth with a long-lasting lifelike crown (or a filling on certain teeth). This adds further protection for the tooth against infection, helps strengthen the tooth's structure, and restores the tooth's appearance.

Without this procedure, the chances of a tooth surviving this level of advanced decay are very slim. But undergoing a root canal, as Alfonso Ribeiro did, can give your tooth a real fighting chance.

If you would like more information about root canal treatments, please contact us or schedule a consultation. To learn more, read the Dear Doctor magazine articles “A Step-By-Step Guide to Root Canal Treatment” and “Root Canal Treatment: How Long Will It Last?”

A shingles outbreak can be painful and embarrassing. It could also interfere with many areas of your life—including your dental care.

Known medically as herpes zoster, shingles is a viral form of chicken pox. The virus can lie dormant for many years or decades in people that had chicken pox as a child, breaking out later in life (sometimes repeatedly). It's estimated about a quarter of people who had chicken pox as a child, about 90% of adults, will experience a shingles outbreak.

In the beginning, a person with shingles may notice an itching or burning skin irritation, as well as numbness or sensitivity to touch. In time, a red, crusty rash can develop, usually forming a belted or striped pattern on the torso, head or facial areas. The patterning is caused by the virus's disruption of nerves that serve those parts of the body.

Shingles could impact your dental care because it can be contagious early in an outbreak. As such, it can be transmitted to other people via contact with the rash or through airborne respiratory particles. Dental staff members or other patients who are pregnant, undergoing cancer treatment or with other conditions that compromise their immune systems can develop serious health problems if they contract the virus.

If you have an upcoming appointment, it's best then to let your dentist know you've been diagnosed with shingles. If your treatment involves physical contact that could spread the virus, they may wish to reschedule you until the outbreak clears up.

There are ways to hasten the healing process with antiviral treatments like acyclovir or famciclovir. For best results, these treatments should begin within 3 days of a shingles outbreak. There is also a shingles vaccine that can help you avoid an outbreak altogether. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommend it for adults over 60.

Having shingles can be painful and stressful, and pose a major interruption of your daily life and routine. With proper management, though, it can be contained so you can get on with your life—and your dental care.

If you would like more information on managing shingles and dental care, please contact us or schedule an appointment for a consultation. You can also learn more about this topic by reading the Dear Doctor magazine article “Shingles, Herpes Zoster.”

"The Dog Days of summer" once referred to the rise of Sirius (the "Dog Star") with the morning sun during the month of August. Today, however, the term has more of a meteorological than astronomical meaning: It's the muggy point of summer best suited for sipping a cold beverage and doing as little as possible by the pool. A little lethargy can be forgiven during these humid days, but don't let it keep you from the daily necessities—like cleaning your teeth.

Brushing and flossing might seem an unwelcome interruption to your “dog day” pursuits (or lack thereof), but they're still necessary regardless of the season. Together, these twin tasks remove dental plaque, a bacterial buildup of food particles and the primary cause of tooth decay and gum disease.

Daily oral hygiene is one of the most important ways you can ensure your present and future dental health. It also reduces stain buildup to keep your teeth looking their shiny best and helps freshen your breath.

If that's not enough to overcome your summer doldrums, here are a few more reasons why performing these two vital teeth-cleaning tasks is less toilsome than you think.

Just 5 minutes a day. Brushing and flossing take only a fraction of your time each day. You can perform either task thoroughly in two to three minutes. Before you know it, you'll be back poolside.

No “elbow grease” required. Oral hygiene doesn't require a lot of physical exertion, especially brushing. In fact, aggressive brushing could damage your gums. All you really need is a gentle, circular motion, and the mild abrasives in your toothpaste will do the rest.

Flossing help is available. A lot of people find flossing difficult compared to brushing and may skip it altogether. But flossing is necessary to remove plaque between teeth that brushing can't reach. Usually, it's a matter of getting over the initial awkwardness of maneuvering the floss. The major mistake is that people tend to tighten their cheek muscles when trying to get their hands in their mouth. Relax your facial muscles and you can easily get the floss positioned in the mouth for proper technique. But if you don't have the manual dexterity to hold floss between your fingers, you can try pre-loaded floss threaders or a water flosser.

Relax—we have your back. Achieving the lofty goal of great dental health isn't all on your shoulders—we support your personal efforts through regular dental visits. Every six months, we remove hard-to-reach plaque and tartar (hardened plaque) and check for any emerging problems to keep your dental health on track.

A small investment of time and effort each day can help keep your mouth healthy and avoid costly dental treatment down the road. Don't worry: The pool will still be there waiting, so go brush and floss those teeth!

If you would like more information about daily dental care, please contact us or schedule a consultation. To learn more, read the Dear Doctor magazine article “Daily Oral Hygiene.”

Here's the bad news on the overall state of dental health in the United States: Over 120 million people have one or more missing teeth—roughly one American in three. But there's also good news: We can replace missing teeth with a number of effective restorative methods. At the top of the list are dental implants, highly regarded by dentists and patients alike as the most lifelike and functional tooth replacement system available.

Dental implants have been growing in popularity since their introduction in the 1980s. Their structural design and construction have continued to improve, giving patients even more options for implant-based tooth replacement.

To bring greater attention to the benefits of this popular restoration, the American Academy of Implant Dentistry (AAID) designated August as Dental Implant Month in 2016. In recognition, here are 3 of those benefits you might gain from choosing dental implants to replace your missing teeth.

Durability. Unlike other restorations such as conventional dentures or bridges, implants replace the entire root structure of the tooth. To be more precise, implants are a tooth root replacement in the form of a post imbedded securely in the jawbone. As the bone grows around and attaches to the implant, it develops a durable and highly functional hold that can last for decades.

Adaptability. Many people assume dental implants are used only to replace individual teeth, but implants can also support multi-tooth restorations. A few strategically placed implants can securely attach a partial or total bridge to the jaw, or provide added support for a removable denture.

Affordability. At first glance, an implant's initial cost places it at the high end of the scale for tooth replacement options. But because of their long-term durability and high success rate (greater than 95% still in place after ten years), implants may cost less in the long run than lower-priced restorations that may require repair or replacement sooner.

Although they have a wide range of applications, implants aren't suited for some dental situations. Because implants require a minimum amount of bone present in the jaw, for example, extensive bone loss might nullify them as a current option. Even in this case, though, grafting therapy to rebuild the bone could make it possible to place dental implants at some point in the future.

If you've recently lost a tooth or you have an older restoration you'd like to replace, dental implants might be a great option for you. Your first step is an initial exam and consultation to find out if this premier dental restoration is right for you.

If you would like more information about dental implants, please contact us or schedule a consultation. To learn more, read the Dear Doctor magazine article “Dental Implants: Your Third Set of Teeth.”