Dr. William L. Eickhoff

I practice in North Palm Beach, FL., But we serve Palm Beach Gardens and Jupiter. Frequently I’m asked how frequently someone should see their dentist. Everyone has heard about seeing your dentist twice a year. What most people don’t realize is that idea originated from an advertising campaign by Pepsodent toothpaste in the late 1940’s. In their advertising they recommended people see their dentist 2 times a year. It was Pepsodent’s desire to have dentists endorsing their toothpaste in exchange for a promotional plug.

In my office, we make our recommendations on dental frequency on an individual basis. I have some patients we literally see every month. Others we might see once a year. Every case is different. If someone has a high decay rate, severe gum disease or a lot of expensive crown and bridge in their mouth, I may see them every 3 or 4 months. Some people have very little decay and healthy gums. In those cases, I may see the once a year.

With the advent of fluoridated water, we see a lot of people in their 40’s and younger with hardly any decay. This can be a challenge, as these folks feel they have no need for regular check-ups. Remember fluoride helps prevent tooth decay but not gum disease. Gum disease is not painful in its early stages and as such can become pretty advanced before someone notices they have a problem. That’s why you still need to see a dentist on a regular basis, especially as you grow older. At a minimum you should see the dentist once a year if you fall into this category.

I would say after all this discussion, most of my patients are seen twice a year. This seems to work for most people and should keep them out of trouble. For a complimentary consultation, call my office at 561-694-1740 or visit my website at www.palmbeachsmilemakeover.com.

I practice in North Palm Beach, FL but we serve Jupiter and Palm Beach Gardens. Recently, I’ve been treating patients with some success that are complaining about severe headaches. I’ve been using something called an NTI bite splint. It only covers your 2 front teeth but it is FDA approved for migraine headache prevention. It is estimated that 23 million people suffer from migraine headaches and some 40 million people suffer with headaches.

It’s been reported that 48% of migraine attacks occur between 4am and 9am. Most migraines begin while the patient is sleeping. Migraines are considered a disease of the trigeminal nerve. The trigeminal nerve comes out of the cranium and has 3 branches. 2 of those branches control the muscles of chewing. The temporalis and masseter muscles are the two muscles that are associated with migraines. These 2 muscles contract when people clench their teeth while sleeping and that is why they wake with a morning migraine.

Drugs like Imitrex only relieve the pain 50% of the time and have a lot of side effects. Clinical studies have shown the NTI occlusal splint to be very effective in reducing pain. In fact 82% of migraine patients showed a 77% decrease in migraine frequency. The NTI prevents the migraine before it occurs. The NTI reduces migraines and tension headaches by controlling nocturnal clenching and grinding. The NTI keeps the front teeth separated, so the patient can’t touch their back teeth and engage these clenching muscles. For more information you can check out www.headachehope.com. If you suffer from migraine headaches, call my office for an evaluation. 561-694-740.

I practice in North Palm Beach, FL, but serve Palm Beach Gardens and Jupiter. Last Wednesday afternoon my grandson, William, called me to tell me that his mom broke her 2 front teeth swimming in the pool. My daughter, Emily Kelly, got on the phone and proceeded to tell me she was demonstrating the butterfly stroke to her 2 kids. It seems that she didn’t have her goggles on, misjudged where she was in the pool, and banged her upper teeth on the edge of the pool.

This is every parents nightmare, especially if you are a dentist. When I called my wife, she burst into tears, drove over to her house and met me at the office after hours.  I see this injury all the time, usually in the summer time. It’s just that I wasn’t expecting to see it on my grown daughter, who should know better. In fact I told her I was going to write a column on this.

I couldn’t believe how blase she was about this. She was making jokes about it. She even took a picture of herself on her cell phone and posted it on her Facebook page. The caption said “look Dad, no teef!”. When I expressed my concern about her lack of concern, she said “Dad, you are a cosmetic dentist and I know you’ll take care of me”.

To make a long story short, I was able to repair her teeth with bonding. My wife acted as my assistant. Fortunately we were able to match the color, so it blended in. You can see in the after picture. I told her to wear a mouthguard next time she swims and to keep her eyes open and her mouth shut.

If you or a loved one ever experience an accident like this try to see your dentist as soon as possible. If the tooth is completely knocked out, bring the tooth in with you. Usually it can be reimplanted. Transport the tooth in milk. If the child is old enough they can store it in their mouth. Don’t clean it off with alcohol or other harsh chemicals. If you can’t get to a dentist quickly you can attempt to put the tooth back yourself.

In case of emergency, you can call me on my emergency number at 818-0177.

I practice in North Palm Beach, Fl, but I also serve Jupiter and Palm Beach Gardens. This is an example of a smile makeover using bonded fillings and shaping of teeth. The challenge was to improve this woman’s smile without breaking the bank. Obviously her teeth were crowded and crooked and detracted from her smile. Obviously I could have given her a WOW smile using porcelain veneers but she couldn’t afford the thousands of dollars that it would cost. So we opted for a less expensive approach that would still improve her smile. Sometimes this can be more challenging for the dentist. But I think you’ll agree that her smile turned out nicely!

For the lower teeth we evened up the lower teeth by merely trimming the teeth that were sticking up like a broken picket fence. In the upper jaw, we trimmed some of the front teeth to even them up. She had one tooth that was out of alignment. It was sticking in too far. We elected to bring that tooth out with a layer of bonding to create the illusion of  a more balanced smile.

If you are unhappy with your smile, maybe I can help you. For a complimentary consultation call my office at  561-694-1740 or go to www.palmbeachsmilemakeover.com.

I practice in North Palm Beach, Fl but serve Jupiter and Palm Beach Gardens. The enlarged photo shows several holes in 2 teeth that are not caused by decay. These holes in the enamel are caused by acid or dental erosion. In this case the acid has worn through the outer enamel and is now dissolving the softer dentin of the tooth. Acid can either come from inside the body (internal acid) or outside the body  (external acid). Dental erosion is the most common chronic disease of children ages 5-17, although it is only relatively recently that it has been recognised as a dental health problem. There is generally widespread ignorance of the damaging effects of acid erosion; this is particularly the case with erosion due to fruit juices because they tend to be seen as healthy.

Numerous studies link erosion to excessive consumption of drinks. Those thought to pose a risk are soft drinks and fruit drinks, fruit juices such as orange juice (which contain citric acid) and carbonated drinks such as colas (in which the carbonic acid is not the cause of erosion, but citric and phosphoric acid). Remember the science projects where teeth turned so gross when suspended in glasses of coke? It wasn’t the sugar so much as the acid. Other possible sources of erosive acids are from exposure to chlorinated pool water and regurgitation of stomach acids. Frequency rather than total intake of acidic drinks is seen as the greater factor in dental erosion.

Internal acid that causes dental erosion is known as perimolysis, whereby gastric acid from the stomach comes into contact with the teeth. People with diseases such as anorexia nervosa, bulimia, and GERD (gastroesophageal reflex disease) often suuef from this.Gerd is quite common and an average of 7% of adults experience reflux daily. The main cause of GERD is increased acid production by the stomach.

Preventive and management strategies include the following:

• treating the underlying medical disorder or disease.
• modifying the acid content of the food or beverage contributing to the problem.
• using a remineralizing agent, from your dentist.
• actual bonding over of the erosion by your dentist.

For a complimentary evaluation, call my office at 561-694-1740 or visit our website at www.palmbechsmilemakeover.com.

I practice in North Pam Beach,FL, but serve Palm Beach Gardens and Jupiter. This is a frequently asked question and a valid one. Technically you never have to replace a tooth or teeth. In fact, I’ve seen people eat apples without their teeth. But let’s face it, we don’t live in an area where front teeth are optional. So at least from a cosmetic standpoint it would be nice to replace missing front teeth. But what’s the big deal about back teeth?

Well for starters, the teeth around the missing tooth start to shift. The teeth behind the space move forward, but never fill in the gap. The opposing teeth also move, since there is no tooth to bite against and hold it in position. This is a gradual process and takes years to play out. The net result is that the bite starts to shift.  Problems start to arise in the jaw joints often referred to as TMJ. Spaces start to appear in between teeth, food gets trapped there and the teeth become decayed. Other teeth start to be lost like a domino effect. Chewing efficiency drops. Studies have shown that your chewing efficiency drops to 78% with the loss of one tooth.

If you’ve not replaced any missing teeth, take heart! Even if it’s been years, modern dentistry can help. Everything from orthodontics to implants to bridgework can still correct your problem. It’s just a question of scheduling an appointment with your dentist  (hopefully me) for a consultation and exam to find out what is the best answer for you.

For a complimentary consultation call my office at 561-694-1740 or visit us on the web at www.palmbeachsmilemakeover.com.

I practice in North Palm Beach, FL but we serve Palm Beach Gardens and Jupiter as well. The one thing that seems to strike fear into just about everyone I know is the thought of needing a root canal. Comedians use it a lot for sarcasm, ie. ‘That’s about as funny as a root canal’. Root canals have received a bad rap over the years. The problem is that about 95% of root canals are a non event. It’s that 5%, that are very vocal and tell everyone, that gives root canals a bad name. You see people don’t go to the dentist for one of two reasons. FEAR AND/ OR MONEY. What that means is that putting off or delaying going to the dentist only makes matters worse. It is my desire today to give you some advice in hopes of lessening the shock and pain of  a root canal.

There are certain warning signs that can be an indication that something is wrong with your tooth. Here is a list of symptoms of an abscessed or infected tooth:

• Pain on biting.
• Pain on heat.
• Red pimple like projection on the gums, also called a gum boil.
• Tooth with previously treated root canal has pain or gum boil.

If you are experiencing any of these symptoms call a dentist or root canal specialist (endodontist) immediately. The longer you delay the worse the infection will get. This is where root canals become painful. If you catch it early enough the root canal in most instances will be uneventful. These infections are usually caused by decay that has gotten into the nerve. Sometimes a tooth can have a crack in it that gets infected. These symptoms will not go away and will only get worse over time.

A root canal saves the tooth from extraction. In the center of each tooth is a hollow canal that contains the nerve. It’s about the size of a thread but it’s amazing how much pain that little nerve can cause. A root canal removes the infected nerve and cleans out the hollow canal and seals off the root of the tooth. In most instances a full crown is recommended to protect the tooth from fracturing.

For an evaluation call 561-694-1740 or www.palmbeachsmilemakeover.com.

I practice in North Palm Beach, FL, but we serve Palm Beach Gardens and Jupiter, Fl as well. This is an interesting case we did a couple of years back. We wanted to improve this woman’s smile and keep the amount of work to a minimum using porcelain veneers. If you look at her smile you can see that it looks funny. You may not be able to explain what exactly is wrong but you know it doesn’t look right. When she tips her head back I think you can see that her two front teeth really stick out more than her other teeth. It makes her look buck toothish. She was in her late 60’s and wanted her smile to look better but she wanted it to be subtle. She wanted her friends to notice something was different about her but they couldn’t say for sure what it was. She didn’t want people exclaiming ‘ OH, YOU HAD YOUR TEETH DONE!!!’

That’s where the artistic challenge comes into play. You see, anyone can improve a smile if you’re doing 10 teeth and I do that all the time. The trick here, was to improve the smile with just addressing 2 teeth. She was happy with the shade and the shape of the other teeth. So all I did was to change the shape, position and contour of her 2 front teeth with porcelain veneers. If you look closely at the after photo with her head tipped back you should be able to see the veneers were placed on the outside of the teeth. Veneers are thin pieces of porcelain that are bonded to the exterior of teeth. They are about the thickness of a contact lens. Veneers are a conservative way to change the shape and color of teeth without taking off as much tooth structure as a full crown. The added bonus was her lips now have a better contour because the underlying teeth support her lips more evenly.

If you’d like a complimentary consultation about your smile, call our office at 561-694-1740 or www.palmbeachsmilemakeover.com.

I practice in North Palm Bech, Fl. We also serve Jupiter and Palm Beach Gardens, Fl. Previous studies have found the incidence of heart disease is about twice as high in people with periodontal (gum) disease. Until recently no plausible cause had been suggested. Now studies indicate that the most common strain of bacteria in dental plaque may cause blood clots. When blood clots escape into the blood stream, there is a relation to increased risk of heart attacks and other health illnesses.

People with periodontal disease (over one half of the adult population) have an infection that causes chronic inflammation of the gums. Also, it is a path for these bacteria to enter the bloodstream.

A recent study describes the association between heart disease and gum disease to be at least as strong as the linkage of heart disease to cholesterol, body weight, or smoking.

Unlike most diseases that give us early warning signs, gum disease progresses silently, often without pain. It may develop slowly or progress quite rapidly. More than half of all people over 18 have at least the early stages of periodontal disease. Even more frightening, after the age of 35, three out of four people are affected to some degree. Periodontal disease is an infection that destroys the gum surrounding your teeth and also destroys the supporting bone that holds your teeth in place.

By keeping regular recare appointments with your dental team, you help increase your chances for a  long and happy life.

For an appointment, call our office today at 561-694-1740 or www.palmbeachsmilemakeover.com.

I practice in North Palm Beach, FL, but we serve Palm Beach Gardens and Jupiter as well. These are before and after photos on a typical patient that we see in our office. This patient, I’ll call George was in his late 40’s and is an accountant. Needless to say he never smiled. He was embarrassed about his smile and the fact that he let his teeth get so bad. He also had had a couple of bad experiences at the dentist and was very apprehensive. I reassured George that this was more common than one would think and that we would take good care of him.

As you can see, he had several large cavities and many missing teeth. He thought that he would need to have all his teeth extracted and a set of dentures made. At first glance I thought so to. We took a full set of x-rays and did a thorough exam. The next set of photos show what we were able to do. We were able to save his teeth and everything in his mouth stays in his mouth. He cannot remove them because everything is cemented in. Obviously, this cost a lot of money and took a lot of effort, but I think you’ll agree the result is impressive. The interesting thing is the change we saw in George’s personality and self-confidence. He came out of his shell. How much do you think that is worth to George? And, George is not afraid of the dentist anymore.

For a complimentary consultation, contact my office at 561-694-1740 or visit us on the web at www.palmbeachsmilemakeover.com.