At Michel Dental in Topeka, Dr. Michael Michel uses joint vibration analysis to diagnose cases of TMJ disorder. Of all the way that TMJ disorder can be diagnosed, joint vibration analysis is one of the most comfortable and trustworthy, in addition to be non-invasive.

Here’s how joint vibration analysis works.

When you come to our Topeka office, Dr. Michel will slip something that looks like a pair of headphones over your head. They’re not headphones, of course—they’re actually sensors, and we’ll use them to measure how well your temporomadibular joints are functioning.

How?

By listening for friction between the bones and cartilage of your joints. As you open and close your mouth, these sensors will be listening for anything out of the ordinary that might indicate a problem. Once we’ve collected all the data we need, Dr. Michel can scrutinize it more closely and continue to screen you if necessary.

In all, joint vibration analysis takes only a few seconds to complete and has proven to be an effective means of screening and diagnosing patients. If you’re concerned that you might have a TMJ disorder, call Michel Dental today to schedule a consultation with Dr. Michel. We serve patients from Topeka, Emporia, Lawrence, Manhattan, and surrounding areas.

What’s a patient to do?

Well, the truth is that it may not matter all that much. What’s more important is how you brush, and that you’re brushing with a toothpaste that contains fluoride.

Why Is Fluoride So Important?

Because it attracts minerals that are important for building strong enamel, and that’s what you need to defend your smile from decay and cavities. Outside of that, what you need from your toothpaste will be different from what others need. If you have trouble with sensitive teeth, a toothpaste that treats sensitivity may be able to help. The same goes for patients who want a whiter smile. Whitening toothpastes aren’t guaranteed to deliver professional results, but they may give your smile just the boost you’ve been looking for.

But what’s more important than anything else is that you’re brushing regularly and with a fluoride toothpaste. It’s really as simple as that!

Still Have Questions?

If you still have questions about what kind of toothpaste is most right for you, Dr. Michel’s Topeka dental office would love to help. Call us today with your questions or to schedule an appointment with us. We serve patients from Topeka, Emporia, Lawrence, Manhattan, and beyond.

Tooth-Colored Crowns

Dr. Michel’s Topeka dental office uses all-porcelain crowns to help patients maintain a fully white smile while still delivering quality restorative care. Using our precise color-matching system, we can find just the right color of porcelain to blend with your natural tooth color. What’s more, porcelain crowns are durable and can provide long-lasting protecting to smiles with a cracked, broken, decay, or worn tooth.

Inlays and Onlays

If you’ve never heard of them before, inlays and onlays are what dentists use when a patient needs more than a filling but less than a crown. Like crowns, they’re created in a lab, and often from porcelain. Because they’re a conservative option, they let patients retain more of their own natural tooth structure, which benefits your smile in the long run. Dr. Michel will have to be the one to determine which material is most right for you, but in most cases we’re able to give patients a tooth-colored restoration.

Curious about crowns, inlay, onlays, or any of Dr. Michel’s other cosmetic and restorative options? We’d be happy to schedule a consultation visit with you. We’re committed to helping patients from Topeka, Emporia, Lawrence, Manhattan, and surrounding areas have strong, confident smiles that will last.

Why are tooth-colored fillings superior to their amalgam counterparts? For a couple of reasons.

First, because tooth-colored fillings are made of a combination of plastics, they can be shaded to exactly match your natural smile. That way, only you and Dr. Michel will ever have to know about your fillings.

Second, tooth-colored filling supports your remaining tooth structure. Amalgam fillings, by contrast, merely cover the tooth without supporting it. Amalgams are also temperature sensitive and can crack or change shape over time, possibly allowing for bacterial reinvasion later on.

Tooth-colored fillings, on the other hand, won’t change shape. Instead, they’ll provide long-lasting, conservative protection that helps you get the most out of your natural teeth and your natural smile.

Have you recently been told you need fillings and want to learn more about how tooth-colored fillings work? Michel Dental in Topeka would be happy to answer your questions. Give us a call today to set up an appointment. Dr. Michel and our entire time want to give you the strong, confident smile you deserve.

• Porcelain veneers
• Teeth whitening
• Tooth-colored fillings
• Inlays and onlays

These great services run the gamut from purely cosmetic to cosmetic and restorative. No single service is right for everyone, though, which is why, if you’re considering a smile makeover this spring or summer, we invite you to schedule a consultation appointment with Dr. Michel today.

During your consultation visit, Dr. Michel will talk with you about how you want your smile to look, in addition to thoroughly examining your smile. When we have all the information we need, we can recommend the service we think will help your smile the most. For some patients, a single service is all you may need. But for others, a combination of services may be what works best.

Are you ready to transform your smile for the coming summer season? Give us a call today. Dr. Michel serves patients from Topeka, Emporia, Lawrence, Manhattan, and surrounding areas. And in the meantime, to find out more about any of cosmetic dentistry services, explore our website or click on one of the links above.

It’s also Oral Cancer Awareness Month.

That means that all during April, Dr. Michael Michel and our Topeka team will be placing a priority on oral cancer screenings. Oral cancer screenings are already a part of every regular exam we complete, but we’ll also be happy answer any questions you might have about the disease and provide extra education.

Why are oral cancer screenings so important?

Because every year, oral cancer claims the lives of more than 7,500 people. That’s more than Hodgkin’s disease, or brain, liver, kidney, ovarian, or cervical cancer. What’s more, a quarter of all cases of oral cancer involve patients with none of the common risk factors, like tobacco use or excessive drinking. In fact, a rising number of cases in both women and men have been linked to HPV. All of which means a regular visit could very well save your life.

Want to know more about oral cancer or Oral Cancer Awareness Month? Visit the Oral Cancer Foundation’s website and give Michel Dental a call to schedule your next regular visit. Dr. Michel serves patients from Topeka, Emporia, Lawrence, Manhattan, and surrounding areas.

The first thing regular checkups let us to is clean your smile and check it for signs of gum disease, tooth decay, TMJ dysfunction, bruxism, and oral cancer. The second thing it lets us do is help you plan for the future. Based on what we discover during your exam, we can recommend services that will help you improve your smile and secure its good health. That includes recommending one of our cosmetic services. We offer a range of great cosmetic services, including porcelain veneers, teeth whitening, and tooth-colored fillings, all of which can help patients from a variety of backgrounds.

Visit our cosmetic dentistry page to learn more about all the services we offer.

And if you’re ready to schedule your next visit with Dr. Michel, call our Topeka dental office today. Dr. Michel serves patients from Topeka, Emporia, Lawrence, or Manhattan. The next leap year may not be for four years, but your next visit is just around the corner.

Too often, we image a cute, decorative heart when we think about what a heart is. But, together with the brain, the heart is the body’s most vital organ. As such, a healthy heart is vital.

And one way you can help your heart stay strong is through a great oral care routine, which includes regular cleanings and checkups with Dr. Michel at our Topeka dental office.

As we’ve mentioned before, your smile has a direct impact on your overall wellbeing, which is why regular visits are so important. Even if doctors are still uncertain as to the exact nature of the link, the evidence points definitively towards a connection.

If you have questions about how the health of your smile can impact the health of your heart, Dr. Michel would be happy to answer any questions you might have.

Call our Topeka office to schedule a visit with us. Our friendly, helpful team wants to help you have the clean, dazzling smile you’ve always dreamed of.

If you live in Topeka, Emporia, Lawrence, or Manhattan get in touch with us today. Michel Dental is dedicated to your total health, not just your oral health.

So even though at the office of Michel Dental, we’re concerned about cavities, gum disease, bad breath and lots of saliva, we won’t use this month’s blog entry to gross you out about kissing.  But we will tell you some interesting facts that you can tell your kissing partner right after they smack one on you!!

Anthropologists have argued for years about the origin of kissing.  Many now believe that it has evolved from the time when mothers chewed food for their babies and then went mouth to mouth at feeding time.  (Well, okay – we might gross you out a little bit!)  This action became so comforting to babies that the habit continued even after they could chew for themselves, and then developed into a sign of affection.

Nowadays kisses aren’t just about romantic love.  Of course parents kiss their children.  Worshippers often kiss religious artifacts.  Some people kiss the ground when exiting an airplane.  And who doesn’t want to have a “boo boo” kissed when they get a bruise?

But February 14^th is a day for the romantic kind of kiss, and if you are craving one, there may be a scientific reason.  While this action can promote a psychological response of warmth and affection, it also causes your brain to secrete some important and productive chemicals, such as:

• Oxytocin, which helps people develop feelings of attachment, devotion and affection for one another.
• Dopamine, which plays a role in the brain’s processing of emotions, pleasure and pain
• Serotonin, which affects a person’s mood and feelings
• Adrenaline, which increases heart rate and plays a role in your body’s fight-or-flight response

But along with that, when you kiss, hundreds or even millions of bacterial colonies are transported from one mouth to the other.  And let’s face it – no one wants to kiss a person who has poor oral hygiene, bad breath, or just a generally yucky mouth.  So let’s start with the basics:

• Make sure you brush at least twice a day with a soft toothbrush and fluoridated toothpaste.
• Floss once per day – if you have trouble flossing or are not sure how, please ask!  We’ll be glad to show you the ropes.
• Avoid sugary and acid-laden foods such as soft drinks, sports drinks, and candy.  (Okay – we won’t tell anyone if you have a tiny bit of candy on Valentine’s Day!)
• Eat a well balanced diet including lean proteins, healthy fats, fruits and vegetables, nuts and fiber.
• If you need to slip in a piece of gum or breath mint, make sure it contains Xylitol, which has been proven to reduce tooth decay.
• Drink plenty of water!  This helps to rinse away food particles, and staying hydrated is good for fresh clean breath.
• See your dentist on a regular basis and call immediately if you suspect there are any problems with your oral condition.

Here at the office of Michel Dental, we want you to have a kissable February 14^th and a lifetime of excellent dental health.  If you have any questions or need to set up an appointment, please give us a call at 785-273-0801.  We are here for you!

The answer is, we’re looking for a variety of things. The two essentials are gum disease and tooth decay. Catching both of these early is important because of how much they can impact your oral as well as overall health. Gum disease in particular has been tied to a range of health problems, like:

• Heart disease
• Alzheimer’s disease
• Stroke
• Diabetic complications
• Osteoporosis
• Pre-term and low birth weight

If Dr. Michel is able to diagnose gum disease early, we can help you treat it easily, before it becomes a serious problem.

But we’re looking for more than just gum disease and tooth decay. Dr. Michel will also check for signs of bruxism and TMJ dysfunction—which can cause painful symptoms like jaw pain, neck pain, headaches, depression, and more—as well as oral cancer, a potentially fatal disease that can be treated effectively when it’s found in its earliest stages.

If it’s been awhile since your last checkup and cleaning, feel free to give our Topeka dental office a call today. We’d be happy to serve any patient from Topeka, Emporia, Lawrence, Manhattan, and surrounding areas.