Dentist, Dr. Ivan Salmons DDS and his dental treatment team are pleased to provide professional and caring dental services to their patients from Sioux City IA and the surrounding communities. Our dental services include: adult, children's, cosmetic, family, general, implant, orthodontic, preventive and restorative dentistry.
Not so long ago, teeth with roots that had been impaired or infected used to necessitate extraction, which can create many issues and should be circumvented whenever possible. The good news is that Dr. Salmons has excellent skill in advanced root canal therapy. A root canal is a technique for repairing a tooth by removing the pulp chamber and restoring it with a filling material. This is often required when dental decay spreads to the nerve of the tooth (or the tooth has become diseased), and a simple filling would not be appropriate. When dentists first started performing root canals, they invoked dread, and the root canal established a reputation as something to be shunned. However, with modern anesthetics and new technologies, root canals are now quite manageable.
Reaching into the depths of our mouths to brush the backs of our teeth is challenging even for adults. No matter how we try, accomplishing the proper angle is difficult. This is even more true for kids where their dexterity isn’t yet fully developed. This allows bacteria and acid to remain and trigger plaque formation, which will lead to decay. And once a tooth has decay, it is damaged permanently and will require a filling or a crown. 
Modern medical studies have caused many doctors to reach an unsettling conclusion: gum disease, stroke, and heart disease are linked. Since heart disease is often deadly, it is obvious that gum disease should be treated – pronto. The American Dental Association’s statistics show that as many as 8 out of 10 Americans already suffer from periodontal (gum) disease. If this were any other illness, such as AIDS or tuberculosis, it would be heralded as an epidemic! In fact, most dentists think this should be the case. However, they also realize that gum disease hasn’t been labeled an epidemic because of the impression that “no one ever dies from it.” The worst is that you lose your teeth. Not pleasant – but certainly not life-threatening. But perspective within the medical community is changing.
Your mouth, teeth, and gums are more than just tools for eating. They’re essential for chewing and swallowing-the first steps in the digestion process. Your mouth is your body’s initial point of contact with the nutrients you consume. So what you put in your mouth impacts not only your general health but also that of your teeth and gums. In fact, if your nutrition is poor, the first signs often show up in your mouth. Here are a few helpful things to know about how what you eat can impact your dental health.