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Six Month Smiles® is one of the most innovative orthodontic treatments available. Utilizing an advanced design, Six Month Smiles® is able to gently correct a variety of teeth misalignment issues in about six months – whereas traditional braces can take as much as two years or more to accomplish many of the same goals. Even better: Six Month Smiles® is composed of clear brackets and tooth-colored wires, making the braces much less noticeable on the teeth.

Here at Preferred Family Dental, our experienced general dentists can evaluate your teeth and determine if you are a candidate for Six Month Smiles®. This procedure is often a good option for patients who have:

• Crooked or crowded teeth
• Spaces and gaps between the teeth
• Issues with bite alignment
• More severe orthodontic issues for which other discreet orthodontic treatments, such as Invisalign®, may not be able to correct

Patients must also be 16 years or older to have Six Month Smiles® treatment, and individuals who require significant bite alteration may not be candidates. Although most adults are candidates for this procedure, Dr. J. Otis Hurst and Dr. Amar Mistry can recommend alternative options for those who are not.

The best way to find out if you are a candidate for Six Month Smiles® is to come in for a comprehensive oral evaluation. Once our general dentist has determined this treatment is the best option for your individual needs and goals, we will create a customized treatment plan designed to provide you with straighter teeth and a more beautiful smile in about six months!

Next up on our blog, we’ll talk about why Six Month Smiles® may be the best choice for your orthodontic needs. Please contact Preferred Family Dental with any questions you may have, or to schedule a consultation.

In the first part of this blog series on HPV and Oropharyngeal Cancer, we discussed the different types of HPV and their link to oropharyngeal cancer. In this blog, we will see how HPV causes cancer, how common oral HPV is, explore the signs and symptoms and the process of diagnosis, and discuss the prevention of oral HPV infections and oropharyngeal cancer.

If you have questions about oral cancer screening, or if you would like to schedule an appointment with one of our dentists, please contact Preferred Family Dental today.

How HPV Can Cause Cancer

Most people who are exposed to HPV never develop symptoms or health issues. This virus can cause normal cells in infected skin to turn abnormal. Most of the time, you cannot see or feel these cell changes. In about 70-90% of the cases, the body’s immune system fights off the HPV infection naturally and the infected cells return to normal. But in some cases the infection may persist, remain latent in the body and potentially cause long-term problems. These problems may include cervical cancer in women, penis cancer in men, and in both sexes, some cancers of the anus and oropharyngeal cancer.
Cancer caused by HPV often takes years to develop after initially getting an HPV infection; sometimes, as much as 15 years. As mentioned in the previous blog, it is unclear if having HPV alone is sufficient to cause oropharyngeal cancers, or if other factors (such as smoking or chewing tobacco) interact with HPV to cause these cancers. More research is needed to understand all the factors leading to oropharyngeal cancers; however, some experts predict that oropharyngeal cancers linked to HPV will become more common than cervical cancer by 2020.
Incidence of Oral HPV
Studies have shown that about 7% of the American population have oral HPV, however, only 1% of people have oncogenic HPVs. Also, it has been found that men are three times more likely to have oral HPV than women. In the U.S., around 8,400 people are diagnosed every year with oropharyngeal carcinoma which may be linked to HPV.

There have been very few studies looking at how people acquire oral HPV and some of them have conflicting results. For example, some studies suggest that oral HPV may be passed on during oral sex or open-mouthed kissing, others have not. The likelihood of getting HPV from kissing or having oral sex with someone who has HPV is not known. However, we do know that partners who have been together a long time tend to share genital HPV—meaning they both may have it. The incidence of passing oral HPV by sharing spoons or kissing on the cheek is very low. It is certain that more research is needed to understand exactly how people get and give oral HPV infections.
Signs and Symptoms, Diagnosis and Prevention
Some people may develop some signs and symptoms of oropharyngeal cancer, which may include a persistent sore throat, earaches, hoarseness, enlarged lymph nodes, pain when swallowing, and unexplained weight loss. However, some people show no signs or symptoms.
Currently, there are no FDA-approved diagnostic tools or screening tests for HPVs linked to oral carcinomas. However, it could be surmised that since HPV-16 causes most oropharyngeal cancers (about 90%) and is also linked to many cervical cancers, then the same diagnostic tools could be used for both. At this time, there is no blood test for HPV. However, an HPV DNA test is available. Also, a biopsy of the suspicious area could reveal carcinogenic cells under a microscope.

At this time no studies have explored how oral HPV can be prevented. However, since the main method of transmission has been found to be oral to anogenital contact, it is likely that condoms and dental dams can lower the chances of giving or getting oral HPV if used correctly. It is also possible that the HPV vaccines now on the market can help in the prevention of oral HPV. These vaccines were developed to prevent cervical and other anogenital cancers. These vaccines prevent an initial infection with the types of HPV which can lead to any type of cancer, and hence may also prevent oropharyngeal cancer. However, there have been no conclusive studies to show this for certain.

The Centers for Disease Control recommends that young women get vaccinated against the virus to prevent cervical cancer. The CDC also recommends the vaccination for young men for two reasons: to help prevent its transmission to women, and to help prevent some of the 7,000 HPV-related cancers that occur in men each year. However, vaccination won’t help older people (those beyond their early 20s) or the millions of people already infected with HPV.

If you’ve been infected with the virus, diagnosing an HPV-related oral cancer as early as possible greatly improves the prognosis. See your doctor if you have one or more of these symptoms for more than two weeks:

• A sore in your mouth or on your tongue that doesn’t heal
• Persistent pain with swallowing or sore throat
• A lump in your neck that persists

Contact Preferred Family Dental

For more information, or to schedule an appointment, please contact us today.

Recently, HPV (human papillomavirus) has been linked closely to increasing rates of oral and pharyngeal (throat) cancers worldwide. In this post, you will find more information about HPV and its link to the oral cavity. Due to its close relationship to the throat and mouth areas, seeing a dentist yearly for an oral cancer screening can greatly help early detections of such cancers.

What is HPV?
HPV is a group of over 150 viruses, and approximately 40 of these viruses are easily spread through vaginal, anal, and oral sex. HPV has been found to be the most common sexually transmitted infection (STI) in the United States. At some point in their lives, nearly half of the sexually active population of the U.S. have been infected with HPV. Around 14 million people get HPV each year, and around half of these infections happen in teenagers and young adults (age 15-24). Early prevention has proven to be very important as HPV infection can cause genital warts and lead to various types of cancer.

Sexually transmitted HPVs fall into two categories:
1. Low-risk HPVs: Do not cause cancer, but can cause skin warts on or around the genitals or anus. HPV types 6 and 11 cause 90% of all genital warts.
2. High-risk/oncogenic HPVs: Can cause cancer; around 12 different HPVs have been found to be high-risk. The two which are responsible for the majority of HPV related cancers are HPV types 16 and 18.

HPV and its Link to the Oral Cavity
The same types of HPV which can infect the genital area can also infect the mouth and throat since the mucosal soft tissues in these areas are very similar. In most cases, HPV infections of all types go away before they cause any health problems. If one of the low risk HPVs mentioned above infects the oropharynx, the most common symptom is oral warts. However, an infection of one of the high risk HPVs mentioned above could result in Oropharyngeal Cancer, mostly in the back of the throat at the base of the tongue and tonsils.

Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma (HNSCC) is the eighth most common cancer worldwide with approximately 650,000 new cases reported annually. In the past, trends for HNSCC have generally paralleled smoking trends. Mostly, older men with a history of smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol for many years used to be the standard patient with oral cancer. However, there has been an increasing incidence of a certain type of HNSCC, specifically oropharyngeal carcinoma in recent years. This increase has been seen even though there has been no parallel increase in smoking and alcohol consumption. This suggests that there are non-traditional behavioral and environmental factors driving the increase in HNSCC. It has been found that up to 70% of oropharyngeal cancers may be caused by HPV, particularly HPV Type 16.

Hence, the traditional risk factors have been replaced by more powerful risk factors relating to sexual practices – the most important being a high number of sexual partners, history of oral-genital sex and history of oral-anal sex. One of the most significant routes of transmission of HPV to the oral cavity is oral anogenital contact. However, it is still uncertain if having HPV alone is sufficient to cause oropharyngeal cancers, or if other factors such as smoking or chewing tobacco interact with HPV to cause these cancers. More research is needed to understand all the factors leading to oropharyngeal cancers. However, due to its close link to the oral cavity, seeing a dentist for a yearly oral cancer screening (or if any abnormalities are felt in the mouth or throat area) is a very important aspect of early detection. Also, yearly health checkups with a general physician are always recommended.

In the next post, we will discuss some of the symptoms of oropharyngeal cancer and its incidence in our population. If you would like more information, or to schedule an appointment here at Preferred Family Dental, please contact us today.

If you have fears and anxieties at the thought of dental treatment, you are not alone. In fact, it’s estimated that as much as 50 percent of Americans have dental phobias – and that is a large factor in why patients put off necessary dental care. For patients who are healthy enough to receive it, sedation dentistry can be a great way to provide care for those with dental anxiety.

Here at Preferred Family Dental, we offer a variety of advanced sedation dentistry techniques to help patients feel more relaxed and at ease during dental treatment. These techniques include options designed for patients who suffer from virtually any level of anxiety, whether it’s just mild nervousness or a severe fear of dentists, dental instruments, or the sounds and tastes of dental treatment. All of these treatments have proven effective with helping patients to enjoy a more comfortable, and even pleasant, treatment experience.

Here’s a breakdown of our sedation dentistry options and what they can do:

• IV Moderate Conscious Sedation – This can greatly help to minimize anxiety for patients undergoing extensive procedures such as wisdom teeth removal, dental implants, or other treatments requiring extensive surgery.
• Oral Conscious Sedation – This technique is often beneficial for patients with moderate to severe dental anxiety. It does not involve needles – only a pill taken before the procedure that puts you in an extreme state of relaxation. You will not be fully asleep, but you will be very relaxed, and you may not even remember the procedure taking place once it’s finished.
• Nitrous Oxide – Often referred to as “laughing gas,” this method is typically beneficial for those with milder levels of dental fears. Breathed in through the nose, it takes only about 20 seconds for patients to feel more at ease.

Please don’t let dental anxiety prevent you from getting dental care. It’s so important to take care of your oral health before small problems get worse. With sedation dentistry, you should have nothing to fear!
— Dr. Amar Mistry

If you would like more information, or if you would like to schedule an appointment with one of our experienced dentists, please contact Preferred Family Dental today.