Preventive Dental Care For Dental Health Month!

All too often, many assume that a dental appointment is not needed because there are no real dental issues going on at the moment. Contrary to popular belief, your dentist is there for more than knocked out teeth and toothaches. The right dentist can help with proper preventive care to help keep your mouth healthy and to help prevent more serious issues from occurring.

Every 6 Months

At the very least, you should be visiting Dr. Travis Coulter or Dr. Elizabeth van den Hoven every 6 months. This allows them to fully inspect your teeth and gums to ensure that there are no issues that you are not aware of yet. When you let conditions with your teeth get out of hand, the resolution can be rather invasive. By keeping your twice yearly appointments, you can keep your mouth healthy and your pain to a minimum.

Why Is A Comprehensive Dental Visit Important?

When you visit our office regularly, it allows us to have a baseline with which to compare your mouth to each time you visit. At your initial New Patient appointment, your Spokane Valley dentists will perform x-rays and other routine procedures to assess what is normal for your individual mouth. On subsequent visits, Drs. Travis Coulter or Liz van den Hoven will be able to determine if anything has drastically changed.

Immediate Assistance

Of course, if you have any issues that require immediate dental assistance, you should not delay in calling our office. Anytime you experience pain, bleeding, a lost permanent tooth, a lost filling, or anything out of the ordinary, you should call us right away.

Sip All Day - Get Decay!

Image Courtesy of dentalgentalcare.com

It is well known that sugar can promote obesity, tooth decay, and a wealth of other health issues. but do we realize just how much sugar is in our food and snacks? Here at Coulter Family Dentistry in Spokane Valley, WA we understand that a healthy diet is just as important as regular visits to the dentists or hygienist. Our friends at the Minnesota Dental Association have put together a campaign to teach children and families about the harmful effects of soda drinking.

Here's how you get cavities

• Sugar in pop combines with bacteria in your mouth to form acid.
• Diet or "sugar-free" pop contains its own acid.
• Acid in soft drinks, whether they contain sugar or not, is the primary cause of weakening tooth enamel.
• The acid attacks your teeth. Each acid attack lasts about 20 minutes.
• The acid attack starts over again with every sip.
• Ongoing acid attacks weaken your tooth enamel.
• Bacteria in your mouth cause cavities when tooth enamel is damaged.

How to reduce decay

• Drink soft drinks in moderation.
• Don't sip for extended periods of time. Ongoing sipping prolongs sugar and acid attacks on your teeth.
• Use a straw to keep the sugar away from your teeth.
• After drinking, swish your mouth out with water to dilute the sugar.

To learn more about the research Minnesota Dental Association has completed, visit their website here!

Healthy Mouths, Healthy Lives

2 minutes - 2 times a day!

In August of 2012, the Ad Council joined with The Partnership for Healthy Mouths, Healthy Lives, a coalition of more than 35 leading dental health organizations, to debut Kids’ Healthy Mouths. Dental decay is the most common chronic childhood disease with more than 16 million kids suffering from untreated tooth decay in the U.S., oral disease is estimated to cause kids to miss 51 million school hours and their parents to lose 25 million work hours annually, and disproportionately affects children from low-income families. At Coulter Family Dentistry in Spokane Valley, WA, we recommend children have their first dental visit by age 1 as recommended by the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry, and maintain regular 6 month cleaning appointments for exams. 

Parents and their children can visit 2min2x.org to watch entertaining videos and listen to music, while children are brushing their teeth. Learn more about preventive care and make sure to schedule your next dental appointment with your family dentist at Coulter Family Dentistry. Make oral health part of your New Year’s Resolution!

No More Dental Fear!

At Coulter Family Dentistry, we want you to have a comfortable experience. We offer several levels of sedation for anxious or fearful patients

Nitrous Oxide- laughing gas helps patients feel less anxiety and less discomfort in their mouths during procedures. The effects of the gas wear off within a few minutes of breathing oxygen.

Oral Conscious Sedation- Patients are prescribed an pill to take before coming to their appointment. The medication relieves anxiety and often can be combined with the effects of nitrous oxide once the patient is in our office.

IV Conscious Sedation- For these patients a medication is administered to take them to a deeper level of sedation than can be safely accomplished with pills. Patients undergoing this type of sedation usually do not recall anything from their procedures. In order to be licensed to perform this type of sedation our Spokane Valley, WA dentists have received extensive training in a dental residency including a rotation in the operating room of a hospital to administer general anesthesia to patients. Patients are carefully monitored to ensure their safety and comfort.

We are currently accepting new patients in the Spokane Valley, WA areas; call us today at (509) 924-1314 to make an appointment for an exam. Dr. van den Hoven and Dr. Coulter invite you to learn more about our Dental Services and Team Members. If you are having pain or have broken a tooth we would be happy to get you in to address your problem today. We look forward to serving you and meeting your family!

Preschool Cavities

Cavities are on the rise. A recent video on Today highlights the growing epidemic. Click here to learn more. To learn more about your child's dental health, we invite you to give us a call and schedule their appointment today!

Welcome to Coulter Family Dentistry!

The dental team at Coulter Family Dentistry is excited to start this blog, dedicated to patient education and oral health.

Conveniently located in the Spokane Valley, Coulter Family Dentistry welcomes patients of all ages. Dr. Travis Coulter, Dr. Elizabeth van den Hoven and our dental team are committed to excellence and education with regards to patient care.

Using state of the art technology allows our practice to perform a wider range of diagnoses and treatments in the office, helping to reduce multiple visits and rescheduling, saving our patients time and money.

We've compiled a range of information within our website to help our patient community learn about the services we provide, and get a glimpse into our philosophy of dentistry. Dr. Travis Coulter and Dr. Elizabeth van den Hoven believe in treating the whole individual, and in taking the time necessary to help you understand treatment options for a healthy, beautiful smile.

For more information, call our office today or request your appointment through our online system. We can't wait to showcase Coulter Family Dentistry to you and your family!