Dr. Markusen’s Blog

What is ClearCorrect? Clear Correct is the clear and simple alternative to braces. No brackets. No reason not to smile. Just a series of clear, custom, removable aligners that gradually straighten your teeth as you wear them, each aligner moving your teeth just a little bit at a time.
How Does it Work? The process starts with your dentist who takes your impressions, x-rays, and photos, and sends them in with a prescription form. ClearCorrect manufactures your aligners per the precise instructions provided and then sends them back to your dentist.
What can it do? Whether it’s minor crowding and spacing or a more severe case of malocclusion and misalignment, ClearCorrect can help you straighten your teeth and achieve your best smile, one aligner at a time.
Is it right for you? Your lifestyle is important to you and so is your smile. So why should one cost you the other?
With ClearCorrect, it doesn’t have to.
ClearCorrect is practically invisible- most people won’t even notice you’re in treatment. It’s comfortable- no cuts or scrapes like with braces. It’s removable- eat what you want, then brush and floss. It’s flexible- schedule appointments to fit your life. It’s affordable- comparable to braces, even less than other treatment options.

ClearCorrect has the advantages of braces without the limitations of other aligner systems. it’s clearer and easier to keep clean, with better control for your dentist and better results for you.

Party with a BriteSmile®
By Kira Zwolinski

One of the first things you notice when looking at another person is their smile. When you meet someone with a bright, natural smile, it inevitably catches your attention. The goal of the BriteSmile® Tooth Whitening System is to give you a brighter more natural smile that can be attention getting. Maybe you have a special event coming up in your life and you’d like to make a stand out impression; BriteSmile® is the way to go.
Over the course of time, the natural aging process and your lifestyle can stain your teeth. Lifestyle stains include years of smoking or drinking dark liquids such as coffee, tea, or wine. Years of food dyes and color preservatives in foods and beverages also contribute significantly to tooth discoloration. The BriteSmile® Tooth Whitening System is able to remove such lifestyle stains and also aids in killing harmful bacteria found in gingivitis and periodontal disease.
The BriteSmile® system will not cause softening of enamel and composite materials like some other whitening methods will do. Other methods like the whitening trays use an older technology and are messy and uncomfortable. Whitening strips are another method that offer no immediate results and can cause your teeth to become more sensitive by stripping their enamel. The BriteSmile® system is done in the dentist office by a trained professional and takes about one hour. Trays and strips are done in the home and require more than one application. Whitening toothpastes are also misleading; if you stop using the toothpaste, you can lose the results you’ve achieved.
BriteSmile® offers a safe and comfortable tooth whitening system that is guaranteed to whiten your teeth in one office visit. The results are consistent and can last for years. When comparing the BriteSmile® Tooth Whitening System with other tooth whitening methods it’s clear BriteSmile® is the more effective choice.
The BriteSmile® Tooth Whitening System is a gentle procedure. It has been shown in studies, to be safe for tooth enamel as well as skin, gums, and other soft tissues. The BriteSmile® procedure does not use lasers, heat, or scraping in its method. The whitening procedure is simple. First, barriers such as gauze and protective gels, are placed in your mouth to ensure only the teeth will be exposed. Second, the gel is applied. While you sit and relax, listening to music, the gel is being activated by BriteSmile’s® blue light. The BriteSmile® Tooth Whitening System uses a low concentration of the active ingredient and is clinically proven to be safe and effective. Finally, the teeth are brushed and the patient walks away with naturally white and healthy teeth. This method achieves long-lasting results and a guarantee to whiten with a naturally brilliant and uniform look. In some cases, patients can whiten 14 shades. BriteSmile® is completely safe for ages 14 and older.
The BriteSmile® Tooth Whitening System is a great gift for anyone at all ages. The fresh, new look will boost your confidence and give you a radiant smile sure to make anyone jealous. Get your BriteSmile® done at Red’s Cosmetic Dental Spa. 1321 44th Ave N, Myrtle Beach, SC 29477. Give us a call to schedule your free consultation (843) 916-0990. We look forward to hearing from you.

Written By Kira Zwolinski

No pills. No shots. No surgery. No side effects. Now there is an FDA-approved dental appliance for the prevention of migraine pain to help reduce the frequency and intensity of migraine pain episodes. The Nociceptive Trigeminal Inhibition Tension Suppression System (NTI-tss®) is a major breakthrough for painful, aching jaws, sore, sensitive teeth, stiff neck, tension headaches, or morning headaches. The NTI-tss® device has been used successfully with thousands of patients in the United States and many other countries. It has received marketing allowance from the FDA and complies with all requirements as an approved dental device.
It starts as a sleep disorder of intense jaw clenching. It’s perfectly normal to clench your jaws when you sleep. We all do from time to time – even during normal sleep cycles. But what happens when you clench your jaw muscles 14 times more intensely than normal? Migraine pain… chronic headache… and TMJ pain. That’s what happens. What can you do to help alleviate this? In one office visit we can create a custom-made NTI-tss® device. The tiny, clear-plastic device fits over your top two front teeth. It makes clenching virtually impossible. In a few days or weeks, your clenching reflex is suppressed. Morning headache pain, neck pain, sore jaw, and other related pain associated with involuntary intense clenching usually begins to resolve and disappear.
The difference between the NTI-tss® device and the traditional dental nightguard device or TMJ splint is that the traditional flat-plane splints and nightguard devices provide a surface for you to “bite down on”. This custom-fitting device prevents the tooth surfaces from ever coming into intense contact. High-intensity clenching has recently been found to be a real cause of the problem. With the NTI-tss® device, we can begin to solve the real problem: actually preventing your back teeth from clenching intensely and coming into contact with each other. Stop intense clenching, stop the source of the pain!
Can clenching your teeth really cause all these problems? Yes! Clenching your teeth while asleep and during the day is the result of some of the strongest muscles in your body tensing up (up to 6 to 20 times more intensely than nonsufferers), which can cause morning and tension headaches, and even damage surrounding joints, teeth, and other muscles. These muscles – called the temporalis muscles – are located on the sides of your head and are used when you chew or close your mouth. When you clench your teeth, these muscles can create a great deal of stress and tension: to your jaw joints, to your neck muscles, and to your teeth.
The NTI-tss® device suppresses the clenching reflex by preventing the posterior teeth from contacting each other, thereby eliminating teeth-grinding altogether. There is no surface to bite down on or bite into. The temporalis muscles are kept from contracting with their usually intensity. The clenching reflex is suppressed and almost eliminated. The NTI-tss® device helps to keep it from happening.
By reducing the intensity of involuntary clenching at night while you’re asleep (and even during the day if stress triggers unconscious involuntary clenching at work, home, or on the road), the NTI-tss® device minimizes clenching intensity and, in time, minimizes intense clenching as the source of your pain.
The NTI-tss® device may eliminate the need for prescription and over-the-counter pain medications that you take for morning headache, sore neck, sore jaw, and related pain associated with involuntary clenching of the teeth. Because the NTI-tss® device helps reduce the intensity of your clenching, it helps maximize your comfort and should minimize your need for medications. You may find that you’re more productive and that you can do more throughout the day because you’re pain free and more comfortable with less tension and stress.

The Art of Losing your Crows Feet
By Kira Zwolinski

One day you looked in the mirror and studied those lines that furrowed your brow, and you wondered: Where did they come from?
Signs of skin aging are the result of two different aging processes; internal and external. Internal aging is inevitable and normal. The skin loses its natural collagen, elastin, and hyaluronic acid. The loss of moisture and natural oils contribute to fine lines in the skin as we age. This results in the thinning of your skin to the point that it will sag and form wrinkles and folds. The lines that appear between your brows (glabellar lines) actually result from muscle movement and the passage of time. Underneath your skin, your facial muscles contract, causing a pleating of the overlying skin, and then, as anyone can see, you’re frowning. After years of crinkling and wrinkling, those glabellar lines have thinned out and they start to linger longer making them more pronounced. For women, whose faces tend to be more animated than men’s, and whose skin is typically more delicate, these lines may appear exaggerated and more permanent. These factors, combined with the marks of normal facial expressions, such as smiling and laughing, can leave everyone with a few more lines, creases and folds with each passing year.

Unlike internal aging, that is inevitable, external aging is due to factors that can be controlled. The environment and other bad habits are such examples. Smoking cigarettes and exposing your skin to the sun without proper sunscreen protection are two of the biggest contributors to premature aging. Other external factors include the amount of alcohol you intake as well as having a poor diet.
So now that you’re looking in the mirror and you’ve already asked yourself, “Where did these wrinkles come from?” –you can move on to a more important question: “What can I do about it?”

There is no stopping it; your skin is going to age, but you can reduce the appearance of it. You can influence the signs of aging by using dermal fillers to smooth out the lines that are your wrinkles. Fillers mask the wrinkle by adding volume around the muscle with intradermal injections. Two such options to reduce the appearance of glabellar lines or thinning lips are Botox® and Restylane®.

Botox® is a simple, nonsurgical, physician-administered treatment that can temporarily smooth frown lines between the brows and around the eyes. Botox reduces the activity of the muscles that cause those frown lines to form over time. This type of injection is intramuscular, blocking the chemicals that cause facial muscles to contract, thereby relaxing them. Botox will not radically change your facial appearance; you will still be able to frown or look surprised without the wrinkles and creases between your brows. The treatment is quick and minimally invasive; your doctor makes a few tiny injections into the muscles that cause those frown lines. Your doctor will determine exactly where to administer the injections to achieve the best results. No anesthesia is required, although the area is usually numbed using a cold pack or anesthetic cream prior to injecting. Discomfort is minimal and brief- most patients compare the sensation to a bug bite. You may resume normal activity immediately. Results can be expected within days after your treatment.

Restylane is a safe and natural cosmetic dermal filler that restores volume and fullness to the skin to correct facial wrinkles and folds. This type of dermal filler is made of hyaluronic acid, a natural substance that already exists in the human body. Restylane maintains its shape by using the body’s own natural moisture. Restylane can be used to correct a variety of wrinkles around the eyes and also to enhance the appearance of the lip border. Restylane is injected directly into the skin in tiny amounts by an untrafine needle, resulting in minimal discomfort. The procedure is simple, convenient, and the results are practically instantaneous. Because Restylane is made from a substance natural to the body and not from animals, an allergy test is not necessary.

The Clear Way to Straighter Teeth
By Kira Zwolinski

Forget everything you’ve heard about straightening teeth. A proven technology now exists that lets you straighten your teeth invisibly.
Invisalign® makes it easy to straighten your teeth while doing away with bands, brackets, and wires. This breakthrough technology lets you have the straight smile you’ve always wanted- without the hassle of braces.
Whether your smile needs minor improvements or more extensive adjustments, Invisalign can certainly help. It’s successful in treating overly crowded or widely spaced teeth. It can also relieve more complex issues, including overbites, under bites and even cross bites. Because Invisalign is clear and nearly invisible, most people will never know you’re straightening your teeth.
Invisalign is comfortable to wear and it doesn’t require you to change your busy lifestyle. The aligners are removable which allows you to continue eating your favorite foods while brushing and flossing normally. By effectively keeping your teeth and gums healthy you’re helping to prevent tooth decay and gum disease. Some orthodontic appliances, like braces, can cause gingivitis. Properly positioned teeth are easier to brush and floss than teeth that are crowded, crooked, or spaced too far apart. Unlike braces, Invisalign® is clear and removable. You can brush and floss normally to maintain good oral hygiene. There are no metal brackets or wires to cause mouth irritation. Invisalign is the invisible way to straighten teeth without braces. Invisalign uses a series of clear, removable aligners to gradually straighten teeth, without metal or wires. Invisalign uses a 3-D computer imaging technology to depict the complete treatment plan from the initial position to the final desired position from which a series of custom-made, clear “aligners” are produced. Each aligner moves the teeth in increments and is worn for about two weeks. The aligner is then replaced by the next in the series until the final position is achieved. Each aligner is worn sequentially by the patient to produce extensive tooth movements in both the upper and lower arches.
The course of treatment involves changing aligners approximately every two weeks, gradually moving your teeth into a straighter position step by step. An average Invisalign course of treatment takes about 12-18 months. You’ll see your Invisalign Certified Dentist for adjustments and to check your progress. At regular intervals, you will receive a new set of custom-molded clear aligners to continue the straightening process. The total number of clear aligners is specific to you, determined by your doctor for your course of treatment.
Like brackets and arch wires are to braces, Invisalign® aligners move teeth through the appropriate placement of controlled force on the teeth. The principal difference is that Invisalign not only controls forces, but also controls the timing of the force application. At each stage, only certain teeth are allowed to move, and these movements are determined by the orthodontic treatment plan for that particular stage. This results in an efficient force delivery system.

STEP 1: Visit an Invisalign Certified Dentist
During your initial visit, your dentist will evaluate, assess, and discuss a course of treatment for you. Bite impressions of your teeth will be taken in the office and sent off to the Invisalign technology lab for processing.

STEP 2: Invisalign® Makes Your Aligners
Invisalign® uses their advanced 3-D computer imaging technology to transform your bite impressions into your custom-made series of clear and removable aligners.

STEP 3: You Receive Your Clear Aligners in a Few Weeks
During your next visit to your dentist, you will receive your first set of clear aligners.

STEP 4: You Wear Your Aligners
You will wear each set of clear aligners day and night for about 2 weeks, removing them only to eat, drink, brush, and floss. Patients, on average, complete treatment in approximately a year. You’ll visit your dentist at regular intervals to check your progress.

STEP 5: You’ve Finished Treatment
When you’re finished wearing each clear aligner in the series, your treatment will be complete and you will have straighter teeth and the beautiful smile you deserve.

You can contact us in the office if you have further questions or if you’d like to schedule a free consultation. The number is (843) 916-0990 or you can email us at doc-mark@msn.com. Red’s Dental Spa 1321 44th Ave N, Myrtle Beach, SC 29577

“You don’t have to brush all your teeth; just the ones you want to keep”

Three Out Of Four People Have Warning Signs of Periodontal Disease
 Gums that bleed when you brush
 Gums are red, swollen or tender
 Gums have pulled away (receded) from teeth
 Pus between teeth & gums when gums are pressed
 Permanent teeth are loose or separating
 Change in the way your teeth fit when biting
 Any changes in fit of partial dentures
 Persistent bad breath & bad taste
50 people out of 100 have moderate to severe gum disease, 40 out of the 50 don’t know it, and only 3 people out of 100 will ever get treated before it’s too late. Gum disease occurs when bacteria attack the supporting soft tissues and bone around your teeth. These bacteria cause a body reaction. This reaction is responsible for the breakdown of the fibers that connect the tooth to the bone. This creates a space that dentists and hygienists call ‘a periodontal pocket’. Plaque and tarter accumulate at the base of the teeth. Inflammation causes a pocket to develop between the gums and teeth, which fills with plaque and tarter. Soft tissue swelling traps the plaque in the pocket. Continued inflammation eventually causes destruction of the tissues and bone surrounding the tooth. These pockets are difficult to keep clean and the result is infection leading to the loss of bone. The main cause of gum disease is poor oral hygiene, not brushing and flossing on a regular basis, and not seeing your dentist for preventive care. If left untreated, the supporting bone is destroyed and the teeth may eventually become loose and painful.

How are Lasers used to treat gum disease? Will it hurt?
A laser is an instrument that produces a very narrow, intense beam of light energy. When laser light comes in contact with soft tissue it causes a reaction. The beam of light produced by the laser has the ability to remove, vaporize or shape soft tissues such as the gums, cheeks and tongue. There are a variety of lasers that can be used to treat periodontal disease. Lasers can be used to remove inflamed tissues within a periodontal pocket while also sterilizing the pocket. Lasers can be used to trim away diseased gum tissue, increase the length of a tooth above the gum life so that crowns can be properly placed and can even remove muscle pulls and benign tumors. Laser treatment may be more comfortable than treatment with conventional instruments. The gum tissue may be removed without bleeding and swelling because the powerful light beam seals blood vessels and nerve endings. The aspect of laser surgery that most people appreciate is its comfort. While no treatment is always painless, the laser may reduce the need for postoperative pain medication and my reduce swelling and bleeding. The benefits of periodontal laser treatment include a faster healing time, a reduced risk of infection, less time in a dental chair, and less post-procedure pain.

Factors that Contribute to Periodontal Disease & Tooth Loss
 Smoking
 Stress/Tension
 Diet/Poor Nutrition
 Pregnancy
 Diabetes/Systemic Diseases
 Some Prescription Medications

Red’s Cosmetic Dental Spa is undergoing some changes! For those of you who are involved in Social Networking you can now find us on FACEBOOK! Look for us as “Red’s Cosmetic Dental Spa” and befriend us today!

We’re also making changes to our website. If you have constructive comments please let us know what you think; we value your opinion.

We have decided to participate in the 2009 Home Show again this year at the MB Convention Center! We will be giving out lots of prizes and rebates; especially for our BriteSmile teeth whitening procedure and the Invisalign way to straighten teeth. Visit us at the Convention Center September 18-20th to receive your rebates.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Consider this blog your news resource for information about oral health, dental procedures and technology, and what’s happening at your dentist’s office. We believe communication is key to building great doctor-patient relationships, and this dental blog is intended to keep us in touch with you. The best part is, you can simply bookmark this page in your browser, then visit whenever you like! Stay tuned for regular posts that will keep you informed. 

If you need to schedule an appointment or are “interviewing” us as your potential new dental provider, call today! You may also want to review information about us here.