Dr. Melanie DeMaria

11/14/2024

🌟✈️🪖💙🇺🇸🦷😁 my Army patient brought me gifts…..

08/31/2024

Mouth breathing can be a contributing factor to poor dental health. Fix your breathing and you may be fixing your health in more ways than one. 🩵😌🦷👃🏻😴💤

08/31/2024

It’s official. 🩵 😌

08/14/2024

😃

05/07/2024

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04/28/2024

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04/05/2024

Low tongue posture may have many impacts on your health.

If you clench your teeth, it's likely you're not posturing your tongue in the right place. When the tongue muscles are untrained, the chewing or TMJ muscles turn on in general posture.

There are lesser known roles of the tongue in both widening the upper jaw and positioning the lower jaw in line with the nose are two ways that it may improve facial structure.

Issues with low tongue posture may include:
1 speech disorders (certain sounds)
2 sleep apnea (tongue falls back into throat associated with throat snoring)
3 breathing problems (low tongue posture increases risk of mouthbreathing)
4 swallowing problems (a tongue thrust swallow may distort the shape of the jaw and affect posture
5 sinus inflammation (lack of nasal breathing can associate with an immune response in the nose)

If you suffer from any of the issues above, it may be prudent to start to work on tongue posture.

Here's a start:

1) keep your mouth closed and your teeth gently apart.
2) move your tongue to the roof of your mouth and lightly press upwards
3) you should feel a little pressure throughout your palate
4) Position so as not block your airway as you breathe
5) Maintain this whenever you can.

The goal is this to become habit for you and the tongue to become stronger. It should also turn off the jaw muscles of the cheek and side of the head that can become sore due to constantly clenching teeth together.

Another consideration is your swallowing

During swallowing the tongue should press up to the palate but also a second movement to the side (into the back teeth).

So when you swallow you should first feel connection with the palate, and then a send wave of pressure up and a third wave outwards

Do you struggle with forward head and open mouth posture?

03/05/2024

❤️ my assistants

A huge shout out to all dental assistants for Dental Assistants Recognition Week! Thank you for all your hard work, dedication, and expertise to help keep smiles healthy & bright. You are truly the backbone of our team and we are so grateful for all you do!

02/23/2024

2024 topDentist ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ for Virginia Living©️ Magazine 💙🦷

01/01/2024

Nano-hydroxyapatite toothpaste ingredient is a must! 🦷💜

Guys, no pun intended, but this is a no-brainer.

For all the current research on hydroxyapatite, head to my website and search for…
🔎“Current Research on Hydroxyapatite Toothpaste Efficacy and Safety.”

📤 🔬Send this article to anyone fluoride-shaming you—including your dentist!

🦷💪🏼 Studies indicate there is no difference between hydroxyapatite and fluoride toothpastes when it comes to remineralization.

🤍🧠 When it comes to systemic health and whitening effects, hydroxyapatite performs better than fluoride.

12/23/2023

We should understand the science & biochemistry. Then it all makes sense. ❤️🦷

what if your oral care routine could help you lose weight? 🍔🍟🌭🍕

We used to think it was stretch receptors in the stomach that told us when we felt “full” enough to stop eating (satiety).

A brand new study out of UCSF challenges the traditional understanding of appetite control. This new research reveals that our sense of taste—not signals from the stomach—plays a critical role in regulating how much we eat.

But according to this study, it’s not volume of food in the stomach—it’s taste that determines whether or not we feel satisfied after eating.

👅🦠So, how do you know your taste buds are working at their full potential?

As it turns out, an oral microbiome dysbiosis blunts your ability to taste certain foods. Another study, “Oral Health and Microbiome: Implications for Taste” (2021) demonstrates the relationship between our ability to taste and state of the oral microbiome.

So, what can you do?

1) Use toothpaste. Ditch any toothpaste with emulsifiers, surfactants, essential oils or other oral microbiome disruptors. Read more on my website here about toothpaste ingredients.

2) Floss. I recommend or a PFA-free floss. Recommendations linked on my website askthedentist.com/shop and at Link in Bio

3. Tongue scrape with a stainless steel tongue scraper

4. Take an oral probiotic. I recommend

5. Nourish your oral microbiome with prebiotic food, like my oral microbiome omelet (on askthedentist.com)

6. Take my Oral Microbiome Reset course at courses.askthedentist.com (link in bio)

Studies mentioned:

Ly, T., Oh, J.Y., Sivakumar, N. et al. Sequential appetite suppression by oral and visceral feedback to the brainstem. Nature 624, 130–137 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06758-2

Ganesan, S.M., Maki, K.A., Kandaswamy, E. (2021). Oral Health and Microbiome: Implications for Taste: State-of-the-Science on the Role of Oral Health and Emerging Science of the Microbiota and its Implications for Taste. In: Joseph, P.V., Duffy, V.B. (eds) Sensory Science and Chronic Diseases. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-86282-4_11

12/15/2023

👄👄👄👄❤️

12/14/2023

Don’t let your dental benefits expire for this year! I’m working all the way up until the last few days of the year. Please call me if you need an appointment. Especially for your kids home from college….I will fit them in! 🩵🦷😁 ALSO….We also have a new diode laser 💥 to help with mouth ulcers, fever blisters, deep tissue pockets, TMJ pain….please ask me about it! Our *Opalescence GO whitening* kits work…and make great stocking stuffers! ❄️🎄🎅🏼🌟

12/06/2023

12/06/2023

Thanks Dr. Zimnes. Great info 💚🦷