Dentist in Terrell & Rockwall, TX | Why Quitting Smoking Can Save Your Oral Health

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We hope this letter finds you and your family in good health. Our community has been through a lot over the last few months, and we are all looking forward to resuming our normal habits and routines. While many things have changed, one thing has remained the same: our commitment to your safety.

Infection control has always been a top priority for our practice, and you may have seen this during your visits to our office. Our infection control processes are made so that when you receive care, it is both safe and comfortable. We want to tell you about the infection control procedures we follow in our practice to keep patients and staff safe.

Our office follows infection control recommendations made by the American Dental Association® (ADA), the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). We follow the activities of these agencies so that we are up to date on any new rulings or guidance that may be issued. We do this to make sure that our infection control procedures are current and adhere to each agency's recommendations.

Although Governor Abbot allowed dentists in the state of Texas to begin seeing patients beginning May 4, 2020, we waited an additional week to make double sure the safety of our patients and staff were not at risk.

You may see some changes when it is time for your next appointment. We made these changes to help protect our patients and staff. For example:

Our office will communicate with you beforehand to ask some screening questions. You will be asked those same questions again when you are in the office.
We have hand sanitizer that we ask you to use when you enter the office. You will also find some in the reception area and other places in the office to use as needed.
You may see that our waiting room will no longer offer magazines, children's toys and so forth since those items are difficult to clean and disinfect.
Appointments will be managed to allow for social distancing between patients. That might mean you are offered fewer options for scheduling your appointment.
We will do our best to allow greater time between patients to reduce waiting times for you, as well as reducing the number of patients in the reception area at any one time.
We are urging anyone accompanying or transporting a patient to the scheduled appointment to remain in their car while the dental treatment is occurring OR drop off the patient and we can call you at the conclusion of the dental appointment to return and pick up the scheduled patient.

We look forward to seeing you again and are happy to answer any questions you may have about the steps we take to keep you, and every patient, safe in our practice. To make an appointment, please call our office at 972-563-1670 or visit our website at scottervindds.com.

Thank you for being our patient. We value your trust and loyalty and look forward to welcoming back our patients, neighbors and friends.

Sincerely,

Scott A. Ervin, DDS and Staff

972-563-1670 606 N Rockwall Ave.
Terrell, TX 75160

Posted September 22, 2017.

Studies have overwhelmingly shown smoking to be bad for your health, and can cause many diseases, most commonly cancers, such as lung and oral cancer. There are a number of adverse effects smoking has on your oral health. Here is why quitting smoking can save your oral health, including your teeth – and ultimately your life.

First of all, it is no mystery that smoking – even smokeless tobacco, and chewing tobacco can cause mild issues from bad breath and tooth discoloration; however, there are many more dental conditions – even serious oral disease directly related to smoking; these include:

• Gum disease – people who smoke has an increased risk of producing bacterial plaque, leading to gum disease. Gums are affected because smoking results in a lack of oxygen in the bloodstream, so if you have infected gums, they will not heal.

• Delayed healing from oral surgery – Again, because of the reduced oxygen in the blood, healing is delayed, since we need oxygen in the tissues to heal.

• Oral Cancer – because tobacco passes through the lips, mouth, teeth, and tongue, there is a much higher incidence of developing oral cancer and is vital to schedule an appointment with Dr. Scott A. Ervin to get an examination that includes an oral cancer screening.

• Cavities – since smoking causes an increase in plaque, your chances of getting decay are much higher.

• Bad breath – Every time you smoke, there are more than 4,000 chemicals that pass through your oral cavity, with many ending up collecting in your mouth’s surface; it also dries out your mouth and can lead to gum infection and sinus disease, resulting in post-nasal drip.

For more information on quitting, please contact our dentist at Scott A. Ervin DDS PA. You can reach out by calling 972-563-1670. Let us help you quit smoking and save your dental health in Terrell, Texas.