While so much of our lives has changed over the last year, Westlake Dental Associates says keeping up with our dental health should still be a routine priority

By Adam Cook

Working from home, many of us now categorize sweatpants as appropriate business attire. While our pandemic routines are decidedly more relaxed in some areas, we still need to brush our teeth, even on those days when the only face-to-face interaction we’ll have is over Zoom.

Bad breath aside, that’s one habit we don’t want to let slide.

“Keep up with your daily routine,” says Dr. Chrys Constantinou, of Westlake Dental Associates. “Many of us are home for longer periods, making it easier to fall out of good habits.”

A lot of us are overdue for our six-month checkup, he notes. Routine checkups are as essential as brushing twice a day, which helps prevent plaque from turning into tartar, which only a trained dental hygienist can remove.

“It’s like having hard water,” says Dr. Constantinou. “You get noticeable scale buildup on the pipes, and you have to scrape it off. Something similar happens in the mouth. We have minerals in our saliva, plaque forms sticky proteins, and regular brushing and flossing won’t get rid of it.”

Lapses in a good dental hygiene routine can lead to gum disease and damage teeth’s supporting bone structure. The unsightly yellow layers of hardened plaque wear away and weaken enamel, causing cavities, tooth loss, and disease.

“On average, six months is when the plaque will build up to a point where bacteria damages the gum and bones and will cross over into a gum infection and then gum disease,” says Dr. Constantinou.

Still, these days, understandably, many of us are less concerned about buildup than we’d freely admit. Parenting in a pandemic is no picnic. The rigors of working from home, remote learning, and restless kids have left many of us out of breath.

“I’ve heard it often over the last few months, but the analogy of the oxygen mask on an airplane applies,” says Dr. Constantinou. “Take care of yourself, because if you’re depleted, you won’t be of service to anyone else either.”

In the pandemic’s early days, a sense of selflessness was evident in the decision of some front-line workers to sleep in a camper parked outside their homes rather than risk spreading the then-novel contagion to an aging parent or pregnant spouse.

“Patients that are high-risk or are taking care of a family member that falls in that category may feel apprehension about going to the dentist,” says Dr. Constantinou. “That’s understandable. During the early stages of the shutdown in March, none of us knew how the virus was transmitted. We’ve learned a lot since then.”

Dr. Constantinou, along with Dr. Jessica Reichard and Dr. Allyson McClendon, put into practice the philosophy of person-centered care and believe that what’s right for one patient may not be right for another.

“Do what you feel is necessary to keep yourself safe, but it turns out that the old ways of keeping our staff and patients healthy still apply—rigorous sterilization and disinfection protocols, and PPE, like masks, eyewear, and gloves,” says Dr. Constantinou. “It’s impossible to reduce risks to zero, but the last few months have shown us that going to the dentist is safe. There have been no reports of dental offices being major centers for spreading the virus.”

Even if we let our routines slide, the time is right for a personal check-in.

“It’s a stressful time,” says Dr. Constantinou. “No one should ever be embarrassed in their decision to take care of their mental and physical well-being.”

In these uncertain times, the best we can do is to be good to ourselves and others.

Westlake Dental Associates is located at 25575 Center Ridge Road in Westlake. To request an appointment, call 440-835-8999 or visit WestlakeDentalAssociates.com.