Cold Sores - Treatment

Some medicines can help cold sores heal faster. They also relieve pain and discomfort. The medicines are acyclovir (Zovirax), famciclovir (Famvir) and valacyclovir (Valtrex). These drugs cannot get rid of the virus. You need to take them each time you can feel a cold sore coming on. Once you have blisters on your lip, the medicines will not help much.

These drugs also can stop cold sores from popping up in the first place. Some people take them when they know they will be under stress.

Keep the area clean and apply lip balm. Try not to touch the area. Avoid kissing anyone while you have blisters and sores.

Cold Sores - Prevention

To help to prevent a first herpes infection in children do not let them be kissed by anyone who has cold sores, fever blisters or signs of a first herpes infection. However, HSV-1 is very common. Most children will be infected by the time they reach adulthood. Several different vaccines are being developed against HSV (types 1 and 2), but these appear to protect only people who have never been infected.

There is evidence that using sunscreen on your lips will prevent cold sores caused by sun exposure. Antiviral medicines may prevent cold sores from forming. In certain situations, your dentist or physician may prescribe these medicines. If you are going to encounter a known trigger, a medicine taken in advance can decrease the chance of a cold sore.

Cold Sores - Duration

When you are first infected with HSV-1, symptoms can last for 7 to 14 days. Cold sores usually crust within 4 days and heal completely within 8 to 10 days.

Cold Sores - Diagnosis

Your dentist or physician usually can diagnose cold sores by asking you about your medical history and examining you. If you have other medical conditions, your physician can do other tests to diagnose cold sores. These tests are usually not necessary in healthy people.

Cold Sores - Symptoms

People infected with HSV-1 for the first time may have fever, headache, nausea and vomiting. They may have painful swelling and open sores in the mouth. Some people have a sore throat. These symptoms usually begin about a week after someone is exposed to HSV-1.

Cold sores appear when HSV-1 is reactivated later in life. They may occur after a period of illness or stress, poor nutrition or sunlight exposure, or for no known reason. Dental procedures that stretch the lip may occasionally trigger the virus.

The border of the lip is the most common place that these sores appear. They may occasionally occur inside the mouth, too. This is more likely in people who have weakened immune systems or other medical problems.

The first sign of a cold sore is a tingling, burning or itching. This is followed by swelling and redness. Within 24 to 48 hours, one or more tiny blisters ("fever blisters") appear. These blisters pop and form painful sores ("cold sores"). The sores eventually are covered by crusts. The crusts are shed and form again while the sore heals.

Cold Sores "101"

Cold sores and fever blisters are caused by herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1). This virus is passed from person to person by saliva, or by skin contact. Cold sores usually appear as clusters of tiny blisters on the lip. Most people are first infected with HSV-1 before they are 10 years old.

After this first infection, the virus remains in the nerves of the face. In some people, the virus becomes active again from time to time. When this happens, cold sores appear. HSV-1 can get active again because of a cold or fever.

Stress also can lead to a cold sore outbreak. This includes mental and emotional stress, as well as dental treatment, illness, trauma to the lips or sun exposure. HSV-1 also can infect the eyes, the skin of the fingers and the genitals. Most genital herpes infections are caused by herpes simplex type 2 (HSV-2), however.

HSV-1 can cause serious illness in people who have other health problems. The virus also can cause serious illness in people whose immune systems are weakened by either illness or medications they are taking.

Cosmetic Dentistry

Cosmetic dentistry is one of the hottest specialties in dentistry at the moment. More and more people are seeking the help of cosmetic dentists. There are a number of ways through which a cosmetic dentist can help you.

If your teeth happen to have gotten discolored - either as a result of the water you drank in your formative years or as a result of your smoking habit, you may find the prospect of having them whitened again appealing. This is something a cosmetic dentist can help you with. Of course, there are some teeth whitening agents you can use on your own - but the best advice in this regard is always that it is better to see a dentist who can advise you on what the best teeth whitening agents are, and what the right way to use them is. Indeed, people who opt to go about teeth whitening on their own are sternly warned of some scary potential side effects, like excessive dental sensitivity as a result of using the wrong teeth whitening agents and using them in the wrong way.

If your teeth happen to have fallen out of alignment, or if you were born with naturally misaligned teeth, a cosmetic dentist can help you to improve your dental appearance. The dentist will, for instance, advice you on what the best dental braces to wear are and what the right way to wear them is, so as to get your teeth perfectly aligned again. Teeth alignment might not seem like much (in terms of its effect on a person's appearance), but getting misaligned teeth back in proper alignment can have an amazing effect on the appearance of the person in question. Like teeth whitening, you can of course opt to try to realign your teeth yourself (by buying dental braces over the counter and starting to wear them) - but better results are always guaranteed with the input of a cosmetic dentist.

If you have lost one or a number of your teeth, with the result affecting your look negatively, a cosmetic dentist can help you by recommending replacements for the lost tooth, if only for cosmetic purposes. Loss of some teeth, especially the most visible teeth (like the ones in front of the mouth) can have a significant effect on the appearance of the person losing them. Some image conscious people have actually been known to become extremely depressed upon losing such 'prominent' teeth. Yet with the help of a cosmetic dentist, it is possible to put in place close substitutes, that are as good looking (if not better looking) than the lost teeth: hence giving yourself a new 'lease of life' in today's extremely image conscious society.

Of course, a cosmetic-dentist, while specialized in cosmetic dentistry issues, can also help with the other normal dental issues: tooth ache, gum ache and so on. Before he or she can become a cosmetic dentist, they have to first go through a course of training in general dentistry. So there is no point suffering in agony of these other dental problems when you have a cosmetic dentist nearby, thinking that he or she is just a cosmetician and can't help with those other woes. Most 'ordinary' dental woes are things the cosmetic dentist can also help with, in addition to the cosmetic issues in which the cosmetic dentist specializes.

What Makes a Good Dentist

If you are out shopping for a dentist, then chances are that you will not just be looking for a dentist, but specifically for a good dentist. After all, don't we all have vestiges of 'dental phobia' in us? And don't we all have a liking for good doctors, and an aversion for 'not so good' doctors? In the face of all this, as you go shopping for a personal dentist, you may find a checklist of 'features' that go into the making of a good dentist handy.

Incontestably, a good dentist is one who is kind. Okay, all dentists, like indeed all doctors, have some degree of professional kindness in them. But given two dentists- one who seems to be of genuinely kind disposition and another who seems to be only 'professionally kind' most of us would opt for the apparently genuinely kinder dentist. The need for a kind dentist is especially great if you are shopping for family dentist, and you happen to have some young kids. This is given that if your dentist doesn't come across as very kind to your kids, they may develop an aversion to him or her - and hence to all future dentists (thus planting into their minds the seeds of dental phobia).

A good dentist is one who is easily reachable. Sometimes, dental emergencies do occur, and you may want to have a dentist who can at least advice you in the moment on what the best course of action is, even if he or she is not immediately available for consultation.

In many people's opinion, a good dentist is one who is experienced. It is appreciated that dentistry is a very practical field, one in which experience in various procedures does come in handy. Thankfully, every dentist comes with some degree of practical experience (even the one graduating from dental school today), seeing that dentist training comes with some degree of practical exposure in real clinical environments. Many people, however, do consider dentists with post-graduation experience better candidates for retention as personal dentists.

In many people's opinion, too, a good dentist is one with whom you can create good rapport with easily. This is perhaps part of the first point mentioned, with regard to a good dentist being kind - but it is worth of special mention on its own. If you go for a routine dental visit to a 'random dentist' and you find yourself establishing good rapport over the course of your consultation session, you may consider making him or her your personal dentist.

In parts of the world where these issues are not very properly regulated, a good dentist would also have to be one who is qualified (seeking that where the profession is unregulated, quacks do tend to come up). So while it may be hard to find an unqualified person practicing as a 'dentist' in a place like say the United States, it is very possible to find such an unqualified (or more commonly, partially qualified) person 'practicing' as a dentist in some parts of Africa or Asia. Hence the listing of the 'proper qualification' as one of the factors that go into the making of a good dentist.

How Often to Visit a Dentist

The question as to how often one needs to visit a dentist (for a general check up) is a commonly asked one in forums where health concerns are addressed. It is a question that can be seen as arising from a number of factors. One of those factors is perhaps a subconscious fear many of us have, of the dentist. After all, isn't a visit to the dentist likely to see the doctor discover one or another problem, whose tackling requires one or another painful procedure? For this reason, many of us choose to keep the visits to the dentist at a bare minimum - and then starting looking for reassurance that we are doing just fine.

Going through most health resources, it would seem that the recommended (minimum) frequency with which you should visit a dentist is twice a year. In other words, you do need to see a dentist, for a routine check after (at most) every six months. And in other words yet, if it is more than six months since you last saw a dentist for a dental check up, then you are violating a major medical check up rule, and are at risk of developing major problems undetected.

It is worth mentioning, however, that seeing your dentist for a general check up once every six months is only a bare minimum. It works well if you don't have any major dental issues, and if you are not particularly predisposed to them. But if you have an issue that predisposes you in a special way to dental issues (for instance, if you have a disease like diabetes, then you may be advised to see your dentist more often for general check ups).

A person with a condition like diabetes, for instance, is advised to visit a dentist for a general check up every four months or so. This is because diabetes predisposes one to many dental problems (with higher odds of contracting such problems than someone without diabetes). Furthermore, a person with a condition like diabetes, when faced with certain advanced dental problems, is likely to encounter unique challenges in seeking treatment for them than a person without diabetes. This is especially the case if the person in question delays seeking treatment for the dental problem, to an extent that they have to go for surgery - seeing that performing dental surgery on a diabetic is never quite easy.

If you find it hard summoning the courage to visit your dentist regularly for check-up, there are a number of factors you can use to motivate yourself. One is the fact that although a dental check up may reveal major dental issues requiring unpleasant procedures to deal with, chances are that the dentist is likely to give you time to 'get ready' before getting the procedure done. The dentist can never quite force you into a procedure you are not ready for. In any case, if you opt not to go for a dental check up, the underlying dental issues could only get worse - which translates to even more unpleasant procedures in the future, to address the advanced dental problems.

Dental Tourism Destinations

The more coveted and popular dental tourism destinations for people of USA and Canada are Mexico, Costa Rica, and Panama. These are cheap and closer to home. People of European countries mostly choose Hungary or Turkey since those countries are closer to them. Other countries which are ideal for everyone, because of the expertise of the doctors and best dental treatment technologies, are India, Thailand, and Singapore