Thank you, Karen! You and all of our patients help make this practice great!

Remember, if you’d like to setup an appointment with Hagen Dental, visit the About Us page on our website or stop in our office. Or, “follow” us on Twitter and “like” us on Facebook!

That being said, in the era of cyber-bullying and growing up too fast, most people can agree that promoting teen self-esteem can go a long way in setting them on the right track for the future. Hagen Dental would like to help!

We are experts in enhancing smiles to make them even more beautiful. We offer services, including Invisalign and Zoom! Whitening, to name a few, so we can do our part in helping our patient’s be able to smile with confidence…really no matter the age!

Check out our services tab on our website for more detailed information. If you’d like to setup an appointment with Hagen Dental, visit the About Us page on our website or stop in our office. Or, “follow” us on Twitter and “like” us on Facebook.

The ability to cause injury — and some real damage — to your smile!

In fact, more than 200,000 mouth injuries occur each year as a result of sports. Ten to twenty percent of these injuries are what Dentists like to call: maxillofacial. Basically, it’s a big word that means the injuries are traumatic enough to cause a loss of function or disfigurement! Scary fact: sports are responsible for 10 percent of these injuries (which tells you just how many mouth-related accidents can occur.)

Specifically, basketball, soccer, baseball, softball, field hockey, and gymnastics are accountable for the majority of youth mouth injuries. Among high-school athletes, basketball and baseball alone account for 40 percent of dental injuries. Case in point: 75 percent of these injuries and 56 percent of all concussions occurred when athletes were not wearing a mouthguard.

When it comes to protecting against balls and elbows in sports, a mouthguard is key. (Other than not playing!) Mouthguards can protect the lips, cheeks, tongue, teeth, and jaw upon impact. In fact, with out a mouthguard, athletes are 60 times more likely to get an injury…who wants to take that risk? (We don’t!)

Curious as too what specific injuries we are talking about?

• Dental fractures
• Lacerations of lips, tongue, and cheeks
• Avulsions (tearing away of pulling off)
• Luxations (joint dislocation, in this case, the jaw)
• Concussions

So, you don’t want this to happen to you or someone you love. Thankfully, the American Dental Association and Hagen Dental Practice both agree on what the best option is: a custom fit mouth guard can go a long way in ensuring the safety and dental well being of anyone who participates in sport activities! Remember, our main objective is to keep our patients smiles healthy and looking great.

Want some more information, check out our Question of the Week: Why Wear an Athletic Mouthguard? post.

If you’d like to setup an appointment with Hagen Dental, visit the About Us page on our website or stop in our office. Or, “follow” us on Twitter and “like” us on Facebook!

Survival rates for those who suffer from oral cancer are extremely low compared to other cancers. In fact, its roughly a 41 percent 10-year survival rate. The best preventative measure is early detection, which is why Hagen completes about 50 VELscope®-specific oral cancer screenings each month (and we screen each patient for cancer each time they are in.)

We also encourage patients to be open and honest about risk factors. These include:

• Personal or family history of cancer
• Exposure to the sun
• Tobacco use
• Alcohol abuse

Additionally, we encourage patients to tell Dr. Hagen if they notice common symptoms such as discolored white and red patches, bleeding, swelling, or persistent sores on the face, neck, or mouth. Awareness of these symptoms is incredibly important because it drives patients to get screened sooner than later. There are about 30,000 new cases or oral cancer each year in the United States  and it is not uncommon for patients to come in for screenings only after the cancer is already in an advanced stage.

If you’ve noticed a change in your oral health or have not yet come in for your screening. Call Hagen today!

Want to learn more about the screening? Find information on VELscope® here.

What to do when you think you may have a cavity? Call Dr. Hagen! He’ll get you fixed up right away – and you won’t feel a thing!

So why do visits require numbing anyway? The reason why dentists numb patients before filling a cavity is because the bacteria that initially caused the decay needs to be professionally cleaned out. To completely ensure our patient’s comfort, we use The Wand™, which is an alternative anesthesia that painlessly numbs the area being worked on.

There are a few reasons why you want to be numb during this process.

Cavities can hurt and cause tooth aches because they expose a nerve that is located underneath your tooth. When something touches this nerve, you experience a shooting pain. Additionally, we want to ensure that when he fills a cavity, we are not filling on top of tooth decay. This means that he needs to remove any decay that is still present on your tooth (and potentially around an exposed nerve). We can do this with a few hand held tools that quickly remove bacteria and damaged tooth structure. You don’t feel pain or discomfort because the area is numb!

Once the area is cleaned, Dr. Hagen fills the tooth and shapes it so that you’re able to chew and speak normally.

You won’t be numb for more than an hour or two after the procedure, and during this time, we recommend that you do not eat.

Want to set up an appointment? Call Hagen Dental at 513-251-5500 and schedule an appointment today!

Calling all Reds fans! Hagen’s April basket contest was launched a few weeks ago on Facebook and is dedicated to the opening of the Reds season!

The basket, which conveniently doubles as a cooler, contains 
a water bottle, earphones, a signed baseball, a baseball bat, a talking/musical picture frame, a hat, a flag for your car, Cracker 
Jacks, Big League chewing gum, and a Reds message fan.

We think this basket will be our best one yet! 



Rules to enter:

• You need to GUESS HOW MANY PEANUTS are in the jar
• One entry per family
• There are two ways you can enter
• At Hagen Dental (one entry for each appointment you come in for)
• Once online (Facebook or this blog)

The winner will be picked on April 23rd. Good luck!

Each year, about 30,000 Americans are diagnosed with oral cancer. The cancer is much more prominent in males and is generally diagnosed in patients 60 years and older. It is historically discovered late in its development, which means that it is likely to be at a high risk cancer stage. Early stages of oral cancer do not always cause painful symptoms, so the disease often goes unnoticed. These are reasons why Hagen tests all our adult patients yearly for oral cancer with VELscope®, regardless of any risk factors. (We also always recommend a VELscope® screening to anyone who feels they may be at risk.)

Below are some risk factors taken from the National Cancer Institute:

• Tobacco use
• Heavy alcohol use
• HPV
• Personal history of oral cancer
• An unhealthy diet
• Betel nut use

Here are some noticeable symptoms we have taken from the Oral Cancer Foundation:

• A mouth sore that does not heal within two week
• Thickening of the cheek tissue
• Patches of white or red discoloring on the gums, tongue, tonsil or mouth lining
• Sore throat
• Jaw and tongue tenseness
• Tongue and mouth numbing
• Swelling of the jaw
• Chronic hoarseness

VELscope® is non-invasive and has a fluorescence technology that facilitates earlier detection of abnormal tissue. During the procedure, VELscope® shines a safe blue light into your oral cavity. While  healthy tissue glows, abnormal or suspicious tissue remains dark.

VELscope® will detect, but not confirm that a patient has oral cancer. If detected, Hagen will recommend you to a specialist for a biopsy. VELscope® will detect any abnormality before it is visible to the human eye. It is a short exam and is recognized by the World Health Organization.

Do you think you may be at risk? To learn more about VELscope® call Hagen Dental at 513-251-5500 and schedule an appointment.

Just have a baby? No need to rush to Hagen just yet! Your child’s first dental visit should be around age 3, and we pride ourselves on not only committing to quality service, but also ensuring our patients are comfortable. This is especially important for kids! We want their first visit to be memorable – but only in a good way!

If your child has not been to the dentist yet – but is old enough to know how to tie their shoe – you should know your child also has the ability, and should know how, to brush their teeth! Of course it is important to teach them WHY it’s important and HOW they should be brushing. You can use musical toothbrushes, an egg timer, or a song to ensure they are brushing for long enough (two minutes).

For more on child dentistry visit our New Patients tab on our website.

It prevents bad breath and gum disease. We can’t always see plaque, bacteria, or food particles between our teeth, and if we’re not in the habit of flossing, we can hardly feel that our teeth are still dirty – even after a good brush.

Our toothbrush bristles cannot reach hidden plaque and other decay-causing bacteria. Floss does. In fact, it cleans 33% of your total tooth surface.

Now we’re not kids anymore and we get the point. But, yet, not everyone flosses. Why is this?

Our patients find that flossing is very easy to forget about, especially if they are not used to doing it every night. Hagen understands that if you don’t floss already, it’s hard to make it a habit. So we’ve provided a few pointers that may help you start:

• Step one is getting the floss into your home
• Keep your floss next to your toothbrush – not hidden in a drawer
• Try to floss at LEAST once a day
• Floss before you brush. (Rinse with a mouthwash after)
• Use up to 18 inches of floss each time
• Don’t cheat by skipping one or two days – make it a habit and it will automatically become part of your routine!

Check out these other flossing tips by the ADHA.

If you have any questions or comments, ask on our Facebook or Twitter, or give us a call at 513.251.5500! We’re always happy to help.

We’ve decided to dedicate our most current contest giveaway to Valentine’s Day. So, of course, what better way to celebrate than giving one lucky patient a basket full of dentist-approved goodies to make your smile more kissable! Our “Make Your Smile More Kissable” basket includes, Oxyfresh toothpaste and mouth rinse, toothbrushes, floss, tongue cleaner, chapstick, calendar, coffee mug, chocolate, gum, and a $25.00 gift card for Zoom! Teeth Whitening.

The Zoom! Teeth Whitening gift card can be applied to a $399.00 Zoom! special we are currently running.

To enter the contest, post your name in the comment box below or visit us on Facebook
and do the same! We will draw one name on Monday, February 20, 2012 and will notify the winner via Facebook message. Good luck!

If you’d like to setup an appointment with Hagen Dental, visit the About Us page on our website or stop in our office. Or, “follow” us on Twitter and “like” us on Facebook! Happy Valentine’s Day!