Home
About

Cool Dental
in Lethbridge, Alberta

Dr. Karstan Lachman

Dr. Lachman is a general dentist whom has taken numerous extensive post-graduate courses in craniomandibular and temporal mandibular joint disorder diagnosis and treatment. Dr. Lachman has a special focus on various treatment modalities for treating temporal mandibular joint disorders and works closely with other health practitioners.
Services

General Dental Services Lethbridge, Alberta

Dr. Karstan Lachman

Whether your dental needs are a complete exam and cleaning, a full-mouth restoration, or anything in between, we promise to provide you with exceptional care as we enhance the natural beauty of your smile. Come in and find out how we can help.
For Patients
Before / After
Book Appointment
Contact Us
Blog

(403) 382-2273

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’s both safe and comfortable.

Our office follows infection control recommendations made by the Alberta Dental Association and College (ADA&C), Health Canada and the Canadian Centre For Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS).

We want to tell you about the infection control procedures we follow in our practice to keep patients and staff safe.

To ensure the health and well-being of our patients and team members, we have installed 2 different types of air purifiers at our dental office. Both of these are manufactured by the Canadian company, Surgically Clean Air.

CASCADE WHITE - The Cascade White is the first unit you will see when you enter our office. We have placed this in the waiting area because this is the largest room in our office. The Cascade White is able to filter up to 576 cubic feet per minute.

The Cascade White filter has 6 stages of filtration including UV sterilization, plus two additional negative ion chambers to ensure the air is as fresh as possible. These six filters capture 99.998% of dust particles, pollen, volatile organic chemicals (VOCs), mold, allergens, viruses, odors (like formaldehyde and smoke), bio-aerosols, laughing gas, and many other pollutants that are found in the inside air. The negative ion generator makes the indoor environment feel more pure, clean, and energized.

JADE - The Jade filter is what you will find in each of our operatories. The Jade filters still have the same 6 stage filtering system and will move 383 cubic feet per minute. This means the Jade will filter all the air in a 10 x 10 room in about 2 minutes.

Both of these filters perform their duties without being loud, (an industry-leading low level of about 55DB) or creating a “breeze” that can be uncomfortable for our patients.

Some additional changes you may also see when it is time for your next appointment. For example:

Our office will communicate with you beforehand to ask some screening questions. You’ll be asked those same questions again when you are in the office. We will not allow patients to enter our office who have symptoms or have traveled outside of Canada in the last 2 weeks.
We have hand sanitizer that we will ask you to use when you enter the office. You will also find some in the reception area and other places in the office for you 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.
In the interest of physical distancing, we are advising all adult patients to attend the office alone to prevent crowding.
Appointments will be managed to allow for social distancing between patients. That might mean that you’re 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 to reduce the number of patients in the reception area at any one time.
For our safety and yours, we currently cannot accept walk-ins.

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 (403) 382‑2273.

So come on in to get your dental work done and enjoy Surgically Clean Air!

SELF-MANAGEMENT FOR TMD AND JAW PAIN

We use our mouths for many activities: talking, eating, yawning, and laughing. When we are not engaged in these, we need to allow our jaw muscles and joints to relax. Research shows that significant pain reduction and improved function can be obtained with self-management. The steps listed below will help you learn to relax these muscles and joints -and reduce the jaw pain you are experiencing.

1. Eat soft foods. Confine your diet to soft foods such as casseroles, canned fruit, soups, eggs and yogurt. Do not chew gum or eat hard foods (such as raw carrots) or chewy foods (such as caramels, steak or bagels).Cut other food into small pieces, and chew on both sides of your mouth simultaneously to reduce the strain on one side.

2. Rest your jaw muscles. Keep your teeth apart and practice good posture. When you are not chewing your teeth should never touch (except occasionally when you swallow). Closely monitor your jaw position for signs of clenching. Try placing your tongue lightly on the top of your mouth behind your upper front teeth, allowing the teeth to come apart and relaxing the jaw muscles.

Good head, neck and back posture help maintain good jaw posture. Try to hold your head up straight, and use a small pillow or rolled towel to support your lower back.Avoid habits such as resting your jaw in your hand or cradling the telephone against your shoulder.

Some simple exercises are effective in improving muscle and joint function, reducing day and night time clenching and reducing pain. Repeat these simple exercises as often as possible during the day.

N-Position Exercise. This is a very effective muscle relaxation exercise. When we say the “N” sound; our tongue rests on the bony platform behind the upper front teeth. Place the tongue in the N-position. Image the jaws and mouth are hanging from the tongue and the lips are slightly parted. Let the jaw muscles go limp. You should feel the jaw muscles let go of their tension. Try to keep the teeth apart and the tongue in the N-position during the day. Studies have shown that this exercise can reduce the amount and intensity of nighttime clenching.

Jaw Stretches Two stretches are use to loosen tight jaw muscles. The first is a regular stretch of the jaws where you open as far as possible. (Note: If your problem includes hyper-mobility problems [open locking], do not do these stretches!) The second stretch is performed by placing your tongue in the N-Position and opening as wide as possible. This stretch works on the deeper part of the jaw muscle which regular stretches do not help.

Hinge Exercise. This exercise disturbs the habit of jaw clenching and moves helps lubricate the internal joint surfaces. This exercise is done by rapidly opening and closing your mouth. Repeat the cycle ten times rapidly. The opening should be no more than the width of your thumb. Do not hit your teeth together.

3. Heat Treatment. Applying moist heat to painful muscles will increase circulation and help reduce waste products from your muscles. Apply moist heat (such as hot moist towels) to the painful areas of the head and neck. Most people prefer heat, but ice (a bag of frozen peas works well) is also effective.

Do not put ice directly against skin, rather wrap in a thin cloth.
A damp hand towel heated in a microwave oven works well for moist heat.
Apply moist heat (or ice) for a total of twenty minutes two to four times each day.
Leave on for five minutes-then remove for five minutes to allow skin to rest in between applications.

4. Avoid caffeine. Caffeine stimulates your muscles to contract and become tenser. Caffeine and caffeine-like drugs are in coffee, tea, most sodas and chocolate. Reducing caffeine use can significantly reduce muscle tension.

5. Sleep smart. Avoid sleeping habits that strain your jaw muscles or joints. Don’t sleep on your stomach, and if you sleep on your side, keep your neck and jaw aligned.

6. Use medications. Use anti-inflammatory and pain-reducing medications like Aleve, ibuprofen (Motrin), Tylenol, and aspirin to reduce joint and muscle pain.Avoid medications with caffeine, such as Anacin or Excedrin. Be aware that continued use of the medications can cause “rebound headaches” when patients suddenly stop taking the meds.