Alex May, a lifelong Hattiesburg resident and dentist since 2016, is on a mission to improve the oral health of his patients and, in doing so, also assist with both their physical and emotional well-being.
The father of two – who is married to Tiffany – initially struggled to pick a career, and it was at his wife’s suggestion that he took up dentistry.
The field was a good fit for his varied interests, which include drawing, sculpting, photography and numerous branches of science, such as biology and chemistry.
“As soon as my wife suggested dentistry to me, it just sounded right, and the more I looked into it, the more it seemed like it was a good fit,” May said.
May applied for admission at the University of Mississippi Medical Center School of Dentistry in Jackson, and he was accepted into the program on the first try. It did not take him long to discover he was a “dyed in the wool” dentist.
“Once I found the style and philosophy of dentistry that I wanted to pursue, it really ignited my passion,” May said. “It showed me that I was just born to be a dentist.”
He practices biomimetic dentistry – which strives to preserve natural teeth and treat problems before they require reconstructive surgery – at the office of Virginia Tatum on South 28th Avenue in Hattiesburg.
A different approach
“Biomimetic means ‘mimicking life,’ and one aspect of that … the aspect that runs through all my procedures … is that I try to be as minimally invasive as possible,” May said. “So, I don’t prepare teeth for full coverage crowns because, in my opinion, it is just extremely aggressive.”
He added that when it is necessary – when a tooth is “badly broken down” and a crown would traditionally be prescribed – he will instead provide his patients with “partial coverage restoration.”
May explained that, when he goes to restore a tooth, he thinks about the process “from the inside out … and from the bottom up.”
“The tooth that we’re restoring, whether we’re sealing it off and protecting it before we put some sort of onlay or inlay on there to protect the tooth … the materials that I’m using, the bond – which is kind of like tooth glue – and the composites, or the tooth-colored filling materials … all of those materials are, to the best of our ability, mimicking their respective tooth structures,” May said.
Those structures include enamel on the outside of the tooth, which May likened to glass, and dentin on the inside of the tooth, which he compared to wood. The tooth also houses a nerve.
“Many times, we end up having materials that fill the hole in your tooth, and those do fine, but they end up not lasting a long time,” he said. “They may be a lot harder than the tooth or maybe a lot softer than the tooth, and, when the tooth is being used and chewed on … and it’s flexing the filling or the crown, and they don’t flex with it … those materials end up losing their bond, and it comes out, or it breaks.”
Instead of tolerating this typical process, May instead works within each layer in an effort to mimic its hardness and other characteristics.
“The reason for that is … whenever the tooth is being used, and the tooth is flexing – which they all do, even though they feel hard to us – the restoration moves with it, and the stress moves through the tooth as one unit,” he said. “As a result, the bond stays strong, fillings last longer, and the nerve stays happier.”
The importance of a smile
May said proper dental care – which includes regular dentist visits along with good dental hygiene – is important for a number of reasons, but he is particularly interested in the mental health benefits behind a bright smile.
“Of course, a nice smile plays a really big role in good mental health,” he said. “All too often, there are people – and I especially see it in men – who will forgo doing something for themselves cosmetically … and perhaps because of some sort of cultural norm. They allow their smile to go downhill over the years, and, after you gain their trust, they’ll tell you it’s something they haven’t been happy with for years.”
May added that people who are unhappy with the appearance of their teeth will modify the way they smile to avoid being noticed or to hide perceived flaws.
“This affects their ability to express happiness because, when they go to laugh or smile or talk, they develop these unconscious behaviors to hide their teeth,” he said. “It’s very unfortunate because it brings attention back to this self-conscious awareness of what you don’t like about your smile, and it takes you out of the moment. It takes you out of being able to share your emotions and express your happiness.”
Those feelings of inadequacy or shame can lead to substantial emotional damage over time, he noted, and that damage can, in turn, impact physical health.
May said oral health can affect the body in a myriad of other ways.
For example, the mouth is full of bacteria, and most of it is harmless. However, the mouth is the entry point for both digestive and respiratory tracts, and some bacteria can wreak havoc.
“The heart can be affected by the bacteria in the mouth, and the bacteria that lives in the stomach – the bacteria that helps us digest our food – can be affected by all the germs in the mouth,” he said. “Additionally, the bacteria that clings to our teeth and gums … it can affect people that have artificial heart valves or artificial joint replacements or certain heart defects that people are born with.”
May added that the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for good dental hygiene.
“One big thing that we’ve heard recently – and this was backed by research – was that the presence of gum disease or periodontal disease made people much more likely to contract COVID-19,” he said. “And, of course, as dentists, we see gum disease all the time.”
He said oral health problems can go unnoticed for long periods of time, and, during that period, serious damage can occur.
“It’s kind of like blood pressure,” May said. “People won’t even know it, but there’s something terribly wrong going on. And, because it doesn’t immediately cause a negative symptom – like a fever or some sort of pain – they often won’t pursue treatment. It can complicate not only oral health, but overall health … because it’s being shown, more and more, that oral health contributes to pretty much every other main system in the body.”
Tips for a healthy smile
May said he is often asked by patients – and even by friends, family members and random acquaintances – for his recommendations on improving oral hygiene or even for a list of his preferred drugstore brands and products.
He said his answer is always the same.
“The main thing is the frequency with which we clean our teeth and how well we do it when we do it,” May said.
He recommends brushing for two minutes twice a day with a fluoride toothpaste, and he also said to brush “at any time that you know you’ve eaten something where it’s gotten stuck to your teeth.”
“Just get in there, even without toothpaste, and knock it off your teeth, and that’s going to vastly improve your oral health in the long term,” May said.
Additionally, he recommends:
• “The main thing I look for in a toothpaste is that it’s not overly abrasive,” he noted.
He likes the brand Sensodyne, and he advises against charcoal toothpaste or brushing with baking soda, which can wear down enamel and cause yellow teeth.
• “Flossing is one of those things that nobody does exactly as often as they need to,” May said.
He advises using tools like dental picks, string floss, water flossers or tiny brushes that reach between the teeth, and this should be done on a daily basis.
• “It’s important to have a cleaning and a dental exam – with a full set of X-rays – every six months, which is really big for overall wellness,” he said. May added that check-ups are vital at any time but especially during a pandemic, which could see a dental emergency tacked on to an already overloaded hospital system.
“If you can be on top of these things … on top of your oral health … you’re definitely going to be thanking yourself in a couple of decades,” May said. “These things will make a huge difference with your enamel, the way your smile looks and your overall health.”
