Oral restoration options at the Cygnet Dental Practice.

For most people, having a healthy set of teeth is not overly difficult. With good home care and regular dental visits, most of us will go through life with relatively healthy teeth, perhaps having a few fillings and even the odd extraction.

On the whole though, our oral health does not affect our lives too significantly. This is not the case with everyone though, and some people seem to be ‘plagued’ with poor dental health throughout their lives.

Some of this may be down to long term poor oral health care or even long term medical issues. Others may just be unfortunate to have very poor quality teeth due to genetics. This can have a major impact on people’s lives, both from a practical viewpoint, but also from a mental health perspective too. Being so embarrassed about our teeth can lead us to avoiding social events, or even people, altogether.

In today’s blog, we take a look at the treatments that we have on offer that can help our local Wickford and Rayleigh patients restore their teeth and get their oral health back on course.

Make an appointment

Whatever the reason for your poor oral health, it is never too late to do something about it. Whilst we may not be able to give you a new set of natural teeth, there are many procedures now available that make a great job of restoring damaged teeth and, where that is not possible, replacing them with a realistic alternative.

Before any of this is possible though, the patient has to take the first step and make an appointment to see one of the dentists at the Cygnet Dental Practice for a thorough examination. This will enable us to discuss an effective treatment plan for your own particular situation. The first step will be to treat any issues of immediate concern such as decaying teeth or gum health issues. Once we have achieved a good level of general oral health, we can then start looking at restoring your teeth to a condition where they are both functional and visually appealing.

Restorations

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A look at some of the challenges and tips for better oral health through flossing.

It is the start of a new year, and perhaps no better time to start to make changes to our lives. There are many pieces of advice that we offer our Wickford patients to help them to have better oral health, but perhaps one of the most simple of these is the introduction of dental floss into their daily routine, for those who currently don’t do it.

There is every chance that you don’t use dental floss at this point. Nearly four in five of us don’t do this, yet it is a simple task that takes very little time, yet really can contribute significantly to a healthier mouth.

Types of flossing

Before we look at the ‘hows’, it is worth acknowledging that there are now a variety of methods available. Not only the string type of floss that most of our patients are probably familiar with, but also inter-dental sticks and even water flossers. Whilst all of these have their advocates (and opposers), the view of our Cygnet Dental Practice team is that the standard ‘string’ type of floss is more than adequate for the job.

Starting to floss

We know, from patient feedback, that some people really do find it a struggle to floss between their teeth. It is true that it can be a little fiddly initially, but most people soon get the hang of it and it is certainly worth persevering with. If you really do struggle after watching tutorial videos etc, then pop along to our Wickford dental practice. We will be only too happy to offer our help and advice!

When you start flossing, it is worth remembering that you only need to do so in the evening (though some may wish to remove stubborn food directly after a meal too) and should be done, ideally,  after you brush your teeth. If you can only brush before though, or find that much easier to do, it is much better to do so than not to floss at all.

Initial bleeding

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How a healthy mouth contributes towards this important process.

Many patients tend to think of teeth as solid objects, whereas they actually consist of several layers. The exterior enamel layer is hard and offers the necessary strength to chew and bite our food.

The layer beneath, the dentin layer, is softer and porous and allows ‘access’ to the nerves which are stored in the root canals of the tooth. It is the enamel layer which we see when we look in the mirror though, and what many of us may be unaware of is, that when we eat, we lose some of the minerals from this layer, causing it to soften just a little.

This softening is not something that our Wickford patients would notice, but for a short period of time, with the loss of some of these minerals which include calcium and phosphate, our teeth are a little more vulnerable to problems such as decay and acid damage.

A word about brushing your teeth

Before we move on to discuss the remineralisation process, it is probably a good time to mention that, due to the softer nature of our teeth following a meal, it is a good idea to allow at least 30 minutes to lapse after we have finished eating before we brush our teeth. If we brush before then, the enamel is softer and more vulnerable and may result in some enamel erosion. Doing this on a regular basis can cause significant long term damage to our teeth.

What happens during remineralisation?

As we lose minerals from our teeth when we eat, so these are restored afterwards, or at least where our overall oral health is good. The minerals that are used to restore the enamel of our teeth are contained in our saliva. Finishing a meal with something that promotes good saliva flow is an excellent idea as this will help to speed up the remineralisation process. Cheese is ideal for this as it not only stimulates saliva flow but helps to reduce the potentially tooth damaging acid environment in our mouth as well.

It is also important that we stay well hydrated in order to keep a healthy saliva flow. This should be done by drinking sufficient water, not only in hot weather, but in cold too. High sugar drinks are not a suitable replacement for water and their high acid levels are also likely to contribute to further mineral loss.

Signs of demineralisation

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Why these appointments play an important role in your dental care.

Initial consultations at our Wickford dental practice are widely used when a patient is considering a new type of treatment. These are not usually necessary for routine dental care, but they are a critical part of some procedures to ensure the most appropriate treatment and the best outcome for the patient.

Many of our patients lead busy lives and are understandably keen to get started on the treatment straight away. For them, it may seem that an initial consultation is a drain on their already limited time; so today’s blog tries to explain why we consider consultations to be such an important part of the treatment process.

What happens at an initial consultation?

Unlike an examination where a thorough inspection may be made of your overall oral health, a consultation will also include a broader discussion between patient and dentist. There may well be an examination in a clinical consultation, but also an introduction to a treatment such as dental implants for example. This helps to make sure that there is a thorough understanding both of the patient’s desires and circumstances, and, on the patient’s part, what the treatment entails. For a procedure such as implants for example, a patient may have a number of concerns about the treatment, perhaps from reading some unreliable information on the internet. So the initial consultation serves as an excellent opportunity to fully explain the procedure, answer the patient’s questions and assess suitability.

Amongst the questions you are likely to be asked, are the following:

What do you want to achieve from the treatment?

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Dr Harminder Sehmi explains why it is important to maintain regular visits.

Whether you are young or old, you should always try to see your local dentist for an examination every six months or so. Those in a high risk group, such as diabetics (1), may need to keep these appointments more frequently to be able to keep their teeth and gums in good health.

For most people though, once every six months should be sufficient unless any problems arise in between. If this does happen, you should not wait until your next check up date, but call our Wickford practice to make an appointment to be seen by a dentist as soon as possible.

Visiting us once every six months is a small price to pay for having a healthy mouth. Anyone who has neglected to do this for a lengthy period of time will almost certainly have problems such as sore gums or toothache, and burying your head in the sand is not a good idea when it comes to your oral health!

What happens at your examination?

Whatever your appointment time is, please try to arrive at least ten minutes or so beforehand. This will give our reception team sufficient time for any paperwork (though much of this is now done digitally). Making sure that you are on time allows our dentists to see patients at their allocated times and helps to reduce any delays.

Once the ‘paperwork’ has been done, you will be called in to see one of the clinical team. Once seated in our comfortable dental chairs, we will first of all make sure that your medical records are up to date. Please do be honest with us when we ask you questions about your general health. Neglecting to tell us about a medical condition could, potentially, put you at risk if you need certain treatments. The same applies to any medications that you are on. Blood thinning medication, for example, may mean that you need to receive treatment in hospital in certain instances.

During the examination itself, we look for a number of things. Most obviously, we look for any signs that you may have tooth decay. This can be quite minor at first, but will require treatment even if this is the case. Small cavities will not ‘heal’, and, if left alone, will almost certainly become larger and may even result in a very painful tooth. If we detect any small cavities, we will ask you to arrange a treatment appointment where we can complete a small filling for you. In some cases, very minor work might be completed on the same day.

It is not just your teeth that we inspect though. Your gum health is important and we will look for any signs of gum disease which is often straightforward to reverse if detected early enough. Symptoms such as inflamed or receding gums, means that a thorough clean by one of our hygienist team is necessary to clear the teeth and gum line of any hardened bacterial deposits known as tartar. If the issues have progressed, additional treatment may be required, possibly with a dental specialist.

Finally, we will look for any possible signs of oral cancers. This is a growing problem in the UK, and especially in smokers or heavy drinkers. Signs of possible oral cancers may include the likes of lesions or red or white patches on the tongue. These can be caused by other things too, but if we do detect anything, we will refer you to your GP for further investigation. It is important to have a an additional medical check quickly so that you can receive rapid treatment should anything untoward be uncovered.

X-rays

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If you are planning to stop smoking in October, why not now? Says Dr Suky Ghuman of Cygnet Dental.

Traditionally, October is the month for the anti smoking campaign, ‘Stoptober’, run by Public Health England. Throughout the country, there are exhibitions and roadshows, along with general publicity to help people stop smoking.

Although we are a month away from the start of this campaign; if you are thinking of stopping anyway, or are a smoker who hasn’t yet taken action to do so, why not take the step a few weeks earlier?

There are many good reasons to stop smoking. The effect on your pocket is certainly one that deters some people, with a dramatic rise in the price of tobacco products over recent years. Whilst you will obviously benefit financially if you stop smoking, there are other reasons, from a health perspective, why you should do so.

Cancer

Let’s start with the big one. Most people now understand cancer to be very serious, and potentially fatal. Lung cancer is the one most associated with smoking, but other cancers may be caused by the habit too. One type of cancer which certainly is, is of particular concern to the dentists at the Cygnet Dental Practice in Wickford i.e. mouth cancer.

Oral cancer

Smoking is considered to be the most significant risk factor for oral, or mouth, cancers. Whilst others, such as alcohol, may also contribute, stopping smoking is the biggest thing that you can do to prevent this problem which has seen a rise of just under 70% (1) in the past twenty years.

Oral cancer can prove fatal or life changing (2) and should not be ignored. As part of your regular six monthly check up at our practice, we make sure to check for any potential symptoms that may indicate oral cancers If we do find any, we will refer you to your GP for further investigation. If we do this, please remember that our role is a front line role to detect any changes in your mouth. We are not able to diagnose cancer directly, which is why we refer you to your GP. It may well be that there are other reasons for the signs that we have noted, so please don’t panic if we refer you.

Gum disease

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