July 19th, 2010
You may be aware of the condition sleep apnea but what you might not know is that it has links to heart failure and even death. Many people confuse sleep apnea with snoring because of the similar noises made and because it occurs during sleep. But while snoring is the sound of partially obstructed breathing during sleep, sleep apnea is actually the complete cessation of breathing, which can put enormous strain on the heart.
There are two main types of sleep apnea. The first and most common is called obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and occurs when soft palate at the back of the throat collapses temporarily blocking the airway. This causes a choking sound as the body attempts to right the situation. This will usually happen after about twenty seconds but the process can repeat itself many times throughout the night. This can put great strain on the body and be the underlying cause of stress, fatigue and poor performance.
The other type of sleep apnea is called central sleep apnea (CSA) and is caused by a malfunction in the main respiratory area of the brain. The brain forgets to tell the lungs to breath again halting breathing for many seconds during sleep. Both kinds of apnea can cause heart problems and potentially life threatening heart failure.
The amazing thing is that many people are completely unaware that they have sleep apnea unless they have been told by a friend or loved one that they stop breathing during sleep. London dentists are able to treat certain types of sleep apnea and refer other cases to specialists so that the problem can be resolved. If you are constantly stressed or tired and don’t know why, make an appointment to see your dentist. It could help you to sleep well for the first time in years.
July 5th, 2010
Bad breath is a problem that can affect all of us at some time but for some people it is more of a problem than for others. If you suffer from bad breath on a regular basis it can lead you to try all sorts of remedies and potions in an effort to beat it but the real answer could be a lot more simple.
Studies have shown that using oral hygiene products like mouthwash and breath spray is not only ineffective against bad breath but in some cases can even make the problem worse. The very best that these products can offer is to mask the smell of bad breath from anything between ten minutes and two hours but they do not attack the cause of the problem and it will eventually return.
In some cases, it can disrupt the natural production of saliva, the body’s own defence against bad breath which really can make the problem more severe and unpleasant for you and those around you. The scores of internet sites offering the magic formula to treat bad breath if only you part with your hard-earned cash are also not telling you the whole truth. The reality is that bad breath is most effectively treated by improved oral hygiene.
That’s right. It really is that simple. Bad breath is caused by a build up of plaque and bacteria on and around the teeth. These bacteria decay and release foul smelling odours which become bad breath when we breath out. By improving your brushing and flossing, you will remove more bacteria and hopefully eradicate the problem. Flossing is particularly good for removing the particles of food stuck between the teeth that are often the source of bad breath. Ask your City of London dentist for more information about bad breath and how to beat it.
July 3rd, 2010
Grinding your teeth during sleep, also known a bruxism, could be very damaging to your enamel, weakening it to the point that it becomes a serious dental concern. There are many reasons why bruxism occurs. One of the main causes is stress but it can also be linked to a misaligned bite. This causes a tension in the jaw muscles, which is released by subconscious grinding.
Constant teeth grinding will eventually begin to loosen and weaken tooth enamel. This is the hard protective coating around the outside of your teeth. Tooth enamel does not grow back so once it is gone, it is gone forever. Enamel is the main defence against tooth decay, acting as a barrier against plaque and bacterial acid which threatens the sensitive inner parts of the teeth. If the enamel is thinned by grinding, it takes far less bacteria and plaque to start causing serious tooth decay. This could result in great pain and the need for expensive dental treatment.
Misalignment of the jaw, leading to bite complications can often be caused by stress or even a physical trauma. In other cases it is just the result of a genetic predisposition. In most cases, your City of London dentist maybe able to take steps to realign the jaw but at the very least they could provide you with a mouth guard to protect your teeth during teeth. This appliance, usually made of rubber or other absorbent material, prevents the teeth from grinding against each other and eroding the enamel.
If you or your child suffer from grinding teeth, make an appointment to see your dentist. They will be able to repair any damage caused by bruxism and provide you with the means to stop any further damage.
July 2nd, 2010
You may well have heard of sleep apnea. There has been a lot of coverage of this condition in the media over the last few years but many people are still confused about the exact nature of apnea, what causes it and how it can be treated.
The most important thing to realise is that sleep apnea is not simply the same as snoring or even a variant of it. Snoring is cause by soft tissue vibrating when breathing during sleep. Apnea is the complete cessation of breathing during sleep and the noise of choking associated with this. As you can see it is definitely a more serious problem than but there are two variants of sleep apnea that are very distinct.
The first is called obstructive sleep apnea and occurs when the airway becomes blocked by a collapsing soft palate at the back of the throat. This will eventually right itself after a few seconds but can happen many times during the course of a night. This is the less serious form of apnea and can usually be treated with an appliance from your dentist.
The other kind of apnea is called central sleep apnea and is concerned with an interruption in the central respiratory part of the brain, which forgets to send a message to the lungs to breath. As you can imagine this is a slightly more serious problem and needs more serious medical attention. Central sleep apnea can be the underlying cause of stress, anxiety, fatigue and in extreme cases, even death. If you are concerned about sleep apnea of any kind then you need to make an appointment with your Central London dentist to have the problem treated as soon as you can.
June 17th, 2010
TMJ, also commonly known as TMD or TMJD, is short for temporomandibular disorder and is a condition that affects the jaw, muscles in the neck and head and the TMJ joints next to each ear. The TMJ joint is responsible for coordinating movements that lead to eating, drinking and talking so any complaint in the area can have a significant impact on the life of the patient.
The main symptom of TMJ is unfortunately pain. This usually occurs when the patient is chewing or yawning, or any other extended movement of the TM joint. There may also be a painful ringing or tinnitus in the ear. Other major symptoms include swelling around the joint, a change in the bite and profile and trouble swallowing.
One of the major problems when diagnosing TMJ is that a lot of these symptoms can be caused by manifold other conditions, some of which are far more likely to occur. This means that TMJ is often far down the list of diagnoses. Your West London dentist, if they suspect TMJ, will conduct something called a clench test. This involves clenching the jaw to assess whether there is a structural disorder that could be TMJ.
In most cases, treatment of TMJ will involve some level of orthodontics. In some severe cases, there may be a need for surgery but most bite misalignments can be cured with orthodontic treatment. During treatment, it may be necessary to wear a mouth guard to protect the lower teeth. There are various other treatments your dentist will be able to explain upon diagnosis of TMJ. If your jaw joints hurt or are swollen, then contact a dentist and ask for a test for TMJ.
April 9th, 2010
Hundreds of thousands of people in the UK suffer from diabetes. It is a problem that is becoming worse because of the poor nature of many people’s diets and alcohol consumption. There are many complications with diabetes including heart and kidney problems but one of the least well-known is how it can affect your gums and teeth.
It has also recently emerged that the problem may well be a two-way street. Not only are people with diabetes at a greater risk of gum disease but people with gum disease are more likely to start suffering from diabetes. Serious gum disease has the potential to affect blood glucose levels which will increase the risk of contracting diabetes.
People with diabetes are at a greater risk of gum disease because a weakened immune system makes them more susceptible to infection and disease. Bacteria that builds up in the mouth cannot be as easily removed if you are suffering from diabetes. It is recommended that if you have diabetes you should be making very regular visits to your West London dentist. The dentist will be able to closely monitor your gums for the first sign of disease and infection. Not only will this protect your gums but it will help to keep your teeth and mouth healthy and also interrupt the link between gum disease and heart disease. Controlling gum disease will also help you to deal more effectively with your diabetes by reducing the amount of infection in the body. Your dentist will also be able to give you wider health information about what to do and avoid, to help keep your diabetes under control.
April 5th, 2010
Bad breath is an embarrassment that we could all do without. One of the worst things about bad breath is that it is often hard to know if you are suffering. This can lead to that horrible moment when someone else has to tell you that your breath smells. The anxiety to avoid this cringe worthy moment at all costs, can lead many people to take measures to prevent it. But often this can lead people to make the wrong choices.
Many people use mouthwashes or breathe sprays and mints to try and combat the problem, without realising that this will do little more than mask the problem for a very short time and can even make the problem worse. In the US, the Food and Drug Administration conducted tests into the effectiveness of mouthwash and the results were very interesting. It was discovered that mouthwash did not stop the causes of bad breath but only masked the smell from anything between ten minutes and two hours before the smell came back. As a result mouthwash is no longer able to claim that it prevents bad breath in the United States. Similar results were discovered for breath mints and sprays.
In some further studies it has been found that mouthwash can actually make the problem worse as it disrupts the regulation of bacteria in the mouth. Millions if bacteria live in the human mouth in a delicate balance controlled by saliva. Mouthwash kills too many bacteria and changes the production of saliva meaning the bacteria can come back stronger and smellier.
The only way to really prevent bad breath is to make sure you are cleaning your teeth with effective brushing and flossing everyday. Make an appointment with a Central London dentist to find out more about stopping bad breath.
March 16th, 2010
Bad breath can be an embarrassing hygiene problem that unfortunately affects others probably more than it affects you. In fact it is often very difficult to know that you have bad breath unless someone tells you, which can in itself be very embarrassing, especially if is happening on a regular basis.
The fear of bad breath can often lead people to take action in an effort to stop it but in doing so they may not be addressing the cause of the problem, and in certain cases even making it worse. Using mouthwash, breath sprays or gum can temporarily cover the smell of bad breath but it will not stop it and at best will only mask it for a few hours. Furthermore, mouthwashes can disrupt the regulation of bacteria in the mouth and result in bad breath coming back time and time again. This happens because it kills bacteria in the mouth and changes the saliva production levels. Saliva is the body’s natural defence against oral bacteria and regulates it to keep it at a healthy level.
The only real way to beat bad breath for good is to improve your general standard of oral hygiene. Improved brushing and flossing can help to remove bacteria, plaque and food debris that stick to teeth causing decay and the breakdown of particles which cause bad breath. It is also recommended by dentists to use a tongue cleaner to remove bacteria form the grooved surface of the tongue.
London W1 dentists can give you further advice on the most successful ways to improve cleaning and beat bad breath. By following their advice and sticking to a through cleaning routine, you should be able to leave the anxiety of bad breath behind once and for all.
March 15th, 2010
Teeth grinding during sleep may not seem like the biggest problem other than being annoying for anyone you have to share a bed with, but if it continues over a period of time it can break down tooth enamel and cause serious structural damage to teeth.
Also known as bruxism, for many years subconscious teeth grinding was thought to be caused solely by stress and anxiety. This may be true for some cases but these tend to be temporary. Many dentists have conducted studies in recent years to demonstrate another more common cause for the condition.
They have concluded that bruxism is more often than not caused by a disruption in bite. This is the way the top and bottom teeth sit together and can be affected by such factors as physical trauma, tooth loss and tooth movement. If the teeth do not sit together comfortable it may cause the jaw muscles to spasm and move, which leads the teeth to rub against each other.
If this happens for several hours a night over an extended period you can imagine that it doesn’t take long before an irreversible process of enamel removal begins to take effect. If the enamel breaks down it can lead to dangerous cavities which expose the dental nerves to infection and can be extremely painful. London W1 dentists can treat bruxism ether by correcting the misalignment or by providing the patient with a dental appliance to protect the teeth during sleep.
March 11th, 2010
Bad breath is something which is now becoming the modern equivalent of a social stigma, says a Central London dentist. The worst thing is that it is so easily avoidable, with a simple to follow and a disciplined attitude towards oral hygiene a cure is easily to hand. If you have bad breath you won`t be able to detect it by cupping your hands and sniffing in your breath, this doesn’t work. The best way to tell is to talk to someone up close and watch their facial expressions, that will usually give the game away. Bad breath is caused by a number of problems, and they are not all related to your oral hygiene regime. Diabetes and Liver problems are also responsible for bad breath in some people, in that case they are a warning sign that your have a health problem or even worse an infected liver or a bad diabetes regime. In both cases get a doctors advice immediately. Usually though bad breath is caused by eating strong spicy foods such as garlic enhanced meals, but mainly it is caused by rotting food residue trapped in the cavities of the mouth and in between teeth. Acid build up is caused by the food being attacked by bacteria, and this is just the same as a rotting animal carcass under your floor boards. Flossing around the teeth is an essential part of oral hygiene, and this needs to be done throughout the day, especially after a meal or a snack. Drinking water throughout the day is good for the body in general, but in the mouth it keeps acid concentration to a minimum which will also keep decaying material at a minimum. Chewing sugar free gum will also go some way to keeping the saliva glands active, saliva also keeps acid build up down. Follow these simple rules and you will see a great improvement in bad breath problems.
