March 10th, 2010
Dentists cannot stress the importance of daily dental hygiene and its positive effects on dental health. Effective brushing and cleaning can help to keep tooth decay and gum disease from destroying your teeth and gums. This happens because effective brushing and flossing removes the plaque which builds up on the teeth and breaks down enamel and gum tissue.
Dentists recommend that you brush your teeth at least twice a day for three minutes. This should be done with a soft bristled brush for maximum enamel removal and preferably using a brush with a small head for easier access to the difficult to reach areas. The brush should be angled at forty-five degrees to the teeth so that the gums are also brushed but be careful not to press too hard as gum tissue can erode and will not grow back.
It is also important to floss daily to remove bacteria and plaque from the hard to reach areas between teeth and around the base. Much decay begins in these areas and food particles trapped there are often the cause of bad breath. Other cleaning tools are also encouraged such as inter-dental brushes and tongue cleaners. These can help to remove more bacteria keeping the mouth clean.
West London dentists are available to give further cleaning advice and can draw up a cleaning plan on conjunction with a dental hygienist to keep your teeth as healthy as possible. Just by taking a few extra minutes each day to thoroughly clean your teeth you could save yourself the pain and anxiety of dental problems later in life.
February 9th, 2010
The feeling of newly cleaned teeth when you’ve just been to the dentist is hard to beat when just cleaning them yourself. Even the most thorough clean involving brushing and flossing can’t match the cleaning you can have performed by a dentist or dental hygienist. This is because the dentist or hygienist uses techniques known as scaling and polishing to completely clean the teeth. Scaling in particular is probably not the most pleasant experience in the world but it is necessary to achieve the levels of cleanliness important for healthy teeth.
When scaling the teeth, the dentist will use a small implement with a hook at the end. This is used to carefully remove tartar from the teeth without damaging any of the enamel. It is necessary to scale teeth to remove tartar because it cannot be removed with normal brushing. Unlike plaque, which can be cleaned with a normal toothbrush, tartar is hard and sticks to the teeth very firmly. If tartar is not removed it can cause decay and gum disease which lead to nasty infections and ultimately tooth loss. This can be very painful, very expensive and also very embarrassing.
When the teeth have been fully scaled and all the tartar removed, the dentist will then polish them using a mechanical polisher. This removes any further residual plaque and leaves the tooth enamel smooth and free of debris. This makes it hard for the plaque to stick to, protecting the teeth from any future decay. To be fully effective these processes need to be repeated on a regular basis. By visiting a West London dentist or dental hygienist every six months for scaling and polishing you can give your teeth the best chance of staying clean, healthy and free of decay.
January 18th, 2010
Flossing was devised to eliminate plaque build-up, plaque is the dead bacteria that forms into tartar around the base of teeth. This tartar prevents the effect that brushing has on the teeth, without that protection our teeth will become brittle and break off before they are due to. Getting plaque removed every 6 months with a dental clean up is fine, but by then the damage is already irreversibly done. Flossing, says the Central London dentist, is done for an important reason and that reason is a preventative one. Imagine a corner of your garden being invaded by aggressive wild pigs, if they aren’t moved on they will destroy your garden, if when they die you leave the carcass to rot it will smell and cause more damage, as will all their natural waste if not removed daily. Now bring in the RSPCA to move them on and the problem is solved, a healthy smelling corner of your lovely garden is recovered to the satisfaction of all. Now, let’s think of flossing in that same way, the floss is the RSPCA and twice a day it moves the problem (pigs) on. Simple isn’t it, so why aren’t we doing it enough? Its mostly down to a lax attitude to our oral care, we are sometimes so engrossed in our day that we forget. Now at least when you next see a meal, you’ll remember that vision of the wild pigs and be reminded to floss your teeth at least twice a day. Drinking water and brushing after each meal is also a good way to keep bacteria build up at bay, carry a few flossing and tooth pick sticks with you in future. It takes just a few minutes to clean between the teeth after a meal.
January 16th, 2010
Not many people are aware of recent research that associates heart disease and even strokes with poor oral hygiene. A lax regime in oral care leaves the blood low in Lipoproteins, research shows that this disorder is a leading factor in hardening of the arteries. A London W1 dentist says that although this isn’t a direct cause of heart disease, it certainly doesn’t help. The hardening causes a narrowing and this restricts the blood flow which in turn leads to high blood pressure. There seems to be a lot of conflicting views on the subject, some researchers are also advocating that strokes, and even diabetes is exasperated by the lack of good oral hygiene. The dentist goes on to say that although research is incomplete, he would always advise his patients to have a good, well advised method of oral hygiene. Every dentist has an advisor on duty, and they are there to prevent problems rather than push up the bill. Getting back to Lipoproteins, these are a very important part of the blood make up; they carry and distribute water and fat around the body. This is an important part of the functions that keep our body healthy, if there is a lack of Lipoproteins in the blood then that can have a knock on effect. Diabetes is also affected by the lack of this protein. Bad oral hygiene kills off the good part of High Density Lipoprotein (HDL) and Low Density Protein (LDL), both of which serve to carry naturally produced proteins from one organ to another. If the proteins aren’t absorbed by their receptacle organ then the organ will experience problems, this leads to many of the diseases which together can cause a heart attack. All this can be prevented by spending a little more time on brushing, flossing and making sure that our gums are healthier.
January 9th, 2010
A dentist in London W1 has praised the importance, and necessity, of dental hygienists in his surgery. They are the front line troops in our fight to keep our teeth for the longest time possible; even though they actually work against the principles of business within a dental practice. They do this by teaching us how to keep gum disease and teeth damage down to a minimum, which means less work for the dentist and less revenue for the business. So why do dentists provide this service? Well, the answer is quite simple really; it’s all about prevention and customer satisfaction. Dentistry as a profession is as old as the medical profession, but without the regard we normally give to doctors. A hygienist is the first person we usually meet on a visit to the dentist, which lets face it is a fearful experience at the best of times. This goes back to the old days when pain relief was a figure of fiction and wishful thinking, today dentistry is a profession that embraces all that science has to offer, such as gels to numb our gums before we even get the jab. A hygienist is a highly trained professional in the field of dentistry prevention and the care of our gums, just as a dietary nurse is to a Diabetic. Flossing, brushing and general day to day care of our teeth will slow down and often prevent infection, and this is all down to what we learn from our unsung heroes at the surgeries called Dental Hygienists. They prepare reports for the dentists which are based on the skills they learn in training, these reports are vital to a dentist on decisions they make when treating us. A change in oral care is often all it takes.
January 4th, 2010
Nurses are to hospital patients what dental hygienists are to dental patients, they are our unsung heroes according to a West london dentist. Prevention is their speciality, and the skills needed to perform the vocation correctly need a lot of study time. You’ll never meet an unfriendly one, and their advice is always given so simply that we often kick ourselves for not thinking of it first. A hygienist will teach us how to do the most basic things to benefit our oral care, and often it is amazing to discover that we are doing the right things, but wrongly. As my mother used to always says “in the old we didn’t have them, and we did it all wrong as it was handed down from generation to generation”, today every dental surgery has a hygienist on duty to advise on the best preventative methods. The dentist provides this service because they don’t want to keep treating you for the same problems; it is often just bad habits, or the lack of any hygiene habits, that keeps us coming back for expensive and uncomfortable treatment. Brushing your teeth the correct way and using the right brush for you is something that a hygienist can advise on. How to floss properly and how often is another simple way of slowing down problems. These are just a few of the problems that a dental hygienist is trained to teach us, and they will explain why it is so vital as well, which in itself is a great way to get people to follow advice. Long gone are the days when a dental assistant would simply hand you a leaflet on the way out, their advice is there to make sure we make less visits to the dentist’s chair.
December 6th, 2009
Dental hygiene, also known as oral hygiene, refers to the process of keeping your mouth and teeth clean and healthy by following a routine of brushing, flossing and regular check ups with a City of London dentist. As you are probably aware from television adverts, keeping teeth free from bacteria-rich plaque can help to prevent tooth decay and gum disease and can help to keep your breath fresh but most people don’t really understand why.
Plaque is a film-like substance which clings to tooth enamel and gums releasing bacterial acids that erode protective tissue. This can eventually break down the protective barrier and lead to infections which cause toothache and dental problems. Plaque is easily removed by brushing and flossing, but if not removed can harden to become tartar which will need to be removed by a dentist. Dentists recommend brushing your teeth twice a day for three minutes and flossing at least once a day.
Even with the strictest dental hygiene routines it is still always necessary to see a dentist regularly to monitor for the first signs of any dental problems. It is also becoming more and more common to visit a dental hygienist as part of your regular check up. Hygienists are specially trained technicians who can remove any built up tartar and give the teeth a thorough deep clean alongside treatment from your regular dentist. Hygienists can also give the best advice on effective cleaning methods to help give your teeth the best protection possible.
November 14th, 2009
Maintaining a good standard of dental hygiene can keep your mouth healthy and prevent a lifetime of costly and unpleasant dental problems. Nearly all dental disease can be prevented by carrying out a few small but very important cleaning procedures each day. The saying ‘look after your teeth and gums and they will last you a lifetime’ is very true.
The two most important factors in maintaining a good standard of dental hygiene are brushing and flossing. Tooth brushing has been in existence since Egyptian times over 3,000 years ago. Back then they used leaves on the end of twigs but the premise was the same. They had worked out that by keeping teeth free of debris and clean they would last a lot longer. The Egyptians may have not understood exactly why, as they were unaware of the existence of microscopic bacteria, but they knew it worked. Today we know that brushing helps to remove plaque, a bacteria rich substance that clings to the surface of the teeth and gums. Acid from decaying bacteria in plaque erodes the enamel on the surface of the teeth. This causes cavities to form in the enamel. If left untreated these cavities can continue to grow until ultimately they penetrate to the centre of the tooth. This central cavity can then become infected leading to tooth ache, abscesses and eventually tooth loss. By brushing for three minutes twice a day with a suitable brush and paste, as dentists recommend, you can prevent the build of cavity forming plaque and the formation of any dental cavities.
Flossing is also very important for dental hygiene. Flossing reaches the parts of teeth that regular brushes cannot. For instance, food debris gets trapped between teeth which is too narrow for a normal brush. Dental floss can remove this debris which is the cause for over 90 per cent of causes of bad breath. Flossing also helps to clean below the gum line, where bacteria can build up. This helps to keep gums healthy and prevent painful and destructive gingivitis, also known as gum disease.
By making these few small sacrifices and tying it together with the all important six-monthly check ups with a West London dentist you can help to prevent any future dental concerns. An extra few minutes each day to maintain dental hygiene is a small price to pay for a life free of the pain and worry caused by dental disease.
October 4th, 2009
When it comes to dental hygiene, prevention really is better than cure. Nothing is better for your teeth than maintaining a regimented routine of oral hygiene. By spending just a few extra minutes a day to keep your teeth and gums clean and healthy, you could avoid a lifetime of painful and costly dental procedures. Ask any one who has suffered from tooth decay, gum disease or who has suffered form a serious toothache and they will tell you that that extra few minutes brushing and flossing are definitely worth it.
Dentists recommend brushing your teeth twice a day, in the morning after breakfast and in the evening before bed, using suitable toothpaste (ask your dentist about fluoride content) and a suitable brush with appropriate bristles. They also strongly recommend flossing your teeth at least once a day. These are the two main front-line defences against a whole array of painful and unpleasant dental problems.
By not brushing and flossing regularly you are allowing bacteria to build up in a filmy substance called plaque which surrounds the teeth, attacking the enamel and causing cavities. If these cavities are allowed to penetrate to the root of the tooth it can cause an infection that will be very painful and can eventually lead to tooth loss. It is also possible for the infection to spread to other teeth in the mouth and even infiltrate the bloodstream causing serious health problems such as heart disease.
It is an unpleasant thought, but the mouth is in fact one of the dirtiest places in the human body. Its warm and moist conditions make it ideal living conditions for the 500 million or so bacteria that live there. If this bacteria is not properly controlled by cleaning it will thrive and cause health problems.
Good oral hygiene also eliminates unfortunate social conditions such as yellow teeth and bad breath. Over 90 per cent of cases of bad breath are caused by poor dental hygiene. Food and bacteria trapped between the teeth break down releasing foul smelling sulphurous compounds that are the cause of bad breath. Brushing and flossing help to remove the bacteria and keep your breath fresh.
A good dental hygiene routine, accompanied by the all important six-month visits to the dentist can help you maintain a happy and healthy mouth. Look after your teeth and they can last you a lifetime. Ask your Central London dentist about how to correctly brush your teeth and which brush is most suitable for your teeth and gums.
October 2nd, 2009
Brushing your teeth is the most important defence against bacteria that causes tooth decay and gum disease. A close second behind brushing is flossing. The gaps between your teeth are breeding grounds for millions of bacteria that live on food particles that become lodged there. These parts of the mouth are hard to reach and an ordinary toothbrush is not able to clean effectively in the small gaps. Flossing once a day as dentists recommend is crucial in removing the bacteria that causes tooth decay, gum disease and bad breath.
If these areas are not regularly cleaned thoroughly, the bacteria will start to produce acid as it breaks down that will eat into the enamel of the teeth and cause cavities. It also produces foul smelling sulfurous compounds which are the cause of over 90 per cent of cases of bad breath.
The bacteria and food particles make up part of a substance called plaque, a mucus like film which covers the teeth and causes decay. Brushing can remove most plaque in the mouth but in harder to get areas it requires flossing to remove it. This includes areas below the gumline where plaque build up can contribute to gingivitis (commonly known as gum disease).
Plaque that is not removed eventually becomes a hard substance called tartar. This can not be removed by brushing or flossing and needs to be removed by a dentist in a process called scaling. Tartar further attacks the teeth and gums causing more serious and painful tooth decay and gum disease that can lead to the eventual loss of teeth. Flossing in these areas every day will prevent the onset of gum disease which can be responsible for various forms of heart disease and even cancer.
Dentists in London W1 can advise you on correct flossing techniques and which type of floss will be most effective for you. In the war against tooth decay and gum disease flossing is one of the first lines of defence. A few extra minutes spent flossing everyday can prevent future years of pain and costly dental treatment, definitely an investment worth making.
