August 19th, 2011
You can’t just rely on the help and advice of your City of London dentist, you need to take excellent care of your teeth at home too. It is a big responsibility because you only get one set of natural teeth and one can easily take them for granted. The cornerstones of this desirable routine of excellent care of your teeth are brushing and flossing and below you can find some handy hints and tips about how to improve the way you are carrying them out.
Give your teeth a bit of attention at least twice a day. The best times are thought to be first thing in the morning and last thing at night too. Many people like to do so after some of their meals too, especially if they have eaten a significant amount of sugar or starch (the biggest culprits when it comes to plaque production). The only danger here is over-brushing which can damage the gums and wear away the enamel from your teeth.
Make sure that your tooth brush is comfortable to hold and manoeuvre and with a head that is not overly large; remember, it needs to fit into all the corners of your mouth. Replace your brush (or the head if you use an electric tooth brush) whenever the bristles start to fray. At this point your brushing will be less effective so you will need to sort it out.
Using a tooth paste that contains fluoride will help to strengthen the enamel on your teeth and guard against the dangerous incursions of plaque that causes cavities. Flossing is the final piece in the jigsaw because it will rid your mouth of plaque that is in the gaps between teeth.
August 5th, 2011
Hopefully, you are brushing your teeth and flossing in between them at least twice a day, every single day. But how well are you doing it? Brushing and flossing are not complicated matters but a little bit of time spent looking into what the best techniques are can reap great benefits in terms of maintaining optimum standards of oral hygiene and avoiding painful dental ailments.
Brushing should be carried out at least twice a day. Professionals usually advise patients to do so after breakfast and then again last thing at night. The mouth is especially at risk from plaque during the night when less saliva is being produced so a brush first thing in the morning is useful. Doing so again last thing at night removes most of the plaque from the day’s eating and drinking. Many people also like to brush after meals too, or if they have just had a snack that is high in sugar or starch as these types of food cause the most plaque to be produced in the mouth.
Don’t forget to floss as well. Flossing is just as vital as brushing because your bristles cannot always reach all of the plaque that might be hidden between the teeth. There is a high correlation between patients who do not floss and instances of gum disease where plaque is left on the gum line of teeth and causes the gums to become inflamed.
Your local Central London dentist will have spent many years studying the science of oral health and also built up experience of seeing in action the effects of brushing and flossing. In consequence they are the best people to go and ask for advice.
July 11th, 2011
The modern world provides all sorts of things to think to about in terms of health and well being. We know more than ever about what is good for us and bad for us and it can be very confusing indeed. Oral hygiene forms a vital part of making sure that you are generally healthy and expert advice can be found in a visit to your West London dentist.
Oral hygiene is something that needs to be viewed holistically in the sense that you should be looking to safeguard all of the different parts of your mouth at the same time. Not paying adequate attention to one part of your mouth can hamper the health of the rest of your mouth. Nothing illustrates this better than your gums because unhealthy gums actually cause more cases of tooth loss than tooth decay itself.
The best way to start thinking about achieving the highest standards of oral hygiene is to ensure that you are brushing your teeth and flossing at least twice a day. This is carried out so that the most amount of plaque that you can remove is removed. Plaque contributes to tooth decay by breaking down the protective layer of enamel and allowing holes to form in your teeth.
The activity of flossing helps keep your gums nice and healthy by removing plaque from between the teeth where it can inflame the gums. Maintaining a healthy diet means that your immune system is boosted and your mouth will be more able to fight off any infection that might occur. Strongly consider giving up smoking and curbing any excessive consumption of alcohol because these activities can lead to oral cancer and stymy the production of protective saliva.
May 4th, 2011
The best way to look after your teeth is to get them regularly examined by dental professionals in their surgeries. Of course this is only part of the picture as you should be taking care of your mouth in your every day life by brushing and flossing and taking care of what you eat. But your dentist needs to be a stakeholder in your dental health, a partner in keeping your mouth healthy. They have trained for many years to reach a level of expertise that ensures they are the best people to help you take care of your mouth.
At a dental check up, your dentist will give your mouth a thorough examination. They will take in not just your teeth, but also your gums and your tongue too. They will be on the look out for signs of dental decay leading to cavities and also gum disease. The importance of this is that if these problems are caught and diagnosed early then they can usually be dealt with satisfactorily without lasting damage. To the advantage of patients dentists are now trained also to look for things like oral cancer and sleep apnea.
The fact that so many Britons suffer from gum disease is perhaps evidence, not only that insufficient dental care is occurring in homes, but also that people don’t visit the dentist as often as they should do. Gum disease (known professionally as gingivitis) is not a difficult thing to cure but can have painful and damaging consequence if untreated and allowed to develop.
You only need to go and see your Central London dentist once every six months and then you can rest easy with the peace of mind that comes with knowing that your mouth has the best chance of staying healthy.
April 10th, 2011
Life is all about routines: getting up, washing, going to work and all the rest of it. Something that must form part of your routine is looking after your teeth properly in the fashion advised by dental experts. By doing so you are lessening the chances of suffering from nasty oral conditions which can leave you needing treatment or actually losing some of your precious teeth.
Brushing of course will be the first thing that you will do. This should take place at least twice a day and you should brush for about three minutes. Use a brush that is comfortable to hold and has a set of bristles which are as firm as they ought to be. Put some fluoride containing tooth paste on the bristles and, with a little water, brush all of the areas of your mouth, including the gum line of your teeth.
Once you have brushed then you must floss too. This is a very important but often neglected part of daily dental care. Your brush will not be able to remove all of the plaque from between your teeth; only by pulling floss through your teeth can you ensure that plaque is not lurking there and beginning to cause dental decay and gum disease.
It is these two ailments in the main which you are seeking to avoid with your daily dental care. Dental decay and gum disease are both caused by plaque building up and not being properly removed from your mouth. Remember though that you are not alone in your dental care; your West London dentist is also on hand to provide help and advice.
March 19th, 2011
Bad breath is something that most of us dread. The thought of emitting unpleasant odours from your mouth while you speak and smile is an unpleasant one. But it happens to many of us from time to time. How to deal with it then?
The first thing to understand is how bad breath (medically known as halitosis) is caused. The presence of certain bacteria in the mouth gives off unpleasant odours. Most people will be able to rid their mouths of these bacterium by brushing and flossing as advised but sometimes it is not enough.
Brushing your tongue can also be helpful because the offending bacteria can thrive there too. Be gentle though as you don’t want to damage your tongue in the process. Some people favour the use of mouth wash because it kills bacteria in the mouth and leaves your breath smelling immediately fresher. There is a problem here though because mouth wash actually leaves your mouth rather dry, an ideal condition for bad breath to actually stick to teeth. So in freshening your breath in the short term, you might find that, in a few hours the bad breath has returned with a vengeance!
Chewing chewing gum can be helpful if you are in a situation where you cannot brush your teeth but are anxious about having fresh breath. It dislodges any left over food in the mouth, and stimulates saliva production which moistens the mouth, not to mention giving your breath the smell of whichever flavour the gum is.
Don’t be embarrassed about bad breath, talk to your City of London dentist and take the first step towards beating the problem once and for all. Just think about how much easier social occasions will be!
March 10th, 2011
Having a great little oral hygiene programme at home, frees you up to get on with your everyday regime and allows you to smile with confidence, after all, the teeth are the first thing you see when you talk to someone. The market is flooded with wonderful products to help you achieve this. It’s almost as if products are being made to suit just you and your needs. Most dentists in London’s W1 would agree that regular cleaning, flossing and mouth-washing throughout the day, should be enough to maintain a healthy mouth and prevent the build up of plague and tartar that lead to more serious problems such as gum disease and tooth decay. Companies that develop these products are very sympathetic to oral hygiene and they are getting better at targeting problems and nipping them in the bud. But it doesn’t stop there, for there’s a product to treat all problems. Brush technology has come on leaps and bounds, designed for sensitive teeth, or tough teeth, designed to reach areas where they never reached before, and electric brushes do the work for you on areas that you were missing out on before. Toothpastes also follow the same philosophy. But these basic hygiene methods are now backed up with flosses, mouthwashes and tiny brushes all designed to remove food and bacteria from between the teeth and prevent plaque from forming. Of course, the biggest back-up is your dentist, for they know just what will work for your health of your mouth.
January 13th, 2011
Gum disease is the inflammation of the gingivae in the mouth and damage being done to the bone which anchors the teeth to the jawbone keeping your teeth in place. It is a common disorder and in the early stages it can be stopped and reversed. However if left too late and not dealt with it will cause severe problems such as infections and tooth loss. There are two main types of disease in the gums which are periodontitis and gingivitis. With gingivitis the gums are irritated and enflamed by plaque through lack of cleaning routines such as regular brushing and flossing. If left to its devices and not kept clean then it will progress to periodontitis which is when the gums start to pull away from the teeth allowing the entrance of more plaque and eventual tooth loss. If not caught and corrected at the gingivitis stage and allowed to progress the damage is irreversible with periodontitis. A patient may not even realise that they have problems with their gums, it is often quite unnoticeable. However once it progresses it is quite easy to spot as the gums will become enflamed and bleed. Gum disease is caused by build up of a material called plaque which happens when teeth are not cleaned and looked after properly. To avoid gum disease it is best to visit a dentist, West London dental practices offer diagnosis and advise about gum disease. The type of treatment given depends on how severe the gum disease has become, in most circumstances a referral to a dental hygienist is the action taken where advice and treatment is then given.
December 3rd, 2010
If you experience bleeding gums it is vital that you let your dentist know to avoid the pain and indignity of tooth loss. Bleeding gums can be a sign that gum disease is taking hold and gum disease is in fact the most common cause of tooth loss, more so than tooth decay itself. Three quarters of Britons who are thirty five or older currently have some form of gum disease, but it is easily dealt with if diagnosed early.
Bleeding gums is a symptom of the most common gum disease: gingivitis. Bleeding gums can occur when you are brushing or flossing and might be accompanied by pain while eating or drinking. It can be avoided by pursuing home dental hygiene routines as recommended by your dentist but if bleeding gums occur then you should notify your dentists as soon as you can.
Although easily treated, gingivitis and bleeding gums can lead to problems which are much worse. Periodontitis is an advanced form of gum disease and is very painful. It causes the bones which hold your teeth in place to become inflamed and often leads to tooth loss if left untreated. By making sure that you visit your London W1 dentist every six months, periodontitis can easily be avoided.
By allowing your dentist to examine your mouth if your gums are bleeding, he or she can recommend an appropriate course of action to stop it getting worse. You may be advised to tighten up your oral health routine or use a special mouthwash that will help your gums. Antibiotics are used in some cases but the most important thing is to keep your dentist informed about what is happening in your mouth, especially if your gums begin to bleed.
November 1st, 2010
You would think that living in the city of London, there would be enough reminders, in one form or another, why we should maintain a good level of dental hygiene. There is no excuse for missing a simple cleaning regime and yet for some reason we do, and then moan further down the line at the cost of extensive repairs and reconstruction procedures. All it takes to keep you smiling is regular brushing and flossing, and regular check-ups at the dentist to avoid the horrors that could lie ahead. The market is flooded with an array of products designed for oral hygiene and the choice can be confusing, but the first port of call should be dentists for a consultation. They will know the state of your mouth and be able to advise you on the best paste, brushes, mouth washes and flossing products that suit you. Then it’s down to trial and error before making a decision. But good dental hygiene does not rely on products alone; lifestyle has a direct impact too. Diet and indulgences affect the health of our mouths but by at least being aware, we can make informed decisions and keep our teeth healthy. In the end, there are many prices to pay for bad dental hygiene.
