May 19th, 2010
Looking after the health of your mouth is very important. Good oral hygiene, with effective brushing and flossing every day will help to keep your teeth and gums free from disease. However, it is very important that you also see a dentist for a check up appointment every six months to ensure your teeth and gums are not suffering damage. It is also necessary to see a dentist to protect yourself from other diseases and conditions that affect the oral cavity.
Perhaps the most serious of all the conditions that affect the mouth is oral cancer. This is classified as any cancer affecting the lips, tongue, cheek lining and throat. Oral cancer is a very nasty form of the disease that will be fatal if not caught and treated early enough. If the cancer is detected in time you stand a greater than 80 per cent chance of making a full recovery.
Oral cancer usually appears as small sores, lumps or patches on the soft tissue. These will be very sensitive to extremes of hot and cold and very painful. They also do not disappear after two weeks like non-cancerous sores in the mouth. They are often red or white or a combination of the two.
Your London W1 dentist will be able to examine any suspicious areas in the mouth and carry out a brush biopsy to test for cancerous cells. There are other signs of oral cancer which you need to be aware of including unexplained bleeding in the mouth and sudden weight loss. If you suspect oral cancer or are unsure about a certain part of the mouth make an appointment to see a dentist as soon as possible, it could be the most important decision you’ll ever make. Also ask your dentist for more information about oral cancer at your next appointment.
April 23rd, 2010
Flossing is a method of cleaning in between the teeth to get rid of food debris, and keep down the build up of tartar says a West London dentist. Imagine your house having a clean floor with dirty skirting boards, which would look so out of place that it would be very obvious. Well that’s exactly what flossing is, it is the cleaning of the areas that the main method of cleaning miss, you wouldn’t vacuum a carpet and leave dirt around the sides, so why clean your teeth and not floss? It’s not as if it’s even a hard or time consuming exercise. Tartar will build up around the sides of your teeth if flossing isn’t done on a regular basis, this is generally chipped off the tooth when we get our 6 monthly check up, but to prevent the build up in the first place is the sensible thing to do. Flossing is as important as brushing and rinsing properly, even more so, as brushing and rinsing does not remove most of the food residue in between the teeth. This food is attacked by bacteria which feeds on it and then as a by-product, produces harmful acids that damage the enamel on the front of the teeth. Bacteria can then penetrate deep into the tooth and cause infections, if the problem continues we either end up losing the tooth or getting a root canal treatment, neither of these are worth avoiding a few minutes a day that flossing requires. Washing the mouth with water throughout the day will also help to keep down acid build up, but be sure to have a little floss first. Flossing isn’t just for the morning and the evening, it should be done after each meal throughout the day to be fully effective and keep diseases of the gums at bay.
April 17th, 2010
All parents have a parental duty of care to their children, and quite rightly so says a W1 London dentist. Starting off early in life is a good basis for getting our children into a healthy regime of oral care. Dental diseases can start in children very young, and so it is important that they realise the importance of having good teeth and healthy gums. We teach our children so many things about life to prepare them, first for school, then their teen years, then adulthood, mainly we will be teaching them to not make the same mistakes as we did. However, some lessons need to be passed on as not all of our life’s experiences are bad ones. Teaching our children simple routines like how to brush our teeth properly, flossing and getting into the habit of having a conscious mind about oral hygiene, will go a long way to living up to our parental duties says a dentist with a practice in W1 London. Gum disease is a major problem in the U.K. and one of the causes is a lack of parental control in dental care that is of course on top of a bad diet which includes too much sugar, salt and saturated fats. Once gum disease takes a hold the teeth begin to suffer, and a circle of deterioration is hard to stop, all it really needs is for good parental control in the early learning years. The expression `A stitch in time saves nine` is not heard so much these days, but it is a very true one. Children are quick learners, but you have to bring some fun into it if you are going to get a result. Making the cleaning of our teeth a family affair will instil in our young ones a happy medium that they will associate with all through their lives, and healthy teeth and gums is a result of all the effort.
March 20th, 2010
Many of us may think we are taking good care of our teeth because we brush them thoroughly for three minutes every day like dentists recommend but we could be giving ourselves a false sense of security because effective dental hygiene involves a lot more than just brushing.
Although brushing is obviously very important in keeping your teeth clean and free from plaque and bacteria, it is often the hard to reach places that cannot be cleaned with a brush that are the location of decay and gum disease. That is why it is so important to floss at least one a day. Flossing cleans the small gaps between teeth where bacteria and food debris can accumulate. The gaps are too narrow to be properly cleaned with a brush and require regular flossing to prevent decay.
Flossing also cleans the areas around the bottom of the tooth and underneath the gum line where bacteria gather in the small pockets. This can lead to both tooth decay and gum disease which can cause toothaches, infections and ultimately tooth loss. West London dentists also recommend using a tongue cleaner to remove bacteria form the grooves of the tongue. It is also a good idea to use a smaller inter-dental brush.
The most important factor in good dental hygiene however, is the regular six-month check ups you should be having with your dentist. Even the most regimented hygiene routine can still be under threat from disease and decay and only a dentist can help you to completely protect your teeth.
March 7th, 2010
Although brushing your teeth is vital to protecting your teeth from the danger of tooth decay and gum disease, it is important to remember that there is more to dental care than just brushing your teeth everyday.
Daily dental hygiene is crucial to keeping your teeth free from plaque and food debris that cause decay, disease and bad breath. Dentists recommend that you brush twice a day with a soft-bristled brush for at least three minutes. Using a brush with a smaller head will also allow greater mobility allowing you to clean teeth more effectively. However, as well as brushing dentists recommend that you also floss at least once a day. Flossing is important because it cleans the areas in between the teeth and below the gum line that are almost impossible to clean by just brushing.
Flossing also removes food trapped between teeth that decays and releases foul odours, the main cause of over ninety per cent of cases of bad breath. It is also true that the hard to reach areas between teeth are often the location of the first signs of decay, especially if you are not flossing regularly.
Other tools that are useful for daily hygiene as recommended by dentists are tongue cleaners and inter-dental brushes. These also help to remove more bacteria, helping to keep the mouth as clean as possible. But without a doubt the most important thing to remember is that even if your are using all these tools and techniques you still need to be seeing a London W1 dentist at least every six-months to make sure your teeth are as healthy as possible.
February 8th, 2010
Bad breath can be caused by a number of problems, from odorous foods such as garlic or chilli to liver disease, excessive drinking, diabetes and little or no oral hygiene. The good news is that the problem is curable, albeit a change in lifestyle will be necessary in most cases. The effect it can have on the personality is also astounding says a London W1 dentist, in fact there is research that shows a low esteem leads to a lax regime in personal care. Oral hygiene is one of the first areas that are affected and the person rarely realises that they have bad breath; this leads to people avoiding them and just piles more misery on the personal problems. Like the advert years ago use to say “bad breath is something even your best friend wont tell you about”. Liver disease is often a cause and in itself bad breath can often lead to a diagnosis that might have otherwise gone undetected, alcohol is often the main offender here or should I say an unhealthy and excessive intake is the offender. In order to treat bad breath in extreme cases the root cause may be treated first, but all in all good and well advised oral care will always improve the situation. Bacteria build up throughout the day is one of the catalysts that bring on and accelerates the problem, so brushing after each meal, mouth washing, chewing gum to produce saliva and drinking water will all help. If the bacteria isn’t removed it thrives on the sugar and fats in the food we eat, then when it dies of excess it become tartar and hardens onto the base of the tooth.
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 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.
September 14th, 2009
Toothbrushes have existed since Egyptian times. Even 3000 years ago people were aware how important it was. Right from when we are very young we are told how important it is to brush our teeth twice a day, even if we don’t like doing it much at the time. As we grow up, brushing in the morning when we get up and at night before we go to bed becomes part of the every day routine, as normal as eating and sleeping. Perhaps it is because of this we take for granted exactly how important a job it is.
The lessons we learn when we are young can really have a huge impact on not just our dental health but our overall health throughout the whole course of our lives. Brushing after meals in the morning and evening prevents the build up of plaque. Plaque is a filmy substance of bacteria and food detritus that builds up around the teeth and gums and attacks the enamel that protects the tooth.
If left unchecked this can lead to cavities or dental carries which can grow and lead to the need for fillings, crowns and in extreme circumstances, extraction. Plaque can also effect the gums leading to build ups of bacteria that can cause gingivitis (more commonly known as gum disease).
If plaque is not removed by brushing it can harden and turn into tartar which can then only be removed by a dentist or dental hygienist. Brushing really is the first line of defence against all forms of dental problems. But it is important to do it properly to ensure the most effective plaque removal.
Holding the brush at a 45 degree angle and making sure you have the right strength bristles (hard bristles can often irritate gums) can all increase the teeth cleaning power of brushing. Visit a London W1 dentist and he’ll be able to check that you are getting the most from brushing and using the correct brush for your teeth. They will also be able to point out spots that you might be missing.
Even though, or perhaps because, brushing your teeth is so ingrained in the daily routine it is so important not to take it for granted. It can help your teeth last a healthy lifetime.
