February 1st, 2012
You can pretty much find fluoride anywhere in central London and it has always been considered that it is the greatest thing to ever happen to our teeth.
Fluoride re-mineralizes the enamel and strengthens the teeth against plaque and acids that lead to tooth decay and so, it is naturally added to drinking water and you will find it in most dental products that you buy today. But for all of its boasts over the years, there is a rumbling going on that actually fluoride does more damage than good in the long run.
There are areas in the world that do not use fluoride at all, yet there are less reported cases of tooth decay and caries in these places as opposed to westernized areas. Fluoride does stave off caries, but it doesn’t prevent them altogether and its over-use can lead to fluorosis in the teeth making them weak and vulnerable to decay, making dental costs higher.
It has also been proven that fluoride is more toxic than lead and arsenic- probably a good reason to cut down on it as this constant ‘poisoning’ by using it, not only affects the teeth, but the brain and heart too.
There are alternative products you can buy as well as natural spring water, but fluoride has become popular because it helps to fend off decay from the type of food and drink we consume in the West so if you stop using it, you should also consider looking at your diet as well.
November 9th, 2011
Tooth decay is an absolute horror and if it gets dug in, you are going to have to spend a lot of money to resolve the problem in central London. If you’ve been a little bereft with your oral hygiene and taken your eye off the ball, there is a very good chance that you may be setting yourself up for a big fall. We are constantly being battered of how to look after our teeth and our oral health- and for good reason too. Yes we may feel that we can get away with murder on a daily basis, but if you don’t keep the acids off the teeth by regular brushing and flossing, things can go wrong at the flick of a switch in the mouth and you can be finding yourself suffering with tooth decay. In its infancy, it can be overcome at the dentists with a filling- that’s of course if you keep your appointments regularly. But if the problem is allowed to get out of hand, it may take some very intrinsic and expensive work to retrieve. Root canal treatment is your ‘get out of jail free card’ if things get too dramatic, but you should really sit yourself down and question yourself just what you are doing to your mouth in the first place.
September 20th, 2011
It seems a bizarre thing to think that some oral hygiene products on sale in central London can actually add to bad breath, but in fact it’s true. One of the main contributors to bad breath is suffering from a dry mouth- this can be caused by a myriad of things from stress to diet, but having a dry mouth means that the saliva in the mouth has dried up and this means your mouth is vulnerable to gum disease and tooth decay and so it’s is important to keep the mouth hydrated at all times. If you use toothpaste that contains a bleaching agent however, it can help to add to the dryness. And one of the worst things you can use if you have this condition is alcohol based mouthwashes and others that use masking agents. They don’t actually solve the problem of bad breath, but by the chemicals added, they actually compound the problem by making the mouth even drier. Help should be sought from your dentist who can explain what exactly is in the more popular mouthwashes and toothpastes on the market so that you can avoid them and address the problem of dry mouth using more herbal based products.
September 14th, 2011
If you want to avoid the inconvenience and pain involved in tooth decay and gum disease then you will need to institute a home oral care routine that is fit for purpose. If you are presently only brushing your teeth and believe that that is enough then you might be exposing yourself to unnecessary risks from the effects of plaque bacteria and tartar.
Once you have brushed your teeth it is really important that you don’t miss out the next step: flossing. Buy some dental floss from your local pharmacy or super market; it doesn’t cost much and one box will last a long time. Pull a length of the medicated floss from the box and tear it off. You should be using sufficient amount that gives you good few inches to work with.
Hold it firmly at either end of the floss and then pull it through the gap between two of your teeth. Repeat this process until you have done your whole mouth. This is only way you can ensure that plaque and food debris is not left in these gaps to do its damage to teeth and gums.
Think about your diet as well as the lifestyle choices you make. These things can also have a bearing on your oral hygiene and can mean the difference between healthy teeth and gums and trips to your London W1 dentist to have your cavities filled and gum disease cured.
August 31st, 2011
Tooth decay is something to be avoided as best you can because the consequences can be difficult to deal with. Taking the time to improve the way you look after your teeth is a much more pleasant prospect than having to have fillings put in your mouth or, even worse, to deal with the fact that one of your teeth needs to be removed because it is failing.
That is the potential consequence of tooth decay that has gone too far: an extraction because of the failure of a tooth. It is the last resort for dentists and they will try and advise about how this can be avoided. The thing to remember when it comes to tooth decay is that it is ultimately caused by the substance known as plaque. While plaque cannot be avoided as such, it can be minimised and then effectively removed from the mouth.
Brushing and flossing are the best places to start of course. The process of brushing your teeth with a tooth brush and fluoride tooth paste rids the teeth of most of the plaque that builds up after eating and drinking. The failure to do this or do it properly, can leave plaque on the teeth, free to erode the layer of enamel and cause teeth to decay.
Even if you think you are brushing and flossing as well as you can do, your dentist might be able to spot signs of tooth decay. This is another great reason to go and visit your Central London dentist every six months or as directed. Tooth decay can then be effectively stopped in its tracks.
June 15th, 2011
Trying our best to keep gum disease and tooth decay at bay each day in central London is the prime directive of oral hygiene, or if you want to be technical, preventative dentistry. These two evil elements only pose a threat if they are allowed to advance, and boy, can they advance! They can lead to halitosis, tooth and bone loss, heart disease and organ failure- pretty good reason to prevent them then! If you feel at any time you are having problems, you should get down to the dentist and find out how to tackle them. Sure the dentist will do the scale and polish bit, but between you, you should iron out a plan on how to look after your mouth. The dentist will check your dental records and based on that and any current problems, and then suggest ways to improve your oral hygiene. This will take into account such matters as diet, medication and things that you do but shouldn’t be doing, like smoking and/or excessive drinking. You can also discuss the brushes and toothpastes you use and maybe adjust them accordingly The dentist can get your teeth into the best possible shape and make you look pretty, but what they can’t do is keep an eye on what you are getting up to elsewhere. At the end of the day, it’s down to you to take responsibility for the health of your teeth, gums and mouth.
June 9th, 2011
One of the greatest battles you and your teeth are going to have to face throughout your life is against periodontal disease. It’s thought that 75% of people in London W1 will have trouble with the problem in some form, at some stage of their lives, but the consequences are very damaging to the teeth, gums and the health of the body. It all begins with bad oral hygiene- poor flossing and brushing, which allows a build up of plaque in the mouth. Gum disease follows quickly, poisoning the blood and then tooth decay sets in and inevitably, you will start to lose your teeth. Your gums are a dead give away that you have a problem- they may bleed and recede. But identify the disease and do something about it as quickly as possible, and you have a great chance of destroying it. Your dentist will be able to clean/scale the areas you can’t and treat them, but in the end it’s you that has to step up to the mark and get your daily oral hygiene program up to scratch so that the problem doesn’t return. You’re going to have to re-evaluate the way you brush, what you brush with, how to floss and be sure to look at herbal alternatives too. You must never fall into the mistakes you did before.
May 25th, 2011
Keeping your mouth healthy in central London is a never ending battle, though with all the products on the market, you stand a good chance of doing so, and then there’s your dentist to back you up to fix the things that you can’t see and will miss. Tooth decay is one of these to be combated, and depending how bad it is, even if you lose a tooth, you’ll probably need to have a full or partial crown fitted, not only for the health of your mouth, but from an aesthetic angle too. They are made from an array of materials, from gold to resin, from ceramic to porcelain; choosing the one that suits should be determined by the level of your vanity and the everyday stresses the tooth will go through. Gold and porcelain-over- metal, tend to be stronger and are normally preferred in the back of the mouth; others that preserve the beauty of the tooth, where the forces on them are minimal, are normally all-porcelain or ceramic- these are generally constructed outside of the mouth before fitting. When a tooth has to be removed completely, its root can be replaced with an implant to which a complete crown can be fitted. Whatever you choose will restore the damage done and ensure that your mouth continues functioning naturally as before.
March 8th, 2011
Dental check-ups should be a regular occurrence if you live in central London to retain the health of you teeth and gums, keep your mouth looking fresh and to keep your body healthy too. Good hygiene through brushing and flossing at home should be enough to keep going between check-ups. But such are the lure of fast foods, smoking and drinking these days, it’s easy to take your eye off the hygiene prize and leave your mouth vulnerable to dental ‘nasties’. Problems can get out of hand very quickly in the mouth; gum disease and plaque being two of the main players. If you miss a regular check up, these can lead to cavities and tooth loss in the long run, let alone the long term problems they can cause throughout the body such as heart disease and oral cancer. When you have a check-up, a dentist has a set of guidelines and procedures laid down to stop these problems setting in. They will first check for any signs of plaque or gum disease, and then remove them. A simple x-ray will reveal any signs of tooth decay so that again, the dentist can rectify the problem with a simple filling. It’s time when you can have your teeth thoroughly cleaned, de-scaled and polished. But most of us are quite happy to get in, get done and get out when it comes to dentists, missing out on the perfect opportunity to discuss any problems we may have with our teeth. It’s a chance to discuss all manner of issues from our home oral hygiene habits to cosmetic treatments available to us.
February 17th, 2011
Even if you are the most rigorous of brushers and floss effectively too, it is hard to recreate the feeling of having had your teeth professionally cleaned by the dentist. This is because of the special equipment that they use which allows them to clean your teeth with a far greater depth than you could ever manage at home.
Professional dental clean involve the processes of scaling and polishing. Scaling is the physical act of scraping away built up plaque and tartar from the surface of your teeth with a small and sharp hook. This process is an essential part of the fight against tooth decay, caused by plaque attacking the enamel on your teeth.
Once plaque takes hold it can form into tartar which cannot be removed by tooth brushing alone and must be dealt with in the surgery. Another good reason to get tartar removed is that it is an unsightly brown colour and makes your teeth look less attractive. The process of scaling is a generally painful procedure, with dentists increasingly concerned about relaxing their patients while they are in the surgery.
Once scaled, an electric polisher is used to buff the teeth. This not only makes them look whiter but the extra smoothness achieved leaves plaque with less rough patches to cling onto. This too, is a painless process.
The benefits if scaling a polishing are easy to see. It is much better to let your dentist help you with your oral hygiene than excluding him or her from the process. After scaling and polishing from your Central London dentist you will have a brighter smile, your teeth will feel great and you will experience greater peace of mind knowing that plaque and tartar have been removed from your mouth.
