Bruxism as it is known in the medical world can lead to serious dental problems if it remains untreated. So how do you know if you are suffering? Some of the common symptoms are waking with earache or headache, or with facial or jaw pain which may ease as the day goes on. Some sufferers will have sensitivity to cold or pressure. If this continues untreated the teeth will gradually be worn down which can cause irreversible damage such as gum recession and considerable tooth loss.

The good news is that treatment can be simple with mouth guards being a common solution. Worn teeth can also be fixed with crowns or veneers. So if you suspect that you are grinding your teeth at night please visit us for an assessment.

As Dwayne Johnson’s rendition of the tooth fairy hits cinema screens nationwide, local dentist, Sandeep Mohal says it’s the perfect opportunity for parents to remind their children of the importance of brushing their teeth and eating the right foods.

He said: “Evidence suggests that the later you get your first cavity, the better your lifetime of oral health will be,” said Sandeep Mohal. However, milk teeth are sometimes dismissed because they ‘will fall out anyway’. In fact, they should be brushed with just as much care and attention.

“Teeth grow healthy and decay is totally preventable. Although regular visits to the dentist are important, much of the work to keep teeth and gums healthy is done at home. Parents should not underestimate their role in the supervision of the twice-daily tooth-brushing routine. The recommended age to keep a watchful eye on your children as they brush is seven,” said Sandeep Mohal

“As children naturally prefer sweet food, the challenge is to balance their diet by giving them the food they love while looking out for their teeth and gums. The trick is to encourage them to eat sweets at the end of a meal, rather than constantly nibbling throughout the day,” said Sandeep Mohal

Top tips for parents to remember:
• take your children to the dentist from as young an age as possible to familiarise them with the sounds, sights and smells before they even have to sit in the chair
• brush with a fluoride containing toothpaste for two minutes, twice daily
• supervise children’s brushing up until around the age of seven years
• cheese is a great way to finish off a meal as it neutralises the acid levels in the mouth which attack/soften the enamel

National Smile Month 2010 is taking place between May 16 and June 16 under the tagline ‘Teeth4Life.’ The campaign will focus on the vital importance of looking after your mouth in order to keep your body healthy. Significant scientific evidence has proven the systemic links between oral health and overall health, with research clearly linking gum disease to heart disease, diabetes, strokes and premature and low birth weight babies.

To get into the spirit of things Confidental in Sandhurst is promoting Teeth4Life, the practice is hoping to teach patients about the importance of a healthy diet.

Dr Sandeep Mohal commented: “We are delighted to get involved in National Smile Month and to give a little bit back to our patients. Good oral health is very important and it promises to be great fun!”

This year’s National Smile Month maintains the British Dental Health Foundation’s key messages:
• brush twice-a-day with fluoride toothpaste,
• cut down on how often you have sugary foods and drinks and
• visit the dentist regularly as often as they recommend.

Confidental has joined the many dental practices, schools, health professionals and community groups promoting good oral healthcare under the umbrella of the National Smile Month campaign.

“A good oral healthcare routine can help guard against all sorts of oral and general health conditions from bad breath and decay to gum disease, which has been linked to a number of more serious health conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and strokes.

“By promoting good oral healthcare in a fun and imaginative way we hope to persuade more people of the importance of taking care of their teeth.”

For more information on National Smile visit the website: www.smilemonth.org

For further information on this call Confidental on 01252 877 309, or email on info@confdentalsmiles.co.uk

For general information about National Smile Month www.nationalsmilemonth.org. Alternatively, you can contact the Foundation press office on 01788 539 792 or pr@dentalhealth.org.

ADVICE FROM CONFIDENTAL:

Recent figures suggest at least 50 per cent of under–fives experience signs of tooth decay as parents allow them too many sugary snacks.

Be kind to your teeth

Forget the latest fashionable moisturisers or facial products, when it comes to looking good customers are straightening their teeth instead.

At Confidental the number of customers opting for invisible braces procedures, as well as veneers, have increased in 2009 and 2010 seems set to offer more of the same.

With celebrities like Simon Cowell and Cheryl Cole choosing to have cosmetic dentistry it’s no surprise that many others have followed suit in an effort to achieve that perfect smile. Many celebrities have realised how important their smiles are and gone to a reputable dentist to perfect it. Tom Cruise is said to have invested in the invisible brace to get his flawless smile.

Confidental offers several cosmetic dentistry treatments including invisible braces, teeth whitening, veneers, crowns and dental implants all of which are carried out by our dedicated and professional expert dentists who want to help you get the look you are after.

So many people suffer from low self esteem and are afraid to smile because they dislike the way their teeth look. Whether it is the colour or shape, correcting any of these problems will often help a patient have new found confidence. Come in and discuss how we can help you get that perfect smile.

• “My dentist couldn’t fit me in for 1/2/3 days/weeks.”
• “He just had a quick look and said he couldn’t do anything until the antibiotics he gave me started working.”
• “He said he couldn’t numb me up as the infection would stop the injection from working properly.”

It shocks me to hear this. Saying we’re far too busy to see you is really uncaring in my opinion. I know a toothache won’t kill you, but anyone who has had really bad toothache knows it is all-consuming – and apparently it is the second-worst pain a person can experience. I’ll tell you what the worst is when you see me.

Of course there are times when dentists have to wait for antibiotics to work, but these are rare. If antibiotics are necessary they should be given after work has been carried out to relieve pain.

As for infection, this simply won’t stop an anaesthetic injection from working. They do take time …

With toothache you need a dentist who will:

1. See you the same day you ring.
2. Carry out treatment to relieve the pain on the first visit – this is vital!! (Whatever it is we know how to treat it, both immediately and longer term .)
3. Give enough anaesthetic to numb the tooth, and wait long enough for it to work properly. Although local anaesthetic should work under normal conditions within 5 minutes, with bad toothache this may take up to 30 minutes to work. We schedule time to accommodate this possibility into our appointment planning.

If the above is carried out, 95% of people will experience almost complete relief from pain within 24 hours, and 60-70% will experience immediate relief.

As we realise the importance of providing prompt toothache treatment, we run a 24 hour / 365 day a year emergency service. Just ring 01252 877309!!!

To continue our thoughts on whether National Smile Month will work to improve dental health and encourage more regular trips to the dentists – we think that cash would be pretty high up the list of reasons for delaying a dental check-up. Let’s face it, we can all think of ways we’d prefer to spend our money.

It might surprise you to learn that we don’t actually like telling patients that they need costly repair work doing. That’s because we know they don’t like hearing it (that will be the wincing!) and we hate to be the bearer of bad tidings. Our view has always been that prevention is far better (i.e. cheaper) than cure. Better to spend a little now, instead of a lot more later.

Do regular check-ups actually save you money? Well, with regular visits we can sort out minor issues before they become more serious. If identified early enough, we can stop tooth decay with a small, inexpensive filling; if left it could require a larger filling or major corrective treatment such as a crown, bridge or even root canal. Not only that, but we can also spot other potential problems early on (such as gum disease) and sort that out too, before it becomes a problem.

The bottom line is, don’t spend lots of money on expensive dental repairs; spend a little on regular check-ups so that we can catch things before they develop. The money you save can be spent on something more pleasurable – like improving your smile.

At Confidental, we completely back the idea, in principle, but would love to know what other people think. Our view is that most people already subscribe to the idea that they ’should’ look after their teeth but for one reason or another they put off visiting their dentist.  Why IS that?  Answers on a postcard, or in the comments below please.

We’ve a few theories of our own as to why people put off a trip to the dentist, so to mark National Smile Month at Confidental we’ll be posting our ideas here over the next few days and weeks.  Hopefully these thoughts will help to overcome any worries you might have about coming to see us.

We’ve always been adopters of new dental technology at Confidental, and used efficiently, we think it has been good for us and our patients. And now as you can see, our latest learning curve is ‘digital communication’.

So what is this ‘dental blog’ for?

Well, having looked at a few different ways to keep the people we know updated, we’ve chosen to run a blog on ‘the website’.

When it came to making a choice between email, twitter – does anyone get that?, and Facebook (time sink?), we finally decided that a blog is the least annoying of the lot. People are free to decide whether to ’subscribe’ to this blog by email, or RSS (the orange button on the left apparently), or simply come back every now and again to see what’s going on, rather than be drowned in email spam, frittered or twittered or facebooked at every waking moment.

Being dentists means that most time during the day (and often evenings) is taken up in front of the chair, so adding articles may be a sporadic thing, but it will hopefully be useful information to our existing and new patients. Over a period of time at least.

This is supposed to be interactive, so please feel free to comment (click below), ask questions or simply send us an email with some feedback. We’re always delighted to hear from people.