Posts Tagged “bacteria”
Bath dentist stresses the importance of oral hygiene
Oral hygiene is very important for the health of your teeth. In fact, making sure your teeth are clean and healthy will help you to avoid a whole series of unpleasant dental conditions that can be the source of great pain, costly treatment and spoil the appearance of the smile.
Oral hygiene is a quite a simple process yet it is all too easy to become complacent and let it slide. By ensuring that you are following your Bath dentist’s advice and brushing and flossing regularly for the required amount of time you should be able to keep your teeth looking and feeling healthy.
Oral hygiene problems occur when brushing and flossing is removing insufficient amounts of plaque and bacteria. This then builds up and releases acids that gradually erode the tooth enamel. When this happens, dental decay sets in and the central parts of the teeth come under attack fro disease and infection. Unless this problem is addressed it will eventually lead to lost teeth.
The gums can also be affected badly by poor oral hygiene. Gum disease is very common amongst adults in the UK, affecting nearly three-quarters at some stage. However, gum disease can be a lot more serious than it is often presumed and has recently been proven to cause heart disease and even fatal heart failure. You can see why dentists are so keen to stress the importance of good oral hygiene.
This involves brushing for three minutes twice a day and also remembering to floss. This will keep plaque down to a minimum protecting your teeth and gums. It is also crucial that you visit a Bath dentist every six months for a check up, to ensure that your teeth are in the best possible condition.
August 6, 2010 at 4:00 am | No comment
Know the dangers of gum disease – ask a Swindon dentist
The two most common things that affect our oral health are tooth decay and gum disease. Tooth decay occurs when plaque and bacteria are allowed to build up on the surface of the teeth and release acid that erodes enamel. This eventually leads to decay, infection and ultimately tooth loss. Gum disease is also caused by plaque and bacteria. This sits on the surface of the gum tissue and again releases acids, which cause irritation to the gums. If this process continues, the gum tissue can become infected which is the start of gum disease.
There are two main types of gum disease. Firstly, gingivitis which is the milder form of the disease, characterised by mild inflammation and irritation. This can cause some discomfort but is easily treated with improved oral hygiene and some treatment from a Swindon dentist. The other mores serious form of the disease is called periodontitis. This is when the infection has really taken hold in the gums, beyond the point that more effective cleaning will help. This may cause bleeding of the gums, tissue destruction and considerable pain.
If not treated effectively, periodontitis will eventually result in tooth loss and the spread of infection to other areas of the mouth. More worryingly perhaps, is the recent evidence for links between periodontits and heart disease. If the infection is allowed to enter the bloodstream it can cause a chain reaction that can have seriously damaging consequence on your heart and even cause fatal heart attacks. It is therefore very important to be aware of the health of your gums and do all you can to keep them clean. Better brushing and flossing combined with six-monthly dental check ups will help to keep your teeth clean and your gums healthy. With nearly three quarters of adults suffering from gum disease of some kind during their lives, it seems there is a lot more we can do to prevent it.
July 4, 2010 at 8:19 am | No comment
Weston-super-Mare dentist beats infection using root canal treatment
A root canal treatment is a dental treatment, also known as endodontics, designed to treat infection and decay that occurs at the centre of the tooth affecting the nerve and the pulp.
The tooth structure is in three distinct parts. On the outside is the enamel which is the hard coating. Underneath that is the dentin, a softer more bone-like material which surrounds the pulp of the tooth.
The root canal is the path of pulp that runs down through the gum and into the jawbone. It is this part of the tooth that keeps it anchored in place and also surrounds the dental nerve and blood vessels. In some cases there is more than one root canal per tooth. If this pulp area becomes infected either as the result of bacteria penetrating the tooth due to decay or some kind of structural damage, the root canal can become infected. The infection then attacks the nerve and blood vessels causing an abscess or at worst, tooth loss. This infection will also be very painful and can easily spread to other teeth and the gums if not treated quickly.
A root canal treatment from a Weston-super-Mare dentist is designed to save the tooth and stop the infection spreading to other areas. It has quite a fearsome reputation but will actually bring an end to the pain rather than cause any more. The dentist drills down into the root canal and removes any infected material. They may then use antibiotics to sterilise the area before filling the cavity and possibly applying a dental crown to strengthen the tooth.
If performed well, a root canal treatment has no reason to be painful. It will take place under a local anaesthetic and will hopefully bring an end to a painful and potentially threatening infection. If you are experiencing a pain in any of your teeth and suspect infection, early treatment is always the best option so make an appointment to see your dentist.
June 25, 2010 at 5:11 am | No comment
Tips for Your Child’s Healthy Smile by a Bristol dentist
A child’s smile is such a lovely thing to see, the little mites are so full of life that when they smile they don’t care about how they look, although we as parents do. A Bristol dentist is advising their patients on tips to keep that smile healthy; one factor is a healthy diet without too much acid or sugar in the basic ingredients. What we put in our mouths as part of our dietary plan will affect our smiles in two ways, firstly the food has to go into our mouths and then it is consumed by the body, and gets into the blood stream. The vitamins in our system are fed to our gums, the same gums that are still fighting the bacteria that come with the food. It seems that we have to fight attacks on the teeth and gums from inside and out. Baby bottle diets can attack the teeth even before they start growing, bacteria is prevalent in all our food and it needs to be kept under control. Acid is a product of the bacteria that feeds off our food residue, we produce saliva to counteract it, but if we feed our babies with a bottle and then allow them to sleep we are damaging their teeth. Saliva stops producing when we sleep, so baby needs to be kept awake for at least 30 minutes after feeding to stop the build of this harmful substance. Sweet stuff will keep them quiet, but this also produces a lot of acid that attacks our children’s teeth; and in turn their smile. There is a lot more to our children’s smiles than the eye sees, and just a few conscious tips like these will help to keep their little faces smiling; and they won’t also have too many problems with decaying teeth.
March 5, 2010 at 5:54 am | No comment
Periodontal Disease is explained by a Weston-Super-Mare dentist
Gum or periodontal disease is the bane of us all; it causes not just discomfort and pain, but also an embarrassing smile. The good news is that it can stopped in its tracks and slowed down; although a cure is not possible once the damage has been done. A Weston-Super-Mare dentist is advising his patients that a better oral hygiene regime may well be the answer. The disease starts when bad bacteria gets into cuts and abrasions on the gums, this is caused by acid build up which is a by-product of the bacteria feeding off the food residue that gets trapped in gaps between the teeth. Saliva is produced to neutralise the acid, but that can often be insufficient when our saliva glands stop working. This is something that happens when we are asleep or have a build up of sugar in the blood, this is what diabetics suffer from and one of the signs is a dry mouth. You don’t have to be diabetic to get the symptoms of a dry mouth, it is caused by many other factors, however they all have the same consequences and that’s saliva deficiency. Once gum disease takes control the gums will swell up and soften, this allows vigorous brushing to leave cuts and infection will set in. Abscesses and tooth ache will follow and then the exposed gum line will allow tartar build up on the exposed root of the tooth, this will weaken the tooth and it will eventually break off. A good regime of oral hygiene care will not cure the problem, but it will go a long way to preventing further damage. Our teeth are our biggest asset and it is important that we do all we can to make them last, a simple change in oral care is all that it often needs.
February 23, 2010 at 5:35 am | No comment
Suffering from gum disease? A Bristol dentist has the answer
Gum disease isn’t curable in its advance stage; this is called Gingivitis and is the periodontal disease that eats away at the gum line. It is caused by bacteria infecting the gums by entering them through cuts and sores on the bottom of the ridges. Bacteria is a resident of our mouths and we need it to get rid of the food residue that lingers in between the teeth. However, like all good things it has its drawbacks and acid production is one of them, this eats away at the tooth enamel and the gums and sets them up for infection. Once an infection takes a hold a lot of damage can be done in quite a short period of time, obvious ones are an abscess or a boil which can both be very painful. A dentist cannot work on a tooth that is infected by either one of these, first they will need to prescribe a course of antibiotics to clear up the complaint. Then they can look at the root cause of the problem, this is usually due to bacteria seeping into the gums and can lead to further problem. The worse case scenario as mentioned is Gingivitis which is an advanced case of periodontal disease; and is irreversible. Once the gum line disappears then tartar builds up on the exposed root of the tooth and wears it away, this always leads to the loss of the tooth prematurely unless it is kept at bay. One of the best ways is to make sure you floss in between the teeth at every opportunity, and especially after a snack or meal. Plaque is dead bacteria and tartar is an accumulation of that plaque, your dentist will clean tartar away when they do your half yearly check up, but you must also do your bit to keep this build down to a minimum.
February 22, 2010 at 5:20 am | No comment
Key to oral hygiene explained by Weston-super-Mare dentist
The essence of good oral hygiene is keeping your mouth free from bacteria, plaque and food debris so that it looks and smells as healthy as possible. This can be indicated by teeth that are clean and free from food particles and staining, gums that are pink and do not hurt or bleed when brushed and breath that does not smell.
This can be achieved by adopting a fairly simple but quite regimented system of cleaning and regular dental check ups. Teeth cleaning is carried out most effectively in several stages. The first and most important is brushing your teeth twice a day with an appropriate brush and paste. A Weston-super-Mare dentist can recommend the most suitable products for your particular teeth. Brushing should be carried out gently so as not to damage the gums and at a forty-five degree angle to the teeth for the most effective cleaning.
Second to brushing in importance is flossing, which dentists recommend should be performed once a day. Flossing is important because it cleans teeth below the gum line and in the difficult inter-dental areas hard to reach with normal brushes. Both brushing and flossing help to prevent the build up of plaque, a substance that releases damaging acids that cause tooth decay if not removed. They also remove food debris that causes over 90 per cent of cases of bad breath.
Further cleaning methods that can benefit oral hygiene are using mouthwashes (always ask your dentist before using), inter-dental brushes and tongue cleaners. Effective brushing and flossing should be enough but these other apparatus can also help in some cases. However, effective cleaning is only really beneficial when teamed with regular check ups with your dentist. Even the cleanest mouth can still be susceptible to dental decay, and only a trained dentist can spot the first signs of decay and gum disease. Dentists recommend a check up every six months to help keep your mouth as healthy and clean as possible.
February 6, 2010 at 5:45 am | No comment
End dental pain with help from Bristol dentist
Teeth have a very hard enamel exterior that is very durable and strong, but poor standards of oral hygiene or dental trauma can breech this tough exterior exposing the extremely sensitive dental nerve within the tooth. This can cause pain ranging from a mild sensitivity due to extremes of temperature in the mouth from eating and drinking to very severe pain caused by dental infections and abscesses.
Tooth enamel is commonly broken down by plaque acids and tartar in the mouth which, if not repaired with a filling or crown, can expose the pulp and nerve of the tooth to bacterial infection. If the nerve or root becomes infected the body will produce an excess of white blood cells to fight the infection. This can build up on a pocket around the tooth leading to a painful, pus-filled abscess. These can be very painful and can also lead to a spread of the initial infection.
Dental pain can also come in the form of erupting teeth or wisdom teeth buried beneath the gum. These can cause interruption to bite and painful irritation that is very uncomfortable. One of the common features of all dental pain is that it is very hard to control. For someone suffering dental pain it can seem there is little they can do to stop it. In most cases over-the-counter painkillers will be effective but patients should always see a dentist even if the pain appears to have disappeared. In cases of extreme infection or serious gum disease patients may require anti-biotics and more serious pain relief. It is important to remember in all cases of dental pain to see a Bristol dentist as soon as possible.
January 10, 2010 at 8:47 am | No comment
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