Okay, now listen up. If you can learn to keep plaque at bay successfully in Bristol, you have good chance of having good oral health throughout your life. Unfortunately, people are still relatively ignorant when it comes to oral hygiene, so maybe it’s time to take time out and re-educate yourself in looking after your teeth and gums. Firstly, try to watch what you eat to give yourself a strong constitution, and cut back on the joys of life, such as smoking and drinking; doing this will give you a good platform to build from. Then you’re into the heady world of toothbrushes, pastes and mouth-washes. These are important to get right (it may take time at first), because just by keeping your teeth clear of bacteria by brushing and flossing twice a day, will give you a fighting chance against plaque. There are many to choose from, but by enlisting the help of your dentist, you should get there in the end: be sure to keep your brush clean and change it regularly for a new one. Of course, if you still get into trouble and some of those evils get through, you always have the dentist to call on for back-up. They will be able to clean your teeth thoroughly and mend anything that has gone wrong-make sure you keep up your visits for these reasons alone.
Being healthy has so many benefits. As the body and mind are intimately linked, being healthy means that you are likely to feel happier too. Getting out of bed becomes easier and you will be more productive and a better person to be around. When considering your health it is best to think holistically, that is by considering the whole picture of your general hygiene. You shouldn’t miss out being diligent in your oral health.
Taking care of your mouth will ensure that you can do little things that you take for granted, free from pain or inconvenience. Think about it: your mouth is an integral part of eating, drinking, talking, smiling, even breathing. It doesn’t have to be a major chore for you to look after your mouth effectively.
The most basic steps are brushing and flossing in such a way that your mouth remains as free from plaque as it possibly can be. To achieve this, you should use a brush with erect bristles that are not frayed and a fluoride enriched tooth paste. Brush first thing in the morning, last thing at night and again after meals or sugary snacks if you feel it necessary. Flossing should remove any plaque that is hiding between teeth too.
Having good oral hygiene ought to manifest itself in teeth that are string and free from pain. They should be a nice tone of white; yellowing of the teeth means that plaque has hardened into tartar and decay is likely. Your gums should be pink and free from any discolouration. Going to see your Chepstow dentist for regular appointments to monitor your oral hygiene is a great help too.
When you are taking care of your teeth and gums you shouldn’t limit your strategy to brushing and flossing. Of course they are vital activities which should be carried out daily in the correct fashion: brushing twice for at least three minutes and again after meals if desired, using a fluoride enriched tooth paste and so on. But there are other things to consider when trying to give your mouth the best chance of staying healthy.
Certain foods cause more plaque to be produced and these should be avoided, kept to a minimum or eating immediately prior to brushing. It is substances which contain a lot of sugar and or starch which produce the most plaque in your mouth. Plaque can attack the enamel which naturally protects your teeth and so it is best to minimise the amount of it which can thrive in your mouth. Sweet treats should be just that: treats. But also foods like fruit and fruit drinks can produce a lot of plaque. These should not be avoided because they are nutritious but you should think about when you are eating them.
Sometimes people like to brush immediately after a meal so that plaque is stopped in its tracks. Some choose to have a little cheese after their dessert because this can actually remove some of the plaque that your sugary course will have produced in your mouth.
The key is to be sensible with your diet and eat all the food groups in balanced proportions. There is nothing inherently wrong with eating sugary and starchy things, indeed the body needs them, but you should keep them to a minimum. Your Swindon dentist is an expert in such matters and can advise you about the right diet to keep your teeth and gums healthy.
Tooth decay is an ongoing problem to everyone that lives in Bath. From childhood to adulthood, it will affect us all at some point. It’s caused by build up of bacteria in the mouth from starchy foods and sugary drinks which then turns to acid, combined with poor oral hygiene. Once the bacteria sets in, plaque will develop and gnaw away at the tooth’s enamel. In time, cavities will form and then tooth decay will take over. If this is spotted early on normally through an X-ray at the dentists, the tooth and its nerve can be saved with a simple filling at the dentist- dental sealants and fluoride are also used to combat tooth decay in children, preventing bacteria from reaching the natural surface of the tooth. But serious decay may require a root canal. As harsh as it sounds, it’s become a regular procedure for dentists. Once the decay and nerves are removed, the tooth can be capped with a crown to save the tooth. If the decay is extreme, then the tooth will need removing. Fluoride treatments and chewing sugar free gum helps to maintain a high saliva level in the mouth (along with a positive diet), that naturally helps to breakdown bacteria in the mouth. Good oral hygiene with flosses, good brushes and pastes, and mouthwashes also help to fight the bacteria in the mouth and prevent tooth decay.
There are many factors that cause bad breath in Weston-super-mare and they don’t always relate to the mouth. Having a healthy diet can retain a strong immune system, keep the blood clean and keep your gastric system healthy, which in turn, affects the state of your teeth and gums. Smoking and excessive drinking also impact on the health of your breath. A combination of all these can affect the level of saliva produced in the mouth. Saliva is a natural repellent to bacteria that builds up on the surface on the teeth. If the saliva dries up, so does the mouth, making the teeth and gums vulnerable to a build up of plaque and tartar that leads to tooth decay and gum disease, out of which comes bad breath. Another factor that contributes to the problem is poor oral hygiene. Irregular cleaning and flossing can allow bacteria to develop from foodstuffs that are lodged between the teeth; the food can become pungent and leave bad tastes in the mouth and if something tastes wrong, it will smell wrong. Treating the problem can take a lot of effort to remedy. Firstly, a consultation with the dentist would be advisable before undertaking a course of healthy living and good oral hygiene. But bear in mind, having bad breath can not only unsociable, but indicates more serious problems such as oral cancer.
If you maintain a regular program of oral hygiene in Weston-super-mare, it can save you time and money, as well as protect your health, in the long run. Having an unhealthy mouth can lead to many complications throughout your body. Gum disease for example, has been linked to heart disease, gastric problems and kidney failure, to name a few, and the cost of having problems rectified in the mouth can be time consuming and escalate very quickly into the thousands. Yet, it’s such an easy problem to stay on top of, with a simple but regular regime, and it all starts at home. Regular brushing with the right brush and paste, and flossing can stop most problems escalating, further enhanced by the use of mouthwashes. Of course, against all our best attempts, we can slip up from time to time, which is why regular dental visits should be high on the agenda too. A dentist will be able to identify any complications and then treat them- from removing tartar and plaque to thwarting tooth decay and gum disease. They are also there to consult with and to get advice on how to maintain good oral health. Diet is also important for building the immune system and maintaining a high level of saliva in the mouth- the body’s natural way to fight against acids and bacteria that lurk in the mouth.
Losing a tooth or teeth can be a painful business in itself but you ought to get it or them replaced as soon as possible so that complications don’t ensue. Remaining teeth can begin to shift into gaps left behind by missing teeth and your cheeks can sag inwards, making you look older than you are. There are a number of options for replacing lost teeth but dental implants are becoming increasingly popular because of their durability and effectiveness.
A dental implant is essentially a substitute for the root part of the lost tooth. It is a bit like a socket, into which a replacement tooth can be secured. Dental implants need to be placed beneath the gum and local anaesthetic will be required. In order for the titanium implant to ‘osseointegrate’ or fuse with the bone, it must be placed against the jaw bone.
The osseointegration means that dental implants represent an incredibly stable housing for your replacement tooth. So stable in fact that a replacement tooth using a dental implant can actually support further replacement teeth using dental bridge work. Therefore dental implants are not just a solution for those who have lost just one tooth.
Often dentures are chosen if a number of teeth have been lost. These can come loose while eating and talking and have a tendency to get rather messy. Dental implants are preferable because of their permanence. The realistic replacement teeth can be treated just like your natural teeth and should last a life time providing you maintain good oral hygiene.
If you have lost a tooth or some teeth, talk to your Weston-Super-Mare dentist today about what dental implants can do for you and your mouth.
Maintaining excellent oral hygiene makes activities that you take for granted so much easier. If you allow your oral health to slip then you could be face with tooth decay and even tooth loss. These can be painful and inconvenient, making it much harder to eat, drink, talk and even smile. Brushing, flossing and seeing your dentist every six months are crucial, of course, but you can help ensure good oral hygiene by avoiding certain foods.
Foods which contain lots of sugar and or starch contribute to excess build ups of plaque. Plaque attacks the teeth, causing cavities and eventually the break down of teeth which might come loose. Brushing and flossing should rid your mouth of the vast majority of this plaque but it is easier in the first place to simply avoid certain foods so that you don’t end up having to deal with a plaque problem.
Sweets contribute hugely to plaque formation and the same can be said of sugary and carbonated drinks. These should be eaten in moderation. Unfortunately fruit and some vegetables also contain plenty of sugar and starch. Although these fruit sugars are good for us generally, they can contribute to plaque. As such you should try and brush your teeth after you have eaten fruit or have your fruit before your main meal so that the process of eating the other courses can dislodge some of the plaque that will already be starting to form.
Having a generally healthy diet can contribute to good oral hygiene. If one part of you is unhealthy it is likely to affect the rest of you too and this is true of teeth. Talk to your Bath dentist today to get more advice about how a healthy diet can aid good oral hygiene.
Having wisdom teeth start to develop and come through can be a painful time in Swindon. They start to appear around the age of 17 and can take months to break through, sometimes never. There are a few ways to relieve the pain during this period. A numbing agent or oil can be purchased at most supermarkets and pharmacies and massaged onto the affected area to offer relief. Pain-killers too can be purchased at these outlets or obtained from a doctor. Other more simple methods involve chewing gum on the side where the pain is, the use of clove oil and rinsing with warm salt water. But wisdom tooth pain can also be a sign of infection- they are notoriously difficult to keep clean from bacteria and foodstuffs. If the pain is severe, dental treatment should be sought. Wisdom teeth also have a mind of there own, they can grow sideways, backwards, forwards and in extreme cases, downwards. This is because there is very little space for them to grow into. Wisdom tooth extraction is on the decline and these days, dentists would prefer to let the tooth stay. But sometimes, removing the tooth is unavoidable and on occasions, best done in hospital- for removal of a wisdom tooth, especially if it’s not showing, can be quite a complex and dangerous procedure. It can require great force to extract and put stress on the surrounding teeth and nerves and also affect the ears and sinuses. In such cases, a general anesthetic is used. Oral hygiene must be a top priority post-extraction as the mouth is extremely vulnerable to infection.
One of the dangers to the mouth in Chepstow is gum disease and at some point, most of us will suffer from it unless we know how to maintain our gums. Gum disease starts with poor oral hygiene. Bacteria can build up in the mouth and plaque will start to form, attacking both the teeth and gums. The gums will start to bleed and if allowed to continue, will recede, leaving the teeth to become loose and eventually fall out. Dental repair work can be costly too, but with a little more attention to detail everyday, we can avoid any problems and retain healthy gums. Brushing and flossing twice a day, or after meals are a good place to start, but so are regular visits and consultations with your dentist. The dentist will remove any build up of plaque and tartar around the teeth. It’s also the time to ask about brushes, mouthwashes and toothpastes and find out what’s best for you. Ask about gum flossing, massaging and teeth exercises. These are excellent ways to keep the blood busy in the gums. Finally, find out about diet, what to eat and what to avoid. We all know that smoking and excessive drinking are bad for the mouth, but we can combat our bad habits by ensuring a good diet and a good program of oral hygiene.
Dr Gerrard is a Bristol based Cosmetic dentist with many years of experience and is one of only a small number of dentists accredited by The British Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry
