Monthly Archives: May 2014

PUBLISHED IN TCI WEEKLY NEWS
31st May 2014

The Journal of the American Dental Association reports that up to 39% of dental injuries are sports related, that these injuries are twice as likely to occur in a male as a female and the most common dental injury is to the upper front teeth (incisors).

There are a number of ways the teeth can be damaged whilst playing sports-

– Hard object contact- a stick or hard ball/puck hitting the teeth generally results in a tooth being chipped
– Soft object contact- eg. elbow, knee, foot- this is more likely to result in tooth displacement

PUBLISHED IN TCI WEEKLY NEWS
17th May 2014

Suffering with a dry mouth is not the same as being thirsty and has different underlying causes. The reason I want to look at the topic of dry mouth is because it can have a negative impact on the health of a patient’s teeth and gums.

We need saliva to moisten and cleanse our mouths and help to digest food. Saliva also prevents infection by controlling bacteria and fungi in the mouth and with patients experiencing a dry mouth there is an increased risk of gingivitis (gum disease), mouth infections and fungal infections such as thrush. When we don’t produce enough saliva, our mouth gets dry and uncomfortable. Other symptoms include frequent thirst, sores in the mouth or split skin at the corners of the mouth, cracked lips, a burning or tingling sensation in the mouth or tongue, a red, raw tongue, problems speaking or difficulty tasting, chewing/ swallowing and bad breath.

PUBLISHED IN TCI WEEKLY NEWS
3rd May 2014

From time to time I have patients enquiring about tongue or lip piercings or teeth grills. For clarity, these are not procedures that a dentist would perform but I thought it was a topic worth discussing in order to outline the potential problems that can occur. As a general rule if you are going to have this type of work done always use a practitioner who has strict hygiene standards, where all tools are sterilized and the environment is clean and tidy.