Articles

PUBLISHED IN TCI WEEKLY NEWS
5th April 2014

How can smoking affect my oral health?
Most people now know that smoking is bad for their health. It can cause many different health problems and, in some cases, fatal diseases. However, many people don’t realise the damage that smoking can do to their mouth, gums and teeth; smoking can lead to tooth staining, gum disease, tooth loss and – more seriously – mouth cancer.

Why are my teeth stained?
One of the effects of smoking is staining on the teeth due to the nicotine and tar in tobacco. It can make the teeth yellow in a very short time, and heavy smokers often complain that their teeth are almost brown after years of smoking.

PUBLISHED IN TCI WEEKLY NEWS
22nd March 2014

World Health Organisation Guidelines
The subject of sugar and its impact on health is very topical at the moment. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has recently issued revised guidelines for the healthy limit of sugar consumption, reducing this number to 5% of total calories consumed. This is due to the increasing awareness of the link between high-sugar foods and increase in weight gain/obesity and the associated diseases such as heart disease and Type 2 diabetes. WHO is particularly concerned about consumption of ‘free’ sugars. These are defined as sugars that are added to foods by manufacturers, and sugars that are naturally present in fruit juices, fruit concentrates, syrups and honey. Sugary drinks, such as soda, are possibly the most concerning.

PUBLISHED IN TCI WEEKLY NEWS
8th March 2014

Wisdom teeth or third molars are the last teeth to erupt (between the ages of 17 and 25 years) and are located at the back of the mouth. They are called wisdom teeth because they come through much later than the rest of our teeth, at a time when we are supposed to be an adult and therefore ‘wise’! It is usual to have four although some people can have less or occasionally more.

Many people are familiar with the idea of wisdom teeth being removed and indeed it was normal practice in certain countries around thirty years ago for wisdom teeth to be routinely removed. Best practice has moved on since then and now it is recommended that a wisdom tooth should only be removed if the patient is experiencing recurrent infections, several times a year for 2-3 years. If there is no clinical need to remove a wisdom tooth, it should not be removed.

PUBLISHED IN TCI WEEKLY NEWS
February 22nd 2014
 

Going to the dentist is an important part of maintaining good overall health and goes well beyond just your teeth. Many health issues are connected to poor dental health, ranging from simple bad breath to more serious issues such as heart problems. Sometimes there is an obvious reason to visit the dentist, such as pain, but there may be problems in your mouth that you are not aware of and it is only through regular visits to a dentist that these will be detected.

PUBLISHED IN TCI WEEKLY NEWS
February 8th 2014

Even before a baby has teeth there are certain good practices that should be followed. Get into good habits early! When bottle feeding, infant formula, expressed breast milk or cooled, boiled water should be used. Sugar water, sweetened milk, or juice should not be given to an infant. These liquids are unsuitable as they encourage a sweet tooth as the child grows older.

PUBLISHED IN TCI WEEKLY NEWS
January 25th 2014

I’ve recently spoken with several patients who have all been experiencing similar problems with jaw pain & clicking sometimes also connected with aching in the face, head or neck.

Although there are a number of possible causes for this, including injury or disease (such as arthritis) the most common cause is bruxism or the clenching and grinding of teeth. Typically people do this without being aware of it and therefore sometimes the cause of the pain is not immediately obvious.

PUBLISHED IN TCI WEEKLY NEWS
January 11th 2014

At this time of year I like to use this column to take the opportunity to look at the basics of good dental care. Most people know generally what they should be doing but it’s easy to slip into bad habits. Therefore this is a friendly reminder to encourage you and your family to get on track with a healthy dental care regime for 2014! It’s not tough, it’s not expensive and it doesn’t take much time!

PUBLISHED IN TCI WEEKLY NEWS
December 21st 2013

Season’s Greetings to all our readers! It’s that wonderful time of year again where we all enjoying spending time with family and friends, and celebrating the holidays. And for most of us these festivities will include enjoying great food and drink- I know I’m certainly looking forward to my Christmas cake, mulled wine and Ferreo Rocher!

PUBLISHED IN TCI WEEKLY NEWS
December 7th 2013

Whatever you are doing, having the ‘right tools for the job’ is always sensible and makes the work more effective and efficient. This is definitely true for brushing teeth and so following on from my last article which discussed mouthwash, I’m going to look at toothbrushes and floss.

Toothbrushes
When I look at the selection on sale in most stores I find a large number of the toothbrushes have a considerably larger head size than I would recommend.