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With summer just around the corner, there are plenty of reasons to smile. It’s also the perfect time to think about your dental health and how to make sure your teeth look their best. We’ve listed six easy tips below.

1. Professional Teeth Cleaning

Usually, everyone will benefit from having their teeth professionally cleaned every six months, and it’s one of the easiest things you can do to protect your oral health and ensure you can smile confidently. We carefully remove all plaque and tartar buildup during your professional dental cleaning before gently polishing your teeth. It’s a treatment that helps reduce your risk of tooth decay and gum disease while ensuring your smile looks it’s sparkling best.

2. Drink Plenty of Water

The body consists largely of water, so it is essential to remain well-hydrated. Instead of reaching for sugary juice, soda or dehydrating alcoholic beverages, ensure you have a refillable bottle of water nearby so you can drink water regularly throughout the day. Water helps ensure you can make plenty of saliva, and it helps rinse away leftover food particles and bacteria, helping to keep your breath fresh.

3. Eat Healthily

A healthy diet ensures your teeth, gums, and jawbone have all the nutrients they need to fight infection and disease. Make sure you avoid foods and drinks high in sugar and instead make the most of all the wonderful fresh fruits and vegetables available at this time of year.

4. Keep Up-To-Date with Your Dental Work

If you know you have a loose or crumbling filling or need a new crown, or have one or two missing teeth that could do with replacing, get in touch with our dental practice. We can create your custom treatment plan and will work closely with you to ensure you get the dental care you need to protect and preserve your smile.

5. Stick to a Routine

The summer months can get busy, and it’s easy to forget to brush and floss your teeth regularly. However, sticking to a regular daily routine will help maintain your smile and protect your oral health, ensuring you can enjoy good oral health year-round and not just during summer.

6. Have a Professional Whitening Treatment

If you are still unhappy with the appearance of your teeth after having them cleaned professionally, ask us about a professional teeth whitening treatment. It is quick, safe, easy and very affordable. Our professional strength whitening products will help lift the colour of your teeth by several shades, sometimes in as little as an hour. Opt for an in-chair whitening treatment if you can’t wait to see the results. Otherwise, ask us about a custom home whitening kit using mouth trays specially created to fit exactly over your teeth. All you need do is wear the trays for several hours or overnight for a couple of weeks to get excellent results. You can almost certainly reuse the trays later on when you need a top-up treatment.

You might have seen pictures of people on the Internet brushing their teeth with something that looks completely black and, quite frankly, rather unpleasant, and you may have wondered if it is effective. Charcoal toothpaste has become increasingly popular over the past few years and promises to give you a brighter, whiter smile when you use it instead of ordinary white toothpaste. But will it deliver its promises, and is it safe for use?

What Is Charcoal Toothpaste?

Charcoal toothpaste is very different from ordinary toothpaste and contains an activated charcoal mixture, a form of carbon. Usually, charcoal toothpaste will not contain fluoride, an important ingredient in ordinary toothpaste that helps protect your teeth against tooth decay by hardening your tooth enamel.

How Does Charcoal Toothpaste Whiten Teeth?

The charcoal in the toothpaste is quite abrasive, and any abrasive substance can remove some surface stains from your teeth by scrubbing your tooth enamel. Initially, it may seem as if charcoal toothpaste is a good idea but bear in mind that the abrasive action can wear down your tooth enamel, doing more harm than good. Also, as your tooth enamel becomes thinner, more of the natural colour of your tooth will shine through. This natural colour is almost certainly darker, so instead of your teeth looking whiter, they will gradually begin to look yellow or even grey. If you do want to whiten your teeth, ask us about whitening safely. We can use professional strength whitening products that are unavailable to the general public and gently and effectively lift deep-seated stains from your teeth without damaging them. A professional tooth whitening treatment can brighten your teeth by several shades, creating a significant and noticeable difference.

Can Using Charcoal Toothpaste Freshen My Breath?

There is no real evidence that charcoal toothpaste freshens your breath more effectively than ordinary fluoride toothpaste. Also, the charcoal paste can become stuck in between your teeth or may even discolour dental restorations. If you are concerned about fresh breath, come and see us for a dental checkup. We can carefully assess your teeth and gums to determine if you have any problems that could cause halitosis or bad breath and, if needed, can provide appropriate treatment.

Can Charcoal Toothpaste Detoxify Gums?

There is no evidence that using charcoal toothpaste will detoxify your gums. Although using it may scrub away plaque and tartar, it will not help improve your gum health. If you have noticed your gums bleed, look swollen or red or feel tender to touch, please come and see us as soon as possible. Poor gum health is often due to gum disease. This bacterial infection is easily reversible with appropriate dental care, including cleaning your teeth and gums professionally and improving your oral care routine at home.

Please ask us for practical help and advice during your next appointment if you want to know more about which toothpaste to choose. We can recommend oral health products suitable for your needs and proven effective and gentle.

Many parents look forward to seeing their baby’s first teeth appear. Knowing what to expect and what to do will help ease your child’s discomfort.

When Do Baby Teeth First Start to Appear?

Usually, a baby will show signs of teething around six months, but babies can get their first teeth as early as three months. If you or other close family members got your baby teeth early, there’s a good chance your baby will too. Chewing on toys or fingers or biting can encourage teeth to arrive sooner rather than later.

Generally, the first teeth to appear are the two teeth right at the front of the lower jaw, called the lower central incisors. These are soon followed by the upper front teeth, called upper central incisors, and the upper lateral incisors, which are the two teeth on either side. These lateral incisors usually come through between the age of 8 months to a year. Your baby can expect to get their lower lateral incisors anywhere between 10 months and 16 months.

The very last teeth to make an appearance are the molars. The exact timing can vary quite a bit, but generally, the molars in the upper jaw begin erupting between the age of 13 months and 20 months. The lower molars come through between 14 and 18 months.

How Can I Tell If My Baby Is Teething?

Various signs can indicate your baby is beginning to get their teeth. If you look at their gums, they may look as if they are bulging, red and swollen. Your baby may begin to drool more frequently, and they might have a facial rash, or their cheeks will begin to look flushed. Children who are teething will often start to chew or suck on their toys or fist. Another common sign is noticing your child is pulling their ear on the same side of their face as an erupting tooth. The discomfort caused by teething can create difficulties with feeding, and your baby might become restless during the night or cry more frequently. Some children develop diarrhoea or a fever.

You can gently examine your baby’s mouth using clean fingers and touch them carefully to see if you can feel a hard tooth growing underneath the gums. However, if you spot a blister, called a teething blister, then you shouldn’t touch it. The blister is perfectly normal and should disappear without treatment, but otherwise, come and see us for help and advice.

Relieving Teething Discomfort

Gently massaging your baby’s gums can help provide relief during teething. Otherwise, provide them with something cool to bite down on, such as a clean, damp washcloth left in the fridge for half an hour. Give your baby teething toys that have been pre-chilled in the fridge, but these should not be frozen. Offering your baby cold liquids like plain yoghurt or fruit purée can help soothe uncomfortable gums. If you feel your baby is in pain or excessive discomfort, contact your GP for help and advice.