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World Oral Health Day falls on 20 March this year, and there is a continuing campaign theme urging people to be proud of their mouth. The three-year campaign launched last year promotes a simple but very important message, urging everyone to value their oral health and take care of it. This year, the message highlights how important it is to have a healthy mouth for general well-being.

In many countries, including Australia, oral disease is a major concern. Gum disease and tooth decay are very common and can cause significant pain and discomfort. Oral disease can become isolating, causing a loss of self-confidence when you know your teeth do not look their best. Yet these diseases are preventable and are easily treated during their early stages.

Focusing on Preventive Oral Care

World Oral Health Day and the entire month of March are ideal opportunities to encourage patients to focus on oral health. We firmly believe in preventive oral care, encouraging everyone to have six-monthly checkups and dental cleanings. It is the easiest and most cost-effective way to maintain a healthy mouth you can feel proud to show the world. Additionally, when you visit our practice, we can provide useful information and practical advice on caring for your mouth at home.

Why Is Oral Health Important for General Well-Being?

People often overlook the importance of a healthy mouth when thinking about their general health, but they are closely connected. You need healthy teeth and gums for everyday activities, including eating and speaking. Speaking confidently is tricky without a full complement of teeth. Some people may avoid speaking in public or will hide their mouth.

Without strong teeth, it’s impossible to eat many foods comfortably, and digestion begins in the mouth. You need to chew food thoroughly, and saliva contains important digestive enzymes. Moistening the food with saliva makes it easier to swallow, ensuring your body can extract maximum nutrition from the foods you eat. With strong and healthy teeth, you can enjoy a better diet, helping to protect your general health.

Gum disease is of particular concern and, unfortunately, is very common. Your mouth contains many bacteria, most of which are harmless and are kept under control with good oral care, including brushing twice daily and flossing every day. But, without a proper oral care routine, these bacteria can build up to unmanageable numbers, infecting and inflaming your gums and eventually causing them to recede and destroying the tissues supporting your teeth, including gums and bone. Severe gum disease results in gums that bleed easily, letting these harmful bacteria enter your bloodstream via the capillaries and blood vessels in your gums. Currently, gum disease has been linked to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, stroke, diabetes and problems during pregnancy.

The early stages of gum disease are often overlooked but easily detected when you visit our practice for regular checkups. Early gum disease is reversible by removing the infectious bacteria during a professional dental cleaning and working with you to improve your oral care routine.

Even if you haven’t visited the dentist for a while, it’s never too late to start improving your dental health so contact us to book your appointment.

When packing their child’s lunchbox, most parents will include healthy foods that provide their kid with plenty of energy to get through the school day. However, it’s not always easy to pick tooth-friendly solutions, especially when popular options are often high in hidden sugars. For example, a snack-sized box of sultanas may provide useful nutrients, but any form of dried fruits is high in sugars. Yoghurt can contain calcium and protein, but flavoured yoghurts can contain a considerable amount of sugar. Fruit juice is particularly high in sugar and is best avoided. Soft drinks and energy drinks are popular choices for lunchboxes, but a 600 mL soft drink bottle can contain as much as 16 tablespoons of sugar. Even a granola or muesli bar can contain far too much sugar for good dental health.

It is a problem because around a quarter of Australian children aged between five and 14 have tooth decay, and it’s estimated over 70% of children eat too much sugar. It is a real concern when children don’t see a dentist regularly and may develop untreated tooth decay.As a result, many children need to go to hospital to have teeth removed because they are too badly decayed to be restored. When a child has such a negative experience of dental care, where the first time they see a dentist might be when they are in pain and discomfort, it can leave them with deep-seated dental fears and anxieties that last for life. Additionally, eating a diet that is too high in sugars can cause other health problems, increasing the risk of a child developing obesity and type II diabetes later in life.

Ensuring children don’t eat too much sugar is an important factor in helping prevent tooth decay. As part of a preventive approach to dental care, we strongly suggest that parents of young children eliminate sweet treats from their children’s lunch boxes. Instead, it’s better to base lunchboxes around fresh fruits and vegetables, using these to replace popular items like biscuits, lollies and chocolates.

Follow Our Easy Tips to Make Lunchboxes Healthier

Following our seven easy tips will help make your child’s lunchboxes healthier while ensuring they have enough energy to learn and enjoy the school day.

1. Aim to include one of each of the five food groups: fruits and vegetables, grains, legumes and beans, dairy, and lean meat.
2. Replace biscuits, chocolates or crisps with fresh fruit or crunchy vegetables like baby carrots and celery sticks.
3. Aim to reduce snacks high in saturated fats and sugars like muesli or granola bars, doughnuts, biscuits and cakes.
4. Processed snacks like granola or breakfast bars should be limited to one item, and ideally, choose low sugar snacks like rice crackers and cheese.
5. Replace fruit juice with whole fruit, which contains more fibre, and is more filling while having a lower sugar content.
6. Instead of a soft drink, pack a refillable bottle of water.
7. Look for snacks that are high in fibre and whole grains.

When you meet someone new, one of the first things they notice is your smile, so you want to make sure it always looks its best. A healthy, well-maintained smile not only looks attractive but shows the world you care about your oral health. Taking care of your teeth and gums also ensures you enjoy fresh breath, which is essential for making that all-important positive first impression.

Preventive Dentistry Is Key

Most people can easily maintain good oral health by following a preventive dental care plan. It’s a strategy we certainly recommend at our dental practice as it’s by far the easiest and most cost-effective way to look after your dental health.

What Is Preventive Dentistry?

A preventive dental care plan is as simple as making sure you see your dentist regularly. Generally, people need to see a dentist every six months, but if you have any existing dental problems or medical issues that could impact your oral health, we might suggest more frequent checkups. The same applies to regular dental cleanings, a treatment that helps you maintain healthy teeth and gums more easily. A professional dental cleaning is excellent for freshening breath and rejuvenating the appearance of your teeth. It is a procedure that removes some surface stains from teeth, so they look extra sparkly afterwards.

Professional preventive dental care needs to be combined with a good oral care routine at home. Typically it will take less than 10 minutes out of your day to brush your teeth twice daily and floss every day. Not sure how to floss? We know many people struggle with this task, but we are here to help. Ask us to demonstrate flossing techniques or discuss other tools to use during your next checkup.

What about Attaining a Perfect Smile?

While preventive dentistry helps you maintain healthy teeth and gums, some people are looking for a little more. These days numerous cosmetic dental treatments can help improve the alignment, colour or shape of your teeth and can achieve excellent results.

When teeth are generally healthy, and a nice size and shape but may be discoloured and stained, teeth whitening can easily correct this issue. Our practice can provide professional teeth whitening treatments that will lift the colour of your teeth safely and effectively, and treatment is very affordable.

No longer just for children, an increasing number of adults are having orthodontic treatment, largely due to the introduction of adult-oriented braces such as clear aligners. Instead of fixed metal braces, these use clear removable aligners to gently move teeth into the proper positions. Sometimes orthodontics can also help improve overall health, making teeth easier to keep clean and free from disease.

Porcelain crowns and veneers are extremely useful in correcting the shape, size and colour of teeth. Porcelain crowns cover the entire tooth and are ideal when the tooth is substantially decayed or damaged. Porcelain veneers cover only the front surface of a tooth, perfecting its appearance.

These are just some of the solutions available. Ask us for more information during your next visit.

Dental implants are often regarded as the gold standard for restoring missing teeth. If you are unsure what they are, how they work or why they are so good, read on to discover ten facts to consider.

1. Dental implants are stronger than teeth, so relatively few are needed to support even a complete arch of teeth.
2. Dental implants are long-lasting; they could last for life with the proper preventive oral care.
3. They are self-supporting, independent restorations, so there is no need to grind down or adjust existing natural teeth.
4. Dental implants protect your existing teeth, preventing them from moving out of place and protecting your bite.
5. Dental implants are made from titanium alloy, a highly biocompatible material that bonds well with your jawbone.
6. A dental implant replicates a real tooth root, so it protects and preserves your jawbone.
7. Implant treatment has a success rate of 95% or higher when properly placed and cared for correctly.
8. Treatment is relatively comfortable and pain-free.
9. You need good gum health for implants, so any signs of gum disease need treating beforehand.
10. Dental implants are easy to look after and can be brushed and flossed like real teeth, following our instructions.

Sleep apnoea is slightly different from snoring, and while people with sleep apnoea will snore loudly, it’s punctuated by frequent pauses in breath lasting for several seconds. Sleep apnoea is caused when the throat muscles relax during sleep, allowing the airway to collapse inwards, preventing the body from receiving oxygen. After a few seconds, the brain registers this fact and prompts the body to stop breathing again, often with a loud snort or gasp.

These pauses in breath aren’t enough to completely awaken the sufferer, but they prevent deep, restful sleep. Consequently, people with sleep apnoea are often exhausted, have trouble concentrating during the day, and are at higher risk of having high blood pressure, heart attacks, stroke and other health problems. Treating sleep apnoea helps to reduce these risks.

Our dentists can often detect signs of sleep apnoea because it’s frequently associated with other problems like teeth grinding and clenching (bruxism) and temporomandibular joint disorder (TMJ). This condition causes painful jaw joints. If necessary, we can refer you for a sleep study to confirm if you have sleep apnoea and the degree of severity. Mild sleep apnoea is often treatable with a custom-made oral appliance that moves your lower jaw slightly forwards, helping to keep your airway open.

When you no longer need to wear braces, it is often a cause for celebration, but treatment doesn’t end there. Afterwards, you need to make sure your newly straightened teeth stay firmly put in the correct positions, and this is achieved by using your retainers. There are different types of retainers. Some are removable, but others remain firmly fixed in place. We can discuss all possible options with you.

Why Do I Need Retainers?

Once teeth move, the bone around them needs time to remodel, and your retainers help hold your teeth in the right places as this process occurs. It doesn’t happen immediately, which is why it’s important to wear your retainers for as long as we recommend.

The first six months after finishing treatment are especially important because your teeth will still try to return to their original positions. If you have removable retainers, you will probably need to wear them full-time during this period before gradually decreasing their usage.

We will tell you when it is safe to start leaving out your retainers and for how long, but ideally, you will need to wear them periodically for life to retain your beautifully straight smile.

Has it been a while since your family saw our dentist? The school holidays are the perfect time to catch up on dental visits and any planned treatments.

According to research, over 40% of children aged between five and 10 have tooth decay in their baby teeth or primary teeth, but tooth decay is preventable with proper oral care. We thoroughly recommend that children see a dentist regularly, usually twice a year but sometimes more frequently for children who may have dental or other medical issues.

When we can see your child regularly, we can monitor their dental health closely, so any small signs of decay are quickly detected and treated, hopefully well before your child feels any discomfort or pain. We also recommend regular appointments with our hygienist, who can clean your child’s teeth professionally, a vital treatment for maintaining strong teeth and healthy gums.

These visits are a chance for you to ask questions about caring for your child’s teeth and receive valuable advice. If your child is older, we can work with them directly, ensuring they understand the importance of oral care and know how to brush and floss properly.

Many people realise that vitamin D is essential for good health but are unaware of its impact on oral health. Receiving enough vitamin D can reduce the rate of tooth decay and prevent other serious diseases like gum disease. One study showed that children who received a vitamin D supplement every day had fewer cavities than those who didn’t receive the supplement. However, many people do not get enough vitamin D each day.

The most common way to get vitamin D is through sun exposure, but fear of sun damage means most people spend their time in the shade or use sunblock. Another possible factor is that many families eat a lot of processed foods which is lacking in nutrients. Even someone who practices good oral care is at increased risk of cavities if they have low vitamin D levels.

If you are concerned you don’t receive enough vitamin D, ask your doctor for a blood test. If needed, they can then prescribe a vitamin D supplement or suggest other ways to receive this vitamin. One way is to spend at least 10 minutes every day in the sun without sunblock. However, vitamin D is also found in foods like fish and milk.

We were thrilled by the news that the Australian Government is continuing to fund the Children’s Dental Benefits Scheme through 2022. If you have kids, you may already know a bit about this programme, which helps ensure children aged between two and 17 can access basic dental services and treatment by providing financial assistance.

It’s an excellent scheme that ensures Australian children who may otherwise be unable to receive regular dental care can access high-quality dentistry in their local dental practice without travelling to the nearest public dental clinic.

Eligible kids can receive up to $1000 that can be spent on specific dental treatments over two years. Children may qualify for this scheme if their family receives Family Tax Benefit A or another social security payment. Usually, eligible families are sent a Medicare letter, and all treatments are bulk billed, so there are no out-of-pocket payments.

The payments can cover the cost of dental checkups and cleans and other essential services like root canal treatment, tooth extractions and fillings, fissure sealants, and dental x-rays. However, the scheme doesn’t cover orthodontic work or cosmetic dentistry.

If your child is eligible, we can help ensure they gain maximum benefit from this scheme.

With the holidays just around the corner, a brighter smile is on many people’s wish lists, but choosing the right method is important.

Natural home remedies such as oil pulling or brushing your teeth with baking soda or strawberries will do very little to brighten your smile. There are plenty of over-the-counter products to choose from, and while their sale is tightly regulated, so they are safe to use, they may not achieve the results you desire.

The most effective option is a professional teeth whitening treatment. Unlike over-the-counter products, our dentists can use high-quality professional strength products, achieving excellent results safely. Before recommending this procedure, we examine your teeth carefully to ensure treatment is appropriate and will achieve the desired results.

There are two ways we can brighten your smile, and the first is to have a chairside whitening treatment that takes as little as an hour to lift the colour of your teeth by several shades. The second option is a take-home whitening kit for use in the comfort of your own home, where we prescribe professional strength whitening gel that is safe for home use and which takes a couple of weeks to get the desired results. So if you fancy a brighter, whiter smile in time for Christmas, contact us now to book an appointment.