Blog

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.

Stores are full of Halloween paraphernalia and are already piling up stocks of sweets and other goodies for eager Trick or Treaters. While it is a fun celebration, all the sugar in those sweet treats can harm your teeth unless you have a plan.

The reason why sweets are so bad for your dental health is because of bacteria naturally present in your mouth, and these are just as excited as you are to eat sugary foods. These bacteria thrive on leftover particles in your mouth and thank you by producing a weak acid that softens your tooth enamel, contributing to your risk of cavities. However, there is no need to cancel your Halloween plans just yet as eating sweets on the day probably won’t do too much harm to your teeth, provided you follow a good oral care routine every day, all year round. Also, it can help tremendously if you choose your sweets wisely, as some are better for your teeth than others.

Chocolate

If you love your chocolate, there is some good news, as it’s probably one of the better sweets to eat on Halloween. This is because chocolate quickly melts and is more easily washed away by saliva. It’s even better news if you love dark chocolate because it is lower in sugar than milk chocolate.

Sticky Sweets

Sticky sweets might be fun to eat, but they are hard to remove from your teeth and are some of the worst around for your dental health. The longer sweets stick to your teeth, the more time those harmful bacteria can spend getting to work, producing more acid to attack your tooth enamel.

Hard Sweets

Some hard sweets seem to last forever, and the longer they last, the more your teeth are bathed in sugar. Also, some of these hard sweets can break your teeth if you happen to bite down too hard, so approach hard candies with caution.

Sour Sweets

Sour lollies may make you pucker up with pleasure, but they can be very acidic. The acidity will weaken your tooth enamel, worsening the effect of the acids already produced by bacteria and making your teeth more vulnerable to cavities.

Popcorn

Popcorn may seem relatively healthy, but some kernels, especially unpopped ones, can get stuck between your teeth. Inadvertently biting down on an unpopped kernel can crack or chip your teeth. Popcorn is especially bad if it is sticky and sugary. If you enjoy eating popcorn, make sure you have some dental floss handy afterwards.

Brush and Floss After Your Sugar Fix

It’s better to enjoy your sweet treats all at once, preferably after a main meal. Ideally, swish your mouth with water afterwards to help wash away any loose food particles. Wait at least thirty minutes before brushing your teeth, as this gives your mouth a chance to become less acidic. As the pH levels normalise, your tooth enamel will re-harden slightly, so it’s safe to brush and floss without damaging your teeth.

Many people look forward to their first cup of coffee in the morning or rely on an afternoon hit of caffeine to keep them going. If you love a cup of coffee, no matter when you drink it, it can stain your smile. The same applies if you like a cup of tea or enjoy other highly coloured beverages. However, if you can’t bear the thought of giving up your coffee, there are some things you can do to help slow down the rate of staining.

1. Think about sipping your coffee through a straw. Nowadays, it’s easy to buy reusable straws that you can keep with you wherever you are.
2. Purchase a good quality whitening toothpaste to help reduce tooth stains. Make sure it is a reputable brand, as some whitening toothpaste can be quite abrasive. Remember that whitening toothpaste can only slightly brighten your smile, so the effect will not be dramatic.
3. After drinking your coffee, rinse your mouth with plain water, swishing it around thoroughly to help remove any leftover coffee from your teeth.
4. Try brushing your teeth after having your cup of coffee to help remove surface stains. Keep a small tube of toothpaste and travel toothbrush with you to freshen up while out and about.

How We Can Help You Maintain a Beautiful White Smile

These measures will help to slow down the rate of staining, but if you continue to drink coffee, then it is inevitable that your teeth will eventually become discoloured. One way you can slow down the rate of staining even further is by making sure you book regular hygiene appointments with us.

We recommend patients have their teeth professionally cleaned every six months or sometimes more frequently if they have ongoing dental or health problems. The whole point of having your teeth cleaned professionally is to protect your dental health and reduce your risk of gum disease and tooth decay, but these appointments are also a great way to freshen up your smile. After we have professionally cleaned your teeth, we carefully polish them, and this part of the treatment helps to remove some surface stains. Afterwards, you should notice that your teeth look slightly brighter and have a bit more sparkle to them.

Alternatively, if you want a more substantial improvement to your tooth colour, talk to us about professional teeth whitening treatments. These are the best way to brighten your smile quickly and safely and are affordable. You can choose to whiten your teeth in our dental practice, and in as little as an hour, your teeth will be several shades whiter.

We can provide a custom whitening kit if you prefer to whiten more slowly and have more control over the process. You use the kit as directed, and your teeth will be considerably whiter in two weeks or so. One advantage of having a home whitening kit is that you can almost certainly reuse it later on, as we can prescribe more whitening gel when you need to top up the results. Some people choose to have an in-chair whitening treatment first before continuing to whiten their teeth at home, using a custom kit for an optimal treatment outcome. We can discuss all possible options with you during your consultation.

When socialising with others, do you smile with your mouth closed? It’s a common issue and can be due to smile anxiety; this is where we can help. Our dental team can make you feel better and more confident about your smile by providing focused treatment plans to relieve anxiety and improve oral health.

Common causes of smile anxiety include:

Bad Breath

Fear of having bad breath is very common, and people who suspect their breath is less than fresh will often cover their mouth with their hands or will mumble to avoid breathing too close to someone and causing offence. If you think you have bad breath, there is no need to be embarrassed as we can help you, and this problem, called halitosis, is usually easy to correct once we determine the cause. Sometimes it’s due to poor oral hygiene, an untreated dental problem, or can be a side-effect of certain medications.

Dingy Stained Teeth

If you have noticed that your teeth have gradually become yellower and stained as you get older, you are not alone, and it is a common complaint. Teeth can become discoloured because of lifestyle choices like smoking or eating and drinking highly coloured foods or acid erosion, where tooth enamel becomes thinner, letting more of the natural colour of your teeth shine through. Whatever the reason, cosmetic dentistry can help and often is as simple and affordable as whitening your teeth professionally. Other options include dental veneers to cover the front surface of badly stained teeth or dental crowns to cover teeth entirely.

Missing Teeth

A missing tooth in your smile line can be embarrassing, especially when it is right in the front of your mouth. Luckily several solutions can help restore missing teeth. Options include a dental bridge or a dental implant tooth. A dental flipper or one tooth denture can be a temporary fix while you decide how best to replace it. Usually, dental implants are the preferred choice because they are a long-term solution for tooth loss and, over the course of a lifetime, can be the cheapest option. Otherwise, a dental bridge can be a good choice if the adjacent teeth could do with covering up and protecting with dental crowns that will support the replacement tooth.

Crooked Teeth

Very few people have perfectly straight teeth; even if you wore braces during childhood, you might have seen your teeth shift with age. If you have crooked teeth and are embarrassed about your smile, modern orthodontics can help. Potential solutions include clear plastic aligners that are virtually invisible to gently yet firmly move teeth into the proper positions. Treatment may be as quick as just a few months if the problems are cosmetically oriented and only affect your front teeth. Otherwise, more complex problems affecting your bite will take a year or more to correct, but it can be well worth the effort. This is because orthodontic treatment can also be an excellent investment in your oral health, ensuring it is easy to brush and floss your teeth thoroughly, reducing your risk of dental diseases like tooth decay and gum disease.

When teeth are properly aligned, they can create more than just a beautiful smile; well-positioned teeth are essential for oral health and help ensure your mouth can function properly. Any signs of tooth movement are a potential cause for concern, and it’s always best to come and see us as soon as possible. We can check your oral health and identify why your teeth have begun to move before creating a custom treatment plan to help stabilise and straighten them.

What Happens When Teeth Shift Position?

When teeth are out of place, it can affect your bite, so it is trickier to chew food properly. It can significantly affect oral health because misaligned teeth are harder to keep clean. It can also affect your jaw joints, called temporomandibular joints, causing temporomandibular joint disorder or TMJ. TMJ can be painful, causing your jaw joints to become inflamed, and the pain can even spread to your neck and shoulders or may cause chronic headaches.

Read on to discover why teeth can shift position.

Ageing

Teeth can shift position as a natural part of ageing, especially as the ligaments and bone surrounding your teeth can change and become weaker, causing teeth to loosen. Some people have an orthodontic relapse after wearing braces during childhood. As they age, teeth can try to shift back to their original places, especially if retainers aren’t used correctly.

One option for straightening teeth is to use Invisalign, an adult-oriented braces system that can help realign crooked teeth creating a healthy, attractive smile.

Teeth Grinding and Clenching

Bruxism or teeth grinding and clenching places teeth under substantial pressure, wearing them down and causing them to become chipped and cracked and eventually loosening teeth. In the worst case, teeth can even fall out, causing an unbalanced bite.

If you have noticed you wake up with a sore, aching jaw or that your teeth have started to look worn and chipped, we can assess your dental health and, if necessary, provide a custom-made night guard. The device fits over your teeth, preventing you from clenching and grinding, protecting your teeth.

Tooth Loss

Your teeth are designed to work together, so even losing a single tooth can increase your risk of dental problems. The remaining teeth will start to shift towards the empty space, affecting your bite and the stability of these teeth, and tooth loss can cause your jawbone to start deteriorating.

When you lose even a single tooth, we will want to discuss ways to replace it. One option is to use the latest dental implants that help protect your jawbone and help prevent unwanted tooth movements.

Gum Disease

Gum disease is a bacterial infection that is entirely preventable but which, without treatment, can cause tooth loss. It destroys the structures around your teeth so they loosen and can fall out.

Ensuring you visit us regularly for checkups and cleanings and maintain a good oral care routine at home will prevent this common disease.

You want everything to be perfect on your wedding day, including your teeth. It’s the one day you are likely to be photographed multiple times for posterity, so it’s only natural that you want your pearly whites to look their best. If you are looking forward to your wedding day soon, there are many things you can do to ensure you have a beautiful, healthy smile to celebrate your day and the beginning of your married life.

Book a Consultation

The first stage is booking a consultation before the big day, preferably as soon as possible. While some treatments are relatively quick to complete, others can take longer, and the last thing you want to do is to have to rush your treatment or compromise on your choice of options.

Book a Dental Cleaning before Whitening

A teeth whitening treatment is likely at the top of most brides’ dental wish list, but you will get better results if your teeth are perfectly clean before this procedure. Beautiful teeth will enable the whitening products to penetrate your teeth more easily and lift deep-seated stains.

Don’t Leave Teeth Whitening to the Last Minute

Because teeth whitening is such a quick treatment, many brides make the mistake of leaving it right to the last moment. It is far better to whiten your teeth at least a couple of weeks beforehand, especially because teeth whitening may make your teeth feel more sensitive for a few days afterwards.

Watch Your Diet to Maintain Your White Smile

Avoid highly coloured foods and drinks for the first few days after whitening your teeth until they settle down. Additionally, try to follow a healthy diet, like crunching on fresh fruits and veggies, as these contain lots of fibre that has a slight scrubbing action on teeth. Avoid foods that can stain your teeth like red wine, balsamic vinegar, tea and coffee or barbecue sauce.

Choose the Right Toothpaste

Choose good quality fluoride toothpaste to help protect your pearly whites. If you have sensitive teeth, choose a brand that will help reduce sensitivity, especially if you want to whiten your teeth comfortably.

Choose the Right Mouthwash

If you like to use mouthwash, choose a brand that is alcohol-free and preferably antimicrobial. It will help protect your oral health, giving your mouth clean and fresh.

Follow a Good Oral Care Routine, even if You are Busy

It takes less than 10 minutes a day to care for your mouth properly and will ensure you have a healthy smile and beautifully fresh breath to celebrate your day confidently.

Use a Straw

Use a reusable or paper straw for drinking your coffee or tea, as this minimises contact with your teeth, helping to prevent staining.

Enhance Your Look on the Day

Simple tricks can ensure your smile looks its best. Try to avoid gold jewellery that can bring out yellowish tones in teeth, and choose a red lipstick to contrast beautifully with your pearly whites. A smear of petroleum jelly wiped over any cracks or stains on your teeth will help mask their appearance in photos.

Many people suffer from seasonal allergies, but did you realise these can affect oral health? If you have allergies, let us know during your next dental checkup so we can discuss the possible impact on your oral health and how best to reduce this risk. When someone has seasonal allergies, we can adjust our recommended preventative dental care plan to help keep teeth and gums in great shape throughout allergy season.

Seasonal allergies can affect dental health in several different ways. An allergy triggers an immune response resulting in extra mucus production, which can cause tooth pain, dry mouth and bad breath.

Painful Teeth

Your sinuses are just above your upper teeth, on either side of your nose and should normally be filled with air. When you have a stuffy nose caused by allergies, your sinuses can become filled with mucus triggered by allergens. As the sinuses fill with mucus, they can place pressure on your tooth roots. The pressure can cause tooth sensitivity, or your teeth may feel painful.

Usually, taking antihistamines can help reduce sinus pressure, eliminating tooth pain. However, if your teeth continue to feel painful, please come and see us as soon as you can. Any form of dental pain is often an indication that something is wrong, and the sooner we can diagnose and treat any issues, the more quickly we can get rid of dental pain.

Dry Mouth

Seasonal allergies can frequently cause dry mouth, not least because it is easier to breathe through your mouth when you have a blocked nose. However, breathing through your mouth can soon cause it to become dry and uncomfortable, and a lack of saliva can increase the risk of dental problems, including tooth decay and gum disease. The problem can be worsened by taking antihistamines, as dry mouth is frequently a side effect of these medications.

Various strategies can help to increase saliva production, such as frequently sipping on water, so you remain well hydrated and chewing sugar-free gum to stimulate saliva production. Sucking on sugar-free sweets can have a similar effect. Try to avoid foods and drinks that can make your mouth drier such as alcohol and caffeinated beverages, or anything very salty and spicy.

We can prescribe a saliva substitute if needed and give advice about how to care for your mouth during allergy season, for example, having your teeth cleaned professionally more frequently to remove harmful bacteria that could otherwise increase the risk of gum disease and tooth decay. Fluoridated dental products such as toothpaste and mouthwash will help protect your dental health.

Bad Breath

Saliva helps to keep your mouth fresh and clean, so if you cannot produce enough saliva and begin to breathe through your mouth, you may find you develop bad breath. Some cases of bad breath are also caused by postnasal drip at the back of the throat. One way to help freshen your breath is to gargle using a warm salt water rinse that will help to fight and kill odour-causing bacteria.

Modern dentistry is extremely advanced, but did you realise dentistry has been evolving for hundreds of years? The first known dental practitioner dates back to 1092, when the first idea of surgery began. It was due to the Pope of Alexandria who decided that monks and priests should have a shaven face and a unique hairstyle, requiring a new profession to complete this task. The tools they used included razors, scissors and a lance, creating the first barber surgeons and marking the beginning of surgery as a profession. 

In those days, dentistry was practised primarily by barbers and other artisans like goldsmiths, wig makers, blacksmiths and even bloodletters and priests. None of these early practitioners had any formal academic training and instead used the instruments available during the mediaeval age to remove and try to repair teeth. Priests had an advantage because they could read medical texts and became physicians. 

However, priests could not perform any invasive procedures because they were not allowed to have blood on their hands. Because of this distinction, physicians began to separate from surgeons, creating two distinct professions. This separation is easy to see even today; for example, the Royal College of Physicians is separate from the Royal College of Surgeons here in Australia.

As the two professions evolved, barber surgeons were ranked lower than physician priests with their more formal education. Yet barber surgeons gained valuable experience treating sailors and soldiers wounded on battlegrounds and voyages. But it wasn’t until Pierre Fauchard began practising as a naval surgeon in the court of Louis XIV that modern dentistry was born. Pierre is considered the father of modern dentistry, a profession he decided to pursue after lacking the money to train as a surgeon. Dentistry did not need a costly apprenticeship. Pierre had already learned more than most dentists during his apprenticeship to Alexandre Poteleret, surgeon in chief to the king’s ship.

Pierre Fauchard published his book at the turn of the 18th century, describing the scientific knowledge of dentistry at that time. It includes using obturators made from ivory to treat cleft palates and using prosthetic appliances to replace missing teeth and the innovation of new dental instruments.

Another turning point was the introduction of anaesthesia in dentistry by Dr Horace Wells from Connecticut. He was the first patient to have a tooth removed using happy gas or Nitrous oxide. In October 1846, ether was used as a surgical anaesthetic for the first time by William Morton, making it possible to receive painless surgery. Amalgam was first introduced in the US in 1833 and was the restoration of choice for many years. Only relatively recently has amalgam been replaced by newer, more aesthetically pleasing materials like tooth-coloured composite resin.

Until the middle of the 19th century, dentures were made from ivory, human bone or metal material. It wasn’t until 1851 that they were replaced by vulcanised rubber, invented by Charles Goodyear. Dental drills have been around for thousands of years, but it wasn’t until 1868 that an American dentist called George F Greene invented a pneumatic drill operated by a foot pedal and an electric drill seven years later.

Toothpaste wasn’t invented until 1850, and the role of fluoride in preventing tooth decay wasn’t discovered until the early 20^th century.

You may think dental implants are a new invention, but they date back to the Mayan civilisation in 600AD. However, modern dental implants weren’t developed until 1965 by Dr Per Ingvar Branemark.

Nowadays, thankfully, we can carry out sophisticated dental treatments painlessly and can restore even complete arches of teeth using the latest dental implant systems. Digital dentistry is becoming increasingly common, enabling us to provide patients with precision-made restorations that look and feel like real teeth. The one thing we cannot do just yet is to grow a completely new set of adult teeth, but who knows what will happen in the future.

Good oral hygiene is crucial if you want strong and healthy teeth. Additionally, it helps protect your overall health. Gum disease, a common gum infection, is increasingly linked to serious health conditions, including diabetes and heart disease. Brushing your teeth at least twice daily is one of the best ways to keep your mouth healthy, fresh and clean, but deciding which toothbrush is best isn’t always so easy. A huge range is available, including electric toothbrushes and disposable or manual toothbrushes. We’ve put together some tips for choosing the best toothbrush, whether you opt for an electric toothbrush or a manual toothbrush.

Choose the Right Sized Toothbrush Head

Ensure you pick a toothbrush head that is small enough to allow you to clean all tooth surfaces easily. It must be small enough to fit right to the back of the mouth to clean around those hard-to-reach molars. Ensure the toothbrush handle fits comfortably in your hand and is easy to manipulate.

Choosing the Right Bristles

It may seem that choosing a hard-bristled toothbrush is the best option for cleaning your teeth thoroughly, but this isn’t the case. Instead, choose a toothbrush with soft bristles as you don’t need to scrub your teeth hard to get them thoroughly clean. It’s more about using the right technique; using a hard bristled toothbrush could damage your teeth and gums.

Is It Better to Choose a Disposable or Electric Toothbrush?

Your choice of toothbrush is largely down to personal preference, but there are some points to remember, and these include:

Cost

An electric toothbrush can cost far more than a manual toothbrush, and then you need to budget to replace the toothbrush head every three months or more often if it starts to look worn. A manual toothbrush only costs a few dollars and is easy to purchase. However, if an electric toothbrush helps you clean your teeth more thoroughly, you could enjoy lower dental bills and better dental health overall.

Comfort

Choose the toothbrush you feel most comfortable using and are likely to use regularly. Although effective, not everybody likes the feel of a vibrating electric toothbrush. However, others may find an electric toothbrush is easier to hold, especially if they have painful conditions like arthritis that reduce their dexterity. Choosing a toothbrush that feels comfortable to hold means you are more likely to brush your teeth for the recommended two minutes each time.

Effectiveness

Numerous studies have been conducted on the effectiveness of manual toothbrushes compared with electric brushes. These have largely concluded there is very little difference between them in their ability to remove dental plaque and food debris effectively. However, this does rely on people using the right brushing techniques and cleaning their teeth for the full two minutes. Electric toothbrushes usually have built-in timers that make it easy to brush for the correct length of time, but if you prefer a manual brush, consider placing a small timer in your bathroom or using the timer on your smartphone.