Preventative Care

Dental disease (tooth decay and gum disease), is the most prevalent chronic disease in the world. It influences people’s general health and can be a pre-cursor to more serious health problems. Yet, this disease is absolutely preventable!

Our main objective is to educate you about the factors that may cause or contribute to dental disease. Once you learn about these factors and how they interact, you will then be able to prevent disease by improving your hygiene habits and your diet, quitting smoking and returning to your dentist for regular six monthly continuing preventative care appointments.

The 45 minute preventative care appointment in our practice consists of a comprehensive oral examination (assessment of your teeth and gums as well as supporting bone levels), oral cancer screening, removal of plaque and tartar, stain removal, oral hygiene advice and diet advice.

Preventative Care 

• Risk Factors: Bacteria, Sugar, Hygiene, Smoking
  
• Continuing Care
  
• Radiographs
  
• Night Guards & Tooth Grinding
  

1. FACTORS THAT CONTRIBUTE TO DENTAL DISEASE

There are many factors that can cause one’s dental health to deteriorate. The most basic causes and contributing factors to tooth decay and gum disease are:

PRESENCE OF BACTERIA

Tooth decay and gum disease are bacterial infections. Tooth decay is an infectious disease. This means that bacteria responsible for tooth decay are transferred to young, erupting teeth (in toddlers) from people closest to them- usually their mothers. Therefore, the old line: “I got my mother’s (father’s) teeth” is not completely untrue. However, as you will soon learn, it is not a good enough excuse for poor dental health.

PRESENCE OF SUGAR FOR BACTERIA TO FEED ON

Once we inherit decay-causing bacteria, we are not necessarily doomed to a lifetime of poor health. Bacteria rely on the sugar in our diet to survive. They break down the sugar and create harmful acids that then dissolve our teeth. Bacteria then get deeper into the little defects in our teeth and continue to burrow into a tooth surface. If they get deep enough into the tooth structure, they are impossible to remove by brushing or rinsing. They are free to literally consume our teeth.

During each meal, our mouth is flushed by acids. It takes a bit of time for the acids to be neutralized by our saliva, the natural protector of our teeth. If more food is taken in during this period, then the time our teeth are exposed to acids becomes significantly prolonged.

Therefore, it is best to keep meal times 4 hours apart and avoid snacks in between meals. Chew sugar-free gum immediately after a meal for up to 10 minutes, to speed up production of saliva and neutralization of acids.

Restrict high-sugar foods to meal-times only: your mouth gets acidic no matter what you eat, so chocolate is not forbidden.

Keep well hydrated to ensure good flow of saliva. Certain medical conditions, medications, coffee and recreational drugs are some of the many causes of a dry mouth. In some cases, saliva replacement products need to be used, but most often, chewing gum and drinking plenty of pure water will ensure good flow of saliva.

Tooth-friendly snacks are dairy products, nuts and sugar-free gum.
Fizzy drinks, even diet ones, help dissolve teeth faster and should be avoided.

HOME CARE/HYGIENE

Bacteria live in the deposits of plaque on our teeth (the ‘fury’ build up). They are ‘wrapped up’ between the gums and tooth enamel, covered with remnants of food. If these deposits are not removed, bacteria access the reservoir of food in the plaque and can dissolve teeth for long periods of time. Physical removal of plaque from teeth, gums and the tongue is essential to prevent bacteria from dissolving our teeth. It is not enough to brush the accessible surfaces of teeth and gums and the tongue. Bacteria and food settle in the hard to reach spaces between teeth and can only be removed by flossing, daily.

Gum disease starts as a response to deposits of plaque. Initially, gums become red and may bleed spontaneously or during flossing or brushing. This is known as gingivitis. As the disease progresses, gums can pull away from teeth, exposing root surfaces of teeth. Further to this, bone that supports teeth can also dissolve. This disease is then called periodontitis. It can cause teeth to become loose and also makes it easier for food and bacteria to penetrate even further into gum pockets.

Brushing your teeth twice per day with a fluoride containing toothpaste, using a soft toothbrush and flossing daily is the only way to ensure adequate home care for your teeth and gums.

SMOKING

Dangers of smoking and nicotine addiction are clear to most people. Not many people, however, know just how smoking affects their teeth and gums.
Smoking is an important contributing factor to oral cancer. Oral cancer can be diagnosed early only through careful regular screening of the soft tissues of the mouth. If you do not regularly see a dentist or see a lot of different dentists, they may not be able to accurately assess your soft tissues, as they may not have a good frame of reference. A biopsy is one way of confirming or excluding cancer as a diagnosis. It involves removal of a piece or all of the altered tissues and laboratory tests of these samples.
Smoking restricts blood flow to the small blood vessels in your gums. This prevents your body’s natural immune responses from fighting off relatively minor infections and makes gum infections worse.
Smoking also stains teeth and causes bad breath.

If you have ever thought about quitting smoking or have tried unsuccessfully, we may be able to help. We work closely with a hypnotherapist and general medical practitioners who can either counsel and support you in your efforts or prescribe appropriate nicotine replacement therapy.

2. CONTINUING PREVENTATIVE CARE (Recall appointments)

Continuing care appointments are essential for maintaining health. Tooth decay (caries) and gum disease (gingivitis and more serious, periodontitis) can start long before any pain or loss of tooth or gum structure occurs. Dentists are trained to recognize early signs of decay, tooth wear and gum disease and can treat these before they seriously undermine your health.

Most people will only require six monthly continuing preventative care. People who carry higher risks of developing dental or gum disease may be advised to return sooner- within three months or less. This may mean that we need to assess whether teeth or gums are responding to treatment. Alternatively, we may want to determine the predominant factors that influence your condition- is it your home care, diet or other health problems that make you especially vulnerable to dental disease. You may be advised to keep a diary of the foods you eat over a certain period of time, to enable us to better assess your risk of disease.

3. RADIOGRAPHS (X-ray films)

Radiographs (Xray films) of your teeth are required on a regular basis, to assess for early signs of disease. These early signs are invisible to the dentist’s eye, no matter how skilled and experienced the dentist may be. Radiographs may discover problems with your teeth, including wisdom teeth, and supporting structures.

Frequency of radiographs is determined by the estimated risk of disease. If you have had a lot of dental work in the past or have had a cavity or a toothache in the past year, you are likely to require yearly radiographs until you are “disease-free” for two consecutive years. If you have not had much dental work and your teeth have been pain and cavity-free for over a year, you are likely to require radiographs two-yearly.

Modern radiographs use minimal Xray exposure times and a lead apron is always used for protection of your body from scattered radiation. It is a widely accepted opinion that it is better to have radiographs as advised by the dentist than to end up losing a tooth due to advanced disease.

4. NIGHT GUARDS AND TOOTH GRINDING

A large number of people clench and grind their teeth. This is mostly a subconscious habit and people do it when they are concentrating or sleeping. It is a difficult habit to control consciously and can cause fracture and heavy wear even of sound teeth. While it is not always possible to ‘cure’ this habit, we can prevent damage to your teeth by constructing a custom made nightguard for your teeth. This is a clear plastic platform, made to fit into grooves, gaps and undercuts of your teeth, so it does not fall out while you sleep.