So - you want teeth for life then?

When I ask my patients if they want to keep their teeth for life, they'll usually smile and say yes. It's not that it's funny, it's just that most people assume that dental health is a given.

Along with stuff like space flight, stem cell technology and the ability to make more telephones than you could ever imagine being necessary, surely the human race can sort a thing as simple as teeth - right?

Well, as with a lot of things, it's not a given.

Some of us are prone to diseases of the gums and tissues that hold our teeth in place - we call this periodontal or gum disease. In simple terms it's caused by harmful bacteria, growing in the bits of chewed up food that we leave behind on our teeth after eating and cleaning. Superb cleaning certainly helps, as does stopping smoking, controlling diabetes and having a healthy diet.

At York Place Dental we've been screening all of you for years, matching your personal dental hygiene program to the risk of you getting gum and other dental diseases. Kim and Michelle train and mentor you in how best to reduce the risk of tooth loss through gum disease, and they check your progress over time at review visits.

The big news this month is that we're trialling a computer program called Previser to help us to be even more confident that we are getting your care program absolutely right - at no additional cost to you.

At your next Dental Health Assessment, we'll be entering a few more readings than usual into the computer and getting an immediate online assessment of the risk of you suffering from periodontal disease, courtesy of Previser. We'll explain it to you, give you the correct care and advice , and you get a copy of your report to keep. The key is that Previser have gone to great lengths to match our observations to the latest in international thinking on how best to help you.

The benefit to you? The confidence that we are checking against the best knowledge to make sure that  we are getting your preventive dental care right. As long as you follow our advice, you're even more likely to have those teeth for life....

After your next visit we'll be asking you for your comments on this new system - and what we're hearing so far is extremely positive.

Do you have bleeding gums, loose teeth or bad breath? Is there a question you'd like us to answer? Contact us here and we'll help!

Whats your BPE?

I'd like to share a tale that might help save a lot of grief in the future. Its about periodontal (gum) disease. One of my personal nightmares (like the one about falling) is my teeth falling out - and I don't think I'm alone.

A guy came to see me for the first time recently. When we sat down to talk he explained that his gums had been bleeding for years, he had a bad taste in his mouth and he wasn't so sure about his breath. He'd been going to his last dentist regularly every six months. At his recent last visit he was told everything was fine.

Lets just stop there:

• Blood coming from anywhere in a body would worry most people
• Bad taste and dodgy breath - so that's acceptable?

So , we moved on to the examination, did all the usual stuff that dentists do, including the thing I want to highlight: the BPE.

BPE stands for Basic Periodontal Examination. Its a quick screen, a sorting of the wheat from the chaff. The dentist takes a small measuring device, rather like a pointy stick with a ball on the end. By gently (honest) poking the gums we can very quickly see what state a clients gums are in and if gum disease is present. Its not new - its been around since I was at dental school in the 80's at least, and it should be carried out on every adult patient (with teeth!) at least once a year. To be safe I just do it every time. Scores go from zero (=perfect) up through 1,2,3,4, to "star" (=seriously bad news).

Needless to say, this guy had problems. He had a couple of areas where there were stars and the rest were threes. A scanning X ray quickly showed that more than 50% of the bone that once attached his teeth to his head had gone.

I had to tell him that he was likely to lose some of his teeth in the medium to long term, and we have started a program of gum care to try and rescue the rest. After my hygiene team have stabilised his disease they will be seeing him for checks and catch up treatment every three months, possibly for life.

So whats the moral in the tale?

• If the last dentist had performed BPE's he would have picked up the problem years ago.
• Its possible that there might have been a lot more bone still present if the disease had been picked up sooner.
• And the patient might have had a much better chence of keeping all of his teeth

My advice to you?

• Every dentist knows about the BPE and they know that they should use it.
• "But this is NHS" is not an excuse - NHS regulations state that the dentist should check the gums at every examination - and the best way of doing it is with the BPE.
• If the pointy stick isn't being used at your examinations - ask the dentist what your BPE is.
• Don't accept bleeding gums as normal - its a clear sign of disease.
• If you don't get a straight answer - get a second opinion.

The picture attached neatly sums it up - a great ad used a while ago by a mouthrinse manufacturer.