Painless Injections - The Holy Grail?

An article on the Today Program prompted a lot of questions from our patients last week.

No one likes pain, and Dr John Meechan of Newcastle University has come up with a novel idea. Click on the link below to hear what he had to say.

Does it bother you? Would you like to see this being used by your dentist?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_9506000/9506382.stm

I'm in pain - but its not toothache

Is it me or is there something in the water? 


This last couple of months we have found that there's been a run of people coming in to York Place with a problem called TMD - you might recognise some of the symptoms below:

• Pain or tenderness of your jaw joints
• Pain in and around your ear
• Difficulty eating
• Aching facial pain
• Locking of the jaw joints, making it difficult to open or close your mouth
• Headaches 
• Uncomfortable bite
• An uneven bite, because one or more teeth are making premature contact

And we are providing the appropriate treatment for it.

We're also finding that very few people have heard of it and many have been passed from pillar to post in the healthcare system and made no progress - so here's a link to a good summary from The Mayo Clinic. 

Hope it helps.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/tmj-disorders/DS00355/DSECTION=symptoms

Is the Message getting through?

Have you ever been in the situation where you're trying to explain something to someone you know, that is perhaps deeply personal or just plain difficult to put into words?

But then you look up and the person you're talking to has glazed over or is checking their texts?

How would you feel if that person you were talking to was your dentist?

Dental Care is a people job and most of us have two ears and a single mouth - and we should all try to use them in that ratio.

At York Place Dental we focus on allowing you, the patient, the time and space to get your message across....

Free Assessments for New Patients

In the month of June we’ve introduced a new service for you – FREE New Patient Assessments.

If you’re not quite ready to take the plunge and commit to join us with a full New Patient Consultation, here’s your chance to come and meet one of our experienced team and find out about dental care - with absolutely no obligation.

You’re welcome to see the facilities at York Place Dental, and over a coffee we’d be delighted to listen.

Perhaps you want to know about how we can help a nervous patient?

Maybe you have some cosmetic treatment in mind and want to know what is available?

Whatever your concern, we’ll do everything we can to help.

We look forward to getting to know you.

Ceramic Fillings

If you've had fillings on your back teeth, chances are that you'll have at least on grey coloured amalgam filling. Many patients ask me for a more aesthetic alternative, and of course we are happy to oblige.

For small to medium holes, we can use plastic resin fillings and if placed with care they can last for many years with little trouble.

For bigger fillings in more heavily damaged teeth, we need something stronger, and this is where ceramic fillings come in. We're not talking wash basin porcelain either - think of Ferrari break discs and industrial insulators....very high tech, very strong....

Made in partnership with an experienced dental technician on imprints of the prepared tooth, they look like a tooth, feel like tooth, and last for years. Biggest advantage - minimal drilling!

Here's a before and after pic of two we did at York Place recently.......

Have you got old tired grey fillings that show when you laugh?

The Dry Toothbrush Syndrome

An Easter Holiday Children's day at York Place today - great fun with some nice families.

We usually find that there are several common issues on these days, and today was no different. Todays big topic was :

"How on earth can I get (insert name) to brush his teeth. In fact how on earth can I get him anywhere near his toothbrush. He's 11 years old and its a constant running battle..."

Ring any bells? Here are some tips:

1. Firstly - have some comfort - its rife! You are not an inadequate parent and you are doing your best, which is fine. It will continue for about two more years until he discovers girls and hair gel.

2. Try good old fashioned nagging and ask your dentist to back you up at appointments. And stick at it.

3. Supervised brushing - get in there yourself with the brush

4. Mums - do as Mrs H does and threaten to kiss them in public - because nobody else will :-)

Here's a little bit of background from an excellent website - check out the link at the bottom if you want to know more...

How can I prevent tooth decay in my child?

The main cause of tooth decay is not the amount of sugar or acid in the diet, but how often it is eaten or drunk. The more often your child has sugary or acidic foods or drinks, the more likely they are to have decay. It is therefore important to keep sugary and acidic foods to mealtimes only. If you want to give your child a snack, try to stick to cheese, vegetables and fruit. Try to limit dried fruit as it is high in sugar and can stick to the teeth. It is also worth remembering that some processed baby foods contain quite a lot of sugar. Try checking the list of ingredients: the higher up the list sugar is, the more there is in the product. Sometimes, these are shown as fructose, glucose, lactose or sucrose.Thorough brushing for two minutes, twice a day, particularly last thing at night, will help to prevent tooth decay. http://www.dentalhealth.org/tellmeabout/topic/CaringforTeeth/Childrensteeth

Teeth and Tarmac - again

Heres an unfortunate picture of a delightful young lady. Lets call her Lucy. She's eight years old and I bet she likes pink things.

Lucy was at her dad's on Saturday. She tripped over and landed right on her teeth - just like the young lad I mentioned in a previous blog.

She scabbled her top lip and dented her pride. Dad quickly took her to the emergency dentist who patched Lucy up and sent her on to us for treatment.

Lucy's mum and gran came in with her - looking worried. Would Lucy lose her teeth? What will happen in the future? Does she have to have lots of nasty treatment and will it frighten her?

All legitimate questions. I'd do the same.

You know, its such a good feeling when you can look the parent, the grandparent and the child in the eye and say - "Its going to be alright, its going to be fine".

What did we do?

We took digital X rays to check the roots were intact - they were.

We told Lucy that we were going to put some numbing cream on her gums to make them go all cold.

We then explained that she would feel two tiny pinpricks, no more than a pinch.

And then her lip and nose would go tingly and numb - which they did.

Which would mean that I could make her teeth better again.

And today Lucy had her teeth back - it took just 30 minutes, no pain, and a bit of George of the Jungle on the ceiling to take her mind off what was going on.

In fact Lucy was so good I took the chance to have a bit of a play with the appearance of the teeth.

Heres a picture of a numb Lucy Smiling.

Thanks Lucy for being such a delight to care for!