New Year offer to make you smile !

We're doing our bit to get Carlisle smiling this drab January - and our feature in this month's Carlisle Living magazine (go out and get one its a great read!) has hit a BIG button....

So, its time to share it with you.....but there are only 12 days to go!

A great smile just trying to get out....

Sometimes we say things that can cause so much damage. Mostly, it's not intentional, but the damage is so real. In dental care, its as true as in any other walk of life. Here's a story.

A nervous young lady came to see me recently. She was new to York Place, came on a recommendation. Her last dentist had told her that she "had the mouth of a 50 year old".

But she's in her 20's....

She thought she had gum disease and was going to lose her teeth. She was a very worried lady.

We checked her for health. OK, she had a few damaged teeth, and her gums bled because she had some plaque on her teeth. There were some food stains and some tar stains from her recently - ceased smoking habit.

But that was it.

• Her gums can be fixed - we will show her how.

• Her teeth can be fixed. 

• She's going to look GREAT and she has an excellent dental future.

....and the team can help to keep her like that with her own mouth care program.

She's now a lot happier, and we undid something that was careless and untrue. I so hope that we don't make the same mistake...

Has anything like this ever happened to you? Let us know....

A Cure for sensitive teeth?

Working with small whitish bits of peoples anatomy can be profoundly rewarding, and occasionally extremely frustrating. Luckily, technology moves on, and last year's impossibility becomes this years hot treatment...

Lasers, titanium implants, tooth whitening, ceramic veneers all make the headlines and occupy the column inches and lifestyle shows. 

A less sexy topic is tooth sensitivity. Most people suffer from it a bit, a few suffer a lot. Medicated toothpastes, care with diet and good mouth hygiene is usually enough, but there are a sizeable number of people out there who have a severe problem, and nothing seems to work. 

In particular, their tooth sensitivity makes their hygiene appointments a time of dread, their sweaty palms and fingers digging into the armrests of the dental chair. Sadly, its often precisely these people who need the most intensive hygienist support. Its all very well being offered a local anaesthetic  - but surely there must be alternative?

Enter Remesense. 

Some of you may remember a similar product called Savodent, which was sadly discontinued. This is pretty much the same stuff.

We've tried it on some our most sensitive patients in a totally non scientific trial, and it does seem to work where other products haven't. A ten minute gel application at home in a special gum shield can provide at least two week's protection.

Which means:

Comfort when eating.

Comfort when drinking.

and importantly comfort when visiting your hygienist or dentist.

Click the link below and ask your dentist next time you're visiting. 

http://www.remesense.be/template-l-ENG-m-werking-f-gebruik.htm

We have no commercial interest in this product, this information is intended to relieve pain and misery!

Have you got sensitive teeth? Get in touch with us and let us know what's bothering you...

Straight teeth in ten weeks : The Inman Aligner

Is this you?

• You've got crooked top or bottom front teeth.

• You had a brace when you were younger, but things have relapsed.

And you want to do something about it?

Inman Aligner could be the answer for you...

At York Place Dental we're delighted to be the first Practice in Carlisle to become a certified Inman Aligner provider.

Using hi tech removable braces, you could have the straight upper or lower front teeth that you've always wanted. Easy to wear, cheaper than clear aligners, in as little as six to sixteen weeks you could have straight front teeth. 

And for the first few cases we're throwing in tooth whitening for nothing :-)

No NHS waiting list, you could be starting your treatment in the NewYear.

Why not give us a call on 01228 533431 or check us out on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/yorkplacedental 

We look forward to hearing from you!

Mouth Cancer Awareness : Reduce the Risk

Preventive Dental Care is what it says on the can.

The dental team assess the risk of you developing dental diseases, and then work with you to keep you healthy. This could be tooth decay, it could be gum infection, it could be tooth wear. All diseases.

As I said yesterday, another one of those diseases is in fact a group of diseases that we refer to as mouth cancer - affecting the tissues in and around the mouth. In November the dental profession are working to raise awareness of mouth cancer in the community.

Here's a list of the things that increase the risk of developing mouth cancer:

• Smoking. Tobacco causes most Oral cancers. 75% of oral cancer sufferers have used alcohol, tobacco or both.
• Alcohol Consumption. Heavy alcohol consumption increases the risk. Obviously, reduction is the name of the game, as with smoking
• HPV Infection. A viral infection caused by sexual contact, affects younger people.
• Sun. Especially on the lower lip - I have a friend who has recently had an operation to remove a cancerous lesion - he spends a lot of time out of doors. Use of sunscreens, hats, avoiding the midday sun (when we get it..) will help.
• Previous Oral cancer. Mouth cancer sufferers are more likely to get it again, especially if they continue to smoke...
• Diet. Some studies indicate that not eating enough fruit and vegetables increases the risk.
• Gender. Studies show that men are twice as likely to develop mouth cancer as women.
• Immune Suppression. People on drugs to stop their immune system rejected grafted organs are more likely to develop mouth cancer.
• Betel Nut Quid. Commonly chewed in Asian communities - a mix of nut, lime and betel leaf with some tobacco.

Its not all doom and gloom - the positive side is that we know a lot more about prevention and campaigns such as this one are raising awareness.

So when you fill in your medical update on arrival at your dental practice, or when your dentist is looking at your face and neck and getting you stick your tongue out, you'll hopefully understand a little more what it is that we all doing for you. We're quietly looking and assessing...

If you're concerned about mouth cancer or any of the issues raised, please get in touch - we'd be glad to help.

Mouth Cancer Awareness : Know the Signs

Each year in November dental practices throughout the UK try to raise public awareness of mouth cancer, and the time is with us once again to beat the drum.


Cancer can occur in any part of the mouth, the tongue and lips, throat, salivary glands, and any of the surrounding tissues and organs. 


These "Mouth Cancers" have a higher proportion of deaths per number of cases than breast cancer, cervical cancer or skin melanoma - and yet there is no formal national screening program.


Sadly of the in excess of 6000 cases a year diagnosed in the UK, in excess of 50% of patients don't make it - often because of late diagnosis. 


So, what can you do about it?


Know the signs - and my thanks to the Mouth Cancer Foundation for this information:


It is important to have a self-awareness and to perform regular self-examinations to help in the early identification of these symptoms: 

1. A sore or ulcer in the mouth that does not heal within three weeks

2. A lump or overgrowth of tissue anywhere in the mouth

3. A white or red patch on the gums, tongue, or lining of the mouth

4. Difficulty in swallowing

5. Difficulty in chewing or moving the jaw or tongue

6. Numbness of the tongue or other area of the mouth

7. A feeling that something is caught in the throat

8. A chronic sore throat or voice change (hoarseness) that persists more than six weeks, particularly smokers over 50 years old and heavy drinkers

9. Swelling of the jaw that causes dentures to fit poorly or become uncomfortable

10. Neck swelling present for more than three weeks

11. Unexplained tooth mobility persisting for  more than three weeks - see a dentist urgently

12. Persistent nasal (especially unilateral)l nasal obstruction, particularly associated with mucus (clear, purulent or bloody) discharge causing difficulty breathing through nose

13. Unexplained persistent earache

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!