Dental Advice

Smoking and your dental health
Tips for during pregnancy - plus baby and toddler care
Advances in cosmetic dentistry
Tooth grinding and jaw clenching
Tips for children - preschoolers, primary school and teens
Fluoride and your dental health

Fact Sheet 1: Smoking and your dental health

We all know that smoking is bad for your health but you might not know how much damage it can do to your teeth, gums and mouth.

If you're a smoker, or know someone who smokes, here are a few facts you should consider:

• Smoking can lead to cancer of the mouth, which is often fatal. You increase your chance of getting cancer of the mouth by about 6 times if you smoke and it also dramatically increases the cancer's severity.
• Smoking can increase plaque build-up and gum disease, which can result in tissue damage and loss of teeth. A smoker's gums may look healthy but the deterioration is often deep and out of sight.
• Smoking affects your immune system and can delay the healing of any injuries you may have in your mouth, like ulcers.

• Smoking causes stains on your teeth that may be extremely difficult to remove, even with special dental equipment.

  So what can you do for your mouth if you smoke?

Well, there's no way to fully protect your teeth, gums and mouth if you smoke but here are some things you can do:

• Arrange to have a check-up with your dentist and keep your check-ups as regular as possible.
• If you suspect you may have an irregular growth, lesion or any other symptoms that you find unusual, visit your dentist immediately. Early detection can sometimes drastically increase survival rates.
• And lastly, it would be of a major health benefit for your whole body if you gave up smoking. For help on trying to quit, visit www.quitwa.com

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Fact Sheet 2: Tips for during pregnancy - plus baby and toddler care

If you're pregnant, it's a good idea to let your dentist know, as it could affect the type of dental care you need.

When you become pregnant, your body goes through a lot of hormonal changes and they can impact your dental health. For example, if your oral hygiene is inadequate, the hormonal changes can contribute to inflammation of the gums. If your gums swell or bleed when you brush your teeth, you should consult your dentist.

If you're also prone to craving sweet snacks try to limit, or avoid them, as they may lead to tooth decay.

When your baby arrives, you'll have a while before they get teeth but it's worth familiarising yourself with the kind of care they'll need by asking your dentist.

When your baby starts teething you can soothe their irritation by giving them a teething ring to chew on.

Here's a few tips for when your baby does get teeth:

• Avoid giving your baby sweetened drinks from a bottle as it can lead to tooth decay. Use cooled boiled water as a drink between feeds.
• To avoid tooth decay, wipe your baby's teeth with a moist cloth after eating.
• When your child reaches eighteen months, switch to a cup to reduce the contact time between their teeth and decay-producing sugars.
• Introduce your child to brushing their teeth as soon as their teeth appear. You can use low strength fluoride toothpaste, or even no tooth paste at all.
• Take your child to the dentist when they are about eighteen months old so they become familiar with regular check-ups.

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Fact Sheet 3: New advances in cosmetic dentistry

In today's age of technology, your dentist has a range of options to help your teeth look great. Stained teeth, dark teeth, chipped teeth, crooked teeth, and even teeth that are missing altogether, can be repaired or replaced.

Thanks to advances in tooth-shaded resins that are painted on and bonded to your tooth, dentists are now able to repair chipped or damaged teeth with minimal drilling.

If your teeth are severely damaged you can now get crowns (caps) reinforced with gold, then covered and bonded with a tooth-shaded porcelain bond.

Having missing teeth can lead to your cheeks 'falling in' and can give you an old or tired appearance. Ask your dentist if they recommend replacing your missing teeth.

If you do lose a tooth there are now plenty of options instead of having a partial denture.

You can get modern porcelain bridgework fixed to the adjoining teeth. This is often matched well to your tooth colour and is difficult to detect.

The replacement tooth can also be bonded simply to the teeth next to it, which means no drilling and no further loss of tooth structure.

Plus you can get titanium implants straight into your jawbone to anchor an artificial crown, bridge or tooth.

Correcting crooked teeth to improve your appearance is also easier now. Braces are smaller and more comfortable, and you can have the brackets and wires on the inner side of your teeth, so they are less noticeable.

Each situation is different, so talk to you dentist to discuss the options which will suit you best.

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Fact Sheet 4: What to do about teeth grinding and clenching.

Many patients have been coming into the dental centre with pain in the jaw and face muscles.

These patients are showing signs and symptoms of 'bruxism' – a condition where a person rubs or clenches their teeth together with a great deal of pressure – usually while they're asleep.

Excessive grinding or clenching of the teeth is not a part of normal chewing movements and it's not healthy. Someone that grinds or clenches their teeth can expect a lifetime of problems:

• Accelerated wear. You will find that wherever the teeth are rubbing together a flat patch will develop – this can result in your smile having a wavy line.
• It can devastate any dental work in your mouth, just as it damages your own teeth.
• Broken fillings, worn fillings, or vertical cracks in your root treated teeth are common.
• Your jaw may become traumatised due to the extreme forces that can be applied to the teeth. It is estimated that the forces applied to the teeth during sleeping hours can be as much as 3 to 10 times more than you can apply while you are awake.
• Bruxism is not fully understood as yet but there does appear to be a correlation with stress.

What you can do to lessen the damage:

• Choose strong restorative options.
• Keep your teeth filling free. Fillings act as a focal point for cracks to start and propogate. This means regular 6 monthly checks, fastidious brushing, plaque removal and a healthy diet to prevent further decay.
• Get your enamel replaced as soon as it wears away – the inner core of the tooth (dentine) wears at a much faster rate.
• Get a Splint made. This may reduce the grinding and will protect and spread out the grinding forces evenly so that particular teeth are not being targeted and worn down excessively.
• Try to reduce stress in your personal life.
• Prolonged bruxism can cause frequent headaches, clicking and popping of the jaw, and pain, sometimes radiating to the neck or the side of the face.

If you need any further information or are worried about grinding or clenching, visit your dentist.

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Fact Sheet 5: Dental tips for Pre-Schoolers, Primary School children and teens.

Pre-Schoolers

• Show your children how to brush correctly when you brush their teeth and use a small amount of low fluoride toothpaste.
• Try to avoid sweet snacks and sweet drinks between meals to lessen the chances of tooth decay.
• If your children's teeth become damaged in any way (loosened or chipped) or if a baby tooth is dislodged, visit the dentist immediately.
• Ask your dentist about the frequency of visits for your children to focus on the prevention of dental problems with early detection.

Primary School Children

• Always try to supervise brushing and encourage flossing from an early age.
• Avoid sweet snacks and sugary drinks between meals and be aware of what your children eat and drink at school.
• Supply your children with mouthguards from your dentist to properly protect them in their sporting activities.
• If your children's teeth become damaged in any way visit the dentist immediately.
• If a tooth is knocked out, clean it and replace it. Wash the tooth in water or milk and try not to touch the root. If you can't replace it, wrap it in plastic or keep it in milk while you travel to the dentist.
• Take your children for regular check-ups and aim for preventative care. If your children have crooked teeth, discuss corrective treatment with your dentist.

Teens

• This is the ideal time to check if your teen's teeth are in the correct position or in need of corrective treatment.
• Your teen should be brushing twice a day with fluoride toothpaste.
• They should also be using dental floss daily to remove harmful plaque.
• For protection during sport, have your dentist create a custom-made mouthguard, they are much more effective and comfortable than the off-the-shelf models.
• Consult your dentist about the regularity of check-ups for your teen and the potential use of various preventative treatments.

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Fact Sheet 6: Fluoride and your dental health

What does it do and where do we get it?

Fluoride encourages the enamel of your teeth to repair itself (as long as the damage is not too great) and is now found in major city water supplies. Most Australian cities have had fluoridated water for 20 to 30 years. When it was first introduced there was a 60 percent drop in decay rates after just 10 years.

Today, about 2 out of 3 Australians drink fluoridated water but 30 years ago it was a different story:

• The average teenager had 18 teeth that either needed fillings, were already filled, or had been extracted because of decay.
• 2 out of 3 adults had lost all their teeth and wore dentures.
• Many 16 year olds had to have all their teeth out due to decay.

These days, extraction due to decay is very rare and most teenagers only have 4 or 5 teeth affected. Many have no decay at all. Thanks to fluoride, today's young people may never need a filling.

How does fluoride prevent decay?

• It interferes with the bacteria in plaque, helping to stop the food acids that attack our teeth.
• It changes the structure of tooth enamel, making it more resistant to acid.
• It helps to regenerate and repair enamel that has started to decay.

You can get a concentrated fluoride treatment for your teeth to prevent further decay. Ask your dentist if you think your teeth may benefit from such a treatment.

The first signs of decay are white areas appearing on the neck of the tooth and between the teeth. Your dentist will check these areas and advise you on how to prevent further decay.

Also important in decay prevention is brushing with fluoride toothpaste at least twice a day, especially after meals.

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