Author: Dr Craig Duval

Now, on a more serious note! Our sincere hope  is that everyone has a happy and healthy Christmas.

We’d like to remind everyone of some foods notorious for causing dental emergencies at this time of year. To avoid these ‘Christmas Culprits’, please take care when eating:

Pork crackling

​Olives with pits (and even pitted olives may contain pits!)

Old-fashioned Christmas pudding, if Nanna hides the traditional coin inside

Boiled lollies

Ice – never use your teeth to crunch ice

Nuts – be sure to open shells with a nut cracker, not your teeth. 

Popcorn – part of a kernel wedged between teeth or under the gum may become infected, and often feels like severe toothach

Healthy teeth can cope with most foods, most of the time. In reality though, most of us have some compromised teeth. Chewing something hard or crunchy on teeth with fillings, or cracks, can lead to the tooth chipping or breaking, and likely toothache as well.

Some chewy, sticky morsels can pull fillings out – just the kind of emergency you’ll want to avoid over the holidays!

Consume high sugar foods and drinks in moderation. And beware of drinks that are both sugary AND acidic (a bad combination for tooth enamel): fruit juices, soft drinks, energy drinks, some sports drinks.

Alcohol – any alcoholic drink can cause dehydration and bad breath, but those sugary drink mixers can also be especially harmful to tooth enamel. 

Take care having fun these holidays.  Apart from food, certain summer holiday activities and Christmas gifts have been known to cause accidents and trauma to teeth: trampolines, diving into swimming pools or hitting the edge, falling off scooters and bicycles, and of course summer sport! Cricket, especially. 

We hope “everything is AWESOME…” this Christmas! So ‘kids’ (big and small), please remember….Lego sets now come with a brick separator tool!!

Not everyone has wisdom teeth; many people have less than 4. The number of Wisdom Teeth you have may depend on your ethnicity and just random genetic chance. 

Problems can arise during wisdom tooth development, due to your jaw size and/or the angle of the tooth, causing impacted wisdom teeth. It can also cause soft tissue irritation, especially if the area is difficult to clean.

Here are a few frequently asked questions we hear about Wisdom Teeth:

What problems can Wisdom Teeth cause? 

Inflammation and Infection

Inflammation and infection often starts around the top of the tooth. This is sometimes made worse by food trapping between the last two teeth or around soft tissue.

Crowding

Growth and eruption of wisdom teeth can cause nearby teeth to be pushed out of their correct position.

Cyst

A sac of fluid can build up around the tooth destroying bone and damaging nearby teeth.

DAmage to nearby molar

Pressure against the adjacent molars’ roots can cause decay and an abscess, resulting in serious damage to both teeth over time.

What symptoms can Wisdom Teeth cause?

The soft tissue over the wisdom tooth area can become red and swollen when your wisdom teeth are moving and trying to erupt.

When Wisdom Teeth are impacted there can be additional symptoms:

 · Jaw stiffness an/or swelling around the jaw.

 · Tender or bleeding gums.

 · Cheek irritation when tooth erupt sideways and rub on soft tissue.

 · Bad breath.

 · An unpleasant taste in your mouth.

 · Difficulty opening your mouth.

Often there are no apparent symptoms being caused by wisdom teeth even though problems are occurring under the gum.

Even if you can’t see your wisdom teeth, they shouldn’t be ignored. Impacted wisdom teeth can be sitting invisibly under the gum, and over time can cause problems with healthy adjacent teeth and even jaw problems or invisible abscesses. Periodic radiographs at routine dental visits are the best way to assess the development and potential for future problems.

Assessing your Wisdom Teeth

An OPG radiograph.

The best way to assess a wisdom tooth’s position and development is using OPG radiographs (sometimes called a full-jaw x-ray).  Depending on the position of your teeth position and your preferences, you may be referred to an oral surgeon for a general anaesthetic, however, most wisdom teeth are removed by a dentist under local anaesthetic, if they are currently causing symptoms or if they are likely to in the future.

When wisdom teeth need to be removed…

If a dentist or oral surgeon suggest that your wisdom teeth need to be removed, extraction of wisdom teeth is usually best done at a younger age if possible.  Removing the teeth before the roots have fully developed and while the surrounding bone is still less young and dense is usually advisable. Wisdom teeth removal in older people usually means a more intense recovery and longer healing time.

Sometimes, they can develop into functional molar teeth and cause few difficulties.

In many people however, they can cause problems, pain and infection. This is why wisdom teeth removal has become a common procedure.

If you are between 16 and 24 years old and haven’t had your Wisdom Teeth assessed recently, it is time to make an appointment. Early assessment and intervention can avoid painful and costly problems later.

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Apart from your usual oral hygiene routine, you probably don’t think about your teeth very much during the day. So it’s quite likely that while you are sleeping, your mouth is the last thing on your mind. You spend much of your life sleeping, so what’s actually going on in there while you’re in dreamland?

1. REPAIR

After brushing before bed, the fluoride from your toothpaste goes to work to help remineralise teeth so they can recover from the acid attacks of the day.

2. BACTERIA DON’T SLEEP

Now we know that our patients always brush before bed, but in case you were ever tempted to skip a night….brace yourself, it’s ugly….

…bacteria that naturally live in your mouth feed on the food you eat. Just like every other living organism, these bacteria excrete waste products after a meal. This waste is so acidic, it breaks down tooth enamel, which leads to active decay and toothache.

3. YOUR MUSCLES MAY RELAX

Ideally, your muscles relax and rest while you are sleeping to regenerate and restore energy for the next day. For certain people with particular skull, jaw and facial anatomy, this can lead to closing of the airway and snoring. In some it can even lead to a dangerous condition called obstructive sleep apnoea.

4. OR YOUR MUSCLES MAY TENSE

If you are one of the 16% of the population who involuntarily grind and clench their teeth when sleeping, you may be surprised to hear your teeth are undergoing pressures of 17kg/cm² of tooth surface, night after night.  It’s no wonder the effects on tooth structure can be compared to those caused by geological forces and erosion. Protective night splints can help prevent damage to tooth structure and the pain associated with jaw problems.

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5. SALIVA DECREASES

Saliva production decreases. This makes sense right? We don’t really need it while we’re asleep and it’s a natural mechanism to prevent dehydration. However, bacteria that are present in your mouth become more active and numerous when there is no saliva to wash them away. So during the night, bacteria proliferate and party-on, feeding on mucus and breaking down protein, releasing sulphur gasses (rotten egg gas) … Yes that’s what many of us know as morning breath.

We all think MORNING BREATH  is unpleasant. Contrary to many beliefs, it’s also NOT NORMAL and can be a sign of unwanted infection, gum inflammation and other systemic diseases.

To talk to us about ensuring a healthy mouth 24 hours a day, please call our friendly team on  07 3555 7975.

It’s this time of year where we all enjoy an Easter treat or two.

We have some tips to enjoy Easter and keep your teeth healthy too.

1. Brush after eating sweet treats.
2. Consider some low sugar food alternatives as well as fun Easter holiday crafts for kids that don’t involve sweets.
3. Avoid Easter eggs within a hour of bedtime.
4. Try to keep treats to meal times.
5. Try giving children small portions of chocolate which won’t stay in their mouth for too long.

Here are some fun ideas and websites to check out this Easter break.

Click these images for recipes:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The government has given the green light to the next rise in health fund premiums in April.

Many of our patients are in health funds, including my own family. It’s timely that we should be reassessing our available options to ensure we can be confident that our extras insurance policies represent good value for money?

With NIB, Medibank Private and BUPA all reporting record profits over the last few weeks, we really need to assess whether a ‘Mutual Fund’ is better rather than the ‘For Profit’ funds. We also encourage our patients to consider whether to drop their Extras cover completely, as a survey by Choice showed 85% of Australian patients who responded showed 3 years or more in a row where they paid more for extras cover than they received back.

The Medicare surcharge only applies if you do not have hospital cover, so extras cover really is optional for most patients.

We’ve put together some information and independent resources you might find helpful.

Australian Dental Association

Sometimes patients ask who we’d recommend and it’s hard to recommend any fund that puts the profit it returns to shareholders above what it pays back to members. So, if you feel you need Extras cover, then we’d always recommend one of the smaller mutual funds. It’s also possible to have your Hospital cover with one insurer and your Extras cover with another. We hope this information has helped you make an informed decision as to whether you even need Extras cover.