Lets talk about Fluoride

Fluoride is an ingredient found in most toothpastes, mouthwashes and other dental products and plays a vital role in protecting your teeth against decay.

When fluoride is applied to the teeth it reacts with the hard outer surface of the tooth called enamel and makes the enamel harder and stronger, meaning it is more resistant to decaying.  Fluoride can also help to stop the early stages of tooth decay from progressing and reduces damage caused to enamel from acidic and sugary foods.

If you're using a toothpaste that doesn't contain any fluoride, such as most Aloe Vera Gels, then your teeth are not protected.

It is a common procedure at the dentist for children to have regular fluoride varnish applications applied to their teeth by the dentist to help strengthen their new adult teeth and prevent them from decaying as easily. All the dentist does is brush a gel onto the teeth using a small brush, it's very quick and easy (plus they usually taste really nice too!)

By brushing teeth twice a day with a fluoride toothpaste and using a fluoride mouth wash after meals you're teeth are getting continuous protection to prevent the risk of tooth decay. 

Why Every 6 Months?

We all remember as a child going to the dentist every 6 months for a check up so the dentist could count our teeth and tell us not to eat too many sweets. However this routine usually dissolves when a child becomes an adult and there is no more mum nagging you to say that 'you are going to the dentist!'.

We see alot of emergency patients every week, and alot of the patients we see usually start the conversation by saying 'I haven't been to the dentist for years'.

So why don't people come for dental check ups anymore?
Well the usual reasons we get are patients being phobic of the dentist, usually due to a bad experience which is very understandable. Another very common reason is that because they don't notice any problems or pain themselves they think its a waste of time and money to come and have it confirmed by a dentist which often means that people are going years without seeing a dentist.

So why every 6 months then? We like to see patients at least twice a year so we can make sure any small problems we see can be fixed very simply and easily. You may have small holes in your teeth that you're unaware off, as usually small holes in teeth are completely painless.

If we're able to catch a small hole developing quickly we can usually fix this very easily by popping in a small filling, however if we don't catch these problems when they're small they can develop into much more complicated and painful problems where alot of work needs to be carried out in order to try and fix the tooth, or the tooth may even need to be taken out.

At every dental check up the dentist will perform a very simple and quick oral tissue examination to look out for any early signs of oral cancer or problems.

By coming for regular dental check ups we're able to monitor and repair teeth help prevent any complex treatment or tooth loss from happening. All of our staff provide support and care for nervous and phobic patients.

Dental Nurse Sam Glaze (left) and Dentist Natalie Walker (right)
with one of our patients