Patient Information
We aim to help you understand our oral hygiene and teeth whitening treatments, the benefits of these services, and for which patients our services are suitable.
Aftercare
Don't smoke
Not only will you improve your health by not smoking, you won’t stain your teeth with yellow and brown marks.
Drink less coffee
Now we’re not saying after you’ve had your teeth whitened you have to give up coffee, but do reduce your intake as it gradually discolours teeth. The more milk you use the more diluted the coffee which helps to reduce staining.
Choose white wine instead of red
Red wine dramatically discolours teeth. Eliminate this factor by choosing white wine over red.
Use normal toothpaste
It is a common misconception that after you’ve had your teeth whitened, you should use whitening toothpaste as part of your teeth whitening aftercare. This is incorrect, as whitening toothpastes actually contain tiny granules that, when in contact with teeth, gradually cause enamel erosion.
Routine
We recommend a routine of electric toothbrushing twice daily for at least 2 minutes. Cleaning between the teeth is also very important and the Dental Hygiene team will show you the best way to carry this out. Mouthwashes and other “gimmicks” are no replacement for a thorough tooth brushing technique.
Healthy mouth, healthy life
As oral health professionals we have known for some time that the oral environment is key to general health.
You will know too that our health is dependent on a good relationship with bacteria, good and bad, that live in the gut, and you may well even use probiotics to maintain that. What is less well known is the importance of a similar ecosystem within our mouths. The dental profession has been very successful in informing the general public about about plaque, the build-up of bacteria on the teeth and gums, which are responsible, if not removed regularly, for tooth decay, gum disease, and bad breath. This has been an excellent, and successful, public health message. The result is that most people brush their teeth regularly, and know the importance of regular check-ups, and oral hygiene visits. If your mouth and more particularly gums are unhealthy (red swollen and/or bleeding) they are allowing bacteria to enter your blood stream. This can increase your risk of cardiovascular diseases, damaged heart valves, strokes, respiratory disease, dementia and diabetes amongst other health risks.
There are over 700 different bacteria that live in the human mouth, both good and bad. These bacteria breed under the gum line, between your teeth and at the back of your tongue, all the hard to reach places where even brushing generally fails to reach. The bacteria is adhesive, so mechanical cleaning and removal of biofilm both at home and with the dental hygienist remain key to oral and general health.
The health of the mouth is often seen as a separate issue from general health – even though evidence shows that, by optimising dental health, we make significant, positive impacts on our wellbeing.
In the UK, 47% of the adult population have moderate to severe gum disease, so that’s 33 million people in danger of compromising their general health.
In addition to educating the general public about the role of oral biofilm in general health, we can also inform the public that new technology not only disrupts biofilm, but also makes the whole hygiene visit more comfortable. We are also one of the first UK practices to use the award winning, state of the art Airflow ® Master technology, it uses soft powder with warm water to cleanse and detox the whole mouth. The fine soft powder, erythritol, cleanses painlessly above and below the gum and the tongue, giving your mouth that ultimate clean feeling, therefore disrupting and eliminating the biofilm.