Tag: Dentist in Scarborough

5 Bad Brushing Habits To Avoid

How To Brush Your Teeth Effectively

Regular visits to the dentist are important to maintain a healthy smile, but good oral hygiene starts at home. Although brushing your teeth may seem like a simple task, there are some mistakes you should avoid to ensure that your dental health is in excellent condition.

1. Not Brushing For Long Enough

Most people will know that it is important to brush your teeth for 2 minutes twice daily, but many fall short of that. To make it easier, divide your mouth into 4 sections and spend 30 seconds on each quarter.

2. Brushing Straight After Eating

The food we eat contains acid which weakens our enamel. Therefore, if you brush straight after eating, you’re helping to erode the enamel away. Make sure to wait at least 40 minutes after eating.

3. Don’t Forget the Gums and Tongue

Your tongue and gums can harbour bacteria which can lead to gum disease and bad breath.

4. Not Flossing

Although flossing might not be considered a ‘bad brushing habit’, it is still vital that you use dental floss daily. Only using a toothbrush will not effectively clean all areas of your mouth. Using dental floss or interdental brushes will help to disturb the bacteria in between your teeth, preventing the build up of harmful plaque that can lead to gum disease.

5. Keeping Your Toothbrush for too Long

It is Important that you change your toothbrush or electric toothbrush head every 3-4 months. If not changed frequently, the bristles begin to breakdown meaning that the toothbrush isn’t effectively cleaning your teeth anymore.

Following this advice will help to guide you in the right direction to a healthy mouth. If you would like any extra information please ring the practice on 01723 670500 or email us on info@newbydental.co.uk

Why Your Toddler Shouldn’t Drink Milk Through The Night

Tooth decay is the most common infectious disease in children. Primary teeth, also known as baby teeth, are essential for the health and development of your child. They allow for the development of permanent (adult) teeth by saving space for them in the jaw. If a baby tooth is lost too early in development, permanent teeth can drift into the empty space making it difficult for all adult teeth to erupt properly. Unfortunately, the progression of tooth decay can begin as soon as the first tooth comes in.

Feeding your child milk during the night, after brushing their teeth, can cause severe cavities on the front teeth. Although milk is essential for your child’s development, it does contain small amounts of sugar and if fed during the night, your child’s teeth are essentially being soaked in sugar overnight.

How Can You Protect Your Child’s Teeth?

  • If your child requires a bottle to sleep, try filling it with plain water to prevent the occurrence of cavities.
  • Never fill your child’s bottle with high sugar drinks such as juice or fizzy drinks.
  • When your child’s teeth start to come in, use a teething toothbrush and a smear of children’s toothpaste.
  • Take your child to the dentist as soon as their first tooth appears.

If you require any further advice, give our friendly team a call on 01723 670 500 or email us at info@newbydental.co.uk

Everything You Need to Know About Lip Cancer

Lip cancer is a form of oral cancer. A recent study has found that a worrying 75% of the British public do not know what the signs and symptoms of lip cancer are. If caught early, lip cancer can be treated successfully so an early diagnosis is essential.

Signs to look out for include:

  • Open sores.
  • Visible changes to the skin on the lips.
  • A red patch that becomes crusty, itchy or bleeds.
  • Lumps or wart-like growths.
  • A pale or white skin area that looks similar to a scar.

There are certain lifestyle choices that can increase your risk of developing lip cancer. These factors include:

  • Sun exposure
  • Alcohol use
  • Tobacco use

Due to climate change and the depletion of the ozone layer (the layer that absorbs the harmful rays radiated by the sun), the risk is only going to get worse so it is vital that you are aware of how to reduce the likelihood of developing lip cancer.

Alcohol and tobacco use are also risk factors. People who drink three to four alcoholic drinks a day are twice as likely to develop mouth cancer than those who do not. The risk increases by two or three times when tobacco use and daily alcohol consumption are combined.

Prevention

The Oral Health Foundation reports that “up to 90% of all mouth cancers are linked to lifestyle factors”, so it is vital that you regulate your alcohol consumption. It is also reported that smoking can increase your risk of oral cancers by up to ten times, so now would be a good time to quit!

Also try to apply protective SPF lip balm daily, even on a cloudy day. to protect your lips from the UV rays from the sun.

It is vital that you attend regular check ups with your dentist to look out for the signs and symptoms. Here at Newby Dental Practice we complete a routine oral cancer screening at every dental check up, contact us to book your appointment now. If you require any further information or advice, please contact us at info@newbydental.co.uk or 01723 670500

https://www.newbydentalpractice.co.uk/oral-cancer-screening/

Beauty Salon And At Home Teeth Whitening?

Like home teeth straightening, social media has generated an influx of people looking to whiten their teeth, but what is and isn’t safe?

In the UK, teeth whitening comes under the scope of practice of ‘dentistry’, which is regulated by law. This means that teeth whitening must only be carried out by dental professionals, who are registered with the GDC. Therefore, any person offering teeth whitening using between 0.1% and 6% hydrogen peroxide can be prosecuted by Trading Standards and the Health and Safety Executive, the GDC may also press for this action and work alongside these regulatory bodies.

There are risks that come with going to someone that is not a qualified dental professional.

Firstly, home kits don’t contain enough whitening product to actually be effective for whitening your teeth. Additionally, if a dental professional isn’t doing the whitening, the whitening trays provided may not fit properly around your teeth. This can then cause some of the bleaching gel to leak out onto your gums and into your mouth, causing blistering and sensitivity.

Teeth whitening carried out at home, or in beauty salons by untrained staff or staff without dental qualifications also puts your oral health at risk and is also illegal.

Existing dental restorations such as fillings, crowns and veneers are not affected by the whitening, so we can’t change their colour. As the colour of your teeth lightens, any dark or unsightly pieces of dentistry will become more obvious, therefore they may need replacing if you chose to whiten your teeth.

Here at Newby dental Practice, we offer Boutique teeth whitening. Boutique is a premium tooth whitening product. Not only is it the product we recommend, it is the one we use ourselves too!

Boutique tooth whitening works with the use of special trays, made especially for you. You can use it for a couple of hours during the day, or overnight, for those that have a busy lifestyle. All our treatments are tailored around you, and work to achieve the result you want!

If teeth whitening is something you’re interested in, ask your dentist next to you visit us, or book in for a consultation to see how Boutique could improve your smile!

New Dentist, New Surgery Built, How We Design our Dental Surgeries

We have a new dentist joining our practice in Scarborough and currently we don’t have anywhere for him to treat patients. Luckily when we were building the practice back at the start of 2021 we added the services needed for a further dental surgery to be built if required. It now so happens that with Peter joining us sooner than expected that that we now need to go to the design phase and start planning the layout.

Here is how we design the surgeries, enjoy the video!

How we design our Dental Surgeries

Peter is excited to join us, especially as he is going to be using a brand new dental surgery. He was previously working as a dentist all the way down in Plymouth however he had previously been working in Scarborough as Dentist several years ago. He’s looking forward to the move back and cant wait to join our fantastic dental team that we have at Newby Dental Practice.

Invisalign Vs. Home Orthodontic Treatment

With all of the options available on the internet, the adverts all over social media…. is tooth straightening at home really a safe option?

Invisalign Treatment

The first, most important point to make is that with Invisalign treatment, you are in the hands of a registered dentist who sees you face to face. They know your lifestyle habits, they know what you look like in person, they know what you would like to achieve, and most importantly…. they know what you teeth and gums actually look like!

With Invisalign, your dentist will check your teeth before treatment, ensuring you have no active gum disease, no cavities that require fillings, and they can take x rays to ensure you have no underlying abscesses which could flare up and cause problems. They will also arrange appointments with you for a review every few weeks, to ensure no problems have occured and to monitor your treatment to ensure nothing goes wrong.

As with all dental procedures, there are risks that come with Invisalign treatment, however these are minimised with regular reviews with your Invisalign dentist.

By using an Invisalign treatment with a dentist, they can ensure the impressions required to start your treatment are as perfect as possible before being sent away. Additionally if, like ourselves, they have a 3D scanner – they can take an actual scan of your teeth to send to Invisalign to create your Clini-check and aligners. (It doesn’t get much more accurate than that!)

Throughout an Invisalign treatment with a dentist, they will ensure everything fits correctly, adjust your teeth as required before treatment, and add small amounts of white composite to the fronts of some of your teeth to help create areas for the aligners to grip to move your teeth.

Home Teeth Straightening

By using a home tooth straightening kit, you don’t have a dentist there to take your x rays, check your teeth and gums and regularly review the treatment in person to ensure everything is going to plan. This can result in a higher chance of risks occurring, such as finishing treatment with straighter teeth that then need to be filled or extracted…. so not really the result you would hope for!

With home teeth straightening kits, they send you the basics of what you will need to take your own impressions to start. These impressions can sometimes need to be retaken even when a dentist does them for you, so they are extremely difficult to get accurate, especially on yourself!

When you complete these impressions at home, they are sent away to the laboratories that make the aligners for the online company, so it is essential that these are as accurate as possible to ensure the aligners will actually fit, and the course of treatment you require is correct. If these impressions are not taken correctly, they will need to be retaken and sent away again, adding more time to your treatment.

During the course of treatment, any reviews will be completed either other the phone, video chat or just through a chat or email with the company. This may or may not be with a dentist, and it’s certain that nobody will be there to physically examine how the treatment is progressing

Unfortunately, applying composite material and adjusting the spaces between your teeth at home is just something you’re not going to be able to do! Therefore meaning any treatment provided with your at home teeth straightening kit is not going to be the optimum of what you could achieve.

In a nutshell, registered dental professionals have a professional responsibility to follow the Standards for the Dental Team and provide patient-centered, safe care based on authoritative clinical guidance. Therefore you can be assured that your Invisalign dentist is working as safely as they possibly can to minimise any risks. Dental professionals also need to ensure that they are appropriately indemnified, meaning they are insured if anything were to go wrong. Those who do not comply with the Standards for the Dental Team, indemnity requirements and authoritative clinical guidance put patient safety, and their registration, at risk.

It is therefore our recommendation that patients visit a qualified Invisalign dentist or orthodontist for any tooth straightening treatments, to optimise your safety and take care of those pearly whites!

Starting the Little Ones off Right

We all know that those first visits to the dentist can make us a little anxious, so here are a few things you can do to help prepare children for their first dental visits!

1 – Start by preparing at home

Start to introduce your little one to the dentist by talking about their teeth, and telling them about the special chair that takes them on a fun ride! The chair can be a big, scary place for someone so small.
(Top tip, some childrens cartoons have dedicated dental episodes to help with just this! Pop them on for your little one to watch and see their favourite character go to the dentist too)

2 – Ensure good oral hygiene at home

Brushing at home is the best way to help your little one understand the dentist. Helping them brush and checking their teeth at home will help us to be able to check them here too! Don’t worry, you don’t need to know what decay looks like, just as long as your little one will happily open their mouth for you to check, it helps to develop a routine and make looking at their teeth a normal experience, which equals it being less strange as scary here!

3 – We LOVE to meet your cuddly friends!

Bringing a cuddly toy to the dentist can really help children to be confident for their check ups. Plus, we love to meet them, find out their names and if they are really lucky, their best buddy can even have a check up too to show you how it is done!

4 – Use a positive approach

Use positive language when talking about visiting the dentist, such as saying how fun and exciting it will be! We understand some parents suffer with dental anxieties, and we need to try our best to ensure children don’t develop any too.

Trips to the dentist don’t have to be scary, and instead should be portrayed as a fun experience with lots of praise for happy teeth! Our lovely dentists are all fantastic with children and helping to make check ups a positive experience.

We advise parents to bring children before the age of 1, even if they don’t have any teeth! These first appointments help to reassure children and familiarise them with the dentist, setting them up with dental confidence for life.

Plus…. it is always worth it for a sticker!

Win A Electric Toothbrush

Is your current electric toothbrush starting to fade, or maybe you’ve not had chance to pick one up yet nevertheless here’s your chance to grab one for free!

All you have to do is like and share our Facebook page along with tagging two friends to be in with a chance of winning.

Winner will be picked at random on the 23rd of August 2022

must be collected within 30 days

If you’ve never used a burst toothbrush before here are the specs:-


Whitening Charcoal PBT Nylon Bristles are super soft and naturally antimicrobial
At 33,000 sonic vibrations per minute, we’re blasting plaque with one of the strongest brush motors
The 700mAh Lithium Ion battery in our brush can give you 4 weeks of brushing on a single charge
3 Brushing Modes for all your needs: whitening, sensitive and massage
Brush for the dentist-approved 2 minutes with a movement reminder every 30 seconds
Details: The BURST Sonic Toothbrush will give you whiter teeth and make you feel proud of your smile.

Should I Use Mouthwash?

One of the most common questions we get asked by our patients, is whether they should incorporate mouthwash into their daily oral hygiene routine.

Mouthwash has always been advertised as a key item in any oral hygiene routine… take TV adverts for example….

Brush, rinse, mouthwash = healthy teeth and gums.

….right?

Don’t believe everything you see on TV.

Don’t get me wrong, mouthwash is a fantastic agent to an oral hygiene routine if used correctly. However, it needs to be used correctly.

So when should I use mouthwash?

Mouthwash should only ever be used at a separate time of day from brushing. And at least 1 hour after brushing.

Why?

So when we brush our teeth with a fluoride toothpaste, we are adding that protective fluoride to our mouths and creating a lovely protective coating for our teeth. By using mouthwash straight after brushing, you are rinsing that protective fluoride straight down the drain (literally!).

Mouthwash is also fantastic for aiding gum health in patients that suffer with gum disease. Your hygienist can then recommend a suitable, alcohol free mouthwash that contains fluoride to suit you.

It is worth noting that chlorhexidine mouthwash can cause staining if used too frequently.

Therefore if mouthwash is something you think you could benefit from, just ask your hygienist for some advice! They will let you know if this is something you really require, or if your oral hygiene can be maintained with just your regular toothbrushing and interdental cleaning instead.