The dentists work closely with our hygienist April Wood to ensure the best all round dental care within your budget. Prevention, as we all know, is better than the cure, something which our 9 point examination seeks to promote. We will discuss any problems you may have and review your medical history and dental x-rays. We assess your jaw joint, neck, the lining of your mouth, any fillings, your teeth and your gums.
- Periodic visits to our hygienist to help you keep your mouth healthy and prevent problems developing
- A thorough dental health check once a year
- To budget for these appointments, ask about our Maintenance Plan which also offers worldwide dental accident insurance (see price list for details)
In addition to our primary role in looking after the health of teeth and gums we routinely screen for signs of other problems. Mouth ulcers, for example, are a common complaint, which can be helped by avoiding certain foodstuffs, such as fizzy drinks and chocolate. Vitamin B1 and B6 can alleviate the symptoms (but, strangely, multi-vitamins appear to aggravate the condition!). We can advise you on these and other minor ailments.
Research is also showing that gum disease is linked with systemic illnesses, such as diabetes and even heart disease. Pre-term and low weight births are also being associated with gum disease in some instances. As a progressive practice, we ensure that we keep abreast of the latest scientific research and advances, so that we can continue to offer our patients the best possible advice.
More serious problems such as mouth cancer are thankfully very rare. All the same, we do check the neck area for lumps and bumps, as well as the lining of the mouth for pre-cancerous blemishes. Early referral simplifies treatment and improves outcomes.
Smoking
The combination of smoking and drinking spirits is a high risk for mouth cancer, so if you are partial to the odd glass with your cigarette, please get your mouth checked every year. Dentists recommend cutting back on smoking because of the definite, irreversible harm that is done to one’s gum health.