Oral Health, Parnell Darling June 2008

YOU ONLY GET ONE OPPORTUNITY TO MAKE A GREAT FIRST IMPRESSION!!

Have you ever stood close to someone and smelt their bad breath?  You want to whisper in their ear, but you also just want to walk away?  There is a special place for these people – the Dental Hygiene Clinic

At the Dental Hygiene Clinic (DHC) we aim to achieve and maintain dental wellness by giving quality treatment and dental hygiene advice.  This involves an examination of your gums which is the only accurate way to determine if you have gum disease. Measuring gently under the gums to check the depth of the gum pockets determines the bone level which determines which disease process you may be susceptible to.

How do you know if you have dental wellness? Periodontal disease (gum disease) is painless and you may be unaware that you have a problem, let alone have bad breath. The absence of bleeding (gums) when brushing, flossing, or eating will not tell you that gum disease is not present. You may just have the wrong brushing and flossing techniques.  Perhaps you are like many of us, you just don’t like flossing?  At the Dental Hygiene Clinic we can show you other techniques of cleaning in between your teeth and get to the root of the problem.

Bleeding while brushing, flossing, or eating is a common symptom of gum disease.  Many people have the misconception that if you leave your gums alone they will heal and stop bleeding.  This is wrong - they may get worse.  Bleeding gums do not indicate the worst case scenario, but it does mean that you need to act quickly as it may compromise your general health and cause bad breath.

Gum disease is an infection that can cause tooth loss, that embarrassing bad breath and is associated with several serious health conditions. Studies have shown links with heart disease, lung disease, low birth weight, premature babies and diabetes.

Have you tested yourself recently to check if you have gum disease?

Try this - take a length of floss, slide the floss between the teeth until it reaches under the gum. Remove the floss. If you have bleeding, you can see thick plaque or the odour is unpleasant, you could have gum disease. Look closely at the gum tissue. Are the gums pale pink and firm or are they red and swollen?

Researchers have found evidence that gum disease may spoil your smile which stops someone from showing happy emotions through the eyes and lips. Hiding a smile can affect your social life and your self-confidence. It can influence how people perceive one another. The more symptoms of gum disease (such as pockets under the gum between four to six millimetres deep or loose, moving teeth), the more likely people are to cover their mouth when smiling or to limit how wide the mouth is opened during the smile. The more gum recession you have the fewer teeth you will show when smiling.

We can help you to achieve a healthy smile and keep your mouth well and attractive.
Phone or email us today for an appointment. Happy smiling!