Gum disease (Gingivitis vs Periodontal Disease)

Gingivitis is inflammation around the gums caused by a chronic accumulation of plaque around the interface between the teeth and gums. Plaque is a mixture of bacteria, food debris and salivary molecules.

Gingivitis manifests as redness around the gums disease and mostly painless inflammation. The only sign that something is wrong is usually bleeding when brushing or flossing. A lot of patients don’t even get those symptoms so are blissfully unaware that they have any problem. Gingivitis DOES NOT result in the loss of bone support around teeth. This is an important fact to keep in mind for the later part of the discussion.

Gingivitis affects over 98% of the population at any given time. Gingivitis has a degree of affectation i.e. some areas of the mouth may have gingivitis and other areas may have no problems.

Prevention of gingivitis is through brushing twice a day, flossing once a day and the use of antiseptic mouthrinses i.e. Listerine/Colgate Plax. Regular dentist/hygiene appointments every 6 months are also important as we need to access hard to reach areas i.e. between teeth and areas below the gum to clean all the plaque and to prevent gingivitis from getting worse.

When gingivitis becomes chronic in nature as is present for long enough, the real worry is that gingivitis will progress to periodontal disease. Periodontal disease is the development of the chronic inflammation into a persistent condition in which bone starts being eroded around the teeth roots. If enough bone is lost, the teeth may become loose, pain with the development of gum abscesses may occur with the eventual “falling out” of teeth.

Call us today to book a consultation to have your gums assessed. Depending on how much time and how much gum disease is present, we may even be able to give you a clean on the day.

The Wisdom Tooth Dilemma – To Pull or not to pull? That is the question

Many patients come to see me for a second opinion on their wisdom teeth. Often the question/statement is, “I just saw a dentist recently and he/she recommended me to have my wisdom teeth removed but they’re not causing me any pain or problems! Are they just trying to make more money?”
This loaded question can be answered many ways but here’s my two cents on the topic.
Wisdom tooth extraction in Joondalup has always been a complex, controversial issue in our profJoondalup doubt its going to go away any time soon either.
Before I answer that question asked by many of my patients, here’s some interesting points.
•    The food that we are eating in modern times from historical times is becoming “softer” and requiring less chewing to eat thus it appears that we are needing less molars than our predecessors.
•    Our jaws on a large-scale population level appear to be getting a little bit smaller. Perhaps this is linked to the food point above. We don’t really know.
•    Some people don’t even develop 3rd molars. The author himself only developed 3 wisdom teeth. One was thankfully entirely absent which meant less surgical trauma, quicker healing time and 25% cheaper!
The conclusion that can be drawn from the above points is that humans are still evolving, they haven’t stopped. The human body is adapting to changing in the environment. People’s diets are different. People have different biology to each other.
So no wonder, the recommendations for wisdom tooth extraction can have some degree of variability as well. It’s not surprising that dentists will have a different view on the same topic. If they didn’t, they’d be robots with no independent thinking capacity (which is a good thing!). Imagine if robots made black/white decisions without taking into account your age, anxiety, fear or a myriad of other concerns you may have.
Now, let’s examine that question in the first paragraph of this blog post.
“They’re not causing me any pain or problems!”
Unfortunately for us dentists, most dental problems don’t present with pain until they are at a really bad stage. I remember that I didn’t take my own dentists’ advice when I was at dental school (yes, really!) to have them removed. Wouldn’t you know it, right in the middle of my second semester exams, the wisdom teeth pain flared up so badly that I had to see my dentist who prescribed me antibiotics and painkillers. As a result, I missed about 2 days of study which made my exam study really difficult. Straight after the exams were finished, I booked in to have my wisdom teeth removed and have never looked back since.
The lesson is, if you don’t decide to have your wisdom teeth removed, the pain will decide for you at some stage.
“Are they just trying to make more money?”    
I would like to say that our profession is completely devoid of unscrupulous practitioners but the honest reality is that there is a high likelihood that there are a few rogue clinicians who are more cost-driven than patient-health driven. That is unfortunately, human nature in a capitalist society.
The good news is that we also live in a free-market economy. That means, that you can seek the opinion of however many other dentists you want.
So, if ever unsure, get a second opinion. Heck, get a 3rd opinion if it makes you feel better! Most of our patients are referred by mouth so if they can trust us to refer their family and friends, so can you. Go with the dentist that explains things clearly and concisely who you can trust. Ask your friends and family as to who they see and take it from there. At the end of the day, you have to trust a dentist because…well…you’re probably just not good enough to take out your own wisdom teeth…unless…you’re a dentist of course!

What is Invisalign and adult orthodontics?

Orthodontics used to be mainly associated with pimply teenagers and “metal tracks”. Nowadays, the perception of orthodontics is changing rapidly with more adults than ever choosing to have their teeth straightened. Thankfully for adults, we now have Invisalign.
Affordable invisalign in Joondalup has been around for some time now but has established some notoriety with some famous people choosing to straighten their teeth. Most notably, Katherine Heigl discussed her Invisalign treatment on The Oprah Winfrey show which shot Invisalign into the public eye.
Invisalign is a term for the treatment process involving the straightening of teeth using the sequential wearing of clear, plastic aligners to move the tooth incrementally into their correct position. It is proving to be very popular amongst adults as the social impact is so low. Many people hardly notice that the person undergoing the Invisalign process is even having anything done.
The process involves taking special impressions from which a 3D computer model of your teeth is generated. From this 3D model, the treating clinician can visualise the course of treatment from start to finish and can show this to you prior to you having anything done to your teeth.
The aligners are comfortable and patient acceptance and compliance is excellent due to the aesthetic nature of the aligners. Most treatment that could be previously done with braces can also be done with Invisalign. The treatment time on average is 12-18 months depending on the severity of your orthodontic problem.
There is plenty of information on the internet available regarding Invisalign including some excellent Youtube videos. Of course, nothing beats a comprehensive Invisalign consultation with one of our dentalatjoondalupdentists. For the month of September, if you book in for an Invisalign consult and mention this email, the consultation will be done at no cost to you.
Periodontal therapy can feel similar to a standard scale and clean but it is a lot deeper and anaesthetic may be used for its treatment. More special instruments and techniques will be used for the treatment of periodontal disease.
This is also a good time to discuss why you can’t just always book in for a “check-up and scale and clean”. After the initial consultation, it may be deemed that you have periodontal disease and not gingivitis which means more in depth care. This is also means that the costs of management of periodontal disease are more than for standard scale and clean therapies. Once again, the take home message is that prevention is much more effective and cost-effective than the cure.
Call our clinic now to book in for a consultation if you haven’t been for some time or for your regular recall hygiene therapy. This is highly important if you’ve already had an existing diagnosis of periodontal disease as the disease doesn’t just get “cured”. Periodontal disease has to be actively maintained and prevented indefinitely.
By far, the most common reason is bacteria/plaque on the tongue. Everyone has that gross experience in the morning, when they feel a thick white film on the top surface of their tongue. That is the collection of millions and billions of bacteria lodged together in a microscopic colony. Some of those bacteria are odour-producing and are responsible for bad breath.
Tongue scrapers can be used to remove the plaque from the tongue but a little word of caution, do this with no one else around…There are mouthrinses that are specially available but need to be used in a case-by-case basis rather than blanket use for all patients.
Gum disease is a distant second but also commonly causes bad breath. If your gums bleed when you brush and floss, its highly likely that you suffer from bad breath and are unaware that you do. We’ll give you a little peek into what dentists and hygienists can observe if we meet you at a party or social event...we can usually smell on your breath that you are suffering from either gingivitis or periodontal disease. Bad breath caused by gingivitis/periodontal disease has a somewhat distinct character.

Dental implants: beautiful fixed tooth replacements

Dental implants are artificial tooth replacements which are made of titanium. They have been verified by the Australian Dental Association and repeated studies as the ideal tooth replacement option for a single tooth replacement.

Dental implants have 4 distinct advantages over other tooth replacement options

1.    They are free standing. Dental implants do not rely on the support of the adjacent teeth like dental bridges hence they are less “invasive”. Although the failure rate of a dental implant is exceedingly low, if they do have complications it means that the complications are localised to the dental implant and do not compromise the teeth next door.
2.    They are very strong. Dental implants are the “strongest” in regards to the functional strength and their daily use for chewing and biting through food.
3.    They are fixed i.e. unlike dentures, dental implants stay in place in the mouth and don’t require removal and storage in a medium overnight. Hence, they are socially much more acceptable than the embarrassment and inconvenience associated with removable dentures
4.    They are very aesthetic. Dental implants look so natural that an average person of the street would be hard pressed to tell the difference between the artificial dental implant and natural teeth.

We talked about Dental implant surgery near Joondalup as some of the best replacement for missing teeth available. This month, we’re going to discuss what is involved in having a dental implant placed in your mouth to replace a tooth. For the sake of simplicity, the replacement of one single tooth with a single dental implant will be discussed.

1.    A consultation with your dentist will be required to discuss your suitability for a dental implant. Dental moulds and photos may be taken as part of this consultation.
2.    A referral for a special x-ray called a cone beam CT is required to assess your bone levels in the area of the intended replacement.
3.    Often, a referral to an implant surgeon who places the dental implant in the jaw is required who is usually located at a “specialist” centre that we will refer you to.
4.    After this discussion, you will have the dental implant placed surgically using precision technology and surgical guides which will may result in the need to take further moulds of your mouth.
5.    After the surgery to place the dental implant, there’s usually a 4-6 month period of healing during which we wait for the bone in the jaw to grow “onto” and “latch onto” the dental implant after which the dental implant will become a part of your body. NB. During the healing phase, a temporary device will be in place to ensure you don’t walk around with a missing tooth (particularly in the front part of the mouth).
6.    After the 4-6 month healing period, a permanent dental crown will be fit to the dental implant after further moulds are taken.

If you want a dental implant to be done, allow a period of approximately 9 months between the start and conclusion of treatment due to waiting times and scheduling of appointments for treatment.

Gingivitis is inflammation around the gums caused by a chronic accumulation of plaque around the interface between the teeth and gums. Plaque is a mixture of bacteria, food debris and salivary molecules.

Gingivitis manifests as redness around the gums and mostly painless inflammation. The only sign that something is wrong is usually bleeding when brushing or flossing. A lot of patients don’t even get those symptoms so are blissfully unaware that they have any problem. Gingivitis DOES NOT result in the loss of bone support around teeth. This is an important fact to keep in mind for the later part of the discussion.

Gingivitis affects over 98% of the population at any given time. Gingivitis has a degree of affectation i.e. some areas of the mouth may have gingivitis and other areas may have no problems.

The pain associated with dental implant surgery has been stated by patients as less than that of a dental extraction i.e. it’s more painful to get a tooth pulled out rather than a dental implant put in!