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!