Don’t ignore those mouth sores

Some dental problems often get overlooked … problems like unsightly mouth sores. We may view these issues as unpreventable or something that will simply go away. However, ignoring these dental issues could potentially cause worse dental problems, affect your overall health or be a symptom of a larger issue. No dental issue is too small or insignificant to overlook, and Cottage Dental Care is here to help.(Pulse Oximeter)

There are two types of sores that can appear in your mouth: canker sores and cold sores. Canker sores are the most common. These small yet painful pockets are caused by a variety of triggers including stress, diet, hormone change, damaged teeth and irritation within the mouth. Canker sores usually last less than two weeks but pack a painful punch. Typically, canker sores disappear without any treatment; however, if they occur frequently, they may be a symptom of a larger dental issue such as damaged teeth causing irritation in your mouth. If you encounter canker sores often, inform us at Cottage Dental Care. We will gladly ensure canker sores aren’t a result of a broader issue needing treatment.

The other type of mouth sores is commonly referred to as cold sores, fever blisters, or Herpes Simplex Type 1. These sores are caused by a virus rather than irritation and are extremely contagious. How can you tell the difference between cold sores and canker sores? Cold sores typically appear outside your mouth while canker sores are usually inside your mouth. There is no cure for cold sores, but steps can be taken to decrease occurrence and intensity including washing your hands, using sun block and applying skin ointments. If cold sores become frequent, Dr. Krug can prescribe medication to help deal with symptoms.

Whether you endure cold sores or canker sores, it’s important to take any irritation seriously. At Cottage Dental Care, we understand that underlying health issues may be the cause of mouth sores. We want to help you be as healthy as possible, and a healthy mouth leads to a healthy body. If you have any concerns about sores in your mouth, don’t hesitate to call. We look forward to seeing you soon at Cottage Dental Care!(Marathon Micro Motor)

Dental Implants: a time machine for lost teeth

Dental implants have changed the face of dentistry over the last 25 years. It used to be that if you lost a tooth the only options were to live with the space, have a removable denture or have a dental bridge held off the adjacent teeth. None of these solutions were ideal and all of them require some form of extra load being placed on the remaining teeth.

A Dental Implant Machine is a small titanium screw which is placed in the bone of the jaw to replace the missing tooth or teeth roots. The bone of the jaw grows towards the titanium screw and it becomes integrated into the jaw, it can then have a tooth or many teeth built on top of it.

Who can have dental implants??
If you have good general health then dental implants will almost certainly work for you. However, habits such as heavy drinking or smoking can increase the number of problems associated with initial healing and thereafter may negatively influence the long-term health of gum and bone surrounding each implant. Remaining teeth might also be compromised making treatment planning less certain.

How do you choose your implant dentist?

The placement of dental implants requires the additional training following qualification as a dentist, make sure your dentist has been appropriately trained and is experienced. Using a dentist who only uses the highest quality materials is also to be advised, there are some dental implant companies who do not have a lot of evidence supporting their product. Here at The Courtyard Clinic our implant surgeon is extremely experienced and we only use the best implant materials to make sure we provide the highest success rates for our patients.(dental equipment)

If you are missing one or more teeth and would like to see if you are suitable for dental implants, give Alison a call today on 01932 582949 and book in for a free consultation.

identify-osteoporosis-by-using-ordinary-dental-x-rays

steoporosis is the most common type of bone disease.

Researchers estimate that about 1 out of 5 American women over the age of 50 have osteoporosis. About half of all women over the age of 50 will have a fracture of the hip, wrist, or vertebra (bones of the spine).(Portable X-ray Machine)

Osteoporosis occurs when the body fails to form enough new bone, when too much old bone is reabsorbed by the body, or both.

Calcium and phosphate are two minerals that are essential for normal bone formation. Throughout youth, your body uses these minerals to produce bones. If you do not get enough calcium, or if your body does not absorb enough calcium from the diet, bone production and bone tissues may suffer.

As you age, calcium and phosphate may be reabsorbed back into the body from the bones, which makes the bone tissue weaker. This can result in brittle, fragile bones that are more prone to fractures, even without injury. Usually, the loss occurs gradually over years. Many times, a person will have a fracture before becoming aware that the disease is present. By the time a fracture occurs, the disease is in its advanced stages and damage is severe.

 The leading causes of osteoporosis are a drop in estrogen in women at the time of menopause and a drop in testosterone in men. Women over age 50 and men over age 70 have a higher risk for osteoporosis.

Researchers in the Academic Center for Dentistry Amsterdam have created a unique way of identifying patients at risk of osteoporosis by using ordinary dental x-rays. Professor Paul F. van der Stelt and his team developed the largely automated approach to detecting the disease during a three-year, EU-funded collaboration with the Universities of Manchester, Athens, Leuven, and Malmo. They will present their findings today during the 85th General Session of the
International Association for Dental Research.

Choosing The Suitable Toothbrush

The toothbrush is an oral hygiene dental instruments used to clean the teeth and gums that consists of a head of tightly clustered bristles mounted on a handle, which facilitates the cleansing of hard-to-reach areas of the mouth.(Dental Implant Equipment)

Toothpaste, which often contains fluoride, is commonly used in conjunction with a toothbrush to increase the effectiveness of toothbrushing. Toothbrushes are available with different bristle textures, sizes and forms. Most dentists recommend using a toothbrush labelled “soft”, since hard bristled toothbrushes can damage tooth enamel and irritate the gums. Toothbrushes have usually been made from synthetic fibers since they were developed, although animal bristles are still sometimes used.

A variety of oral hygiene measures have been used since before recorded history. This has been verified by various excavations done all over the world, in which chewsticks, tree twigs, bird feathers, animal bones and porcupine quills were recovered. The first toothbrush recorded in history was made in 3000 BC, a twig with a frayed end called a chewstick.

Choosing a toothbrush: General tips
There are certain characteristics that you should look for in whatever toothbrush you choose, regardless of whether it is manual or powered.

Size. The best toothbrush head for you should allow you easy access to all surfaces of your teeth. For most adults, a toothbrush head a half-inch wide and one-inch tall will be the easiest to use and the most effective. Though there are larger toothbrush heads available, you may find that it is difficult to maneuver them to clean certain hard-to-reach areas, such as the sides and backs of your molars. The toothbrush should have a long enough handle so you can comfortably hold it in your hand.
Bristle variety. If you go to the drug store to purchase a manual toothbrush or a replacement head for your electric toothbrush, you will be able to select atoothbrush with soft, medium, or hard nylon bristles.

For the vast majority of people, a soft-bristled toothbrush will be the most comfortable and safest choice. Depending on how vigorously you brush your teeth and the strength of your teeth, medium- and hard-bristled brushes could actually damage your protective tooth enamel. For even more tooth protection when you brush, be sure the bristles on the toothbrush you select have rounded tips.(dental equipment)

History of the Intraoral Dental Camera

Modern dentistry has established over many years that images are important in dealing with people’s dental health. The first intraoral photos could be traced back to 1839, which was the time Louis J. M. Daguerre presented to the world the first process of photography at the Paris Academy of Sciences. Later in the same year, New York dental instruments manufacturer Alexander S. Wolcott designed and patented the first camera based on Daguerre’s model. These initial pictures, which were extraordinary copies on silver-coated copper plates, were referred to as the daguerreotype, after Daguerre.

Prior to the advent of  Intraoral Camera, all graphic representations and images of dental disorders and processes were subjective explanations expressed through sketches or replicas. The photographic phenomena offered a new age of accurately reproducing and recording graphical dental imageries. This new period observed the beginning of the American Journal of Dental Science, which is the world’s first dental journal. And, for the first time in writings, preoperative and postoperative snapshots were made available by Thompson and Ide.

From that time on, dentists have used extra oral dental cameras with accuracy to capture pictures within the oral cavity. Photos can capture and display oral issues, which are then utilized in methods that let a dentist predictably make the most aesthetic results when working on cosmetic and restorative cases.

The introduction of the first real intraoral camera that took images inside the mouth arose with the unveiling of the first Analog IOC System in the late 80s. Fuji Optical Systems of Los Gatos, California attained the first registered trademark of an intraoral dental camera on July 7, 1987. Fuji then released their IOC technology as the DentaCam through Patterson Dental Supplies on the same year.

In 1989, Video Dental Concepts also came up with an intraoral dental camera that makes use of a dental endoscopic hand piece. The design was ground-breaking, and it included components from France’s ETS Groux Optical Corp and the local Panasonic Industrial Camera Division. This was the first component based IOC with a dental endoscope, a light source, and a remote head micro camera. It inspired and set the standard for many, many years.

In various areas of medicine, mainly in gastroenterology, endoscopes had been utilized for decades. The potential of small intraoral dental cameras got better as manufacturers enhanced them. Concurrently, the so-called imaging systems were made use of in numerous areas of medicine and industry with which digital pictures were captured, and then improved with the assistance of computer software. This concept of re-imaging was made known in the field of dentistry in the late 80s, and it was used to alter anatomical oral frameworks employed in patient education and treatment planning. According to the March 2009 Dental Products Reports Technology Survey, 68 percent of dentists make use of an intraoral dental camera, and 69 percent of dental clinics with computers have an intraoral camera linked to them.

Extraoral and intraoral pictures are used for clinician erudition and patient education. Though the imageries are not thought as diagnostic, they are a big help in augmenting and enhancing diagnoses when associated with other diagnostic procedures such as radiographs.(Dental Air Scaler for sale)