General dentistry should be preventive – that is, to maintain people’s teeth in optimal condition, to prevent any major dental problems and to help them keep their teeth for life.

In the past the importance of regularly maintaining the health of our teeth and gums has been under-estimated. Healthy teeth depend on healthy gums.  Therefore to help you maintain your oral health in top condition, we would like to invite you to join our Active Dental Maintenance Program, previously known as ‘six monthly check-up or examination, scale and clean’.

Many people risk developing gum disease, also known as Periodontal Disease. The cause of Gum Disease is the build-up of hard plague and bacterial toxins underneath the gum line. Over time, if not professionally removed, the plaque and bacteria will cause damage to the gums and jaw bone that support the teeth.

Periodontal Disease is largely a silent condition.  Early symptoms don’t usually cause pain and may easily go un-noticed by you. As Periodontal Disease advances you may experience one or all of the following:

• Bad breath
• Bleeding and swollen gums
• Receding gum line 
• loss of tooth supporting bone                      
• Loose teeth
• Tooth loss

Recent studies have shown that Periodontal Disease is a risk factor in relation to major illness such as

• heart disease

http://www.perio.org/consumer/mbc.heart.htm,http://www.perio.org/cons/     

• stroke  

http://strokeconnection.htm                      

• diabetes

http://www.perio.org/consumer/mbc.diabetes.htm,                                   

• osteoporosis

 http://www.perio.org/consumer/mbc.osteoporosis.htm

• premature births

http://www.perio.org/consumer/pregnancy.htm

Teeth Cleanig

“I go to see a dentist every 6 months, why do I still have gum problems?”

A lot of people go for their regular check-ups and clean with dentists or dental professional, however quite a number of them still have gum problems.  There are a number of reasons:

• Pregnancy with the hormonal changes affecting the gums
• The cleaning that was given was not thorough, leaving calculus on the teeth
• No education had been given by dental professionals on dental care, i.e. the proper way of teeth brushing and proper diet.

What is the proper way of teeth brushing?

Since young, we have been told to brush our teeth at least twice a day, morning and night.  However, we have not been taught as to how to properly brush our teeth and are just brushing the surfaces of our teeth.

The proper way to brush our teeth is to brush the gums as well as teeth. It is important to keep the gums clean and free of food particles to prevent decays and other gum disease.  When we brush our teeth, we should also gently brush the gums, care must be taken not to brush too hard or put too much pressure on the gums or the gums will shrink, resulting in receding gums.

 Correct teeth brushing  

The use of dental floss is also important as tooth brushes normally cannot remove food particles left between two teeth, which can only be cleared by flossing.  It is not uncommon to hear people say: “I don’t know how to floss”.                       

How to use dental floss

During your dental Active Maintenance session at Bondi Dental our dental professionals will provide you with clear instructions on oral hygiene including tooth brushing and will even show you how to floss your teeth. It is our objective to see all patients maintain good oral health, which is vital to maintaining optimal oral and physical health as well.

Bondi Dental offers you:

Prophylaxis (Scale and Clean) based on:

• Thorough removal of plague and calculus deposits
• Removal of stain
• Ensuring health tissue response
• Reinforcement of oral hygiene

Undetected dental problems

“I go to see a dentist every 6 months, why do I still have so many dental problems?”

The whole objective of having a regular check up is to detect any problems and rectify before they become serious. The reason why sometimes people still have a lot of dental problems even though they are regular with the dentist is because:

• the dentist doing the check up is not able to detect your potential problems
• the dentist does not think that these problems are urgent and can wait
• the dentist may be too busy
• he is not confident enough to handle the problems
• you have been told about your problems, but reluctant to have any treatments

Teeth are the only parts of your body that do not repair themselves, and as soon as you have a problem, it is important that you get it fixed or it will eventually become severe or turn into a dental ‘emergency’

At Bondi Dental we believe in helping you maintain your teeth in top condition and to keep your ‘teeth for life’.  To achieve this goal we would like to invite you to participate in our Active Maintenance Program.

Being part of our Active Maintenance Program involves regular visits with our professional dentist to examine your oral condition, detect any potential problems, maintain the health of your gums and professional cleaning to remove plaque build-up and bacteria.

To provide you with the best care possible, we now have a Dental Hygienist as part of our team. If you have not taken part in our Active Maintenance Program before or have not attended an Active Maintenance appointment in the past six months we encourage you to make an appointment with us today.

We welcome you to Bondi Dental’s Active Maintenance Program and assure you of top oral conditions in the years to come.

If you have not taken part in actively maintaining your oral health, call Bondi Dental for an appointment now.  Phone (02) 9365 3988