Carlingford Dental and TMJ

A few of us have a jaw that causes us problems. This might be anything from a slight clicking when we chew or yawn, to a joint that get stuck and locks our jaw open. These more severe problems can be quite painful.

TMJ (Temporomandibular Joint Disorder) refers to a joint in our jawbone that does not function quite correctly. Our jawbones are more complex than they first appear. Being able to move in 3 dimensions, mostly up and down but also slightly to the side, and slightly forward and back, means that are a complex joint. Complexity means there are several ways in which something can go wrong.

Most Temporomandibular Joint Disorders are simple in cause and are only a minor issue. If we experience clicking in one side of the jaw we usually have nothing to worry about. Often this is caused by habitually chewing on one side of the mouth, resulting in uneven use of muscles and uneven wear on the joint. If we start eating with the other side of the mouth then we will find the issue fades away over the course of a few months.
Fixing Jaw Issues – Carlingford Dental

Most Temporomandibular Joint Disorders are an inconvenience rather than a serious issue.

But if our jaw disorder is serious then we might find the jaw really is painful and gets stuck at times. While this is serious there is no need to panic. Instead:

1 – Relax – Stress and tension aggravate the condition, and may even cause it at time. By relaxing you reduce the issue.

2 – Apply a warm compress. This can be a heated gel pack or simply a cloth towel with moderately hot water. Apply for 10 – 15 minutes to help you relax.

3 – Apply gentle pressure. Place your palms on the side of your jaw, just below the ear, and move the lower jaw from side to side. Over the space of a few minutes the jaw should move back into place.

If the jaw does not move back after these methods, then make an emergency appointment with the dentist.
Carlingford Dental

Jaw disorders are usually an inconvenience rather than a serious issue. But ask the dentist for advice.

Carlingford Dental Teeth Straightening

It has become more common for adults to have their teeth straightened. There are several reasons for this, one being that the straightening need not require braces or at least not braces that are too prominent. In the past adults resisted braces as they seem too ‘teenagers’. But now the teeth can be straightened without the awkward teenage look. And the results can be reasonably quick.

Carlingford Dental Straight Teeth Benefits

It is easy to understand the aesthetic appeal of straight teeth. They look better for the sake of looking better. And we might well understand that straight teeth might be what was previously missing from our face; the former crooked teeth meant we didn’t quite look right. But it is easy to overlook the social benefits of the neater teeth. It encourages us to smile more. It encourages us to be a little more outgoing. And this in turn encourages others to interact with us. So teeth affect our social life.

Perhaps more importantly, neat teeth mean better oral hygiene. Straight teeth mean not having hard-to-reach, hard-to-clean spaces; no gums over molars that tend to trap food. Cleaning is easier and more effective with straight teeth.

Crooked teeth can also mean crooked jaws. And both of these tend to make life increasingly difficult over time. Often any type of dental crookedness leads to accumulating wear on the teeth, or jaws that develop a click. If we have our jaws and teeth straightened as easily as possible we largely avoid these types of wear problems.

Carlingford Dental Modern Straightening Techniques

Braces can be made less conspicuous than before, almost blending in with the teeth. And they feature smaller brackets, so they cause less mouth irritation. Some adults are comfortable with these more discreet braces.

Invisalign is a teeth straightening system that uses clear aligners (rather like a small mouth guard) to move the teeth and fix some jaw alignment issues. This system is removable for eating and drinking, or the occasional public speaking engagement. It cannot make more severe changes to the mouth, some extreme issues require conventional braces, but it is very effective for the majority of dental straightening issues.

Veneers are not so much a teeth straightening method as an alternative to straightening. Veneers are like crowns that only cover the front (visible) part of the teeth. These veneers look like neat, clean natural teeth. And if the original tooth is slightly crooked the veneer can cover this and be neat and straight. Veneers can also fill in the gaps between widely spaced teeth because the veneers can be made slightly wider than the original teeth.

Carlingford Dental

Straight teeth are more attractive and are easier to maintain. Visit the dentist, for the smile you deserve.

Oral Cancer Check – Carlingford Dentist

Oral cancer, also known as Mouth cancer, is both very serious and fairly common. It does not get much publicity, but there are several thousand cases in Australia each year.

Oral cancer may appear as a small sore on the tongue or the inside of the mouth. Sometimes it appears to be just a discoloration on the surface, causing no pain, discomfort, or other symptoms. It is too easy to dismiss this as trivial. But if this sore really is cancer it will cause serious damage in a short amount of time.

We should have any suspicious sores, or any sudden changes in the mouth, checked by the dentist.

Carlingford Dentist – Symptoms of Oral cancer

If we experience any of the following, we should have them checked.

• – A sore on the tongue or in the mouth that never seems to heal.
• – A lump on the tongue or in the mouth or throat.
• – A discoloration, white or red inside the mouth.
• – Bleeding in the mouth for no apparent reason.
• – Numbness in the mouth or tongue.
• – Swelling in the jaw.
• – Loose or painful teeth
• – Pain when you chew or try to swallow.
• – Weight gain for no apparent reason.
• – Pain in the jaw or ear.
• – An unexplained change in the voice.

Carlingford Dentist – Causes and prevention of Oral cancer

The exact causes of cancer are only partially understood. But there are lifestyle and dietary habits that increase the risk.

Oral cancer has an increased risk if we do any of the following.

• Alcohol increases oral cancer, especially in concentrated forms.
• Mouthwash with alcohol raises the risk, especially if used several times per day.
• Smoking tobacco increases the risk. Cigarettes may or may not be an issue.
• Heavy Sun exposure is a risk.
• A diet with insufficient vegetables and fruit raises the risk. Lack of fibre might also be a factor.
• Fair skin people have a higher risk
• The constant irritation of the mouth from poorly made dentures, braces, or even a protruding tooth may lead to a cancerous sore.
• A weak immune system.
• Infections from the Human papillomavirus Virus (HPV) increase the risk.
• People over 40 have an increased risk.

Oral cancer can cause severe damage in a fairly short space of time. Early detection minimises the damage.

Dentists will look for signs of oral cancer during regular appointments. They will often notice potential problems before the patient does. If the patient does notice any suspicious signs, such as a sore that never seems to heal, they need to have this checked by the dentist immediately.

Carlingford Dentist

Oral cancer is serious and more common than is generally known. Early detection by the dentist during routine exams reduces the risk and minimises damage.

Carlingford Dental Implants

Dental implants are the ultimate way to replace a lost or badly damaged tooth. Of course, it would be better to keep all our original teeth. But if we do need a replacement then an implant is the best option.

Implants are artificial teeth made of lithium disilicate or zirconia (previously they were made from porcelain). These artificial teeth are supported by a titanium post that bonds organically to the jawbone. This result is a realistic-looking, fully functioning replacement tooth that lasts for decades.

Carlingford Dental Implants Care

It is important to maintain full dental care before and after receiving implants. This is the basic but essential practice of brushing teeth twice daily, flossing, and using mouthwash. While tooth implants cannot decay the gum surrounding the tooth is still susceptible to infections. An infection can lead to bone damage and loss of the implant.

Think of implants as an investment that you want to look after. With a little basic effort, the implants can last the rest of your life.

Soft Brushing – We know about twice daily brushing. But we emphasize the need for a soft bristle brush and soft pressure. Previous generations would harshly scrub teeth, only to find that they ended up wearing the tooth enamel away. They also tended to damage gums, leaving them bleeding. This is now seen as a mistake.
Plaque and food debris can be removed by soft brushing. This soft technique, and soft bristle brush, being very effective, causes little if any, damage.

Avoid harsh products and flavours – Harsh toothpaste, like charcoal, are slightly abrasive. Over time, they will wear away enamel. Perhaps use them once per month.
Some toothpaste flavours, like mint, can aggravate the gums. Avoid them if you have recently had implants or other dental surgery.

Flossing – As there is up to 30% of the tooth surface between the teeth, and as this is not reached by brushing, we need to either floss or use an alternative method to clean between teeth.
Implants can suffer if the surrounding gum becomes infected. So floss can greatly reduce this. But there has been concern that floss might actually cause problems by opening the space between the gum and the implants and perhaps leaving the area prone to infections.
A water flosser is a good option. This is gentle on gums and removes 99% of bacteria and food debris.

Carlingford Dental Implants

Implants are the modern means of replacing lost or badly damaged teeth. They look and feel like natural teeth, and only require basic brushing and flossing.

Straight Teeth with the Carlingford Dentist

It has become more common for adults to have their teeth straightened. There are many advantages to this. It makes cleaning, eating and speaking easier. And the teeth tend to last longer, as there will be far less uneven wear. But perhaps most obvious is the fact that straight teeth just look better. This factor might be underestimated. We can be more confident, and more outgoing, with straighter teeth.

Options for Straight teeth at Carlingford Dental

The greater number of adults having their teeth straightened connects to the greater number of teeth straightening techniques. It is hard to determine which came first, but there are more options available now than ever before. Traditional braces, while still used for many people, have been superseded by other methods that are less obvious and less awkward.

Smileware – This combines a software analysis with an advanced type of discrete brace. The software finds the best method of tooth alignment, and illustrates the results in advance. The treatment is quite quick, lasting only 6 months on average. The only downside is that it is not able to correct jaw alignment.
Smileware is quick, less noticeable than traditional braces, cost-effective, and the results can be accurately predicted.

Clear Braces – Despite the name this uses a clear mouth guard rather than wires. With Modern Computer technology these mouth guards are designed and printed in the dental office. While worn during the day and night they steadily push teeth into place. And they can be removed for eating, brushing and the occasional photo. Like many alignment systems they straighten teeth, but do not correct jaw alignment.

Invisalign – This is slightly older technology, but it has been show to be effective. It uses a series of clear and discrete mouth guards to steadily more teeth into place. The mouth guards can be removed for eating, drinking, cleaning and for occasional social outing like photos or public speaking.

Veneers – This is another older technology, but one proven to be effective and long lasting. Best of all, it gets the results with just a few dental appointments.
Veneers are an artificial surface attached to the front of the tooth. They look like the natural tooth surface, but are made to be perfectly neat and straight. This method can be used to correct malformed teeth, and teeth that are slightly or moderately misaligned. They also remedy teeth that have spaces between them, as the veneers can be made slightly larger than the existing teeth.

Orthodontist Carlingford for Traditional Braces

Adult braces – These are usually fitted to teenagers when their adult teeth are first in place. But they can be fitted at any time after the teeth have emerged.
Braces are the most versatile method of tooth correction, being able to move teeth vertically and horizontally, and to correct most kinds of jaw alignment issues. They are awkward, but effective.

Carlingford Dentist

There is no reason not to have the best teeth possible. Modern methods can straighten teeth in minimal time with minimal discomfort.

Carlingford Dentist – What Are Veneers?

Dental Veneers are used to improve the appearance and sometimes function of teeth in the front and side of the mouth. They are thin layers of porcelain or composite material that are permanently attached to the front of teeth. These improve the appearance of discoloured teeth, because the veneers looks like a clean healthy tooth surface. This can also improve the appearance of pitted or grooved teeth.

Veneers can also be made slightly wider or longer than the natural teeth, so as to fill in the gaps between widely spaced teeth, or to lengthen one or two slightly short teeth. In some cases the veneers can bring the teeth of one jaw forward, to correct overbite or under bite.

Carlingford Dental – Looking after Veneers.

1 – Maintain diligent dental hygiene. If we neglect out teeth and gums, if plaque and bacteria build up, then the teeth will suffer decay. Furthermore, the gums can recede. This will ruin the look of the veneers, because there will be a gap between the veneer and the gum line.
2 – Minimise alcohol – Alcohol tends to dry out the mouth, leading to increased bacteria and decay. This applies to alcoholic drinks as well as alcoholic mouthwashes. It is even more troublesome when we have veneers, as alcohol will weaken the bind between the teeth and the veneers.
3 – Avoid teeth grinding – We may do this at night without realising it, but grinding quickly wears away the tooth, and will destroy the veneers. A mouth guard worn at night can make all the difference.
4 – Hard foods – These are the bane of all dental work. But if we chew nuts with the back teeth and do not use the front teeth to bite into anything harder than an apple, we should be find there are few issues.
5 – Have a dental appointment every 6 months. A Professional cleaning prevents most issues, and a check-up quite often catches problems before they become serious.

Carlingford Dentist

We all deserve the best teeth possible. Veneers, braces or Invisalign can mean attractive, healthy, functional teeth.

Carlingford Dental Implant

Modern dental work benefits from Computer Aided Design (CAD) and 3D printing.

3D printing has been around for many years. It was applied to dental work after the year 2000, when small scale production became viable. The 3D manufacturing equipment is expensive, but it does allow the creation of custom-made teeth that match the surrounding teeth in the mouth.

The 3D printing of teeth became possible because of several different computing technologies. The mouth of an individual patient is computer modelled in 3D, a replacement tooth designed accordingly with computer aided design, and the replacement tooth is 3D printed under computer control. This has become a streamline process. And the result are superior to both older generic replacement teeth that were trimmed to fit into place, or to the replacement teeth that were based on a moulded impression.

For many years 3D tooth printing was limited because only one type of material could be used in the printing system. This meant the outer tooth could be 3D printed from one material and placed on an inner metal core that was made separately. But the possibility of implants being made entirely from one material has now been realised. So the entire tooth, the post and the outer surface, can be 3D printed.

Dental Implants are usually made of either lithium disilicate or ziriconia. Lithium disilicate is a strong material that looks very much like a natural tooth. This is used for the teeth at the front of the mouth. Ziriconia is an even stronger material, though it does not look quite as realistic as lithium disilicate. This is used for the back molars of the mouth where it is less noticeable.

Advantages of implants:

– They look realistic
– Recent implants made of lithium disilicate or zirconia are very strong
– The implant is very long lasting.
– Complications are rare, with a 98% sucess rate.
– Long term reliability is high.
– No special maintenance is needed. Just daily brushing and flossing.

Implants are expensive, but as they last for decades the long term cost is low.

Carlingford Dental Implant

3D Printed implants means natural looking, longer lasting replacement teeth, produces with a fast, reliable manufacturing process.

Carlingford Dentist

Wisdom teeth are the 3rd molars at the back of our jaw. They are the last teeth to emerge, usually in our late teens or early twenties.

There are often problems with wisdom teeth. Our jaws may not be large enough to accommodate these extra 4 molars, so either these wisdom teeth do not fully emerge, or they push other teeth out of place when they do emerge.

Wisdom teeth problems include difficulty in cleaning the teeth that are partly emerged, with food and bacteria getting caught under the gum. Or problems with the jaw closing correctly because of the misaligned teeth. Sometimes the new wisdom tooth is painful and infected.

Carlingford Dental

It has become almost standard practice to remove wisdom teeth. This is initially awkward, but the pain soon clears up, and the mouth is better for having the procedure.

It seems strange that our body would produce teeth that so often cause pain and other problems. But they could be a symptom of our altered eating habits. In societies where young children chew slightly tough food the problems with later developing wisdom teeth are rare. This habit of chewing tough food seems to slightly enlarge the jaw, giving these extra back molars just enough room to emerge correctly. The modern western diet with its soft food has changed the way we eat and the way our jaws later develop.

Children who have an anesthetic injected into their back jaw often do not develop wisdom teeth when they are older. This may be a way to prevent the issue in the future. Or we might encourage the eating of slightly tougher foods.

Orthodontist Carlingford

If wisdom teeth have caused alignment problems we may need to have the other teeth realigned. This is rather disheartening if we already had the teeth aligned with braces. But often the matter can be remedied with treatments like Invisalign. This is a series of clear plastic retainers, like a mouthguard, which gently pulls teeth into the correct position.

If we have wisdom teeth dealt with as soon as possible then any damage they cause will be minimal.

Carlingford Dentist

Wisdom teeth are notorious for causing problems. Have the dentist check any pain in the back of the jaw for prompt treatment.

Carlingford Dentist

Some individuals have gaps between their teeth. This may be because the teeth are small while the jaws are large. Having gaps between teeth is not really a problem in itself; as long as the teeth can be kept clean there are no unusual issues. But we might feel that teeth look neater when spaced neatly and evenly.

There are a few ways to close the spaces between teeth. If we get in early the individual can have braces as a teenager. They can also have braces as an adult if they feel this is acceptable. Alternatively, teeth can be crowned or given veneers to close the gaps.

Orthodontist Carlingford

Orthodontic braces can fix a wide variety of dental issues, including widely spaced teeth. These braces are usually fitted during the teenage years, but they can be fitted at any age after all the adult teeth are in place. Using braces as a teenager is preferable as the individual patient benefits from the improved teeth for longer, their entire adult life.

Braces exert constant pressure on individual teeth, steadily moving their position in the jaw. Over a period of about two years, depending on the severity of the dental problem, they move all the teeth into the optimal position.

Braces are initially awkward, but the results are impressive and can last a lifetime with minimal maintenance.

Carlingford Dental Veneers.

Veneers are a covering put over the front surface of a tooth. They look like natural teeth and are very long-lasting.

If necessary the veneers can be made slightly wider than a natural tooth, effectively closing the gap between widely spaced teeth.

Unlike braces, which take a couple of years to achieve their results, veneers can be put in place with just a few dental appointments, achieving their results in minimal time.

Dental Veneers are a good option if there are many teeth then need to be altered.

Crowns and Implant Carlingford

Crowns replace the entire outer surface of the tooth while keeping the internal pulp and nerve intact. They can completely change the shape and colour of a tooth. Implants are similar, but they replace the entire tooth, having the nerve and pulp replaced with a metal post.

Crowns and implants are expensive but are long-lasting and very realistic looking. They are a good option if only a few teeth need alteration. They may be used when the only gap is between the front teeth.

Carlingford Dentist

Gaps between teeth may be altered with braces, crowns or veneers. The results look neat and realistic, and last for many years.