We want to wish you a happy holiday season and also recommend the best ways to protect your teeth over the summer.

Given the activities of the season, many of you may experience or help someone with:

- Decay related pain
- Injuries & knocks
- Stress related grinding
- Increased sugars in food
- Keeping breath fresh

The following sections outline some suggestions to tackle each of these common issues.

Have a safe and enjoyable holiday.

Warm regards, Dr Fern White

Decay related pain

A persistent toothache is always a sign that you need to see your dentist as soon as practicable.

In the meantime:

• try to obtain relief by rinsing the mouth with water
• try to clean out debris from any obvious cavities
• use dental floss to remove any food that might be trapped within the cavity (especially between the teeth)
• if swelling is present, place a cold compress to the outside of the cheek
• take pain relief if necessary (Ibuprofen based pain relief can help imflammation more than codeine)

Injuries and Knocks

Kids and adults alike can get into situations where they may knock or break teeth. There are some immediate actions that can help deal with this issue before getting straight to a dentist.

Knocked out tooth

• If a tooth is dislodged, rinse briefly in milk (or have the patient suck it clean, or use contact lens saline) and only hold the tooth by the white smooth crown.
• Either place in back into the mouth (from where it came, or in the cheek space) or if this is not possible or appropriate place the tooth in some milk or wrap it in cling wrap
• Get straight to a dentist within a hour of the incident

Broken tooth

• Clean the area with warm water
• Keep all the broken bits, they may be useful (keep them moist, wrap in cling wrap)
• Reduce swelling with a cold compress
• Visit a dentist as soon as possible to ensure no further damage is caused

Grinding from stress

Meeting the relatives can be a happy occasion… it can also be a little stressful at times.

Try to avoid clenching by relaxing the muscles around the jaw. They are very strong and able to damage your teeth if left unchecked.

Serious grinding can be helped with splints or muscle treatment, best to consult your dentist about this level of issue.

However, if you feel yourself gathering tension in the jaw muscles, try simply massaging the pressure points around the temple and where you ear meets you upper jaw bone.

Sugars in drinks and food

Drinks

• Try to avoid drinking bubbly drinks for a long period of time
• Use a straw if possible as this avoids sugary liquid flowing over and inbetween your teeth
• The mouth takes about an hour to return to a neutral pH acid level, chewing sugar free gum can help increase saliva and therefore speed up this neuralising process
• Green tea can prevent placque and decay, it also helps reduce bad breath

Food

• Avoid crunching down on candy cane or sticky sweets, a broken tooth during the holidays is no fun at all
• Crumbly or hard cheese helps balance the acid levels in your mouth
• Always FLOSS and brush before bed (or falling asleep on the couch)
• You may like to use a flossing tool which can make the process easier, but still concentrate on getting into the gums correctly

Fresh breath

Meeting a lot of family? Kissing under the Mistletoe? Fresh breath is usually achieved by keeping a clean mouth, gums and teeth. A large percentage of bad breath is due to bacteria on the tongue and teeth.

Try these few tips for keeping fresh breath:

• Using a tongue brush like Orabrush
• Floss, floss, floss…
• Sugar free mints
• Drink some water after your meal to dislodge food particles
• Use an alcohol free mouth wash

Your feedback please

We would like to hear any comments or suggestions you have.

Improvement of patient services and comfort are always embraced and your assistance is important in this process.

Please email us directly at feedback@beaconcovedental.com.au

• Rapidly biodegradable plastics used throughout the treatment process
• Installation of environmentally processed carpet tiles in the reception and office areas
• The use of environmentally rated inks / toners in our printers

Plastic barriers have become widely used in dental practice and the health industry to assist with infection control. They are an effective way of protecting equipment and surfaces to prevent cross infection, minimising the use of surface detergents and disinfectants. A vast amount of today’s plastic waste ends its life cycle in a modern sanitary landfill, where it stays for decades to come, leaving our future with an increasing mountain of plastic waste.We use plastic barriers made from a responsible and sustainable product, which is disposable and helps protect our environment. These products include rubbish bin liners, to further assist the waste breakdown process.

If you happen to have any other ideas for the surgery, please pass them on during your next visit.

This is part of our move towards carbon neutral dentistry as we believe our dental industry could be performing a lot better in the area of reducing emissions and waste.

We do need to maintain an extremely high level of hygiene, which does require a lot of single use materials. However we have invested in GreenPower to ensure that we are at least reducing the affects that coal mining and burning has on our planet.

If you have any suggestion for how our business could be performing more sustainably, please do not hesitate to contact us.

If you are interested in this topic we found these links of use:

Greenpower

Sustainability Victoria

We hope this brief explanation is helpful, of course your Vet is the best place to visit if you think your dog’s teeth need attention.

The Basics

Here are some basics in terms of checking for any dental issues

• Start young and get your dog familiar with having their mouth and gums checked and brushed
• Check for white teeth with no discolouration (light to dark brown staining towards top of teeth, near gums )
• Gums should be pink, with no redness
• Brown staining indicates tartar build up which needs to be removed with brushing or  a Vet dental treatment
• Red gums indicate inflammation and therefore signs of bacteria and disease
• Make a note of what is “normal” so you can assess any changes
• You can brush canine teeth using a specific, low fluoride tooth paste
• There are brushes that fit on the tip of your finger to make brushing easier than using a traditional handle brush

There the basics, we would be happy to chat more about your dog during your next visit… but please do seek your Vet’s advice is cases of disease.

Remember that, just like humans, dental disease can lead directly to heart disease and other blood/bacterial related diseases.

A Demonstration

If you’re a local from Albert Park, Middle Park, South Melbourne, St Kilda or even Southbank I would highly suggest shopping there after an appointment to pick up some healthy and softer foods.

From a dental perspective, there are certainly some foods to avoid and others to stuff in your shopping bags.

Avoid

• Anything crunchy, sticky or hard
• Strong flavour such as Indian food
• Super hot / spicy food as the mouth may still be healing
• Coloured foods (especially after whitening)

Take Home

• Softer, easy to digest foods
• Fruit juices (stay hydrated especially after a dental visit involving surgery)
• Soups
• Yogurt smoothies
• Soft fruits

Oral surgery can leave patients feeling nauseous and not all that interested in food, but it is really important to eat after oral surgery, and to eat well. By nourishing the body with high quality food, the healing time will be decreased and the patient will generally feel better as well. Fortunately, there are a wide number of foods to eat after oral surgery, so patients should not get bored or restless with their diet. As with any medical procedure, the advice of a doctor supersedes any other advice a patient may receive, and patients with questions should consult their doctors.

To begin with, it is sometimes useful to assemble a list of foods not to eat after oral surgery. As a general rule, patients should to avoid any food which is strongly flavored, such as spicy Indian food. Spicy foods can hurt the mouth, as can sweets or foods which are too hot or too cold. Crunchy, sticky, and sharp foods should also be avoided. These would include things like potato chips, peanut butter, and hard candies.

Soft, easy to digest foods are the best thing to eat after oral surgery, especially within the first few days. On the day of surgery, sticking with water, tea, and juice can be a good idea. These neutral foods will sit well with the lingering anesthesia in the body. Staying hydrated is also important for a quick healing time. A doctor may also recommend that a patient use a mild salt rinse after eating, to ensure that no food particles are left in the mouth.

Soft foods are the name of the game after oral surgery. There are a number of deliciously varied soft foods ranging from yogurt, smoothies, thin soups, broth, soft fruit, sorbet, ice cream, pudding and well-cooked rice. Cold foods like ice cream and sorbet can help with mouth pain, while pureed foods and drinks are easy to swallow, even after painful oral surgery. It is important to strive for a balance of protein and fiber when patients eat after oral surgery, since the temptation is to stick with foods like juice, which do not provide the necessary nutrition.

To get more fiber from the foods you eat after oral surgery, make smoothies with whole fresh fruit, and eat soft fruits such as bananas. Brown rice or other whole grains can be eaten as well, as long as they are thoroughly cooked. Some patients prefer to puree substances like these, to ensure that grains do not get stuck in the mouth. Protein can be provided in the form of eggs and dairy products, along with nutrition drinks.

You may not be able to hold a dinner party with the foods you can eat after oral surgery, but you can eat rather well. If you have family members helping with your post-surgical care, you can get them involved by holding competitions for the most appetising smoothie or most unusual ice cream flavor. In addition to making your care team feel useful, this may also expose you to new and unusual foods, like my favourite miso soup.

Invisalign is a tested and advanced method of straightening teeth using clear, near invisible trays that progressively move and change the positions of your teeth.

Dr Fern White is highly qualified in assessing and recommending Invisalign as she has the backing of training and years of experience in traditional Orthodontics (Braces), ensuring that you are receiving the best advice for your teeth.

Discover whether Invisalign could be the right treatment option for your smile. Take our self-assessment and find out or watch the videos below.

A young person’s perspective from YouTube:

The normal cost is over $1000, however for the next few months we are offering the 90 minute session for $890.

This delivers instant whitening results, perfect for weddings, parties… anything.

Give us a call to chat more about this new whitening service or see our Whitening page for more information.

Check out this video, or ask us during your next visit how to floss properly.

Although we understand it’s yet another thing to do after eating, flossing properly maintains gum health. If you do not floss, decay below the gums is more likely which can lead to quite severe dental issues.

It’s best to understand how to floss properly so that you dont waste time and therefore use you energy wisely.

If you are a resident of South Melbourne or Middle Park we would like to invite you down to the sunny Station Pier in Beacon Cove to enjoy a coffee, walk along the beach and of course drop in to see our dentists for a chat.

We offer a wide range of dental services including ZOOM Whitening, full suite of cosmetic dentistry options and restorative dentistry.

All dental work is completed in our state of the art rooms which are furnished with digital xray, intra-oral camera… all to ensure that you can see and understand the status of your teeth.

Give us a call to book in, our New Patient exams take about an hour… in which our principal dentist, Dr Fern White, will go over your dental history and ensure that your teeth’s future is planned.

Regards, Beacon Cove Dental

Port Melbourne, just south of South Melbourne, Albert Park and Middle Park.