talkhealth Blog

Love your smile……..well ,what’s NOT to love? But then I am entirely biased as I love seeing people smile!

As a Dental Hygienist for 18 years now, my job is to treat and educate patients to care for their mouths as part of their general health and well being. Healthy gums are the foundations to healthy teeth and great smiles. Every day I bring patients that step closer to achieving smiles they can love and be proud of. It’s a joy to see patients more confident in themselves and smile freely and readily once their mouths are healthy.

For a long time now we Brits have been notoriously know for our awful teeth especially next to our American friends, however dentistry in the UK is moving forward in leaps and bounds and so many practices now offer complex treatment options to allow the patient to change their unsightly smile for good. Treatment though does not always have to be complicated, as in the case of a lady I saw recently…..

This lady was in her late 50’s and was severely embarrassed by her very discoloured teeth. She was a fit and active lady who had made the choice to give up cigarettes after 20 years of smoking as she wanted to live a healthier life. She informed me she swam every morning and regularly went out hill walking at the weekends. However she was upset that although she had embarked on these healthy lifestyle choices she felt her mouth did not reflect the person she now was and she found her confidence lacking when socialising and meeting new people. After reading the dentists prescription, examining her mouth and carrying out the basic gum health checks I could explain to the patient that her gums in fact were healthy. The problem was heavy staining from smoking had accumulated over the years and although she had stopped smoking her toothbrush was not adequate enough to remove those stains and she needed a professional clean. She was amazed that it would be that simple as she had resigned herself to thinking she had “terrible teeth”.

Continually during the clean she kept commenting how different her teeth were feeling and she became more excited as she realized her smile could and would look better. At the end of the treatment I passed her the mirror and she was at first speechless, peering in her mouth right to the inside of the back teeth and then examining the lower front “talking teeth” and then she burst into tears! The emotion of being embarrassed all those years when she knew she had made the right choice for her health to stop smoking, well, it all poured out! And then she was smiling and giggling and hugging me! The transformation in this lovely lady was incredible, she couldn’t wait to go home to show her husband her “new smile”. As I took her out to reception she hugged me again and told me I was her Super Hero! By this point I was feeling emotional to…..

That’s the thing about Smiles, if it’s a Smile that we can love and be proud of then we are happy, confident and show more of our personalities. On the other hand if we are embarrassed and ashamed by our Smiles we remain introverted and lacking in confidence.
Learn to Love Your Smile by paying a visit to your dentist and hygienist today, you never know it could be a lot easier than you think!

Gorgeous healthy 2013 smile……

“Old School” British Smile….

Oral Health Foundation

The Oral Health Foundation is a charity that works to improve oral health by providing education, advice, and support to millions of people every year, changing lives for the better. Our mission is to support others in achieving a healthier life through better oral health. Our vision is to live in a world where everybody has a healthy mouth and is free of dental disease. Poor oral health can have a harmful and devastating effect on a person’s life – both for their physical health and mental wellbeing. We are determined to help more people achieve good oral health and have a better quality of life. Sadly, oral disease remains common, across the life course. We are taking the challenge to reduce the harm caused by poor oral health and the responsibility to create a healthier future for everybody. We do this because we believe that everybody deserves to have good oral health. To make sure this happens, by 2024, we will:

• Work towards decreasing the prevalence of oral disease across communities.
• Increase the number of people accessing our help and information services.
• Diversify our range of resources to reach more communities.
• Successfully campaign for policies which help people achieve healthier lives.
• Generate new and nurture existing income streams that enable us to deliver our charitable objectives.

We are going to achieve success by:

• Running awareness campaigns like National Smile Month and Mouth Cancer Action Month.
• Giving anybody who needs it direct support through our Dental Helpline.
• Influencing policy on subjects like dental access, sugar, and tobacco.
• Providing consumer advice on oral health care products and working alongside manufacturers to make sure products do what they claim to do.
• Creating resources and information that communicates positive oral health messages.
• Working alongside others who share our passion for health and wellbeing.

To find out more about us, visit our website at https://www.dentalhealth.org/