09 Aug Dental Health Week 2024

For this year’s Dental Health Week 2024, the Australian Dental Association’s major annual oral health awareness campaign, the focus is on gum health.

This year’s Dental Health Week is all about something we often forget to talk about – your gums! At The Smile Team, we’re here to help you understand just how important healthy gums are for a healthy mouth and a healthy body.

So… why do gums matter?

Your gums are the foundation of your smile. They help hold your teeth in place and protect against bacteria. But did you know gum disease can be silent? It often causes no pain until it’s quite advanced – which is why regular dental visits are so important!  Poor gum health leads to loose teeth, black spaces between teeth in the smile,.

Common Myths – Busted!

• ❌ “If it doesn’t hurt, it must be fine.”
  ✅ Gum disease can be sneaky – we can catch it early with a check-up!  Some early signs include bleeding upon brushing or flossing from time to time.

• ❌ “Brushing my teeth is enough.”
  ✅ Your gums need love too – brushing and flossing, plus professional care, go a long way.  Mineral buildups from the natural saliva regularly attach to teeth and become irritants to the gums.  These minerals unfortunately cannot be removed even by excellent home care, and require careful professional assistance to remove.

What Dental Health Week 2024 is highlighting – and how we can help 

• 🚭 Smoking & Gum Disease
  Smokers have a much higher risk of gum problems. The good news? Quitting helps, and we’re here to support your journey to better oral (and overall) health.

• 💉 Diabetes & Gums
  If you or a loved one has diabetes, healthy gums are even more important. We’ll help you manage both together for a healthier smile and better blood sugar control.

• 🪥 Regular Check-Ups Make a Big Difference
  At The Smile Team, we don’t just clean your teeth – we check your gums carefully and thoroughly remove the plaque and tartar that brushing can miss.

Oral health therapists at The Smile Team can play a significant role in helping patients manage and prevent gum disease through various preventive and therapeutic treatments. Here’s how we can assist:

1. Preventive Care and Education:

   • Oral Hygiene Instruction: Oral health therapists can teach patients effective brushing and flossing techniques to prevent the buildup of plaque, which is a primary cause of gum disease.

2. Regular Professional Cleanings (Scale and Clean):

   • Plaque and Tartar Removal: We can remove plaque and tartar from the teeth, which helps prevent gum disease progression. Tartar or calculus cannot be removed with regular brushing and must be cleaned professionally.  Often a ‘quick’ clean can’t address the underlying cause of gum disease from tartar or calculus underneath the gums.  Our team is dedicated to help you with careful, thorough cleans to comfortably achieve ideal long term health.  

3. Gum Disease Diagnosis:

   • Early Detection: By monitoring the patient’s gums during regular check-ups, they can identify early signs of gum disease, such as redness, swelling, or bleeding.  We take a gum disease measurement for all adult patients and monitor at risk areas regularly. 

4. Ongoing Support for Gum Health:

   • Follow-Up Appointments: They can track the progress of treatment by scheduling regular follow-up appointments to ensure gums are healing and staying healthy.

   • Custom Treatment Plans: Depending on the level and stage of gum disease, we can tailor an individualized treatment plan for patients to optimise gum health. 

By incorporating these practices, The Smile Team’s oral health therapists help prevent, manage, and treat gum disease, improving patients’ overall oral health and reducing the risk of more severe complications.

💙 Let’s keep your gums healthy for life.
Whether it’s been 6 months or a few years, we’d love to see you. Book a visit with The Smile Team today – and let’s talk about your gums and take care of them together, for life!