Most of us, at least once in our lifetime would have experienced bleeding while brushing. Don’t worry, you are just one among millions who are affected with this extremely common disease, particularly those living in London. This is the commonest gum disease affecting all age groups irrespective of their gender or general health condition and the easiest one to cure, if properly taken care of. Gingivitis is the inflammation of gums that generally presents with soft puffy gums bleeding easily on slightest pressure. If you examine a healthy gum, it has a pale pink appearance and is firm to touch. Hence, if you experience any such symptoms, don’t hesitate to visit your dentist as soon as possible; because if not treated, this early stage can progress to more complicated other conditions such as periodontitis, abscess in teeth, loss of teeth, etc. Gingivitis can develop without you being noticing any of the symptoms because in early-stage, the disease is painless. The condition is caused by multiplication of bacteria, which colonise in between the gums and teeth. The forerunner of all gum diseases is formation of plaque that develops on the gumline of your teeth as a sticky thin coating. This coating is formed from the interaction between oral bacteria and sugars and starch in food. When we brush our teeth, it is removed but forms again and if it stays there for long, develops into tartar, which is much harder and are not removed by brushing or flossing. So the important thing we have to remember is the regular cleaning or brushing after each meal if possible or at least twice daily. Though plaques are the major cause of gingivitis by acting as the reservoir of bacteria, there are some other causes too. They are other health conditions such as leukaemia autoimmune diseases, pemphigus, diabetes, etc., use of some drugs such as antidepressants, antiseizure medications, and immunosuppressants, and smoking tobacco are some to mention. Sometimes viruses or fungi can also cause this condition. Hormone changes have some effect in producing this condition. Nutritional status of an individual has a major role to play in maintaining the health of the gums. Therefore, you have to ensure an adequate intake of vitamin B, C, and D while undergoing treatment for gum diseases.

People of London are health conscious and do give importance to health checkups, but when it comes to minor dental problems, we just don’t remember to keep our appointment with our dentist. So, don’t wait for a bloody spongy gum to remind us of our next appointment to professionally clean our teeth, free of plaques and tartar.

Most parents in London could have heard their kids grinding their teeth during sleep. Some people grind/clench their teeth when they get anger or stress. That is quite normal. But this tooth grinding action can be with or without their knowledge. The Medical term for teeth grinding is bruxism. Teeth grinding or chewing action is a complex neuromuscular reflex activity, which is controlled by the brain (higher center) when we are awake. During sleep, the higher center or brain is inactive and the chewing reflex center, which becomes active, is not controlled by the inactive higher center resulting in bruxism. Most people who grind their teeth do so during sleep and this is called sleep bruxism.  These people are quite unaware of it until someone sleep with them notices. Sometimes people don’t notice at all and become aware of it when evaluated for other conditions such as jaw pain, headaches, dental sensitivity or dental erosion or TMD. The aetiology of this complaint is actually unknown. There are various theories such as stress, psychological causes, nutritional deficiency of vitamins such pyridoxin, vitamin D, calcium, magnesium etc. In some people, it is associated with some sleep disorders such as obstructive sleep apnea, snoring, etc. Teeth grinding is very common in children during teething, both when milk teeth appear and also when permanent teeth develop. Children generally outgrow this problem when the teeth erupt completely hence, no treatment is required. However, if your child grinds off his/her teeth for long, it might require treatment. In London, dentists generally suggest the use of mouth guards to protect the child’s teeth, if they don’t require any specific treatment. Sometimes they might be just stressed out or anxious before going to bed. So, when you identify this problem, don’t wake him/her from sleep to tell them, “hi you’re grinding your teeth”. Instead, just help them relax by telling or reading out some good small stories, or by just talking to them about nice things when they go to bed.  Some adults are also found to have this problem, which occasionally is associated with other dental problems such as nonalignment of teeth, malocclusion, structural abnormalities of the jaws etc., hence treating the root cause helps to get rid of this problem without any special treatment. So if you suspect you have bruxism, better not hesitate to visit your dentist and find out whether you have any dental conditions that is causing this problem.  Sometimes this clenching or grinding of teeth could result in serious problems with temporomandibular joints. Bruxism can also lead to wearing off of teeth, chronic headaches, pain in jaws, restriction in the movement of mandible, ear pain, etc. For adults, the use of dental guards could be of some help in constraining bruxism and protecting their teeth from irregular wearing and early erosion. So, the next time you feel like clenching your teeth, just relax… count 1,2, 3,…. and your teeth are saved.

Are you worried about your kids’ health risk from amalgam fillings? Then, stop worrying and relax!!! Children are not adversely affected by the amalgam fillings, according to a recent trial, the New England Children’s Amalgam Trial that compared the neuro physical outcomes of children whose caries were filled with amalgam with those who had composite resin filling, which is free of mercury compounds. This study was conducted on 534 children aged between 6 and 10. They did psychological tests including full-scale IQ score on Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children Third edition, wide range assessment of memory and learning, wide range assessment of visual motor abilities etc. The researchers evaluated the association between primary and secondary outcomes and potential exposure, surface years of amalgam, and urinary mercury excretion (U-Hg), which is the biomarker used to determine mercury exposure from dental amalgam fillings (restorations). The researchers couldn’t find any association or any neuropsychological adverse effects with amalgam fillings over the five-year trial period and no change or increase in the risk of children developing neuropsychological dysfunctions.  And in another related study conducted by a team of researchers from Universities of Portugal, Lisbon, and Washington also got similar results bringing a sigh of relief to parents and dentists of UK and US who were reluctant to have their kids teeth restored with amalgams, which is generally thought to be stronger than the composite resin fillings. The major factors included in the study were hard and soft neurological signs and also presence or absence of tremors. The soft neurological signs such as learning disabilities refers to a lag in the child’s gross and fine motor development or only minimal functional disturbance. They do not show any structural damage to brain. While hard neurological signs point to a brain injury or damage to nervous tissue that manifest as seizures, cerebral palsy, or deafness or blindness due to cranial nerve injury, etc.  After 7 years of exhaustive study, the researchers could not find any change in the status of the hard or soft neurological signs in between the two groups of children that received amalgam fillings and those who received composite resin fillings.