The modern world tries to find answers to all questions when it comes to looking after our teeth. For every little problem that arises in the mouth, there is a product designed to help you fight it. Toothpastes, brushes and mouthwashes are designed to keep at bay the biggest peril in the mouth- the build up of plaque. Keeping plaque from the mouth will prevent even bigger problems from arising, such as gum disease and tooth decay. But, the city of London is a very seductive, enticing and fast paced place to live, that offers us all the temptations that can harm all our best laid plans to keep our mouths healthy. For example, it only takes 20 minutes for bacteria to breed amongst the teeth if food is not removed properly; lest we forget, most of us will suffer from some form of tooth decay at some point in our lives, which is where the dentist comes in. Early signs of tooth decay can be picked up with an x-ray and a routine filling can solve the problem. Dental sealants over the surface of the teeth can also help to protect the teeth’s enamel from acids and bacteria; scaling and polishing can help remove plaque and tartar. But avoiding a check-up with your dentist allows time for the decay to infect deep inside the tooth and spread into the root. Then, you will need root canal treatment to save the tooth.

With a diligent routine of home care for your mouth, dental decay should not be something that will need to concern you in your life. But sometimes your standards can slip because of a difficult personal time, or general health issues. Dental decay then becomes something that has to be dealt with by a trained, dental professional. Over many years they have built up an arsenal of techniques to restore teeth to health and functionality that have begun to decay.

Tooth can start to decay if they are subjected to too much plaque over a prolonged period of time. The hard, outer layer of your teeth – this is called enamel – is usually very resilient but cannot withstand too much acidic plaque. Once the enamel is worn away or a small hole is created, the inside of the tooth is exposed and decay can start to foment.

Once holes appear in the enamel they must be filled. In their small form they are called caries and if slightly larger they are known as cavities. They can be rather painful because once the enamel is compromised the nerves inside your teeth are exposed to hot and cold food and drink even breathing in cold air on a chilly day.

Your dentist can fill them in using cosmetic bonding. This is a development from the days of metal fillings. Cosmetic bonding utilises malleable, tooth coloured dental composite that is much easier to work with and produces and much more aesthetically pleasing finish. If you think that dental decay is starting to take hold in your mouth, don’t hesitate in going to see your Central London dentist. It will not just stop of its own accord; it needs to be dealt with.

There are a lot of factors that cause dental caries, but if you watch out for the pitfalls in central London, you can avoid having to have fillings or even worse, root canals. Cavities are caused by the build up of plaque bacteria settling on and around the teeth. Ensuring that you brush correctly everyday helps to prevent plaque forming, although even the best of brushes can not reach into those areas that flossing, inter-dental brushes and rinsing will (although even now, you’ll be able to find some brushes that will brush and rinse at the same time- the hydra-brush. Brushing your teeth without flossing only gets half the job done- bit like washing your hair without using conditioner. Toothpastes are important too and those that contain fluoride help to re-mineralize the enamel in the teeth. But probably most importantly, it’s also important to be aware of what you eat; high carbohydrate, foods such as peanut butter, potatoes and sauces have the ability to stick to the teeth and make a great home for bacteria to grow. But more dangerous of all are the snacks that we munch throughout the day. Crisps, chocolate and fizzy drinks have a habit of sticking around in the mouth and really need to be removed after consumption.

There are many emergencies that crop up in the mouth as we wander through life in the city of London, some major, some minor, but there is one that should never be ignored, nor underestimated- an abscess. This generally arises from a lack of oral hygiene that has allowed plaque acids to develop and over time, can lead to gum disease and more seriously for the teeth, decay can set in. These complications make the teeth extremely very exposed to an abscess infection. Some abscesses, may only cause minor problems and pain to the teeth and face, you’ll know when you’ve got one because the face will start to swell, but an abscess quickly starts to poison the bloodstream affecting the heart and the brain and can lead to a life threatening situation. Hence you should treat one as an emergency and seek treatment immediately, from either your dentist if available, or the hospital. The important thing before treating an abscess is to reduce the inflammation and reduce the levels of poisoning of the blood- this is done by strong antibiotics. Only after the problem has been got under control, then your dentist can tackle the problem of the abscess. It can involve a root canal to remove any decay inside the tooth. However, an abscess is like a volcano, they have a habit of erupting again, which may mean the tooth has to be removed.

It is common sense to report persistent dental pain to your London dentist. It might well be nothing serious at all but it could be that you have developed an abscess in your mouth. This is a potentially grave situation and one that needs to be treated so that the problem does not get a lot worse. Abscesses can happen as the result of a bad accident which has affected your mouth and severely damaged one or more of your teeth. Chronic dental pain will often be accompanied by swelling in the face and a nasty build up of pus in the afflicted area of your mouth.

Blood clots are a possible consequence of leaving an abscess untreated and the infection can spread through the blood stream and cause related ailments in a different area of your body. Accidents are not the only way you can get an abscessed tooth, in fact dental decay is just as much of a common cause, as is gum disease.

Antibiotics might be required to clear up the infection or, if it is more severe your dentist might need to carry out root canal treatment if the infection has originated within the tooth, in the pulp chamber. In the most heinous of cases, a tooth might effectively be ‘dead’ as it has lost all of its functionality and then it will have to be removed by your London dentist as part of the effort to stop the infection from getting any worse.

Any persistent pain the mouth accompanied by swelling should be taken seriously and reported to your dentist because it is always better to be safe than sorry when it comes to the health and well being of your teeth.

Tooth decay is caused by a number of factors- from poor diet that you practise on a day to day basis, to a build up of poor nutrition that has been handed down over generations. But, in today’s terms, poor oral hygiene is a major player; it’s important to keep the mouth, and its teeth and gums, free from the bacteria that come from the foods we eat, for in the long run, it leads to plaque, a build up of tartar and gum disease. Inevitably, these factors attack the enamel of the teeth and cavities form- causing tooth decay, and this can spread very quickly throughout the mouth. A dentist can spot this early on, if you have regular check-ups and can remedy the problem with a filling. But all it takes is to miss an appointment, and then the problem can become more serious. If tooth decay is not caught early on, it may take a root canal treatment to save the tooth followed by the fitting of a crown; at worse, the tooth may have to be ‘pulled’. Remarkably however, there have been cases of reversing the early signs of tooth decay, without dental treatment, that have been achieved at home through herbal remedies, extraordinary diets, and good oral hygiene. The internet has become a great source of information and it’s easy to source information about tooth decay and how to fight it. Remember, dentists and all the techniques at their disposal, will always be there to fall back on, if after everything you’ve tried, comes to nothing.

You only get one set of healthy, natural teeth. The options for replacing them are varied and hugely effective but you will probably want to do your best to keep your original, natural set in good working order. One of the biggest dangers threatening the health of your teeth is that of cavities forming. If you are worried about the problem then you should read on for more information.

The greatest enemy of teeth is plaque. This is substance that is formed when you eat or drink. It comes about not just when you consume sugary and starchy foods, although more of it is formed by these types of food. If it sits on your teeth without being removed then it will begin to break down the enamel on the surface of your teeth. Enamel is the guardian of your teeth’s structural integrity and once that starts to go, your teeth will be compromised.

The plaque can then wear down the prone tooth beneath the enamel and begin to create holes. These cavities need to be filled because the process will not just stop. Eventually there just won’t be any useful tooth left at all. Central London dentists used to fill cavities with metal, which was not always as effective as it could be and many patients found the results unsightly too. Now many dentists use cosmetic bonding which amounts to white fillings that are far easier for dentists to work with and produce aesthetically pleasing results.

Preferable to having your cavities filled is to prevent them forming in the first place. This can be achieved by twice daily brushing with a tooth paste that contains fluoride to strengthen enamel and flossing to stop cavities forming between the teeth.

Your teeth have natural defences to stop them from decaying. The hard substance known as enamel which coats all of your teeth protects them from harm but if plaque is left to build up without being removed then acids in certain of the foods you consume can attack your teeth. The small holes – known as caries – which appear can be extremely painful and lead to further problems if left untreated. Dental decay can occur at any age, not just amongst children.

Having a poor diet puts you at increased risk of dental decay, as does the failure to pursue a good home oral hygiene regime of brushing and flossing your teeth twice a day. The food most dangerous to your teeth is that which contains a lot of sugars or starch. They break down the enamel and plaque can enter your teeth and interfere with the nerves inside. If this happens you will experience great pain and difficulty doing things which you take for granted like eating, drinking and talking. As such, if you eat a lot of sugary or starchy foods you might wish to brush and floss your teeth after meals too to guard further against dental decay.

The aging process itself subjects your teeth to great wear and tear and the chances of dental decay actually increase as you get older. Smoking tobacco means less saliva is produced and plaque is not so easily defeated by your mouth. This too can lead to dental decay. Drinking only bottled water will not protect your teeth as much as is possible; tap water is preferable because it is fortified with fluoride which strengthens enamel.

If you are suffering from tooth ache, bad breath or odd tastes in your mouth you may be experiencing the first signs of tooth decay. You should contact you Central London dentist if this is the case and have them examine your mouth so that the problem can be dealt with early.

Dental infections can be very nasty and unpleasant. Not only can they be very painful, but they can also result in lost teeth and wider health complications such as heart disease. One of the ways a dental infection manifests itself and spreads, is in the form of a dental abscess. This occurs when infected matter in the tooth causes the gum around the tooth to swell and fill with a substance called pus. This can be very sensitive and painful and make even simple, every day activities such as eating and talking very difficult.

The first stage of a dental infection occurs when insufficient brushing or flossing allows a cavity to develop in the tooth enamel. The enamel is the hard outer covering for the teeth which protects it from damage. Plaque and bacteria erode this layer over time and causes small holes to appear. This allows bacteria to penetrate to the central part of the tooth that contains the dental nerve. This is where the infection happens and how the tooth comes under risk of falling out.

Once an infection has started, the body will attempt to fight back by producing an excess of white blood cells. This will bombard the bacteria and attempt to kill the infection. This produces the pus that swells up in the gum tissue around the tooth causing the abscess. These abscesses can be very fragile and susceptible to bursting. This will spread the infection around the mouth to other areas and even into the bloodstream. It is therefore very important to have the infection treated before it gets to this stage. A regular six monthly appointment with a London dentist will ensure that the problem does not get to this stage and will treat any early signs of infection.

Our teeth are very important to us. Not only do they enable us to talk and eat properly, but they also act as rigid support for facial structure. However, our teeth are constantly under attack from bacteria and plaque, which can erode the protective layer of tooth enamel and cause problems with our teeth.

Plaque is a filmy substance that sticks to the surface of the teeth. It contains a large amount of bacteria, which feed on food particles that are trapped in the mouth, especially sugar and starch that is contained in sweet food. When this bacteria begins to break down it releases acids, which cause the tooth enamel to disintegrate.

When this starts to happen, holes begin to develop in the tooth enamel called cavities. If these holes continue to grow they will eventually penetrate through the enamel and into the more sensitive inner part of the tooth. Once this has happened, the dental nerve and pulp at the tooth’s centre are exposed to plaque, bacteria and dental infection. This can be painful and unpleasant and will eventually lead to the destruction of the tooth.

Thankfully, dental decay is easily prevented with a strict and efficient regime of dental hygiene. This involves brushing and flossing twice a day for the recommended amount of time. This will help to remove bacteria from the teeth before it has the chance to cause any significant problems. It is also possible to treat dental decay at various stages with fillings, inlays or dental crowns. These all strengthen the natural defences of the teeth making it harder for plaque to do any damage. Your City of London dentist is also instrumental in helping you avoid dental decay, as they are usually the first people who will notice that your teeth are suffering.