15Sep

Sport and active living is a part of any healthy lifestyle. However, sporting accidents are one of the most common causes of dental trauma and injury. So what can be done to prevent this?

A custom fitted protective sports mouthguard!

Research shows that custom fitted dental mouthguards have been found to be significantly more protective than store bought stock mouthguards [1].

Teeth, jaws, lips and gums can all be susceptible to damage when playing sport. A custom fitted mouthguard can lessen the impact of this damage, and prevent severe injury or trauma. In repairing these severe injuries, the cost and time of rehabilitation far outweighs the cost of making and wearing a sports mouthguard [2].

Importantly, when training or playing in games, a mouthguard should always be worn when there is any risk of contact to the face, not just contact sports.

Accidents will always happen, but by wearing a custom fitted sports mouthguard, you can prevent the severity of the damage done to yourself or loved ones.

Please feel free to discuss this with our health professionals at your next visit!

Reference:

[1] Tuna EB & Ozel E, Factors affecting sports-related orofacial injuries and the importance of mouthguards, Sports Med 2014 Jun; 44(6): 777-83.

[2] Mouthguard use and Awareness of Junior Rugby League Players in the Gold Coast, Australia: A Need for More Education, Kroon J et al, Clinical Journal of Sports Medicine 2015, April 2.

14Sep

Ever taken notice if your child is breathing through their mouth or through their nose? Answering a question so basic can make a world of a difference to your child’s development.

The cranio-facial complex, which includes the cranial base, facial bones and your maxilla and mandible (the jaws that hold your upper and lower teeth) are part of a dynamic complex, with certain aspects continuing to develop until the age of eighteen. The complex also works intimately with the upper airway which connects the nose and mouth passages leading to your lungs.

So how does your child breathing through their mouth possibly change their development?

Abnormal forces introduced to the normal developmental process of your cranio-facial complex can have a large influence. There has been vast amount of research regarding the relationship between mouth breathing and development of the jaws. Research has found the following developmental characteristics that may form in chronic mouth breathers [1 2 3 4].

  • Narrow and constricted upper jaw formation
  • Dental malocclusion (crowding)
  • Proclined/protruding upper incisors
  • Possibility of formation of an open bite (lack of contact between upper and lower teeth)
  • Inability to close lips together
  • Increase is face height (longer faces)
  • High angle of the mandible (longer faces)
  • Convex profile (where lower jaw is significantly behind development of upper jaw)
  • Let’s try an easy exercise for you to understand how the forces and muscles work to lead to these abnormal craniofacial and dental developments.

Breathe independently through your nose. You will notice for you to do this, you will have your lips together, and your tongue will be resting on your palate. Nasal breathing allows for optimal tongue posture, which will naturally expand and allow the top jaw to grow to its full potential. Your muscles are working in harmony and your lower jaw will expand as the top jaw expands.

Now change your breathing to mouth breathing. In order for this to happen, notice where your tongue is sitting now? It is no longer sitting on the roof of your mouth, it has dropped, and is no longer exerting the expansive force on your top jaw. The lack of the force from the tongue in a growing individual will result in development of a narrow upper jaw and a high and constricted palate. The lower jaw will no longer rotate in the right direction and will not expand to its full potential due to the deficient upper jaw. All of a sudden, you are creating a skeletal and muscular misbalance.

Something so simple can make such a difference.

So why may your child be breathing through their mouth?

A study conducted in Brazil, and published in The Journal of Paediatrics5 found the most common reasons why children may favour breathing through their mouth. The most common being allergic rhinitis, followed by enlarged adenoids, enlarged tonsils, and finally obstructive deviation of the nasal septum.

All these causes result in the body favouring mouth breathing due to some form of obstruction in the upper airway tract.

How do you know if your child is a chronic mouth breather?

There are obvious signs of mouth breathing if they are posturing their mouth open for long periods of time, but there can be some less obvious signs that your child may be a mouth breather. These include:

  • Sleeping with their mouth open
  • Snoring or grinding whilst sleeping
  • Drooling on the pillow
  • Nocturnal sleep problems or agitated sleep
  • Nasal obstruction/difficulty breathing through their nose
  • Irritability during the day

How can we help?

Our team at Grandstand Dental Care take a very comprehensive and holistic approach to our patient’s wellbeing and health. We are continuously working with other health professionals such as General practitioners, Ear nose and throat surgeons, respiratory physicians and paediatric clinicians to provide a team-approach for our patients.

Your child’s general and dental development is important to us. Regular visits with your children will ensure we can monitor their development, and address any concerns we may have. If you would like any further advice regarding your child’s airway, mouth breathing tendency and their development, we welcome you to come see our team!

1. Jefferson Y (2010), Mouth breathing: adverse effects on facial growth, health, academics, and behavior, Journal of Academy of General Dentistry, 58: 79 – 80

2. Harari D1, Redlich M, Miri S, Hamud T, Gross M (2010), The effect of mouth breathing versus nasal breathing on dentofacial and craniofacial development in orthodontic patients, Laryngoscope, 120: 2089-93

3. Bahija Basheer, K Sundeep Hegde, Sham S Bhat, Dilshad Umar, and Kusai Baroudi (2014),

Influence of Mouth Breathing on the Dentofacial Growth of Children: A Cephalometric Study, International Journal of Oral Health, 6: 50-55

4. Moffatt, JB (1963) – Habits and their relation to malocclusion, Australian Dental Journal, 142 – 149

5. Abreu RR, Rocha RL, Lamounier JA, Guerra AF (2008), Etiology, clinical manifestations and concurrent findings in mouth-breathing children, Journal of Paediatrics, 84: 529-35

9Sep

It is not uncommon to see young infants thumb/digit sucking, but what are the implications of these actions on the infants jaw development and dental development?

A study carried out by Wagner Y & Heinrich-Weltzien R published in BMC Oral Health (2005) studied jaw and dental development of children at the age of 3, comparing those who had no oral habits, and those that did (thumb and digit sucking).

The impact of oral habits proved to have a significant effect on the infant’s baby teeth, development of their upper and lower jaws, and if ongoing, effect on their adult teeth. The long-term effects include:

  • Formation of an open bite between upper and lower teeth, where the front teeth are unable able to meet together
  • Cross bite, a negative overlap between top and bottom jaws, which causes loss of protective function in the bite
  • A constricted and high palatal vault
  • Hindrance of the lower jaw developing to its full capacity

So how does this happen?

Normal development of the jaw and the teeth have many contributory factors including genetics and environmental factors. Environmental factors play a strong role in influencing growth and development of children. For these environmental factors to translate into clinical abnormalities, they must be present frequently over a long period of time.

For this reason, oral habits are a heavily influential factor, with infants thumb sucking, digit sucking, or using pacifiers for prolonged times, over a period of days, months and even years.

How can we prevent this?

Firstly, recognising the presence of an oral habit is the most important, with many parents and children not realising the effects it may have. Since prolonged oral habits can cause permanent damage, stopping the habit before any changes to the child’s teeth and jaw development is noticed is ideal. If treated in the early stages of development changes, there is a possibility of correction.

As a guide, if oral habits cease by the age of six, there is a greater chance of correction.

An article published by the International Journal of Clinical Paediatric Dentistry discussed treatment options for stopping thumb sucking. Following is a brief outline of management options:

  1. Age appropriate explanations to the child regarding consequences of thumb sucking
  2. Positive reinforcement, when child is not thumb sucking
    Digital reminders (e.g. thumb guards, bitter solutions on thumb, bandage on thumb)
  3. Fixing thumb to other digits of the hand to prevent digit sucking
  4. Fixed/removable appliances to be worn inside the mouth, to break the seal between the digit and the palate, which normally brings pleasure to the act of thumb/digit sucking
  5. Assessment of your child’s bite and jaw development should not wait until your child has all their permanent teeth. There are many factors that may be acting on their growth from a much younger age, which if recognised and corrected, can prevent many dental problems in the future.

Regular check-ups for your children is imperative for their oral health, but also for their dental development. Our team at Grandstand Dental are passionate about prevention, and will monitor your child’s development, and communicate any issues that may need addressing in the process.

Remember, prevention is the best cure…

… and something so simple as stopping your child from thumb sucking may be all that it takes for your child to develop a perfect smile.

Wagner Y & Heinrich-Weltzien R (2005), Occlusal characteristics in 3-year-old children – results of a birth cohort study, BMC Oral Health, 15: 94

Shetty RM, Shetty M, Shetty NS & Deoghare A (2015) Three-Alarm System: Revisited to treat Thumb-sucking Habit, International Journal of Clinical Paediatric dentistry, 1:82-86

18Aug

It’s child’s play.

Yes, these steps are simple with little difficulty involved.

Just follow this four-step process-Brush, In between cleaning, Rinse, and visit Grandstand Dental Care regularly-and you are on track to have healthy teeth and gums for life as supported by the latest article by Chapple IL, et al. J Clin Periodontol 2015

1. Brush

We should clean our teeth twice a day, preferably once in the morning and once at night for a minimum of 2 minutes with fluoridated toothpaste.

Re-chargeable powered toothbrushes according to the article demonstrated a small but statistically improved reduction in tissue inflammation and bacteria levels.

2. Inter-proximal cleaning (in between the teeth)

Cleaning between the teeth is essential for maintaining tissue health along with tooth brushing. There are different devices such as floss, inter-dental brushes, IDB, oral irrigators, and air flossers. The importance here is finding the device that will best suit your life style to be consistently done on a daily basis to achieve long-term tissue health. Your dental hygienist at grandstand dental care can help assist you in finding the best device to suit your dental/tissue health.

3. Rinse

Yes, rinsing with an antibacterial mouth rinse or the use of toothpaste/gel with tooth brushing is beneficial in reducing tissue inflammation and the prevention of bacteria accumulation. The team at Grandstand Dental Care can advise you on the most suitable antibacterial rinse or toothpaste/gel for your particular condition since the market has a wide range of products.

4. Keep your appointments

You should have a professional cleaning at Grandstand Dental Care at least twice a year. Some patients may benefit from more frequent cleanings due to their bacteria levels and tissue health. Your dental hygienist will remove any soft and hard bacteria to prevent gingivitis. The hygienist may need to spend time reviewing oral hygiene techniques such as tooth brushing and interproximal cleaning strategies for improved effectiveness.

The data in this article supports the belief that a professionally administered teeth cleaning significantly improves tissue inflammation and the reduction in bacteria along with oral hygiene instructions (OHI)

You also need to see the Dentist once or twice a year to have her teeth and mouth exam. We can find problems early and treat them such as cavities before becoming more critical. Ask our Grandstand Dental Team any questions you may have and together we can make your teeth and gums last for life.

By Mary Byard dental hygienist at Grandstand Dental Care Summarizing recent article:

Chapple IL, et al. J Clin Periodontol. 2015 Apr;42 Suppl 16: S71-6. doi:

10. 1111/jcpe. 12366.

7Aug

Much of the sugars consumed today are “hidden” in processed foods that are not usually seen as sweets. For example, 1 tablespoon of tomato sauce contains around 4 grams (around 1 teaspoon) of free sugars. A single can of sugar-sweetened soda contains up to 40 grams (around 10 teaspoons) of free sugars.

Free sugars refer to monosaccharides (such as glucose, fructose) and disaccharides (such as sucrose or table sugar) added to foods and drinks.

A recent guideline by WHO’s Department of Nutrition for Health and Development in March 2015 recommends reduction in free sugars to less than 10% of total energy intake reduces the risk of overweight, obesity and tooth decay.

Reducing sugars intake to less than 10% of total energy: a strong recommendation

Refer to World Health Organisation (WHO) Guideline: Sugars intake for adults and children

The recommendations are based on analysis of the latest scientific evidence. This evidence shows, first, that adults who consume less sugars have lower body weight and, second, that increasing the amount of sugars in the diet is associated with a weight increase. In addition, research shows that children with the highest intakes of sugar-sweetened drinks are more likely to be overweight or obese than children with a low intake of sugar-sweetened drinks.

The recommendation is further supported by evidence showing higher rates of dental caries (commonly referred to as tooth decay) when the intake of free sugars is above 10% of total energy intake.

Tooth decay is caused by pathogenic bacteria in the mouth use sugar from foods and drinks to produce acids that dissolve and damage the teeth. Tooth erosion occurs when acid attacks the teeth to dissolve the outer surface of the enamel.

Each acid attack lasts for around 20 minutes. Every time you take a sip of the drink, the acid damage begins all over again.

Saliva has buffering action releasing carbonates to combat the acid. However if you don’t drink enough water the saliva is reduced and the vicious cycle of tooth decay continues.

Therefore to prevent tooth decay we must have a balanced diet, healthy clean mouth to reduce bacterial pathogens and high water intake to optimise saliva secretion.

Book an appointment with our hygienists to determine the pH of your mouth and implement strategies to reduce tooth decay.

7Aug

We have all had mouth ulcers, which is known as aphthous ulceration.

Aphthous ulcers are typically recurrent round or oval sores or ulcers inside the mouth on areas where the skin is not tightly bound to the underlying bone, such as on the inside of the lips and cheeks or underneath the tongue. This is a very common condition but the causes of why ulcers form in the mouth is unknown.

Recent study in the The Journal of Laryngology & Otology / Volume 128 / Issue 06 / June 2014, pp 531-533 indicates low zinc levels can increase the risk of oral ulceration. Patients who showed low levels in zinc in their blood stream often had recurrent aphthous ulceration.

Zinc is an “essential trace element”, is naturally present in some foods, added to others, and available as a dietary supplement. More than 85% of total body zinc is found in skeletal muscle and bone (King & Keen 1999).

Zinc’s has numerous health benefits such as:

1. Regulating immune function:

Zinc plays a vital role in protein synthesis and helps regulate the cell production in the immune system of the human body.

2. Wound healing:

Zinc helps maintain the integrity of the skin and mucous membranes.

The Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) for zinc is 8 milligrams per day for adult females and 11 milligrams per day for adult males. Zinc is widely distributed in foods. Meats, fish and poultry add the greatest amounts of zinc to the diet but cereals and dairy foods also contribute substantial amounts.

A balanced diet can often provide the zinc you need, but if you’re considering a zinc supplement you can visit our Naturopath Narelle Costantino for a quick Zinc test to determine if you are zinc deficient. Call 9590 0055 or visit our Mulgrave dental clinic to be one step closer to wellness.