Appointment Information During the COVID-19 Pandemic.
We firmly believe that both routine and urgent dentistry is essential for good health and that by following our strict protocols, that we can treat you safely. If you cannot attend your appointment or feel that you would rather postpone, then please do phone and let us know that you won’t be attending so that the appointment can be offered to someone else who may be in need.
Where possible, please do not attend the practice without an appointment. If you have any queries then please do not hesitate to call us on 0115 9283253 and we will do our utmost to help you.
Please do not attend the practice with any symptoms of COVID-19 or if you should be self-isolating because you have been in contact with someone who has COVID-19. For more information please see www.gov.uk.
We also politely ask that if you have a case of COVID in your household then to let us know before you attend the practice so that we can discuss your individual treatment needs.
Our waiting room is open, so no waiting outside in the cold. Chairs are still distanced and are all cleaned after someone has used them! Unfortunately at this time, our water machine and fabulous magazine selection are still unavailable!
We look forward to seeing you all soon. In the meantime, please look after yourselves and stay healthy.
Healthy drinks should be default options on kids’ menus, foundation claims
BY SEB EVANS ON 2 OCTOBER 2018
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The Oral Health Foundation is calling on restaurants to offer healthy drinks as the default option on children’s menus.
California recently passed a law meaning milk and water will be the default drink sold with kids’ meals in restaurants.
The foundation believes a similar initiative rolled out in the UK could help fight the effects of sugary drinks on children’s oral health.
‘We know that some children are consuming several sugary and fizzy drinks every day,’ Dr Nigel Carter OBE, chief executive of the Oral Health Foundation, says.
‘This is not only contributing to oral diseases, but is at the forefront of general health issues like obesity and diabetes.
‘Around one in four (24.7%) five-year-olds in the UK have tooth decay.
‘The amount of sugar young children are consuming, along with how often, is the root cause of the problem.
‘Any initiative to make water and milk default options for children’s meals must be driven by the restaurant industry.
‘If they fail to show a commitment, then we would be pushing for its introduction by a change in the law.’
Sugar-filled cereals
Research also shows that kid’s cereals could provide at least 50% of a child’s daily sugar allowance in one 30g bowl.
Figures from Sinks-taps.com found none of the cereals tested were below 25% of a child’s recommended daily allowance (RDA).
Of the cereals tested, Frosties came out top of the sugar pile, containing 71% of a child’s RDA per bowl.
‘This investigation into the sugar in children’s cereals has been truly worrying,’ Richard Broadbent, managing director of Sinks-taps.com, said.
‘We hope this information will help parents make more informed decisions on breakfast foods for their kids.
‘It is especially concerning how, even with the recommended serving size, there is a large percentage of a child’s daily allowance of sugar used up before school.’
Article credit: https://www.dentistry.co.uk/2018/10/02/healthy-drinks-default-options-kids-menus-foundation-claims/
Image credit: https://www.thefoodrush.com/articles/health-hydration-and-happiness-can-kids-drinks-have-it-all/
Dentists have accused the government of having a “short-sighted” approach to tooth decay in England after hospital operations to remove children’s teeth increased to nearly 43,000.
There were 42,911 operations in 2016-17 – up from 40,800 the previous year and 36,833 in 2012-13, NHS figures show.
The British Dental Association said England had a “second-class” dental service compared to Wales and Scotland.
The government said it was “determined” to reduce the number of extractions.
Doctors said many of the tooth extractions would be caused by the food and drink children consume and were therefore “completely preventable”.
Dental surgeon Claire Stevens, who works in a hospital in north-west England, said most of her patients were aged five to nine, but it was not uncommon to remove all 20 baby teeth from a two-year-old because of decay.
She said she has also extracted a 14-year-old’s permanent teeth due to fizzy drinks. They then needed false teeth.
‘Startling’ figures
An analysis of NHS figures by the Local Government Association, which represents councils in England and Wales, found the equivalent of 170 hospital tooth extractions a day were being carried out on under-18s.
These are done in hospital under general anaesthetic, rather than at a dental practice.
The operations would have cost the NHS about £36m last year and £165m since 2012, the LGA found.
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Mick Armstrong, chairman of the BDA, said: “These statistics are a badge of dishonour for health ministers, who have failed to confront a wholly preventable disease.
“Tooth decay is the number one reason for child hospital admissions, but communities across England have been left hamstrung without resources or leadership.”
The BDA said England was receiving a “second-class service” because, unlike Wales and Scotland, it has no dedicated national child oral health programme.
It said the government’s centrepiece policy Starting Well – aimed at improving oral health outcomes for “high-risk” children – had received no new funding and was operating in parts of just 13 local authorities in England.
“The BDA has insisted that national authorities must provide resources to enable all children in England to benefit,” it said.
‘Cutting back’
The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health said the figures were “startling” and “should act as a wake-up call to policy makers and act as the catalyst for change”.
The LGA said the data demonstrated the “urgent need to introduce measures to curb our sugar addiction which is causing children’s teeth to rot”.
The Royal College of Surgeons said the statistics were “alarming” and called for supervised tooth brushing sessions in all nursery schools across England.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokeswoman said it was “determined to reduce the number of children having teeth extracted because of tooth decay” and pointed to its sugar tax, which comes into effect in April on soft drinks with the most added sugar.
“Our world-class NHS dentists are also playing a vital role to improve dental hygiene – in the last year 6.8 million children were seen by a dentist, representing 58.5% of the child population,” she said.
The spokesman added that the Starting Well programme was introduced last year to improve the oral health of children most at risk in 13 high priority areas and NHS England was planning to expand the programme to other areas.
Dr Sandra White, director of dental public health at Public Health England, said parents could reduce tooth decay through cutting back on their children’s sugary food and drink and encouraging them to brush their teeth with fluoride toothpaste twice a day, as well as regular trips to the dentist.
Government initiatives in Scotland and Wales are said to be behind their falling rates of tooth decay in young children.
In Scotland, the Childsmile programme is claimed to have cut £5m off treatment costs and the Designed to Smile programme in Wales has helped reduce decay among five-year-olds in deprived areas.
A debate on children’s dental examinations and treatment is due to take place in the House of Lords on 18 January.
Text credit: BBC http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-42662425
Image Credit: Dentistry http://www.dentistry.co.uk/2016/02/29/rising-number-of-childrens-teeth-extractions-in-england/
New research has revealed that tooth brushing alone is not enough to protect children from tooth decay caused by snacking on sugary foods and drink.
The study, published in the Journal of Public Health, looked at nearly 4,000 pre-school children and discovered that snacking habits are the behaviour most strongly associated with dental decay1.
Researchers found under-five’s who snack throughout the day, compared to eating just at meal times, are far more likely to have signs of dental decay and that relying on tooth brushing alone to prevent it is not enough.
Dr Nigel Carter, Chief Executive of the Oral Health Foundation commented: “This research supports messages about snacking being unhealthy; last week it was revealed that 170 children underwent operations in England every day to have rotten teeth removed and this research confirms that snacking on sugary foods and drinks is the key contributing factor.
“It is clear that tooth brushing with a fluoride toothpaste alone is not the magic wand that many people still believe it to be and preventing tooth decay also has to involve changing diet and lifestyle.
“Almost every single one of these operations, and the pain and suffering associated with them, could have been prevented with effective behaviour changes to help protect children’s oral health.
“Snacking throughout the day on sugary foods and drinks means that children’s teeth come under constant attack from acid and can quickly lead to severe problems.
“Children’s snacking should be limited to no more than two a day and unhealthy sugary snacks should be replaced with healthier foods such as fruit and vegetables.
The Change4Life Food Scanner mobile app is a great way of helping to achieve
this.
“Even though a child’s first set of teeth is temporary the oral health behaviour children learn early on they take into the rest of their lives, so it is vital that they get into good habits as early as possible.”
Dental decay happens when the enamel and dentine of a tooth become softened by acid attacks after eating or drinking anything containing sugars. Over time, the acid makes a cavity (hole) in the tooth. ‘Dental decay’ is the same as tooth decay and is also known as ‘dental caries’.
The study authors also identified parental socioeconomic factors, such as education levels, as a more important factor on children’s dental decay than diet or oral hygiene.
Social scientists from the University of Edinburgh and the University of Glasgow used statistical models and survey data to predict dental decay by age 5. They used data collected on diet and oral hygiene from repeated observation of children from ages two to five.
They identified that children who brushed less than once per day, or not at all at age two, had twice the chance of having dental decay at age five compared with children who brushed their teeth twice per day or more often.
Lead researcher Dr Valeria Skafida, of the University of Edinburgh’s School of Social and Political and Sciences says restricting sugar intake is desirable both for broader nutritional reasons and for children’s dental health.
Dr Skafida said: “Even with targeted policies that specifically aim to reduce inequalities in children’s dental decay it remains an ongoing challenge to reduce social patterning in dental health outcomes.”
Study co-author, Dr Stephanie Chambers, of the MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit at University of Glasgow said: “Among children eating sweets or chocolate once a day or more, tooth brushing more often – once or twice a day or more – reduced the likelihood of decay compared with less frequent brushing.”
The research was supported by The British Academy, the Medical Research Council and the Chief Scientist Office of the Scottish Government Health Directorates.
Ends
1. V Skafida, S Chambers; Positive association between sugar consumption and dental decay prevalence independent of oral hygiene in pre-school children: a longitudinal prospective study, Journal of Public Health, https://doi.org/10.1093/pubmed/fdx184
Article Credit:
https://www.dentalhealth.org/news/details/990
Image Credit:
https://www.naturalnews.com/2018-01-21-just-another-sugary-snack-yogurt-increases-risk-of-tooth-decay-in-children.html
WDC’s tooth whitening offer is back! Great deal, using the best products whilst in a friendly and professional practice.
“Rogue” beauticians who offer teeth whitening and people who sell illegal kits should face tougher penalties, councils in England and Wales say.
Some kits contain 300 times the legal limit of hydrogen peroxide, the Local Government Association said.
This would be like “brushing with bleach” and could cause blistering, burns and other damage, the LGA added.
The government said it was helping make people aware of dangers, but would not say whether it planned bigger fines.
Only dental professionals can legally perform teeth whitening at business premises, but the LGA said a “worrying number” of unqualified staff were offering the treatment.
Text and image credit: BBC News
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Caring for your children’s teeth is one of many important responsibilities as you become a parent. The British Society of Paediatric Dentistry (BSPD), the organisation of specialist dentists who care for children’s teeth, has assembled the basic advice and information you might need about oral health in one concise leaflet. We hope that we can help you get your child off to the best possible start and achieve healthy teeth for life.
Text and imagery credit: The British Society of Paediatric Dentistry