It’s The Future…Like Garlic Bread

“The Tooth And Nothing But The Tooth”

By Chris “Dr Smile Maker” Branfield

It’s The Future…Like Garlic Bread

Hello again, I hope you are well.  Another busy month has passed.   I had a great trip to Munich to an International Dental Laser Conference.   The first part was invitation only don’t you know.  I was the only Brit in the place and got a bit of good-humoured stick about Brexit from some European colleagues.  What was interesting was a taste of things to come.

So, What’s The Future?

Well, I thought that we were futuristic using the high tech lasers we have in practice.  However, there is a team in Bonn, Germany, that are working on pico and femto-lasers.  Get ready for the GEEKY bit.  A picosecond is a trillionth (one millionth of one millionth) of a second.  A femtosecond is a quadrillionth (one millionth of one billionth) of a second.  So these are fantastically small lengths of time.  A pico or femto laser has a laser pulse that is that short.  This means that a low energy, pulsed laser light can have outrageously high peak power. In turn this means that the vvvvvvv short pulse of electromagnetic energy is powerful enough to strip electrons from atoms. This causes ionisation and formation of plasma.  WOW!

So, What’s This Geeky Stuff Got To Do With Dentistry?

It means that tooth tissue, gums and bone can be removed very quickly and with no heat production because the reaction is so instantaneous.  In the future it may replace the dental drill.  One of the three lasers I use can all this without vibration but needs water for tooth tissue and bone because it is absorbed in water.  All three lasers we have are what we call wavelength dependent.  These new lasers are not wavelength dependent just low energy but high peak power to create plasma. At the moment though they are about the size of a double wardrobe without a small delivery system!!  It was like Tomorrows World.  I’m showing my age now.

Anti Snoring Treatment

I saw another presentation on non-surgical laser treatment to shrink the soft palate to help snoring sufferers.  It can also be effective in helping sleep apnoea.  No surgery, no numbing, just laser light therapy in three 20 minute treatment sessions.  Success rates of 85%, lasting between 1 and 3 years.  Guess who is looking for the training course to do it?  Exciting, life changing stuff this. 

Free Mouth Cancer Screening

I mentioned last time about November being Mouth Cancer Action Month.  In support of this we are putting on a full day of free Mouth Cancer screening with Anna our new dentist.  She’s getting a fan club already! She will have a good look and use a VELscope Vx device as an extra screening.  We are teaming up again with Lloyds Chemist who will do Blood Pressure and Diabetes checks, in the morning and maybe in the afternoon. The date for your diary is November 29th.

Off To Treat Refugees

In the last week of November I am pleased to be off to Greece with my four other Trustees of Dental Mavericks.  It is our inaugural trip to treat refugees at camps in and around Thessalonika.  We are working with Health Point Foundation and on particular Dental Point Project.  I was vetted over the phone last week by the Dental Lead, Ola. She only graduated from dental school in 2011.  She has real purpose and it was great to talk with her, she was lovely. 

There are thousands of people there.  Originally there was a non-official camp of 16,000 people . Since the Turkish agreement the camps are now military run and there are 13 of them but they may be up to 15 by the time we get there. We are aiming to sort out a programme and protocol to able to send out groups of volunteers on a monthly or two monthly basis.  Every little helps eh.  I love being a Maverick.

Hull City are at home at the weekend.  Hoping they don’t get another thumping.  My son Edward is back from Uni for the match so a good chance for a proper catch up.

Until next time.   Take care and be good.  

Chris 

Chris Branfield is Principal Dentist at Castle Park Dental Care, Castle Villa, 28 Castle Road, Cottingham, telephone 01482 772550.  He has been in dental practice for 23 years and has a special interest in life changing, pain free dentistry with dental implants, rapid teeth straightening and cosmetic dentistry. And, not only that Chris is founder member and trustee of Dental Mavericks charity- ending the daily dental pain of Moroccan kids. For more patient success stories and Chris’s charity work go here now www.castleparkdental.co.uk