The Stem Cell Revolution

“The Tooth And Nothing But The Tooth”
By Chris “Dr Smile Maker” Branfield

The Stem Cell Revolution

Hello again. I hope that you are well. Another busy month. I was at Sheffield University Dental School giving a talk to students at a careers evening.

I tried to inspire them to keep working on themselves and looking for better and stick to their core values. Doing the right things for the right reasons is important and should see you right for the most part.

One thing I did emphasise is “ If you don’t know WHY you are doing something, STOP because you probably shouldn’t be doing it”. The Dental Students Society have chosen Dental Mavericks as one of their charities to support this year which is fantastic.

Heal Thyself

More and more stem cells are being used to treat medical problems and promote healing. Stem cells are cells produced in the bone marrow with the potential to become different kinds of cells because they have not differentiated yet or in other haven’t made their minds up what they want to be when they grow up.

They can be used to repair damaged and lost tissue and promote healing. Dentistry is no different and we are taking advantage of this and using stem cells to help grow bone and gum, particularly in combination with dental implants. We use it in combination with other cells and fibrin.

Exciting Stuff

At Castle Park we’ve invested in a special machine that can centrifuge blood at specific speeds and duration to separate out the stuff we need to speed up healing and reduce inflammation.

This combined with laser therapy means that there is no better way of doing advanced treatment for dental implants and regenerative procedures e.g. developing bone and gum after gum disease or combined with implants. 

Lasers by themselves have been shown to stimulate stem cells within teeth to help the tooth repair itself after removing tooth decay. We use lasers routinely now. I love all this stuff.

Another Mission In Morocco

In just short of 3 weeks time I will be off to Northern Morocco with Gill and Nadene from work with Dental Mavericks to get poor children out of pain. 

We have a collaboration with Kings College Dental Institute, London and Harvard University. More on that next time along with other advantages of the PRF machine.

Until next time. Take care and be good.

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 25 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’ humanitarian work go here now www.castleparkdental.co.uk

Heart Of Glass

“The Tooth And Nothing But The Tooth”

By Chris “Dr Smile Maker” Branfield

Heart Of Glass

Hello again. I hope that you are well and have a great summer. We’ve had some really good weather this year. We did another French adventure towing a caravan down to Vendee.

It got to 40 degrees in the shade and start to melt at about 23 degrees. Lots of time in some water was needed! We have just been to Tribfest again at Sledmere House.

It’s a really good tribute band music festival and is loads of fun. Music, comedy and even fancy-dress themes.

There was a pirate themed day so I had a go at Captain Jack Sparrow. I once wore this to a party and somebody thought that I was Adam Ant!

Why Heart Of Glass?

To be honest this a really poor link but bear with me. At the festival there are some really diverse acts from Bruno Mars and Little Mix to Led Zeppelin and Elvis.

One act that I have seen every year since going is a Blondie tribute called Heart Of Glass. They are always brilliant and put on a good show.

Well, this may now sound a bit random but I’m going to go on a bit about Bio-Glass. Apologies. I got there in the end.

Bio-Glass To Strengthen Teeth

A while ago I was asked to do a TV advert for Sensodyne. I liked the repair and protect toothpaste by sensodyne because it had a bio-glass that sticks to surface like a protective layer to help stop tooth sensitivity.

There is another toothpaste called Biomin. BioMin™ is a technology developed by scientists at Queen Mary University London and Imperial College, London, for over the past decade.

Traditionally, to try and strengthen teeth and protect against decay with a toothpaste, fluoride is used in quite high concentrations. Most adult toothpastes have 1400 parts per million (ppm). One that has to be prescribed has 5000ppm. That’s a lot of fluoride.

The thing is that this is soluble fluoride so it washes away quite quickly. Also it has to be used correctly and not swallowed. Research has shown that you more benefit from low doses of fluoride with a sustained release than a high dose that washes away. That’s where the biomin F comes in with a low dose fluoride release over 12 hours. It also releases calcium and phosphate that are needed for tooth repair.

By using the F version the tooth repair after an acid attack is stronger when fluoride is present by making a tighter Fluorapatite crystal. There is a non-fluoride option that slowly releases calcium and phosphate called Biomin C.

More Economical

Prior to Biomin you could get an extra source of calcium and phosphate with a product called Tooth Mousse and then use it with a high concentration fluoride tooth paste as well. This is in more extreme cases like excessive acid erosion or dry mouth syndrome.

This all starts to get a bit pricey, (the tooth mousse is particularly expensive) so a single toothpaste that gives the benefit of both sounds really good. Oh, and it’s good for sensitivity as well.

I’m off to Morocco with dental Mavericks in early October. The charity has really moved on and this will be the largest group and we are working with the local health authority

Until next time. Take care and be good.

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 25 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’ humanitarian work go here now www.castleparkdental.co.uk