I’ve Seen The Light….. Then I Didn’t

“The Tooth And Nothing But The Tooth”

“By Chris “Dr Smile Maker” Branfield

“I’ve Seen The Light….. Then I Didn’t

Hello again. I hope that you are well. Another fast and furious start to the year. First weekend in January and I was another 2 day advanced tooth straightening update course in South Wales. It was good with some great people. I’m sure it’s getting more expensive to enter Wales on the bridge though.

I’ve Seen The Light

I definitely saw the light a few years ago when I discovered and trained in the use of dental lasers. We incorporated their use as an every day thing into the practice to improve our patient experience as well as improve healing and precision. It is cutting edge stuff and we are proud to be doing it. Just one aspect of laser dentistry is in treating gum disease.

My friend, teacher and mentor, Ilay Maden, has joined our practice as an expert in lasers and gum treatment. He has a masters degree in dental lasers and a PhD in gums. He also lectures and teaches world wide and is an expert contributor to journals and textbooks. We are lucky to have him with us. I have been working with him for the last year or so and results have been outstanding.

So When Didn’t I See The Light

A friend of ours just turned 50 and always wanted to see the Northern lights, so my wife and I said we’d go with them. Tromso is a lovely place but, alas, no lights for us. Too cloudy. Apparently they could be seen 50 minutes drive away on our last night but two of our party got viral infections so it was just not meant to be this time. Hey Ho, maybe another go in the future eh?

Getting Some Bone Back The Laser Way

With gum disease bacteria initiate inflammation that causes bone loss around teeth. As this progresses teeth can become wobbly, abscess, need taking out or actually fall out themselves. Sometimes the gum shrinks back leaving aesthetic problems, especially at the front of the mouth. Traditional gum therapy aims to remove the inflammation to stop the bone loss. This does not regrow bone.

To do this surgery is necessary and can be successful. With Laser Therapy it is often possible to get bone regrowth without surgery. I’ve seen it myself this year with Ilay’s work. It’s AMAZING. Sometimes some surgery is required but the advantages of using laser as well include less pain and swelling, faster healing, less chance of gum recession, more predictable bone growth, reduced or no need for antibiotics. With non-surgical treatment even better with no downtime. Dentists are now already sending their patients to Ilay for treatment.

The arrows show how deep the bone loss was then the bone growing back after minimally invasive laser therapy WITHOUT surgery. WOW.

Before and after non-surgical laser therapy with loads of bone regrowth

I know I’m an anorak but I’m blown away with all this. Lasers help the body heal itself!!!!

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