Doing Some Good….Now Let’s Celebrate

“The Tooth And Nothing But The Tooth”

By Chris “Dr Smile Maker” Branfield

Doing Some Good….Now Let’s Celebrate

Hello again. I hope that you are well. Happy New Year to you and sincere best wishes for 2018.  Hope had a great Christmas.

I thought I’d start the year on a real positive note.  Here goes.

Stop The Waffle

Now I am a self-confessed dentistry geek/anorak.  I do waffle on a bit and get excited about modern advancements and the science of dental stuff. So……….I thought I’d give you a rest.

Going Global

Some of you might know that I am a Trustee and founder member of a Charity called Dental Mavericks.  We get people, mainly children, who have no access to dental services, out of daily pain.  We have done this in Morocco since Sept/Oct 2010. In December 2016 we went to Thessaloniki in Greece to treat refugees.  This has been an on going project since.  Dental Mavericks, in particular Cally Gedge, who organises pretty much everything, are now helping organise emergency dental treatment for Syrian refugees in the Lebanon.  Now, I went to Greece but I don’t think my better half will give me a pass for the Lebanon.  Fair do’s.

Knitting With Real Purpose

I have some lovely patients who are great at knitting and have knitted loads of stuff for children in Morocco.  In Lebanon these baby clothes have gone down a storm.  Received with much gratitude.  The refugees live in camps in absolute squalor and have nothing.  This is such a fantastic thing to do for someone that you do not know and will never meet to help make their lives better.

Life is like the weather:  there is rain and grey cloud with intervals of sunshine.  This is pure sunshine.  When the sun shines we should endeavour to bask in it and not close the curtains and stay in.  So let’s enjoy this moment of sunshine and be grateful for what we have.  Also a big thank you my knitting Sunshine Makers!!  There is so much anger, pain, discourse and division going on.  This is such a great antidote.


Until next time.   Take care and be good. 

Chris

Bioglass…A Paradigm Shift And Smart Fillings

“The Tooth And Nothing But The Tooth”
By Chris “Dr Smile Maker” Branfield
Bioglass…A Paradigm Shift And Smart Fillings

Hello again. I hope that you are well. There’s been no let up this month. We are constantly looking for better ways do to do stuff and how technology can help.

We are very close to drastically reducing the number of conventional impressions we need to take because of advancements in technology. Exciting stuff.

Bioglass, What’s That?

A Bioglass is a compound that contains calcium, sodium, silica and phosphorous. It was originally developed by the military to help mend bones back in the late ‘60’s. In 1996 two dentists, almost by accident, found that it can be used to treat tooth sensitivity (now used in Sensodyne Repair and Protect) and this works very well.

The hard crystal in teeth and bones is hydroxyapatite. On contact with water or saliva the glass breaks down and forms hydroxy carbonated apatite (HCA). This is a similar crystal and gives a protective layer or skin on teeth to reduce sensitivity.

Let’s Talk About Fluoride

Oh, I can feel your excitement at that! Pease hang in and bear with me. We’ve known for ages that fluoride reduces tooth decay. As I have said the hard crystal in teeth is hydroxyapatite. When exposed to acid in the diet or that made by bacteria in the mouth from sugar (tooth decay) the apatite breaks down or demineralises.

Fluoride, when available, helps speed up remineralisation of the tooth and actually becomes incorporated in the apatite. It replaces the “hydoxy” bit to make a crystal that is more resistant to acid (fluorapatite). How cool is that? Worth the wait? I’m really quite geeky about this stuff, can you tell?

Now For The Really Clever Stuff

There is now a new Bioglass that has been combined with Fluoride in much lower levels than in conventional toothpaste. A team at Queen Mary University London under the direction of Professor Hill developed a toothpaste that could slowly release fluoride for up to 12 hours. This toothpaste called BioMinF, releases fluoride to fight decay and essential tooth building minerals of calcium and phosphate to rebuild the tooth surface.

This is the Fluorapatite. This is important to reduce decay, acid erosion and tooth sensitivity. Regular fluoride toothpaste and even high concentration fluoride toothpaste have soluble fluoride that is washed away in about 100 minutes. This wastes most of the fluoride. BioMinF is intelligent toothpaste. When the mouth becomes an acidic environment, BioMinF releases additional essential minerals. These minerals actually work to neutralise (stop) the acids in the mouth and protect and repair the tooth surface.

Smart Fillings

There is now work on smart filling materials and dental cements that work in a similar way to the toothpaste so they not only repair the teeth structurally but chemically on the surface as well. Let’s see how that goes, eh. Fingers crossed they cut the mustard.

All The Best To You


Have a fantastic Christmas and best wishes for a great New Year in 2018

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 24 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

On Top Of The World

“The Tooth And Nothing But The Tooth”

By Chris “Dr Smile Maker” Branfield

On Top Of The World

Hello again. I hope that you are well. Another busy month, phew! I’ve just got back from Morocco getting kids out of pain up in the Morocco . This was a collaboration with the Local Health Authority in Chef Chaouen province.

It Felt Like Being On Top Of The World

We got more remote than ever before needing 4x4’s to get us to some places. We all worked really hard and put our heart and souls into it. Another great team of people and our largest team yet. In fact our British team split into 2 teams for 4 out of the 5 days of working so we could get to as many people in need as we could. We saw almost 3000 children and every one received fluoride treatment, oral health advice, a toothbrush and toothpaste. In fact with our Moroccan colleagues about 6000 kids received this. We actively treated many hundreds children in pain and took thousands of abscessed teeth out. Bless ‘em.

Not 2 Halfpennies To Rub Together

People here are really poor and there has been a lot of resentment towards the government. Everybody we worked with was so friendly and appreciative though. The kids, teachers and parents were lovely.

And Breathe

Communication and rapid trust building with the kids is always key. We did have lots of help from interpreters when required but the main thing is keeping eye, verbal and even tactile contact and always asking if they are OK (“cava or labass”). The other thing that is massive to show empathy and understanding is breathing. This works wonders for relaxation. We all forget to just breathe and just “be” to relax. I do not know how to spell this but the word for “breathe,” phonetically is “sniffez”. We were all saying and doing it and really elaborating on it to add a bit of humour. “Humanisation”.

Not Lost In Translation

We discussed the role of interpreters and it works best just to do the minimum to allow an “in “ for the dental team so they can start and develop a trusting relationship, heart to heart, human-to-human. One young Moroccan interpreter got it when I explained. He said “emotional content”. Bob on!! It’s all about that and humanising every step of the process, stripped right back to basics. Formal language is then secondary.

A Massive Big Thank You

A heart felt thank you to the ladies who give me knitting to take out to the poor families. You know who you are! Also thank you to everyone who has donated money, toothbrushes and toothpaste. It’s great for us all to be involved in helping people and really trying to leave a legacy of impact on peoples lives for the good.

Certificate Time

As I mentioned this was a joint venture with the local authority and many bridges were built. We had to sit through a really long speech and ceremony of certificates. My name was spelt wrong. I should have done my usual ,“ think branflakes but field instead”.

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 24 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

A Bit Long In The Tooth?

“The Tooth And Nothing But The Tooth”

By Chris “Dr Smile Maker” Branfield

A Bit Long In The Tooth?

            

Hello again. I hope that you are well.   It’s all go again this month.  My daughter, Harriet, who had a holiday job at our place, goes off to Newcastle University to study speech and language therapy for four years.  So, her mum’s been busy getting her loads of stuff ready and enough food for the year I think.  I’ve given her a couple of cooking lessons.  You can’t live on pot noodle!  Oh we’ve got a new dog, Poppy.  She’s been rehomed with us after a stint in foster care.  She’s lovely and has settled in right away.

So. What’s This Long In The Tooth Thing?
Gum recession and getting a bit long in the tooth is a natural thing to a degree.  That’s where the saying comes from.  As you get older you get a bit long in the tooth.  However, there are a few things that can bring it prematurely at a younger age, some of it is genetic and some is not.  Gum recession can give rise to sensitive teeth as dentine of the tooth root is exposed.

The Bone Sets The Tone
The Americans have a saying. “ The soft tissue is the issue but the bone sets the tone”.  The soft tissue here relates to the gum.  If there is enough bone around a tooth or dental implant for that matter then there will gum as the gum always covers the bone.  If there is no bone then it can be unpredictable if the gum will stay or not.  Now some people are thin gum types and more likely to get recession whilst others have a thick gum type and less likely.  That’s just the genetic luck of the draw.

Gum recession can also be caused by over vigorous brushing, trauma from jewellery and inflammatory gum disease.  Sometimes having a high fibrous attachment from the lip or cheek onto the gum (fraenum) can contribute to recession.

Can You Fix It?
Well the good news is that often it can.  BUT, there are not that many dentists who can.  There are things that can be done to augment the gum to make it look better, more youthful and leave the teeth less sensitive.

My friend, mentor (in lasers) and colleague, Ilay has a PhD in gums and a masters degree in lasers and can do these treatments.  I’ve been working with him this year and some of the stuff is remarkable.  We are really lucky to have him as he is high demand and works part time on Harley Street.  He is going to be working more with us as well.

I mentioned Ilay was my mentor.  He taught me all I know about dental lasers.  He lectures all around the world on dental lasers especially with gum related issues.  In fact, whilst I was on a training course in Florida earlier this year the guy teaching the course said how he considered Ilay to be the number 1 opinion leader in the orls about treatment of gum disease around dental implants with lasers.

Welcome to the team Ilay.
   
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 24 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

Save Dentine And Put A Lid On It

“The Tooth And Nothing But The Tooth”

 By Chris “Dr Smile Maker” Branfield

Save Dentine And Put A Lid On It

Hello again. I hope that you are well.  As usual it’s been another busy month, working and keeping up to date with the ever-changing world of dentistry.  My colleagues, Andrew, Anna and myself went to a 2-day conference in Leicester all about digital dentistry.  Wow, things are changing really fast with some exciting innovations.  I also went to London to an event called “Stars Of Dentistry”.  It was the second one, I went to the first last year.  They have some big, international names in dentistry coming from, America, Italy and Brazil.  I was not disappointed.  They were inspiring.  So much knowledge and talent, also great educators.  There was even a live video link from Seattle.  It was a long day though, 8-30am until 8-30pm.   I thoroughly enjoyed it and booked for next year.  Such a geek!

Why So Precious About Dentine?

Dentine is the yellow stuff under the hard lighter coloured enamel on the surface of teeth.  It has tubes that lead to the pulp (nerve).  The more that is gone the weaker the tooth and the more chance there is of damage to the pulp (nerve) causing possible inflammation, pulp death and then infection.  Are you with me so far?

Think Of A Shoe Box

These days we have materials that we can bond onto teeth that get damaged by decay or trauma.  This is great because it means less tooth structure removal to get a material to stay in or on the tooth.  Now, with back teeth that are really broken down some sort of filling may not be strong enough.

This where the shoebox analogy comes in.  I was another course some time ago when a guy talked about it.

Imagine a shoebox with no lid. At this point the walls of the box are quite weak and if you stand on them they will cave in.  If you put a lid on it this gives real strength and you can stand on it or at least put a lot more force before it caves in.  Simple, but brilliant, I thought.

So The Solution To A Badly Broken Down Back Tooth?

Put a lid on it! This is called an onlay or overlay. Rather than remove loads more tooth like with a crown, save as much as we can, protect what is left with a lid and bond on to give more strength.

Here is a large filling with decay under it replaced with an onlay. It looks better and gives strength so is longer lasting.

Tying It All Together

In days gone by rebuilding teeth like this would involve impressions, sending to a laboratory, having a temporary restoration that may come off and waiting 2 weeks before fitting the final restoration.  With digital dentistry we can now do these in house, often within a couple of hours.  No impressions but a digital laser scan, then design on a laptop, then Mill in a CAD Cam milling machine and sometimes (depending on the material) fire in a furnace.

Into The Unknown

As I write a lot of players have left Hull City Football Club and not many coming in.  Who knows what the season will hold for us.  Fingers crossed we actually manage to get a defence and do well.  Might be a big ask this year. We’ll see, eh.

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 24 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

Having A Good Chew Could Save £Billions Worldwide

“The Tooth And Nothing But The Tooth”
By Chris “Dr Smile Maker” Branfield
Having A Good Chew Could Save £Billions Worldwide

Hello again. I hope that you are well. Phew, in the middle of a heat wave as I write this. It’s been that hot that the glue holding my wife’s car registration on had melted and it had dropped down. Thought that there was something wrong with my eyes at first! Glad we have some air-conditioning at work. Missed quite a bit of it though as was in a lecture theatre at a little conference on Digital Dentistry.


Staggering, I Didn’t Know That

Now, according to The World Health Organisation tooth decay and oral diseases rank fourth among the most expensive global health conditions to treat, according to the World Health Organization. While tooth decay is largely preventable, it still affects 60-90% of schoolchildren and nearly all adults globally.

Chewing just one additional piece of sugar-free gum each day could save £3.3 billion worldwide on dental expenditures from treating tooth decay, according to a new study published in the American Journal of Dentistry. WOW!!


Some Fairly Local People Involved As Well


The study, a first of its kind globally, was funded by Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company and independently conducted by the Institute of Empirical Health Economics in Germany (IFEG) with input from an international scientific steering committee comprised of thought-leaders in dental and public health and economics, including Prof Elizabeth Kay of Peninsula Dental School, Plymouth University Peninsula Schools of Medicine and Dentistry.

I find this incredible: Researchers modelled a potential decrease in dental care costs from tooth decay for 25 industrialised countries including the UK. The study follows a piece of research in 2016 which revealed that the NHS could save up to £8.2 million per annum if all twelve year olds in the UK were to increase their chewing of sugar-free gum. Conducted by the York Health Economics Consortium and Peninsula Dental School, Plymouth University, with funding from Wrigley, the study was an initial exploration into the potential cost savings that chewing of sugar-free gum could bring.


I’m Salivating Already

I’m only joking. You’ll see how it fits in. When we chew gum it stimulates salivary flow. Saliva is great stuff as it help clear away food debris, neutralise acid and is a source of calcium and phosphate for tooth repair after acid damage. It also is great for dissolving and clearing away sugar from the mouth, which causes decay. So when you look at it on this level you can why it can be really beneficial.


Sugar Free Is Key

Sugar free gum is the key. There’s no point in shoving sugar in to try and stop tooth decay. No, the best one that is even more beneficial than “normal” sugar free gum is one that contains only Xylitol as the sweetener. This stuff is great. In it’s own right and in it’s own special way it can reduce tooth decay. You can buy it for baking etc. A word of warning though, it can be a laxative if you have quite a bit. It’s good in sugar free mints/sweets for people with dry mouths and a high tooth decay rate.

All Change At Hull City

So, a new division, a new manager and at this rate possibly a new team. So sorry to see Harry McGuire go but good look to him, he deserves a good crack at the whip and do well. Hope he makes it all the way to the world cup. The championship is a good league to watch and an exciting one to be in. Here’s to the next step if the journey.

Until next time. Take care and be good.


Chris

A Bit Of Hard Work Does You Good

“The Tooth And Nothing But The Tooth”

By Chris “Dr Smile Maker” Branfield

A Bit Of Hard Work Does You Good

Hello again. I hope that you are well. Just back from Morocco with Dental Mavericks getting people out of daily pain. My 12th trip, I think. You would think that you just get used to it but it is always emotional.  

My wife picked me up from Hull train station and to my amazement BBC radio Humberside was on in the car and it was the football commentary (my wife doesn’t do football). She was gripped by the drama of it at the end of the season. However, it was not to be for Hull City to stay up in the premier league. Here we go again! There is now the possibility of more drama and excitement trying to get back and even possible Wembley trips again. Enjoy the journey of life!

We Were Absolutely Whacked

This trip to Morocco was backed by the King’s advisor so had a licence to treat adults as well as children. There were so many people! My word, I have never worked so hard in my life. My colleagues said the same. When you treat children there it is tiring but more on an emotional level. This is because they are children having teeth removed and doing our best to look after them with a language barrier demands total concentration in this regards to building a relationship with constant eye contact, verbal contact, body language and reassurance. It is like this with adults there and with our patients at home in Cottingham but more intense over there with the children I feel. It’s all about PEOPLE. Now with throwing adults into the mix there are the same challenges but also some very difficult tooth extractions, more often than not multiple. Well, with one after the other all day your body starts to feel it. I’m not getting any younger you know. I’m not joking; some of us were ready to drop at the end of each day.

Getting Rewards

The most rewarding for me is when we went rural up into the hills. There is more proper poverty here and people cannot access a dentist at all. We saw a lot of Berber children here. Our translators had to learn a bit of Berber as they did not speak Arabic, and then teach us a few words. These were so lovely, very stoic and appreciative. One little boy I treated had 4 teeth out in one go. He was only 6 yrs old and afterwards he hugged me and clung on like a limpet, he had a smile from ear to ear. It really touched me. This is when you know you’re doing the right thing when it means so much to be out of pain.

Unusual Name

One of the Berber kids had an unusual name. He was called Tagine. Our Moroccan translators had never heard this name before and thought it rather special. Pretty much every meal we had was a tagine of something. His parents must like their food eh?

Time For A Bit Of Awe

We have couple of lovely ladies that have done kitting for us to take out with us o give to the needy. Now, I didn’t go to the maternity but a couple of midwives in our group did. It was a far cry from the facilities we have here. Babies everywhere and not very clean. They distributed some of the lovely garments that Ann had made so there will be some cosy warm babies. I must say that I would wear some of the stuff if it was in my size.

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 24 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