Are You Fed Of Sleeping In The Spare Room Or Bruised Ribs?

“The Tooth And Nothing But The Tooth”

By Chris “Dr Smile Maker” Branfield

Are You Fed Of Sleeping In The Spare Room Or Bruised Ribs?

Hello again. I hope that you are well. Well, as usual a busy time. Dental Mavericks were approached by Sheffield University Dental School. The Students have to do an elective whereby they spend time somewhere, home or abroad and write up their aims and objectives and what they found. This can be scientific or socially based but to do with dentistry. I was daft enough to say that I would give a presentation to them.

Don’t Give Up The Day Job

So, I took a day off work to go to Sheffield. There were other speakers, mainly corporate companies that specialise in these elective “holidays” for students. I was on last. Once I got going I quite enjoyed it. The students seemed to engage and I got great feedback. I was even approached to see if it was OK for the Sheffield University Dental Students Society to support Dental Mavericks. Wow, that was a result!!! If I could just inspire some youngsters to get involved and come with us that would be great. They are the future.

Back At The BBC

I was also asked to be on BBC Radio Humberside again. The sugar tax was introduced last month. Andy Comfort interviewed me over the phone. He was a really nice guy. There is far too much sugar in all sorts of stuff and there is an increase in child dental decay and teeth out as well as a worldwide general health problems associated with empty calories due to excessive sugar intake.

So, Back To Snoring, As Promised

Snoring affects 40% of us, and can have mild to devastating effects on our health, from general tiredness to increased risk of hypertension and subsequent cardiovascular problems.

Lasers Can Help

One way to improve the airway is with a GENTLE laser treatment, a process called Nightlase™. Sometimes surgery is offered but it is really painful, takes a long time to heal creates scarring that can effect swallowing and sometimes speech.

With the Dual wavelength Nightlase™ treatment the low laser energy creates a gentle heating of the tissue of the soft palate. There is no need for local anaesthetic or a recovery period, so no downtime afterwards. Just get on with your life. You need a full assessment first as usual. One assessment is called a Mallampati score. The idea is to get you to a low Mallampati score to open up the airway. It is usually 3-5 treatments about 30 minutes each 21 days apart.

The gentle heating is about 50-65 degrees. This equates to a cup of tea hot, so can feel a bit scratchy. The heat causes tissue changes with shrinkage from day one usually. There is a change in he collagen that helps with this. The effects can last a year or so with no tissue damage or scarring. Mallampati

An Interesting Fact

This science was first used in gynaecological and female genito-urinary medicine to reduce urinary incontinence and other stuff. It was some smart Argentinians that thought of applying the same principles to anti-snoring treatment. I have no pictures of any of this.

Guest Speakers

Hope you have a great couple of Bank Holidays. I will be in Slovenia at the end of May at an international laser conference. Both my colleague Ilay and myself are guest speakers at the event. Better start preparing, 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 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

You’ve Lost That Numbing Feeling

“The Tooth And Nothing But The Tooth”

        By Chris “Dr Smile Maker” Branfield

     You’ve Lost That Numbing Feeling!

Hello again. I hope that you are well.  Another busy month at Castle Park Dental Care.  Life long learning is very close to my heart.  “If you’re not growing anywhere you’re not going anywhere”.  I think growing knowledge base is essential, even at my age.  My colleague Andrew and myself was at a 3 -day dental implant conference in London a couple of weeks ago.  It was the best one I’ve been to and I’ve been to loads.  It was a bit off topic but there was a presentation on face transplants.  Inspirational!  I’m just back from another 3 -day advanced course.  Some of it was outside my comfort zone as it involved computers for treatment planning.  I got on with it though and managed OK.  Surprised myself in fact.  As they say, “ outside the comfort zone is where the magic happens”

You’ve Lost That Numbing Feeling.  Is It A Sing Along?

A while ago I was asked to give an hour-long presentation at a small conference for dental practices.  Now, my slot was on the morning of day two.  The trouble is that there was a charity do the night before.  So, there would be plenty of tired people in the room and I didn’t want them falling asleep if I could help it!  Part of the presentation was be this topic (if I ever get onto it).  I had taken the song “You’ve lost that loving feeling” and over dubbed “numbing” over “feeling”.  Well, this did some doing for me, as I’m not a computer techy at all.  It was all trial and error but got there in the end.  It was a choice between The Righteous Brothers and Elvis Presley.  I opted for Elvis as I was brought up on “ The King” and my dad wouldn’t forgive me if I chose against him

Oh Get To The Point!

Have you ever had a local anaesthetic?  Sometimes you can feel like you about to fall over your face.  Local anaesthetic is great.  It allows us to have a load of stuff done in the medical field in a comfortable way.  The only real drawback is that you can feel numb for quite a while sometimes.  If you’ve had your teeth done you have to wait a bit to have a cuppa.

Nearly There

Now there is the QuickSleeper.  This is a novel way to deliver a dental anaesthetic and numb up to 6 teeth in one go without the same numbing of the cheeks, lips and tongue.  How good is that?  Now, it does not replace conventional anaesthetic altogether, as it cannot be used in all situations and each case needs to be assessed properly, but I am using it more and more.  It is a bit different.  There is an element of vibration involved but it is all very gentle and feedback is very good.  It is ideal for doing a few tooth restorations in different areas of the mouth in one go, especially if you’re struggling for time and want to get a lot done in one visit.  Perfect for people that live away. Or those who cannot wait for a cuppa!

Most Gentle On The Planet

I was not quite accurate in what I said above.  The quick sleeper can be used to numb up in a similar way to the conventional approach i.e. leave you feeling numb.  However, as it is a computer controlled technology it is so gentle.  This means pain free!  I researched this quite a bit and have been on courses as I’m a dental anorak!  However, it’s the quest for always looking for better.  We have 3 of these things in the practice so we can ALL use them all the time and have one standard of care throughout.  The feedback is incredible.

On The Clinic

My son, Edward, is still enjoying his course at university and has now started treating patients on clinics.  It’s a really intense fast moving course.  Non of this 4 hours “contact” a week.  He’s all buzzed up.  He comes back to see Hull City play with me.  Come on City, see if you can stay up lads.

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

Are You Fed Of Sleeping In The Spare Room?

“The Tooth And Nothing But The Tooth”

By Chris “Dr Smile Maker” Branfield

Are You Fed Of Sleeping In The Spare Room?

Hello again. I hope that you are well. It’s all go as usual. I was In Bury yesterday on a practice management/customer service course. It’s not only the clinical stuff that I have to keep up with and constantly look for better. This Friday/Saturday I’m at Cambridge University on a course looking at a way to speed up healing. It looks very interesting.

What Are You On About…The Spare Room

Well, there is actually a National Stop Snoring Week. It’s 23rd-29th April. Snoring is really quite common. It can be mild or severe. In very severe cases it becomes sleep apnoea when you actually stop breathing for several seconds at a time before a big gasp and this happens several times an hour. This can put a big strain on your heart.

The Big Yawn

One of the big drawbacks of snoring is lack of sleep. This can be for the snorer, but not always. Sometimes the snorer is blissfully unaware and sleeps well. The vibration or noise can interrupt sleep, sometimes you are not aware of it and it is more of an arousal from sleep rather than waking up but it still interrupts the normal cycle of sleep stages and leaves you really tired still in the morning. Obviously if the snoring is loud enough then it interrupts the sleep of a sleep partner and this is when the bed in the spare room comes in!

What Causes It

The cause is airway collapse and vibration. The main cause is the vibration of the tongue collapsed back against the soft palate.

Can You Treat It?

Well, yes you can. The aim is to stop the collapse. One way is to posture the lower jaw forwards which in turn brings the tongue forwards and opens up the airway using a mandibular advancement device. The one we use now is the Sleepwell device as there has been loads of research and great results out of Barts and the London Queen Mary's School of Medicine and Dentistry led by Professor Ama Johal. I did some training with him.

Another way is Non-surgical laser therapy. My Colleague Ilay and myself are trained in this using the Nightlase™ protocol with Nd:YAG and Er:YAG laser. The great thing with this is no numbing, no down time, no surgery and it starts to work from the first session and the airway is improved 24hrs a day and not just when a device is worn. It’s all clever stuff. I’ll expand on it next time.

It’s That Time Of Year Again

It’s coming to the end of the football season. Will Hull City stay up? It’s been a funny season. I really hope that they do. Come on lads, keep it together and push until the end.

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

From Soup To Solids ……In A Day

“The Tooth And Nothing But The Tooth”

By Chris “Dr Smile Maker” Branfield

From Soup To Solids ……In A Day

Hello again. I hope that you are well.  Another busy month as usual.  I was on a course last night in Wakefield in fact.  It was the Association Of Implantology UK Yorkshire Study group.  It was good but getting home just before 11pm was a long day.  The motorway was closed!

Ready For A Feast

So what is this soup to solids about then? Well, I was inspired by the study group last night.  I see quite a lot of people who have failing teeth and a lot of missing teeth that really means they struggle to eat what they really want to and can miss out on that enjoyment or are limited when they go out in company or socially.

This can be because of the limitations of dentures that move or make the mouth sore or because dentures cannot be tolerated and there just aren’t enough teeth left.  If quite a few cases it is possible to place dental implants in the morning and make a bridge to fit within 24 hours so that a proper meal can be had straight away.  I would give another 24 hours before popping the champagne but it is a good reason to celebrate as it’s life changing.  Like anything else it all has to planned right and certain criteria met to be successful, it’s all in the planning.  Not one size fits all. 

With our modern, fancy 3D scanner we have loads of information to do the proper planning with no surprises.  It’s really revolutionised dental implants.  I was just designing some implant guides this morning on a case that I had virtually placed implants on the computer.  This is common place now and increases accuracy and safety especially in more tricky cases.

What a Difference A Day Makes

So, “same day teeth” is another tool in the box.  We can use for single teeth sometimes or even a full dental arch.  Sometimes we can even remove many failing teeth and place implants there and then and have the bridge with 12 teeth on it within 24 hours.  With single teeth, within a couple of hours start to finish, sometimes.  

I’m a big believer in “tools in your box”.  In my game it’s different techniques.  Everyone we meet is different with different needs and situations so we need to be able to have bespoke, individualised solutions.  When I have spoken to young dentists I have told them to be a sponge.  To go looking for knowledge and soak it up.

Another reference I make is Bruce Lee.  At this point I need to work hard not to lose them as I get incredulous looks.  Well, Bruce had a martial arts style, or more a philosophy, called Jeet Kune Do (Way Of The Intercepting Fist).  The premise is to learn from all styles and not be rigidly stuck to one style.  Some techniques within one style work better than others for different individuals.  Also every opponent is different so if you do the same thing every time you’ll come a cropper at some point.


So, be an anorak, be passionate about what you do, learn from the best. Confidence comes from competence and competence comes from KNOWLEDGE.  “If you’re not GROWING anywhere you’re not GOING anywhere.”

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

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

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