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

Snoring vs Grinding

“The Tooth And Nothing But The Tooth”

By Chris “Dr Smile Maker” Branfield

Snoring vs Grinding

Hello again. I hope that you are well.  Phew, it’s been hot for a good while.  So glad have the air conditioning at work as mines a South-facing window.  It’s nice to stay cool and confortable.  Looks like it’s going we hot a while longer as I write.

Snoring vs Grinding?

So what the heck has snoring got to do with grinding and vice versa?  Well, first of all we see lots of people who clench and grind.  This causes symptoms like jaw ache, earache, teeth sensitivity, migraine-like and even neck and shoulder pain as well as breaking teeth and fillings etc.  About 40% of the adult population snore.

Snoring is caused by a collapse of the airway causing vibration of the tongue against the soft palate.  This means that the further back the tongue is the greater the chance of snoring.  The tongue is attached to the jaw, so if the jaw drops back so does the tongue. With me so far??  Good.  Well, the most common way we treat clenching and grinding is to make an appliance that helps relax the muscles that make the jaw clench.  

However this always leads to the jaw moving backwards  o a more retruded position we call it.  So you can see the predicament.  If we help with the clenching and grinding then we can sometimes make the snoring worse.           
              
What’s The Solution Then?

A good way of trying to tackle both problems in one go is with a Sleepwell appliance.  It is a mandibular (lower jaw) advancement device.  So by definition, almost, it moves the lower jaw forwards.  

This brings the tongue forwards and helps open up the airway to help with snoring.  It also prevents grinding and clenching as the back teeth are separated (which is key with clenching).  

 Sleepwell Appliance

moves lower jaw forwards

Believe It Or Not

Well believe it or not I have a book coming out soon.  I felt it time to do it and, through a lifetime of searching for better and learning, try to give some hope to people who struggle with dentistry and related issues. Heart on my sleeve.  Here’s a sneaky preview of the cover.

A Return By Popular Request

Oh, I’m really pleased to get another invitation to speak to dental students at Sheffield University at a careers event.  Several of the students asked for me back after I gave a talk on dental mavericks in April.  

It’s so nice to make a connection and possibly make a difference for the better if even in a small way.  Anyway, I’m giving up a bit of time in September to do it.

I here Hull City have a made a few new signings gearing up for the new season.  Are we going up?  Hope so.  Come on the Tigers!!

Until next time.   

Have a great summer. 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

Knitting With Purpose

“The Tooth And Nothing But The Tooth”

By Chris “Dr Smile Maker” Branfield

Knitting With Purpose

Hello again. I hope that you are well. Oh, what a month. My first time giving a speech at an International Medical Laser Congress.

Really exciting, if a bit daunting. It was OK once I got going with some great feedback, which was nice. My colleague and gum expert here at the practice, Ilay, was keynote speaker and started the dental part of congress.

Everybody seemed to know Ilay as he had trained many of them all over the world. There were other parallel sessions going on for other specialities including dermatology, gynaecology, aesthetics and male gento-urinary medicine. 

Ilay Maden

Some of the topics shown the timetable on the big screen in reception for some of these subjects made me wince. I made new, interesting friends from all over the world. I was sat next to Johnny Wong from Hong Kong. What a nice guy. In fact everybody I met was, really positive and enthusiastic.

Yours Truly

I made friends with people from India, Australia, Romania, Canada, USA, Israel, Slovenia, Italy, Hong Kong, England and Singapore. Mostly dental but also with other specialities. I spoke on the Saturday morning and there was a party the night before so there were less people than the day before. I was sensible and got a relatively early night!

Knitting?...Purpose?

Here we go, Branfield off on one again. Just stick with me this is really good. I have mentioned before that two lovely patients knit some fantastic clothes for children that we take to Morocco and send to Syrian refugees in camps and orphanages in Lebanon and Greece. 

Well, a Knit And Natter group in the area got inspired by this and they have been really prolific in knitting clothes and blankets for these needy people. I think that this is so great, people getting inspired to get involved doing good for people they don’t know who have nothing for nothing. That is what our Dental Mavericks Charity is all about.

Having A Catch Up Over Tea And Cake 

So, we finally met one sunny evening just recently as I wanted to say a personal thank you and show them what Dental Mavericks was about with pictures and tell the story of how it happened and illustrate with a few case study stories.

My colleague made the cakes that went down a storm (thanks Gail for all your hard work and organising). 

So, once again, a MASSIVE THANK YOU to the Knit And Natter group for your support and our anonymous patients for all that you do. I’ll be off to Morocco in October for a big project in the Rif Mountains. 

Becoming A Bigger Player

In the Lebanon Dental Mavericks have now a reputation for being very much people and caring based and making things as fun as possible in such awful circumstances. Now working with other NGO’s and even involved with research with King’s College, London and Harvard University, Boston, USA. Well done Cally Gedge for driving this and your energy and love. Well proud!

Until next time. Take care and be good.

Here’s to a good night sleep

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

More To It Than Just Snoring…Hmm

The Tooth And Nothing But The Tooth”

By Chris “Dr Smile Maker” BRANFIELD

More To It Than Just Snoring…Hmm

Hello again. I hope that you are well.  Well some weather at last!! About time eh, May was good generally and May bank Holiday was superb. We caught the Tour de Yorkshire in Filey.

So, What’s More To It Than Snoring?         

  
               

In the last few articles I’ve been going on about snoring and how we can help with non-invasive measures using lasers and Mandibular Advancement Devices (more to follow on this).  Snoring has obvious problems associated with it as it causes a right row and can be anti-social and cause problems with sleeping partners. 

We have also touched on Obstructive Sleep Apnoea when breathing actually stops and then there are great gasps for air.  This is really not healthy and can put strain on the heart.  In this case a sleep study is needed and possibly CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) at bedtime.  However, the compliance with these things is generally poor even though it is the gold standard treatment for OSA.                                            

The Less Obvious Stuff

Sleep medicine and airway medicine is the up and coming thing.  It was highlighted on the TV just this week about how many more people are experiencing poor sleep and are constantly tired during the day.  I was horrified to see that loads of school kids had to have caffeine before school, as they were so tired.  Now this is a different thing to do with mobile phones taken to bed and blue light.


There is a condition called Upper Airway Resistance Syndrome. This is when the upper airway collapses causing resistance to airflow.  OSA is the extreme,  snoring we all know about, but it can be less obvious and affect many of us.  Some snorers sleep great.  Lucky so and so.  This is thought to be because the sensors at the back of the throat have been beaten up that much by vibration that they no longer fire and wake you up with a snore.  Now for people that do not snore or only really snore after alcohol these sensors can be stimulated when you get close to a snore and airway is about to collapse and you wake up for no apparent reason. 

This is a so-called arousal from sleep.  It can interrupt the normal cycle of sleep and disturb hormone balance.  This can cause tiredness as well a load of other stuff that will list in a bit.  When the airway collapses a bit it can create a negative pressure that can suck up fine droplets of acid from the stomach that can reach the throat and nose and even the sinus. 

This is different to heartburn or GastroEsophogeal Reflux Disease (GERD).  It is called Laryngo Pharyngeal Reflux Disease (LPRD) and can lead to symptoms of post-nasal drip, sore throat, cough, and even chronic sinusitis.  This can go hand in hand with a poor night’s sleep. If you are interested a great book is Sleep Interrupted by Steven Y. Park, M.D. (an ENT specialist who came across this paradigm shift in thinking how we treat some common ailments by getting to the cause, i.e. the airway). 

According to Dr. Park this is a list of some of the ailments/symptoms that UARS can be associated with but limited to: the nasal stuff mentioned above, hoarseness, throat clearing, teeth grinding/clenching and Tempero-Mandibular Dysfunction (TMD), heartburn (GERD), cold hands, postural hypotension (dizzy when stand up quickly), depression and anxiety, migraine headaches, chronic fatigue syndrome, and weight gain (which compounds the situation.  He even feels that ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyper-activity Disorder) is associated with UARS.  It’s all interesting stuff. Or is it just me?  Some top tips next time as run out of space today. I was on a role, eh?

Well Done

Hull City stayed up.  Onwards and upwards lads.

Final preparations this weekend for my presentation at an international laser medicine conference in Slovenia.  My colleague at the practice and gum expert, Ilay, is the first speaker at the Dental Programme.  Wish us luck.

Until next time.   Take care and be good. 

Here’s to a good night sleep

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

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