Ian receives his Prize from Richard

Testimonial For Smile Style and Richard Howarth

November Competition Winner Draw

You may be wondering how you can enter our monthly draw. In our newsletter we run a picture competition which is free to enter. December's draw is for a Seasonal Hamper. Not getting our newsletter? Well drop us an email to smile.style@btconnect.com and we will add you to our email list. If you prefer a hard copy we will send it to you free just include your address with your email and we will post one.

Note the change in assistant to Grace. Julie refused following the Face Book comments about her oooh!

October Prize Draw

Isn’t it so difficult to know if the dentistry you’ve just had is any good or not?

I am not very knowledgeable when it comes to cars; I rely on the garage to service them, find faults and repair them properly. However a mechanic could easily tell me something needs changing and I would not know. I am sure it’s happened in my life of driving cars, the good news it is only a car and the worst that has happened is I may have lost some money.
That’s not true for your teeth. Modern dentistry offers us the opportunity to replace tooth tissue which has been damaged by disease but if that is not done well all that happens is the work has to be done again sooner than it should have been or worse other teeth or gums are damaged in a way that can not be recovered.
Each tooth can only be fixed a limited number of times and if the filling you are given is rough or has ledge so it can’t be cleaned properly by you, bacteria/bugs build up and inevitably disease reoccurs. If the contact between the teeth is not tight so food packs or it is the wrong shape (evolution has taken millions of years create our teeth – so dentistry should mimic nature) you are at an increased risk of gum disease destroying the bone which is the foundations for your teeth.
The mouth is also a mechanical system we need to eat with, so it is not good enough making a filling crown or bridge look good, it must work in harmony with the rest of your mouth, that’s teeth, muscles and joints. Restorations left high in your bite put the whole system at risk, headaches, painful and clicking jaw joints, cracked or broken and sensitive teeth.
Logic says precision work takes time, requires quality materials and demands care and attention from the practitioner and common sense tell you this does not come for a low-priced and requires you to invest in your health. The price you pay personally if the dentistry you receive falls short could cost you dear, not just a waste of your time and money but you could loose your teeth and smile. Shopping for dentistry simple on price is a risky business.
Here at Smile Style we understand these principles and know how upsetting it can be when you are let down by the profession. We take before and after photos of the treatment we provide so you are involved from start to finish. We are proud of our treatments and want to show them off. We want your treatment to not only be comfortable but to last. If you would like to experience a refreshing new approach to getting and staying dentally healthy we would like to share our expertise with you. Don’t take our word for it see, what our happy patients say. We are an award winning practice judged by The British Dental Association as Good Practice of the Year 2008 runner up.

Is NHS Dentistry Damaging Your Long Term Dental Health?

When I started as a dentist it was pleasing to see an improvement in the Nations dental health with increasing number of the population keeping their teeth throughout their lives. I wonder if this trend has now changed since the introduction of the new NHS contract some 3 and half years ago.

During this period initial figures indicate the number of bridges and root treatments have fallen by around a half and crowns by a third, while treatment involving dentures rose by 13% and extractions by 8%. There has also been a 16% fall in scale and polish treatments, an essential opportunity to deliver preventative advice and the number radiographs (dental x-ray films) has fallen by 36%. This can only mean that disease will now go undetected for longer leading too even more extractions especially as the Government and Department of Health state that their intention is to encourage dentists to provide simpler treatments.

For our children the number of fillings place fell by 13% which on the face of it looks good if it is because they are experiencing less decay. The fact that extractions in children also rose by 12% makes me wonder if this is the real reason.

Here at Smile Style being completely private for adults and children means we are free from the targets and constraints dictated by the Government and we can concentrate on delivering individuals with the best treatment options to ensure dental health for life. NHS Dentistry is no longer free for the vast majority of people and the small extra investment to be seen privately could mean the difference between eating with plastic teeth or your own.

Changing Smiles and Transforming Lives Smile Style Dental Care

Position For a Dental Nurse

If you are a practical person, interested in helping people solve problems and have excellant communication skills then perhaps you should think about a career as a Dental Nurse. The modern Dental Nurse is a professional qualification which allows nurses to be even more involved in the delivery of dental care, so much more than just assisting the dentist.

So are you looking for a career change or want to get back to work why don't you consider Dental Nursing. Smile Style is a growing practice which not only offers great training (I teach at Stafford College) but opportunities to extend your role in areas such as Dental Radiography, Oral Health Education and we have already been successful helping 2 nurses get into Hygiene School. We enjoy our work environment and are looking forward to moving to our new state of art premises next year.

What are you waiting for this is a rare opportunity to join an award winning team.
Email me at smile.style@btconnect.com or call 01785 225505 24 hours a day for an application form.

Dental Nurse Superstar Training

This is a unique opportunity to join a highly commended dental team who provide no compromise private dental care to the people of Staffordshire. Ordinary average nurses/people are not required - you must be an excellent communicator, self motivated and prepared to go the extra mile for the people you provide dental care to.

If you are aspiring to be MORE than a Dental Nurse - We are looking for the right person to join our team - if you are fed up of JUST assisting the dentist and want more from your professional status send me your CV at smile.style@btconnect.com .

Fillings or Restorations?

Filling or restorations what’s the difference? What do you want in your teeth?

You may have had your teeth filled in the past; yes that’s the metal silver looking stuff. It is actually 50% mercury which alloys with silver and other metals like copper at mouth temperature. We call it a filling because it does just that it fills the hole in your tooth.

At Smile Style we restore damaged and decayed teeth with natural shade resins and ceramics. Instead of looking dark and grey with these materials we can make your teeth look like new. Even more important is these materials are bonded (glued) to your teeth so the strength of your tooth is also re-establish. They also are mercury free.

Other advantages of bonding resins to teeth is, less tooth has to be removed than with a metal filling. This is because metal fillings are held in place by under cutting, like dovetails in wood work or placing screws. Bonding means screws are not needed to hold in the restoration and we can simple focus just on removing the disease and not cutting extra valuable tooth away just to hold the filling in place. This makes the treatment more conservative and because they are cured (set) before you leave once the numbness has warn off you are ok to gently eat on them straight away unlike the metal ones which need to be allowed to set over night.

Here at http://www.smilestyledentist.co.uk/ we love making teeth look like teeth and giving back smiles to people. If you are interested in getting your teeth restored and not just filled then we can help you.

If you have any questions about your dental health please email me Richard at smile.style@btconnect.com

Changing Smiles and Transforming lives Smile Style Dental Care

Oral health reflects overall body health

If you have thought that your mouth has nothing to do with your general health; you may need to think again. Widespread research is linking oral disease with chronic illness and evidence suggests people with gum disease (periodontitis) are more susceptible to heart disease, stroke, diabetes, premature births, under weight babies and infertility.

You may think that you don’t have gum disease? How do you know for sure? You can tell if you have problems with your eyes because you start holding the paper at arms length or can’t read a sign before your kids. Gum disease is painless and generally the only symptom may be occasional bleeding on brushing or eating. Another more embarrassing symptom is bad breath or halitosis – the problem with this is most people won’t tell you for fear of embarrassing you or upsetting you – personal hygiene issues are always difficult to discuss.

For a disease that can be treated it is a shame it goes undiagnosed in so many people for the lack of a simple dental assessment. Here at Smile Style we have 3 hygienists. These dental professionals are specialised in treating gum disease and then helping you stay healthy. The preventative care offered by Smile Style has been highly commended by the British Dental Association. Don’t compromise when it comes to your dental health we all need a hygienist’s help. Why not take advantage of our half price assessment offer and get checked out.

www.smilestyledentist.co.uk/stafford_dentist_new_patients/stafford_dentist_contact_us.html

Do you expect your teeth to last a life time? They should, yet so many people do not practice good oral hygiene and neglect their dental health - tooth brushing is not enough to stay healthy and research is suggesting poor oral health is killing you and not just damaging your smile.

Don't loose your job over toothache!!

In these current gloom times we are all having to watch what we spend. Your health is not luxury it is a necessity and once lost in some cases can never be recovered however much money you have. Equally time away from work because of tooth ache and then treatment to cure the problem can also be is difficult.

Preventative dental care is the most cost effective way to keeping your teeth over the long term. By eliminating disease and establishing optimal health your need for treatment is reduced and the likelihood of having to have extensive and expensive treatment is reduced.

Being highly commended by the British Dental Association for our preventative approach to dentistry means we are best placed to deliver optimal dental health for your family.

Why don’t you make the most of our current offer of Half Price Assessments. You can print off vouchers from www.smilestyledentist.co.uk . They are valued at £35.

Please don’t wait until it hurts it may be too late.

New Practice Premises

Well you have all been asking about the new premises. Where are they? What do they look like? Here is the first picture. In terms of progress we are still in discussion with the planners and hope to submit the final plans this week. So keep your fingers crossed and lend your support if you know any of the planners or councillors personally.

We hope to have some plans on display at Martin Street sometime in June. If you have suggestions or requests for your new practice please email me or Julie at smile.style@btconnect.com

Being second best practice in the country is simply not good enough.

Registered Clearstep Practitioner

What a great day Friday was, its wonderful to be around such an enthusiastic teacher as Dr Andrew McCance. Even better is I am now a registered Clearstep Practitioner simply the best way to a great smile with invisible braces. They are suitable for anyone from 7 years up. Keep a look out for introductory offers to be announced in the near future.

Clearstep Braces

When I worked as a Clinical Assistant in Orthodontics at the Hospital earlier in my career, I learn't how to place and adjust traditional braces , both removable types and those fixed to your teeth with brackets. These visible methods of improving your smile are good but very obvious to other people. What I've been looking for is a system that treat lots of problems and is a way of achieving beautiful smiles invisibly. I am really excited and looking forward to completeing my training to use 'Clearstep' - invisible braces. So its an early train to London tomorrow and a day at the Royal Society of Medicine.

Look out for launch offers over the next few weeks.

For more info you can visit http://www.clearstep.co.uk/index.php

Dental Veneers

If you have crowded, spaced, discoloured teeth or are unhappy with the shape of your teeth and smile, dental veneers (laminates) could offer you the answer.

Veneers are custom made thin shells of porcelain that are bonded to your teeth. The process involves taking models of your mouth and building a 3D design of your new smile. This is called a wax-up because it is created in wax. We can also use digital photographs to give you the opportunity to see what your new smile may look like.

From the models we produce templates to guide the dentist in how to prepare your teeth for veneers. This helps minimise any work need to have done on your teeth to produce the final results. At this visit more models are made so the final veneers can be fabricated to our prescription in terms of colour and shape.

To ensure your new veneers will suit you at the same visit we fit prototype veneers by exactly copying the 3D model on to your teeth. You can wear these for the whole time it takes for the final veneers to be custom made. It also gives you the time to evaluate if you like your new smile and start to get used to the changes. Any adjustments can be made if necessary and these changes communicated to the technician so what you see will be exactly what you get, fantastic looking teeth and smile.

http://www.smilestyledentist.co.uk/index.html

HPV Vaccination Update

Thank you Sue. We now have a petition set up on the 10 Downing Street site to get action from the Government to vaccinate both boys and girls, so both sexes benefit from the protection it will give against mouth cancers caused by HPV. Please join in just follow this link.

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/HPVjabs-for-boys/

Dental Technology

Its always hard when the weather is nice and you have to give up family time to go on courses but it is worth it when you are exposed to world class speakers. This weekend was pure dentistry. I am amazed how far treatments have advanced in my career. New glues, better materials and the integration of advanced technologies. Cerec the CAD/CAM system for milling porcelain restorations and crowns for damaged teeth, which we have now used for 5 years, was centre stage.

I had a look at new instruments for analysing your bite so more accurately adjustments to teeth and restortations can be made. This would prevent cracking and breaking of teeth, also the risk of jaw joint problems, tooth sensitivity and muscle pain that are associated with a poor bite.

When it comes to early tooth decay we already use a laser 'Diagnodent' to help us look for disease but a new electronic disease finder ' CarieScan PRO' may offer us even more accurate diagnosis. We have been offered the opportunity to try this in the near future. Being highly commended by the British Dental Association for preventative dentistry has its uses.

Post Graduate Education

Friday and Saturday see Richard and some of the team heading off for 2 days of continued professional developement. The Dentistry Show at the NEC is holding the Aesthetic Dentist Conference and Hygienist Symposium. We are all hoping to learn more and bring great new ideas back to the practice so we can continue to improve our services.

Out and About

On Friday evening Jeni , Julie and I were out promoting the practice and spreading the dental health message at Berkswich Methodist Church. It is part of Smile Styles Charter to engage with the community and promote dental health for life.



If you need a speaker for your group or club, I am happy to offer my services for free just contact the practice.



email me at smile.style@btconnect.com or call on 01785 225505

HPV update

I have received a reply from my MP David Kidney which says

'Richard,
You obviously make a good point but I confirm that I was not aware of this particular argument in favour of vaccinating boys as well as girls. Now that you have brought it to my attention, I am writing to the Public Health Minister to put your point of view and to obtain a response. Perhaps we can speak when you have seen the Minister’s answer.
Regards, David'

We shall have to wait on a responce from the Public Health Minister but please contact your MP to help our campaign.

New site for Smile Style

We have just acquired a new building which will allow us to care for all patients on the ground floor and update our facilities for your extra comfort. Keep following this blog for more news.

The Dentist by Tom my son age 10

The dentist is cool, the dentist is great,
Your dentist sails and I'm his ship mate,
He's got some cool nurses, who have the odd laugh,
So they're pretty cool and you can call them staff,
Don't be afraid to come in and say,
'Can you make my teeth look better today'?
Cos they'll do the job and it won't take long,
With the radio there to play you a song,
So lets all go there to get our teeth white,
Cos everyone there will make it all right,
No matter who you are or whatever you do,
Smile Style Dental is right here for you.

HPV and Oral Cancer Prevention

Recently my daughter was one of the first 12 and 13 year old girls to be vaccinated against the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) as this has been linked to causing cervical cancer. I must admit both my wife and I, being from medical back grounds debated this trying to balance the risks of vaccination with its benefits. HPV is transmitted by unprotected intercourse and oral sex.

We are so glad we did get her vaccinated because HPV has now been linked to the steady increase, we are seeing as dentists, especially in younger people of mouth cancer. This means that she will also be protected from this horrendous cancer.

You may be shocked but 5000 people each year are diagnosed with mouth cancer and 1700 are killed by it annually. That is more than all the people who die due to cervical and testicular cancer added together. So why aren’t we vaccinating boys too?

I would like to lend support to a campaign to get vaccination for both boys and girls for this virus, a policy which has been adopted by other countries. It just makes common sense addressing the problem of rising HPV–related mouth cancer deaths in a simple, fair and effective manner.

Please forward this blog to friends and family and you local politician.

Mouth cancer screening is a routine part of new patient and re care appointments at Smile Style. Having spent my early years working in hospital I am very aware of the importance of early diagnosis. For more details about the practice visit http://www.smilestyledentist.co.uk/

I firmly believe self–diagnosis and regular trips to the dentist are an important and easy way to monitor against mouth cancer. Early detection can raise survival chances to over 90 per cent.

Three easy to spot warning signs are
• Mouth ulcers that do not heal within three weeks.
• Red or white patches in the mouth.
• Unusual swellings or lumps within the mouth or neck.

Good preventative measures are also to stop smoking and reduce your alcohol consumption especially spirit drinking.

Six Nations and mouthguards

With the start of the Six Nations I have just enjoyed a weekend of rugby and every time I see a player remove his mouthguards/ gumshields I am reminded how important and effective they are at preventing dental injuries. That is what preventative dentistry is all about.

There are some good products available in the sport shops where you heat them up in hot water and then mould the plastic to your teeth. The disadvantage is it is hard to get a really tight fit and the coverage above the teeth is limited. Just watch how difficult it is for the professionals to remove their gumshield’s, (you will have plenty of opportunity over the next few weeks, I can’t wait) they really have to tug them out between play.

The best mouthguards are custom made professionally by a dentist. Yes they are more expensive at between £40-50 but they won’t get knocked out even under extreme conditions. It’s one of the cheapest elements of a sports kit and offers you excellent value for money if it saves yours or your child’s smile.

Mouthguards are worn in many other sports other than rugby for instance hockey lacrosse and contact sports like boxing. The great thing is they come in numerous colours. My son has one that looks like vampire teeth.

Just in case you aren’t wearing a mouthguard and you have a tooth knocked out this is what you need to do.

Firstly, if you can find the tooth and it is clean – put it back into the socket yourself. If you can’t do this then put it straight in a cup of milk or just keep it like a sweet in your cheek. You then need to see a dentist urgently. Take painkillers (but don’t suck aspirin or clove oil) if necessary.

What you must NOT do is hold the tooth by the root, wash it in water or disinfectant or wrap it in a tissue which will dry it out. The tooth is surrounded by fragile ligaments which need to be kept intact if the tooth is to be replaced. The sooner the tooth is replaced, the better the chance of success. The dentist will put the tooth back if you haven't and splint it for a few weeks while it heals which is usually successful. However, you will almost certainly need more treatment in the future.

Hope this has been useful and come on England.

I can't put it off any longer and here it is Smile Style's very own Blog. What will it be about? I think we will just have to see how it evolves, but it will definitely have a dental angle to its content. The main reason for it is to share my knowledge. My staff go mad at me for talking too much to my patients, but when you care about people you just want to tell them all you know to help.
Perhaps this blog will make my staff happy, I can talk all I want to here and I hope I can spread the word about Dental Health.

Yes thats my soap box helping people change their beliefs and behavour about their dental health. I am confident that I will keep my teeth all my life - perhaps that is also what you want too. I hope I can help you. In the mean time if you are looking for a dentist in Stafford then check us out http://www.smilestyledentist.co.uk/.