Hello to our beloved community,
We have taken the difficult but necessary decision to move to emergency/essential treatment only. We hope you understand that this is not a decision we have taken lightly and is done in the best interest of our team and patients’ health and safety.
If you do have a dental emergency, please call or email our team and they can assist you accordingly. We will be here for you when this all settles to provide you with exceptional dental care and to nag you about flossing and brushing your teeth!
Thank you for your support and understanding as we navigate these tough times and hope we can count on your support when we return. Until then, stay safe and do your bit to flatten the curve!
– The team at Dental at Keys
T: 03 8899 6331
E: info@dentalatkeys.com.au
Nearly all of us have heard about how the teeth suffered after a pregnancy, so what does this mean?
Firstly, congratulations on your pregnancy! It is a tricky time since you have so many things to be mindful of.
On a teeth & oral health level, rest assured most things will be the same.
Teeth and Pregnancy itself is not a huge risk factor for your teeth developing problems. There are a few things to monitor while pregnant:
Things to note
Visiting the dentist
The main thing I’ve found is that new mums are tired with so much to do and the lack of sleep, it’s hard to look after yourself properly. So don’t forget about your own health and wellbeing along with your baby 🙂
As always, contact us here and give us a call or book online to discuss further.
Heard about a Dental implant but not sure what it is? To put it simply – dental implants are special titanium cylinders that are placed in your jaw which allow us to replace missing teeth.
Dental Implants are specially manufactured root replacements for a tooth/teeth. They are usually made of titanium, which is an excellent material at sticking to bone (just like hip and joint replacements!). Implants are usually shaped like a screw and are placed in the jaw where the missing tooth is. A special customised crown is then attached to the top of the implant. The finished product is almost exactly like a new tooth, albeit without the sensitivity!
When would you need a Dental Implant?
Implants are a great option to replace missing teeth. There is no need to remove it every night like a plate/denture and it is cleaned normally just like any other tooth in your mouth. Implants can be used to replace a single missing tooth or multiple missing teeth. In more complex cases, a group of 4 or more implants can be used to replace an entire jaw of missing teeth.
How is a Dental Implant fitted?
Firstly, your health will have to be assessed to see if you are a suitable candidate for implants. You should be in good health, have no gum disease and have a suitable amount of healthy jawbone. Secondly, special 3D x-ray scans of your jaw are done to determine the optimum position of the implant. In some cases, we may take a few moulds of your teeth for a construction of a special 3D printed surgical stent. This advanced technology allows extremely accurate positioning of the implant in your jawbone.
The implant is then surgically placed in the jaw bone where the tooth once was. Depending on the quality of the bone, the implant may be left to integrate for a period of 2 to 6 months. Once the integration process is finished, moulds of your teeth are taken and a special customised crown is constructed and screwed or cemented in. If you are missing all your teeth in your jaw, a special full arch denture is made and screwed onto digitally designed titanium strengthening bars.
How long do Implants last?
There are many variables for this. Generally, studies have shown a 97% success rate over 15 years. If you are healthy and have good oral hygiene (ie. you brush and floss well), you can expect them to last a long time. However, that said, some patients despite all of this, still have complications with their implants.
Are there any complications?
As with any dental treatment, some patients have experience complications. Whilst implants have a great success rate, implants can still fail on even the healthiest patients. Implants are not immune to gum disease and if proper checks and cleans are not done on a regular basis, the implants can get infected causing their eventual failure (peri-implantitis). On rare occasions implants can also fracture if there is heavy grinding happening at night. Small amounts of bone loss around an implant is a fairly common complication however if it is managed well, it may affect the integrity of the implant system.
If you are interested in Implants or want to know more – why not give us a call to speak to one of our lovely staff to find out more? Contact us here.
Gum disease, also known as periodontal disease/periodontitis is a chronic infection of the gums and bone around the tooth. This results in bone loss around the tooth root.
Signs of gum disease (not a definitive list):
Some of these symptoms can also mean other problems so don’t self-diagnose!
The key with treatment of gum disease is that there is no quick cure. It is something that requires ongoing management.
There are many treatment options and as with anything, the key is to come in as soon as possible for treatment. The longer you wait, the more likely it will become severe and you will end up losing teeth.
The treatment you require really depends on the severity of the gum disease. Usually you will need a full measurement of your gum and bone height + a full mouth X-ray (called an OPG). Subsequently, we perform a deep clean called ‘Root-planing’. This is done under a local anaesthetic so we can clean under the gums well and return the tooth to a healthy state.
After this, we need to review your gums and see if it is responding to treatment. If it is healing well, we monitor you every 3 months and do a check-up and clean. It is very important to maintain this otherwise it will worsen.
If things are not stable- we may need to look at gum surgery or other interventions.
Gum disease is something that can lie dormant with no symptoms for a long time so ensure you get your teeth checked regularly to avoid losing teeth!
Contact us by Calling us now or booking online to discuss any concerns you might have!
People always ask us, what toothpaste should I be using? Is it important to use a particular brand?
So we thought we would review the most common types of toothpaste.
Normal fluoridated toothpaste
Kids Toothpaste
Whitening Toothpaste
Sensitive Toothpaste
Dry mouth Toothpaste
Higher Fluoride Toothpaste
There is no real need to buy a particular brand of toothpaste. Just ensure that you are using the right toothpaste for your situation. It is always best to check with your dentist about this!
Although it may sound obvious, you need to brush your teeth at least twice a day for two minutes with the toothpaste for it to work :).
As always, contact us here and give us a call or book online to discuss further.
Happy Brushing!
So everyone has heard about veneers! I get so many people coming in and asking me about veneers and most people don’t really understand what they are!
Veneers are facings/covers that are bonded onto the tooth to change the shape/colour/alignment of teeth. Generally all 6 front teeth are done at the same time. Sometimes you may only need fewer done- this really depends on your teeth.
There are many different types of veneers:
Fix mild-moderate alignment issues e.g. crowding, spacing
Sometimes, there are better options than veneers. It may be better in some cases to think about braces/clear aligners to correct your crowding instead of veneers. At other times, whitening and enamel micro-abrasion may also brighten up your smile. This is why it is always best to consult your dental professional
Veneers can chip and break over time so it will need to be redone as required. This is why it may be better to get something like orthodontics done instead so there is no continual treatment required to maintain it (other than retainers of course!).
They are a great option in the right case and sometimes you will need to wear a night guard to ensure that you don’t break your veneers!
If you would like more information or want to book in for a consult for veneers just give us a call or book online now 🙂
You can also contact us here.
It’s getting to that time of the year again where everyone gets extremely busy especially leading up to the end of the financial year!
May & June appointments are filling fast so give the team at Dental at Keys a call to book your appointment in. You definitely don’t want a toothache or a broken tooth over the holidays!
If you have health insurance (that resets every financial year) – consider making full use of your health insurance and Maximise your rebate for this year.
You pay high premiums to have extras so don’t lose your chance to use it in 2019!
Some health insurances will reset your limits on the 1st of July every year so any funds you have available for dental work will be lost if not used by June 31st.
Exciting news everyone!
We’ve just updated our payment plan page here.
Take a look and let us know what you think.
Just remember, we are here to help!
So, you’ve received a preventative maintenance postcard and you are wondering what the answers were?
For postcards – part three:
Did you get them all correct?
So, you’ve received a preventative maintenance postcard and you are wondering what the answers were?
For postcards – part two:
Did you get them all correct?
