‘Key working’ Easter bunny is heading your way!
Thankfully the Easter bunny has been deemed an essential key worker, so he is most likely on his way to your house laden with chocolate and other sweet treats.
Exeter dentist, Ben Pearson, and the hygiene teamat Life Dental in Exeter would like to remind us to spare a thought for our teeth. They have provided some helpful facts and tips to help protect our teeth over the Easter festivities.
Facts
- It’s not how much sugar we eat, it’s how long it’s on our teeth that counts.
- Sugar + plaque germs = TOOTH DECAY.
- It takes our teeth at least 45 minutes to recover from every sugar attack.
Tips
- Keep sweet treats to mealtimes.
- Eat them up - don’t hoard! Having one or two chocolates throughout the day means our teeth are exposed to sugar more frequently. Of course, we don’t suggest eating them all in one go! Treat yourself after a meal and then give your teeth a long break to help them recover from an acid attack.
- Leave at least an hour after eating sweet treats before brushing or flossing your teeth to allow them to recover from an acid attack, which makes tooth enamel soft.
We should brush our teeth twice a day for a minimum of two minutes with fluoride toothpaste before we go to bed and at one other time during the day.
When should I start brushing my child’s teeth?
Our advice is start early! As soon as your baby’s first tooth appears introduce them to a toothbrush and toothpaste. Children up to three years old should use a toothpaste with a fluoride level of at least 1,000ppm (parts per million), after that we should all use toothpaste that contains 1,350ppm - 1,500ppm. Children should use a pea-sized amount on their toothbrush and babies just a smear.
Emergency care at Life Dental and Wellbeing
NHS England and the Department of Health has instructed dental practices to prioritise urgent treatment where possible. This guidance is to reduce the risk of virus transmission to you and our staff.
You need emergency dental treatment if you have:
- Facial swelling extending to your eye, neck or floor of your mouth
- Bleeding following an extraction that does not stop after 20 minutes of solid pressure with a gauze
- Bleeding due to trauma
- Severely broken tooth, or tooth fallen out with pain
- Toothache that is preventing sleep, eating combined with swelling or fever that is not manageable with pain killers
Please contact usif you have any of the above and we will do all we can to advise you.
Go straight to A&E if you have:
- Facial swelling affecting your vision, breathing or preventing your mouth opening more than 2 fingers’ width
- Trauma causing loss of consciousness, double vision or vomiting
For more information about our emergency care during the Covid-19 pandemic.
