Here is a guide that you may find helpful prior to attending your appointment – please have a read.  

OUR PRIORITY – KEEPING OUR PATIENTS AND STAFF SAFE AND HELPING YOU WITH YOUR DENTAL HEALTH.

Due to Covid-19 for your safety and that of the team members your journey through the practice is slightly different to previously.

BEFORE YOUR APPOINTMENT

• If you are showing any signs or symptoms of a respiratory infection or have tested positive to Covid 19, please contact us prior to your appointment – this is for your safety and the safety of our other patients and staff – we may just need to adjust your appointment slightly.
• Please call us with as much notice as possible (at least 48 hours) if you are unable to attend your appointment.
• Please let your dentist or hygienist know if you have any changes to your medical history or medication 
• Please ask us any questions you may have.

WHEN YOU ARRIVE

• Please wear a face mask or covering if you have any signs of a respiratory infection or tested positive for Covid 19
• Please arrive on time but not early 
• Please come on in – no need to knock or ring the bell
• On arrival, please use the alcohol gel on your hands 
• In line with our normal infection control we will have cleaned the communal areas and the surgery ready for you, except this time we have taken some additional steps to help keep you safe. 
• Please don’t worry about any masks or visors your dental team may be wearing – it is for your safety and ours – but it is still our smiley happy friendly team behind the masks and their gentle hands helping you. 

DURING AND AFTER YOUR APPOINTMENT 

• Please pay by card if possible
• Please alcohol gel your hands before you leave. 
• We will thoroughly clean the surgery after your departure.

We look forward to seeing you at the above appointment, however, if you have any problems in attending this appointment or have any questions or concerns, please contact us as soon as possible on 01323 640345.  A charge maybe levied if 48 hours notice is not received when cancelling an appointment (excluding weekends).

With best wishes

The Team at Fellows Dental Practice

We miss you all and hope you are all keeping well. We thought it would be fun to share with you a little bit of what we have all been up to whilst in lockdown.

We are available on the telephone everyday during our normal opening hours for advise and we can refer you to the New Dental Hubs if necessary for treatment.

We hope you are ok though and we really look forward to seeing you in the not too distant future.

As soon as we know we can open safely we will be back in touch – we are hoping this will be pretty soon, we are working hard and are just putting procedures in place to keep you safe and we will then be ready to roll again!

In the meantime do get in contact with us if you need to and don’t forget to follow us on Instagram for updates, information, competitions and fun!

READ ON TO SEE WHAT WE HAVE ALL BEEN UP TO…….

In the UK, more than 7,800 people were diagnosed with mouth cancer last year and globally there are in excess of 300,000 new cases every year. November is Mouth Cancer Action Month, a charity campaign, which aims to raise awareness of mouth cancer and make a difference by saving thousands of lives through early detection and prevention. Mouth cancer causes more deaths by number of cases than breast cancer, cervical cancer or melanomas.

The charity aims to raise awareness to get more mouth cancers diagnosed at an early stage by increasing education of the risk factors and signs and symptoms to encourage everyone to discuss these with their dentist.

Although there are risk factors heavily linked to the disease, mouth cancer can affect anyone – that’s why it’s so important that we all know what to look out for. Mouth cancer can often be spotted in its early stages by your dental team during a thorough mouth examination. If mouth cancer is diagnosed early, then the chances of a cure are good. Too many people come forward too late because they do not have regular mouth examinations.

Examine yourself regularly. Ulcers that do not heal within three weeks, any unusual red or white patches, lumps in your neck or jaw area, or persistent hoarseness are all reasons for asking your dental team or doctor to examine you. There is probably nothing seriously wrong but an early diagnosis could save your life.

You can help reduce your chances of developing mouth cancer by:

• stopping smoking and cutting down on the amount of alcohol you drink
• eating a balanced, healthy diet with at least five portions of fruit and vegetables a day. This can also help protect against many other cancers
• visiting your dental team regularly, as often as they recommend.

When you visit your dentist, he or she will examine the inside of your mouth and your tongue with the help of a small mirror. The examination will also look at your neck and underneath your jaw. Dentists will carry out this examination as part of a routine dental check-up. Remember, your dental team can see parts of your mouth that you cannot see easily yourself.

THE CHANCE OF SURVIVAL IS GREATLY IMPROVED IF THE CANCERS ARE DETECTED EARLY AND TREATED RAPIDLY.

To find out more, go to Mouth Cancer Action Month

To book an appointment with the dentist call us now on 01323 640345 or book online via our website www.fellowsdental.co.uk

We wanted to write to you to let you know some exciting developments at Fellows Dental Practice.

You may have been in recently and noticed some building work going on, and we thank you for your patience during this time.

So – what have we been doing? Thanks to your loyalty and recommendations of your family and friends to we have increased our patients numbers and are excitied to announce we have added a third Surgery upstairs and created a new larger area for the cleaning and sterilisation for all of our instruments creating a new state of the art decontamination suite.

We are extremely happy to announce the arrival of two new additional members to our team – Nisar Parekar and Sylanna Vanyik.

Nisar will be our new dentist and Sylanna our new hygienist.

Nisar joins us with a wealth of experience having worked in general dental practice for over 16 years; for the past 10 years he has been working in Uckfield in a family friendly practice.

He is a lovely friendly, empathetic man who pays great attention to detail, providing an excellent quality of dentistry with a gentle caring attitude.

Nisar is great photographer in his spare time and enjoys keeping fit having even completed marathons for charity! He loves travelling and has been on motorbike trips across Europe, Western USA and The Himalayas – which I am sure he will enjoy telling you many exciting tales about!

To compliment Nisar’s general dental skills he has a particular interest in Aesthetic Dentistry, Cosmetic Adult Orthodontics (braces) and Dental Implants. In line with our practice ethos of continuing professional development, one of Nisar’s attributes is his keen interest in lifelong learning, he has completed a variety of postgraduate courses – most recently he was awarded a Diploma in Dental Implants at the prestigious Eastman Dental Institute in London.

Initially Nisar will work Mondays and Thursdays with an aim to build up to full time.

Sylanna joins us in January working alongside Jennifer our current Hygeinist. Sylanna graduated from University College London and is a dynamic and enthusiastic hygienist. Sylanna is an exceptionally gentle and caring individual, she is full of energy and with her excellent communication skills she can connect with all kinds of people to inspire and encourage them to improve their habits.

In Sylanna’s spare time she enjoys spending time with her family and friends and pursing her hobbies of horse riding and exploring new cultures!

Initially Sylanna will work on Thursdays and Fridays, building on more days in the future.

We are very much looking forward to Nisar and Sylanna joining our team alongside Mark, Sharmila and Jennifer, and you meeting them both. We are confident you will be in good hands.

Sharmila will be working Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

Jennifer Mondays and Tuesdays all day and Friday mornings.

Mark everyday!

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us either by email on info@fellowsdental.co.uk or call us 01323 640345.

Do check out our website for further information on the practice www.fellowsdental.co.uk

In the meantime we would like to wish you all a very Happy  New Year. Thank you for being patient with us during the building works and we look forward to the exciting developments here at the practice. We are proud to be a forward thinking team delivering you a high level of care with enthusiastic, kind and caring clinicians.

With our best wishes

The Team at Fellows Dental Practice.

Its National Smile Month this month and so we are going to give you some information on reasons to maintain great oral health. The saying goes ‘the mouth is the window to the body’ and when we’re talking about taking care of our teeth, this couldn’t be truer.

One of the benefits of great oral health, is what it can do for our confidence, our career and relationships, but here we are going to talk about the effects of poor oral health.

So what comes to mind here?  Yellow teeth?  How about missing teeth?  Or perhaps breath that even air freshener couldn’t mask?

These may be extreme but the point is this – the repercussions of poor oral health don’t just stop at the mouth.

You wouldn’t ignore bleeding to any part of your body but many people ignore bleeding gums. It’s one of the first and most obvious signs of gum disease, which if left untreated, can cause a whole range of problems. By visiting a dentist as often as they recommend, we can help to nip these things in the bud.

So here we are going to look at some commonly asked questions on how the health of our mouth can affect our general health and why we ask question regards your general health when you come to the dentist.

What problems could poor denal health cause?

Problems which may be caused or made worse by poor dental health include:

• Heart Disease

• Strokes

• Diabetes

• Giving birth to a premature or low-birth-weight baby

• Respiratory (lung) disease

How can the health of my mouth affect my heart?

People with gum disease are almost twice as likely to have coronary artery disease than people without gum disease. When people have gum disease, bacteria from the mouth can get into their bloodstream. The bacteria produce protein. This can then affect the heart by causing the platelets in the blood to stick together in the blood vessels of the heart. This can make clots more likely to form. Blood clots can reduce normal blood flow, so that the heart does not get all the nutrients and oxygen it needs.

If the blood flow is badly affected this could lead to a heart attack.

 What is the link between gum disease and strokes?

Several studies have looked at the connection between mouth infections and strokes. They have found that people who have had a stroke are more likely to have gum disease than people who have not had one.

When the bacteria that cause gum disease get into the bloodstream, they produce a protein. This can cause inflammation of the blood vessels, and this can block the blood supply to the brain. This can cause a stroke.

How could diabetes affect my dental health?

People with diabetes are more likely to have gum disease than people without it. This is probably because diabetics are more likely to get infections in general. People who do not know they have diabetes, or whose diabetes is not under control, are especially at risk.

If you do have diabetes it is important that any gum disease is diagnosed, because it can increase your blood sugar. This would put you at risk of diabetic complications.

Also, if you are diabetic, you may find that you heal more slowly. If you have a problem with your gums, or have problems after visits to your dentist, discuss this with your dentist before you have any treatment.

New research has also shown that you are more likely to develop diabetes if you have gum disease.

If you have diabetes, you have an increased risk of losing teeth.

Could gum disease effect my unborn child?

Pregnant women who have gum disease may be over three times more likely to have a baby that is premature and so has a low birth weight. There is a one-in-four chance that a pregnant woman with gum disease will give birth before 35 weeks.

It seems that gum disease raises the levels of the chemicals that bring on labour. Research also suggests that women whose gum disease gets worse during pregnancy have an even higher risk of having a premature baby.

Having gum disease treated properly during pregnancy can reduce the risk of a premature birth.

How could bateria in the mouth effect my lungs?

Bacterial chest infections are thought to be caused by breathing in fine droplets from the throat and mouth into the lungs. This can cause infections, such as pneumonia, or could make an existing condition worse. People with gum disease have more bacteria in their mouths and may therefore be more likely to get chest infections.

What are the tell-tale signs of gum disease that I should look out for?

Visit your dentist or hygienist if you have any of the symptoms of gum disease. These can include:

• Inflammation of the gums, causing them to be red, swollen and to bleed easily, especially when brushing

• An unpleasant taste in your mouth

• Bad breath

• Loose teeth

• Regular mouth infections

Do I need to tell the dentist about changes to my general health?

Always tell your dentist about any changes to your general health. It is especially important to tell them if you are pregnant or have heart disease, diabetes, lung disease or have ever had a stroke. You also need to tell them about any medicines you are taking as these can affect both your treatment and the health of your mouth.

Does gum disease run in families?

Although there is some evidence that gum disease runs in families, the main cause is the plaque that forms on the surface of your teeth. To prevent gum disease, you need to make sure you remove all the plaque from your teeth every day by brushing and cleaning in between your teeth.

How can I prevent gum disease from getting worse?

If you have gum disease, your dentist or hygienist will usually give your teeth a thorough clean to remove any scale or tartar. This may take a number of sessions with the dentist or hygienist.

They will also show you how to remove the soft plaque yourself, by cleaning all the surfaces of your teeth thoroughly at home. Plaque is a sticky film of bacteria which forms on the teeth every day. For more information see our website section on gum disease.

Gum disease is never cured. But as long as you keep up the home-care you have been taught you can slow down its progress and even stop it altogether. You must make sure you remove plaque every day, and go for regular check-ups with the dentist and hygienist, as often as they recommend.

Can exercise help to prevent gum disease?

A recent study has shown that people who stay fit and healthy are 40% less likely to develop tooth-threatening gum infections that could lead to gum disease. It also found that not exercising, not keeping to a normal body weight and unhealthy eating habits made a person much more likely to get advanced gum disease.

If you are serious about your health – and your teeth – you will need to exercise, eat a healthy, balanced diet and keep to a normal body weight.

Can smoking affect my teeth and gums?

Smoking can make gum disease much worse.  People who smoke are more likely to produce bacterial plaque that leads to gum disease. The gums are affected because smoking means you have less oxygen in your bloodstream, so the infected gums do not heal. Smoking can also lead to tooth staining, tooth loss because of gum disease, bad breath, and in more severe cases mouth cancer.

For more information, see our website – www.fellowsdental.co.uk or call to see us to book an appointment with one of our dentists or hygienists – 01323 640 345.

Think before you grab a soft drink!

The term ‘soft drink’ covers a vast array of beverages from carbonated, sports and energy drinks to fruit juices, dilutables and bottled waters. In the UK, we consume around 14 billion litres of soft drinks each year, with children and adolescents being most likely to consume more than any other age group.

READ ON or call us on 01323 640345 for further information from FELLOWS DENTAL PRACTICE

The bad guys

Carbonated drinks are made when gas is dissolved in them (carbonation) making them fizzy. Carbonated, as well as sports/energy drinks, also generally contain high levels of acids and sugars making them extremely damaging to our teeth as they cause dental erosion and decay.

An example of this is Coca Cola, one of the most popular soft drinks, which contains a massive 53g of sugar in a 500ml bottle equivalent to 14 teaspoons! Figure 1 shows the sugar content in some other popular soft drinks:

Figure 1: Sugar content in some popular soft drinks (Data from BBC)

Teenagers are most at risk as shown by a 2016 study which found that 94% of adolescents had a consumption of free sugars above the 10% of total energy intake recommendations. In this study, the main food contributor to free sugars was ‘carbonated, soft and isotonic drinks!’

Here’s a reminder of the recommended maximum sugar intake per day for children:

How can the damaging effect of sugary and acidic drinks be made worse?

1. High volume and regular intakes
2. No tooth brushing: this leaves bacteria on the teeth, which are able to react with the sugars to cause dental decay

1. Brushing/grinding teeth immediately after: the acids in the drink make the tooth surface soft; this soft surface becomes heavily damaged and quickly worn away when we brush/grind our teeth after an acidic drink
2. Consuming these drinks when we have a dry mouth: saliva is the body’s defence against acid and sugar attacks on the teeth. When we have a dry mouth there is little saliva and therefore little defence against sugars and acids. This is a huge concern as it is when we have a dry mouth that we are perhaps most likely to grab a soft drink!
3. Swilling drinks
4. Intakes at bedtime or during the night

What about diet and sugar-free carbonated drinks?

There’s increasing pressure within the soft drinks industry to create ‘healthier’ options in the form of ‘sugar free’ and ‘diet’ alternatives. These options are now slowly becoming more popular with 49% of carbonates sold in 2014 being low and no calorie.

However, before you grab yourself one of these ‘sugar-free’ alternatives, it’s important to bear in mind that though they help reduce obesity, diabetes and the risk of tooth decay compared to their ‘full fat’ sugar equivalents, they are still extremely acidic. Therefore, dental erosion is still a huge concern.

Are fruit juices a good alternative?

Fruit juices are known for having beneficial effects on our general health with the Government recommending that a 150ml portion of juice can count as one of your five-a-day. However, like carbonated drinks, fruit juice contains acids and sugar which can be damaging to our teeth. Therefore, we still need to consider some recommendations before grabbing the ‘healthy’ fruit juice.

“Like carbonated drinks, fruit juice contains acids and sugar which can be damaging to our teeth.”

Here’s a good way to get the benefits of fruit juice while minimising the damage to our teeth: drink one portion of 150ml fruit juice a day with breakfast and brush your teeth either before or around 30 minutes after breakfast.

Bottled waters

Bottled waters are seen as the healthiest option by many of us, however we must be careful when selecting them. Many manufacturers are adding sugars and flavourings to help bottled water to taste better and to increase its appeal. For example, Volvic Touch of Fruit contains around 24g of sugar in a 500ml bottle (that’s equivalent to 6 teaspoons – WOW!).

“The worry is that we could be ditching carbonated drinks for what we consider a ‘healthy’ alternative – which is in fact sugary water!”

When selecting a healthy option we should be going for unflavoured plain bottled waters, still or sparkling. While sparkling waters are carbonated, they have not been found to have the same damaging effect on teeth as other fizzy drinks. Alternatively we can go to the tap for our water – this is the cheapest option and may also, in some parts of the UK, come with added health benefits for our teeth in the form of fluoride.

Here’s some tips to consider when reaching for bottled water:

1. Avoid flavoured waters: these usually contain sugars – read the packaging!
2. Drink plain water daily: current recommendations are we should get around 2L of water a day
3. Consider drinking water from the tap
4. Plain water should be the main drink we reach for between meals and at bedtime or during the night.

Six top tips to help protect ourselves against sugary and acidic drinks

1. Reduce our daily intake of acidic and sugary drinks
2. Good tooth brushing: brush your teeth twice a day with fluoride toothpaste – spitting and not rinsing afterwards. This removes bacteria to prevent dental decay
3. Toothbrushing should be carried out before or approximately 30 minutes after an acidic drink

1. Limit intake of acidic and sugary drinks to meal times: the food we eat helps defend against attacks on the teeth. It is important that we try and stick to three meals/day to limit sugar attacks
2. Consider using a straw and do not swill the drinks: the damaging effect of these drinks is increased the longer these fluids are in contact with the teeth. A straw can help carry the damaging drinks past our teeth

1. Avoid acidic or sugary drinks at bedtime or during the night: we should not eat/drink anything except water after brushing our teeth at night.

Soft drinks are regularly consumed by a large number of the population – particularly a high proportion of adolescents! The choices you make about which soft drinks you choose for yourself and your children can have a detrimental impact on both your general and oral health. Plain, unflavoured bottled water or tap water is the healthiest choice for our bodies and our teeth.

So, remember to think before you grab a soft drink!

Call us today to book an appointment with one of our Dentists or Hygenists to have you full dental check up and advise on how to reduce decay to your teeth.

Upgrade to our SOFTWARE …

                     please bear with us!

Please ensure we have your uptodate E-MAIL & TELEPHONE NUMBERS

At the end of September we are upgrading our Dental Software.

Thank you for your patience and we are sorry for any disruption this may cause. We are sure that in the long run it will be a much better system for all our patients and the practice.

We will be able to remind you of your appointmnets more effectively via text message and email and generally be able to communiate much more efficiently with you.

One of the BIG IMPROVEMENTS will be NO MORE yellow medical history forms to fill in as you will be able to update your records here at the practice electronically!

Dental Checkup – What Does the Dentist Look For?

We’ve had Euro 2016, Wimbledon and the Tour de France but with the Rio Olympics approaching, sports men and women are being reminded to take extra care of their oral health, as research shows athletes are at greater risk of tooth decay and dental erosion.

A report by a team of dental researchers discovered significantly higher tooth erosion in triathletes than in non-athletes. In addition, the researchers found that athletes who engaged in more weekly training had more cavities than those who trained less. The triathletes’ high carbohydrate consumption, including sports drinks, gels, and bars during training, can lower the mouth’s pH below 5.5, which means there is more acid in the mouth.

After the London 2012 Olympics, research published in the British Journal of Sports medicine discovered that more than half (55 per cent) of the athletes had tooth decay. It also revealed more than three in four athletes had gingivitis, which is an early stage of gum disease, and 15 per cent had signs of periodontitis, which is an irreversible gum infection.

Those who are actively involved in sport are in a great position to begin with, as those who exercise are less likely to develop tooth-threatening problems that could lead to gum disease. Many other links between good oral health and good overall health have also been made, including diabetes, lung diseases and heart problems. However, athletes may feel as though they require plenty of energy drinks, which are packed full of sugar, across a prolonged period of time to get them through their respective sports. It is the sustained consumption of too many sports and energy drinks that puts athletes are at risk of dental erosion.

Dental erosion is the loss of tooth enamel caused by acid attacks, a process that can be triggered by consuming fizzy drinks too often. Enamel is the hard, protective coating of the tooth, and if it is worn away, the dentine underneath becomes exposed and teeth can look discoloured and become sensitive. Tooth decay happens when sugar reacts with the bacteria in plaque. Sugars from fizzy energy drinks stimulate the formation of acids that attack the teeth and destroy the enamel. Tooth decay causes cavities and results in the need for fillings, and can also result in tooth loss.

If you are active and take part in sport regularly, it is important to limit the amount of times you have anything acidic or sugary. Using a straw to help drinks go to the back of the mouth will help limit the amount of time a fizzy drink will be in contact with teeth. If the use of energy drinks, particularly amongst children, continues to rise, dental health problems will develop and persist throughout adulthood.

For further advice please speak to your Dentist – Mark Fellows and Sharmila Sarin are here to help and advise you.

Do you often awaken in the morning to find that your jaw is sore or that your neck and shoulders feel tense? Perhaps you suffer from frequent headaches that tend to begin in the area surrounding your temples. These symptoms are common in individuals with nighttime teeth grinding and daily jaw clenching, or bruxism and temporomandibular joint disorder (TMD).

It’s been estimated that up to 30% of adults will experience TMD at some point in their lives.

The condition itself isn’t usually serious, and the symptoms it can cause – including pain, jaw joint clicking or popping, and difficulties eating – usually only last a few months before getting better. However, these symptoms can last longer and can significantly lower quality of life and be very painful –  but don’t panic, as your dentist can help with treatment that is typically  non-invasive, affordable and easily accessible.

What are the symptoms?

TMD can cause:

• clicking, popping or grating noises as you chew or move your mouth
• muscle pain around the jaw
• pain in front of the ear that may spread to the cheek, ear and temple
• difficulty opening the mouth – the jaw may feel tight, as if it is stuck, making eating difficult
• headache or migraine
• earache or a “buzzing” or blocked sensation in the ear
• pain in other areas of the body – such as neckache or backache

These symptoms may lead to related symptoms, such as disturbed sleep.

What are the causes?

Possible causes of TMD include:

• clenching your jaw or grinding your teeth during sleep (bruxism) – which overworks the jaw muscles and puts pressure on the joint (often caused by stress)
• wear and tear of the inside of the jaw joint – usually caused by osteoarthritis
• injury to the jaw joint – for example, after a blow to the face or surgery
• stress – some people may inherit increased sensitivity to pain or stress
• uneven bite – for example, when new fillings, dental crowns or dentures are fitted
• specific diseases – TMD may be associated with specific diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, gout or fibromyalgia

However, some people may develop TMD without an obvious cause being found.

What to do……

We can help with the symptoms and possibly the source of the problem. 

Please do mention to your Dentist if you have any of these symptoms.

DON’T stay quietly in pain – talk to your Dentist at Fellows Dental Practice about any symptoms you may be having.