Laura is doing a sponsored tandem parachute jump at the end of the month and everyone here would like to wish her luck, we’re sure she’ll really enjoy it a
nd we hope the weather is great. Laura is raising funds for the intensive care unit at Jimmy’s hospital in Leeds. This will be her first ever tandem jump and although nervous about it, she is really looking forward to the jump.
Archive for the ‘dentistry in the news’ Category
High Flying Laura
Wednesday, May 19th, 2010
NHS Dentistry hits the headlines
Monday, September 28th, 2009The newspapers have recently been running stories about the perverse incentives/disincentives of the new NHS dental contract, e.g. today’s Daily Telegraph*.
Don Sloss, our Clinical Director, says of the new contract ” Even after nearly 3 ½ years most people cannot understand how the contract works and that includes dentists. Although I am not suggesting that dentists at other practices would allow their clinical decisions to be influenced by whether they make a profit or a loss from treating their patients it must be understood that they need to cover their substantial overheads or go bankrupt. Can you imagine working in a system that pays you the same whether you produce one unit of activity (filling) or ten with the result that some patients may not be getting the full treatment they require? Or a system that pays you the same for spending hours carrying out extensive treatment to save a decayed tooth or ten minutes to extract it even though that extraction may cause the patient more treatment in the future?
At Clock Tower Dental Care we believe in delivering a high quality of care for all our patients and making decisions based on the clinical condition of the patient and their teeth, not how we are going to get paid. Articles like these confirm that the move away from the NHS was in the best interests of our patients and I can only see the situation for NHS dental patients getting worse in the future.”
*http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/6232341/NHS-dental-crisis-Can-the-rot-be-stopped.html
Drinking tea can be good for your gums
Thursday, August 13th, 2009A study from Japan* has shown that regularly drinking green tea can be good for your gums helping to prevent gum diseases. It is thought that the anti oxidants in green tea may help by offsetting the inflammation caused by bacteria in the mouth. The study of 940 men showed a reduction in gum problems including bleeding and receding gums for each additional cup of green tea drunk each day. We assume this would also be the case in women! So if you want an easy way to supplement your daily dental health routine why not change your regular tea or coffee to green tea and see if you notice an improvement ( this is in addition to your daily brushing and flossing). Please let us know how you get on.
*Reported in Sainsbury’s magazine (August 2009)
Hair colour link to dental phobia
Thursday, August 13th, 2009The Daily Telegraph (11.8.09) published the findings of an Ohio research team which seems to show that redheads are more than twice as likely to avoid the dentists than those blondes or brunettes. This follows previous studies that indicate that people with the MC1R genetic variant associated with red hair require more anaesthetic during treatment to become numb. What does this mean for your dental treatment at Clock Tower Dental Care? Dr Don Sloss say’s “Our clinical team has long been aware that there is a difference in the amount, and sometimes type, of anaesthetic required to achieve the same effects in individuals requiring the same treatment. As a result of this we always listen to the patients responses and treat them according to those responses rather than the “average” guidelines. This means each patient gets the treatment that is best suited to them regardless of their hair colour”.
New use for dental floss
Friday, August 7th, 2009As you know, here at Clock Tower Dental Care we like to keep you up to date with the latest developments in dentistry and dental products, so when we heard this latest use for dental floss we just had to pass it on. As announced by Scott Mills on his Radio 1 show floss can be used as a clothesline for your underwear and socks. If you’re on holiday, or anywhere where you need to hang your freshly washed undies to dry and don’t have access to a clothes line then simply tie a length of floss between two chairs and suspend your washing until dry. We haven’t tried this ourselves but we can appreciate the thinking although we’re not sure it would work with anything heavy on the line unless you have two friends who would be willing to sit on the chairs.
If you have any other unusual uses for dental floss why not let us know about them. Needless to say our clinical team members still insist the best use of floss is the one it was designed for, cleaning those areas of your teeth that your toothbrush can’t reach.
Welcome to our blog
Friday, July 31st, 2009Welcome to our blog!
What will you find on this blog?
- Information to help you with your dental health
- News and comments, the latest dental news and our comments and reactions to it
- Testimonials from our patients
- Practice Newsletter, what’s happening at the practice
- Reviews of latest dental products
- Photos showing before and after treatment smiles
- Offers on products and treatments
We hope the blog will be an additional way for us to keep in contact between your appointments. We aim to keep you informed on the latest developments in dentistry as they happen to allow you to make the best decisions for your dental health.
We would love to hear from you also so please feel free to leave comments about any item on the blog or to ask any questions you may have, we will always do our best to answer them. Please remember to check back regularly to find out what is happening in the world of dentistry and dentistry in Ripon.
Look forward to seeing you again soon