Practice News

Childrens Olympic Flag Design Competition

If you have visited Smile Essential recently you may have noticed the Childrens Olympic Flags hanging in the Patient Lounge. We have been running a competition for some of our younger Patients at Smile Essential to design an Olympic themed flag. We have been taking votes on which ones are your favourites and there will be Olympic Prizes for Gold(1st), Silver(2nd) and Bronze (3rd). We will count up the votes and announce our winner next week. We Just thought we would share a few with you.

Good luck to all of the entries and we will share the 3 winning designs with you when the votes have been counted.

Detecting and Treating Tooth Decay at Smile Essential

Tooth decay is a silent problem, creeping up on the teeth gradually, never revealing itself until it has caused lasting damage and persistent pain.

However, at Smile Essential Dental Practice we can spot and treat even the tiniest bit of decay during a routine check-up.

How we can spot and treat tooth decay?

The early stages of tooth decay are usually unnoticeable and they cause no pain. However, we use magnification during our dental check-ups to pin-point evening the smallest instance of decay and fill it before it can spread and become a cavity.

We can also use dental x-rays to explore the inside of a tooth if we feel it may be infected.

How does tooth decay occur?

The start of decay may begin with a mild rise in the level of sugar you consume or a decline if the amount of time you spend on your dental hygiene, whatever the root cause tooth decay generally occurs for the same reason each time-dental bacteria creates plaque, which eats away first at the enamel, then the dentin before reaching the dental chamber inside the tooth and infecting the pulp and tissue inside.

Once this infection has entered the tooth the pain begins and sadly it may be too late to save the tooth. The dental pulp inside a tooth is what keeps it alive, so once this has become infected the tooth is technically dead. Treatments such as root canal therapy can be used to clean and sterilise the tooth, after which a crown will be placed over the damaged tooth to restore its strength, but it will never match the strength of a natural tooth.

During our dental check-ups we locate the very early signs of decay to stop this from happening and prevent you from loosing your teeth, for beautiful and healthy smiles.

Smile Essential team visit BDTA Dental Showcase 2011

We recently visited the BDTA Annual Dental Showcase in Birmingham, all of the team went to the event spanning over 3 days.

The Showcase is an event we all enjoy. The dentists get to keep up to date with the latest techniques and materials on the market. We are all passionate about dentistry and want to offer the best products,services and treatments available on the market.  I thought it would be nice for us to share with you this event we all look forward to every year.

As you can see by our smiles we had a good day, updated a few things for the Practice and don’t worry we didn’t  buy the large drill!

Meet our friendly receptionist Adele

Adele has worked at Smile essential for several years now. Adele is one of our most crucial team members for ensuring your time at the practice runs as smoothly as possibly.

The reason I write this post is to share the story of how focused we try to remain on providing good customer service in an era where it sadly seems now that customer service is bottom of the list. We all have our rather unfortunate tales of bad customer experiences and we aim to never feature in them.

A few days ago now we had a very pleasant lady call us accidentally intending to find a dentist that was based closer to her home. After Adele spoke to her and assured her that there was no need to apologise and if she ever required our services then to feel free to give us a call. After half an hour the Lady called back and asked to join our practice after several calls to other dentists she said she was prepared to come out of her way to see us. The reason-

Our great customer service

This is something we strive for throughout your time with us from the patient lounge, to the surgery, to maintaining good communication from explaining any treatment you may require to just helping you get in at a time that best suits.

We wont stop looking to improve either. Some of you may be aware that we recently ran a survey and discovered that more of you would like us to have local papers as well as our variety of magazines. This is being worked on at present and should be with you within a couple of weeks.

If you have any suggestions how we could get even better or would like to join our practice and experience our service for yourselve then give Adele a call on 0116 2891317 or drop us an email info@smileessential.co.uk

Bad breath? Time for a coffee break

How coffee could cure bad breath

Compounds found in coffee beans prevent the release of bacteria responsible for halitosis, according to a study carried out by Tel Aviv University.  Reports from the Daily Mail and Daily Expressnote the work of Professor Mel Rosenberg, who has spent two decades studying the diagnosis and treatment of halitosis, and who is the inventor of the Dentyl range of products. He claims that while coffee has always carried a reputation for causing bad breath, tests involving the addition of black coffee to bacteria-laden saliva resulted in a reduction of odour causing gases by up to 90 per cent. 

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/110048/Coffee-cures-bad-breath-

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1195537/How-cup-coffee-keeps-breath-smelling-sweet.html

Whilst intriguing (I thought coffee actually caused bad breath!) the most important way to maintain nice fresh breath is to visit your dentist regularly for a checkups/hygeine and follow a good at home cleaning routine.

If your worried or concerned about your dental care why not book in for a check up or a free consultation with a member of the team, who can discuss your concerns.

You can drop us a call on 0116 2891317 or email us at info@smileessential.co.uk

Free Tooth Whitening Consultations

 Tooth whitening is one of our favourite cosmetic dental procedures which we perform regularly at Smile Essential. There are a lot of myths surrounding tooth whitening which confuses patients and dentists alike! Questions that come to mind include ‘Do whitening toothpastes work?’ and ‘How long will my teeth stay white for?’

 In the UK we are fortunate to have the British Dental Bleaching Society which aims to answer a lot of the questions surrounding tooth whitening. I have attended the necessary number of lectures and workshops with the BDBS and since 2009 I have been the ONLY gold member of the society based in Leicestershire which shows how dedicated I am to this non-invasive, non-painful, cosmetic form of dental treatment.

I only offer the best tooth whitening procedures, the Enlighten Evolution 3 combination system which gives exceptional whitening results guaranteed. In fact Enlighten Evolution 3 is the only tooth whitening system to guarantee shade B1 or lighter.

Why not give my friendly reception team a call on 0116 2891317 and book your FREE 15 minute tooth whitening consultation?

We look forward to seeing you soon!

Painless dentistry

Visiting the dentist can sometimes give us a feeling of nervousness, but why is that? What is it about the dentist that reminds us of nothing but dental pain and anxiety?

At Smile Essential we have introduced painless dentistry, a concept many of us will find very hard to grasp. To start off what exactly is painless dentistry?

Painless dentistry can be defined as the removal of elements which our mind associates with going to see the dentist. We have set our clinic up with your relaxation in mind; we want you to feel at home and calm while you are here with us.

Of course we understand that bad memories triggered by sounds and past experiences can often cause a lot more pain and fear during a dental procedure than there actually is.

So what steps have Smile Essential taken to prevent this unwanted pain and make your procedure fear-free and pain-free?

If you have already visited us you will have noticed that we have removed all of the usual stigmas that could possibly cause you to panic. Gone are the typical white/blue clinical walls and the white dental coats. You won’t see any needles around and you won’t be greeted with the typical dental aroma’s. Our existing clients will be aware of our individual lemon aroma.

Stress can also be a powerful force in your fear of dentistry, which is why we spend a lot of time chatting with you, this allows you to feel calmer and open to chat about any fears you may have.

There are many ways to provide pain-free dental treatment, but nothing helps more than a calming atmosphere and a reassuring dentist who can put you at ease.

Here at Smile Essential we treat people as individuals. We’ll chat about any particular phobias people may have and don’t worry we’ve heard them all from the usual  i.e. needles, smell and the sound of the drill. To the more unusual from cotton wool to fish on the T.V. We’re here to help.

In addition to painless dentistry, there is also something we all can do to rid ourselves of unwanted dental pain. The best way to avoid dental problems is to go to your dentist regularly and maintain good oral hygiene, so that each time you visit it should just be to maintain your initial investment in your smile.

If you would like to benefit from a pain free dental experience please give us a call today on 0116 2891317 or send an email to info@smileessential.co.uk

Bright Start

Here at Smile Essential we believe prevention is key to maintaining good oral health. So we constantly strive to improve peoples knowledge around maintaining good oral hygiene. 

We have two Oral Health Educators at Smile Essential and we are about to have a third!

Emilia is working hard to gain a qualification to become an Oral Health Educator and is very passionate that education is key not only for children but also adults.

As part of her training and enthusiasm about National Smile Month, Emilia held an Open Day Event to educate children about tooth brushing. As you can see from the photos below the children really enjoyed themselves and learnt some valuable hands on information about Oral Health which will aid them in maintaining a Healthy Smile for life.

We always enjoy our open days and evenings it’s great for us to chat with patients and their friends in a more relaxed casual setting. We often find people feel more comfortable asking us questions at these events. We have some exciting open events for the future, so keep checking our blog and offers page for updates.

We wish Emilia all the best with her Oral Health Educator course and will keep everyone posted on her progress.