Thursday 5 July 2012
Another successful trip to the dentist. I've kept my gums in the maintenance phase and have only got one small pocket to focus on this time. What a difference a year can make. To congratulate myself on my good work I am having some cosmetic improvements. I am really excited about this and didn't hesitate when asked if I like the natural look or the Hollywood style. Give me a gleaming American every day please! It's incredible that I enjoy going to the dentist these days. It is a place I am now totally comfortable with and I seem to pop in every month. I've swapped injections and condemnation for education, support and advice.
Friday 29 June 2012
Gumsaver Brush £4.99
Finally, the wait is over and the Gumsaver brush is on the market. This is fantastic news and I firmly believe everybody who cares about their smile should have one.
click here to buy a brush for £4.99
click here to buy a brush for £4.99
Saturday 24 March 2012
The Gumbrush - a testimonial.
The Gumbrush is like a toothbrush, with a handle and bristles, but is designed to enable you to clean under the gumline. A space normally only reached by dental hygienists. It is comfortable and light to hold (just like a toothbrush) but has two separate points of bristles at the end that fit onto either side of your teeth.
The brush fits easily into the space in between your teeth and under your gums. You agitate it and the movement of the bristles cleans off the plaque that has built up on the part of your teeth that sits under the gum. This plaque attracts the bacteria that results in gum disease. If you can get rid of it you can have healthy gums.
With regular use I have been able to stop my gums bleeding when I brush my teeth (a symptom of gum disease) and return them back to a healthy state. I had advanced gum disease and now, four months later, my gums are healthy and my teeth are secure.
I have not had any trips to the hygienist. This has all been achieved by using the Gumbrush in the comfort of my own home, mostly while watching Eastenders!
When I first started using it my gums bled a lot but now they don't. If I see a tiny spec of blood I know that I really need to get the Gumbrush to work on this area (pocket). My dentist tells me I am now in the 'maintenance phase'. In practical terms this means spending less than ten minutes a night (after using a normal manual toothbrush and toothpaste) using the Gumbrush. I do this whilst lying in bed with a good book. It's really not a big deal.
The benefits of being prepared to clean your gums yourself are:healthy gums and secure teeth. Because you can clean them every day there is no plaque build up between trips to the hygienist. It's also a lot less painful and a lot cheaper.
If I had not used this brush I dread to think what state my gums would be in by now. I am so grateful and happy to have been given the power to restore my gums to good health myself. I am now in control of my gums and teeth. It's up to me.
My gums are now healthy enough for me to have some cosmetic work to fill in the gaps that had developed between my teeth. Walking out of the dentist's looking and feeling better than before you went in is a completely new experience for me, and it's certainly putting a smile back on my face.
So if you want to be the one in control of your gum health, the Gumbrush, is the perfect brush for you.
The brush fits easily into the space in between your teeth and under your gums. You agitate it and the movement of the bristles cleans off the plaque that has built up on the part of your teeth that sits under the gum. This plaque attracts the bacteria that results in gum disease. If you can get rid of it you can have healthy gums.
With regular use I have been able to stop my gums bleeding when I brush my teeth (a symptom of gum disease) and return them back to a healthy state. I had advanced gum disease and now, four months later, my gums are healthy and my teeth are secure.
I have not had any trips to the hygienist. This has all been achieved by using the Gumbrush in the comfort of my own home, mostly while watching Eastenders!
When I first started using it my gums bled a lot but now they don't. If I see a tiny spec of blood I know that I really need to get the Gumbrush to work on this area (pocket). My dentist tells me I am now in the 'maintenance phase'. In practical terms this means spending less than ten minutes a night (after using a normal manual toothbrush and toothpaste) using the Gumbrush. I do this whilst lying in bed with a good book. It's really not a big deal.
The benefits of being prepared to clean your gums yourself are:healthy gums and secure teeth. Because you can clean them every day there is no plaque build up between trips to the hygienist. It's also a lot less painful and a lot cheaper.
If I had not used this brush I dread to think what state my gums would be in by now. I am so grateful and happy to have been given the power to restore my gums to good health myself. I am now in control of my gums and teeth. It's up to me.
My gums are now healthy enough for me to have some cosmetic work to fill in the gaps that had developed between my teeth. Walking out of the dentist's looking and feeling better than before you went in is a completely new experience for me, and it's certainly putting a smile back on my face.
So if you want to be the one in control of your gum health, the Gumbrush, is the perfect brush for you.
Monday 6 February 2012
A new way of treating gum disease.
After a confident lifetime of my smile being my best feature, I was now on the unwelcome road of seemingly unstoppable gum disease and wobbly teeth. I needed help and I needed it fast. I decided to see a new dentist.
If ever there is a dentist who is secretly a super hero it is Hani Mostafa. During my first appointment comic book hero Hani delivered his blows in punches. Yes, he was horrified by the state of my gums. My measurements were off the scale (the computer couldn't input gum recession that was over point 10) and Hani confirmed that my estimation was correct; I was heading towards my teeth and gums no longer being attached. This was a divorce I did not want to see.
When someone gives you really bad news it is helpful if they can deliver it with compassionate empathy, a genuine desire to help and the real life skills to do so. It was my blessed good luck that gums were to Hani what Gotham city is to Batman. Something to be saved and cleaned up for the good of humanity. Hani is no ordinary dentist;. Hani is a dentist who had made a gumbrush to fight gum disease, and when I first saw him he was in need of a patient with gums as bad as mine, to prove just how well his gumbrush worked.
Hani sent me off with an expensive prototype of his new gumbrush and instructed me to push the brush right into the spaces between my gums and teeth. Yes, that's right, under the gumline and along the enamel that is behind them. This is the part of the mouth normally only reached by dental hygienists and, in my case, under anaesthetic.
What followed was bloody to say the least.
If ever there is a dentist who is secretly a super hero it is Hani Mostafa. During my first appointment comic book hero Hani delivered his blows in punches. Yes, he was horrified by the state of my gums. My measurements were off the scale (the computer couldn't input gum recession that was over point 10) and Hani confirmed that my estimation was correct; I was heading towards my teeth and gums no longer being attached. This was a divorce I did not want to see.
When someone gives you really bad news it is helpful if they can deliver it with compassionate empathy, a genuine desire to help and the real life skills to do so. It was my blessed good luck that gums were to Hani what Gotham city is to Batman. Something to be saved and cleaned up for the good of humanity. Hani is no ordinary dentist;. Hani is a dentist who had made a gumbrush to fight gum disease, and when I first saw him he was in need of a patient with gums as bad as mine, to prove just how well his gumbrush worked.
Hani sent me off with an expensive prototype of his new gumbrush and instructed me to push the brush right into the spaces between my gums and teeth. Yes, that's right, under the gumline and along the enamel that is behind them. This is the part of the mouth normally only reached by dental hygienists and, in my case, under anaesthetic.
What followed was bloody to say the least.
Thursday 6 October 2011
Monday 3 October 2011
My teeth had never been so clean but my gums were still receding!
I was getting pretty desperate to turn back the tide of my receding gums and trawled the Internet for new products and advice.
I bought a gel and mouthwash (for use after oral surgery) that claims to help the gums grow back. It didn't.
A friend suggested I may be aggravating my gums and causing the problem myself. She advised me to go low tech by using a soft hand held toothbrush, wooden interdental sticks and, if that didn't resolve it, an oral irrigator. This made sense but, when I asked my hygienist for her opinion, she said my gums would be in an even worse state by now if I hadn't kept up my aggressive cleaning regime.
I was getting pretty stressed out. I was receiving conflicting advice and if I took the wrong course of action tooth loss was sure to follow.
My next purchase was an oral irrigator (£70). This is the mini version of your good old pressure washer. It has a small pen shaped nozzle coming from the tank that squirts a high pressure water jet (warm water and herbal mouthwash) in between your teeth. This really is one hell of a device and makes you feel like you are doing dental hygiene the American way. It makes your mouth feel incredibly clean.
What the oral irrigator did not produce was all the bacteria that must be lurking in my gums. I had no foul taste in my mouth and wasn't totally confident that this was going to be enough to firm up my gums and keep my teeth in place.
I went back to my old dental practice and was seen by a senior partner. He looked horrified by gum recession and took measurements. Seven was the most common number and eight, nine and ten were pretty regular too. He also confirmed that two teeth were wobbly.
It was time to see the hygienist again for some more deep cleaning. I received eight injections in one quarter of my mouth and was left weeping and shaking in the waiting room. I don't know if this was because my gums were so swollen, or whether I had reacted to the anesthetic, but I knew it was unlikely I would be able to withstand the other three treatments I would need. The hygienist cleaned under the gums of a quarter of my mouth and was very sympathetic to my condition. She showed my how to pull the floss right under my gums (much easier and less painful than it sounds) but could not give me any hope that I was going to be able to stop my gums receding.
With visions of having missing teeth by the age of 43, I decided to take decisive action and get another opinion. I had met Hani Mostafa at a party where he had talked excitedly about a new method for cleaning your teeth that had helped so many of his patients. He seemed passionate about dentistry and a couple of friends had raved about him. So I made the call that would save my teeth and get me writing this blog!
A friend suggested I may be aggravating my gums and causing the problem myself. She advised me to go low tech by using a soft hand held toothbrush, wooden interdental sticks and, if that didn't resolve it, an oral irrigator. This made sense but, when I asked my hygienist for her opinion, she said my gums would be in an even worse state by now if I hadn't kept up my aggressive cleaning regime.
I was getting pretty stressed out. I was receiving conflicting advice and if I took the wrong course of action tooth loss was sure to follow.
My next purchase was an oral irrigator (£70). This is the mini version of your good old pressure washer. It has a small pen shaped nozzle coming from the tank that squirts a high pressure water jet (warm water and herbal mouthwash) in between your teeth. This really is one hell of a device and makes you feel like you are doing dental hygiene the American way. It makes your mouth feel incredibly clean.
What the oral irrigator did not produce was all the bacteria that must be lurking in my gums. I had no foul taste in my mouth and wasn't totally confident that this was going to be enough to firm up my gums and keep my teeth in place.
I went back to my old dental practice and was seen by a senior partner. He looked horrified by gum recession and took measurements. Seven was the most common number and eight, nine and ten were pretty regular too. He also confirmed that two teeth were wobbly.
It was time to see the hygienist again for some more deep cleaning. I received eight injections in one quarter of my mouth and was left weeping and shaking in the waiting room. I don't know if this was because my gums were so swollen, or whether I had reacted to the anesthetic, but I knew it was unlikely I would be able to withstand the other three treatments I would need. The hygienist cleaned under the gums of a quarter of my mouth and was very sympathetic to my condition. She showed my how to pull the floss right under my gums (much easier and less painful than it sounds) but could not give me any hope that I was going to be able to stop my gums receding.
With visions of having missing teeth by the age of 43, I decided to take decisive action and get another opinion. I had met Hani Mostafa at a party where he had talked excitedly about a new method for cleaning your teeth that had helped so many of his patients. He seemed passionate about dentistry and a couple of friends had raved about him. So I made the call that would save my teeth and get me writing this blog!
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