Author: Scottish Mum

In collaboration with London City Smiles.

I have six porcelain veneers and three  crowns, so dental treatment is something I am very familiar with, and if someone has teeth that stops them living life happily, and can afford it, I am all for getting a smile fixed.  in my twenties, I never used to smile, or I’d cover my mouth, in an attempt to hide my horribly crooked teeth.  When I was a child, our dentist never gave us the option for a brace and it wasn’t the done thing where I grew up.

Instead of expensive jewellery or clothing at  milestone birthdays, I chose either another crown or veneer, and I don’t regret that in the slightest.  The ability to smile without grimacing or hiding my mouth was life changing for  me.  I can safely say, that if I could manage it, and my crowns failed, and couldn’t be replaced, I’d seriously consider more cosmetic dentistry.

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From London City Smiles:

Dental implants are often the first choice of treatment for both the patient and the cosmetic dentist, when looking to restore heavily damaged teeth. This is because the method offers many clear advantages to the patient.If you are wondering whether or not dental implants are the ideal solution to your tooth troubles, take a look at some of the clear advantages of dental implants, to geif t your smile back to its best.

The Look

Dental implants are fantastic for people suffering from severely damaged teeth that are in need of radical restoration. Implants look and feel incredibly natural, giving a patient the perfect smile, and integrate nicely with any natural teeth remaining in the mouth. Dental implants also help retain the face’s natural shape and smile, whereas a face without teeth appears sunken in and saggy. Dental implants allow wearers to be confident about their appearance.

The Function

Dental implants function exactly like natural teeth and offer patients the ability to chew, talk, and keep teeth firmly in the mouth, as opposed to dentures, which require nightly removal, and often shift and slide, limiting the patient on the foods they can eat and making it necessary to use other products to keep them secure.

When opting for dentures, patients may experience small issues with many everyday occurrences, including laughing, kissing, singing or coughing, not to mention the restriction to wearers from experiencing the full flavour of their food, as the plate covers the roof of the mouth.

Durability

Durability is not much of a concern at all when considering dental implants, as they are far and above the most durable of all reparative or restorative dental treatment plans. Dental implants make an excellent long-term solution, needing only periodic readjustments to last an entire lifetime, where other treatment options only have an average lifespan of five to ten years before requiring replacement. 

Another major benefit to dental implants is they cannot develop cavities, which means even less maintenance for the wearer, and they essentially bring an end to all tooth pain and sensitivity, which is sure to please any patient. As permanent and strong as dental implants are, it is important to have a regular care plan that includes daily brushing and flossing, as with a natural tooth, and have regularly scheduled dental visits so a dentist can inspect and care for it.

Protect your Natural Teeth and Bone

Having missing spaces in your mouth left from extracted teeth can cause deterioration of the jawbone, as there is no tooth there to support it. Dental implants provide the only solution to this problem, because it actually stimulates bone growth and help prevents bone loss, preserving the natural landscape of the patient’s mouth.

Patients who use dental bridges expose their natural teeth to damage, due to the grinding that occurs from the hardware sitting on the teeth. Erosion and damage can lead to losing even more teeth and needing to replace the bridge to accommodate, creating somewhat of a cycle. Dental implants instead are independent and have no damaging effect on any natural teeth remaining in the mouth.

Using implants also helps prevent the remaining teeth from shifting and becoming misaligned due to there being an empty space.

It is very easy to see that when extensive restoration work is required dental implants are a more than worthwhile long term investment, and allows wearers to have attractive teeth that function as natural ones, being as minimally disruptive as possible, allowing for a perfectly normal lifestyle, and allowing patients to have complete confidence in the look and performance of their teeth.

Article supplied by London City Smiles – specialists in Dental Implants and Cosmetic Dentistry procedures.

In collaboration with Mercury Packaging.

In days gone by, before the widespread uptake of health and safety concerns, food packaging could well contain many substances that were harmful to human beings of which we were largely unaware. But as recently as 2014, the Food Packaging Forum of Zurich found evidence of 175 dangerous chemicals in packaging, which, it said, could leach into the encased foods and could affect hormone production, sperm count, and growth. However, the UK Food Standards Agency sought to reassure consumers by stating that all food packaging meets European standards and that any chemicals are used within set ‘limits or restrictions’. So should we be more concerned about this issue?

Chemicals and other toxic substances found in packaging

Here are a few examples of some of the chemicals that are bad for us:

• Bisphenol A – sometimes found in reusable plastic food containers and the lining of some drinks cans. Exposure to BPA has been shown to have a link to breast cancer.
• Phthalates – linked to cancer and male infertility, these are found in some plastic food containers.
• Styrene – a component of Styrofoam disposable food trays and drinks containers, like coffee cups. The styrene can leach into food when heated and is possibly carcinogenic.
• PVC – used in the production of food packaging and can release vinyl chloride into the air or wastewater during production. It has long had a reputation for being carcinogenic, particularly among workers involved in its manufacture. PVC is especially toxic if it catches fire.
• Benzophenones – component of printing inks and plastics that are used for food wrapper coatings.

Ironically, European regulations state that these chemicals – which come under the criteria of ‘substances of very high concern’ – should be registered and authorised for use, as they are in toy manufacture but not in food packaging production.

How you can protect yourself from harmful chemicals

• Don’t drink out of a plastic or Styrofoam container if you can help it – transfer to a mug or glass. Don’t heat up food in plastic or coated paperboard containers – place takeaway food onto a proper plate.
• In the home, store foodstuffs like flour and sugar in glass, steel or ceramic containers and never in plastic containers.
• Buy food from markets or natural food stores when possible and bring it home in your own cotton or linen shopping bags – avoid plastic bags.
• When shopping for meat products and pies, for example, buy from a local butcher whenever possible as they will be sold ‘loose’, not packaged.
• Avoid cans, cartons and plastics whenever you possibly can but otherwise keep them away from heat sources in order to prevent leakage of chemicals from their linings into the contents.

Over the last few years many studies have shown the obvious connection between chemicals in food packaging and the effect on human health; one US study proved that by avoiding plastics and eating mostly fresh food, the levels of chemicals in the body could fall by more 50%.

So if it is not possible to avoid packaging altogether, at least limiting your exposure to it will be beneficial to health in the long term.

Guest post supplied by Mercury Packaging, leading UK food packaging printers and designers.