Sponsorship of the Durham City Hockey Club U16 team

Durham City Smiles cosmetic and family dental practice are proud to sponsor the Durham City Hockey Club U16 team. My daughter Rebecca plays for this team, and this is a follow on from the sponsorship of the Durham City Colts rugby team that we sponsored when my son Jamie played for them.

The shirt is being modelled by Rebecca Dentith, with hopefully a full team photo to follow. The framed and mounted shirt can be found in the practice alongside her brothers Colts shirt.

Some new shirts

These were brought back from Rowatowa, in the Cook Islands, New Zealand by a friend and patient Dr Guy Robertshaw (he bought the blue one for himself, but thought I can’t possibly wear that! – but I know a man who will!)

Guy had to come and see me soon after arrival back in UK, not to deliver the height of shirtorial elegance to my burgeoning wardrobe, but because he’d emailed from New Zealand to say he’d broken a tooth on an overly ambitious toffee!

Kind regards

Graeme

Our new team member

We’d like to welcome Amy Little to the team. Amy is our new trainee dental nurse. She joins us soon and is about to embark on the NVQ in Dental Nursing administered by NECC at Sunderland. She’ll be with us 3.5 days a week with day release on a Monday to attend college, and she’ll be working with all 3 dentists and our hygienist.

Proud dad moment

On a personal note, my lad had his first outing for County Durham U20s versers Nothumberland. Unfortunately Durham lost, but Durham City Rugby Club was well represented with 6 players in the squad.

Kind regards

Graeme

Our Dentists

Stuart Cox will be upping his hours here to meet the increased need so he’ll now be doing Tuesday Wednesday and Friday mornings (and probably Thursday soon too) so watch this space.

We have a new dentist, Dr Grenville Moore joining us on a Monday from February 6th. Gren is currently working part time in Chester-le-Street and at the Dental Hospital in Newcastle.

Our Dental Nurses

We are interviewing for a new trainee nurse to help with this increase in surgery time, and hope to appoint in the very near future.

Our former nurse Becky Harrison is having a great time down at Bristol Dental School, where she has been successful in her first exams coming 3rd in her year.

A Bright Future

Our other protégé, Emily Lovegreen is now in her 4th year at Belfast Dental School, and our receptionists’ Gill’s daughter, Chantalle is in her 3rd year at Newcastle Dental School, so at some point in the future, who knows, we may have a full team of home grown dentists here and I may be able to slow down a bit?

Best regards

Graeme

There is another, slightly less vigorous chemical called Carbamide Peroxide which is available for use in concentrations up to 18%, again, anything more than this is not deemed safe or acceptable. Also, it is illegal for this procedure to be carried out by a non dentally qualified person, and quite severe fines have been handed down by the courts recently to persons practicing dentistry without a licence to do so.

Consider your decision

So where does this leave the patient? Basically, patients need to ask the right questions:

1. What are you going to use in my mouth?
2. Are you qualified to carry out this treatment?
3. Have you done it before and what results have you had?
4. Are there any possible drawbacks?

If the answers are not satisfactory, or you have any doubts – don’t have it done!

The Tooth Whitening service at Durham City Smiles

At Durham City Smiles we use a tray system produced by Optident, with custom made trays fabricated in our onsite laboratory by our technician, Eddie Lowerson. The active ingredient in the gel is 10% Carbamide Peroxide, and this is used for 1 hour a day for up to 2 weeks.

Sometimes the teeth can become sensitive, (mine did, when I tried it on myself) but this can usually be cured by using a desensitising paste such as Toothmousse or Sensodyne in the tray, alternating with the whitening gel.

We don’t use a “laser” or “zoom whitening” system as we believe that this activates the chemical too much and can lead to more problems with sensitivity. Yes it may work faster, but the results could be at a cost.

Currently we have an offer for tooth whitening of just £250 for both upper and lower arches. If this is of interest, or if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to give us a call on 0191 3844447.

Facial Rejuvenation services at Durham City Smiles

Also, in the realm of cosmetics, here at Durham City Smiles we are pleased to announce that our resident medical practitioner, Dr Paula Graham is now providing Facial Rejuvenation services for the elimination of those little laughter lines that can cause premature aging, (as recently featured in the Northern Echo Health and Beauty supplement). Paula uses Azzalure, a product very similar in nature to botox, but longer lasting; and, later this year Paula hopes to be able to offer collagen dermal fillers.

So, again, if this is of interest please call 0191 3844447 to make an appointment to talk to Paula.

Kind regards

Graeme

Party time – Fizz and Nibbles

We decided to have a little “birthday party” to celebrate, and so we had a few people round for “Fizz and Nibbles”. Graeme and the girls decided to organize the nibbles in house, which led to a production line of smoked salmon and caviar bagel bites and avocado prawn mouthfuls, washed down with the obligatory Champagne.

This has been a great year for myself and the team. I’m very proud of what we have achieved so far and look forward to many more happy years.

Nicola baked a birthday cake, which was demolished with great gusto – it seems everyone liked chocolate fudge cake! Please note, the chocolate fudge cake was not intended to increase business.

I made a short speech thanking everyone present and all those who weren’t, after all, we, and this practice would be nothing if it wasn’t for our patients. Everyone seemed to have a good time and many people left in various states of inebriation (including myself) and all seemed good, until I managed to dislocate his knee again – silly boy!!

Other news

Still, after a week in a knee brace all is pretty much back to normal. Since the party, myself and Mike Stedman from Dunelm Orthodontics next door have been to Helsinki in Finland to look at some pretty snazzy xray equipment – but maybe for the future, it’s VERY expensive!

I’ve also been up to Edinburgh for a course on “Soft Tissue Management “ in surgical cases. You should see the boy suture a pigs head, if only it were as easy on real patients!!

Kind regards

Graeme

New Patients

We are accepting new patients both privately and in Denplan, although my book is getting very full now. Stuart is busying up too, so he is going to be putting in more hours here so we can cope with the demand, especially since Metcalfe House, my old practice have ceased trading!

East Coast Shirt

The new shirt is from USA, it is made by a firm called “Island Packet” they are an East Coast yacht builder whose boats are regarded as among the best in the world. They are truly fabulous and if I ever won the lottery, it would be an Island Packet that would be my boat of choice. However, the nearest I’m likely to get is to buy a shirt!

Dental Taz Figurines

The Taz figurines come from Amazing Animations of Florida. I first spotted them in Chicago a couple of years ago, and then again at the New York Dental Conference. They specialise in themed artworks for different professions. I’ve bought several limited edition pictures for my surgery walls which feature looney tunes characters in dental situations. It helps brighten the place up a bit and take people’s minds off stuff! Then I discovered that they had a set of these Taz figures, and thought they’d look good. They were delivered whilst I was on holiday, and now look great on my surgery windowsill.

Sailing in Turkey

I went off for a week sailing in Turkey, and was very impressed with the area, the boat, and marina facilities, but most of all with the Turkish people, nothing was too much trouble for them and they were very warm and friendly. And Dalaman airport was the most efficient I’ve ever been to, with security levels as high as UK or USA, but handled in a far more efficient and pleasant manner than Heathrow, Gatwick or JFK in New York! I’ll email a couple of piccies of hols in the next day or 2.

I’m off to courses in Edinburgh and London later this year, oh yes, and one at Slayley Hall too, and I’m hoping to get back to the USA either later this year or for the Chicago Conference next February.

Kind regards

Graeme

We also have a family of Blue Tits nesting within our walls – literally!, it remains to be seen how they get on as we’ve just seen Mum and Dad trailing back and forth pandering to the chicks needs. That sounds familiar! It would appear all kids are the same regardless of species!

My daughter ‘Bexy has been playing hockey for Durham City Hockey Club, and last Sunday they won a tournament against Billingham and Hartlepool hockey clubs. Durham beat both sides convincingly, and Bex and her team mates received T shirts in recognition of this. ‘

Graeme’s been away on a course again

It was at Dalmahoy outside Edinburgh, but no it wasn’t the Dalmahoy Golf Course!!!

Actually it was on the subject of “Minimally Invasive Dentistry” a subject close to my heart. If I have to prepare teeth for crowns, veneers or bridges, then I will, but if I can maintain oral health and aesthetics with minimum intervention, then I will.

The principles of MI dentistry are very simple – time is spent educating and helping patients to maintain their own oral health, and if we do have to get involved we try to keep it simple and as pain free as possible. There are some fantastic new products out there that can really make a difference in the fight against and prevention of dental disease. One major advance comes from Australia and is called “Tooth Mousse” it is proven to allow remineralisation of early decay lesions – that’s dental jargon for “it helps toughen up early tooth decay and can prevent the need for drilling and filling”!

Tooth Mousse is a very easy product to apply and is very nice tasting (various flavours), there are special formulations for patients with dry mouth problems, and it can be used to reverse “white spot lesions” these are often found on the teeth of teenagers after brace removal, but more often found on those teenagers who have had an aversion to using the fluffy end of the toothbrush, (if they’ve used it at all!!!) but have now seen the light and want to take care of their teeth. Tooth Mousse can also be used to reverse the brown stains caused by Enamel Hypoplasia – this is caused by the malformation of some of the enamel during tooth formation. Sometimes the only treatment is veneers, but now, in some cases, we can offer this new clinically proven method to treat the condition in a Minimally Invasive way.

Kind regards

Graeme

An update on Durham City Colts

Durham City Smiles are proud sponsors of the Durham City Colts, a rugby team my lad Jamie plays for. Durham City Colts have been featured in the Northern Echo Local Heroes section having won the County Plate, beating Hartlepool 43-0 to take the silver ware. and they also won their league this year. We then went on tour over Easter to Holland where the Colts beat Waterland Rugby and Rotterdam Rugby Club. Jamie now claims he can say he’s played rugby at European level as he played the second half of the Rotterdam game for Rotterdam, as they were short of players. A few other lads donned the very fetching orange shirts to play for Rotterdam in a great exhibition of the spirit of Rugby Union, and a great game ensued with both players and spectators having a good time, and enjoying marvellous hospitality from our Dutch hosts at both clubs.

An announcement: Stuart loves…..

Prior to a practice night out, we discovered that Stuart Cox has a love for……………big lego!! We have the proof:

Regards

Graeme

Becky has been a valued member of the team and departs to work in Europe prior to taking her place at Bristol University Dental School.

Nicola made her a “Toothy Cake” and we send her on her way with a meal at the Fat Budda and all our love and best wishes.

Why? You may ask.

Well, in my experience both myself as clinician, and you as patient benefit from a close relationship with the dental technician, ensuring the best possible service and result. This does come at a price, but I sincerely believe it is one worth paying.

At Durham City Smiles we get our lab work made by Opus Dental Lab, housed with us at Crossgate Centre, and this gives us even more scope to provide a better product and service than some others. And Eddie Lowerson is the best ceramist I’ve worked with in the last 25 years. If you pay peanuts………..!!!

What are your crowns or bridges being made of? Have you ever asked your dentist? You should be made aware of exactly what material is being used in your mouth, many crowns and bridges are made with a metal substructure and an outer porcelain layer fused to this. It is a fact that up to 20% of patients (especially ladies) can show signs of allergy to the alloy used, depending on its constituent metals.

3 Emax Pressable Ceramic Crowns

This can manifest itself as a dark line around the crown margin, or as a reddening of the gum tissue in contact with sais margin. There are different types of alloy available, and if we use metal here at Durham City Smiles (very rarely nowadays) it is certificated 96.6% Gold/Palladium alloy- the best, and most biocompatible alloy available.

What is in your crown? Sometimes it can be “precious metal” alloy, with approximately 40% gold and other metals, which may include nickel, a major source of allergy problem. Some practices even use “Non precious metal” alloy – you can draw your own conclusions there!

A smile restored with 6 Emax Veneers

It is my belief that with the modern materials now available to us, such as Emax pressable ceramics and Zirconia substructures to replace the metal ones, there is no place in modern dentistry for bonded metal/porcelain crowns or bridges. Fortunately this is a view shared and expressed recently by some of the senior academic members of our profession, with far more “clout” than little old me!

Unfortunately there is a cost to these newer, better materials, but the differential is shrinking, because as the world economy has been in decline recently, gold prices have rocketed, along with other metals such as Palladium and Platinum, this has led to a rise in prices of even the non precious metal alloys, as they do have some gold in them, but not a lot.

The metal free restorations we provide to our patients give better aesthetics, and are more biocompatible than their metal based counterparts. And I believe they are stronger, which is why I give a 6 year warranty on all my metal free ceramics, whereas the warranty on metal bonded work is 12 months.

So there it is in a nutshell. Our crown and bridge work may be seen as expensive by some, but they are almost certainly not comparing like with like. I make no apology for the prices we charge as I feel they are a fair price for a superior product. Judging by how busy we’ve been recently, many patients agree with me. I put this on our site purely for your information. If you are not one of our patients, and just looking, ask the questions of your own dentist, most will be happy to tell you what is going into your mouth, and you have the right to know. If they can’t (or won’t) tell you – don’t have it done!”