Helpful Information for Dental Patients in Chelsea

At Pacific Dental, we want you to be an active participant in your own health. We take the time to listen to your concerns and explain different options so you can make informed decisions about your dental care and stay involved.


We encourage an open dialogue between our dental professionals and our patients. Like any health professionals, we are prone to doctor-speak, but we always strive to speak plainly and avoid jargon! If we ever say a word you don’t understand, please ask us to explain. We believe that the more our patients understand their care, the healthier their smiles will be.


Here are some frequently asked questions about dental care. Please take a look and feel free to contact us if you want more information on any topic.

Dental Patient FAQs

  • Why do I need to see the dentist twice a year?

    Our mouths are constantly changing depending on what we eat and drink, our habits and our age. Seeing a dentist regularly is the best way to catch a potential problem before it becomes a big deal. Not to alarm you, but lots of dental conditions don’t necessarily have obvious symptoms that you can rely on to spot something early. Dentists have the expertise and advanced tools to properly examine your oral health in a way that patients simply can’t do for themselves.

     

    Not everyone needs to see the dentist every six months: some patients need to see us more often. Depending on your oral health situation, the dentist will recommend the frequency at which you need to visit us. Some patients see us every 3 or 4 months, especially if they have gum disease. If the dentist asks you to come in more frequently than you did in the past, please know that this advice is given with the idea of keeping you healthier in the long run.

     

    Your regular visits are your best chance for keeping your teeth strong, clean and white and your breath fresh. Hygienists can remove stains that regular brushing and flossing and in-home whitening treatments can’t! Plus, we’re always happy to give you refresher training on the best techniques for your at-home oral hygiene routine.

  • Remind me, how often do I need to brush and floss?

    You should be brushing your teeth twice a day and flossing at least once a day. Most people brush in the morning when they wake up and brush and floss at night before bed. If you want to brush after lunch too, we highly approve. When you brush your teeth, it should be for a full two minutes. Make sure you get the back and front sides of your upper and lower teeth and their biting surfaces. Floss with about an arm span’s worth of floss, using a clean two inches for each tooth to prevent cross-contamination from one tooth to another. If you’d like the dentist or hygienist to demonstrate proper brushing and flossing technique, please just ask during your visit!

  • I’ve heard I don’t really need to floss. Is that true?

    Don’t believe everything you hear in the news. It’s true that more studies are needed to solidify the connection between flossing and various effects on your oral health. But that doesn’t mean flossing is ineffective; it just means we need to know more. To us, the idea of not ever cleaning plaque and food out from between your teeth is scary, not to mention gross! Why would you want all that nasty stuff hiding away somewhere in your mouth, feeding bacteria and causing bad breath? You still need to floss every day!

     

    I brush my teeth and floss thoroughly every day. Do I still need to see a hygienist for a clean?

    Yes! There is some stubborn tooth gunk that even the best brushing and flossing can’t get off. This is especially true of tartar, which is the hard substance that plaque can turn into if not cleaned off in time. Getting a professional scaling and polishing (the technical term for a teeth clean) by a hygienist can actually improve the appearance of your smile by removing stains. Polished teeth are also smoother and harder for bacteria to stick to, which will make your at-home brushing and polishing efforts more effective.

  • What causes cavities?

    As children, we’re taught that eating too much candy causes cavities, so it must be sugar that causes tooth decay, right? Actually, that’s an overly simple way of explaining the process. Sugar is more like the fuel for decay, and it doesn’t just come from sweet foods. When you eat, chemicals called enzymes in your saliva break down carbohydrates into sugars. These sugars—plus the sugar compounds that occur naturally in fruit and foods sweetened with refined sugar or corn syrup—are then eaten by the bacteria in your mouth. Unless you brush or floss them away, these bacteria hang out in your mouth, consuming the sugar and excreting a waste product in the form of acid. This acid is what eats holes in your tooth enamel and the softer dentin layer underneath, causing cavities and tooth decay.

  • At what age should children first visit a dentist?

    Children should see the dentist when their first tooth comes in or by age 1, whichever comes first. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be caring for your baby’s oral health before then. After feeding, you can clean your baby’s gums by rubbing them gently with a damp washcloth. For more advice about caring for your baby’s mouth, please feel free to ask your paediatrician or us.

  • I’m very nervous about visiting the dentist. What should I do?

    Tell us! The last thing we want is for you to be uncomfortable in silence. Being nervous at the dentist is not uncommon, so don’t be embarrassed about it. Knowing that you are a nervous patient helps us prepare properly for your appointment. There are steps we can take to make you more comfortable during your visit. We can take things slower and explain more about what we’re doing at each step. We can work with you to develop a communication system so you can tell us clearly when something is bothering you or you need to take a break. Sedation is also an option in some cases, and we’d be happy to discuss it.

     

    One of the biggest ways we can help you overcome your nervousness is by working through it together. We want our office to be a warm, welcoming and pleasant place for you. The easier and less intimidating we can make your visit, the better we’ll be able to care for your oral health, now and in the future. If there is anything we can do to improve your experience, just ask. We promise you, you won’t be the first person who has brought up these concerns.

Dry Mouth

It is not uncommon to experience dry mouth as you age, but it is not directly caused by age itself. It has many possible causes, including age-related changes to bodily functions.

 

You are at even higher risk of developing dry mouth if you breathe too often through your mouth rather than your nose!

 

Despite being uncomfortable, dry mouth alone is not a severe issue as long as it is not persistent. If it is, it can lead to various long-term health issues, ranging from irritating to dangerous. Someone who suffers from chronic dry mouth will likely experience mouth sores, splits at the corners of the mouth, cracked lips, increased plaque buildup and a greater risk of tooth decay and gum disease. You might even start to have nutrition issues, because the lack of saliva makes it more difficult to break down food when you eat.

What is Dry Mouth?

Dry mouth, also called xerostomia, is a condition where the body does not produce enough saliva, characterised by a dry and often sticky feeling in the mouth. For the most part, it is just uncomfortable. Many people experience short-term dry mouth as a result of anxiety or stress, which is easily treatable and not a huge concern. However, persistent dry mouth is often a sign of greater health concerns that can cause bigger problems and damage your teeth. In extreme cases, it can even lead to tooth loss. For example, your body’s tolerance to a medication’s side effects can decrease as you grow older, making you more susceptible to dry mouth.

The causes of dry mouth are highly varied and include:

  • Stress and anxiety
  • Dehydration
  • Many medications (prescription and over-the-counter)
  • Smoking
  • Drinking alcohol
  • Radiation therapy
  • Diseases and infections (especially autoimmune disorders)
  • Nerve damage
  • Drug abuse

Treating Dry Mouth

Even if your dry mouth does not seem to be persistent, it is important to stay on top of treating it. The good news is that treatment is simple for most cases of dry mouth. First, make sure you stay hydrated by sipping on water throughout the day. For your dental and overall health, you should drink lots of water anyway! Dehydration, which dry mouth can be a sign of, is a serious health risk.

 

Other simple things you can do to treat dry mouth include chewing sugarless gum and limiting the salt, sugar and caffeinated drinks in your diet. Some people might recommend sucking on an ice cube or sugarless hard candy, but this can actually damage your teeth, so don’t do it! You can also purchase nonprescription saliva substitutes over the counter to reduce your current issues.

 

If you use tobacco or drink alcohol, cut back on those or find a way to quit. Even if you don’t think smoking or drinking is the root cause, those activities can irritate a dry mouth, so you should limit or stop them entirely. Plus, they’re just bad for you!

 

The best treatment for dry mouth always depends on the specific cause, so if home remedies or over-the-counter solutions don’t prevent your dry mouth, it can indicate a more serious underlying health issue. In serious cases it is best to visit a physician or dentist who can work with you to figure out the root cause of your dry mouth and help you treat it.

Early Cavity Detection

We’re committed to using the latest technology to ensure you get the best care. That’s why we use an early detection tool that uses a laser to locate hidden decay in the cracks and crevices of your teeth before it is otherwise detectable.

 

Many dental problems don’t cause any pain in the earliest stages. This is especially true of cavities (called caries by dentists) and tooth decay. That’s one of the reasons it is particularly important to come to the dentist for your regular checkups and cleans. Dentists and dental hygienists are trained to spot the earliest signs of tooth decay, often in places that the patient can’t easily see.

 

The very earliest stages of a cavity are pretty much impossible to see, even for a dental professional with a trained eye. When a cavity starts, it’s actually a microscopic hole in the very outer layers of your tooth. To make up for this, we use the latest technology to make trouble spots easier to identify. Early cavity detection uses a laser light to illuminate your tooth. Unlike higher-powered dental lasers that take the place of scalpels or drills, the cavity-detecting laser is very low-powered and will not cause any discomfort at all. There is no heat, discomfort or pain associated with early cavity detection.

Why is Early Cavity Detection Important?

In addition to our eyes, the other essential tool for spotting cavities is one of the oldest dental technologies: x-rays. An x-ray of your tooth can help spot cavities in the tight spaces between your teeth. However, a cavity has to be pretty bad already for us to spot it with x-rays or a visual examination. And of course, the earlier a cavity is spotted, the sooner we can take care of it to prevent future decay and protect your tooth.

 

Treatments for removing tooth decay at the very early stages of a cavity are much less invasive (and less costly) than repairing cavities that are caught later on. Early cavity detection can mean less damage, less pain and less hassle down the road. While preventing decay is always the primary goal, we understand that not everyone has perfect oral health all the time, so early detection and treatment are essential tools for preserving your beautiful smile!

How Cavities are Detected

While they may look opaque at a glance, your teeth are actually made from semi-translucent materials. The hard, shiny outside layer is called enamel, and the softer, yellower inside material is called dentin. Both materials allow some light to pass through them, though dentin is a bit more opaque than enamel. Cavities start on the enamel and can eventually eat through it and the dentin beneath, exposing your tooth root to decay. Early cavity detection is all about preventing this.

 

When we shine a low-powered laser light at your teeth, damaged parts of your enamel (i.e., cavities) will illuminate differently. Technology built into the tool measures the fluorescence of your tooth – in other words, how much light it reflects or absorbs. As the laser tool is moved along the grooves of your teeth, a computer program creates a readout that lets the dentist know when there’s a significant change in fluorescence that may indicate the presence of decay. The dentist can then take a closer look at that area and decide on a plan for treatment.

Local Anaesthesia

Sometimes dentists need to do more in-depth work than your regular cleans and exams. Due to the sensitivity of your teeth and gums, some treatment may require local anaesthetic medication to cause numbness.

 

You may have heard of dentists using Novocain to numb patients’ mouths, but Novocain is not actually used anymore. Modern dentists use much safer and more effective drugs such as lidocaine. These are usually combined with other substances such as vasoconstrictors to increase the effectiveness and duration of the anaesthesia.


There are two kinds of local anaesthetics that dentists use to numb your mouth. The first is called a topical anaesthetic, which is swabbed over a small area on the surface of your mouth or gums. In most cases, this is used to numb the area where the dentist plans to inject the other kind of local anaesthetic. The injectable anaesthetic is what we rely on to keep you comfortable and pain-free.

What To Expect

Despite the numbness from the topical anaesthetic, some patients feel a stinging sensation from the injection and think it isn’t working. In reality, this feeling is caused by the anaesthetic drug entering the body and beginning to work. The stinging subsides within several seconds.

Side Effects

Local anaesthesia does have side effects, but they are usually not serious. One well-known side effect is a temporary rapid heartbeat, which can happen if the local anaesthetic is injected into a blood vessel. One of the chemicals used in the local anaesthetic injection, epinephrine, can travel directly from the blood vessel to the heart. You may also know epinephrine by its other name: adrenaline. It is a naturally occurring substance in your body that can rapidly increase your heart rate. The fast heartbeat it causes can be alarming, but it is not dangerous and should return to normal in a matter of seconds.

Numbness

The numbness from local anaesthesia will take a couple of hours to wear off, which may inhibit proper speaking and eating. After your appointment, you’ll need to be careful about biting and chewing—you could bite your tongue or cheek and not feel it! You may also experience temporary swelling or drooping of parts of your mouth or face. Some patients find themselves unable to blink, though this is not something to worry about. The dentist can tape your eye shut so it won’t dry out. You’ll be able to blink normally again as soon as the anaesthetic wears off.

Oral Cancer Screening

Early detection is key in the battle against cancer, and this is no different with oral cancer. Even if you don’t smoke, keep in mind that 25% of oral cancer diagnoses are for non-smokers. It’s important that every patient receive a simple and pain-free oral cancer screening.

 

Risk factors for oral cancer include:

  • Tobacco use (smoking, chewing and dip)
  • Excessive alcohol consumption
  • Poor diet
  • HPV (human papillomavirus)
  • Age (higher risk over 40 years old)

 

Oral cancer doesn’t always cause symptoms in the early stages, which is why it’s important to have a screening that can detect potential problems before they’re visible to the naked eye or cause sensations.

Signs and Symptoms

Oral cancer can appear throughout the mouth, including on your lips, cheeks, gums, tongue, the roof of your mouth and other soft tissue surfaces. It can also develop further back in your throat, which doctors call oropharyngeal cancer.


Red or white sores that don’t get better over time are the most common oral cancer symptom. These can be discoloured patches or hard lumps. They may be accompanied by feelings of pain, but they aren’t always painful. Because it can be difficult to distinguish cancerous sores from normal mouth sores, seeing your dentist for regular screenings is extremely important.



Other symptoms include throat soreness, bad breath and changes in the mouth, such as loose teeth or difficulty chewing and swallowing. If you experience any of these, you should come see us immediately. Though conditions other than cancer can cause these things, visiting us as early as possible is your best chance to improve your oral cancer prognosis.

How Dentists Diagnose Oral Cancer

During your oral cancer screening, your dentist will visually examine your mouth and surrounding areas. Using lights, mirrors and other tools, they can check areas of your mouth that are otherwise too difficult to see. They are also trained to locate more subtle signs of cancer, such as asymmetrical features inside and outside the mouth.

With modern technological advances, dentists also have a wide array of cancer-detecting tools. Specially designed lights can highlight potentially cancerous spots, and cleaning rinses can improve the inspection process. This equipment is only used to enhance the visual and physical examinations; it’s never used as a replacement for tried and true detection methods!


When a dentist completes an oral cancer screening, they won’t immediately say whether you have oral cancer. They may wish to monitor the condition of your mouth, and they may ask you to come back for further testing. Please understand that this does not necessarily mean that something is wrong. Discovering oral cancer can be complicated. The doctor might simply want to keep an eye on your oral condition to make sure that more serious symptoms don’t appear.



Remember that when caught early, oral cancer has an 80 to 90% survival rate. Oral cancer can seem like a scary thing, but we encourage you to come to us with any concerns as soon as possible. Early detection and lifestyle changes will help ensure the best possible outcome. So be sure to ask the dentist or the hygienist for your annual screening!

The Pinhole® Surgical Technique

At Pacific Dental in Chelsea, we use the Pinhole Surgical Technique to fix receding gums and quickly improve your smile. This alternative to traditional grafting techniques provides immediate results and almost no healing time or symptoms.

 

Your gums are a very important part of maintaining oral health and keeping your teeth healthy. They protect the roots of your teeth by creating a seal around them. Keeping your gums healthy will help you avoid infections as well as gum recession, which can be caused by over-brushing, periodontal disease and bruxism (teeth grinding).


Regardless of the cause, gum recession can expose areas of your teeth that aren’t protected by enamel, causing pain and sensitivity. Because bacteria can completely bypass the protective layers of teeth, gum recession can also cause greater tooth decay, which in turn can mean you’ll need root canals or extractions sooner. Additionally, gum recession can negatively impact your smile by making your teeth appear longer.


Mild cases of gum recession can be treated by scaling and root planing, a non-invasive procedure in which your dentist cleans areas exposed by gum recession, as well as spaces underneath your gums that are prone to collecting decay-causing bacteria. The usual techniques for treating more advanced gum recession involve time-consuming, painful grafts that take a long time to heal. The Pinhole® Surgical Technique does not use incisions, scalpels or sutures, takes much less time than grafting, creates less discomfort and heals much more quickly. We are proud to be one of the few dental offices in Australia offering this advanced treatment method.

What Is the Pinhole® Surgical Technique?

The Pinhole® Surgical Technique was created by Dr John Chao to treat gum recession less invasively and more quickly than traditional grafting techniques. It is more comfortable and has a faster recovery time than traditional techniques and involves no incisions, scalpels or sutures.

Procedure Overview

Traditional gum recession treatments use soft tissue grafts or donor tissue to rebuild the patient’s gum line. The Pinhole® Surgical Technique, on the other hand, is much less invasive and merely adjusts the existing gum tissue. Special instruments are inserted into a small hole in the gum tissue to loosen it, allowing the dentist to expand and slide the gum line so that it covers the exposed part of your teeth.



Not only does the Pinhole® Surgical Technique take less time to perform than traditional grafting procedures, but it also has a much shorter recovery time. With the Pinhole® Surgical Technique, you’ll be back to normal more quickly.

Tooth Decay

Despite its prevalence, we don’t want any patient to think they’re destined for tooth decay, even if they’ve had a hard time avoiding it in the past. There are a lot of factors that contribute to your oral health, but be assured that at our practice you’re in the hands of compassionate decay prevention experts.

 

Anyone who’s been to the dentist knows we have a lot more tools than just a toothbrush and floss for caring for your teeth. In addition to removing plaque, our arsenal of hand tools and handpieces are designed to remove hardened deposits called tartar or calculus that are hard for you to remove yourself using just a toothbrush and floss. During a clean visit, we also check your teeth thoroughly for existing signs of decay. If we find a problem, we will talk to you about fixing it as soon as possible with a filling, a crown, or another treatment if the decay is more severe. Of course, our favourite outcome is when we find no decay at all. Understanding how decay starts is a great way to solidify your understanding of how to prevent it.

What is Tooth Decay?

Statistically speaking, tooth decay could be considered the second most common illness humans suffer from (number one is the common cold). If left untreated, tooth decay can lead to pain and more severe problems such as abscesses or systemic infections, not to mention tooth loss. Data indicates that almost every adult has had tooth decay at some point. Our goal is to reverse this trend, at the very least in our local community. Educating our patients about how tooth decay happens and how to prevent it is how we hope to accomplish this.


One myth seems to have emerged from how we were taught about tooth decay and cavities as children: avoid sugar and you can avoid cavities. The reality is there is no single thing you can do to prevent tooth decay. Rather, preventing cavities is a collection of good habits, maintenance and professional attention. The steps for a decay-free smile, in no particular order, are a healthy diet, a thorough daily hygiene routine, and seeing us regularly for teeth cleans and checkups.

Causes of Tooth Decay

Just like other parts of your body, your mouth is populated by both good and bad bacteria. When you don’t care for yourself properly, you can end up creating an environment where the bad (i.e., pathogenic) bacteria get the upper hand. In particular, these bacteria thrive when there is plenty of sugar for them to consume, which they digest and excrete as acid. This acid is what damages your teeth, eating into your tooth enamel and the softer dentin layer underneath. Eating highly acidic foods (lemons, tomatoes, soft drinks, etc.) can also weaken and even wear away your teeth.

Keeping Your Mouth Healthy

If your mouth is in an ideal condition, your body’s own immune responses and mechanisms, such as healthy saliva that contains tooth-building minerals, repair damage and keep bad bacteria from getting out of control. The goal of preventing decay is to keep your mouth in this healthy, balanced condition at all times. If you brush and floss correctly, get enough fluoride, limit your consumption of acidic or sugary foods and visit the dentist regularly, this should be easy for you.

Guidance on Preventing Tooth Decay

However, some patients have a tougher time preventing tooth decay, and we are happy to provide guidance. If you’ve had a few run-ins with cavities, you may need a refresher course on your brushing or flossing techniques, which we’re happy to provide at your next visit. You can also boost the effectiveness of your at-home hygiene with special toothpastes, mouth rinses, toothbrushes, or floss options. We’re happy to recommend these types of products if we think they will benefit you.


Nutritional counseling is another option to ensure decay-causing bacteria doesn’t get too much fuel. In children whose hygiene skills are still developing, sealing the deepest grooves on their back teeth can help prevent decay until they’re older and better at caring for their own teeth.

Stay Informed for a Healthier Smile

Discover more about your oral health and how to protect your teeth and gums. Our team is ready to answer your questions and provide personalised care.