As parents we all want our kids to enjoy a healthy lifestyle and we carefully select the foods that we allow them to eat from an early age.  

What seem to be healthy choices are not always good for your teeth and it is this fact that has led to confusion amongst parents and unfortunate rates of decay amongst children.

The Health and Social Care Information Centre reports that almost 26,000 children in England aged between five and nine have been hospitalised for multiple tooth extractions in 2013-14 - that's the equivalent of almost 500 a week.

It's hard to know what is right when it comes to diet, on one hand you have guidelines such as 'Eat your 5 a Day'- great advice however what this guidance fails to tell you is that many 'healthy' fruit based snacks and drinks contain some of the highest concentrations of sugar and are therefore very bad for your teeth!  Don't misunderstand our intentions, we are not suggesting you stop giving your kids healthy fruits and vegetables but if you want to ensure their long-term tooth health we have some simple steps you should follows:

1. Restrict high sugar/acid foods and drinks to meal times, this includes fresh fruit
2. Avoid giving your child high sugar drinks including fruit juice and fizzy drinks (even sugar free varieties) stick to water wherever possible
3. If you must give your child a snack between meals, try and restrict these to 'tooth friendly' snacks, low in sugar.  Always check the labels for hidden sugars, foods you may think are a great choice can often be very high in sugars!

Check out this article for more information.

The Inman Aligner is a great treatment for those with minor alignment problems at the front of the mouth.

This patient was unhappy with her smile due to here mis-aligned front teeth and slightly rotated lateral incisors.  The Inman appliance was a great option to solve this straight forward case in a short space of time.

This is what the patient thought of the whole experience!

This young lady came to see us with the desire to straighten her upper teeth.

Her upper teeth were mildly crowded with some rotation on her upper lateral teeth.  In addition she felt that some of her teeth looked longer than others.

We carried out a consultation to determine her suitability for treatment and to discuss the various options available and we agreed that Six Month Smiles Cosmetic Straightening was the best option for her.

After taking some impressions of her teeth and sending them to the Six Month Smiles laboratory in the USA, we fitted braces in November 2013.

Wearing Six Month Smiles braces is a very discrete way to straighten your teeth, with clear brackets and wire you can barely notice them.

Once the braces are fitted it usually takes a week or so for you to get used to them.

During treatment it is necessary to visit the dentist regularly for adjustments to the moving teeth and the braces.

Just a little under 5 months later we achieved a dramatic change in this young ladies smile.  As you  can see from the pictures above the upper teeth have been moved into the correct position and we now have a lovely straight smile.

To compliment the fantastic result we achieved with the alignment of this smile, we carried out a short course of at-home tooth whitening to further enhance her smile.

I think you will agree this case was a huge success.  If you would like to find out more about this amazing treatment please get in touch to arrange your FREE consultation.