Why it’s important to go to the dentist in Mackay
It can sometimes be tempting to want to do everything ourselves. Who needs hairdressers when you own a pair of scissors? Who needs to go to cafes when you can make a perfect cuppa at home? Who needs to go to the dentist in Mackay when there’s a toothbrush and toothpaste sitting by the sink in the bathroom?
To a certain extent, we can look after our teeth pretty well at home but we all need that helping hand to ensure our oral health stays in good shape. At Walkerston Dental we believe that it is extra important to keep the teeth and gums in tip-top condition so you can enjoy a healthy smile. While mainting good oral hygiene at home is great, there are multiple reasons why attending your routine check-ups on top of this is a good idea.
At your check-up there are lots of things we can do for you, including:
- checking for early signs of gum disease and tooth decay that are often hard to detect at home
- removing plaque before it accumulates
- offering advice on how to maintain good oral hygiene
- assessing if you have any dental problems that need addressing and arranging appropriate treatment.
What happens at the dentist in Mackay?
In a year, the number of visits to the dentist in Mackay will depend on your circumstances. If you are looking after your teeth well, brushing twice a day and flossing regularly, you may get away with coming to see us just once a year. However, if you have a weak immune system, lifestyle habits such as heavy smoking, or are undergoing certain medical treatments, visits may be more frequent.
When it’s your time to visit us at Walkerston Dental in Walkerston GP SuperClinic, Queensland, you can expect a warm, friendly welcome. During your dental appointment, we will examine your teeth, gums and mouth. We will ask you whether you have experienced any problems or discomfort in the mouth, and offer advice on keeping up with good dental cleaning habits. We may also make plans for treatment if you need any dental restoration. Attending regular check-ups will help minimise the need for treatment in the long run.
Why do we use happy gas at the dentist in Walkerston?
We have a whole range of patients that come to visit us at the dentist in Walkerston. Our challenge is to meet everyone’s individual needs. We are always refining our skills and equipment to do this at Walkerston Dental.
While many patients are happy and able to visit the dentist when they need to and if they want to take advantage of some of our cosmetic dentistry treatments, some people need a bit more encouragement. At Walkerston Dental, we understand that some are quite anxious or might have had a traumatic experience earlier and if we can provide options to overcome their anxiety, it goes a long way to make the treatment more comfortable. If you are anxious, when you come to the dentist at Walkerston, we can offer assistive measures such as happy gas to make any treatment that you have at our practice more comfortable.
What is happy gas?
What we call ‘happy gas’ is a mixture of nitrous oxide and oxygen. The reason we give it that name is because it has the effect of calming you down and making you more relaxed. The advantages of using happy gas are:
- Relaxation – it contributes to a dissociative state where patients can forget about any fears they have around the dentist and lie back comfortable during treatment;
- Cooperative – happy gas is safe to be used alongside other anaesthetics. This means that you benefit from the normal, localised pain-relief as well as the inhalation sedation which assists with your emotional state;
- Fast-acting – happy gas begins to work almost immediately after you start using it. It is quickly absorbed into the blood stream. It also leaves the body quickly, so it does not affect your cognitive abilities after your treatment. You can go about the rest of your day;
- Safe – this is the same kind of gas that is used for pregnant women during labour. This should reassure you that it is safe to use.
If you think you might benefit from inhalation sedation with happy gas during your treatment, then you can talk to Walkerston Dental and a member of our team will help you. We hope to meet all your needs when it comes to supporting your dental procedure.
Promoting healthy teeth
Having your teeth and gums looked after by a dental professional is an essential part of maintaining your oral health. At Walkerston Dental in Walkerston, people who need a dentist in Walkerston will find a full range of contemporary treatments for all aspects of oral health. We repair damaged teeth, fix crooked smiles, and prevent deterioration. Our friendly and tactful team delivers modern dental care in a relaxed environment.
The dentist in Walkerston provides a wide range of treatments
Our level of care goes way beyond what you can do for yourself at home. Using years of training and carefully-honed knowledge, we can spot the signs of decay and disease in their earliest stages. Then we eliminate them so they don’t cause you any further damage or discomfort.
Our ultrasonic scaler will get rid of any tartar and plaque that may have established itself on the surfaces of your teeth. Many of our patients leave feeling refreshed after having this treatment at our practice. If you have it done every six months, you stand a good chance of missing out on gum disease in the future.
Replacements and repairs
For missing teeth, we have dental implants. This means the tooth you lost will be replaced by a small metal post that integrates with your jawbone. We affix a highly-customised substitute tooth to this post, which provides a great deal of strength and reliability.
Being a dentist in Walkerston often involves repairing damaged teeth. You might want to have veneers if your teeth are chipped. These thin porcelain segments are firmly bonded to your dental surfaces, and shaped in a way that mimics the natural outlines of your smile.
We can provide fillings using a tooth-coloured substance, so that vital repairs to dental cavities won’t have an unwanted visual impact.
Aligning correctly
We can provide comfortable and discreet braces and aligners that make your teeth perform more effectively and look more harmonious. These long-term treatments at the dentist in Walkerston can produce long-lasting results without causing too much disruption to your everyday life.
At the other end of the scale, our teeth whitening treatment will give you a bright smile in a straightforward procedure.
Professional tooth care
Your teeth need professional care to make sure they’re healthy. The more attention you give them, the better chance you have of keeping them in good condition for a long time. At Walkerston Dental in Walkerston GP SuperClinic, Queensland, we provide professional tooth and gum care for anyone seeking a dentist in Walkerston. Our services range from regular preventive procedures through to long-term dental repositioning and customised tooth replacements.
What happens at the dentist in Walkerston?
For a lot of our patients, we mainly provide a much-needed defence against conditions nobody wants to develop. Decayed teeth and diseased gums are not pleasant things to have, and it’s always better to stop them occurring than to deal with them after they’ve taken hold.
With our well-trained eyes and years of experience, we’re able to notice the subtle indications of disease well before you’ll notice anything’s amiss at home. With up-to-date equipment, we can give your mouth a thorough clean, and advise you on the best ways to maintain hygiene on a day-to-day basis.
Repairs and revitalisation
As a well-known dentist in Walkerston, people often come to see us when they’ve damaged their teeth. Accidents can happen even when we think we’re being cautious, and damaged teeth are often uncomfortable and unsightly. We can repair your chipped teeth with dental veneers, which are thin pieces of porcelain, custom-shaped to restore your dental outlines.
Fillings for dental cavities can be done using a special substance that’s coloured so it blends in with your teeth. In this way, we preserve your appearance as well as your dental function.
Enhancing your brightness
Our cosmetic treatments include teeth whitening. Many patients want their friendly dentist in Walkerston to solve the problem of discolouration. This condition is fairly common, and the discolouration comes in a huge variety of unwanted shades. Our whitening procedure is comfortable, highly effective and can give you a newly-brightened smile in just one visit to our practice.
Another treatment we offer as a dentist in Walkerston is tooth realignment. Improving the positions of your teeth doesn’t just make them look better. It can make them easier to clean, too.
Looking for a dentist in Walkerston?
Here at Walkerston Dental in Walkerston GP SuperClinic, Queensland, we advise most of our patients to visit us every six months for a check-up examination along with a deep clean scale and polish. Visiting your dentist in Walkerston is a fantastic way for you to maintain good oral health and for us to advise you on any preventive treatments that can help you keep a beautiful smile for as long as possible. We have many treatments available, here are a few:
Dental phobias
If you suffer with a fear of the dentist and your teeth or gums are suffering as a result, please do not hold back on booking an appointment due to embarrassment or shame. Dental phobia is a common problem, and one that we are trained to help you get through. We want you to feel as comfortable as possible if you are having a dental crisis. We are here to help you, don’t hold back.
Natural-looking fillings
Here at our dentist in Walkerston we use the latest composite resins on the market for fillings. This resin is designed to be strong and look natural. We use this composite resin material to fill any holes of a small or medium size, repairing areas of decay that may be causing pain. The beauty of using composite resin for fillings is that we are able to match the colour of the filling to the colour of your tooth, meaning the repair should be almost unidentifiable.
Wisdom teeth and tooth extractions
Appearing in people’s late teens, 20s or 30s, wisdom teeth can cause havoc to what is seemingly a settled set of teeth. Often there is too little room available in people’s mouths to properly accommodate these late arrivals and they need to be extracted. This can be done safely, either by a dentist in Walkerston in our practice with nitrous oxide (happy gas), or for complicated cases, under general anaesthesia at the nearby Mater Hospital.
For all other teeth, we will try to help you preserve your natural teeth in all cases. Tooth extraction is a final resort and can be carried out quickly under local anaesthetic and we can provide various tooth replacement options for you to consider.
Helping your child visit the dentist in Walkerston
At Walkerston Dental, we want to support you while you look after your child’s oral health. It can be tricky to get your family to the dentist but, the earlier you start, the better. We recommend bringing children in to see the dentist in Walkerston as soon as their teeth start to appear. Not only does this help us to monitor the development of their teeth, it also gets them used to visiting the dentist. The latter lays the foundation for excellent, lifelong dental hygiene habits.
What can you do at home to improve your child’s oral health?
While we can keep an eye on your child’s teeth when they visit the dentist in Walkerston, much of their oral care takes place at home. You can make it easier for them with some of the following methods:
Get a novelty toothbrush
You can get brushes that have their favourite cartoon characters on or ones that play music or have flashing lights. These often play or flash for around two minutes to make it easy for your child to tell when they have brushed their teeth for long enough.
Brush your teeth with them
Children often learn best through observation and imitation. You can show them good brushing habits by letting them watch you go through a good brushing routine slowly and methodically. Don’t brush your teeth too hard if you intend to eat and clean again later as overbrushing can be detrimental to your teeth.
When teeth are developing, the main priority is preventing tooth decay. At Walkerston Dental, we have a couple of options for help with this on top of all the usual work we do during a check-up. These are:
Fissure sealants
This is where a thin layer of resin is applied to the back teeth to shore them up against damage. These are the teeth that experience the most pressure and they are often hard to get thoroughly clean. Fissure sealant helps to prevent cavities and the need for fillings.
Fluoride treatment
A coating of fluoride on your child’s teeth has been shown to reduce the prevalence of tooth decay. Applying fluoride is simple and does not cause your child any discomfort.
Why is fluoride good for teeth?
Much of what happens in the body is a balancing act between the various processes and ordeals that it goes through daily. A good example of this is the demineralisation and remineralisation that occurs on the surface of your teeth. A good understanding of these activities helps you to take care of your teeth.
When you visit the dentist in Walkerston at Walkerston Dental, we offer you the benefit of our expertise when it comes to taking care of the teeth. We can explain the role of supportive practices like oral care and the application or consumption of fluoride.
What is demineralisation?
Demineralisation occurs when we eat or drink anything other than water. Your teeth have a coating on them which is vulnerable to disintegration. The natural bacteria in your mouth consume the food you eat and produce acids which eat away at the surface of your teeth. This is called demineralisation.
What is remineralisation?
Fortunately, your body has a method for combating the effects of acid on your teeth. It utilises the minerals in the food you eat and water that you drink to rebuild any damaged areas. This is called remineralisation.
A balancing act
If the two processes described above are well-balanced, your teeth will be healthy. You can assist with this by eating the right foods, observing a diligent oral hygiene routine and visiting the dentist in Walkerston at regular intervals.
If more demineralisation takes places than remineralisation, this is when tooth decay occurs.
How does fluoride help?
Fluoride both protects the tooth and reverses some of the damage that can result from demineralisation. If it is incorporated into children’s teeth at an early age, it can also help to prevent demineralisation later in life. This is why fluoride coating is often recommended for children.
Fluoride is also a common component in toothpaste and mouthwash, so adults can enjoy some of the benefits by using these tools.
At Walkerston Dental, we can talk to you about all the ways that you can prevent tooth decay. We also check you for early signs of damage and can make minor repairs when you visit the dentist in Walkerston. This prevents you needing more extensive work later.
