HAPPY FESTIVE SEASON

The team at Mosman Fine Dental would like to wish you all a wonderful festive season and a happy new year.

Thank you for your continued support throughout the year, it is always greatly appreciated, and it is always a pleasure taking care of such excellent patients.

We look forward to seeing you in the New Year.

Kind Regards

Andrew Prideaux & The Team

PATIENT SATISFACTIONAs a team we are always communicating, training and evolving to ensure your visit to Mosman Fine Dental is a quality experience ensuring quality care, service and comfort. We have recently been discussing, as a team, what we can do to ensure this level of care continues and is constantly improving, and it occurred from us that what we would love is to hear from you – our patients.

To demonstrate that we are interested in doing things better and that we value your feedback we have enclosed our patient satisfaction survey.

We have ensured it is concise and quick to complete….so please help us be the best we can be, next time you have a spare 5 minutes please support us by completing and returning this survey to us in the enclosed reply paid envelope, where your name will also go into a draw to win a $250 voucher toward your choice of dental treatment at Mosman Fine Dental.

All completed surveys and feedback will remain completely confidential. We look forward to hearing your feedback.

GIFT VOUCHERS If you are looking for a great Christmas gift for a friend or family member, Mosman Fine Dental has a variety of gift vouchers available to purchase for your loved ones. Gift voucher options include:

• Teeth whitening

• Dental hygiene visit

• Comprehensive dental/smile analysis

LINGUAL BRACESAs most of our patients are aware, Dr Sandra Pedram treats 90% of the orthodontics that is performed at MFD, both on adults and children, and we are proud to announce that Sandra is now performing invisible (lingual) braces for adults.

Lingual braces are custom made fixed braces that are attached (bonded) to the back of the teeth, as opposed to the more traditional or standard braces, that are attached onto the front side of the teeth.

For many reasons, patients of all ages, including adults, may require orthodontics. Reasons such as “bad bite” (malocclusion), worn teeth, crowded teeth and teeth movement can deem cause for orthodontic treatment, and as society has evolved orthodontics have become socially acceptable in all ages.

The Orthodontics themselves have too evolved and traditional braces are now smaller and more discreet, and can even be tooth coloured. In cases where the crowding is mild to moderate and one is conscious of the appearance of the braces, then invisible or lingual orthodontics is the perfect solution.

This technique is more demanding for the operator (dentist) and consequently only a select number of dentists and/or orthodontists around Australia offer this technique.

So if you have been delaying your orthodontic treatment due to concerns about appearance, lifestyle or the effect they may have on your professional life, be concerned no more…..why not ask Dr Pedram about this option.

Dr Pedram is also currently undertaking further studies in early intervention orthodontics for children, and will be publishing some information on this in the Mosman Daily on a monthly basis.

Summer 2011 / 2012

Lingual Braces

WHITE RESIN FILLINGS

-V- WHITE PORCELAIN

FILLINGS

Part 2: In our last newsletter I discussed the advantages of using bonded tooth coloured fillings to increase tooth strength and reduce teeth fractures. Continuing in this edition I will outline the differences between ceramic and resin fillings. Further evidence was presented at a seminar recently by Professor Pascal Magne who is a world leader in this field.

The decision between these materials depends on the size of the cavity and the strength of the remaining tooth structure.

Where the cavity of an existing filling is small (less than 30% of the tooth is missing) a direct placement of composite resin is the most conservative and cost effective method. But where 40% or more of the tooth structure is missing, resin fillings are less ideal as their setting shrinkage during and after placement can lead to cracking and failure of the restoration.

So in these larger cavities a “pre-shrunk” ceramic filling is the ideal choice as it provides strength, wear resistance and a longer lifespan than a large resin filling.

The only disadvantages are a little more time in the dental chair and higher initial cost. But like most things in life, quality is not cheap. Please ask us about these different alternatives next time you need some dental repairs.

KIDS DAYSOur special kids days with games, gifts and competitions continued to be a success for families and will continue to run in the school holidays in 2012.

January 18th & 25th

April 11th & 18th

July 11th

Places are limited so please call us soon on 02 9908 2098.

HYGIENE CORNERWelcome to MFD Hygiene Corner. Recent feedback from our patients, has included that they would love to hear more from our dental hygienists, hence we have created the MFD Hygiene corner in our newsletter, and thought we would start with the most common question our dental hygienists are asked “Do I really need to floss, it’s so hard to find the time”. Our well known and renowned dental hygienist Mary Frei has the following to say….

As a dental hygienist I understand that starting and maintaining new habits, including flossing can be tricky, and when I see patients that haven’t flossed in a while, I can see signs that their gums are slightly inflamed, which is due to bacteria building up. But I know that with regular flossing this inflammation, if caught soon enough, can be completely erased.

The purpose of flossing is to assist in removing the bacteria which lives in our mouths. Flossing gets to the nasty bacteria that toothbrushes can’t reach. Without flossing plaque builds and turns into tartar, which produces toxins that inflame the gums. These toxins really aren’t good for your gums or your body as a whole. All sorts of outcomes can develop – gingivitis, gum disease, loose teeth, bad breath, the list is long. This bacteria travels through your blood stream to other areas of the body, which can have very bad effects on your general health, and any health related conditions.

I would love to see all of my patients flossing on a daily basis but I also understand people are busy and have other commitments to meet. I can certainly suggest strategies to make flossing a part of ones daily routine – but if patients cannot stick to a strict flossing routine, then I suggest they just make sure they do floss 2 to 3 times per week. Even this effort will make a huge difference.

And remember if you haven’t been flossing, don’t avoid your dental hygienist…still come along, we promise to be gentle.

See you soon, take care.

Mary Frei

If you have a question you would like to ask our dental hygiene team – please feel free to drop them an email via “contact us” on our website mosmanfinedental.net or if you have a topic you would like to see in our newsletter please let us know.

established for 25 years