FAQs

It is recommended that you start to bring your child as soon as their teeth start to appear. During the first visit, our experienced dentist will go through the correct ways to clean and floss the teeth.

The ideal time is when their adult teeth have fully come through and there are no signs of wisdom teeth erupting. This usually occurs around the age of 12 – 13.

Here at Iris Dental, a typical check-up involves:

• A full scale and clean of the teeth
• Evaluation of the health of gums
• Advice for correct cleaning techniques 

At the end of the check-up, your child will receive their own home care park which contacts a toothbrush, toothpaste and floss in a travel bag.

At Iris Dental, our dental surgeons are qualified to perform a number of procedures, which means you have the opportunity to be treated by one doctor.

At Iris Dental we recommend regular dental checkups every six months, as this helps us help you care for your teeth and keep them for a lifetime.

Regularly brushing your teeth and flossing two times a day is good dental hygiene. Moreover, by regularly cleaning your teeth professionally and removing plaque and tartar, our dental hygienists and therapists are ready to help you with your oral hygiene.

Flossing is not important, it is essential in order to remove plaque from between your teeth, where gum disease can begin, you need to remove food scraps containing sugars. These sugars promote bacterial growth and are very hard to remove with brushing alone.

6 months may seem like a frequent period of time, however, it is 182 days in which plaque can settle into hard to reach places and start forming into tooth decaying tartar which affects both your teeth and the gums they rely upon. A combination of at home maintenance (brushing and flossing) and professional “cleaning” and treatment will ensure that your mouth, and the body systems it is connected to, are in top shape and able to be enjoyed for the rest of your life. If plaque and tartar exist and you leave it on your teeth and under your gums it will dramatically increase each month. Tartar provides a breeding ground for plaque forming an environment where exponential growth is common.

The brand of the toothbrush is not nearly as critical as the type of bristle, the size and shape of the head and how frequently you replace your brush.

We recommend a soft bristled brush with a small head. The soft bristles are most important for the health of your gums. A small head allows you to get around each tooth more completely and is less likely to injure your gums.

We recommend replacing your brush at least once a month, a sign of a tired brush is when the bristles are even slightly bending or losing their colour.

It may simply be “morning breath”, but it can be a persistent chronic condition which affects a person’s everyday life and confidence. It is almost always caused initially by poor oral hygiene leading to a build-up of excess bacteria in the mouth and which gives off smelly gases.

A professional clean and visiting your hygienist regularly will help. Daily flossing and brushing will allow you to maintain fresh breath. Some patients also find that a tongue scraping tool helps remove bacteria.

Silver amalgam fillings, which are composed of mercury and silver alloy, eventually need to be replaced. It may surprise you to know that the average lifespan of a silver filling is five to eight years. Your dentist can tell you when they appear to need to be replaced due to leakage, breakdown or recurrent decay.

If your concern is strictly cosmetic, there are many new methods available to replace the fillings with beautiful, functional long lasting restorations.

You are correct. There are many products and techniques available. Some work well and some don’t work at all. The various over the counter products give the least predictable results. To get a really great result you should probably use one of the products sold through dental offices which utilise custom made trays for home application of a bleaching gel. Besides giving a great result, most take home products overcome the sensitivity problem seen with some of the other products.

Dental implants are a wonderful way to replace missing teeth when certain conditions exist. The implants use a titanium screw which is screwed down where the missing tooth is located. After the screw is in position and been connected to the bone, a crown can be placed over the screw to offer a natural tooth appearance and function.

There are many factors which could contribute to your toothache and the cause can only be established after a dental examination. Some reasons for toothaches are loose fillings, tooth damage, the eruption of wisdom teeth, tooth decay and gum disease.

The best solution would be to seek professional help. If you are unable to do so immediately, you could:

• Rinse with salt water
• Avoid excessive chewing
• Make use of ice packs
• Brush gently and floss
• Purchase over the counter painkillers

This depends on the level of your pain; however, it is important to note that any kind of pain is unnatural and if it persists for more than 24 hours, we advise that you seek medical attention.

It depends on the cause of a toothache but generally the symptoms will persist or reoccur after some time, if left untreated.

• Throbbing or constant pain
• A Fever
• Swelling of the gum tissue
• Headaches
• A change of taste in the mouth

Tooth sensitivity is characterised by a sharp pain when you eat or drink something cold or warm. The main causes of sensitivity are gum recession, a temporary side effect of teeth whitening, aggressive brushing, enamel erosion or gum disease.

Generally, an electric toothbrush requires less work than a manual toothbrush and can be more effective in cleaning your teeth. So long as you are brushing twice a day with a soft-bristled toothbrush, the type of brush you use should not really matter.

• Brush twice a day
• Floss once a day
• Visit the dentist at least once every six months for a professional cleaning
• Cut down on your sugar
• Limit your carbohydrate intake
• Rinse in between meals

For more information, contact us today.

When looking at the whitening scale, we usually look for a minimum of 5 shades lighter than your original shade. However, after the procedure, the most common result is 8 shades lighter than your starting shade. Teeth whitening results do vary from patient to patient and are dependent on the mineral content of an individual’s teeth. Though you can rest assured that after the procedure your teeth may look shiny and pearly white!

As it is for most procedures, you will need to go in for a consultation with a dental practitioner to check-up on your teeth, discuss what options are available to you and what procedure would be best for you, then book an appointment.

The procedure itself takes, on average, 45 minutes. And so you will most likely be at the practice for just over an hour.

There has not been any evidence that would indicate that professional teeth whitening systems have either a short-term or long-lasting negative impact on the teeth or gums. Most professional teeth whiteners improve and boost dental health. We can assure you the health of your teeth enamel and dentin, as well as your gums, are safe.

The process of getting dentures is a relatively simple one and it should only take you 4 or 5 appointments scheduled over the course of about 3 weeks. During these appointments, we will make a mould of your teeth and gums, measure your bite and help you to select your new dentures. Once you have your dentures, we will educate you on how to take care of them.

The same rules apply to dentures as with any other new appliance and while they may feel slightly odd, unnatural or too big at the very start. New dentures may also increase the production of saliva in your mouth or hinder your speech until you have adapted fully to them. You should also cut your food into smaller pieces and avoid hot or hard foods until such a time that your dentures have rested sufficiently, and you have become accustomed to them.

Denture adhesives are able to give you an added element of grip even for dentures are perfectly fitted, this is particularly true of lower dentures. That being said, they are not to be confused with being a quick fix for old or ill-fitting dentures. These dentures can cause irritation and may even contribute to bone loss and sores. Research has shown that some denture adhesives that contain zinc that is used too regularly, may cause a deficiency in your copper levels and lead to health problems such as hypocupremia and severe neurological disease.

Tooth whitening works from the within to the exterior of the tooth. The opalescence gel used in the procedure penetrates your teeth and works to remove stains and break down discoloured molecules which results in the whitening of your smile.

The results of teeth whitening on average have a long lasting effect of up to three years after having undergone the initial procedure by a professional. Factors such as age, diet, genetics, some medications as well as life habits, like smoking, may have a negative effect on the span of your whitening and cause your teeth to lose their lustre.

When undergoing a teeth whitening procedure, tooth sensitivity is a fairly common side effect experienced by patients, especially early on in the treatment when going through the bleaching process. However, the sensitivity that occurs is usually temporary and will leave once the teeth whitening process has been completed.

It may seem like something minor but your own attitude as an adult towards dentistry can affect the way that your child perceives a trip to the dentist. Make sure you keep a positive attitude and let them know how important the dentist is.

The role that your baby’s teeth play in their developmental is incredibly important despite the fact that they aren’t permanent. Your child’s baby teeth help them learn to speak, chew and smile; while also keeping space for permanent teeth to grow in.

It is generally accepted that once your child has more than a few teeth that you are then able to use toothpaste and a toothbrush to clean their teeth.