COVID-19 UPDATE

Oral Health Care – COVID-19

In response to the current evolving Covid-19 recommendations during this difficult time, it is with a heavy heart Withers Dental have made the decision to cease seeing and treating patients after today. We all have families and friends and our wonderful patient community who we are desperate to protect from the covid-19 virus. After very careful consideration, countless discussions and advice from specialists, we believe being proactive now is the best method for reducing the spread of this awful virus.

Withers Dental will have staff present Monday through to Friday from 8:30am – 4pm to answer your phone calls and begin contacting all patients with appointments in the coming weeks. We will release further information as it comes to hand, with an update on our response.

In the meantime, it’s extremely important our patients take extra good care of their own oral health until we can give that extra special touch again!

ORAL HYGIENE TIPS

BRUSHING

It’s never been so important for you to brush for teeth every single morning and night! Don’t forget the floss too! The best method for brushing your teeth and gums is with a soft bristle toothbrush held at a 45-degree angle, gently brushing both teeth and gums in a circular motion ensuring you brush every surface. If you scrub too hard from side to side, you run the risk of causing your gums to recede, as well as damaging the tooth enamel. You’re even luckier if you own a soft bristle electric toothbrush as it will do all the hard work for you, you just simply move it slowly over every surface for a sparkling clean smile!

While it may seem strange at first to brush your tongue, it reduces the bacteria in your mouth and helps your breath stay fresh. All you need to do is push the bristles on the tongue and scrape gently forward.

ada.org.au/getattachment/Your-Dental-Health/Resources-for-Professionals/Resources-for-Teens-12-17/Brushing,-keeping-your-teeth-clean-and-healthy/ADA_FactSheets_Brushing.pdf.aspx

FLOSSING

Did you know nearly half the surface area of your teeth lies in between each tooth!? This is why it is essential that you get that floss out each night and put the work in for a fresher smile!

By removing the plaque and bacteria which lies in between the teeth you’re helping prevent gum disease, tooth decay and BAD BREATH! So, grab yourself a decent length of floss and get in between those teeth gently slide along the sides of your teeth and slightly below the gums.

https://www.ada.org.au/getattachment/Your-Dental-Health/Resources-for-Professionals/Resources-for-Teens-12-17/Flossing,-why-it-s-essential-for-your-oral-health/ADA-FactSheet_Flossing.pdf.aspx

MOUTH RINSING

If you don’t have a toothbrush or floss handy after each meal, or sugary treat during the day it’s best to always rinse your mouth out thoroughly with just some plain old water! By vigorously rinsing with water this will help to remove that nasty film over your teeth when you treat yourself to something sugary and will also dislodge any bits of leftover lunch!

AVOIDING AN EMERGENCY

Sadly, we are very limited in what treatment we can perform during this awful Pandemic. We recommend you all do your best to avoid damaging your beautiful smile while we are unable to see you for routine visits and non-essential treatments (fillings, chipped teeth etc.).

Best to avoid the sugary or acidic drinks and treats as much as possible, if you absolutely need that soft-drink to quench your thirst try opting for a sugar-free soft drink instead. Always wash your mouth out with water after any sugary and acidic drinks and foods!

Stay away from hard/chewy candies or foods, YES, that means pork-crackle! As tasty as crackle can be, it can easily cause a broken or chipped tooth which is the last thing you want when the Dentist is closed!

Best way to avoid a chipped tooth is NEVER opening anything with your teeth! Do we need to say it louder for the people in the back!? Even biting straight into apples or carrots can cause an unwanted disaster, we recommend cutting your foods into smaller chunks, eliminating the need to bite directly into anything.

If you are experiencing an emergency with severe toothache pain interrupting your sleep, swelling of the face or mouth, substantial bleeding or dental trauma causing change in position of teeth please call our team on (07) 4659 9477 and we will assist you as best we can.

BRACES & INVISALIGN PATIENTS

• If wire starts to dig in use your orthodontic wax. Roll a small piece of wax into the shape of a ball and squeeze it a few times to soften it. Dry the offending area with a tissue or cotton ball (the wax will not stick if the area is wet), shape the wax over the irritating wire.
• If the wire falls out from your braces at the back of the mouth, use tweezers to carefully reinsert it, you may need a helping hand for this!
• If a long piece of wire is sticking out or digging in and its unbearable, use nail clippers to cut it short. Be careful not to cut yourself! 
• If food gets stuck between your brackets, use floss to gently remove it as you normally would. 
• If a bracket (the metal or clear brace stuck to your tooth) falls off it will be loose. It may still be attached to the wire and might just be spinning around on the wire. If this happens, and is annoying you, place some wax over the top of it to smooth it over.
• If you slightly crack your clear retainer (which you received after you got your braces or Invisalign off) keep wearing it! It’s still doing its job and holding the teeth in their corrected positions. Let us know and we can arrange a new one when our Practice opens again!
• If you have Invisalign and your current aligner is broken or odd fitting, step back to your previous aligner.
• All of our Invisalign patients are instructed to now wear their Invisalign aligners for 2 WEEKS at a time.

We apologise greatly for any inconvenience this has caused and we appreciate your understanding during this time. Please stay safe, listen to the Covid-19 measures to be enforced and keep our loved ones safe. We look forward to seeing all our wonderful patients soon!