The Smile Emporium

Dental and professional aesthetic treatments for a happier and healthier you

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Your youthful skin for 2017 and beyond...

Wow, Valentine’s Day is already upon us.  How is your News Years’ resolutions weathering the first month of the year? Allow me to add another one on it for you - Goal: Look younger this year!  There are so many great skin care tools that we can use to help to try and keep the A.G.E effect at bay a little longer.   Let me tell you about the treatments that’ll give you a great youthful boost this Christmas. Some are new and some not so new, but greatly improved.

In a lady’s anti-aging armory, we need to have both professional and home care treatments to help keep us looking great.  Your professional treatments need to be supported by the home care products you use. They will nourish your skin and protect it while it is healing and regenerating.

Professional target different layers of your skin, muscle and connective tissue.  Each layer is as important as the next in keeping your face young and fresh.  By starting at the base layer, the muscle, one can halt the movement of the muscles that create the skin folds that become wrinkles.  Botulinum toxin  is the standard substance used for this.  Its action is to paralyze the muscles, thus ultimately smoothing the skin.  Any wrinkles that already  exist will be smoothed.  Also any new wrinkles will be prevented while the toxin is working.  The effects last 3-4 months.  This should be the treatment most used, other than your moisturizer.

Hyaluronic acid Filler treatments have advanced dramatically over the years.  So we can now just use fillers to treat many different layers and correct various problems relating to your skin and its supporting tissues.  There are also new techniques using these fillers that will rejuvenate and support your skin.  Fillers, like Botulinum toxin can also be preventative and can be started at a much younger age than one would think.  By recontouring your face, your skin is supported and won’t sag as quickly.

The Skin Booster is another type of filler that is an immensely powerful treatment although it is very discreet.  In this treatment, a thinner filler is injected just under the skin and it nourishes and moisturizes the skin.  This improves the quality of the skin.  This is a great treatment for neck and décolletage or even the back of the hands.

Collagen Induction Therapies have been around for years but the treatment process is becoming more and more advanced.  Previously one would use a dermal roller to prick the skin to stimulate collagen repair.  Now a machine is used to do this as it is less painful and much quicker.  The stimulation effect tightens the skin, improves its quality and increases the collagen fibres supporting it.  At the same time a peptide serum is used that penetrates better through the micro puncture sites. This nourishes and aids the collagen repair.

Finally, Chemical Peels are becoming the new “normal” facial.  The results you get from a Peel are far better than those you would get from a facial.  A peel will exfoliate the old, dead skin and stimulate new skin cells to start forming.  This process leaves your skin bright and shiny immediately after the treatment. However, it will improve the quality of your skin as you keep doing the peels.  If you keep to your suggested peel routine, results can include lightening effects, cleaning out of acne skin, erasing fine lines and even reduction in pigmentation.  Peels are inexpensive treatments that can fit easily into your beauty budget every month.  And, nowadays, there is hardly any down time after a peel.

All of the above treatments are amazing in their own rights but also work so well in conjunction with each other.  However, their results are improved and maintained better if you use the correct, complementary home care products.  The Golden Rule for products is to use a range that is made especially for the treatments you are having.  The second rule is not to mix your ranges.  This is especially important for keeping the skin pH correct so as to allow absorption of the products. The third rule is,  sunscreen, sunscreen, sunscreen!

This is a great New Year’s resolution.  And it is so easy to start doing.  Create a beauty treatment habit that works for you.  The only bad treatment is the one you didn’t have.

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How to Keep your Teeth Healthy Through the Christmas Binge Season

So Christmas is upon us again!  It feels like it should still be July but no, look again, its not!  I just love this season.  It reminds me of family time, of love, of giving, and, of course, lots and lots of food.

I love all the special treats that are made only for Christmas.  Christmas mince pies, Christmas pudding, so many other treats.  I love the time it takes to make all of the treats.  The hours spent in the kitchen preparing the food with love.  And it all gets gobbled up in a blink of an eye.  

So, through all of this gustatory debauchery, how are we supposed to stay looking good and keeping things vaguely healthy?  There are a number of tips I can share with you that mostly revolve around keeping your teeth bright and shiny.  The diet………I can only say its not going to work well over the season and that’s what New Year’s Resolutions are for.

Keeping teeth healthy and clean and sparkly white through this season is not easy but it can be done with a couple of little tricks.  Teeth get stained with any dark coloured foods and drinks consumed.  That means red wines, sangria, curries, beetroot, etc.  All the good stuff unfortunately!  So follow these little trick to keep your teeth sparkling over the season:

Whenever you drink or eat something keep some water handy to rinse your mouth out to get rid of the residue that will stain your teeth.

If you’ve had your teeth whitened before, keep your trays ready and have a syringe of whitening gel available for the season.  Sleep with the gel on every week or so to ensure your teeth stay stunningly white

Floss…… I know how tiresome this may seem but it really does work. Flossing gets rid of all the bits of food stuck between your teeth so cavities don’t start.  Best to floss at night, before you brush your teeth.

The best prevention against cavities is to make your teeth strong. Fluoride is the best element known to make teeth strong.  Almost all toothpastes have it in them.  What I suggest to patients is to put a little dollop of toothpaste back in your mouth after brushing and don’t rinse it out.  This will increase the fluoride available to your teeth and keep them strong.  

Good Luck with keeping your pearly whites just that – Pearly White.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas.

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What is Digital Smile Design?

Have you ever thought of having your teeth done to get a whiter and brighter smile but you’re not sure how it will turn out?  This is where technology takes the guess work out of having your Spectacular Smile Done.   Digital Smile Design is a new technology that allows your dentist to design a smile for you without even touching your teeth.  

This procedure takes about 10 minutes and all it takes is 2 photographs of you and your smile.  These photos will be transferred into the Digital Smile Design software.  In this software we can then design your smile according to the universal Golden Ratio as well as particular shades and shapes of teeth.

If you’re unsure about how your smile will turn out we can do 2 or 3 options on the software.  We will give you a photo printout to go and show your family to help you decide which option suits you the best.

Only once you’ve decided on a smile that you love will your smile be created in your mouth.  This saves many unwanted visits to try-in your new crowns or veneers or even having to have them remade (heaven forbid).  It also allows the laboratory to plan your smile perfectly and to give you temporary crowns that look fantastic while the real ones are being made.

If you’re curious as to what you could look like with a brand new spectacular smile, let us help you test your smile with our new Digital Smile Design software.  Its quick and easy and best of all – it doesn’t hurt at all!

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All I want for Christmas is a younger face.

Well, perhaps we can’t exactly make your face younger, but we can definitely make it look younger.  Youth seems to be the intangible that everyone is striving to get.  And nowadays, we have some great products and techniques that will definitely help you get there.  

There are 4 main treatments that should make up any serious youth-seeker’s anti-aging armamentarium.  And, the younger you start them the better.  Each treatment targets a different layer of your skin or supporting structures.  In this manner they compliment each other and, together, give you a skin that looks like you have actually turned back the clock.

The first, and easiest, treatment is a Medical Chemical Peel.  Peels are so advanced that they can penetrate the skin to a deeper level, giving you much better results but with hardly any down time.  The rationale behind the Peel treatment is to slough off the old, dead skin cells and to stimulate new skin cells to grow.  In this manner you start to create a new skin that is supple, well-supported and smooth.  At first, you’ll have a Peel every 2 to 4 weeks.  Keep this up and you’ll be keeping your skin super smooth and youthful.

Botox® and Dysport ® are the next treatments that fall part of the attack on aging.  These injections are used to paralyze the muscle so that it can’t move.  In this manner, the skin is not folding.  Any wrinkles you already have will be softened and any new ones will be prevented.  You’ll want to do this every 4 months to maintain your wrinkle-free face.

Hyaluronic Acid Fillers is my favourite treatment!  Injections with hyaluronic acid are placed into and just under the skin to support the skin.  In this way, any wrinkles that are present are smoothed and lifted so they aren’t so deep.  These treatments are so versatile with treatments targeting anything from pure nourishment and moisturisation to full face contouring and line correction.  Lip enhancements are done with these fillers.

Finally, the best treatment for skin tightening is Microneedling.  This treatment involves the punching of tiny needles into the skin to allow absorption of proteins and vitamins.  Sounds quite vicious?  Perhaps, but I keep reminding myself that it is painful to be beautiful.  For me, I feel that this treatment is so worth the discomfort as the skin is tightened and stimulated instantaneously.  If you can, this should be done at least once a month.

If you’re unsure where to start with the choice of treatments above, book a skin assessment with us and we can help guide you to your own fountain of youth.

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Why is your Oral Hygienist your Best Friend?

You know the lady I’m referring to.  She is the human equivalent of the Plover bird cleaning a crocs teeth.  A crocodile needs the Plover to clean his teeth to keep his mouth disease-free.  Left-over bits of meat will rot in his mouth and the bacteria that congregate on the meat bits will cause an infection.  Thus, the crocodile’s well-being is so dependent on the Plover.  So why do you hide from your Oral Hygienist?

Your mouth is the largest orifice that allows entrance of bacteria to your body next to your nose and ears.  Because of its function, the mouth takes in many foreign objects like food and drink and the not-so-obvious objects like chewing pens and nails and holding dirty objects like money and tickets, etc.  I suppose you’ve never thought of your mouth in that light before.

Yes, we do have bacteria of the good kind that live in our mouths.  They are integral to our health and well being.  Bacteria starts to digest our food before it enters the stomach and they clean out the leftover bits of food.  However, too much of a good thing can also be bad.  Ice cream and cake are a case in point.

Lets investigate the role of bacteria in your mouth.  In a healthy person who cleans their teeth twice a day with regular visits to their hygienist, the bacteria in their mouths are their best friends.  The bacteria will attack any left over bits of food and digest them until they disappear.  This process creates an acidic byproduct.  It is this acid that attacks your teeth and gums, creating decay and gum infections.  If your hygiene is good, there won’t be many leftover bits for the bacteria to eat, thus no decay or infections.  The numbers of bacteria are easily managed and small.

But what if you don’t look after your hygiene that well?  More food particles attract more bacteria.  More bacteria make more acid byproduct.  More acid creates more decay and infections.  Both of which increase your numbers of bacteria even more.  Talk about a vicious cycle!

Bacteria love to make more bacteria.  Bacteria also love warm, dark spaces.  Your mouth is the perfect place to become a bacteria incubator.  Sounds disgusting?  It is!  These bacteria just love your mouth and keep creating more and more acid.  The infection in your gums makes your gums bleed.  And all of a sudden, the bacteria have a way to get out of your mouth into an even warmer, and darker place – your blood stream.  Oh no!  Now they are in your body system, swimming around and taking in the sights.  They love to land on the most inopportune places like heart valves, prosthetic hips and knees and even your unborn fetus.

Wow!  Can your mouth bacteria really affect your heart?  Or your joints?  Or even your baby?  Yes, yes and yes.  They definitely can and they definitely do.

If you have a predisposing heart problem, a pacemaker or heart valve replacements, the bacteria would love to go and colonize these areas.  The problem is that they will create an infection in these areas – do you want an infection in your heart?  The same goes for your joint prosthesis.  People can lose their prosthesis from a dental bacterial infection.  Which means you have to go for a number of months without a joint until they are able to clean the infection up and replace the prosthesis.  This is not something you want to go through!

Your baby can be affected by the bacteria as they do not have an immune system yet.  They are so new and rely on the mother’s immune system to protect them.  The constant onslaught to the baby causes low-birth weight in babies and premature birth (before 37 weeks).  This can so easily be prevented by keeping your mouth spic and span before and during your pregnancy.  Also, after the baby is born, mothers share saliva with the baby inadvertently inoculating their babies with their own bacteria.  

Yes, I can hear you saying that the above doesn’t really apply to you because you don’t have heart or joint prostheses and you definitely aren’t pregnant.  So, oral hygiene doesn’t need to be that stringent for you.  Your immune system gets alerted to the bacterial onslaught and must try to ward them off.  When you have bacteria swimming in your system constantly your immune system has to work overtime to ensure these bacteria don’t start to overtake and cause systemic disease.  The exhaustion of your immune system like this means your immune system is not on top form if another disease tries to take hold.  Thus, your immune strength is lowered to all other illnesses.

Still not convinced that you need to see your hygienist more regularly?

She can show you how to keep your pearls clean and shiny whilst checking that nothing is going wrong with your fillings or crowns.  She can help you make a decision around whether to whiten or not.  She wants to help you choose between manual and electric tooth brushes.  If you need help getting your kiddies to brush properly, that’s what she is there for.  If you’ve got a hot date, she is the one to get your Kissability Coefficient up there.

Let your hygienist help look after your mouth, your heart, your smile and your family’s well being.  Book your appointment now for a happy, healthy smile!