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Dear readers,

We wanted to inform that we have moved our blog to a new address. Visit our website at http://dentistryvietnam.com/.

A Pretty Smile

Orthodontics is not just about straightening teeth. In order for the teeth to bite together properly the jaws need to be in the correct position; otherwise strain can be placed on the joints and muscles, which may lead to problems later.

Nowadays, orthodontists, dentists who specialize in this field, work to align the jaws, the teeth and therefore the facial profile of the patient. Have you ever seen someone who shows too much gum? Or someone who looks like their lower jaw sticks out too far forward? Well, this is where having early intervention can help to create more esthetic facial outcomes. Left untreated, often jaw surgery is the only way for correction.

For early involvement to prevent problems, the American Academy of Orthodontists recommend having a screening as early as seven years of age. Orthodontists use appliances (and we don’t mean TVs) to help expand the jaws and this in turn allows the jaws to grow in a more favorable position. The aim is to balance the teeth, muscles and the jaw joints so that they function efficiently

Open Wide

Wearing a brace can take a little while to get used to but, fortunately, the mouth adapts quickly. Progress will only be made if the removable appliances are worn twenty-four hours a day, and removed only for cleaning and contact sports. The appliance will be checked and adjusted every four to six weeks. It takes time to remodel bone and adapt muscle patterns but by following instructions, and with help and support, a lot can be achieved.

Routine dental check-ups and hygiene visits should still be carried out six monthly during treatment. If the appliance is removable it should be taken out after meals for cleaning. A travel brush can be supplied for this purpose. Sweet, sticky or hard food should be avoided, as should sugary drinks (including fruit juice between meals) and chewing gum.

Say Cheese

At the end of treatment with the appliances the upper and lower jaws should be in their correct position. A short second stage of treatment using fixed braces (train tracks) is often required to finally align the teeth. Once the teeth are in the correct position the fixed braces are removed and a removable retainer is worn until bone around the teeth has stabilized. These retainers are made of clear plastic and are worn mostly at night for a minimum period of twenty-four months. It’s an evitable journey for most of us who just are not born with straight teeth or more importantly nicely aligned jaws.

Patient Story – Victoria Poltavtseva, Russia

My dental story started long time ago, at the age of 5 when I faced a first problem with my teeth. The development of technologies in USSR that time didn’t allow me to reduce the pain and feel comfortable in the dental chair. Eventually I was terrified to go to the dentist for many years. As the result, by the age of 17, I started to feel more and more uncomfortable with my smile; even after the major dental work done in Russia still my teeth didn’t look great. I was requiring some big change.

After moving to live and work in Vietnam for some time, I discovered the opportunity to finally solve my problem and get the smile of my dream. Westcoast helped me to make my dream come true by providing the excellent service, high tech technologies and a gentle care about my future smile.

I had lots of fillings, whitening and 2 root canal treatments without any pain at all and finally 4 veneers at my front teeth. According to my dentist, veneers was the best solution for the complete smile makeover, however I was a little bit concerned about their natural look, so everything was depending on the professionalism of my dentist! I remember when Dr. Linh gave me the mirror for the first time I was very scared to see how my new teeth look like but giving a quick look I realized how amazing the result was! I couldn’t say that there were veneers at my teeth! I felt like I was born with these teeth and a beautiful smile!

I can’t describe how happy I was: my face has completely changed and now I can smile and laugh whenever I want without any doubts about beauty of my smile. Thank you Westcoast for helping me to make my dream come true!

How did you find your experience at Westcoast?

It was great, the dentists are so caring and professional, I had no doubts I was in good hands and can ease all my fears and doubts!

Is there any aspect of our services that are better than what you expected?

Everything, starting from smiling and supporting front office girls, finishing with the quality of the work done.

Any more comments?

I’m recommending Westcoast to all my friends in Vietnam and all of them are very happy with the result and service provided. It’s one of the facility in Vietnam that you can be completely confident about.

Gum disease can occur without you even knowing.

When we first here the words gingivitis or gum disease. It congers up visions of teeth seen in horror movies and the side of cigarette packets. This is not the case. Gum disease can occur without you even knowing.

So What is Gum Disease?

Gum diseases, including gingivitis and periodontitis, are infection of the structure that support teeth, if left untreated, can lead to tooth loss. The word periodontal literally means “around the tooth.” Periodontal disease is a chronic bacterial infection that affects the gums and bone supporting the teeth. Periodontal disease can affect one tooth or many teeth. It begins when the bacteria in plaque (the sticky, colorless film that constantly forms on your teeth and around the gums) causes the gums to become inflamed and red.

Gum disease is quite often linked with heart disease. Research has increasingly suggested that gum disease can be seen as a reliable indicator of a pre-disposition to heart problems and disease. There is clear evidence that people with gum disease are more likely to suffer from coronary artery disease than those without gum disease. It has also been linked to diabetes, premature and early child births. Periodontal disease is also easier to prevent in the early stages and has an impact on our overall health.

If you have gum disease, you’re not alone. According to the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, about 80 percent of adults currently have some form of gum disease. The most important things is being aware of the disease and getting it under control.

What Are The Symptoms?

• Gums that bleed when you brush your teeth
• Red, swollen or tender gums
• Gums that have receded or shrunken away from your teeth
• Teeth that seem loose or that change position; often the front teeth tend to “fan” out
• A change in your bite
• Bad breath or a chronic bad taste in your mouth.

Treating the disease

To find out if you have gum disease, your dentist will do an exam to look for: Bleeding gums, hard buildups of plaque and tartar above and below the gums, areas where your gums are receding from your teeth and pockets that have grown between your teeth and gums. The type of treatment required depends upon the stage of the disease. Individual treatment can be fairly simple in the beginning.

Scaling and root planing every 3 months can help bring the disease under control. Scaling is removing the calculus deposits from your teeth; root planing is the smoothing of the root surfaces so that the gum tissue can reattach to the tooth.

In more server cases surgery might be necessary. Surgery helps with the removal of calculus, plaque and diseased tissue, making the area more accessible.

Perio- Pocketing. A pocket is the separation of the gum tissue from the tooth and your dentist will measure them in millimeters – “tooth number 27 has a distal pocket of 6” and so on – the larger the number the deeper the pocket and the worse your condition.

If caught in the early stages, gum disease can be stopped or even reversed. The key is regular cleaning and check-up with your dentist.

Dental implants: permanent solution to missing teeth

Hundreds of millions of people throughout the world are missing one, several or all of their teeth. Dental implants offer a permanent solution to missing teeth. A dental implant is a small titanium screw that is surgically placed in the upper or lower jawbone replacing the root of the missing tooth, providing an anchor for the new tooth.

Other than wisdom teeth, the remaining teeth are quite essential for a lifetime. The more teeth you can maintain in your mouth throughout a lifetime the more stable your bite is and the less hard the other teeth have to work. For example, if you have a job that requires ten people and you take away five the others have to work twice as hard, they will get fatigued twice as fast and get only half the job accomplished. It’s the same with teeth.

Because we are living longer, we are outliving our natural teeth. Teeth can fracture and break, bone around the teeth can be lost and accidents can create trauma. With the success and predictability of dental implants, teeth can be replaced individually as they are lost without impacting the adjacent natural teeth. Nowadays dentists don’t have to destroy good tooth structure to place bridges or partial dentures. They can just replace what’s lost. The older traditional ways of replacing teeth were to employ the remaining teeth in some manner.

In the past, if all of your teeth were missing, artificial teeth called dentures would be fitted. If an individual tooth was missing, a partial denture would be clipped around the existing tooth. These were unattractive, cumbersome and totally unnatural. Functional for a while, but they accelerated the loss of the remaining teeth because they were making the existing teeth work harder.

Implants are a surgical reconstruction of only the site that has been damaged therefore more natural tooth structure is maintained and the natural teeth are prevented from being overloaded and lost prematurely. An implant is a small post made of biocompatible titanium that replaces the root of the tooth. It is anchored into the bone similar to the way a natural tooth is anchored.

Implants have many advantages in replacing missing teeth. Teeth fastened to implants feel more natural than conventional removable dentures, and unlike conventional cemented bridges, it is not necessary to grind healthy adjacent teeth to anchor the bridges. Implants also help maintain the bone that is normally lost after a tooth is lost. The sooner a missing tooth is replaced with an implant the less complex the reconstruction is. The bone starts to melt away after a tooth is lost and then there’s less bone available for anchoring the implant.

With advanced tools cosmetic and restorative work is created with such precision and attention to detail that the outcome is beautiful and completely natural looking in appearance.

Patient Story – Mr. Mizutani, Japan

Mr. Mizutani was on a business trip from Japan in Vietnam, he presented at Westcoast International in a great deal of pain. We treated him initially in our HCMC clinic, as Mr. Mizutani’s business trip took him to Hanoi we were able to continue his treatment there. Now he is finishing the  treatment in Japan.

Why did you choose to have dental treatment here?

I couldn’t wait to go back to Japan. My coworker found Westcoast which is close to our company and has a Japanese translation service. He called the clinic and the phone was answered by a Japanese staff member who answered all of his questions. As his mind was put at ease he decided this clinic was good enough to send me.

How did you find your experience at Westcoast?

I’m very satisfied. As the doctor and Japanese interpreter explained to me about my treatment, my uneasiness had soon gone, even if it was my first experience visiting a dental clinic in foreign country. I felt very cared for.

Was there any aspects of our service that were better than expected?

The whole clinic and instruments are all very clean. Their service was very gentle and caring. I had treatment done with peace of mind.

Any more comments?

Thank you very much. I can now visit Vietnam without any fear. Westcoast will be there to help.

 

水谷 廣司 様 日本から

水谷様はベトナムへの出張中に歯が痛くなり当院を受診されました。応急処置だけでしたが、出張期間中ホーチミン･ハノイの両クリニックでフォローアップさせていただきました。痛みから開放されたときのほっとされたご様子が印象に残っています。ご帰国後は掛かりつけの歯科医院で順調に治療を進めているそうです。

• なぜ当院で治療することを決められましたか？

私の歯の痛みが帰国を待てない状況となり、出張先の支店長が日本人向けの情報誌で会社から近く、日本語のサービスがあるお医者様をということで探して頂いた結果です。まず、支店長が電話で確認をされたのですが、その時に日本人の方が電話に出られ、その際の対応で私を診てもらっても大丈夫と判断したとおっしゃってました。

• 当院の歯科治療、サービスはいかがでしたか？

非常に満足しています。　医療行為に対する説明をドクターから、そして日本語通訳して頂いて非常に良く分かりましたし、海外で初めて病院に行った私ですら不安は直ぐに無くなりました。ドクター、そして通訳の方が痛みを訴える私に対して心配してくださり、治してあげようという気持ちが伝わってきました。

• ご提供したサービスの中で、期待を超えるようなものはありましたか？

院全体並びに医療機器が清潔感があり、安心感をおぼえました。又、対応が丁寧で心配してくださる気持ちが伝わり、安心して治療を受けることができました。

• その他ご意見・ご感想があればお願いします。

「感謝しています。今後の出張も安心して行けます（笑）」

Porcelain Veneers – The Most Popular Way to Create Hollywood Smile!

The technological advancement in the area of dentistry nowadays allows everyone to have a perfect Hollywood Smile.  Porcelain laminate veneers are probably the most esthetic means of creating a more pleasing and beautiful smile. They require a minimal amount of tooth reduction (approximately 0.5 mm) and are, therefore, more conservative restoration than a crown. Dental veneers allow altering tooth position, shape, size and color. They are not the only alternative for all esthetic abnormalities but are truly a remarkable restoration when they are the treatment of choice.

Some facts you might want to know about Dental Veneers:

• Since they require approximately 0.5mm of tooth reduction, dental veneers are NOT considered a reversible form of treatment.
• Occasionally the preparation of a Porcelain Laminate Veneer does not necessitate the use of a local anesthetic. However, for those patients that are particularly sensitive or anxious, a local anesthetic is advisable.
• The laboratory time required for the fabrication of a Porcelain Laminate Veneer is approximately one week. Due to the minimal amount of tooth reduction, it is usually not necessary to fabricate any type of temporary restoration. Should a temporary be needed, they can, in most circumstances, be made at the time of treatment.
• Between your preparation visit and the insertion visit, you can expect some sensitivity to hot and cold. This is normal and is due to the removal of a small portion of the enamel covering of the tooth. This sensitivity should disappear after the placement of your Porcelain Laminate Veneer.
• Your second visit, the insertion of your laminate, can be accomplished, once again, with or without local anesthetic. This visit is usually longer in length. The laminates are placed with a light sensitive resin which is hardened by using a white light.
• Once placed your laminates are very strong and will resist most of the forces placed upon them by a normal diet. Porcelain has great crushing strength but poor tensile strength. Therefore, you should avoid anything that will tend to twist the laminate. Opening pistachio nuts with your teeth, chewing on bones or jelly apples is probably not a good idea. As with most things, common sense should prevail.

The following photos of our patients illustrate how cosmetic dentistry can correct common problems of spacing, crowding, shape and shade of your teeth.

Before Patient had uneven and protrusive spacing with tooth discoloration.

After: Bleaching and Porcelain Veneers

Before: Patient had wide spaces and unevenly shaped teeth.

After: Bleaching and Porcelain Veneers

Maintenance of Your New Porcelain Veneers:

The maintenance of your Porcelain Laminate Veneer is relatively simple. A few suggestions, however, are in order:

1. Please brush and floss as you normally would to prevent oral hygiene problems. Once placed, dental Veneers are typically the kindest restoration to the gum tissues that we currently have in our prosthetic armamentarium. Do not be afraid that you will damage your laminates by either flossing or brushing. Any non-abrasive tooth paste is acceptable. A good home care regimen will insure the esthetic success of your laminate restorations for years to come.
2. Some sensitivity to hot and cold may be experienced after the placement of your veneers. This relates to the amount of enamel left on your tooth after preparation, the proximity of the nerve as well as several other factors. Some sensitivity is absolutely normal and usually dissipates after one-two weeks. If this sensitivity should remain or concern you at all, please call your dentist.
3. As mentioned before, a normal diet should pose no problem at all. Please avoid anything that will tend to bend or twist the laminates.

Straighten your teeth with invisible braces

Nowadays it is possible to straighten teeth without braces, which would have been unthinkable just a few years ago. Today, there are many other options to straighten teeth without the traditional orthodontic braces. The most popular among them is the Invisalign system, which uses clear aligners to straighten teeth. Another is lingual braces, which are attached to the inside of the teeth, so as not to be visible.

Invisalign

Using a system of clear aligners that look like transparent teeth shields, Invisalign trays slowly move the teeth into their desired position. The aligners are changed every two weeks. The advantage of Invisalign over metal braces is that you can remove them to clean your teeth and eat. Invisalign is an increasingly popular treatment for straightening adult’s teeth.

There are few problems associated with the Invisalign system. However; people who fail to wear their clear Invisalign retainers at all times may find their teeth don’t change position as quickly as they would like. Another problem is the fee is higher than for normal braces. Invisalign retainers are delivered to the patient at once and every 2 weeks the patient moves onto the next aligner in the series. Some people with sensitive teeth and gums may feel some discomfort when they switch to a new aligner. These problems with Invisalign are minor and most patients feel that the benefits far outweigh any problems.

Lingual braces

Lingual braces are similar to standard wire braces but they are fitted to the inside (back) surfaces of your teeth and so are not visible from the front. They can be quite uncomfortable and difficult to get accustomed to but provide a perfect solution to straightening your teeth without anyone noticing. Unlike Invisalign, they can be used to correct even severe orthodontic cases.

Are the benefits of Lingual Braces mainly cosmetic?

They are. Traditional braces do exactly the same job. But, that isn’t to say that Lingual Braces are an exercise in vanity. Especially for adults, the invisibility of Lingual Braces can be important in work and social situations. If you are interacting with people on a day-to-day basis, Lingual Braces help to ensure that you maintain your confidence and act naturally. Whether that’s an important presentation, a job interview, a date or a conversation with someone you’ve just met, it makes a real difference.

Crooked and misaligned teeth can impact an individual’s self esteem, preventing them from smiling. Fortunately, recent advances in dentistry have made it easier to have straighter teeth without anyone noticing.

Pearls of Wisdom – Teeth Whitening

WHITENING – is one of the most popular words in Vietnam, you can see it everywhere: skin creams, sprays, SPAs and of course the dental clinic. While it is not very popular for westerners to whiten their skin, it is quite the opposite with teeth whitening… It is an easy cost effective way to change your smile while working/ traveling in Vietnam…

There are many foods and drinks that influence the colour of out teeth and leave unwanted marks, such as coffee, tea, nuoc mam (fish sauce), soy sauce, red wine and smoking. If you think the colour of your teeth is not as white as when you were younger. You’re probably right! Teeth whitening is a quick and easy way to make your teeth youthful, bright and healthy looking. Literally take off all the years of stain built up inside of the teeth. When done by a professional, teeth whitening is completely safe.

How Does Teeth Whitening Work ?

Teeth tend to change shades, usually yellow, with age. This yellowness and other stains can be eliminated with the whitening processes. The active agents used in teeth bleaching are hydrogen peroxide and carbamide peroxide. When these agents come in contact with the teeth, they release oxygen, this process removes stains from the teeth.

There are many ways to whiten your teeth, for the best results:

• Take Home Professional Teeth Whitening

• In-Office Teeth Whitening

If you want dramatic results – use both!

What is In-Office Teeth Whitening?

In-Office teeth whitening offers the fastest results in the shortest time period if you want to whiten your teeth. The dentist carefully applies the peroxide to your teeth, and a heat or light source is used to activate and accelerate the whitening process. These treatments take about an hour to complete and depending on the stains. For dark teeth, additional visits or a Take-home maintenance method may also be recommended.

What is Take-Home Whitening?

The Take-home whitening method is the most simple and common technique to whiten teeth. Impression molds are taken of the upper and lower teeth in order to fabricate custom fitted trays that fit to the patient’s teeth extremely well. Dentist should check the fit of these mouth trays and provides the patient with instructions. The patient then places a small amount of the whitening material into the trays and wears them for approximately 4 to 8 hours per day for about one to two weeks.

As long as you have teeth in good shape, teeth whitening is an effective and safe way to lighten teeth. This is supported by over 30 years of Clinical research and endorsed by all Western dental associations.