Matthews Dentistry

30/10/2026

56 days til Christmas 🎄!….
Book your check and clean with no co payment if you are a regular customer!!
Ho ho ho 🎉🎊.
Xmas is coming and the geese are getting fat …

12/07/2026

It all starts here…

🦷 Brushing alone isn't enough to protect baby teeth.

Here are 10 evidence-based habits every parent should know.

Together, these simple steps can significantly reduce the risk of early childhood cavities and help build a healthier smile from the very beginning.

1. Clean the gums before the first tooth appears

Wipe your baby's gums with a clean, damp cloth after feeds. This helps reduce harmful bacteria and establishes healthy oral care habits early.

2. Use fluoride toothpaste from the first tooth

• Rice-sized smear for children under 3 years
• Pea-sized amount for children aged 3–6 years

When used in the recommended amount, fluoride safely strengthens enamel and helps prevent tooth decay.

3. Avoid frequent sugary drinks and bedtime bottles

Once teeth erupt, avoid putting your child to bed with milk, juice, or other sweetened drinks. It's the frequency of sugar exposure—not just the amount—that increases the risk of cavities.

4. Watch for white spots

Chalky white areas near the gumline are often the earliest visible sign of tooth decay. At this stage, the damage may still be reversible with fluoride, dietary changes, and early dental care.

5. Schedule the first dental visit by age one

The first dental visit should take place by your child's first birthday, or within six months after the first tooth erupts. These early visits focus on prevention, risk assessment, and guidance for parents.

6. Protect baby teeth from injuries

As children begin crawling and walking, falls become more common. Trauma to baby teeth can sometimes affect the developing permanent teeth underneath.

7. Stop thumb sucking and pacifier use by age 3

Prolonged habits may contribute to an open bite, a narrowed upper jaw, and future orthodontic problems.

8. Nighttime is the highest-risk period

Saliva production naturally decreases during sleep, making teeth more vulnerable to decay. If nighttime feeding is necessary after teeth erupt, clean the mouth afterward.

9. Parents' oral health matters too

Cavity-causing bacteria can be passed from caregivers to children. Avoid sharing spoons, cleaning pacifiers with your mouth, or sharing toothbrushes. Maintaining good oral health as a caregiver also helps protect your child.

10. Never underestimate baby teeth

Untreated decay can cause pain, infection, difficulty eating, speech problems, premature tooth loss, and may increase the risk of future dental disease.

Healthy permanent teeth begin with healthy baby teeth. Early prevention is simpler, safer, and far less expensive than treating dental problems later.

❤️ Share this with every parent, grandparent, and caregiver. A few simple habits today can help protect a child's smile for years to come.

15/04/2026

This is important…

Braces can fix your teeth alignment—but without proper care, they can increase the risk of cavities and gum disease.

Orthodontic brackets create plaque traps around every tooth. If cleaning isn’t precise, bacteria build up along the gumline and around brackets, leading to early white spot lesions (demineralization), cavities, and inflamed, bleeding gums. What may look like “just stains” during treatment can become permanent enamel damage once the braces are removed.

That’s why oral hygiene during braces matters more than ever. Cleaning around brackets, between teeth, and along the gums isn’t optional—it’s what protects your enamel while your teeth are moving. Straight teeth are important, but keeping them healthy is what truly defines a successful result.

10/04/2026

This is scary

28/03/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/18fV27JsWp/?mibextid=wwXIfr

27/03/2026

Before Sleep Apnea Awareness Month Ends… are you catching the signs?

Sleep apnea is still widely underdiagnosed—not because the signs aren’t there, but because they’re often overlooked.

What’s interesting is that many of these indicators present first in the dental setting. Long before a patient seeks medical evaluation, they may already be showing clear signs during routine dental visits—subtle, but significant.

This raises an important point: dentistry is no longer confined to teeth alone. It sits at the intersection of oral health and systemic health, placing dentists in a uniquely influential position to identify risks that impact a patient’s overall well-being.

The question is no longer whether dentists should be involved in sleep care—but how prepared they are to act on what they’re already seeing.

Integrating dental sleep medicine isn’t simply about adding another service line. It’s about recognizing a responsibility—and an opportunity—to intervene earlier, collaborate more effectively, and contribute to better long-term health outcomes.

20/01/2026

If your child has a toothache be very concerned about the dentist that decides it should be extracted!

11/01/2026

Call us if you can relate 🤭

10/11/2025

24/10/2025

Around 70% of children suck their thumb at some point.
It starts as a reflex — but if it continues beyond the toddler years, it can quietly reshape how teeth, jaws, and even the airway develop.

🔹 Why children suck their thumb

For some, it begins as a reflex that becomes a comfort habit — helping them relax or fall asleep.
For others, it’s an airway response — the thumb shifts the jaw and tongue forward, making breathing easier.
And in some, it acts as a neural reflex — pressure on the palate stimulates calming nerves, reinforcing the habit.

🔹 What happens inside the mouth

Normally, the tongue rests on the palate, helping widen the upper jaw and support nasal breathing.
But when a thumb replaces the tongue, it pushes the tongue down and cheeks inward — making the palate high, narrow, and constricted.
Studies show this can even reduce airway space by up to 3 mm on imaging.

🔹 How it changes teeth alignment

Front teeth stay apart → open bite
Upper teeth flare forward → overjet
Back teeth move inward → crossbite
Children with prolonged thumb sucking are 8× more likely to develop open bite and 3× more likely to develop crossbite.

🔹 The hidden facial changes

A thumb-kept-open mouth makes the lower jaw grow downward and backward instead of forward.
This leads to a long-face growth pattern, a retruded chin, and a narrow airway — early risk signs for sleep-disordered breathing.

🔹 The muscle memory effect

Thumb sucking retrains muscles the wrong way.
Low tongue posture weakens nasal breathing.
An open bite causes tongue thrust and frontal lisp.
Lips stay apart at rest, and weak muscles encourage chronic mouth breathing.

⚠️ Common signs parents might notice

– Mouth breathing and snoring
– Restless sleep or night terrors
– Bedwetting or grinding
– Enlarged tonsils or adenoids
– ADD/ADHD-like behavior
– Dry mouth and more cavities

Research links prolonged thumb sucking with higher risks of airway and sleep-related issues — because oral habits shape the airway system early in life.

💡 The good news — it’s reversible

Positive reinforcement: comfort toys, bedtime routines, reward charts.

Myofunctional therapy: retrains tongue posture, lip seal, and swallow.

Dental airway check (age 3–4): detects early issues like allergies, small jaws, or enlarged tonsils.

Early guidance can restore balance — protecting a child’s smile, breathing, and sleep for life.

🔹 Educational content only — not a substitute for professional dental advice.