Sensitive teeth

suki1964

Snowyowl, I have receding gums and your dentist is right, they cant be cured, they can just slow it down. The treatment I get from my dentist is deep socket cleaning and flouride implants along with flossing and sensodyne toothpaste. Yes I hate it as well but without it both hot and cold are unbearable The other thing that my dentist goes off at me about is smoking. Shes adament that my smoking is the major cause of my problems. She says that if I didnt smoke, signs of gum disease(bleeding when brushing) would have been evident long before my problem got so bad. Also my brushing technique left a lot to be desired, I apparently brushed far too hard with too hard a brush so now its a flexi head electric toothbrush (cant press hard)

Anyway Sainsburys have sensodyne on offer atm BOGOF and they have it in about five flavours, but no matter what flavour they are still yuk

Cymraeg_2

Tip from my dental hygenist....
Try just rubbing a bit of toothpaste directly on the gum in the sensitive area .
It worked for me , but depends how intense the sensitivity is .

Nile

Consider buying some disclosing tablets, they will show how well you are brushing your teeth.

You could also try clove oil (buy from the Pharmacy), put a couple of drops onto a cotton wool ball and wipe on the sensitive tooth/gum area.

Not sure if it's still the case........... but those temporary fillings applied by dentists were made by mixing clove oil with zinc oxide powder.

Clove oil has a soothing effect on sensitive teeth.

jmf

My husband has sensitive teeth and he uses Wilkinson's sensitive toothpaste. He says it is as good as the more expensive ones, 79p for 75ml.
He also rubs toothpaste directly on his gums if he has eaten something exceptionally cold.

Lillibet_2

I have receeding gums & my dentist (who is excellent in my opinion) tells me they cannot be stopped, just slowed down sometimes. However, since I got pregnant my gums have been bleeding like mad & my teeth are really sensitive, which will apparently go away after I have my baby, the hygenist recommended I use a soft childs toothbrush & brush for a bit longer as a regular one just makes the gums flare up even more at the mo but it is very important to actually brush the gums, not just the teeth.

Don't know if this is relevent to normal sensitive teeth but it might help?

Luis

Firstly, have to agree - Sensodyne is VILE!

Anyway - dentist told me a while ago I had gum disease, receding gums etc. Now cured due to:

Getting a bridge done to replace the plate I had (should have been £4k, but paid only £389 on NHS - Hurrah!), this has placed a lot less stress on my mouth, but was a mammoth job, over several appointments, due to the fact that it was replacing 4 upper front teeth (knocked out when 14).

Flossing (tedious bl**dy stupid faffing affair it is too)

Not rinsing mouth after brushing - apparently you should use a toothpaste like Colgate Total (recommended to me by dentist and hygienist), with Flouride in, and brush but don't rinse, as Flouride sits against teeth and helps enamel and gums - has definitely made a difference.

Going to hygienist for deep clean - wow, feels like you could drive a car through the gaps in your teeth afterwards!

The most economical tips are the toothpaste one and the hygienist (long term), and the flossing too I suppose.

Good luck,

Luis.

Sofa_Sogood

I'm finding it really strange that when some of the dentists who are members found themselves being 'targeted' over their charges, they appeared on the forum en masse.

Any chance that one could answer a couple of these queries please?

Thanks.

Toothsmith

Sorry! I only pop in from time to time.

Receeding gums can have many causes.

Toothgrinding, poor oral hygiene, too good oral hygiene (Overbrushing), some systemic diseases, drug abuse, local factors (fillings near gum margins, poor fitting crowns) to name some of the most commmon.

Sometimes gum recession causes sensitivity, sometimes it doesn't.

So if some dentists have told some people that their recession is curable and have cured it, it's likely that it's a different gum recession to the one that another dentist has told another person is incurable, or one that can be stopped or made better.

In answer to Nile, I have seen some very bad chemical burns on gums from people rubbing on clove oil. I wouldn't recommend it for anything.

To Suki 1964 (A damn good year to be born!) Smoking is disaster for teeth & Gums in particular. I know several periodontists (Gum specialists) who will not treat smokers. It's a waste of time. Save yourself a fortune and either give up, or have your dentures made now!!! I'm not kidding. YOU WILL LOOSE YOUR TEETH (If lung cancer or heart disease don't get you first). I often tell my female smokers to put a picture of Dot Cotton (Eastenders) on their mirror - 'cos that's what female smokers all look like eventually! I have good success at getting them to give up. It's amazing how the fear of loosing their teeth is greater than their fear of dying!

The bottom line is that your dentist should be able to advise you on the causes and treatments. If you go regularly you should trust them. If you don't trust them FIND ANOTHER ONE!!

Just be aware if you do have an NHS dentist though, that the fee for a clean-up (And a thorough clean up done regularly is the best way to prevent the most common cause of recession) is about £8. With all the overheads of a dental practice, it is often more economical not to do it properly - knowing that the effects of plaque can take years to cause real problems - than to spend 15 or 20 minutes chipping away at tartar twice a year. Plus the recent Government spin on check up intervals backs that view up by saying people could go 2 years between dental appointments. There are too few NHS dentists and they don't want the ones they've got farting around with gum recession when there are people out ther writing letters to their MPs!!

Of course there are good NHS pratices out there, but they are getting thinner and thinner on the ground as the concientious dentists who put patient care first find they are being asked to ditch their regular patients in order to provide 'access' for the people who complain they can't find an NHS dentist when they get a toothache despite never having been for 20 years.

Rant over!! Hope the top bit was useful!

Keep smiling

PS, Sensodyne can be disgusting, but the stuff in the blue tubes (Sensodyne Total Care I think - I never read the tube!!!) is a bit more like proper toothpaste

Sofa_Sogood

Thanks for that Toothsmith

(I think I'll be needing a toothsmith soon )

Sofa_Sogood

Now we'll all have to keep to our appointments and
or we'll end up like this or even this

:eek: