If you grew up believing that tooth troubles were a sign you didn’t brush well enough, or didn’t care enough, you’re not alone. Many people feel embarrassed or even ashamed about their oral health, even when they’re doing everything “right”.

Summer is a time where we hopefully enjoy some slower days, salty swims, picnics, and long road trips. But it can be a surprisingly rough season for your oral health.

Marketing for cosmetic veneers is everywhere. Our social media feeds are full of glossy before-and-after shots, fast transformations, and “perfect” smiles. But what doesn’t get as much airtime is some stuff that really matters when you’re making a big decision about your mouth.

When you work on the frontline of healthcare, you see very quickly where health systems are failing people. You see what happens when we wait until crisis hits. You see what happens when prevention is treated as optional rather than essential.

Fillings are one of the most common treatments in dentistry, but they’re also one of the most misunderstood. So, to help explain their real role, we’ve written the job description every filling would have if the mouth had an HR department!

The new National Oral Health Plan is our chance to stop patching up old policies and start building something better – a system that focuses on prevention and equity, and includes oral health as part of our broader health system.

If you’ve ever noticed your child’s wobbly baby tooth starting to look a bit red, don’t be alarmed! It can be a bit confronting to see colour changes in a tooth, especially when it looks like something’s bleeding inside. But it’s usually nothing to worry about.

We are proud to launch our first Strategic Plan, setting a clear direction for how we will drive change in preventive oral health over the next three years. The plan outlines our vision for a future, and a practical roadmap for how to get there.

Most of us see a black or brown mark on a tooth and instantly think: “Decay!”. And you may well be right. The thought of decay can be scary because once it gets going it inevitably progresses - right? Well, the science is a whole lot more subtle than that.

Teeth grinding and clenching, what clinicians call bruxism, affects lots of people. It can show up during the day (hello, clenched jaw over emails) or at night while you’re asleep. The good news is that most people can dial symptoms down with simple habits and the right support.

At Friends of Really Excellent Dentistry (FRED), we believe prevention is one of the best ways to improve the oral health of all Australians.

Even though as a disease, decay seems kind of obvious - as in it’s clearly about teeth rotting (no judgement with that term) - defining what tooth decay is, took a while and it has been a little hard to nail down.

Caries is the official name for the disease. So, caries = tooth decay.

This is a great question, the short answer is, it depends!

The question points to the observation that there is more to oral health than just cleaning teeth, which is not to say that cleaning teeth isn’t a great habit - it is. It’s just it doesn’t prevent everything, that goes wrong in mouths.

Coming soon..

Coming soon..