Therapy dogs soothe patients at Victoria dental clinic
Therapy dogs Gryphon and Rigby help calm patients down before they head to the dentist chair
Gryphon and Rigby are therapy dogs at a Victoria dental clinic. (InHarmony Dental Care)
A Victoria dental clinic has come up with a way to calm jittery patients that is perhaps more gentle than knocking them out with a sedative.
Gryphon and Rigby, two old English sheepdog and poodle crossbreeds, sit with patients at InHarmony Dental Care to help calm them down before they head to the dentist chair.
“When we first opened our practice, our goal was to allow people a choice between white knuckling it and being unconscious,” said Kate Darrach-Cottick in an interview with On The Island.
“We figured there had to be something in between — that you could come in and have your needs met in such a way that you would leave in a better frame of mind than when you arrived.”
Darrach-Cottick says sheepdogs have the ability to differentiate between the energy emitted from a running herd of animals and their own. The idea is for Gryphon and Rigby to use that same ability to read people’s energies.
When an antsy patient comes in, Darrach-Cottick would tell the dogs to “go to
Are electric toothbrushes better than your manual brushes? Likely yes! 90% of people do not use the proper techniques when brushing their teeth.
We don’t always hit every tooth or brush long enough. On average, you make about 300 strokes per minute using a manual brush. An electric toothbrush rotates 3000 to 7500 times a minute, and a sonic brush makes 30000 to 40000 strokes per minute.
A dentist in Minnesota states that electric toothbrushes can be very helpful for children, the elderly or anyone who has difficulty using their hands. They are always a good option if you are helping someone brush their teeth.
If you are interested in purchasing an electric toothbrush for you or your loved one, call us at 905-264-0333. We carry Philips Sonicare toothbrushes (and sell them at cost too)
Tea: While tea may be a healthy drink. Dentists say it causes more staining than coffee (especially the basic black variety).
Sauces: Deeply coloured sauces such as tomato, soy and curry sauce cause staining. Switch to white or light coloured sauces and brush and rinse shortly after eating.
Sports Drinks: Sports and energy drinks cause your enamel to erode causing teeth to stain more easily. Water is the better option for hydrating while working out.
Wine: Wine is acidic and causes staining of the teeth. While most people see only red wine as the culprit, white wine (which happens to be even more acidic than red) can cause staining as well.
Fruits and Berries: Blueberries, blackberries and cherries, oh my! These berries and a list of other vibrant coloured fruits can cause teeth to stain, so can juices and pies made from them.
Soda and other carbonated drinks: Looking for a reason to cut back? Thanks to acids and dyes, these drinks — even light-colored ones — can lead to serious stains. Plus, the chemicals that add flavor can also eat away your enamel.
Candy and Sweets: If your candy is causing your tongue to change colour, it could do the same to your teeth.
Thank you to all of our patients who so kindly donated to the Heart and Stroke Foundation. With your help (and Madeline’s DELICIOUS heart cookies) we were able to raise $181.00. The doctor’s matched that amount so all in all we raised $362.00!!! We could not have done it without you!
You do everything possible to protect your skin, face, body and hair from succumbing to the effects of aging. So, why should your smile be any different? Preserve your smile and keep it looking young with the following recommendations:
Limit tooth fractures: Especially during or after menopause, when the teeth are more susceptible to fractures.
Stay on top of visits to your dentist: Professional cleanings remove calculus that has formed on your teeth. If left on for too long, calculus can cause bone loss, gum inflammation and gum recession.
Steer clear of metal fillings: Composite resin is preferred over the old silver or mercury fillings because it reinforces the tooth and limits cracking.
Replace restorations when necessary: If your restorations are old or have experienced major wear, they may need to be replaced. Bacteria are attracted to imperfections at the junction of the tooth and restoration.
Various factors can cause jaws to shift, putting strain on the surrounding muscles in our mouths. Some of the causes of jaw misalignment are tooth loss, mouth breathing, whiplash, genetics, arthritis or even a slight blow to the head.
People are not aware that unconscious habits such as jutting their chins forward, clenching their teeth when they are angry or even biting down on a pencil or pen can put additional strain on the teeth and jaws. This can cause premature wear and tear on the teeth as they are not designed for this destructive habit.
Jaw problems can also occur in children due to poor oral habits. The most common cause is thumb sucking in children beyond four years of age. Thumb sucking can push their growing teeth out of position by molding their upper palate with their thumb or fingers. This creates narrow arches and cross bites. Fortunately, this is a habit that many children leave behind when their permanent teeth come in.
With a narrow upper arch in both children and adults the tongue positions itself on the floor of the mouth so when they swallow they push their tongue against the teeth that do not meet in order to create a closed space. The tongue is one our most powerful muscles and the sheer strength of its thrusts when swallowing can prevent children/adult from developing or having a normal bite.
The average person visits their dentist every 6 months for a cleaning and check-up, and these are appointments you don’t want to miss as we not know there is a connection between your oral health and your overall health. Inflammation in the mouth and inflammation in the body are correlated. When this goes unchecked, this inflammation can show up in the form as heart disease, stroke, and other chronic inflammatory diseases.
Your mouth is a window to your overall health. Nutrition plays a critical role. Very often, when something flares up, loosens, or looks different in your mouth, it is your body’s way of asking for some type of nutrient it doesn’t have enough of.
Google is throwing its money, brain power and technology at the humble spoon.
Of course these spoons (don’t call them spoogles) are a bit more than your basic utensil: Using hundreds of algorithms, they allow people with essential tremors and Parkinson’s Disease to eat without spilling.
The technology senses how a hand is shaking and makes instant adjustments to stay balanced. In clinical trials, the Liftware spoons reduced shaking of the spoon bowl by an average of 76 per cent.
“We want to help people in their daily lives today and hopefully increase understanding of disease in the long run,” said Google spokesperson Katelin Jabbari.
Other adaptive devices have been developed to help people with tremors — rocker knives, weighted utensils, pen grips. But until now, experts say, technology has not been used in this way.
“It’s totally novel,” said UC San Francisco Medical Center neurologist Dr. Jill Ostrem, who specializes in movement disorders like Parkinson’s disease and essential tremors.
She helped advise the inventors, and says the device has been a remarkable asset for some of her patients.
“I have some patients who couldn’t eat independently, they had to be fed, and now they can eat on their own,” she said. “It
