We all know that as we get older our teeth will start to fall out. But is this one part of the ageing process we can skip?

      Gum disease is currently rife in the UK, with even children in their early teens showing signs of it. Now new research has pinpointed the reason for this – the majority of adults, around three quarters of the population, spend just 40 seconds brushing their teeth! Even those who brush two times daily still have plaque on 69% of their teeth surfaces. Shocking isn’t it?

      There is a further dental related concern for ladies who have just come out of the menopause. One in three post-menopausal women over the age of 50 suffer from Osteoporosis, the condition in which there is a decrease in bone mineral density. The disorder leads to bone loss and the jaw bones are not exempt from this.

      The similarities in bone loss between gum disease and osteoporosis led experts to investigate whether or not osteoporosis was a significant risk factor in tooth loss. It was found that patients suffering from the condition had three fewer teeth on average than otherwise healthy control subjects (with age and smoking history taken into account).

      Therefore we should all do whatever we can, especially those ladies over 50, to reduce the levels of plaque in our mouths. It will be an ongoing task for our dental health professionals to re-educate the nation on how to brush their teeth. However, the benefits of using an alcohol free mouthwash twice a day would be a much easier message to get out into the public.

      We’ve been using the new Dentyl range of alcohol free mouthwash. The organisation recommends brushing your teeth for no less than 2 minutes followed by usage of their mouthwash.

      1. Using a small headed toothbrush and starting at the back of the mouth work across each tooth with a circular action, making sure the toothbrush gets under the gum lines. 

      2. For tight spots – use an interdental brush to get to those gaps between the teeth

      3. Use alcohol free Dentyl Active mouthwash twice daily…

      What our reviewers thought….

The fact that your plaque comes out in the sink as brightly coloured gunk might be slightly off-putting to some but at least it shows that the mouthwash is effective in removing plaque deposits, so we like it.

Our reviewers felt the mouthwash was very effective in a number of areas – it left a pleasant taste in the mouth, helped to speed a developing mouth ulcer away and did not affect the taste buds long-term. With alcohol based mouthwashes you seem to get a stinging aftertaste which lasts most of the day and impairs the taste of food, which did not happen with alcohol free Dentyl – another plus point.

The range includes new cherry and citrus flavours which, again, are quite controversial for a mouthwash but surprisingly nice.