If your dreams of the dentist aren’t quite as peaceful as this picture looks – don’t worry, you’re not alone. Feeling scared of upcoming dental treatments is common. Whether it’s a phobia of the dentist or you’re just looking for a way to relieve your fears and make the whole experience more comfortable, dental sedation is a fantastic way to do just that.

Dental sedation is a fantastic way to get the smile of your dreams. It involves administering a medication (we use via a vein) which helps you relax and actually stops you forming short term memories.  This is great for people who are having implants for example as they can have their dental work done and remember nothing about the actual procedure.

At the Red Sky Dental Spa we offer dental sedation as it falls hand in hand with our advanced cosmetic and restorative solutions. It also lets people undertake more unpleasant procedures comfortably – reducing 3 hours into feeling like 3 minutes!

How safe is dental sedation?

Dental sedation is an incredibly safe procedure which can help people to overcome barriers to treatment, especially if they think, “I don’t want that doing because the procedure sounds too much for me to take!”  In most circumstances, dental sedation is undertaken for nervous patients or for complex work which it’s best the patient doesn’t remember.

As with any treatment, there are sometimes risks involved if a patient undergoes dental sedation but a medical history check is used to determine if you are suitable to undergo this procedure. This is discussed at assessment appointments, but it is generally an incredibly effective and safe treatment to have.

Things to do before dental sedation

Before undergoing sedation, patients should remember to eat as normal, not to starve themselves and remember this is nothing like a general anaesthetic. The rest will be covered at assessment.

Many patients who we have treated at the Red Sky Dental Spa have said that undergoing dental sedation at the practice has helped them to cope with their fears and there are many video testimonials on our website and youtube channel where patients have said that they “don’t remember any of it!” and that the procedure went well as a result.

So if you’re looking to undergo dental treatment without any fear, ask for some dental sedation. Call us on 01302 325 678 where one of our friendly members of staff will be able to answer your questions and help you to book an appointment

Suffering with bad breath? You may not even be aware of it, but other people could well be. Bad breath can be a disaster for your social life and if people offer you gum and avoid standing too close to you whilst talking, you may be starting to get the hint. But it’s no laughing matter. Bad breath can actually be the cause of something more serious and the most common of these is gum infections.

Halitosis or chronic bad breath is caused by bacteria in the mouth from breaking down bits of food. If the bad breath is persistent then it could potentially be a sign of gum disease. Smoking, drinking and a diet of strong, pungent flavoured foods such as onion and garlic can all help to contribute to bad breath.

At the Red Sky Dental Spa we offer a range of different hygiene services which can give you professional advice on how to help keep this problem to a minimum. These include special products which are designed to help clean the mouth specifically for this purpose. The key in cleaning all areas of your mouth is to include the tongue. Generally, if there is another source of bad breath then this really needs to be addressed too. This can include undiagnosed diabetes, food intake, etc.

Bad breath treatment can normally be resolved in a few weeks however, although the situation may be ongoing and will usually involve a good home care and hygiene regime as recommended by Dr Pav Khaira. This includes brushing, flossing daily and cleaning your tongue using an appropriate mouthwash.

Bad breath can lead to all kinds of problems but one of the biggest is a loss of confidence. Quite often it goes unnoticed as people are not aware of the problem and are generally too polite to say anything. The problem is generally taken as offensive by other people and can even make them feel unwell!

So if you’re looking to get crystal clear breath, why not give Red Sky a call on 01302 325 678 where one of our friendly members of staff will be happy to help.

For those of you who know me, it’s quite obvious I like my food!!

I thought I’d share with your some places I enjoy going out to eat

Firstly is Relish Bar & Grill in our very own Doncaster.  Talk about superb food!  Pretty much everything here is consistently brilliant in quality and presentation.  One of my favourites is the burger, but be warned, a double burger is HUGE!!!  I love this place, it’s superb food and a great atmosphere.  Each and every time I’ve been it’s never disappointed.  The ribs are melt in your mouth and the nachos are fresh and home made.

I also love Gaucho in Leeds, although they have restaurants in other large cities also.  This place is just brilliant for steak lovers.  Real Argentinian steak which needs to be tasted to be believed.  What I like about this place is that they know what they are talking about, and have some absolutely superb cuts, some of which are marinated in beautifully delicate garlic, herb and olive oil marinades.  You can also see the grill where the food is prepared.  The steak is always cooked to perfection and presented beautifully.  I’ve been to Gaucho a few times and it has ever disappointed, I even went in with high expectations and it still hit above the mark!

We recently went to Piccolino in Leeds.  An Italian restaurant in the city centre.  We hadn’t made a reservation rather just happened to wander in and luckily they had a table spare.  Again this is a fantastic place with superb cocktails.  I again ordered the steak which was beautiful, but those who I were with ordered quite a range of other food and every single one of us enjoyed our meals and left nothing behind.  We will certainly be going back again here!

I’ll tell you about more restaurants at a later date…..

I wouldn’t consider myself to be a ‘petrol head’ but I do enjoy driving, and seeing high performance cars.

My problem has always been a simple one, performance cars are ridiculously expensive!  Even the Nissan GTR Alpha 12, which will trounce almost any road car out there costs £65k.  By the way, this car will hit 0-100mph faster than a £1.4M Bugatti Veyron!

So I’ve been looking at high performance provided by motorbike powered cars, and wow are they impressive!  A friend of mine has the MNR Vortx and took me out for a spin in it, and it is truly a frightening experience! The cars are exceptionally light weight and usually have the engine of a Yamaha R1 or Hayabussa in them.  This means their power to weight ratio is insane.

Why do these cars interest me? Simple, it;s because you can get one for around £6k-£10k and the insurance tends to be pretty cheap too!

What I like about these is that the mechanics and engineering required to build something like this is a testament to human ingenuity. It shows us the extraordinary capability human beings have to create, invent and modify to bring us objects of material desire.

From a humanitarian aspect, I wish humans could do more to help the suffering in the world, but unfortunately we will never be able to change imbalances in power and profit as it really is how the world works.  It does make me think that with this level of ingenuity, what could we achieve by putting our minds to it?

I love The Godfather films.

In fact, I also love Goodfellas & Casino.  This isn’t because I have a particular affinity for gangster films, rather that these particular films have fantastic story lines and acting which will echo throughout the ages

The Godfather trilogy was one of those films I had been told was truly excellent, and that I would get addicted to them and watch them all in one go when I finally got round to it.  I thought this sounded great! So I got the box set.  And there it sat, unopened for nearly 3 years as I felt I didn’t have the time to watch all 3 films one after another.  Then, a few years ago, I finally got round to it.  Everything that I had expected (which was a lot!) was surpassed in every way.

The Godfather is truly a masterful piece of cinematography.  It’s the art in it’s purest form, combining story with sub plots, artistic capture, impeccable direction and acting at the highest level.

To be honest, I think Goodfellas is similarly masterful, but predominantly due to one reason: Joe Pesci.  I’m not a great fan of Ray Liotta and De Niro was his usual brilliant self.  But even this revered actor was entirely eclipsed by the character portrayed by Pesci.  A completely egomaniacal, short tempered, violent and highly unpredictable character came to life from the genius that is Joe Pesci, who to this day I believe is under rated as an actor.

We still get films to this calibre today, and I still love to see them.  Cinema is truly an experience I love!

I often get asked if there are any potential long term problems if you lose a number of teeth.

“I’ll see how I get on with chewing” I often get told.

This is fine, but you need to be aware of potential problems by having missing teeth, as many of these problems brew over time and tend not to cause too much pain short term but MAN can they cause serious difficulties later!!

Firstly, I’d like for you to imagine a beautiful, strong dinner table.  The type you would expect in a grand stately home which seats 20 or so people.  Imagine a fantastic roast dinner sat on top to feed all of these people.  10 elegantly carved, wooden legs support the table and it can take a lot of dinners without any problems at all.  Now imagine if tow or three of these legs became rotten and had to be removed, would you have the same confidence in putting that roast dinner on the table? No, of course not.  For one simple reason, STRUCTURE has been compromised.

It’s the same with teeth.  Teeth rely on other teeth for support, and once you start to lose a number of teeth, the others have to take extra load without support from their neighbouring teeth.  They are not designed to take these loads and over time, start to show signs of excessive wear, or tilt into funny positions where they become non functional.  This means other teeth have to take even MORE load.  See where this is heading?!

This is only part of the problem.  Jaw joint problems can arise due to unbalanced, uneven and excessive forces, caused by, you guessed it, missing teeth!  This is not an inevitability for everyone but you MUST be aware of it.  I see people ALL the time who are having chewing problems caused by missing teeth and the resultant breakdown of the other teeth.  It can be corrected but often becomes very difficult and more expensive.

So although having a tooth removed may resolve short term issues, it may cause problems long term.  Helping someone with jaw joint problems, chewing problems and pain from over loaded teeth is difficult but definitely doable!

The best thing is to plan for a replacement right from the start

We often hear about modern diseases.  Heart disease, diabetes, hypertension.  These tend to be due to modern lifestyles, hence the name.

There is a big one that tends to go unnoticed, one which is close to my heart.  Migraines and headaches.  You may wonder how on earth this is a modern disease?  It’s because a large aspect of migraine is rooted in sensory overload.  The flashing lights, the sounds, the smells, all of which are increasing in intensity and frequency.  I can’t tell you how many people tell me that 3D movies make them feel sick or even trigger a migraine.

Anthropologically, we are not designed to take this type of sensory overload and it is a consequence of our own success.  Technology.  I’m not saying that we should stop everything we are doing, rather just be aware of how modern life is overloading our brain.

Consider the first computer ever built, could you make demands from it like we do with modern computers without it frying?!  No, of course not.

I’m not going to hammer on about how you should come to see me in order to get rid of your headaches, you know I do that already and you can come if you want or not I don’t mind either way.

Here is what I’m going to do for myself, and I’d like to do this for 5-10 minutes per day.  Go to a quiet room and switch off, stop thinking and just let the ripples in the pond subside.  This isn’t treatment, I’m not claiming it will do anything.  What I am saying is that I’ve done training in hypnosis and NLP and I KNOW that a quiet mind shows different, measurable brain waves to one which is immersed in normal, day to day life.  Why do I want to do this?  I have a theory (never good, because that means I’ve been thinking!!) that permitting my mind to become silent for a few minutes each day may act as a ‘reset’.  Besides that, many of the world’s greatest philosophers, scientists and brilliant minds are known for meditation, going to places which they find conducive to thinking.  You need a clear mind to be able to think.

Just some more ramblings from my mind……

What would it mean for you to be able to eat steak and crunchy vegetables once more? For most people, it’s not an issue but when you have dentures, sometimes you have to be careful with what you eat. This is because they can often be loose or ill-fitting and can slip or even fall when eating or drinking.

At the Red Sky Dental Spa, we often see patients who have loose dentures. It can cause a huge blow to their confidence and prevent many from dining out, mainly because they are denied the social pleasure of enjoying foods due to their dentures causing them embarrassment.

Well – be embarrassed no more. Dr Pav Khaira and his team believe in providing numerous denture options to patients to help them get back their confidence. For slipping, rocking or loose dentures, we offer advanced dental stabilisation protocols which can help to transform your dentures into a solid set of fully functional teeth  which not only work great, but will look beautiful and provide you with a permanently retained smile.

What causes dentures to slip

Over time, dentures may begin to slip as they are worn continuously and this can cause gum and bone tissue to shrink in size, making the dentures loose in turn. Not only can this cause them to slip, it can cause the user a lot of pain and discomfort as the dentures become poorly fitted.

The most effective dental stabilisation method is supported by dental implants or mini implants, which are effectively titanium rods which firmly hold into place dental bridges, crowns and dentures.  Choosing denture implants can be a good choice as they provide greater security and retention for your teeth than other forms and can help you to regain a healthy looking smile.

Depending on whether you use dental implants or mini implants, the general procedure will involve cutting into gum tissue, lifting a flap and then drilling into the jaw bone to create a small hole where the implant is then securely fitted into the socket and then the implant fixed in turn. Any gum tissue is stitched up in this area and then has to be left to heal for over a month. On the next appointment, the healing will be checked and then the dentures anchored into place using just a few dental implants. This is a less expensive option having to go for a whole set of dental implants or crowns.

Alternatively, mini implants can be used to secure dentures onto the lower jaw. Mini implants may be more suitable for patients who don’t have a lot of bone mass to support the larger implants and the benefits of these are that they can help to improve the function and aesthetic appeal of the smile, whilst also preventing bone loss.

When you come to the Red Sky Dental Spa, Pav will be able to determine with you which dental stabilisation protocol is best for your needs during a consultation. To book a complimentary consultation, please call 01302 325 678 for further details, where one of our friendly team will be very happy to help.

I recently read Elements by Sir Ken Robinson.  Is this book, he comments on how our education systems destroy creativity by putting emphasis on the empirical measurement of intelligence and base this on the ability for logical thought.  We see year after year the increase in the grades attained by youngsters in school.  Do we assess levels of creativity in the arts or thought processes?  No we do not.

You may ask me why I think creativity is so important.  It’s because I believe imagination and creativity are so incredibly powerful in our lives.  When the apple dropped for Newton, if he did not have creative capacity he  may never have had the insight to explore WHY the laws of physics caused this.

How about a world without the marvels of Mario Puzto’s The Godfather?  A world without the creative brilliance of Da Vinci?  Yes I believe education is important, but categorising intelligence into a narrow bandwidth is just daft.

How do we ex pore our creative side?  I personally like to watch films, and as daft as this sounds, put myself into the lead role after the film and play out what it would be like to be this character in an alternative story or a sequel.  I’m not saying I’m good at this, just that I enjoy doing it!  I’ve seen my nieces and nephews playing some crazy made up games at young ages and I’m always amazed at where these ideas come from.

We should encourage creativity in our education systems and at work and home.  just my thoughts after reading a brilliant book

Before I get into the body of the text, let me tell you a little bit about NLP.  We build up our stereotypes based upon our cumulative experience in life.

For example, we know a house is a house because it ‘fits’ with what we know to be a house from our previous experiences.  We have a log of all interactions in our mind and when we see something similar we categorise it according to what fits best.  This is one of the reasons why as humans we are capable achieving great things, because we do not live instinctively rather are capable of logical thought progression and foresight.

Ok, so now we know that everything we see is categorised in relation to our previous experiences.  What this means is that it is not possible to make vast changes in society i.e. the perception of others without something happening which is different to their previous experiences.  Otherwise they will automatically categorise what you do and who you are compared to their past life experiences.  Not intentionally of course, it’s just how our mind works.

So, it’s not just important to want to be different or even BE different, the first thing you have to do it DO different!!  Why? This is because as soon as you DO different, you stop falling into the same categories as previous life experiences.  As soon as you have done this, everyone who is involved is open to a new experience and NOW you have to do whatever you need to do to stop falling back into the same category i.e. experience as everyone else.

The bottom line is that first DO something different, and then KEEP doing something different in order to ‘break the mould’.  It’s the only way!!