Sebastian Evans

Men take less care of their teeth than women, new research reveals. A survey of UK adults – commissioned by dental plan providers, Denplan – found men were more likely to brush their teeth just once a day, and less likely to use mouthwash, dental floss or breath mints. They were also less likely to…

An alcoholic dentist from Northampton who lied to the General Dental Council (GDC) to cover up his drink-driving has been suspended from practice for six months. Adrian Wright, from Kingsthorpe in Northampton, claimed under oath at a hearing of the GDC last April that he had given up alcohol. He said he was fit to…

A sugar-free lollipop that actively fights tooth decay has been developed by US scientists. The revolutionary orange-flavoured sweet – marketed as Dr John’s Herbal Candy – is infused with a liquorice extract that kills the primary bacterium that causes tooth decay. It’s the brainchild of microbiologist and dentistry Professor Wenyuan Shi from the University of…

Tom Roberts explains the reasons behind the launch and the main features of PreventiveDentistry\.co\.uk in an exclusive video. Click here to watch the video

For this first article I wanted to give you some idea of what’s going on in my head. Oh dear you might think. Do I really want to go there! Scary! For a starter why the title ‘Off the wall’? I suppose I want to shake things up and look at life from a different…

2008 is a big year for Preventive Dentistry. We are launching a website in March, and now we can officially announce the launch of the Preventive Dentistry Article Awards (PDAA) in association with Peace of Mind Natural Smiles. The PDAA will run from this announcement across the year where the winner will be announced in…

The New Year could spark as many as 1\.2 million people in England trying to quit smoking, figures from Cancer Research UK suggest. The charity’s research has shown that January is the most popular month to stop, with an average of one in eight smokers trying. The charity also reported that those who tried in…

A Citizens Advice survey in England and Wales has revealed that 4\.7 million people have turned to private treatment, with 2\.7m going without any treatment at all, since the 2006 NHS dental contract. Since the government changed its contract, many dentists have stopped offering state-funded services, saying the contract required them to increase their workloads…

Welcome one and all to the new website, and the first of the weekly Editor’s blogs; this week I’ll be taking a look at the tooth whitening issue and whether or not paying £10 for a licence to smoke is the right way to go. We’ve had a busy time these past months I can…

A class of chemicals in red wine grapes may significantly reduce the ability of bacteria to cause cavities, according to a US study published recently in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. The findings suggest that specific polyphenols, present in large amounts in fermented seeds and skins cast away after grapes are pressed, interfere…

A retired dentist became Britain’s oldest emigrant last month when he left for a new life in New Zealand – aged 102! Eric King-Turner, who served as a dental surgeon in the Royal Navy, is in the middle of the 12,000-mile voyage from Southampton with his 87-year-old Kiwi wife, Doris. Due to have his 103rd…

NHS dentists are to get a new service to help them cope with physical or mental health issues and addiction problems. The National Clinical Assessment Service (NCAS) is developing a programme for dentists and doctors that will be launched this autumn – to begin with, in London. In 2004, the Myers & Myers nationwide survey…

The British Dental Association (BDA) today called on the government to scrap its current method of monitoring NHS dentistry – units of dental activity (UDAs) – in favour of something more flexible. And BDA executive board chair Susie Sanderson warned that it would be difficult to improve access to NHS care unless UDAs were scrapped…

Two letters written by Sir Winston Churchill to the dentist who made his false teeth, telling him that he had been nominated for a knighthood, are expected to fetch together up to £1400 at auction. The letters were written in 1952 and 1954, when Sir Winston was in his third term as prime minister, to…

The General Dental Council (GDC) is seeking a post-conviction ASBO against a dental technician who fitted dentures to five elderly patients without being qualified to do so. The regulating body prosecuted Joe Jordan of Denture Care & Repair, a mobile business in Winchester, Hampshire, for 14 counts of illegally practising dentistry. Dental technician Joe Jordan…

We can learn a lot from military history if you consider dentistry as the battlefield and we, as dental professionals, the commanders drawing up the battle plans. The tactics used in guerrilla warfare in particular apply to our approach to dental care such as the careful exploitation of weak points, but only after taking into…

Marketing matters. There’s no escaping it – today’s modern dental practices need to promote services in order to thrive, or even survive. The harsh reality is that if they don’t, the practice income can either stagnate or gradually dwindle away as patients move to practices which, they feel, are more in touch with their dental…

A year abroad now seems as much a rite of passage for students as going to the pub for the first time or surviving freshers’ week – it’s simply something that you have to do. Maybe you already took your gap year before you decided to go to university, or perhaps you took advantage of…

Studies have found that white tea could actually better for you than all of its multi-coloured counterparts. Until recently it was believed that green tea, which is full of polyphenols, the antioxidant that helps fight and kill cancer-causing cells, was the ultimate in healthy tea drinking. Yet new reports show that leaving tea leaves so…