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I get asked about this often, and it always surprises patients when I tell them the truth. The toothpick, the little wooden or plastic stick you reach for when something is stuck between your teeth, was never actually made for cleaning your teeth. The name is misleading and it has caused a lot of confusion, and honestly, a lot of damage. Let me explain what I mean and what you should be reaching for instead. Why the Name Confuses Everyone A toothpick is called a toothpick,

I have noticed something over the last few years that I want to talk about honestly, because I do not think it gets talked about enough. A growing number of young patients, especially those in their late teens and early twenties, are trying to handle their own dental problems at home instead of coming in to see me. They are not doing this because they do not care about their teeth. Most of them care a lot. They are doing it because dental care feels out of reach financially,

Whenever I tell a patient there are hundreds of species of bacteria living in their mouth right now, I usually get the same reaction. A slightly worried look, sometimes a small step back in the chair. I understand why. Bacteria sounds like a bad word. Something to kill off completely. But here is what I want every patient to understand. Not all bacteria in your mouth are the enemy. In fact, most of them are working for you, not against you. The real issue is not that bacteria

A lot of patients think of gum disease and cavities as two completely different things. One is about your gums. The other is about your teeth. In their minds these are separate boxes. You either have a gum problem or you have a tooth problem. The truth is these two conditions are much closer than most people realise. In fact, one very often leads to the other. Let me explain how. They Start From the Exact Same Place Both gum disease and cavities begin with the same thing. P

I want to tell you about a patient who taught me something I never learned in dental school. It changed how I explain things to every single patient who sits in my chair now. She had a cracked molar. I explained what was wrong with it. I showed her the X-ray. I even picked up the mirror and tried to angle it so she could see the crack herself. Nothing worked. She said no to the treatment. Not once. Three times, across different visits. To her, it was just a tooth that sometim

A few patients have asked me about this lately. They have heard that fasting can help with inflammation in the body, and they want to know if that includes their gums. It is a good question and the answer is more interesting than you might think. Let me walk you through what is actually going on. Gum Disease Is an Inflammation Problem Before we talk about fasting, you need to understand what gum disease actually is at its core. When bacteria build up along your gum line, yo

Almost every patient who walks into my practice tells me the same thing. I brush every day, Dr. Buleni, so I do not understand why I have a cavity or why my gums are bleeding. Here is the thing. Brushing every day is only half the story. How you brush matters just as much as whether you brush. I see the same small mistakes over and over again, and most people have no idea they are even doing them. So let me walk you through the five I see the most. 1. Brushing Too Hard This

When you lose a tooth, one of the first questions people ask me is what now. Do I get a denture or do I get an implant? It is a very fair question and I want to break it down for you in a way that is easy to understand so that you can make the best choice for yourself. Let me start from the beginning. What Is a Denture? A denture is what most people call a false tooth. It is made to look like your real tooth but the big difference is that you take it out. You remove it to c

If you have ever visited Smilez Dental Surgery, you would have noticed it straight away. Before you even sit down. Before I say hello. There is music playing. Always. Some people smile when they hear it. Some people look around like they were not expecting it. And almost every time, people tell me on their way out that it made them feel better about being there. That it made the whole thing easier. I want to tell you why I do it. Because it is not just something nice to have.

After years of practicing dentistry, I have heard a lot of regrets. Patients sit in my chair and tell me things they wish someone had said to them earlier. Things they wish they had listened to when I told them the first time. I am sharing them here because if one person reads this and avoids making the same mistake, then this was worth writing. Delaying Treatment This is the most common one. A patient comes in, I tell them they need a root canal or a crown, we discuss it,

They are cheap, they look convincing, and the before-and-after videos on social media make them look like a legitimate shortcut to a straight smile. Braces and aligners sold on Temu, Shein, AliExpress, and similar platforms for a few hundred rand are one of the most dangerous trends we have seen come through the dental industry in years. We are writing this article because patients are already walking through our doors with the consequences. And those consequences are not min

Your gums bled when you brushed this morning. Now you are sitting here wondering whether that is something to be concerned about or whether it is just one of those things that happens. Dr. Buleni breaks it down clearly because the answer is not the same for everyone, and knowing the difference matters. What Healthy Gums Actually Look Like Before getting into when to worry, it helps to know what you are aiming for. Healthy gums are pink and firm. Not too red, not too pale. D

We sat down with Dr. Buleni and did something simple — asked her every question that patients are too embarrassed to bring up in the chair. No topic was off limits. From the ones that make you feel guilty to the ones the internet gets completely wrong. Here is everything she covered. How Does the Dentist Always Know You Have Not Been Flossing? Turns out there is no magic to it. We just know. "We can see the biofilm of the plaque. We can see the calculus. And sometimes your

We sat down with Dr. Buleni for Episode 6 of our YouTube series... and this one was different. Instead of us choosing the topic, we put YOUR questions to her. Questions that came in from people all over the world who wanted real, honest answers about their oral health. Here's everything she covered, straight from the conversation. Is Fluoride Toothpaste Actually Safe — Or Does It Make You Dumb? This is one of the most Googled dental questions in South Africa right now, and

They're not causing pain yet. So you leave them. That's the logic most people use — and it's the logic that leads to infected jaws, damaged adjacent teeth, and emergency extractions under far worse conditions. Wisdom teeth — your third molars — emerge between ages 17 and 25. In most people's mouths, there simply isn't enough room for them. They come in at angles. They press against adjacent teeth. They partially erupt and leave a flap of gum tissue that becomes a permanent ba

You're diligent about brushing. You haven't had a cavity in years. Then, somewhere in your 40s or 50s, you start getting cavities regularly — multiple in one year, in teeth that have been fine for decades. Your dentist is baffled. You're frustrated. The answer is almost certainly in your medicine cabinet. More than 400 common medications cause dry mouth. Antihypertensives (blood pressure medication) — some of the most commonly prescribed drugs in South Africa. Antidepressants

You brush twice a day. You use mouthwash. You carry mints everywhere. Your breath is still a problem. The mint is masking something that mouthwash cannot fix. Chronic halitosis — persistent bad breath — affects an estimated 25% of adults. Most of them are managing symptoms while the underlying cause continues unchecked. That cause, in the majority of cases, is sitting in your mouth right now. The real sources of chronic bad breath. Gum disease is responsible for roughly 80% o

You've been avoiding that toothache for three months. You know something's wrong. You're hoping it goes away. It won't. The tooth that needs a root canal right now costs R9,350 at Smilez. Leave it another six months, and that tooth is likely coming out — extraction at R2,660, then an implant at R25,000 to replace it. Three steps instead of one. Three times the money. And months of unnecessary pain in between. The root canal fear is 30 years out of date. Modern root canals are

We talk a lot about brushing and flossing. But there is a third pillar of oral health that most people overlook entirely: what you eat and drink. The food choices you make every day are either building your teeth up or breaking them down — and for many South Africans, the diet is quietly causing significant dental damage that no amount of good brushing can fully reverse. This is not about being restrictive or eliminating everything you enjoy. It is about understanding the rel

South Africa has one of the highest rates of cardiovascular disease in the world. Heart attacks and strokes are among our leading causes of death — and most South Africans know the established risk factors: high blood pressure, high cholesterol, smoking, and a sedentary lifestyle. What far fewer people know is that gum disease is independently associated with cardiovascular disease — and that treating gum disease may actually help protect your heart. At Smilez Dental Surgery,