About
About care4teeth
Promoting prevention in oral health.
care4teeth was built by a retired dentist with a simple aim: to give the public — and the carers who look after them — clear, honest oral-health advice that puts prevention first.
Background to care4teeth.org
My name is Tony Smith, and I worked for 38 years as a general dental practitioner. This site was set up in 2018, primarily to help carers who support people living with dementia. I added more sections for all age groups — as a general resource, and for when they become carers themselves.
I retired in 2020, and I’ll continue with my vision of promoting public prevention in oral health.
If, as a dentist or carer, you see a glaring error or can recommend a better link, please get in touch via the home page. Collaboration will improve the site for everyone, and I’ll update it as needed.
Finally, a big thank you to all the carers who helped my dad in the Cefni Unit in Llangefni, previously in Ysbyty Gwynedd, and especially the leisure centre in Amlwch, who provided real care in the community. Tommy died on 20 June 2017, after more than a year in the hospital dementia ward. There is a link to donate to the Alzheimer’s Society here.
When I qualified, the advice was always prevention first, treatment second.
The NHS system doesn’t allow for it — while prevention is better than cure, we get paid by cure. There is no reward for prevention. teeth4life, and this site, are my attempt to change that.
Teeth4Life was made to make my job easier, and to leave my patients with useful advice for when I’ve gone. Unlike a website, the app can be personalised for you and your family — with reminders for interdental cleaning, for checking a child’s cleaning, and for oral-cancer self-checks, which are far more cumbersome on a PC. It lives on your smartphone: waterproof, and always in the hand that isn’t holding the toothbrush.
I think I represent the silent majority of dentists of my era retiring early. I hope that, together as a society, we can each take responsibility for our own health, and learn from one another — with a profession regulated in the confidence of both the profession and the public.
Prevention, for everyone
Explore the resources — and if you look after someone else’s teeth, start with the carers’ section.