Archive for June, 2010

Weston-super-Mare dentist beats infection using root canal treatment

A root canal treatment is a dental treatment, also known as endodontics, designed to treat infection and decay that occurs at the centre of the tooth affecting the nerve and the pulp.

The tooth structure is in three distinct parts. On the outside is the enamel which is the hard coating. Underneath that is the dentin, a softer more bone-like material which surrounds the pulp of the tooth.

The root canal is the path of pulp that runs down through the gum and into the jawbone. It is this part of the tooth that keeps it anchored in place and also surrounds the dental nerve and blood vessels. In some cases there is more than one root canal per tooth. If this pulp area becomes infected either as the result of bacteria penetrating the tooth due to decay or some kind of structural damage, the root canal can become infected. The infection then attacks the nerve and blood vessels causing an abscess or at worst, tooth loss. This infection will also be very painful and can easily spread to other teeth and the gums if not treated quickly.

A root canal treatment from a Weston-super-Mare dentist is designed to save the tooth and stop the infection spreading to other areas. It has quite a fearsome reputation but will actually bring an end to the pain rather than cause any more. The dentist drills down into the root canal and removes any infected material. They may then use antibiotics to sterilise the area before filling the cavity and possibly applying a dental crown to strengthen the tooth.

If performed well, a root canal treatment has no reason to be painful. It will take place under a local anaesthetic and will hopefully bring an end to a painful and potentially threatening infection. If you are experiencing a pain in any of your teeth and suspect infection, early treatment is always the best option so make an appointment to see your dentist.

June 25, 2010 at 5:11 am | endodontics | No comment

The importance of check ups at Weston-super-Mare dentists

It’s very easy sometimes to think that you can miss a couple of dental check ups because your teeth feel fine and you’re really busy. But whatever the excuse, missing a dental check up or not going every six months as dentists recommend could be putting your oral health at risk. Alongside good oral hygiene, a six-month check up is the most important way of ensuring your teeth and gums are healthy and free of disease.

With tooth decay being on the increase again and three quarters of adults in the UK suffering with gum disease at some point in their lives, it is more important than ever to look after your teeth. A dental check up will take no longer than half an hour and the more often you go, the less likely there is to be any problem.

Decay and gum disease can appear very quickly but are easily treated in their early stages. Your dentist will be able to thoroughly examine your mouth and make sure that your teeth and gums are not at risk. They will also perform a routine check for oral cancer and other nasty oral diseases as part of your check up. This could make a very important difference to your life, especially when it comes to oral cancer, which is treatable if caught in its early stages.

Brushing and flossing at home are obviously very important but even the most diligent oral hygiene routine can be at risk to the combined threat of gum disease and tooth decay. After all, if you think about it, it is most likely to be the spots you are missing where the problem starts. Dentists in Weston-super-Mare will also be able to design an oral hygiene routine to focus on the areas that may need most attention and are trained to help you keep your mouth in the best possible condition.

June 24, 2010 at 4:52 am | general dentistry | No comment

Experience the joy of a beautiful smile with porcelain veneers from Chepstow dentist

Being unhappy with the appearance of your teeth can cause a loss of self-confidence and make it hard for you to smile openly or even look people in the eye. There are many problems that can affect the appearance of the teeth, or perhaps they just developed unevenly or had a natural susceptibility to enamel erosion. But there is hope, using one of the many cosmetic dentistry treatments now widely available.

One of the most spectacular and dependable cosmetic treatments is porcelain veneers. This involves cementing shell-like ceramic caps over the top of the existing teeth to improve the shape, colour and size of the teeth. The veneers will be especially designed for your teeth by a Chepstow dentist according to your own specifications.

Porcelain veneers are particularly useful for patients suffering teeth that are discoloured or stained, unevenly spaced teeth or teeth that are suffering from enamel erosion. Once fixed in place, the veneers will not only look great but they will also add another dimension of protection to your teeth. Porcelain is the material of choice for veneers because not only is it very durable and tough, but it also resembles tooth enamel in both colour and texture, even having a similar translucent quality.

Porcelain veneers are not the cheapest dental treatment but when you experience the possibilities of treatment you will realise that they are definitely worth the price. If well looked after, a set of porcelain veneers will last in excess of twenty years and will help to bring back lost confidence and give you the self-esteem that comes from having a beautiful smile.

June 20, 2010 at 5:25 am | dental veneers | No comment

Prevent tooth decay with treatment from Chepstow dentist

Tooth decay can be a very serious and unpleasant dental condition. It can result in pain, ranging from mild to severe, infection and ultimately tooth loss. Tooth decay does affect some people more than others, but it is true that with a combination of good oral hygiene and regular dental check ups it is possible to avoid tooth decay altogether.

Tooth decay begins when plaque and bacteria are allowed to build up on the surface of the teeth. Plaque is a sticky, filmy substance that coats the enamel and releases acids from decaying bacteria. These acids gradually erode the protective enamel layer of the teeth causing small cavities to form. This is the first part of the decay process. Once the enamel has begun to decay, it will eventually be breached. This exposes the softer, bone-like dentin underneath. This is also easily eroded by plaque if it is not removed by effective brushing or the decay not repaired with a filling or dental crown. Tooth enamel will not grow back once it has gone so dental treatment will be required to sure up the tooth.

Within the dentin there are many small passageways that lead to the dental nerve. Extremes of hot or cold can aggravate the dental nerve when passed down these passageways. Again these will need to be sealed off or somehow protected with dental treatment. If this decay process is allowed to continue, it will eventually penetrate to the root canal and attack the dental nerve. This will be in the form of a bacterial infection. This may cause a dangerous abscess, which is not only painful but can cause the infection to spread. As well as the abscess, if the infection is allowed to attack the nerve it may destroy it, which could result in the loss of the tooth.

Tooth decay can be prevented by better oral hygiene to remove plaque and bacteria. If the process has already begun, treatment from a Chepstow dentist is essential to prevent any further suffering or damage.

June 17, 2010 at 3:48 am | general dentistry | No comment

Hollywood smile with Zoom teeth whitening from Swindon dentist

Everyone knows the classic Hollywood smile. Huge beaming, perfectly straight and shining white teeth. It’s the film star look and one which we would all like to emulate. The reality, of course, is that most of these film stars have had thousands of pounds worth of expensive dental treatment to make their teeth look this good. Obviously this is probably off limits for most ordinary people but there are treatments you can have that won’t break the bank but will go someway to giving you a beautiful movie star smile.

Teeth whitening treatments such as Zoom are not as expensive as perhaps you might think. Over the last twenty years, teeth whitening has moved away from being a specialist treatment reserved for the wealthy and towards being an everyday treatment that can be afforded by everybody. This has largely been thanks to pioneering treatments such as Zoom that have made the whitening procedure more efficient. Although more extensive treatments are available, basic treatments start at about half an hour in length and will cost little more than about £60. This could improve the appearance of your teeth but obviously the more extensive the treatment the better the results will be.

Teeth whitening works by applying a gel to the surface of the teeth. This gel contains hydrogen peroxide, a bleaching agent which stains the tooth enamel white, removing stains and making the teeth look cleaner and healthier. Whitening of up to ten shades is possible with Zoom teeth whitening treatment which will have a significant effect on the appearance of your teeth. Teeth whitening from a Swindon dentist can last for up to three years before it will need to be repeated. Ask your dentist for more information about how teeth whitening could work for you.

June 13, 2010 at 9:58 am | teeth whitening | No comment

Prevent dental injury with mouth guard from Chepstow dentist

With nearly half the teeth lost to dental trauma each year happening as the result of sporting injury, it is important that we do all we can to protect our teeth when playing sport. One of the easiest ways to do this is to wear a mouth guard fitted by a Chepstow dentist.

Physical sports such as rugby and boxing or any sport involving a fast moving ball can pose a threat to your teeth. Just one ill-timed tackle or unlucky deflection and you could be looking at one or more lost teeth that will be the source of great pain, embarrassment and financial cost. Knocked out teeth, if they cannot be replaced immediately, can require enormous amounts of costly and unpleasant dental work to restore. This could involve replacing the missing teeth with dental implants of dental bridges, both of which while effective are also pretty expensive.

Having a mouth guard will add a dimension of protection to your teeth as it spreads the impact across the mouth meaning individual teeth are less likely to be lost. Mouth guards are usually made of rubber which also cushions and absorbs some of the impact. While it is possible to buy mouth guards in sporting good shops, these are often generic and will not fit your teeth well. This limits the amount of protection they are able to offer. A Chepstow will be able to design and manufacture a mouth guard that will fit your specific teeth. Using dental moulds and x-rays, your dentist can make the mouth guard very accurate and comfortable and make any adjustments that are required. This may cost slightly more than a ready-made mouth guard from a sport shop, but the extra protection you will be giving your teeth could just be priceless.

For children, it is important to remember that their mouth guard will need to be changed more often to accommodate for their developing teeth and jaw. Ask your dentist for more details.

June 6, 2010 at 5:12 am | general dentistry | No comment

Chepstow dentist straightens teeth in quarter of the time with Six Month Smile braces

Orthodontic teeth straightening has existed for many years in the form of braces. However, in the last ten years there has been a revolution in the methods and styles of treatment that has led to faster, more comfortable and more discreet treatment for patients. Braces such as Invisalign, the Inman aligner and Damon have introduced much more effective and modern orthodontic treatment and given patients more options than just traditional fixed metal braces.

One of the new crop of braces stands out as providing one of, if not the, best all round treatments. Six Month Smile braces can be used to treat a variety of overcrowding, spacing and rotation issues. There are several main advantages of using the Six Month Smile system over other modern and traditional braces. Firstly, they use wires that are very discreet and tooth coloured for maximum discretion. This has always been one of the main complaints against traditional fixed metal braces, that the visual sacrifice was not worth the straightening results.

As you might be able to guess from the name, Six Month Smile braces aim to straighten teeth in just that. This is usually an average time of treatment and may take slightly longer or shorter depending on the nature of your straightening needs. But you can be sure that treatment will be much more comfortable than with other braces as teeth are aimed to be repositioned gently, without the need for painful tightening treatments.

Six Month braces are available from Chepstow dentists and generally cists about half the price of traditional braces or Invisalign. This is just another reason why these braces are causing such a stir across the UK and becoming very popular with patients. The braces are able to achieve these incredible straightening results in such a short time because they focus more on the teeth that show when you are smiling. Ask your dentist about suitability and for more information

June 4, 2010 at 3:58 am | 6 month smiles | No comment

Experience the future with Cerec at Swindon dentist

Dental crowns and veneers are tools to improve the appearance of teeth and protect them from further damage. They have been successfully used in dentistry for many years but several advances in technology in recent years has revolutionised the way they are used.

Modern crowns and veneers are for the most part made out of porcelain because of its similarity to tooth enamel. They are also significantly thinner than previously which means that less tooth enamel has to be removed before application. This was always a concern for dentists as they never liked having to remove otherwise healthy enamel.

However, one of the most significant introductions over the last few years, and one could even argue in the history of dentistry, is Cerec. This is a new technology that allows dentists to utilise several areas of new technology to produce dental crowns and veneers in just a single appointment. In the past, a dental crown would need to be manufactured with the help of several time consuming dental moulds and conventional x-rays. The average time to manufacture a crown was about two weeks. Using new Cerec technology, which in turn uses digital x-rays and three-dimensional imaging, this has been brought down to about half an hour.

The process begins with the dentist taking a digital x-ray of the tooth in question. An image is more or less instantly displayed in the computer screen and can give the dentist an incredibly accurate three-dimensional view of the teeth. They can then use this image to design a crown or veneer on the screen. This image is then relayed to a computer guided mill where the new crown is sculpted from a single piece of porcelain in as little as six minutes, and can be immediately fitted into the mouth using dental bonding. Because the porcelain is a single piece it is also incredibly strong. This new Cerec technology available at Swindon dentists represents the future of dental technology.

June 3, 2010 at 3:35 am | cosmetic dentistry | No comment

The many uses of cosmetic bonding at Bath dentist

As you may have seen from the various TV makeover shows that have been flooding our screens over the last few years, there is very little that cannot be achieved with teeth these days. Even the most worn down, unevenly spaced and discoloured teeth can be transformed into beautiful, shining white smiles full of healthy looking teeth. There are many cosmetic dental processes that can be used to create these stunning results. Porcelain veneers and dental crowns, as well as whitening treatments and orthodontic straighteners can all be used as part of a wider smile makeover.

There is one cosmetic dentistry procedure that can be used to either aid or as a substitute for virtually every other cosmetic dentistry and is also significantly cheaper. Cosmetic bonding uses a composite resin, closely matched to the colour of the existing enamel to cement crowns and veneers. It can also be used to repair small crack and chips that may have damaged the teeth.

In fact, cosmetic bonding is so versatile and important in the world of cosmetic dentistry that dentists are actually able to specialise solely in the practice of using it. Bonding specialists are extremely skilled and can use it to replace worn or lost enamel building up teeth for protection. Cosmetic bonding is also widely used as a filling material replacing the unattractive and controversial silver amalgam fillings.

Cosmetic bonding is also used by Bath dentist to cover areas of discolouration as an alternative to porcelain veneers. Although perhaps not quite as visually effective, for smaller areas of discolouration bonding will adequately disguise discoloured patches and is also much more cost effective.

June 2, 2010 at 4:02 am | cosmetic dentistry | No comment

Find out about the many braces options at Bristol dentist

If you are bored or embarrassed by your hair you can always go to the hairdressers or barbers to have it cut. The same if you want to change your wardrobe, you can go shopping. Looking our best is very important in this modern era where image is so important. But what about aspects of our appearance that we are unable to change so easily, like our teeth? Our smile is obviously a very important method of communicating and one that gives away so much about us so being uncomfortable or embarrassed about it can damage self-confidence and self-esteem.

However, there are ways of changing the appearance of your teeth that have been successfully proven to work for many years. Orthodontic teeth straightening using braces is capable of correcting even the most misaligned teeth using a system of wires, brackets and applied pressure. In recent years there has also been an explosion of new orthodontic straighteners that have aimed to improve on the few negative aspects of traditional braces.

Although braces have always been effective at straightening they did suffer from something of a lack of aesthetic quality. This meant that having to wear braces always came with something of a sacrifice in terms of appearance. Braces could also be slightly uncomfortable and caused irritation to the soft tissue in the mouth. They also needed to be regularly tightened which could be painful.

New braces such as the Six Month Smile and Invisalign aimed to address these problems providing patients with more discreet, more comfortable and shorter orthodontic straightening. You kind find out more about all the straightening options available to you at your Bristol dentist during your next check up appointment.

June 1, 2010 at 3:33 am | orthodontics | No comment

 

 

Dr Gerrard's smile makeover photos have been selected to be featured on the cosmetic dentistry guide - an educational resource with information on teeth whitening, dental implants, dental veneers, invisalign and much more. He is also an expert on the Inman Aligner Guide

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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