Author: Kings Dental Clinic

Cosmetic dentistry could make you smile again

There generally comes a time when people often wish that they had taken better care of their teeth throughout their life, or simply want to improve their smile. Your teeth may have yellowed with age, or you might just need a filling or two. Whatever the journey to achieving your desired smile entails, here at Kings Dental Clinic we will endeavour to make getting cosmetic dentistry in Hammersmith as easy as possible for you.

Cosmetic Dentistry in HammersmithBeing frustrated or unhappy with your smile can cause all sorts of distress. You might have a family do or wedding approaching and have spent the last few days trying to find a way to smile confidently without showing your teeth or opening your mouth. You might end up feeling like you do not want to be in any photographs at all, and this could make you feel excluded from everybody else. How happy people are with their smile impacts their confidence, and at Kings Dental Clinic we aim to have all our patients smiling proudly by the time they leave our practice.

What treatments are available?

Within cosmetic dentistry in Hammersmith there is a whole range of treatments now available to patients. Some people will require teeth whitening, whilst others may desire to have a white filling fitted so it is less noticeable to others. When smiling, some patients will feel that their teeth to gum ratio is all wrong, and for this we can offer gum contouring, where we can reshape your gums, thus improving the appearance of your smile.

If your teeth need straightening slightly then veneers could well be the answer for you and having these fitted will also brighten the appearance of your teeth, allowing you to feel more confident about your smile.

Are you missing teeth?

Many people believe that if their teeth fall out, they will have to pay a fortune to replace them. Cosmetic dentistry in Hammersmith allows you to replace your teeth at an affordable price, with absolute certainty. There are many different reasons why you may be missing teeth, and sometimes the NHS will cover the costs for you when receiving treatment.

Dentures are one option that provides patients with the ability to replace a whole set of teeth, and they can either be removable or fixed onto implants. They are designed to look and feel exactly like your original teeth. It is best to make an appointment with one of our dental practitioners as they will be able to advise you on what treatment will suit you the most and answer any questions you may have.

Sometimes we see patients that have only one tooth that needs restoring to its original glory, and this can be done using a non-metal crown. These crowns are tooth coloured, meaning that you will be able to flash your smile without worrying about people noticing the treatment that you have had. They can fit straight onto a tooth, or they can be used in partnership with implants and bridges. People often feel the need to hide their smile when it has gaps in it, as they are insecure about it. Instead, you should think about visiting our cosmetic dentist so they can rectify any issues, so you can get back to living your life and smiling whenever you want to.

Worried about the dentist? Dental phobia treatments at Kings Dental Clinic

Fear of the dentist is extremely common.

If you have had an unpleasant dental experience at any time in your life, it is understandable that you may be apprehensive about seeing the dentist, even if you are in pain.

Dental Phobia in HammersmithUnfortunately, even the most diligent tooth cleaners may fall foul of a dental issue that requires treatment at some point in their life and this is when dental phobias in Hammersmith can create a problem. Not attending dental check-ups can lead to preventable issues like cavities, plaque accumulation and tooth decay. Among other things, if you are phobic of the dentist but find yourself losing a filling or developing an abscess, dental phobias can be quite dangerous and cause a great deal of pain.

What can I do?

When you have a dental phobia in Hammersmith, you are probably aware of the implications of not visiting the dentist and want to resolve the issue. After all, modern day dentistry offers amazing results in the field of cosmetic work such as whitening and dental implants.

You could try and seek out a sympathetic dentist, but this may be time consuming and if you are already in pain, you may not want to spend weeks hunting down a compassionate dentist.

How we can help

At Kings Dental Clinic, we understand how nerve racking it can be to visit the dentist when you have a phobia. All our staff are specially trained to make even the most nervous patients feel at ease and can provide you with a genuinely pleasant dental visit.

However, it is more than just making you feel comfortable. Our staff can help you rebuild your confidence when you come in for a dental visit, helping you to overcome your phobia and regain control.

Non judgemental

A common belief among those with a dental phobia is that when they go to the dentist, they will be lectured on the condition of their teeth. Talk about off-putting!

Our staff at Kings Dental Clinic understand that if you haven’t visited a dentist in 10 years for example, it is unlikely your teeth are going to be in tip top condition. We also know that you will probably be feeling upset and vulnerable when you visit us, so we promise you a non-judgmental approach when you come in for your first check-up.

You are in control

Phobias often stem from feeling a lack of control in a certain situation; you experienced something unpleasant in the past that you could not rectify and now, you are fearful of that situation.

When you come to us for your dental treatment, you are in full control. We will take as much time as you need, advise you and tell you exactly what we are doing. If you only want us to look at your teeth on the first visit, then that is all we will do.

If you have a dental phobia in Hammersmith and want to overcome it, please contact us now.

Do you have a dental phobia?

If you are a nervous patient you are not alone. It has been found through surveys that 36% of those who do not go regularly to a dentist, state fear as the reason. Therefore, it makes sense to find that many extremely nervous patients can have problems such as gum disease and tooth decay, simply because they have not been having regular check-ups, therefore making the whole issue worse.  It is less scary having a check-up than having 4 fillings done at once!

Dental Phobia in HammersmithHowever we know this is not to be taken lightly, dental phobia can leave patients in a total panic and absolutely terrified about visiting their dentist. Our team at Kings Dental Clinic are totally aware of how some patients can be really fearful of having treatments done.  We have very experienced dental practitioners who can talk to their patients and make them feel at ease.

We will help to take your fear away

If you are a very nervous patient, make us aware of this fact and we promise that our caring, experienced team will be more than happy to discuss options with you. Having a good chat and airing your concerns are the first steps on the road to healthy, happy teeth.

More reasons to have regular visits to the dentist

Those with a dental phobia in Hammersmith will not just run the risk of losing teeth through lack of oral care, but could also lose their confidence. Lost or yellowing teeth can all add up to making a person have lower self-esteem than others.  Some people become so embarrassed in social situations that they hide their mouth behind their hand when speaking or smiling and this can really start to affect a person’s whole life.  This can result in their professional and personal life suffering to a tremendous degree.

Do I have dental phobia?

Everyone’s fears and phobias are different and have different levels, no two are ever the same. However, if just the thought of visiting your dentist really fills you with dread it could be time to take action. Be honest with yourself and if you are finding that you cannot sleep before a dentist visit, get very nervous in the waiting room of your clinic or panic when you have things put into your mouth, then let us know in our initial consultation. This will enable us to look at the best way forward for you when deciding on any treatments.

Let us take the strain

We want you to be as comfortable and happy about visiting us for treatment as possible. Through a combination of in depth discussion about all of your worries and the procedures you need, our team will be with you every step of the way on your road to good oral health care.  You may have cause to be fearful due to bad experiences in the past or even embarrassment, but be safe in the knowledge that nothing will shock us and we are here to help.

Looking after your oral health

Remember when you were a kid, and you’d go to the doctor and they’d look at your tongue and get you to say ‘aaaaaah’? They were checking out your oral health. Medicine has long used the health of the mouth as an indicator for the health of the rest of the body. If you have a white, furry tongue, or, heaven forbid, a green furry tongue, then something’s not right.

Oral Health in HammersmithNow research has backed up this tried and tested method of checking health and has discovered that illnesses in the rest of the body are indeed linked to your oral health.

Gum disease, which is a disease of inflammation, often works as a pointer to disease elsewhere in the body. It is often an indicator of heart disease. The idea goes that inflammation in the mouth causes inflammation in the blood vessels, raising blood pressure and allowing less blood to move through them.

Gum disease may also be linked to birth problems. Women are more likely to get gum disease when they are pregnant as the increased levels of progesterone in the body make life in the mouth more habitable for bacterial plaque. Researchers are investigating whether gum disease in the mother plays a role in low birth weight or babies born with learning disorders, heart conditions or lung conditions.

Gum disease is also linked to lung conditions. When gum disease is treated, fewer bacteria go down into the lungs to exacerbate problems there.

Obesity has also been linked to gum disease, which seems to progress faster when body fat is higher.

What can you do?

You can combat gum disease by having a great oral health routine. This means brushing your teeth twice a day with a soft bristled brush and a good fluoride toothpaste. You need to back this up with a good flossing once a day and perhaps also interdental brushes to remove trapped food.

You also need to come along to Kings Dental in Hammersmith for regular check-ups and cleanings to remove hardened plaque. Between us, we can make sure that your oral health is in A1 condition.

Cosmetic orthodontics aren’t just cosmetic

The term cosmetic orthodontics implies that any benefits that come from cosmetic braces are purely appearance-related. But this is not true. As well as getting a smile to be proud of, having your teeth straightened increase your chances of making your teeth last longer.

The difference between cosmetic and normal braces is to do with how much your misalignments prevent you from doing things. If you have wonky teeth but can still eat and talk and are not in any pain, then any improvements to their positions have been deemed as cosmetic by the dental profession.

You may be able to chew just fine, but it could be that only some of your teeth are bearing the brunt of the forces created by chewing. You may also be more likely to grind your teeth at night. Over the years, this could lead to some teeth crumbling under the strain of chewing. When your teeth are well aligned, this is less likely to happen.

Also, when your teeth line up properly, they are much easier to keep clean. Plaque has fewer unreachable places to hide, and you will suffer from less decay or gum disease, if you keep up a good oral health routine.

So, although you may think that getting your teeth straightened is just so that you can feel better about your smile, you are giving yourself other important benefits too.

Here at Kings Dental Clinic in Hammersmith, we offer 3 great ways to get your teeth straightened. You can choose between fixed discreet braces or removable aligners.

Six Month Smiles

These bracket and wire braces are smaller than regular braces, and are made from clear ceramic and tooth-coloured wire. They are great for straightening the front 6-8 teeth and take around 6 months to do so.

Inman Aligner

A removable device with spring-loaded bows that go behind and in front of the teeth. Treatment takes 6-18 weeks.

Invisalign

Removable clear aligners that work in a series to straighten teeth. You can’t see them once they are in place. Treatment takes around a year on average.

Come on in for a consultation.

Putting your mouth back together again

If your mouth has got into a right mess, it can be daunting when you think about all the various treatments, from goodness knows how many different kinds of dentists, you might need to put it right again. But if you bring your mouth along to Kings Dental Clinic in Hammersmith, we can bring your mouth back to its former glory without ever having to refer you to an outside dentist.

Full Mouth Rehabilitation in HammersmithThat’s because here at Kings Dental Clinic, we have a great team of dentists who are highly skilled and experienced in every area of dentistry. We can put together a treatment plan that brings them all together in the right order so that you can have your lovely smile back in no time.

What’s wrong?

Some people have a terrible accident and lose a lot of teeth and need reconstruction. Others grew up without having access to good oral health and dentistry and are now paying the price. Yet more have been saying goodbye to teeth that have done long years of service and are now wearing out. Whatever the cause of your problems, we can put them right.

Consultation

The first thing to do is come along for a consultation and ask about full mouth rehabilitation. We will take an in-depth look at your teeth, gums and soft tissues and discuss what your aims are and how we can help you achieve them. Don’t worry about what we will think. We have seen it all before, hundreds of times, and we never judge.

Together we will draw up a costed treatment plan that sets out what treatments you need and in what order.

These treatments might include:

  • cosmetic braces for teeth that have wandered
  • inlays and onlays to cover large cavities
  • crowns to strengthen teeth that still have good roots
  • veneers to cover damage
  • white fillings to replace amalgam
  • root planning, gum and soft tissue grafting for advanced gum disease
  • dentures, bridges and dental implants to replace lost teeth.

We will be able to give you a schedule so that you know how long it will take to get your smile back.

Come on in and find out more.

When your mouth is in a mess

How did your mouth get in a mess? Was it gum disease? Maybe tooth decay? Perhaps you lost or damaged teeth in an accident? Or maybe you are just getting on a bit and your teeth are wearing out.

Prosthodontics in HammersmithWhatever the reason, when your mouth is in a mess, it affects your life in many ways. It’s not just that you can’t bite or chew your food properly anymore. It’s also because you are too embarrassed to smile and laugh and now people think you are cold and unfriendly because you don’t smile. That’s mealtimes and socialising that are depressing. Maybe your mouth is also affecting your work life, and your love life. It’s not a good way to be, especially when there are so many great ways that we at Kings Dental Clinic in Hammersmith can restore your mouth to its former fabulousness.

We have an array of techniques and materials which we can use to fill in your gaps and repair or disguise damaged teeth.

Why not come in for a consultation and let us take a look at what’s going on inside your mouth. Then we can make suggestions of what can be done, using a variety of methods to suit your budget.

Dental implants

These are the most effective way to replace lost teeth. They seem expensive, but one implant can support up to 3 teeth on a bridge and they can last for decades, so, over time, dental implants can even work out cheaper.

Dentures

Full dentures replace all the teeth on one arch. Partial dentures replace a few. Modern dentures are much more realistic and effective than before. We can even stabilise them with dental implants.

Veneers and composite bonding

These are 2 methods that we use to cover over damage on otherwise healthy teeth. Chips, cracks, intrinsic discolouration, worn edges, even gaps and slight twists can all be made to disappear using either veneers or composite bonding.

Crowns

A cover for teeth that need support and strength above the gumline, but are strong and healthy below it, where the root is still 100%.

Let us put together a treatment plan for you, and together we can make your mouth great again.

If you ever need root canal treatment

We hope you will never get an infection in your tooth that means you have to have root canal therapy, but if you do, you can rest assured that at Kings Dental Clinic in Hammersmith, you will be treated with the latest equipment and by a dentist trained specifically in root canal work.

Root Canals in HammersmithDr Nadia Tawfiq is our root canal dentist, working in a branch of dentistry known as endodontics, which is concerned with the treatment of the soft pulp within the tooth. The pulp is the very inner part of the tooth and it runs all the way down the tooth from the centre of the crown to the tips of the roots. This is the part of the tooth that has to be removed when it becomes diseased or infected. This can happen if the tooth is decaying, or has cracks in it, or if it gets injured in an accident of some kind.

What is root canal therapy?

Dentists carry out root canal work when the pulp inside the tooth root has become infected or diseased, but the rest of the tooth above the gum line is still healthy. Having root canal therapy allows you to keep your tooth instead of having it extracted and then having to have some kind of false tooth installed.

People tend to think of root canal therapy as a particularly painful treatment, but you need not feel any pain with Dr Tawfiq, who will make sure that you are completed numbed with a local anaesthetic. She will then use the latest rotary files and apex locators to clean the infected pulp from the tooth, all the way down to the tip of the root.

It may take more than one visit to complete the treatment, especially if it is a complex case, working on a tooth with multiple roots. You will be fitted with a temporary crown between appointments.

At the end of treatment, your tooth will be covered with a porcelain crown to protect it and it should then last you a good many more years. We have a 95% success rate to back up this claim.

Get replacement teeth that do a proper job

There’s nothing more frustrating than having to rely on something that never quite works properly: that smart TV that pixelates every time you get to the dramatic point in the latest must-watch TV series, a satnav that takes you on unnecessary detours when you’re in a hurry and false teeth that don’t have the power to chew like your natural teeth did.

Dental Implants in HammersmithAt Kings Dental Clinic, while we can’t help you with your satnav or your TV, we can replace dentures or bridges with dental implants, and we can probably do so even if you have previously been rejected for treatment because your jawbone has degenerated.

What’s so great about dental implants?

Dental implants are far more stable than dentures because they are fixed directly into your jawbone. The implant post, which is made of titanium, fuses with your bone, and becomes anchored so securely that you will be able to eat whatever you like again. Anyone who has had their diet restricted to soft foods because it’s all their false teeth can cope with will be delighted by this news.

You do need to have a jawbone that can grow new cells over the implant to bond with it, and, in the past, this was the main reason people were turned down for treatment. It may be that they had been without teeth for so long that the bone had shrunk away. Or perhaps they were a smoker or had uncontrolled type 2  diabetes. These days, we can often solve these issues. Smokers must stop smoking before they can be treated. Diabetics need to get their disease under control with a low carb diet and plenty of exercise.

We can then rebuild the jawbone with a bone graft, where we put extra bone material into the jaw and leave it for some weeks to bond with the existing bone. We can put it into either jaw. If your upper jaw is the issue, we can instead use extra-long implants that anchor through the jaw and into the dense cheekbones above.

These treatments do add time to the overall implant journey, but most patients are happy to do so because the benefits of implants are so desirable.

Smoking: what it does to your mouth

When you think of the harm that smoking tobacco causes, you probably worry most about lung cancer. Maybe you think that as long as you come along for bi-annual check-ups and a good clean-up from the hygienist that, as far as your oral health is concerned, you don’t need to worry too much.

Smoking Cessation in HammersmithAs dentists, the team at Kings Dental Clinic in Hammersmith gets to see close up what smoking tobacco does to the inside of your mouth, and it’s bad, very bad. The problem with tobacco smoke is that it affects your blood vessels, constricting them, and this cuts down on vital supplies of oxygen to your gums.

Gum disease

When your gums are not getting enough oxygen to keep them healthy, they are far more susceptible to gum disease, which is caused by the acids from plaque attacking first your gums and then bone underneath and your tooth roots.

Smoking makes your oxygen-deprived gums recede more quickly, exposing the tooth roots. Tooth roots are not covered in protective enamel like the crowns of your teeth are. The acids from plaque can damage them far more easily.

Oral cancer

Smoking also plays a bit part in mouth cancers, the incidence of which is on the rise. The toxic chemicals from the smoke get into the cells in the soft parts of the mouth and change them to make them grow out of control into tumours. And if you drink as well as smoke, it’s even worse because the toxins in the smoke get dissolved in the alcohol in your mouth and this makes it even easier for them to pass through the membranes into your cells.

Unkissable

Also, your breath smells terrible (cigarettes and coffee is a particularly nasty breath combo) and your brown stained teeth and tongue can severely limit your chances on the dating scene.

Isn’t it about time you stopped? Come to us at Kings Dental Clinic in Hammersmith and we can help with our smoking cessation advice and support. You’ll be amazed at how quickly the conditions in your mouth improve, and what’s going on in your mouth is an indicator of what’s going on in your body.