Perfect Smile Dental Blog

Even though the main benefit of daily brushing is a good dental health, there are many more positive consequences of keeping that habit.

As pointed out by diverse scientific studies throughout the years, there are many benefits of teeth brushing that go far beyond dental health. In fact, the good condition of the oral cavity along with other aspects of dental hygiene, such as eating habits or cleaning routines, have very positive effects on your overall health.

A recent study by the University of California and a previous one by the American Geriatrics Society have associated daily brushing with a lower risk of developing dementia. The latter, conducted over a period of 18 years, found out that the participants who didn’t practice daily brushing had a greater chance of developing dementia than those who did. However the studies cannot yet establish a cause-and-effect relationship between the brushing routines and a lesser chance to develop dementia, there seems to be a strong link between this condition and a poor dental hygiene and tooth loss.

Not only because of this link, but due to the harmful effects that missing teeth can have for your health, tooth replacement treatment procedures are recommended by dental experts around the world. Even though brushing can help maintain an optimal dental condition, many other factors can influence to develop decay, gingivitis or root canal inflammation. For that reason, regular visits to a dental specialist can prevent undesired problems to become really severe conditions hazarding your health. Perfect Smile Dental’s specialists recommend you to find an endodontist in London who is a qualified and trustworthy professional, able to assist you in the event of developing any of these conditions.

Especially when suffering from tooth loss, oral hygiene routines become all the more important. In order to be suitable for a tooth implant, a patient has to be free of dental conditions, including root canal inflammation and gum disease. As brushing at least twice a day and flossing help preventing gingivitis, bad breath and decay, it is particularly recommended for patients in need of a dental implant. Richmond’s Perfect Smile clinic is a modern, full digitally equipped practice with a professional team of dental specialists in cosmetic dentistry, orthodontic treatments and dental implants. With seven dentists working at the surgery, a professional hygienist and an in house cosmetic dentist, Richmond clinic’s dental team is able to advise you on a wide range of treatments, from dental implants to Invisaling procedure in London.

As dental professionals, Perfect Smile dentists recommend to keep a thorough daily dental hygiene. This will help you keep your teeth functional and beautiful, and will also have beneficial effects on your overall health, such as preventing heart and respiratory diseases, helping control your eating and providing a better health for your baby if you are pregnant.

Leave your teeth in hands of the best professionals: get guidance and make an appointment online for your dental problems at Perfect Smile.

If you are in need of a dental restoration, you might want to consider this durable, advanced and tooth structure safeguarding method.

Inlays and Onlays are alternative restoration methods to fillings and dental crowns that are placed on teeth with moderate decay or mild fracturing. Also known as “indirect fillings”, these offer a durable, strong, natural-looking and well-fitting solution for restorations, being both aesthetic and functional.

Inlays are bonded within the centre of the tooth, whereas Onlays are used to cover the biting surface when the damage involves one or more cusps.

Benefits

1. There are many benefits to this restorative treatment:
2. Colour match thanks to the materials used
3. Improved dental hygiene with a better sealing of teeth
4. Greater healthy tooth structure conservation
5. Finer fit without changing the tooth’s shape or size
6. Strength, stability and protection of the weakest areas

The application procedure

Similar to a tooth implant procedure, a previous preparation of the area before the treatment is required in the case of indirect fillings. The decayed part of the tooth is removed during a first visit when a moulded impression is also taken to send to the dental laboratory.

Along with a full guide to dental care for both your restored and natural teeth, your dentist will discuss with you which is the best material for your indirect filling (gold, porcelain or resin). For it to match the colour of your teeth, it is important that you consult your dentist if you are considering laser whitening in London.

A temporary piece will be placed in your tooth until your Inlay or Onlay is created. During the second visit, this temporary filling will be replaced by the actual piece; smoothly adjusted, bonded and polished to perfectly fit your tooth and bite.

Your dentist will minimise with anaesthetic any pain you might experience as a consequence of the removal of decayed tooth and the shaping of the Inlay or Onlay.

Choosing the right practice

Training for the application of Inlays and Onlays is limited, so there are a small number of professionals able to perform this procedure. Make sure your dental practice works closely to a dental laboratory or that your dentist is in touch with technicians to discuss the optimal treatment for your teeth.

As the cost of Inlays and Onlays depends on many factors (the materials used, the size of the piece, the difficulty of the work…) you should ask your dental provider under which category does your insurance places indirect fillings, as well as about their reimbursement rates.

A look into the future

Dental science strives to provide the most appealing solutions for you. Natural smiles with Invisalign are today possible for people with misalignment problems, as well as Inlays and Onlays are today’s preferred choice for natural-looking, durable and strong restoration treatments.

If your dental concerns include a natural appearance, durability and better dental hygiene, consult your dentist about Inlays and Onlays today.

Be prepared: if your gums use to bleed during your daily oral routines, you are at risk of developing periodontal disease.

Sore, swollen or bleeding gums are usually a first sign that something is not quite right about your dental health. Gingivitis, the first stage of gum disease is a relatively simple to treat inflammation, generally caused by persistent plaque in your teeth.

To prevent gingivitis from leading to the more advanced and painful stage of periodontal disease, professional hygiene treatments become essential.

When do I need a hygiene treatment?

If periodontal disease is left untreated, the gum line recedes and your teeth become exposed and loose, prompting the formation of abscesses. This puts you in higher risk of tooth loss, which would make procedures like implants of teeth necessary to keep both your dental health and facial structure.

However the most advanced and permanent solution to tooth loss, the cost of dental implants is something to consider, especially when you can prevent this by undergoing a professional hygiene treatment.

Smoking, stress, pregnancy, genetics, teeth grinding, diabetes and some medication are factors that can prompt or worsen the inflammation of gum tissue. Some teeth straightening techniques, such as traditional orthodontic braces, can also produce irritation to the gums because of its metal wires and brackets and the increased difficulty of keeping a good oral hygiene during the treatment.

In these cases, a professional hygiene treatment becomes all the more important to ensure the optimal condition of your dental health, particularly if you experience one or more of these symptoms:

• Bleeding when brushing
• Red, swollen, sore or receding gums
• Loose teeth
• Pus between teeth and gums
• Persistent bad breath

What is a hygiene treatment?
When your dentist refers you to a hygienist, a first assessment takes place where the dental professional reviews your medical history and discusses your symptoms with you. After an examination where the hygienist charts periodontal pockets and bleeding gum mobility, and checks your soft tissues, he gives you personalised advice on how to best take care of your gums. The last step of your treatment is the scale and polish of your teeth to remove all remaining plaque and tartar that could inflame your gums. If further treatment is required, your hygienist will schedule another appointment for you.

Hygiene treatment at Perfect Smile is both pain and hassle free. We strive to make the process comfortable and durable so, after the treatment is performed, our professional hygienists will advise you on how to best look after your oral health by a correct performance of your daily brushing routines and a careful look at your diet habits.

Dental hygiene treatments not only prevent further problems that could hazard your dental health, but also recovers your teeth’s functionality and good appearance.

Benefit today from receiving a professional hygiene treatment and ensure the best condition for your dental and overall health.

NHS helps patients getting the dental treatments they need at NHS hospitals and practices like Perfect Smile’s without having to worry about costs.

When it comes to decide about health, price shouldn’t be an issue. That’s the reason why most NHS treatments are free of charge. Others, however, involve some payment, depending on the type of treatment, the severity of what has to be treated and the circumstances of the patient. This is the case of dental treatments, where NHS applies charges, of which some patients are automatically exempt or eligible for exemption.

The first thing to bear in mind when a patient qualifies for help with dental costs is that not all dentists accept NHS patients. It is essential to make sure your dentist does, and to tell him you want an NHS treatment when you make your appointment. But, how can you know whether or not you are eligible for cost exemption or to make a claim for help with all or part of your dental treatment costs?

You can have a look at the official information booklet Help with health costs, which you will find at your local Jobcentre Plus, at any NHS hospital in your area, and at most pharmacists, doctors, dentists and opticians. Further information is also available online, visiting the websites of the Government, the NHS Services Authority and the Department of Health. You should consider, however, that NHS dental treatments are aimed to help patients improve and maintain their dental health, so cosmetic dentistry procedures are usually out of NHS treatment support.

This doesn’t mean those treatments are not important; for example, while NHS covers many orthodontic treatments for teenagers it doesn’t offer help with costs of others, like Invisalign for teens. However similar in terms of efficiency as a treatment, Invisalign adds an aesthetic value to orthodontics, which makes it part of cosmetic dentistry and thus not covered by NHS. Similarly, dental veneers procedure in London is a much demanded treatment that helps patients regain confidence in themselves and fight the negative effects that stained or misshapen teeth can have in social and professional life. Because this doesn’t have an immediate impact on the overall health of the patient, NHS doesn’t cover its costs.

In other cases, however, a procedure usually performed by cosmetic dentistry becomes an NHS dental treatment because of the special circumstances of the patient, as Perfect Smile’s endodontist specialist in London points out. In case of accident, severe trauma or oral cancer, for example, a patient needing dental implants can be helped by NHS with the costs of this procedure. This is due to the importance of replacement of teeth in maintaining an optimal oral health, as well as preventing further problems such as bone loss, periodontitis or misalignment problems on teeth.

To know more about NHS treatments and get the best professional advice for your dental health, call us at any of our dental implants clinics.