If you have ever suffered from a knocked out, chipped or cracked tooth you will know exactly how painful it can be. Not only is the pain immediate, but it may require months or even years of painful and costly dental surgery to repair the damage. Knocked out teeth cannot always be replaced and you may require a dental implant or bridge to artificially replace it. Chipped and cracked teeth can usually be repaired with dental bonding, but if the structural damage is too severe, it may require a crown or a veneer to prevent any further damage. All of these artificial dental substitutes will require replacing at various intervals throughout your life.
Nearly half of all dental injuries are caused when playing sport or doing some kind of physical activity and nearly all of these could be avoided with appropriate dental protection. This would usually involve wearing a mouth guard specially prepared for your teeth by a dentist. Although it possible to buy mouth guards from sporting good shops, these are often generically designed and do not provide adequate protection for your teeth. An ill-fitting mouth guard is only marginally better than not having one at all. The real protection comes form the well placed padding and protection offered by a tight-fitting guard.
Wearing a mouth guard may not be the most comfortable thing in the world and let’s face it, it really doesn’t look that cool either, but it does look a lot cooler than having missing teeth and having to wear a partial denture when you’re only in your twenties. It also makes much better financial sense to shell out a few pounds to have mouth guard properly fitted by a dentist than to have to pay thousands for a dental implant or porcelain crown.
This is a case where prevention is certainly much better than cure. Ask a City of Leeds dentist about having a mouth guard fitted and it might be the best money and half an hour of your life that you’ll ever spend.
Oral cancer is a particularly virulent form of cancer that if not caught early can be fatal. Patients who catch the disease early stand an 80 per cent chance or greater of making a full recovery so it is vital that if you are suffering from any suspicious sores in the mouth you contact a dentist as soon as possible. It is also important that you keep up regular six-month appointments with your dentist as they are trained to spot the early signs of oral cancer.
Tooth whitening is one of the most common and least expensive of the cosmetic dentistry procedures. It is offered by most dentists and aims to combat the natural discolouration of teeth that happens as we get older. 
In the fight against dental decay there are several key defences. The most important is regular and correct brushing and flossing of teeth. Brushing and flossing help to fight plaque, a filmy substance made up of bacteria and other debris, that covers the teeth and attacks the enamel. If plaque is not removed by brushing it will break down enamel causing tooth decay. This can lead to painful toothaches and abscesses that can lead to tooth loss. Flossing is particularly important for removing plaque and food debris from between teeth that causes tooth decay and is also responsible for 90 per cent of cases of bad breath. If allowed to remain plaque will also transform into tartar, a hard yellow/brown substance that also destroys enamel but that is impossible to remove by conventional cleaning.
Cosmetic bonding is one of the most easily affordable and useful of the cosmetic dentistry procedures. It has a wide variety of uses but is particularly useful for the repair of cracked, chipped or broken teeth. It can also be used, however, for the cosmetic improvement of worn, unevenly spaced or 
Having good teeth can create a very attractive and healthy appearance. Believe it or not, but the teeth are one of the first things we notice about people when we first meet them. Having healthy, straight and white teeth can give the impression of confidence and make you yourself confident about your appearance. For those of us not blessed with naturally straight, white beautiful teeth (and there really are only a lucky few), thanks to dental technology there are now a multitude of cosmetic dental procedures that can improve the appearance of our teeth.
We all want a beautiful smile full of shiny white, 
Recent studies have found that over 90 pre cent of people in the UK admit to having some fear of the dentist. This fear ranges from mild anxiety to fully blown dental phobia. The difference between a phobia and an anxiety is really made by a person’s ability to confront it. For most people, the consequences of not visiting the dentist far outweigh the anxieties they have about going for a check up. They are able to rationalise that having their teeth checked will benefit them in the long run. Someone who suffers with dental phobia is not able to make this same rationalisation, the fear is simply too great. The irony here of course is that by not visiting the dentist a dental phobic is increasing the chances that they will need more serious dental treatment in the future.
More and more people are opting to have their teeth artificially straightened by orthodontic methods. More often than not this involves having some form of orthodontic brace fitted to reposition teeth. Twenty years ago, patients were limited in their options, with uncomfortable and unseemly metal braces being the only realistic option. While these braces were sturdy and effective, they were often too much of a sacrifice for many patients and could be especially troublesome for patients in their emotionally difficult teenage years. Thankfully, dental technology has advanced in huge strides in the last two decades and there are now braces available that offer incredibly fast and discreet treatment.
