FREE CONSULTATION 0113 245 4868 Ask us about 0% Finance
Book Online

Archive for December, 2010

Central Leeds dentists help guard against bad teeth

Friday, December 31st, 2010

Having a healthy mouth is something that many of us take for granted but you can easily slip up and find that you have an oral hygiene problem which is making eating, drinking and even talking and smiling less convenient. You should maintain a good relationship with your dentist to ensure that you don’t develop bad teeth and have to undergo invasive surgery to correct avoidable problems.
The most important thing to bear in mind when taking care of your teeth is that plaque needs to be removed. Plaque is a substance formed by the foods you eat and coats the teeth. If left there it can attack the layer of enamel which protects teeth and lead to the formation of small holes called cavities. This can cause great pain as the nerves are interfered with. You should be vigilant for extra sensitivity when you eat or drink hot or cold substances.
You can remove plaque by brushing your teeth twice a day for about three minutes using a tooth brush and fluoride enriched tooth paste. You should also floss so that plaque which has built up between the teeth is also removed. If plaque builds up sufficiently then it may become tartar which can only be removed by professionals in the surgery.
Get into the habit of visiting your dentist every six months. Sometimes a problem might be developing in your mouth that you simply haven’t noticed because of your busy life but your expertly trained dentist will be able to spot it at the check up.
Nobody wants bad teeth, so make sure you visit your Central Leeds dentist regularly and take their advice on how to best take care of your mouth.

Root canals in the city of Leeds

Thursday, December 30th, 2010

The words root and canal do not sit easy on the mind when you apply both of them dental work. In fact, it sounds utterly torturous and if you look up the word torture, you will find the word pain thrown in there too somewhere. In the city of Leeds, there are a lot of urban myths built up around root canal treatment. Not so much is said however, about how we turned a blind eye to oral hygiene and kept cancelling check-ups, which kicked off the problem in the first place. The reason for having this treatment is to remove decay that has set in, so that the tooth can be saved. Maybe the myths that surround this procedure are due to the nature of the work required, well, just sounding bad. Here we go…..the decay first has to be removed under a local anaesthetic by scraping out all the dead pulp inside the tooth and then treated with an anti-fungal fluid. Now, the roots have to be drilled out. This can be complex and on occasions, the dentist may have to come through the gum and enter the tooth from the side, then the tooth is filled and capped…..does that sound bad now?! In all reality, it’s a fairly easy procedure that is no more painful than a filling and generally the tooth is good for at least another 10 years. If you still feel concerned, then maybe you should look after your teeth more, because after all, you don’t wanna go through that nightmare again, do you?

Choosing porcelain veneers in central Leeds

Wednesday, December 29th, 2010

If your teeth have started to look a bit shabby of late and it is starting to affect your confidence and the way you communicate with people, then listen up good folk of central Leeds, for it may be time to consider a bit of a makeover to fill those gaps, cracks and chips. One of the more popular choices to restore your good looks is the porcelain veneer. It’s fairly painless process done under a local anaesthetic over a couple of weeks (about an hour if you go down the CEREC route!). The dentist will first shave away the enamel and then take an impression that is sent off to the lab, along with a colour coding to match the rest of your teeth, so that the veneer can be made; (Until its return, you will wear a temporary veneer). When you return to the dentist, the fitting is easy and painless- the veneer is cemented onto the tooth and cured with a heat lamp. A porcelain veneer is normally the choice that people go for and is good value at around £500, (less on the NHS)- they sit very natural in the mouth and if treated with care, can last you for a good 10 years. They also react well to certain types of teeth whitening methods too. So go on, go and get your mojo back and start smiling confidence again!

Having a porcelain crown fitted in the city of Leeds

Tuesday, December 28th, 2010

If you have a tooth that has been damaged through decay or injury, or even require an implant to replace a tooth that is no longer there, in the city of Leeds, it could be time be time consider getting a porcelain crown fitted too. For all of these problems can lead to further health issues arising in the mouth, such as gum disease and further tooth decay. Porcelain crowns have a very natural sheen and make and excellent replacement at around £550. There are two types of porcelain crown available on the market. The all porcelain crown is the more obvious choice for teeth at the front of the mouth, where there is far less pressure placed on them through chewing or heavy biting. However if a tooth is to be replaced or rebuilt in the back of the mouth, where there is a lot more pressure applied during eating, it may be more wiser to opt for the porcelain-fused-over-metal crown that is more durable and resistant to pressure. The treatment time for fitting the actual crown is around 2 weeks, or in one sitting if you choose CEREC treatment. (Of course, treatments to get the tooth ready for a crown can prolong the overall time the process takes). Both types of crowns are durable and long lasting if treated with care, anything up to 15 years.

Coping with oral cancer in Leeds

Monday, December 27th, 2010

Being told that you have cancer can be one of the most devastating pieces of news you ever receive. But though the treatment of cancer has evolved greatly over the last 50 years, it is in response to the fact that cancer is still on the increase, as it is in the mouth. Oral cancer is considered to be directly linked to diet, stress and poor oral hygiene that work their way throughout the body. Only by understanding the causes of cancer and the signs of it, can we prevent it happening in Leeds. There are many early signs of the disease in the mouth; patches in the mouth, bad breath, sores or ulcers that won’t go away, swallowing pains, loose teeth and constant earaches. Any problems like these should be discussed with your dentist immediately so that the cancer can be caught as early as possible. They can run a series of simple tests through cell and tissue diagnosis of the mouth. Sometimes a blood test at the doctors can also highlight any abnormalities. If anything shows up, more intensive tests can be done to gauge the extent of the problem and give a better understanding of the treatment required. If cancer is caught early, it can be treated a lot easier and though the thought of being diagnosed with oral cancer is very frightening, success rates of treatment are on the increase, thanks to advances in technology and our understanding of what cancer is causes it. Learn all you can about it, how to fight it and how to prevent it- it can be beaten.

Getting a mouth guard in central Leeds

Sunday, December 26th, 2010

Mouth guards are used all around central Leeds. They are more normally associated with sports, especially contact sports like boxing or rugby, but they are also used in some dental procedures. If you work hard, it’s relaxing to play hard and a lot more of us are turning to sport to blow off steam. However, quite a percentage of sports will require you to wear a mouth guard. Now you’d think that it’s only to stop your teeth getting knocked out (well yes), but a good mouth guard can prevent very serious injuries from occurring. They can protect lips and gums, and prevent neck and jaw injuries that can be costly to repair. There are three types of sporting mouth guards on the market: one you buy off the shelf, another that you mould into your mouth or one that you can have custom made for you. When it comes to dentistry, they too have uses here. In our endless search for nice teeth, home bleaching kits are becoming very popular, incorporating a tight fitting gum shield to put the bleaching agent in. Orthodontic aligners such as Invisalign are clear, thin, guard shaped aligners that help straighten the teeth. Mouth guards also help in the treatment of bruxism or teeth grinding.

Mini implants in the city of Leeds

Saturday, December 25th, 2010

If, in the city of Leeds you have come to terms with having to have your teeth replaced with ‘falsies’, you may be well advised to shop around for the best options of how to keep them in your mouth. It can’t be a happy experience, seeing your teeth fly across the dinner table after attempting to tackle a hard crusted roll. One solution you may want to investigate is the mini implant, which has revolutionised the wearing of dentures and fitting of crowns or bridges. They are also the dentist’s friend because they are easy to fit. Using micro surgery, this cocktail stick-sized new titanium root is drilled through the gum and into the bone, keeping gum damage to the minimum. This means, the whole fitting of 6 ‘mini’s (in the case of full dentures), takes just under 2 hours. Then, the new teeth are simple clicked onto the implant. Combined with a fixing-cement, you could bite through wood. Implant techniques have got more refined and it’s never been easier to have them fitted, nor in fact, cheaper. A mini implant costs a third of its bigger brother and with a simple payment plan, it’s available to all. Get it done and improve your life!

Having lumineer treatment in Leeds

Friday, December 24th, 2010

Every year that goes by, more and more techniques are developed to put the smile back in our mouths and convince us of the benefits of cosmetic dentistry and in Leeds you can see it everywhere you go. We’re constantly bombarded with images of people smiling the ‘perfect’ smile. But now it’s becoming more accessible to all of us and not just those in a poster or on the telly. Teeth do take a battering over time and become stained chipped or cracked and if you work in the public eye all the time, it’s almost become a requirement to look clean cut and confident, and radiating a glamorous smile can reflect that. One of the latest trends is to get lumineers fitted. They aren’t exactly long lasting mind, about 5 years maximum, but to dismiss their shelf life is to dismiss the philosophy behind them; they will restore an incredible sheen to the teeth. They are constructed from a patented porcelain that’s very thin (a third of a normal veneer) and very strong, and this is where they have an advantage over standard veneers when they are fitted. Tooth preparation is minimal- once the imprint has been taken and sent off to be made, the only work that is done to the tooth is a light polishing. None of the original enamel is removed from the tooth and the lumineer is simply bonded straight onto the tooth (making the process reversible) with a light cement and then cured with a heat lamp Normal treatment time is around 2 weeks from imprint to fitting. However, incorporating CEREC methods, the whole process can be done in a single sitting and being comparable in price to other procedures, lumineers are a very attractive option to those of us on the go.

Invisalign treatments in the city of Leeds

Thursday, December 23rd, 2010

We have enough to deal with in life as it is, in the city of Leeds, without the indignity of having to wear a brace as well! Just to get our teeth fixed? It’s enough to send you mad. But having to get our ‘teeth fixed’ is important to our oral health, so fix them we must and besides, wearing a brace has lost a lot of it’s stigma over the years, thanks to some great advances in the technology. A great example of this is Invisalign treatment. It’s discreet and it’s fast, and though a little more expensive than most other aligners (treatment starts at around £1800), the program offers more advantages. Its beauty starts with the consultation. Thanks to 3-D imaging, your dentist can show you projected step by step images of how your teeth will develop, and how you would like them to develop, throughout the treatment, and a projected finished image. When you are happy with your choice you will be fitted with your first aligner- this will be changed regularly as your teeth start to move. You have two great advantages during this treatment over other methods. The aligner is manufactured from a very thin, transparent plastic making it very difficult to detect in your mouth, and it’s removable, which is great for eating and hygiene. But Invisalign’s final ‘trump card’ is that it’s a lot faster than other treatments, normally taking around a third of the time.

Choosing an Inman aligner in central Leeds

Wednesday, December 22nd, 2010

Okay. You’ve met the person of your dreams in a pub in central Leeds. This is the one for you. They’ve seen past your rather medieval front teeth and seen into your soul. This love is so rich and pure, and so immediate, that you even want to sanction it with a marriage in a couple of months time. So then, why is there this uncomfortable feeling eating away at the bliss of true love that courses through your heart, just before you sleep at night? Because those teeth of yours are gonna look awful in the wedding and honeymoon photos, right? Right! But help is at hand my friend, thanks to the Inman aligner. It doesn’t matter how old you are, this treatment is designed to fix your teeth in as little as 6 weeks. Its unique design and mechanism means it can only be used on the front teeth. Once the aligner has been placed in the mouth, a thin metallic wire around the front of the teeth starts to pull the teeth into place. In the meantime, a spring operated device applies pressure in the opposite direction, practically rocking the teeth gently into position. Another advantage of the aligner is that throughout the treatment, it can be removed, allowing you to eat normally and maintain your oral hygiene. But the price is equally attractive at around £1400, that’s about £30 a day- that’s enough to put a smile on your face, eh?