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.
Making an early diagnosis in any field of health care can be vital in administering the correct treatment early and the world of dentistry is no different. For a long time, x-rays have been invaluable in making a quick diagnosis in the mouth. They can reveal all manner of evils such as bone loss and decay, but also monitor older and ongoing treatments and symptoms like fillings, cosmetic work, crowns and teeth growth. Now however, x-rays have made an even greater leap forward- they have gone digital in the city of Leeds. Old methods of x-rays took film images that could take time to develop and were cumbersome to store. Digital has changed that, although the general principle of ‘getting a shot, hasn’t. It’s only once the image has been taken that digital really comes into its own. The image is fed into a computer and transferred onto a screen immediately. This can then be subjected to 3-D imaging and colour coding if required, and a precise diagnosis can be made on the spot. Of course, this then can be stored on the computer and even be used in conjunction with old x-rays. What this means for the patient is that treatment can begin straight away and nip any problems in the bud!
