Dental Blog - Orpington Dental Care

A clearer way to straight teeth

There have been some amazing steps forward in dental treatments and techniques in the last 20 or so years, nowhere more so than in the area of braces.

It started in the 1980s, when film stars, models and royals suddenly started having super bright, sparkling, white smiles. If you watch movies from the 1970s and before, hardly anyone has perfect teeth.

Now you can have lovely teeth too, and the best treatment to start with is clear braces at Orpington Dental Care in Orpington.

Clear Braces in Orpington Clear braces are great for sorting out overcrowded, gappy or crooked teeth. These problems are mild compared with problems with the bite, but they still make people so self-conscious that they cover up their smiles with their hands, or refuse to have their photo taken.

We offer two forms of clear braces in Orpington.

Invisalign

Invisalign invisible aligners are a series of incrementally different, very thin, clear plastic trays. They are 3D printed to fit your measurements precisely and fit snugly over your teeth to gradually guide them into a new position. You will probably need between 12 and 48 aligners, wearing each one until the teeth have moved, which takes about two weeks, before the next Invisalign tray gently moves them on again. The great thing about Invisalign, and what makes it so popular, is that the aligners can be removed. You take them out to clean them, and also to eat, drink, or even attend important business or social occasions. However, you must wear them for at least 20 hours a day to stay on track with your treatment.

Six Month Smiles

This brand of clear braces uses clear brackets and tooth-coloured wires that are fixed to the teeth to gently move them into a straighter position. This system is aimed at moving the front six ‘social’ teeth, and not for bite correction, which is why the average treatment time is only six months. The fact that this system uses translucent brackets and tooth-coloured wire means people have to be looking carefully to spot them.

Why not come in for a free consultation to find out which system of clear braces will work for you?

Replacement teeth that stay in place

Losing your teeth affects your oral health as well as your appearance. The gaps in your smile may affect your confidence when socialising, but they can also be tricky to clean, allowing food particles and bacteria to build up to harmful levels. If you’ve lost several teeth, your jawbone may start to deteriorate, which can alter the underlying firmness of your face, leading to a sunken appearance. At our practice in Orpington, dental implants prevent these problems, and restore dental function, so you can enjoy biting and chewing your food, and smiling about it afterwards.

Integrated arrangements

The team at Orpington Dental Care will begin your treatment with an in-depth consultation. Taking the time to get to know you as a patient, we’ll learn about your dental history, and assess your teeth in detail, using contemporary imaging techniques to help create a thoroughly accurate treatment plan. We’ll also make sure your oral health is in good enough condition to accept the implants, and give you a written treatment plan, including costs.

Once you’re comfortable and ready at our practice in Orpington, dental implants, in the form of small titanium posts, will be placed into your jawbone in a minor surgical procedure. After a short period of healing, you’ll then return to us to have the replacement teeth securely attached to the posts.

Functional future

Because the material of the jawbone meshes with the implanted posts, in a process called osseointegration, your new teeth will have a very strong foundation, so you can use them just like your natural ones. They look smart and are easy to clean, so good oral hygiene is easy to achieve. And people who’ve had dental implants in Orpington can find it easier to pronounce certain words and phrases, enhancing their intelligibility and speaking confidence.

If you look after your implants properly, they will last you for the rest of your life. They are a long-term investment in your future oral health. So, whether you’ve lost several teeth to decay over the years, or just one tooth in a sporting injury, contact us today to get started on your journey towards dental implants in Orpington.

What are cosmetic braces?

Cosmetic braces in Orpington focus on correcting the cosmetic issues that can typically make our patients to feel unhappy about their smile. Braces at Orpington Dental Care focus on the teeth that show when you smile, but do not make significant changes to your bite.

These braces can have significantly reduced treatment times, using the best part of conventional braces in Orpington techniques, in a life-style friendly and cost-effective package for straight, white teeth.

Braces in Orpington Crooked and wonky teeth can make many of our patients feel self-conscious, reserved, or even ashamed about their appearance. In the past, it would have been hard to comprehend a braces treatment that would work in less than a year and didn’t necessitate complicated metal fixed brackets, wires and frequent trips to the dentist. Luckily, with recent advances in the dental field, revolutionary treatment is now available in the form of Six Month Smiles at Orpington Dental Care.

What is Six Month Smiles?

Six Month Smiles braces in Orpington is an amazing dental technique for adults that uses the latest in modern materials to create your dream smile. It is a new approach to an age-old problem: How do adults straighten their teeth quickly and easily?

Six Month Smiles is an intensive dental treatment focused primarily on the front teeth that are most visible when you smile, known as the social six. The cost of Six Month Smiles is also tempting as the cost can be significantly less than other teeth straightening treatments, but can be less functional, as it is designed to concentrate on straightening the teeth purely in a way to improve your smile.

If you would like to find out more about the wonderful world of Six Month Smiles, there are many reviews available out there – you’ll easily be able to find that many people who are very happy with their results.

If Six Month Smiles braces in Orpington sound like the solution to your cosmetic dental issues, why not give us a call today and arrange your initial consultation today. Our dedicated and experienced staff are ready and waiting to help you get the smile of your dreams.

Are dental implants the right choice for me?

Dental implants in Orpington, at Orpington Dental Care are one of our most effective restorative treatments. If you need to replace one or more broken or missing teeth and would prefer a more permanent alternative to false teeth, a visit to one of our implant dentists will provide you with the solution you need to reclaim your smile and improve your quality of life.

What else can they offer me?

In addition to restoring your teeth and restoring your healthy, natural-looking smile, dental implants in Orpington also have several health benefits too.

The procedure for inserting dental implants is short and simple and relatively pain-free, thanks to the use of anaesthetic, which means it can all be performed during a single visit and your new teeth can be ready to use quickly.

Dental implants in Orpington are not invasive and won’t affect adjacent teeth the way dental bridges may do. They will fit comfortably in your mouth, as if they were your own natural teeth.

Dental implants in Orpington can even be used to secure dentures. This can remove the stigma and negative side-effects associated with dentures, such as gum inflammation, impaired speaking or chewing or the general embarrassment some of our patients feel when wearing them.

As long as you take good care of your new teeth, maintain a good dental hygiene routine every day and visit us for regular check-ups, dental implants at Orpington Dental Care could be a long-lasting replacement for your lost or damaged teeth.

Are dental implants for me?

Since every one of our patients is different, we believe in an individual approach to dental care. If you are looking to replace just one or several missing teeth, our implant dentists will be able to advise you accordingly and help you find the ideal replacement technique specifically for you.

The dental expertise you will receive comes from a practice with over 20 years’ experience and thousands of happy customers over the years. Our dedicated team will help you through every stage of your dental implants in Orpington. Give us a ring today and start your dental journey with us.

Time for an upgrade

If your teeth have taken a bit of a battering over the years, you might be feeling a little less than comfortable with giving everyone your biggest grin.

And that’s a shame, because when we smile, it’s infectious. People automatically smile back and the world is a brighter place as we all feel the happy feelings that come with the rush of serotonin that genuine smiles release.

Porcelain Veneers in Orpington So, what can you do to get back that lovely smile you once had before eating dangerous foods, like olives with their hard stones, took bits out of your teeth? Or how can you solve the issue of that crack, that gappy bit, those worn edges, that rough enamel that just seems to soak up stains no matter how regularly you come for a scale and polish?

Actually, the answer is easy and so is the procedure, when you come to us at Orpington Dental for porcelain veneers in Orpington.

What are veneers all about?

Dental porcelain has been developed over the years to become this incredibly strong, versatile, and durable material that can be coloured, moulded, and honed to create artificial teeth, or parts of teeth that can withstand the wear and tear of being a tooth for years. In the case of veneers, you can expect the piece of porcelain to last you over a decade. Of course, you have to look after your veneers — no more removing the caps from bottles of beer with your pearly whites. But with care and good oral hygiene, veneers can keep on looking great for a very long time. Here’s how we fit them:

You come to us for an appointment during which we look at what your dental problem is, and whether veneers are the right answer. If so, we do a colour match and take impressions so that the veneer in question will blend seamlessly with your own teeth. During the next appointment, we remove a very thin layer of enamel from your tooth, and fix the veneer to it with dental cement, making sure it lies flush with your other teeth.

And that’s it! All done. You can have as many veneers as you like. Why not pop in for a consultation?

A more beautiful smile and a healthy mouth

If you have crooked teeth then you know that it can diminish the beauty of your smile and affect how you feel about yourself. Teeth that are misaligned, crowded or have large gaps between them can also cause other problems. Having teeth in the wrong position can affect how you eat and speak as well as the overall health of your jaw. Excessive spacing between the teeth can undermine their stability and uneven teeth are harder to clean as there are more places for plaque to accumulate in. This can cause gum inflammation, discomfort and infection if left unresolved. At Orpington Dental Care, we fit braces in Orpington to realign your teeth, enhance your smile and improve your health.

Solutions for adults in the modern world

Many adults associate having braces in Orpington with childhood and usually treatment is carried out when there is a mixture of baby and adult teeth. However, if you missed out on treatment earlier in life, it is never too late. You do not even have to worry about restricting yourself to traditional metal braces, which you may see as uncomfortable, unsightly or inconvenient. Advances in technology mean that we are now able to offer our patients in Orpington braces that are more discreet, faster and more comfortable than before. The days of having to tolerate a mouth full of metal for months on end have gone.

The discreet way of straightening your teeth

We are pleased to offer braces in Orpington that fit into your lifestyle, whether you are a busy professional or simply enjoy social engagements. Most interactions are more pleasant if you are not concerned about whether people can see your braces. Invisalign is a system that uses a series of clear plastic aligners, which are changed every two weeks to gently guide your teeth into place. We also offer clear brackets and tooth-coloured wires, which are very unobtrusive. Whatever you are looking for, we have a range of options for braces in Orpington.

Having braces in Orpington has benefitted so many people and we would like you to share their experiences. Give yourself the gift of a more attractive smile and a healthier mouth by contacting us today.

Filling the gap

If you are one of the 74% of UK adults who has lost a tooth, you may be very tempted to just live with the gap. This can be especially tempting if you have just lost the odd tooth at the side or back, where it doesn’t affect your smile so much.

At Orpington Dental Care, we encourage all our patients who have lost teeth to get replacements of some kind for a number of reasons. In Orpington, dental implants are the best kind of replacement for a single missing tooth.

Why fill the gap?

If the surrounding teeth are in good health, you don’t really want to compromise them by leaving a gap. When there is a gap in the teeth, the bone and where the missing tooth used to be start to shrink through lack of use. Also, our teeth support each other in their places and when there is a gap that support is compromised, so the teeth can start to move around and tip over into the gap, even fall out. So, losing one tooth can, over time, lead to losing more teeth.

What can dental implants do?

In Orpington, dental implants work by replacing the root of the tooth as well as the crown. They are the only kind of tooth restoration that does this. Having a replacement root means that the cells in the jawbone and the gum can continue to renew themselves and keep both strong and healthy. If you opt for a bridge, you won’t get a replacement root, plus you will lose the 2 perfectly good teeth on either side of the gap, as these will have to be ground down to become the abutments for the bridge to fix onto.

When you have a dental implant, you will need to take half a day off work to have minor oral surgery under local anaesthetic to have it fitted. Once in place, the implant needs several weeks to heal and integrate with the jawbone. When that’s done, you can come back and we will fit your custom-made porcelain crown, which will blend in seamlessly with your other teeth.

Orpington dental implants can last for decades if they are well looked after.

Straighter teeth: do believe the hype

There’s a lot of talk bandied around about how getting your teeth straightened can improve your life. It sounds too good to be true, but it is true. Research at the Sheffield School of Clinical Dentistry, published earlier this year, looked at what braces do for Brits.

What they found was that braces treatment before the age of 18 really does improve oral health-related quality of life, with the biggest improvements being in emotional and social health.

What that translates into in terms of getting braces in Orpington is: do it! If getting braces when you are under 18 improves your emotional health and your social life, there’s no reason to suppose that this does not also apply to people over 18 too.

What we can offer you

At Orpington Dental Care in Orpington, braces are available for adults using systems that don’t compromise how you look now for how you will look in the near future. We offer 2 systems that are well known for being discreet, comfortable, and quick.

Invisalign braces in Orpington are in fact a series of custom-made clear plastic aligners. Each one is designed to put a little pressure on your teeth to nudge them along the way to being straight. Once that aligner has done its work, and the pressure has subsided, which takes about 2 weeks, it’s time for the next one. The aligners are removable for eating and cleaning and, because they are made of very thin, clear plastic, they are as good as invisible once they are on your teeth.

Six Month Smiles, on the other hand, uses the traditional bracket and wire system, but with clear ceramic brackets and tooth-coloured wires, which blend in with the teeth. They are designed to move the teeth only, not the jaw, and so use gentler forces than metal braces. The average treatment time is 6 months.

If you are an adult and wish you had straight teeth, you can still achieve this with either of these systems. One might be more suitable for you than the other, so the best thing to do is book an appointment with us, so that we can take a look and make recommendations for braces in Orpington that will work for you.

Replace your missing teeth with dental implants in Orpington

Tooth loss is a stressful but common event that most of us experience at some point in our lives. Although adult teeth are supposed to be permanent, sometimes accidents happen and between cavities, gum disease, and trauma, we end up losing one or several teeth.

The good news is that modern dentistry has a variety of ways to help you replace your missing tooth or teeth. At Orpington Dental, dental implants are our treatment of choice for patients who have lost one, several or all of their natural teeth. Unlike other tooth replacement options, dental implants fuse with the jawbone and become a permanent part of the mouth offering strength and stability, just like natural teeth.

How dental implants work

A dental implant is an artificial tooth root that is surgically fixed into the jaw to hold a replacement tooth, a bridge or dentures. Unlike conventional dentures, crowns or bridges, dental implants involve using a titanium post to anchor the replacement teeth in place. Because they are made of titanium, a material that is friendly to the human body, dental implants have the ability to fuse into the jawbone and create a sturdy foundation for replacement teeth. If properly looked-after, they can last a lifetime.

Benefits of dental implants

Dental implants not only look natural, but also behave like natural teeth as well, providing a strength and function that cannot be achieved by other restorations. Because dental implants are firmly attached into the jawbone, much like natural tooth roots, they provide replacement teeth with strength and stability.

More importantly, dental implants prevent jawbone loss. Tooth loss is often accompanied by bone mass loss around the missing tooth site. This is because there is no longer a root there to encourage the stimulation of the jawbone. By placing dental implants into the jaw bone, bone growth is encouraged and this can help to prevent future bone loss as well.

Finally, dental implants are more cost-effective compared to other restorations. If you look at the life-time costs of dental implants compared to the costs of dentures and bridges that need to be replaced every few years, then dental implants are surprisingly cheaper.

Replace one or several missing teeth with dental implants in Orpington

Your teeth can influence your whole body and overall wellbeing. When they are healthy, you are healthy too. However, badly decayed and missing teeth can cause many problems such as bite, speech and eating issues. Replacing missing teeth is essential for your oral health, since the fewer teeth remaining in the mouth the more forces they sustain which increases the risk of losing more teeth. Furthermore, tooth loss can also cause problems to your jawbone.

At Orpington Dental Care in Orpington, dental implants are our treatment of choice for patients who have lost one, several or all of their teeth. Each patient has different requirements and we are here to help you decide which implant treatment is the best for you. Single missing teeth can be replaced with single tooth implants, whereas multiple missing teeth may benefit from implant-supported bridges or dentures.

How do dental implants work?

Dental implants are artificial tooth roots made of titanium metal. They are surgically inserted into the jawbone, where they have the ability to fuse with the bone tissue and create a strong foundation for replacement teeth.

During the second stage of surgery and once the tissue has healed, your dentist will attach a connector (also known as abutment) to the dental implants. This will connect the replacement teeth to the dental implants. If you have implant-supported bridges or dentures, then they will be stabilised with the aid of special fixtures or clip-ons instead of an abutment.

Why select dental implants over dentures and bridges?

There are several reasons to select dental implants over conventional dentures and bridges. Dental implants preserve healthy bone structure and encourage the creation of new bone tissue, plus they can last a lifetime with proper care. A dental bridge requires the removal of healthy tooth material for support, whereas removable dentures weaken the adjacent teeth, can harm the gums and tend to become loose over time.

Am I eligible for dental implants in Orpington?

Most people are eligible for dental implants as long as they are healthy and have sufficient bone left in their jaw. To see if you are a good candidate, contact us today.

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