Restorative Dentistry
When we talk about restorative dentistry the overall aim is to repair, restore or move teeth after disease for both aesthetic and functional purposes. Periodontics, Prosthodontics, Endodontics and Orthodontics can all be involved in restorative dentistry. Modern Dentistry is about co-ordinating the various disciplines to achieve the best outcome. The most important thing is to meet the patient's expectations and in the more complex cases communicate the journey.
Before discussion of these disciplines a word about Dental Anxiety which inevitably accompanies the process âEUR¦......
All Dentists appreciate that this is a considerable barrier to treatment and that it stems from a variety of causes - not only is it difficult to discuss treatment and then have it done but concerns about costs are particularly common. We appreciate that this is the case and adopt a multi-faceted approach.
There can be a number of ways to ease the passage and smooth the process. At our Practice we ask all new patients to fill in a questionnaire where we encourage open discussion of your needs, this is then used as a template to discuss how you feel about your teeth as well as what you would like from dental care. Our role is to guide you through the process with transparency and to try to meet your needs as well as your pocket. We hope that by demonstrating our commitment to be patient focused we can inspire a level of a level of confidence. Our aim is to then consolidate this by delivering dental care in a gentle and empathetic manner. Our Practice offers Sedation (tablet form or Intravenous on the NHS) which is particularly helpful for very dentally anxious patients.
Depending on the level of complexity this process can take more time and we find it particularly useful to produce leaflets and information on various treatment options which can be emailed to our patients to ease the decision making process by taking it out of the dental surgery environment.
In this post I will look over each of these specialities and how they can help a patient's teeth function better and look better.
Periodontics
Periodontics is the study of the supporting structures for teeth - gums (gingiva), cementum, periodontal ligament & alveolar bone. A Periodontist helps provide surgical solutions for aesthetic and functional problems, typically when non-surgical options are no longer appropriate (though non-surgical methods would be the first choice).
Procedures include:
Healthy gums help to support healthy teeth - pocket reduction for example targets areas that become 'pockets' for bad bacteria. These are caused by on-going periodontal disease issues where supporting tissue and bone is destroyed.
Crown lengthening is a cosmetic procedure and can be used to reduce the appearance of a 'gummy smile' and is also valuable in gaining the required access for prosthetic rebuilding of teeth.
Dental Implants are fast becoming more affordable and there is a wealth of information about this popular treatment option on the internet.
Prosthodontics
Prosthodontics is also known as prosthetic dentistry - this discipline helps replace missing teeth, restore existing teeth and may treat facial deformities.
Procedures include:
Crowns / 'caps' cover a tooth that's suffered from a cavity/breakage. They are often used to improve the strength or appearance of the tooth, but the procedure can be quite costly. What you are paying for is a combination of the quality of the material used, as well as the time & the skill in preparing an accurate and long lasting product so it may fit accurately and safely. It is money well spent! Speak to your Dentist about this in more detail and don't be frightened of asking them to explain the concepts to you.
Dentures - prosthetic teeth to replace missing ones - can help patients recover an ability to chew, smile and aid correct speech pronunciation. This includes sibilant words (with's' sounds in) and fricatives (a consonant sound like 'f' or 'z'). There's also the benefit of improving the appearance for the patient. A full range of options exists here and broadly speaking they are usually passively fitting (fixed or retained options with implants are possible) and while they are an excellent treatment option for replacing existing dentures, they may not suit everyone. When discussing a suitable option the dentist is happy to explain the various materials used (acrylic, nylon or cobalt chrome) and to advise on how stable each one will be.
Bridges
Fixed Bridges involve the reshaping of teeth adjacent to the gap(s) in your mouth and are still a valid treatment option for replacement of several missing teeth in many cases. The traditional barrier has been the fact that this can involve reshaping of otherwise healthy teeth and thus increasing the risk of infection/loss of these teeth later. While a lot of these risks can be managed there is a drive to use less invasive and 'kinder-to-teeth' options. Adhesive bridges have been around for some time but have suffered from low predictability. Improvements in techniques and adhesive materials are at a level now where an aesthetic and durable bridge can be made without the need to reshape the teeth drastically! Your Dentist will be happy to explain the concept of adhesive bridges to you and the latest refinements and products available to you.
Endodontics
Endodontics procedures are in the tooth - 'root canal' work. This is an emotive term and brings out beads of sweat at the thought of what it entails. It is important to stress that this is NOT usually a painful treatment and is essentially about removal of the contents of the root (the infected pulp) and cleansing the area inside. The space left is then filled with an inert material which acts as a barrier to further damage/infection.
Infection is caused by bacteria and is as a result of fillings leaking, tooth decay or from teeth damaged via trauma.
Dental Implants
As above this treatment is very popular especially as the costs have come down over the last few years. There are a variety of type of implants out there and the various items used in making an Implant is likened to using a mechano set! Like all cosmetic treatments Implants can transform lives making a huge impact on confidence and self-perception - it is important to have a full and detailed assessment which may include a CT scan to ensure that Implants are successfully placed.
Braces are usually associated with teenage children in an effort to straighten teeth and 'fix' the smile. The 'ugly betty' look with metal brackets and wires for nearly two years has been the traditional approach. The growing demand for smile improvement amongst adults has led to improved patient focused brace treatments which are accelerated more aesthetic and because they are now in the arena of suitably trained general practitioners, less costly than before. It is important to stress that not all cases can be dealt with by a generalist and complex cases will still need a specialist. At ConfiDental Care we are part of a growing number of general dentists who can treat the majority of cases by offering these treatment options. These are encapsulated in the 'six month smile' concept which has received a lot of press exposure from high profile 'patients'.
This post was written by dentist Khalid Faiz, you can follow him on Twitter or read more on dental care on his blog.
Before discussion of these disciplines a word about Dental Anxiety which inevitably accompanies the process âEUR¦......
All Dentists appreciate that this is a considerable barrier to treatment and that it stems from a variety of causes - not only is it difficult to discuss treatment and then have it done but concerns about costs are particularly common. We appreciate that this is the case and adopt a multi-faceted approach.
There can be a number of ways to ease the passage and smooth the process. At our Practice we ask all new patients to fill in a questionnaire where we encourage open discussion of your needs, this is then used as a template to discuss how you feel about your teeth as well as what you would like from dental care. Our role is to guide you through the process with transparency and to try to meet your needs as well as your pocket. We hope that by demonstrating our commitment to be patient focused we can inspire a level of a level of confidence. Our aim is to then consolidate this by delivering dental care in a gentle and empathetic manner. Our Practice offers Sedation (tablet form or Intravenous on the NHS) which is particularly helpful for very dentally anxious patients.
Depending on the level of complexity this process can take more time and we find it particularly useful to produce leaflets and information on various treatment options which can be emailed to our patients to ease the decision making process by taking it out of the dental surgery environment.
In this post I will look over each of these specialities and how they can help a patient's teeth function better and look better.
Periodontics
Periodontics is the study of the supporting structures for teeth - gums (gingiva), cementum, periodontal ligament & alveolar bone. A Periodontist helps provide surgical solutions for aesthetic and functional problems, typically when non-surgical options are no longer appropriate (though non-surgical methods would be the first choice).
Procedures include:
- Regenerative procedures
- Pocket reduction
- Soft tissue grafts
- Crown lengthening
- Root coverage grafting
- Sinus elevation
- Implants
- Frenectomy/Fibrotomy
Healthy gums help to support healthy teeth - pocket reduction for example targets areas that become 'pockets' for bad bacteria. These are caused by on-going periodontal disease issues where supporting tissue and bone is destroyed.
Crown lengthening is a cosmetic procedure and can be used to reduce the appearance of a 'gummy smile' and is also valuable in gaining the required access for prosthetic rebuilding of teeth.
Dental Implants are fast becoming more affordable and there is a wealth of information about this popular treatment option on the internet.
Prosthodontics
Prosthodontics is also known as prosthetic dentistry - this discipline helps replace missing teeth, restore existing teeth and may treat facial deformities.
Procedures include:
- Veneers
- Fillings
- Dentures/partial dentures
- Crowns
- Fixed bridges
- Implants
Crowns / 'caps' cover a tooth that's suffered from a cavity/breakage. They are often used to improve the strength or appearance of the tooth, but the procedure can be quite costly. What you are paying for is a combination of the quality of the material used, as well as the time & the skill in preparing an accurate and long lasting product so it may fit accurately and safely. It is money well spent! Speak to your Dentist about this in more detail and don't be frightened of asking them to explain the concepts to you.
Dentures - prosthetic teeth to replace missing ones - can help patients recover an ability to chew, smile and aid correct speech pronunciation. This includes sibilant words (with's' sounds in) and fricatives (a consonant sound like 'f' or 'z'). There's also the benefit of improving the appearance for the patient. A full range of options exists here and broadly speaking they are usually passively fitting (fixed or retained options with implants are possible) and while they are an excellent treatment option for replacing existing dentures, they may not suit everyone. When discussing a suitable option the dentist is happy to explain the various materials used (acrylic, nylon or cobalt chrome) and to advise on how stable each one will be.
Bridges
Fixed Bridges involve the reshaping of teeth adjacent to the gap(s) in your mouth and are still a valid treatment option for replacement of several missing teeth in many cases. The traditional barrier has been the fact that this can involve reshaping of otherwise healthy teeth and thus increasing the risk of infection/loss of these teeth later. While a lot of these risks can be managed there is a drive to use less invasive and 'kinder-to-teeth' options. Adhesive bridges have been around for some time but have suffered from low predictability. Improvements in techniques and adhesive materials are at a level now where an aesthetic and durable bridge can be made without the need to reshape the teeth drastically! Your Dentist will be happy to explain the concept of adhesive bridges to you and the latest refinements and products available to you.
Endodontics
Endodontics procedures are in the tooth - 'root canal' work. This is an emotive term and brings out beads of sweat at the thought of what it entails. It is important to stress that this is NOT usually a painful treatment and is essentially about removal of the contents of the root (the infected pulp) and cleansing the area inside. The space left is then filled with an inert material which acts as a barrier to further damage/infection.
Infection is caused by bacteria and is as a result of fillings leaking, tooth decay or from teeth damaged via trauma.
Dental Implants
As above this treatment is very popular especially as the costs have come down over the last few years. There are a variety of type of implants out there and the various items used in making an Implant is likened to using a mechano set! Like all cosmetic treatments Implants can transform lives making a huge impact on confidence and self-perception - it is important to have a full and detailed assessment which may include a CT scan to ensure that Implants are successfully placed.
Braces are usually associated with teenage children in an effort to straighten teeth and 'fix' the smile. The 'ugly betty' look with metal brackets and wires for nearly two years has been the traditional approach. The growing demand for smile improvement amongst adults has led to improved patient focused brace treatments which are accelerated more aesthetic and because they are now in the arena of suitably trained general practitioners, less costly than before. It is important to stress that not all cases can be dealt with by a generalist and complex cases will still need a specialist. At ConfiDental Care we are part of a growing number of general dentists who can treat the majority of cases by offering these treatment options. These are encapsulated in the 'six month smile' concept which has received a lot of press exposure from high profile 'patients'.
This post was written by dentist Khalid Faiz, you can follow him on Twitter or read more on dental care on his blog.
