Clock Tower Dental Care

One of the things we like to do as a practice is document each patient’s journey, this allows us to learn as a practice and develop our skills further each time.

We thought here we’d give you an example of a recent cosmetic dentistry case we did for a young lady with some old dental restorations on her front 2 teeth. She was also unhappy with the rotation of some other teeth and the way they look dark and grey.

Before Cosmetic Dentistry

Before cosmetic dentistry, full face shot

After discussions with the patient we decided that we would do 8 dental veneers/crowns on the upper teeth to even out her smile. And this was the result.

After cosmetic dentistry

After cosmetic dentistry, full face

We love seeing the transformation possible when someone has their new smile – in fact that’s exactly what they do get… a brand new smile.

The icing on the cake for us was this lovely hamper she sent us – thank you Angela

If you’d like a chat about how we might be able to help you too, then please call us on 01765 602161

Sometimes called Baby Bottle Tooth Decay, Early Childhood Cavities is a serious disease that can destroy your child’s teeth ? but it can be prevented. learn more with this article: http://www.colgate.com/app/CP/US/EN/OC/Information/Popular-Topics/Oral-Care-for-Children/article/Early-Childhood-Cavities.cvsp

Source: www.colgate.com

Inman Aligner  - Straight teeth in around 12 weeks

We’ve found the Inman Aligner from our dental practice in Ripon to be a revolutionary new way to straighten teeth.

So if you are unhappy with your smile with crooked or uneven teeth and want the fastest result then the Inman Aligner is for you.

Our shire dentists love the Inman Aligner because its:

1. Rapid, in around 10-18 weeks it can straighten your front teeth.
2. Removable, you need to wear the aligner for 20 hours a day, but can remove it for eating and important social occasions.
3. Comfortable, the Inman Aligner uses a revolutionary new way to gently pull and push at the same time with minimal discomfort.          

The aligner works by an innovative mechanism which pushes and pulls your teeth at the same time

The Inman Aligner isn’t suitable for moving back teeth, or for moving teeth great distances however for general orthodontics on the front teeth it is often ideal and provides a rapid orthodontic solution

Length of Treatment

Inman Aligner treatment typically takes 10-18  weeks. Simple cases can complete in a little over 1 month and more complex cases might take 4 months or so. Your Inman Aligner Dentist will give you a realistic guide of what to expect. Normally lower front teeth move a little faster than uppers.

However, because the Inman Aligner is so highly efficient, when a case is suitable, it works much faster than alternative orthodontics techniques. This is what makes it so revolutionary and moves the Inman Aligner into the realms of cutting edge Cosmetic Dentistry.

Laura is doing a sponsored tandem parachute jump at the end of the month and everyone here would like to wish her luck, we’re sure she’ll really enjoy it and we hope the weather is great. Laura is raising funds for the intensive care unit at Jimmy’s hospital in Leeds. This will be her first ever tandem jump and although nervous about it, she is really looking forward to the jump.

The newspapers have recently been running stories about the perverse incentives/disincentives of the new NHS dental contract, e.g. today’s Daily Telegraph*.

Don Sloss, our Clinical Director, says  of the new contract  ” Even after nearly 3 ½ years most people cannot understand how the contract works and that includes dentists. Although I am not suggesting that dentists at other practices  would allow their clinical decisions to be influenced by whether they make a profit or a loss from treating their patients it must be understood that they need to cover their substantial overheads or go bankrupt. Can you imagine working in a system that pays you the same whether you produce one unit of activity (filling) or ten with the result that some patients may not be getting the full treatment they require?  Or a system that pays you the same for spending hours carrying out extensive treatment to save a decayed tooth or ten minutes to extract it even though that extraction may cause the patient more treatment in the future?

At Clock Tower Dental Care we believe in delivering a high quality of care for all our patients and making decisions based on the clinical condition of the patient and their teeth, not how we are going to get paid. Articles like these confirm that the move away from the NHS was in the best interests of our patients and I can only see the situation for NHS dental patients getting worse in the future.”

*http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/6232341/NHS-dental-crisis-Can-the-rot-be-stopped.html

A study from Japan* has shown that regularly drinking green tea can be good for your gums helping to prevent gum diseases. It is thought that the anti oxidants in green tea may help by offsetting the inflammation caused by bacteria in the mouth. The study of 940 men showed a reduction in gum problems including bleeding and receding gums for each additional cup of green tea drunk each day. We assume this would also be the case in women! So if you want an easy way to supplement your daily dental health routine why not change your regular tea or coffee to green tea and see if you notice an improvement ( this is in addition to your daily brushing and flossing). Please let us know how you get on.

*Reported in Sainsbury’s magazine (August 2009)

The Daily Telegraph (11.8.09) published the findings of an Ohio research team which seems to show that redheads are more than twice as likely to avoid the dentists than those blondes or brunettes. This follows previous studies that indicate that people with the MC1R genetic variant associated with red hair require more anaesthetic during treatment to become numb. What does this mean for your dental treatment at Clock Tower Dental Care? Dr Don Sloss say’s “Our clinical team has long been aware that there is a difference in the amount, and sometimes type, of anaesthetic required to achieve the same effects in individuals requiring the same treatment. As a result of this we always listen to the patients responses and treat them according to those responses rather than the “average” guidelines. This means each patient gets the treatment that is best suited to them regardless of their hair colour”.

Welcome to our blog!

What will you find on this blog?

• Information to help you with your dental health
• News and comments, the latest dental news and our comments and reactions to it
• Testimonials from our patients
• Practice Newsletter, what’s happening at the practice
• Reviews of latest dental products
• Photos showing before and after treatment smiles
• Offers on products and treatments

We hope the blog will be an additional way for us to keep in contact between your appointments. We aim to keep you informed on the latest developments in dentistry as they happen to allow you to make the best decisions for your dental health.

We would love to hear from you also so please feel free to leave comments about any item on the blog or to ask any questions you may have, we will always do our best to answer them. Please remember to check back regularly to find out what is happening in the world of dentistry and dentistry in Ripon.

Look forward to seeing you again soon