Dental Blog - Harley Street Dental Clinic

A straight future for your children

One of the most important check-ups your child can have is the one with the orthodontist in Harley Street to determine whether or not they will need braces to correctly align their teeth.

In modern dentistry, the age at which the orthodontist in Harley Street can treat children has become much younger, and so therefore has the orthodontic check-up. It is now possible for the orthodontist to predict how the adult teeth will come through and therefore braces can be used to guide the teeth into their correct position rather than to reposition them once they are already in place.

Starting younger with braces

The modern orthodontist, such as we have at Harley Street Dental Clinic, can carry out this initial check-up when your child’s first adult teeth have started to come through, usually around the age of seven. This means that treatment can start at around nine years of age, and be over before your child hits adolescence, which is when their levels of self-conscious will skyrocket for a few years and seeming out of the ordinary in any way will be excruciating for them.

Children often need to have fixed braces that cannot come off and get lost and are less prone to breakages. They tend to still be made of metal to make them less fragile, but the brackets are often smaller and can be brightened up with coloured elastics.

Treating issues with the bite

Having treatment for bite problems is also best when carried out young. If the jaw is too narrow to accommodate all the teeth neatly, the traditional solution has been to wait until the adult teeth come through, then extract a few and straighten up the rest. But this results in a smaller bite and a big, wide grin is far more attractive than a narrow mealy-mouthed smile.

Treating bite issues is easy as long as the bones of the jaw are malleable. They set hard around the age of 18 years, so the earlier the treatment, the more plastic the bone, and the orthodontist in Harley Street can use appliances to wide the jaw and so accommodate all the teeth.

Balance out your smile

Beauty is all about harmony and balance. The human eye perceives symmetry as beautiful. This applies to all things to do with the human, including the smile, which is why one of our popular services with the cosmetic dentist in Harley Street is the smile makeover.

When you come to the cosmetic dentist in Harley Street, we won’t be just looking at one or two imperfections that need fixing, we will be looking at your whole smile, and how to harmonise and balance it. Our cosmetic dentists here at Harley Street Dental Clinic, Dr Abel Moreira and Dr Mary Shenouda, will draw on years of experience and study into what makes a beautiful smile and apply their knowledge and skills to your individual face. Smiles need to fit their owners, and there’s a smile size and shape that is just right for your face. Teeth need to be the right size and shape for your jaw and to complement the rest of your facial features, even your body type. No point in putting fairy-sized teeth into your mouth if you’re more of a Wonder Woman than a Tinkerbell.

Once the cosmetic dentist in Harley Street has studied your features and mouth and taken a good look at your teeth to see what needs fixing, they will draw up a treatment schedule designed not just to fix but to transform. You can see what needs to be done, in what order it needs to happen, how much time it will take and how much it will cost, on the written plan, which you need to agree to before we can go ahead.

Treatments might include:

Gum lifting

If your gums come down too far over your teeth, or there’s just too much of them on show when you smile, we can take gum tissue away with a laser that seals as it cuts.

Teeth whitening

Lift out stains from tea, coffee, red wine and more with in-clinic or at-home treatments.

Veneers and cosmetic bonding

Cover over chips, cracks and structural imperfections with durable dental porcelain or composite resin.

White fillings

Replace the dark glint of amalgam fillings with strong white composite resin that blends in with your natural tooth material.

Women and gum disease

We are very much into preventing gum disease here at Harley Street Dental Clinic, your dental clinic in W1. We have seen the terrible effects untreated gum disease can have on the gums, teeth and jawbone and we greatly encourage all our patients to have a good and disciplined oral health routine to keep gum disease at bay.

One part of that is coming to our dental clinic in W1 for check-ups and sessions with the hygienist to remove any build-up of tartar and plaque. It is the acids from these that attack the gums and the bone below them, eventually resulting in the loosening and loss of teeth.

Dental Clinic in W1 But gum disease not only affects the gums and bone, it also has links to serious, life threatening illnesses, such as cancer and Alzheimer’s, particularly among women.

National Smile Month 2018 highlights how gum disease affects women.

Pregnancy gingivitis

Pregnant women are particularly prone to developing gum disease, due to higher than normal levels of progesterone in their mouths. This is why we like pregnant women to come to us a bit more often for check-ups and plaque removal.

Later on

Gum disease is a long, progressive problem. If it’s not caught in the early stages of gingivitis, when it’s inflaming and irritating the gums, causing them to become swollen and to bleed easily, it progresses to attacking the bone under the gums, loosening the teeth and eventually causing them to fall out. This can take years and at this stage, it takes a lot more treatment to stop gum disease.

Cancer and dementia

According to National Smile Month, new research studying data from 65,000 post-menopausal women, aged 54-86, found that those who had a history of gum disease had a higher chance of developing cancer, with one in three developing breast cancer. Women with healthy gums were 70% less likely to develop Alzheimer’s than those who had had gum disease for years.

Your regime

You can avoid gum disease by brushing twice a day with a soft to medium bristled brush, flossing and coming for check-ups and hygienist sessions at the dental clinic in W1.

Treatment without the trauma

A lot of people are put off getting their teeth straightened because they can’t face the idea of having braces on their teeth and all the resultant trauma of stares and personal questions every time they go out in public. Understandable really, especially if you’re working with the public, or at a particularly self-conscious stage in life (which is every stage in life after childhood when it comes to teeth!).

Invisalign in Harley Street However, at Harley Street Dental Clinic, we have a way for you to get your teeth straightened without the trauma of being stared at on the Tube or at work. It’s called Invisalign. In Harley Street, we use it mainly to treat mild to moderate cases of misalignment, but it can work on more complex issues if you’re willing to be disciplined about your treatment.

Why the need for discipline

In Harley Street, Invisalign requires more self-responsibility than fixed bracket and wire braces because the clear aligners are removed for eating and drinking. This means you have to take them out to consume anything other than plain water. Then you must brush your teeth before putting your aligners back in. Sound easy enough, but you also have to be diligent about wearing your aligners for at least 20 hours a day, otherwise there won’t be enough sustained pressure to get your teeth to move, and you will have to start the movement process over and over again.

Along with this discipline is also the discipline to remember to change your aligners. Traditional braces work by wires pulling the teeth into alignment. You go back to the dentist pretty frequently to get the wires tightened up. With Invisalign in Harley Street, which uses pressure points inside the aligners to nudge your teeth into alignment, the pressure is kept up by changing to the next aligner in the series. If you forget to change your aligners when you should, the momentum is lost and the movement process has to start all over again.

That said, if you can be disciplined, Invisalign in Harley Street allows for a lot more freedom in terms of eating and discretion.

Your dentist when you are in town

Are you one of London’s international commuters, here for a few days or weeks at a time and then off back to your own country or another head office for your company? If so, then it’s good to have a dentist in Harley Street should you need one, or even as your main dentist between trips abroad.

At Harley Street Dental Clinic, we have a wide and varied list of patients, some of whom come and go and we may not see for months or even years between trips. It does mean that we can’t insist on them coming into us for a bi-annual check-up and also that we won’t hold it against them if their visits to us are sporadic. The point is that we are here for them if they or their family members need a dentist in Harley Street. Would you like to be a sporadic patient too? If so, why not come in and have a look around, meet some of the staff and see if you like what we do?

Every dental treatment you will need

If you are only in town for short bursts and need dental treatment, then the last thing you will appreciate is being shunted off to see a special interest dentist to deal with a specific problem such as gum disease, or dental implants. Our large team of dentists are highly trained and experienced in every area of modern dentistry and between them they can cover everything you will need from a dentist in Harley Street.

Not only that but between them our staff speak several languages so we can always find someone to help you. Also, we have a dedicated interfaith prayer room available at all times.

Initial consultation

When you first come to Harley Street Dental Clinic as a patient, we will start your journey here with an initial consultation, and then we will be able to advise as to which dentist will be best able to fulfil your needs. If you need to see more than one dentist, one of our dentists will be put in charge of your case and will oversee your treatment as a whole.

Strong and healthy teeth

The condition of your teeth and gums is a crucial factor in your overall bodily health. To make sure your mouth is healthy and properly clean, you need the attention of a dentist in W1. At Harley Street Dental Clinic, we provide a varied range of treatments to promote dental wellbeing and enhance cosmetic appeal. Our contemporary dental practice is a relaxing and tactful environment in which you’ll find a friendly and welcoming dental team.

Preventing worry

Stopping decay and deterioration in the teeth and gums is one of the main things we do. We also make repairs that help your teeth keep functioning, and aesthetic improvements that give you a more dazzling smile.

The regular check-up is an important factor in everyday dental health. At your twice-yearly visits to the W1 dentist, we can inspect your teeth and gums for signs of harmful developments. If we discover the beginnings of tooth decay, we can intervene at an early stage, to save you from damage and discomfort further down the line. This is why it’s essential for your dental health that you come to see us regularly.

Fixes and optimisations

Many of our patients need a dentist in W1 to fix existing damage. If you have advanced decay, we can fill cavities with the skilful application of tooth-coloured substances that don’t spoil the appearance of your teeth. Chipped teeth can be greatly improved by veneers. These thin segments of porcelain are securely applied to your dental surfaces using a specially-formulated adhesive.

We have a variety of ways to solve the problems of missing teeth.

Dentures and bridges are shaped and coloured to look natural and meet your needs. Dental implants can replace any number of lost teeth with fully-functioning substitutes that last for decades.

All-round services

As a cosmetic dentist in W1, we offer all kinds of visual enhancements for your teeth. Discolouration will benefit from our teeth whitening process, while misaligned smiles will be straightened out by discreet and user-friendly braces and aligners.

We aim to give you an enjoyable experience of dental health and hygiene, and can provide up-to-date information to help you look after your teeth at home.

A farewell to white spots

White spots on the teeth are caused by a loss of calcium from the enamel layer on the tooth surface. The enamel becomes more porous and shows up as lighter than the surrounding area.

Until recently it was pretty much impossible to get rid of white spots on teeth. The only thing dentists could do was to cover them with veneers or cosmetic bonding, which could mean having to remove enamel. But now when you visit the cosmetic dentist in Harley Street, there’s a new technique on offer to get rid of your white spots, and it’s non-invasive and causes minimal pain. We’ve been offering it here at Harley Street Dental Clinic for a while and we and our patients are very happy with the results.

What are white spots?

White spots can be caused by a number of factors, including:

Wearing braces
Too much fluoride when the teeth are developing
The acids from plaque drawing minerals out of the enamel
Acid reflux
Genetics

White spots have become increasingly common now that more people are opting for cosmetic bracket and wire braces that are fixed to the front of teeth. In about 46% of cases, when the braces come off, white spots show up where the brackets used to be. This is early decay, caused by acid from plaque that formed around and under the brackets.

Icon Smooth Surface works really well on white spots from fluorosis too.

What the cosmetic dentist in Harley Street can do

We now use a new system called Icon Smooth Surface, a treatment in three stages.

The surface is prepared using Icon Etch. This may need to be done two or three times if the white spots are very old. Once the etching is done, the white spot is dried out with an ethanol solution. Once that is done, the cosmetic dentist in Harley Street fills the porous enamel with an infiltrant, and finally the infiltrant is cured to harden it and then it is polished.

The whole treatment, all three stages of it, only take 15-20 minutes to complete, and it is easy to do shortly after your braces come off.

Clear advantages

If you are going to have to wear braces, or are simply considering having treatment to straighten your teeth, what’s putting you off doing it the most? If you are like a lot of people, then one of the main reasons for not going ahead with alignment treatment is the thought of having metal braces on your teeth. True, metal braces, like mobile phones, have got a lot smaller than the ones people were using 30 years ago, but even so, metal on the teeth has never been a good look. That’s why we offer clear braces in Harley Street, and they go down a storm with our patients.

Clear braces in Harley Street come in two types. There are the ones that are fixed to your teeth, and the ones that are removable.

Non-removable

Fixed clear braces in Harley Street use the same bracket and wire technology that has been around for decades. This works by pulling the teeth into alignment with wires around brackets. The wires provide the pull, the brackets provide the angles at which to do the pulling. Our clear braces feature clear ceramic brackets and fine tooth-coloured wire. They blend in with the teeth, and we like to think they look a bit like jewellery instead of straightening devices, a sort of diamond necklace for the teeth. These clear braces are great for mild to moderate alignment issues, particularly for the front six to eight teeth. Often these are only slightly out of alignment so the straightening process can be done in a few months.

Removable

These use aligner trays that look like ultra-thin mouth guards. They are made to measure for your teeth and when they are put in place over them, they can be very hard to spot. They work by applying pressure to the teeth to nudge them into alignment and the pressure is kept up by using a series of aligners, each with slightly different pressure points built into them.

Why not book a consultation with us at Harley Street Dental Clinic, and find out what clear braces can do for you?

Beyond the distress of tooth loss

There’s no getting round the fact that tooth loss is a horrible experience. Whether you had them one minute and lost them the next in a sporting injury or some kind of accident, or whether they’ve been failing for a quite a few years, once your teeth have gone, you are into a period of feeling lost without a vital body part and wondering how to replace it.

Thankfully, you no longer have to choose between two methods that both have drawbacks ie. dentures and bridges. For the last few decades, there has also been the choice to have dental implants in Harley Street. And here at Harley Street Dental Clinic, we are finding that dental implants in Harley Street are often the first choice for patients these days. And there’s a good reason for that, no tooth replacement method mimics natural teeth as well as dental implants.

Sturdy like natural teeth

One of the big complaints with other tooth replacement methods is that they just can’t cope with chewing really chewy things like steaks, or crunchy things like apples, but dental implants can because they are firmly anchored into the jawbone rather than relying on neighbouring teeth or adherence to the gums for stability.

Being anchored into the jawbone also means that dental implants in Harley Street aren’t ever going to start wobbling around and causing a great deal of embarrassment for their wearer.

Protecting the jawbone

Natural teeth provide a little-known service to the jawbone. The vibrations that come from their clacking together hundreds of times throughout the day, signals to the jawbone that it is in use and needed and this stimulates bone cell renewal. Without tooth roots to do this, the jawbone makes an assumption that it is no longer needed for chewing and starts to resorb, losing size and density rapidly. Dental implants in Harley Street take over the job of keeping the jawbone strong and dense, helping people avoid a look of premature ageing that comes with tooth loss.

Dental implants can last for at least 15 years, if not longer, with a simple maintenance regime to remove plaque.

Not a Londoner and looking for a dentist in W1?

Are you an international patient in need of a dentist in W1? Maybe you are here on business and have developed a terrible toothache? Or perhaps you are new to London and are looking for a new dentist in W1 that will be your dental port of call for many years to come?

All you need is here

If you are not a native Londoner, the city can be a pretty daunting place. The streets are clogged with traffic, the underground is confusing and hot and unreliable. Ideally, while you are here, you want to make things as simple as possible, and that’s why Harley Street Dental Clinic makes a great choice as your dentist in W1.

We are a large practice, and we have a team of 14 dentists, many of whom have gained qualifications as a specialist in their chosen area of expertise. Between them they cover all the areas of dentistry that our patients require, including:

Teeth and jaw alignment
Children’s dentistry
Dental surgery
Dental implants
Tooth restorations
Cosmetic dentistry
Gum disease
Treating dental pulp.

We also have three consultant maxilla-facial surgeons. Between them, our dentists can use their years of training and experience to deal with every problem you may have.

You won’t get lost in the system

English may not be your first language, or even your second, but if it’s not, don’t worry. We have multi-lingual staff and offer a five-star service. If you are here on business and can’t go home to recover, we can offer you a recovery room in which to have some quiet rest before heading back to your hotel.

We also appreciate that you may have certain time constraints, which is why we offer appointment times to suit you, including appointments on Saturdays and special appointments are available on Sundays and bank holidays.

Your time constraints may also mean that you need to have fewer, but longer appointments, and these are also available from this dentist in W1.

Respecting your faith

We understand that for some of you, your acts of faith are as important as your dental treatment, and we have a multi-faith prayer room available for you to use whenever you need to.

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