Harley Street Dental Clinic

If you sometimes feel pain in your teeth whilst eating or drinking hot or cold foods or drinks, you probably have tooth sensitivity. Foods like cold crunchy apples or ice cream are enough to make any person with sensitive teeth wince. Sensitive teeth can be caused by a number of things. If you feel you have sensitive teeth you should visit your dental clinic in W1 to find out why you have the pain and treat it.

What causes tooth sensitivity?

Sensitive teeth make some things like brushing, eating, or drinking cause temporary pain in your mouth. There is always a reason for pain in your teeth. Often the pain is a result of:

• Worn tooth enamel
• Exposed tooth roots
• Cavities
• Cracks
• Chips
• Failing dental restorations such as fillings or crowns
• Gum disease.

Tooth erosion

Enamel is the hard layer of your tooth that covers the soft core of your tooth called dentin. Your tooth enamel exists to protect the softer dentin layer of your tooth and allow you to chew your food. The dentin core is sensitive to pain but your hard enamel layer is not. If your enamel is worn down, the dentin layer of your tooth becomes exposed which usually leads to pain, sensitivity, and a trip to your dental clinic in W1.

How to prevent sensitive teeth

Here at Harley Street Dental Clinic in W1, we recommend brushing and flossing your teeth twice per day. Use a soft-bristled toothbrush and a good quality toothpaste. Don’t brush your teeth too harshly or use abrasive toothpastes. These can cause sensitive teeth. If you grind your teeth, get a mouth guard to wear at night.

Take care with what you eat and drink

Avoid acidic or sweet drinks and food such as coke, orange juice, or wine. These drinks can wear down your tooth enamel. If you really want to have them, use a straw so that the liquid bypasses your teeth. Don’t hold the liquid of sweet or acidic drinks in your mouth for too long or swish them around your mouth. After eating or drinking something acidic, rinse your mouth with plain water to balance things out.

When you keep a good oral hygiene routine, you’re also likely to keep a set of healthy teeth. The first step is knowing how to care for your teeth and having the right tools. Many people think they’re doing the right thing by flossing and brushing twice a day, but often they’re not doing these things properly. Gum disease can creep up on people silently and can be caused by incorrect brushing or flossing techniques. It’s important to visit your dental clinic in W1 to keep an eye on your oral health.

Gum disease, what is it?

Gum disease is an infection in your gums that can cause tooth loss. It is often caused by food and plaque trapped between your gums and your teeth. Plaque is a thin layer of bacteria, the sticky white film you find on your teeth if you forget to brush them. Plaque, when not cleaned away properly with correct brushing and flossing, will harden and become tartar. Plaque and tartar lying beneath the gum line can cause gum disease.

Symptoms of gum disease

Gum disease can cause your gums to separate from your teeth leading to possible gum, tooth and bone damage. If the infection is left untreated, your teeth can fall out. Symptoms include:

• Red, swollen or sore gums
• Bleeding gums
• Receding gums
• Loose teeth
• Mouth sores
• Bad breath.

Some causes of gum disease

• Ineffective brushing / flossing
• Smoking or chewing tobacco
• Crooked teeth
• Broken fillings
• Hormonal changes
• Some illnesses such as HIV/AIDS
• Some medications such as contraceptives, steroids, chemotherapy.

Brushing and flossing guidance

Here at Harley Street Dental Clinic, we want to help you have a good oral care routine. At your W1 dental clinic, we can review your brushing and flossing techniques and advise you on how to improve things when you visit us for a check-up.

What tools do I need?

Advice from your dental clinic in W1 – a soft toothbrush, whether electric or not, will do the job. A good floss that will not break easily and fits between your teeth is all you need. The important thing to know is how to use these tools.

If you are a recent arrival to the UK, welcome! How are you coping with the systems here? Have you even dared try the Tube yet? How about finding a dental clinic in W1?

Arriving in the capital city of old countries in Europe can be pretty daunting. London, like so many European capitals grew up higgledy-piggledy. There is no grid system for the streets, the bus numbering system makes no sense, and then there’s the healthcare system. Wouldn’t it be nice at least to find a dental clinic in W1 where all the treatments you are going to need are available under one roof? Well, now you’ve made it to this article on the website of Harley Street Dental Clinic, you are home safe and dry and need never worry about finding the right dentist in London again.

A large team covering all aspects of dentistry

Here at Harley Street Dental Clinic, our aim is to make sure that you can access everything you need in terms of dental treatment in one clinic. We have a team of 12 dentists, most of whom have trained to postgraduate level in one or two focussed areas of dentistry.

When you come to us for treatment, the dentist to whom you are first assigned will oversee the entire treatment journey, making sure that you see the right dentists for each dental need and liaising with them to maintain a good understanding of where you are up to in each stage.

No need for a language barrier

We also want to make sure that you are always in control of your treatment, so we will make sure that each dentist gets to know you before you start work with them. We appreciate that English may not be your first or second language, and we have a number of different languages spoken here.

No rush

If you are having longer treatments, we can offer you longer appointments and a place to recover, which means you can come in for one long visit instead of several short appointments. This service is especially popular with patients who need to get as much dental treatment carried out in one go as possible.

Visiting the dentist for regular check-ups saves time and money in the long run, but when is this no longer enough for your dental needs? If your teeth are crooked, stained, chipped or simply not as attractive as you’d like when you smile, cosmetic dentistry at a dental clinic in W1 can put an end to your dental woes.

In recent decades, cosmetic dentistry has become a flourishing and successful industry in the UK, as people like whiter and straighter teeth.

Cosmetic dentistry offers a wide range of treatments to accommodate a variety of dental problems. At Harley Street Dental Clinic, patients can expect not only to have their smile transformed but also to receive treatments with enduring and attractive results. The experienced dental team at our modern dental clinic in W1 will ensure that the risks associated with cosmetic dentistry will be very limited, if any.

From teeth whitening to porcelain veneers, crowns, gum contouring and invisible braces, cosmetic dentistry at our dental clinic in W1 offers a range of possibilities even for the trickiest of dental scenarios.

Teeth whitening

Teeth whitening is the most common cosmetic treatment. It offers an easy, cost-effective and gentle way to remove stains from the teeth and brighten your smile. Presently, teeth whitening treatments are performed in the dentist’s chair with the aid of laser technology or in the comfort of your home with special whitening products.

Porcelain veneers

Porcelain veneers are thin, high quality, tooth-coloured cases that go over the front of the teeth in order to improve their whiteness, shape and size.

White fillings

Also known as composite fillings, white fillings protect decayed teeth to prevent further deterioration.

Crowns

Dental crowns are tooth-shaped caps that cover the entire tooth. This gives it back its size, shape and strength and is also used to improve its appearance.

Gum contouring

Sometimes gums may rest too low or too high on the teeth creating visible aesthetical discrepancies in your smile. Gum contouring can alter the shape of the gums and re-contour the teeth to provide a more balanced smile.

Invisible braces

Invisible braces are ideal for adults who want straight teeth without the hassles of traditional metal braces.

Advancements in cosmetic dentistry have revolutionised many dental treatments and have made it possible to achieve a better smile in many different ways. But now that your teeth are looking much better aesthetically, isn’t it time to consider your face and the areas around your smile? Beautiful teeth are the main focus of your face, which can also be transformed with the help of facial aesthetics.

For a few years now, we have offered facial aesthetics at Harley Street Dental Clinic with success, enabling adults to complement their smile and regain a more youthful appearance. Non-surgical facial aesthetics such as Botox injections and dermal fillers available at our dental clinic in W1, can help you reduce your fine lines and wrinkles considerably.

Botox

Botox (short for Botolinum Toxin), is used widely as a muscle relaxing injection for the treatment of wrinkles and deep lines. When injected in the face, the toxin temporarily blocks the muscles responsible for wrinkles by interfering with the nerves that connect to them.

Botox treatment can take up to a week to show its effects and then can last anywhere between 3-6 months. So if you want to maintain the same look, just book in a top-up treatment with us.

Dermal fillers

As we age, our skin loses its natural elasticity and becomes less flexible. As such, lips can lose their plumpness, fine lines and wrinkles may appear around the mouth and nose area and cheeks can start to look recessed and hollow. Dermal fillers, which are made from hyaluronic acid, a naturally occurring substance found in the body, are a popular aesthetic treatment in our dental clinic in W1. They are used to restore volume to the lips and cheeks and reduce facial lines and wrinkles.

What’s great about dermal filler treatment is that the results are instantaneous. So as soon as your short treatment is over you can walk away looking younger and fresher-faced. The effects of dermal fillers last for months, depending which areas of the face are treated.

Both Botox injections and dermal fillers are straightforward for our skilled general dentists to administer, given their years of study into how the nerves, muscles and other tissues of the face work.

Everyone has a smile of their own, which is why they are so precious to us. At the same time, it’s easy to take your teeth for granted until a problem comes along and disrupts your smile. Maintaining a healthy dental routine is an essential part of long-lasting oral health, which is why it is always helpful to get the advice you need to contribute to your grin.

If you are looking for a dental clinic in W1 that gives you just that, we at Harley Street Dental Clinic want to welcome you into a friendly and sympathetic environment. A problem like a chipped or broken tooth does enough damage to your smile, so you shouldn’t have to fear a trip to the dentist too.

Your teeth, your choice

Whatever it is that might be affecting your smile, we think it is important that you feel comfortable enough to discuss it with one of our kind and experienced dentists. By arranging routine check-ups at our dental clinic in W1, you will know that your teeth will be thoroughly examined in a familiar environment.

At our dental clinic in W1, we provide a variety of treatments that help to improve oral health and enhance the look of a smile. By looking at your teeth during a check-up appointment, a dentist at Harley Street Dental Clinic will tell you to carry on as you are or recommend a particular treatment if they spot a problem. The useful thing about check-ups is that certain problems can be spotted early before they progress, and that means preventing an issue before it has to be treated.

The treatments we offer

If a particular flaw in your teeth is making you feel self-conscious when you smile, we can concentrate on the aesthetics. Discolouration might have occurred over time, as drinks like red wine and coffee do take their toll. This is why we provide teeth whitening treatments, to whiten and brighten smiles.

Certain problems can go unseen by you, such as the excessive build-up of plaque between the teeth. This is when a dentist might give your teeth a scale and polish, to eliminate complications like gum disease or tooth decay.

Here at Harley Street Dental Clinic, we are interested in everything that goes on inside your mouth, not just your teeth. When you come to this dental clinic in W1 for a check-up, we look at the health of your gums and other soft parts of your mouth, as well as your head and neck. One thing we come across is mouth ulcers, those annoying and sometimes painful patches that seem to appear out of nowhere, hang around and then, hopefully, with a bit of encouragement, go away again.

Where do mouth ulcers come from?

Mouth ulcers are red, white or yellow sore patches inside the mouth. There are two types of mouth ulcers.

The first is a reaction to some sort of trauma in the mouth; maybe you bit your lip or cheek when you were eating. You usually only get one at a time and they are next to the site of the damage. Once the source is removed, the mouth ulcer goes away. These are called traumatic ulcers.

Recurrent aphthous stomatitis, on the other hand, is the long name for the problem of the repeated appearance of clusters of little mouth ulcers in children and young people. No one knows what causes this condition, but the ulcers come in groups of about 4-6 and are tiny.

If any of the ulcers are still around after three weeks, it’s a good idea to get them checked out at the dental clinic in W1.

Other causes of mouth ulcers

There may be an infection, such as herpes simplex behind the ulcers, although these are different from cold sores, which appear on the lips or around the mouth. More rarely, other viruses or bacteria may be behind the ulcers, and anaemia and other skin diseases or blood disorders can also be to blame. A mouth ulcer that won’t go away could be the first sign of mouth cancer.

Let us have a look

With so many possible causes for mouth ulcers, don’t ignore them. If you have had one for more than three weeks, make an appointment at our dental clinic in W1 so we can examine it.

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.

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.

You need to visit a dental clinic in W1 if you want to be sure your teeth and gums are receiving the attention they deserve. At Harley Street Dental Clinic, our wide range of contemporary treatments will improve your oral health and repair any damage you may have suffered. Our friendly and considerate dental professionals have years of experience in providing excellent care for patients of all ages.

Why visit the dental clinic in W1?

A big reason you need to visit us is to prevent the spread of decay and disease. We can also restore your dental function by repairing damaged teeth, and enhance your appearance by making innovative cosmetic improvements. Whether you want a one-time treatment or a series of adjustments, we can provide it at our modern W1 dental clinic.

You should pay us a visit before you’re in any dental discomfort. At regular check-ups, we use our knowledge, skills, and equipment to look for the tiniest indications that something might be wrong. By making timely interventions, we can keep your teeth free from decay and your gums free from disease. Doing these things as early as possible saves you from acute discomfort and potential expense.

Fixing damage

We can restore your damaged or deteriorated teeth in several ways. By filling in cavities with skilfully-applied substances, we can prevent further decay and keep your teeth functional. Dental veneers, applied to chipped teeth, will restore aesthetic harmony to your smile.

If you’re missing a tooth, or several teeth, our replacements will improve your overall dental experience. Bridges and dentures are customised for an impressive natural look. Dental implants will integrate with the structure of your jawbone, providing powerful replacements that can last for decades.

Cosmetics

Improving your aesthetic standards can help you to feel better about how you look. Simple procedures like teeth whitening can have a transformational effect. Straightening the teeth using discreet aligners and braces will improve your misaligned smile without causing visual disruption.

We aim to make your visit to the dental clinic in W1 a friendly experience that promotes good dental health. We’re always pleased to discuss your concerns and recommend the appropriate options.

Life can be very stressful. We work all day, take care of the kids, travel on overcrowded public transport where we are bombarded by other people’s stress as they go by us, we are surrounded by sirens and TV is full of awful news and gory entertainment. It’s no wonder we are stressed out. If you wake up with headaches and a sore jaw, you could be manifesting that stress as night-time grinding of your teeth. During the day, you may go about your business with your jaw clenched tight. It’s not decay or gum disease, but the place to go for help is still the dental clinic in W1.

At Harley Street Dental Clinic, we often treat people with the problems that come under the umbrella heading of TMJD (temporomandibular joint) disorders.

The symptoms of TMJD

If you are grinding your teeth at night, you may suffer from headaches and neck ache, as well as facial pain, shoulder pain, back pain and even migraines. And over time, you might well find that your teeth start to crumble from all that grinding, or bruxism, as it is known in the dental profession. When you come to us at the dental clinic in W1, we have various ways to treat TMJD.

Night guard

The simplest way to treat night-time grinding is to make you a night guard. We take impressions of your teeth, and make a guard that, when you bite down on it in your sleep, will keep your jaw in a relaxed position. It will also protect your teeth.

Cerezen

We also offer a great new device called Cerezen. This is a pair of 3D-printed hollow inserts. They are custom-made for each patient and you put them in your ear canal, which is about as close as we can get to the jaw joint. The Cerezen inserts are only comfortable when your jaw is relaxed so they gently encourage you to adopt a relaxed, open-bite jaw position.

The important thing is to come into the dental clinic and W1 so that we can help you as TMJ problems only get worse over time.