Winning Smiles

Why we don’t take teeth out unless we have to (orthodontics)

2008-10-04T18:08:00Z

Crooked teeth need space!

If you were lucky enough to grow up with a perfect set of straight teeth it means that they had just the right amount of space in your mouth, right from the start. We’re not all so fortunate these days though.

Our ancestors usually had bigger mouths than we have, and so crooked teeth were much less common than they are today, perhaps we’ll debate ‘why that is’ another time.

For the moment, lets keep it simple and look at 3 ways of getting more space for those teeth.

Take some teeth out, the traditional way for the past 80 years or so. Not so very long ago in the UK it was the norm, probably 80 to 85% of the time. In very crowded mouths it’s still necessary. BUT, If there is less crowding, then taking teeth out could give you too much space, which then causes its own problems, see below. Most people hate the idea in any case, especially for their children. So do we.
Widen the jaws. Used to be popular 80 plus years ago but fell completely out of favour. Now, with the swing of the orthodontic pendulum, its slowly coming back and we now use it frequently. Narrow jaws are very common and the method can work well for them - the extra width also looks attractive, reducing those dark corners of the mouth when you smile.
Make some teeth slimmer. “Slenderising” by filing between selected teeth. In mild to moderate crowding, especially when combined with jaw widening, it’s a very useful technique and really does make non-extraction a reality for many more people.

Remember, there is no going back if you extract teeth when you don’t need to.

Too much space could mean that

The arch can become smaller and too narrow, for a less attractive appearance.
Loss of lip support
Exacerbation of jaw joint/muscle problems.
Excess space can be difficult to keep closed and can tend to open up again, which is obviously going to affect the appearance.

The point of this isn’t to worry anyone, but we try to make sure people have all the information they need to make decisions during our consultations, and we believe extractions should be a last resort instead of routine.

Hopefully posting information in a forum like this is useful for our prospective patients! Feel free to contact us if you have any questions.

If you don’t visit your dentist, dot dot dot

2008-09-29T13:42:40Z

There’s a great article linked here, entitled “ How your dentist can save your life“.

I wouldn’t normally point these things out, but it was pretty good, even if the ‘cautionary tale’ is a bit dramatic. There’s a lot of useful ‘motivation’ in there and well worth the read if you’ve put off your dentist visit for a while.

And whilst we’re on the subject, if you don’t live too far away, why not contact us for a dental appointment? We serve patients from Essex, Kent, London and Herts and some even fly in to see us.

No time like the present, and if you haven’t been for ages, don’t worry about it - it’ll be easier than you think.

Dental Bridges have had their day.

2008-09-30T22:26:52Z

Did you know that dental bridges have been around for over a century?

Now I’m not one to decry something simply because its getting old - for example, I do love old cars (as friends will testify!), but how many of us would drive a 100 year old car as everyday transport? Wouldn’t that be uneconomic, wouldn’t it damage the environment?

Just like having dental bridges fitted, as it turns out.

The costs add up

The problem is, a bridge relies totally on the teeth either side for its support, and those teeth have to be drilled down to pegs would you believe.

So, installing the dental bridge actually weakens the adjoining teeth, and then to add insult to injury, the bridge leans on them for the rest of its life…..the dental bridge is ‘parasitic’. Bad for its environment.

The extra loads that that bridge imparts means those teeth are much more likely to fail in the long term……a single tooth loss leads to having 2 or 3 teeth missing…the long term costs go up.

Hardly an elegant modern solution

People should also know that with a bridge, the bone and gum underneath continues to shrink slowly over time.

At best this leaves a ‘dip’ in the gum above the bridge tooth and at worst a black hole (gap) appears so that everyone you smile at knows exactly where your false tooth is!

Dental Implants are the answer

The humble dental implant solves all these issues: It stands alone without interfering with its neighbours.

Over and above that, our bone loves the titanium surface of an implant tooth - and once an implant is inserted under the gum and into the bone, then the bone will not shrink like it does with a bridge.

The aesthetic and cost implications of implant teeth are just too good to ignore.

Let us retire the bridge, and give it the rest it deserves.

Dentist reviews on our website

2008-09-02T12:56:26Z

So with this (newish) website we wanted to enable people to leave their own reviews on our dental practice - both good and bad on this reviews webpage

We didn’t exactly push this facility, it felt a bit like fishing for compliments - but someone just pointed out that people might actually want to have the opportunity. So, for any of our existing patients please find the facility in the reviews section in the above drop down menu, and click the link. You can enter feedback directly into the form.

Our latest colleague at Winning Smiles, Damien Reilly, had some positive feedback recently, and because it is directly about his dental sedation - which addresses a lot of people’s desire for ‘painless dentistry’ - we thought we’d produce an excerpt here.

I came in for 4 hours sedation with your FANTASTIC sedationist Doctor Damian. It was recommended as I needed 10 upper crowns and surgery to even up my gum lines. This involved a very lengthy treatment, which thankfully I was not aware of. Amazingly I was told to eat and drink before treatment. The drug process to put me to sleep was not in the least bit traumatic. It only involved a tiny needle, with just one drop at a time of the drug. When I came round, I did not feel unwell in the least (just not quite with it). It was a totally stress free experience, and I recommend it to anyone undergoing lengthy/complex work.

Ruth is extremely generous in terms of her comments, but also the time taken to feed back on this site.

We’re just a bit worried now that it looks like we’re paying her instead of the other way round!

Teeth Whitening Draw, no strings

2008-07-17T19:47:11Z

Teeth Whitening in Romford and Brentwood (Essex, UK) has grown hugely in popularity this year - if our diary is anything to go by, or perhaps our dental practice is just getting more of the share.

Whichever the case, when we thought of generating more publicity, because everyone deserves to know more about Winning Smiles, the thought of a prize draw popped into someone’s head.

So - here it is, the free teeth whitening draw. Enter online via the link.

Only. We’re not sure that people still go in for these things. Have the public grown cynical of offers? I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

The main point is that it’s free to enter, no strings, no massive postal bumpf will arrive, and no spammy email every other day. So what’s to lose?

If you can think of anything, feel free to leave a comment, else perhaps just go ahead and enter. Vote with your feet….for your teeth.

Saturday Emergency Dental clinic launches

2008-07-05T06:52:17Z

The real 4th Emergency Service?

This Saturday June 5th sees the inaugural opening of our Saturday emergency dental clinic. And we’re excited about the idea.

For a while now I have been wondering what a private dental emergency service would look like and maybe more importantly who would run it? After all if no dental professionals in Essex are willing to work weekends then the whole idea is a loser…

To my surprise the answer found me….I was discussing with Linda (one of our senior nurses at winning smiles) how I had this great idea to provide a quality dental emergency service at weekends but doubted that I would find anyone to work with us on it, and she said “I would prefer Saturdays to Fridays, and what’s more I know dental people just like me!”

So it was born.

May I introduce you to the Winning Smiles crack emergency dental team:

Dr Damien Reilly BDS

Damien is a dentist with a very special interest: he is also a trained sedationist and has a wealth of experience working with nervous patients, providing high quality, painless dentistry. He teaches both at the London Hospital and at Guys. Perhaps of equal importance is his chairside manner - calm, considerate and professional -he always puts his patients at ease. Don’t take my word for it, ask the nurses!

Linda Girling

Linda has been a dental-nurse for more years than she cares to remember. She is specially trained in Orthodontic nursing and has worked much of her life in Hospital dentistry providing Emergency and Special care. Linda and Damien have worked together for a while now and their approach to patient communication comes from the same place: empathy, enthusiasm and expertise.

Wendy Bartlett

Wendy is the Emergency Dental Team Appointment Coordinator. Her role is to ensure that the whole operation runs smoothly. Wendy knows all about this because she has managed a busy NHS emergency clinic for years. Wendy is efficient and experienced but above all approachable. She is the lady on the end of the phone when patients call in and ensures that they get the appointment and care that they need.

How it works

Patients deserve an instant smile

2008-06-25T18:04:59Z

Dental Veneer Patients shouldn’t have to wait for a fantastic smile. Thankfully, thanks to another Winning Smiles dental hero, Pascal Magne, they don’t have to.

Veneers are a really great way to tackle dental cosmetic problems when teeth are;

badly discoloured
broken/chipped
have gaps between them

In fact, Veneers are the most asked about cosmetic dental treatment after whitening (which is usually better for discoloured teeth). But there can be a problem…..

Most dentists know how to make perfectly functional temporary crowns. But temporary veneers on the other hand are considered a bit of a black art (if they are considered at all).

Veneers require the removal of a thin layer of enamel from the tooth. And what happens when (even) a thin layer of enamel is removed from a front tooth? The yellow dentine starts to shine through. After committing to veneer treatment, the last thing you want is to come out looking worse -even for a few day! (let alone a few weeks.)… We don’t ask our patients to stand for that.

Pascal currently works and teaches at the University of Southern California and is world renowned for his veneer knowledge and research, and has written THE book, my ‘Veneer-Bible’. Pascal outlines a beautiful technique to produce temporary veneers for patients, whilst waiting for their permanent porcelain [Pascal also teaches how to produce and prep for perfect permanent veneers of course!!].

This is a before photo (old veneers to be replaced), and one showing temporaries veneers in place:

They look better than the patient’s own teeth.
They stay put.
They come off fairly easily when the time comes to glue the permanent ones on.

And the drawbacks?

Well preparation time is longer - but instead of waiting for a couple of weeks, the patient gets instant improvements. We think it’s worth it.

Here are the permanent Veneers in place a week or so later:

Special offer: free teeth whitening with Invisalign

2008-07-17T19:14:20Z

I’m delighted to tell you that Winning Smiles Romford are now offering free teeth whitening to people taking up Invisalign treatment.

EDIT: If you don’t need invisalign, click here for our monthly prize draw to win teeth whitening.

(Sorry about the bold type and cartoon - always with the dramatic stuff this marketing department).

Hopefully, free teeth whitening will be a no-brainer for most people thinking of straightening their teeth, as both treatments are designed to improve the look of the smile. The idea works very well if only because the invisible trays used to straighten the teeth, also house the bleach for overnight whitening.

So, no separate visits and equipment to worry about, and it makes sense for us at Winning Smiles, because we’re not setting up twice, taking a bit off our costs.

Saving £395 on free whitening is a good offer, and we hope an attractive one to our Invisalign patients.

We haven’t yet agreed how long the offer will remain in place, (discussions continue), perhaps we’ll stop offering it when people stop asking for it.

Still, you never know, perhaps people should come in and have a free of charge dental assessment soon, just in case. Contact us here, and we’ll be in touch with some suggested dates.

Cheap white fillings - the truth

2008-06-24T14:29:40Z

Approx time to read: 2 mins

I wrote earlier today about white fillings. They are supposed to restore the natural beauty and strength of a damaged tooth.

But all too often they are neither beautiful nor strong…..

The problem is: amalgam fillings (the grey metal ones) are a doddle to fit. They are technique-insensitive. Because they are so forgiving, they tend to last a long time regardless of the skill of the operator (within reason).

In contrast, every step in the process of providing white fillings (from buying the right material through to polishing and finishing) is way more complex than it is for a comparable amalgam.

If you roll up a ball of cheap white filling material and squash it into a roughly prepped hole in the tooth: appointment time: 10 mins. Cost: £50.

The patient is ‘happy’ - they got a ‘cosmetic’ filling in 10 minutes for £50…..(the same patient is not so happy when that filling fails 2 years later and they then have to shell out £500 for a crown!).

Look at the picture of the old filling above (we removed it from a new patient): note how it is getting brown around the edges. Decay carries on merrily under the filling but nobody notices because it usually happens underneath. The result is root canal treatment if it is caught early, but extraction if not.

So here’s a picture of the Winning Smiles replacement white filling. Hard to spot the joins?

Producing natural looking, strong white fillings that last for more than 10 years does take more than 10 mins and costs more than £50.

However that 10 minute white filling could cost a patient the whole tooth!

The best white fillings in the world are made in Italy

2008-05-13T15:07:25Z

White fillings may sound straightforward, but this has been a complex field for many years.

One man in particular stands out head and shoulders above the crowd in the science and application of white fillings composite material, designed to last for an incredible 15 to 20 years.

That man is Dr Lorenzo Vanini - a hero of ours at Winning Smiles.

Lorenzo has dedicated his life to producing beautiful white fillings that will last as long as amalgam will. He invented both the advanced material and a far superior tooth colour matching system to ensure that fillings are the natural colour of the teeth. And finally, as you would expect, Lorenzo has perfected an exacting method to apply the fillings.

So, I was delighted to have been invited several times to Italy, Lake Como, to learn from the acknowledged master.

Although, I can assure you I would have travelled to Billericay for those cosmetic dentistry skills, if necessary.

…ok so Essex is not Lake Como, and our nearest celebrity might be Frank Bruno rather than George Clooney (who lives round the corner from Lorenzo), but that now doesn’t stop us providing World class cosmetic fillings!