FAQs

---

Pain is a definitely a common symptom of certain acute dental conditions like abscesses. Acute pain often leads people to seek urgent dental treatment. It is preferable to avoid such acute pain and more drastic interventions by preventing decay and gum disease or by treating it at an early stage.

Examination appointments enable us to check your teeth and gums very carefully for decay and other oral disease. We also check for conditions such as mouth cancers. If your teeth and gums are completely healthy we can offer advice on how you can maintain good oral health. Where we identify the need for professional intervention we will discuss this with you and develop an appropriate treatment plan.

 Denplan is a dental health maintenance scheme. The cost is based on your previous dental treatment which will be assessed at your initial appointment. You will be given a banding of A-E, the cost of which can be found here. Once you are registered and allocated a payment banding payments are made through direct debit on the first of the month.

The nicotine and tar in smoke will stain your teeth and will both cause and accelerate gum disease leading to bad breath, tooth loss and increased risk of developing mouth, throat and lung cancers. 

Smoking reduces the blood and oxygen supply to the gums. This means that a smoker’s gums may not bleed even if there is gum disease present, thus disguising gum problems.

If you are thinking about stopping smoking please go to http://smokefree.nhs.uk/ where you should find lots of information support and advice to help you. Mouthwashes may help mask a smoker’s bad breath and may have some effect on the progress of gum disease but patients need to visit us regularly so we can check your mouth for the very earliest signs of mouth cancer.

Mouth cancer can appear in different forms and can affect all parts of the mouth, tongue and lips. It can appear as a painless mouth ulcer that does not heal normally. If you ever have a mouth ulcer which does not heal after 3 weeks please come to investigate the cause. 

A thorough inspection will be undertaken for any evidence of mouth cancer at every check-up as parts of the mouth can be seen that you cannot. Mouth cancer is most common in patients over 40 who smoke and drink alcohol. Mouth cancer kills over 1,700 people in the UK every year. Many of these deaths could be prevented by early detection.

The amount of radiation received from a dental X-ray is extremely small. We use the latest digital radiography technology which reduces the radiation exposure as far as possible.

 We take your safety and ours very seriously.

 X-rays are used to take radiographs which give more information about your teeth, bone and soft tissues. They show decay in-between the teeth or under old fillings so it can be treated early . X-rays can also show us the position of unerupted adult teeth in children and the position of wisdom teeth. Routine radiographs are taken approximately every 2 years as part of your regular check-up or, if we are treating specific teeth, where these are clinically indicated.