Our hygienist:

• Provides professional cleaning for your teeth
• Handles cosmetic treatments such as teeth whitening
• Gives advice on diet and preventing dental decay
• Works alongside your dentist to give you care tailored to your specific needs.

We strongly recommend that you undergo scaling/cleaning with a hygienist at least twice a year, alongside regular dental check-ups. Appointments here are available on Mondays, Wednesdays and every other Thursday and last from 45 minutes. You can also purchase dental care products recommended by the hygienist at the Gallions Reach Dental reception.

We use dental crowns and bridges to replace either single broken teeth, multiple broken teeth (with dental crowns) or missing teeth (dental bridges).

Most modern crowns are made from porcelain. The dental crowns are bonded to the underlying tooth structure to increase their strength. The porcelain is sometimes backed with metal to further increase the strength or to link crowns together when creating a bridge.

Your dentist might prescribe a crown either because an existing tooth is badly broken, decayed or missing.

• During a ‘preparation’ appointment, the dentist will prepare your tooth, or those either side if there’s a space, and take a dental impression
• We send this to a dental laboratory, where a technician will manufacture a new crown to fit over the top of your prepared tooth. This replaces all of the missing or broken tooth and brings everything back to full contour
• We will give you a temporary crown while your new one is being made, during which time (typically 2 to 3 weeks) you’ll need to avoid strongly coloured food, which might stain the temporary, and also chewing anything sticky (like toffee) that might dislodge it.

Dental crowns rarely give any trouble, they are very strong and do not discolour.

Although the ‘old-fashioned’ way to replace missing teeth, bridges and dentures are still – in many cases – a serviceable and generally less expensive alternative to implant work.

• Dental bridges – sometimes called fixed partial dentures – act as a restorative bridge across smaller gaps on the same side of your mouth
• They are made to be permanent by cementing or bonding an artificial tooth (created using gold, alloys or porcelain) to natural teeth, teeth prepared with crowns, or implants next to the space. The teeth prepared on either side act as supports for the false tooth or teeth between them
• Because bridges are a permanent fixture, they can only be removed by a dentist. To keep the bridge strong and clean, you should make the health of your supporting teeth a priority
• We could use a bridge to replace missing teeth where the retaining teeth already have some restorations (fillings). However where the adjacent teeth are sound, the space would more often be filled with an implant-retained restoration.

Partial Dentures

Partial dentures replace multiple missing teeth and are made to be removable. They are easier to adjust and repair than bridges, usually less expensive and can fill gaps on both sides of your mouth.

• We construct a partial denture by fixing the replacement teeth to a moulded plate, usually made of pink acrylic to mimic your gums. A metal framework of clasps or precision attachments connect the plate to your natural teeth
• Adjusting to eating and speaking with a partial denture can take a bit of getting used to
• Learning how to insert, remove, and clean partial dentures also takes some time, but we offer plenty of tips and instructions to help you in this process.