You may be one of Guildford’s most diligent tooth brushes and flossers, but no matter how on it you are with the oral hygiene, if your teeth are discoloured, they are never going to look amazing.

And that feeling that everyone notices what colour your teeth are? Well, it’s real. Human beings evolved to hone in each other’s smiles, firstly as a way as telling if someone is a friend or an enemy, but also as a way of assessing their general health. We can’t help but look.

Good news: teeth whitening is easy

The good news is that most discolouration is just surface. Staining builds up over the years after minute traces of drinks such as red wine, tea or coffee and foods such as rich tomato sauces get trapped in the pores of our tooth enamel.

It can be easily removed with a good teeth-whitening gel, such as Enlighten, which is what we use here at Farnham Road Dental Practice. In all the time we have been using the Enlighten system, we have had 100% success.

The active ingredient in teeth whitening gel is hydrogen peroxide. This whitener has been around for a couple of hundred years and is also used to bleach hair. It comes in different strengths. The gel we use is stronger by far than the gels you can buy in a supermarket or on the internet.

Whitening at home

If you’d like to get your teeth whitened, you need to come into the dental clinic so that we can take impressions of your teeth and use them to make you a pair of whitening trays that exactly fit your teeth. The trays ensure that there is maximum contact between the gel and your teeth.

You put the gel in the trays and wear them every day for a short period every day for 2-3 weeks. We also supply you with a desensitising gel as sensitivity can be an issue when you get your teeth whitened.

Whitening is not permanent, but you can top up your treatment every 3-4 months by wearing the gel trays overnight.

It’s bad enough suffering the loss of your teeth, let alone suffering the indignity of never knowing when your replacement teeth are going to let you down by doing a rumba in your mouth or even falling out. Wobbly false teeth are only funny for the onlookers, not the wearer.

However, there is a way to get replacement teeth that allow you to keep your dignity and your food choices, and your lovely strong jawbone, and that solution is dental implants.

At Farnham Road Dental Practice in Guildford, we have been seeing more and more of our patients choose dental implants to replace lost teeth. Dental implants have one big advantage over dentures and bridges in that they are fixed into the jaw, rather than relying on the gums or neighbouring teeth for stability.

How dental implants work

Dental implants are small tapered screws or posts that replace tooth roots. To put them into your jawbone, the dental surgeon opens up a flap in your gum and carefully drills a hole into your jawbone. It sounds a lot more painful than it is, and the pain is easily controlled with a local anaesthetic as there are very few nerve endings in the bone. Pain is not the same as anxiety however, so you can have sedation to relax you during the procedure.

Once the implant is in place, the bone around it grows new bone cells and blood vessels all over it. This takes several weeks, but will eventually hold the dental implant in place as securely as a natural tooth in its socket.

Crowns, bridges and even dentures can then be attached to the implants. One implant can hold up to 3 teeth on a bridge and it only takes 4-6 implants to secure an entire arch of teeth (4 for the lower, 6 for the upper).

Maintenance

Looking after your dental implants is important and easy. All you need is to brush and floss them thoroughly twice a day to get rid of food and plaque. Couple this with regular trips to the hygienist for plaque removal and your implants can last for decades.

Have you noticed that since you got your dentures they have started to wobble around? Are you surprised, since they fitted so well when you first started to wear them? Now you can’t really trust that they will stay put, even with messy dental adhesives applied before you slip them over your gums. What on earth is happening and is there anything you can do about it?

Why do dentures start slipping?

Dentists go to a great deal of trouble to make sure that dentures adhere well to the gums. The trouble is that when there are no tooth roots sending tremors down into the gums every time the teeth come together, the jawbone believes that it is no longer in use and starts to dissolve itself. This happens very quickly and people can lose up to 25% of their jawbone in the first year alone after tooth loss. There is less depth of bone for the dentures to grip onto and that makes it hard to get a good suction between gum and denture.

What can you do about it?

It used to be that all you could do was get your dentures relined so that they fit your jaw again. This is a simple solution but the trouble with it is that the jawbone continues to shrink and so your dentures may have to be relined about every year.

However, here at Farnham Road Dental Practice, we have another way to stop your dentures wobbling around and that is to secure them to your jawbone with dental implants in Guildford. This technique is called denture stabilisation, and we can adapt your current dentures so that they can be attached to the dental implants.

We find that you will need 2–4 dental implants on the bottom jawbone and 4–6 implants on the top jawbone. We can put in the implants, customise your denture and attach them all in one appointment, so you need never be without your teeth. You continue to treat your dentures as dentures, taking them out at night to clean them and rest your gums, but you will find that during the day, they behave more like natural teeth than your unsecured dentures ever could.

It’s grim when you lose your teeth. Nobody sails through the loss of these vital body parts without feeling some distress. If you’ve had a tooth or two knocked out playing sports, you may worry that you now have to go through decades with a denture and no one is ever going to want to kiss you again. If you are starting to experience tooth loss after watching teeth be filled time and again over decades, losing them may feel like the beginning of the end of the prime of your life. All sorts of fear and worries come up around tooth loss, and it used to be that there were only fairly good ways to replace teeth, each with their own set of hassles and inconveniences. Dentures could mean a restricted diet and embarrassment from them wobbling around. Fixed bridgework meant losing at least two more teeth to act as buttresses for the bridges. Not much fun if you’ve only lost one tooth to start with.

Thank goodness then for the advent of dental implants. Here at Farnham Road Dental Practice in Guildford, we can’t quite believe that this innovative solution to tooth loss has been around for more than 30 years already. Considering that, it’s also surprising that many people do not know about this fabulous way to replace teeth. But then, when something is fulfilling its remit to be indistinguishable from real teeth, both in form and function, and people don’t like to tell others about their teeth, dental implants can remain a very well-kept secret.

However, in the time that they have been available to the public, dentists have been experimenting with ways to use them and also ways to make them more available to a wider range of people.

Now you can use dental implants to replace one tooth, several on a bridge, or the whole lot. You can even use dental implants to stabilise loose dentures. And if you have been told your jawbone is no longer strong and dense enough to support implants, there are ways to sort that out too.

All hail the dental implant! We are so glad you got invented.

At Farnham Road Dental Practice, we like to be up-front with our patients when it comes to our services. This fosters an atmosphere of trust which is essential when it comes to dental treatment. When it comes to tooth replacement, we have several options available and we are happy to talk about the challenges involved in each method as well as the benefits.

Today we are looking at dental implants. One of the things that people are often aware of when they are considering this tooth replacement method is that they are not a particularly low-cost option. For some people, this is understandably challenging, and they may feel like this is a barrier to treatment.

When you have dental implants in Guildford with Farnham Road Dental Practice, we offer you an accurate estimate of costs early in the process so that you know what to expect. If budget is a major concern for you, let your dentist know and they can bear this in mind when making your treatment plan. There may be options available that mitigate the costs involved. You may also be able to take advantage of a finance plant through the practice.

Why do dental implants cost more?

The skills involved in fitting dental implants and the amount of time they last account for the costs involved. Your dentist uses precision equipment and excellent training and experience to place your dental implants. Once they are in position, they are designed for at least 15 years, maybe decades, given the right care. You may need to have the prosthetic teeth replaced after a decade or so, but the base of the implant is fixed.

When you have dental implants fitted, you are getting more than a prosthetic device that partially compensates for your missing teeth. You are taking advantage of a solution that effectively replaces your teeth. Dental implants offer you practically the same functionality and appearance as a normal smile. They also only require you to follow a strict oral hygiene routine when it comes to care. You do not need to adapt with any special techniques for eating, speaking or cleaning. All of these qualities make dental implants well worth the investment.

Teeth play several vital roles in our bodies. They are used to bite into and chew our food. They also play an important role in speech, and in non-verbal communication, forming the smile. When body parts don’t function as they should, it can be distressing, and so it’s important to find a replacement method that gives you back the full functionality of your teeth, for eating, talking and smiling.

That’s why at Farnham Road Dental Practice in Guildford, we recommend dental implants. Dental implants are the only tooth replacement method that gives you new roots as well as crowns. Having roots to your replacement teeth makes a huge amount of difference to their functionality. If you were putting in a new tree, you wouldn’t expect it to function very well if it didn’t have roots, yet somehow, we think our replacement teeth should.

Why you need roots

Roots give stability, and you need a lot of that to be able to bite and chew. The average male chew carries a force of 97kg or 200lbs. Natural roots can withstand that and the fact that chewing isn’t just an up-and-down movement. Dentures, which rely on adherence to the gums, can only withstand about a quarter of that force, so even when they fit brilliantly, all sorts of great foods are off the menu, and you have to live mainly on soft foods. Bridges can cope with more force, but only because they are attached to neighbouring healthy teeth with crowns that require those teeth to be ground down. In effect, you have to give up two perfectly good teeth to replace one missing one.

Roots also play a vital role in the health of your jawbone. Without roots, the jawbone quickly starts to deteriorate in the area where the tooth is missing. It can lose 25% of its size and density in a year after tooth-loss. Lose enough teeth and you start to get that sunken-cheeked, pointy-chinned look that we associate with old age.

Because of this, we recommend that you come in for a consultation for dental implants in Guildford as soon as you can after losing a tooth, or before if your teeth are starting to fail.

Losing your teeth can be a pretty frightening experience. It doesn’t matter whether you are young and get them knocked out playing sport or in an accident, or you are knocking on a bit and your teeth are failing due to neglect, night-time grinding or just plain bad luck. When they go, you could be forgiven for panicking a little.

The thing you must not do is put your head in the sand and tell yourself you will sort out replacement teeth in a few months. This is easy if the teeth you are losing are molars tucked away at the back of your mouth where no one can really see them. If it’s your front teeth that are on the way out, or already gone, you’ll be more on the ball, as the gappy look is not one many people aspire to.

The thing is, when you lose your teeth you also start to lose your gums and jawbone. Both of them start to recede in the area of the gap and if you are going to get dental implants, you need a good strong jawbone to put them in.

Dental implants are the only tooth replacement method that replaces the roots of the teeth. This preserves your jawbone as well as allowing you maximum freedom in terms of what you eat. Because dental implants are embedded into the jawbone, they won’t wobble around like dentures can tend to do.

How to get dental implants

The first thing you need to do is come along for a consultation so that we can take x-rays and do a scan of your jawbone and see what condition it is in. If it’s in good shape, we can get on with implant surgery. If not, we may be able to do some work to build it back up.

Dental implant surgery takes place under local anaesthetic. One implant can carry up to three crowns and there are ways for us to put a whole arch of teeth on as few as four implants. You need to give them a few weeks to integrate, but once they have become part of your jawbone, you may even forget they are not your real teeth.

If you are missing one tooth or many, you can either replace them or leave gaps in your mouth. However, if you fail to replace your missing teeth, you will face a number of complications with your oral health. At the same time, your chances of losing more teeth will also increase.

Nowadays, there are several options for replacing missing teeth, but dental implants are the most reliable one. Unlike conventional dentures and bridges, dental implants are embedded into the jawbone, where they create a strong foundation for natural-looking replacement teeth.

At Farnham Road Dental Practice in Guilford, dental implants are ideal for those seeking to rebuild their smile and restore their oral function. Dental implants do not require support from adjacent teeth, and they keep the jawbone strong and healthy by replacing the roots of the missing teeth.

Effective tooth restoration

Most tooth replacement options, like removable dentures and bridges, just sit on the gums without interacting with the jawbone. While offering an aesthetic result, these options leave you at risk of jawbone degeneration.

This is because once a tooth is lost, the body starts to reabsorb the jawbone because it knows there is no tooth to support. Over time, this can cause the remaining teeth to shift out of place into the gap created by the missing tooth.

Dental implants act as root replacement and restore the oral function completely. A small titanium post is placed directly into the jaw to replicate the root of a lost tooth. This not only gives the replacement tooth a sturdy foundation, but it also supports the jaw just like a natural tooth does, ensuring that it will maintain its shape and strength over time. Moreover, dental implants encourage the growth of new bone tissue.

After the post has been positioned within the jawbone, a replacement tooth, including crowns, dentures or bridges, can be attached to the dental implant.

Regain your confidence in your smile

If missing teeth have changed your lifestyle, dental implants may be the solution you have been looking for. If you think they could be right for you, simply contact us today and we will book a consultation appointment for you.

Dental implants are a popular tooth restoration method, ideal for patients who have lost one or several teeth. Unlike conventional tooth replacement options, dental implants are integrated into the jawbone, creating a strong and stable foundation for replacement teeth.

At Farnham Road Dental Practice in Guilford, we offer many implant solutions for patients suffering from tooth loss. However, while dental implants are an effective and long-lasting tooth replacement solution, not everybody is a candidate for treatment. Our experienced dentists will examine your teeth thoroughly and help you decide whether this is the right treatment for you.

Here are some of the things to take into consideration before deciding whether to have dental implants in Guilford:

Good oral and overall health

During your consultation appointment, our dentist will examine your teeth, gums and jawbone carefully and ask you many questions about your oral and overall health. This is to determine whether your body will be able to heal properly after the surgery. Patients in good health are generally good candidates for dental implants as long as they have enough bone tissue left in their jawbone.

Patients with health problems, on the other hand, may still be eligible for dental implants, as long as their condition is stabilised prior to implant surgery. Last but not least, patients with gum disease or other oral health issues should have them treated before implant surgery. This is because, if left untreated, they can hinder the healing process.

What if I don’t have enough jawbone?

While as a general rule your jaw needs to be strong enough to support the dental implants, patients with deteriorated jawbones can still take advantage of this treatment. Modern implant techniques such All-on-4 implants, allow patients to have multiple teeth replaced with dental implants, even if their jawbone has greatly deteriorated. It should go without saying that a thorough consultation with your dentist is needed before any decisions are made on the matter.

Book your appointment

If you are considering dental implants in Guilford and have questions about whether this is the right treatment for you, please contact us to book your consultation.

Since dental implants first came on the market for dental patients over 30 years ago, implant dentists have been experimenting with them to find new ways to make this method of tooth restoration more versatile and therefore available to more people.

What makes dental implants so important is that their invention marked the first time in modern dentistry that there was a way to replace the root of the tooth as well as the crown.

This may not sound like a big deal, until, that is, you lose enough teeth to have to have dentures. That’s when you get the list of foods to avoid, and foods that need to be cut up because your dentures may stay stuck in them. Roots hold the teeth in place so that they can withstand the multidirectional forces created by biting and chewing. For the average male, these forces are about 97kg or 200lbs. That’s a lot of force. Dentures rely on suction to the gums for stability and therefore can only deliver about 25% of that force.

And that’s not the only thing that dental implants do that dentures and bridges can’t. They can also maintain a strong, healthy jawbone. Roots have another job, which is to transmit tremors created when the crowns meet in biting and chewing down into the jawbone. These tremors tell the surrounding bone cells that the jawbone is still in use, triggering cell renewal. If those signals cease, very quickly the jawbone actually starts to dissolve itself, thinking it’s no longer in use. From the outside, this appears as the chin seeming to get pointier and nearer to the nose, and a collapse inwards of the cheeks. Unless you’re into gurning, it’s not a good look.

At Farnham Road Dental Practice in Guildford, dental implants can replace more than one tooth at a time. That would cost a fortune. One implant can hold up to three teeth. A whole jaw of teeth can be inserted on between four and six implants. Another option is to get your dentures customised so they can be stabilised with mini implants.