Dental Blog - Farnham Road Dental Practice

Why are dental implants a viable solution for missing 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.

Dental Implants in Guilford 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.

Who makes a good candidate for dental implants in Guilford?

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.

Teeth that help you shine

If you want to give yourself an instant healthy glow, one way to do so is to invest in the world’s most popular cosmetic dentistry treatment. Teeth whitening is the world’s favourite treatment because it’s quick and non-invasive, making it a great value way to brighten up your smile so that you can enjoy yourself even more when you are partying and dining out.

Teeth Whitening in Guildford In Guildford, teeth whitening is a very simple procedure here at Farnham Road Dental Practice. You pop into us for a whitening kit and then carry out the treatment at your leisure at home, over the next two to three weeks. Now is a great time to get started on teeth whitening, to give your smile an early Spring clean.

We use the Enlighten teeth whitening system, which allows you to carry out the treatment at home. You just need to come into us so that we can take impressions of your teeth and make your gel trays. You take them home with a kit containing the whitening gel.

You fill each gel tray with the gel and put it on over your teeth. You need to wear your trays every day for an hour or two.

You will start to see results in just a few days, but it will take two to three weeks for the full whitening to be completed. The length of time it takes and the colour your teeth will lighten to depends on the colour of the staining or discolouration to start with. We have found that teeth whitening is most successful on teeth that are yellow or brown to start with, rather than grey. However, this does not mean that greyish teeth cannot be improved by teeth whitening.

Teeth whitening is not a permanent treatment and how long it last depends on how well you look after your teeth, avoiding things that stain, such as tea, coffee and red wine.

If you would like to discover more about teeth whitening, you can pop in for a free consultation. We are in the town centre and would love to chat with you about how we can help you.

Time for a Spring clean?

It’s that time of year when Spring is almost peeking around the corner and we can all start to hope for sunnier, warmer days. Spring means being able to see indoors without having electric lights on, and oh boy, look at the dirt! It’s interesting how we are so primed to respond to the seasons, and Spring means cleaning, and sprucing up. We busy ourselves, tidying our nests and getting our bodies ready for Summer. So often we get immersed in trying to lose weight or get a new haircut when what would be most beneficial is a spruce up for our smiles.

Teeth Whitening in Guildford How is yours looking? Have you taken a good look at the state of your teeth lately? At the colour? Is it a lovely pearly white? Or have you been drinking so much tea, coffee, red wine or cola that you’ve gone and stained them beyond the help of a scale and polish with the hygienist?

Never fear, here at Farnham Road Dental Practice, we can help you get your whites pearly again with teeth whitening in Guildford.

Most of the stains that can so discolour our teeth are on the surface. Our tooth enamel is porous so it soaks up dark pigments from food and drink, as well as tobacco and certain medications. What we do is use teeth whitening gels that have hydrogen peroxide as an active ingredient. Hydrogen peroxide has been in use as a whitener for a couple of hundred years. It’s safe. It gets into the porous bits in your enamel and lifts the staining out.

Depending on the strength of the hydrogen peroxide it can either do this very quickly, or very slowly and gently. The quick gel is stronger and can only be applied to your teeth by a professional. This is because, although hydrogen peroxide is not toxic, it can be an irritant. So, if you want the fast version, we need to do it for you, and protect your lips and gums with protective barriers. It takes about an hour. The milder treatment can be done by you at home and takes a couple of weeks.

All you need to know about Six Month Smiles in Guilford

If you wish your teeth were straighter, but are discouraged by the prospect of wearing traditional metal braces, you may be interested in alternative teeth straightening options. Luckily, dentistry has evolved in recent years and there are now many teeth straightening treatment options that are more discreet than metal braces.

Six Month Smiles in Guilford If you are conscious about your smile, but do not want to wear braces for months on end, then Six Month Smiles at Farnham Road Dental Practice may be the ideal treatment for you. Six Month Smiles is a fixed braces system that straightens your front teeth in six months or less. Our experienced dentists will examine your teeth and help you determine whether this is the right treatment for you.

How is this treatment different from traditional braces?

In addition to being more discreet than metal braces because they are made of tooth-coloured brackets and wires, Six Month Smiles provide additional advantages. Using traditional and modern teeth straightening techniques, Six Month Smiles braces will try to gently guide your teeth into place, without altering your bite. For this reason, they are more comfortable than traditional braces.

More importantly, treatment with Six Month Smiles braces can also be completed in a shorter period of time than treatment with regular braces. Since these braces focus only on certain teeth, they require less time than metal braces.

Is there any risk of tooth damage?

Straightening your teeth with Six Month Smiles braces is not riskier than treatment with regular braces. The faster movement of the teeth is the result of a very light force for a gentler adjustment.

Are Six Month Smiles braces right for me?

The best way to find out if you are a good candidate for Six Month Smiles in Guilford, is to get in touch with our dental team and schedule a consultation. Most people can have this type of treatment as long as they have mild alignment issues. However, patients with severely crooked teeth and bite problems will not benefit from this treatment.

For more information about Six Month Smiles in Guilford, feel free to call us today and we will book a consultation appointment for you.

Fast-acting braces in Guilford

Do you want to improve your smile, but are worried about the time required for traditional braces to work? Are you also concerned about the look of metal brackets and wires? Six Month Smiles could be the ideal treatment for you.

At Farnham Road Dental Practice, we appreciate that some patients do not want to wear metal braces for years or they are concerned that other teeth straightening procedures could be too invasive or too expensive. For this reason, we offer Six Month Smiles in Guilford, an effective, safe and affordable cosmetic solution that fits your lifestyle.

Six Month Smiles in Guilford Using a combination of traditional techniques and high-quality materials, Six Month Smiles clear braces can straighten your teeth in an average time of just six months. Virtually invisible, Six Month Smiles braces allow you to smile while undergoing treatment.

How does Six Month Smiles work?

Unlike regular braces, Six Month Smiles uses low force to move teeth more comfortably. Many people think that the accelerated treatment means added discomfort, but that is not true. This treatment takes advantage of standard teeth straightening mechanics, but with an emphasis on the cosmetic appearance of your teeth rather than the position of your bite. For this reason, discomfort is minimal as your teeth are gently repositioned.

Am I a good candidate for Six Month Smiles braces?

Six Month Smiles braces are specifically designed to straighten the front six teeth. This type of short-term teeth straightening treatment is appropriate for treating mild dental problems such as mild crowding of the front teeth, closing gaps between teeth, aligning the gum line and alignment of flared teeth. Severely crooked teeth and bite issues can only be treated with regular braces.

Does Six Month Smiles treatment hurt?

When you first have your braces fitted, it is normal to experience mild discomfort, while your mouth adjusts to them. However, this is usually gone within a couple of weeks and can be managed with common painkillers. It is also common to feel some discomfort following adjustment appointments as the teeth adapt to their new position, but this usually goes away after a few hours.

Why dental implants are so fantastic

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.

Dental Implants in Guildford 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.

A youthful smile is easier than you think

One of the simplest ways to bring back a youthful look is not through any type of temporary or permanent treatment with facial aesthetics. Such treatments are great too, but if you want a less invasive way to recapture some lost years, get your teeth whitened.

As a rule, ageing teeth lose their whiteness, and there are numerous causes for this. Even though they look like impenetrable solids, tooth enamel is porous and stains can sink into it.

Teeth Whitening in Guildford Yellowing can partly be blamed on what we eat and drink. The tannins in tea, black coffee, red wines and colas all discolour the teeth. You have only to look at your fingers after eating blackberries or blueberries to understand that they stain the teeth too. Is it even worth mentioning that tobacco is terrible for the teeth, turning them shades of yellow, grey and dark brown over time. Also, some antibiotics stain the teeth.

You can see that none of these causes is much to do with your age. However, discoloured teeth can make you look older than you are. We correctly associate yellowing teeth with advancing years. Over the years, brushing gradually wears away the outer layer of enamel, allowing the yellower dentin below to show through.

Thankfully, teeth whitening works on everyone, no matter their age. At Farnham Road Dental Practice in Guildford, we use the Enlighten home tooth whitening system. This is the only system that allows you to choose the shade of your teeth after two weeks of home whitening. In the 10 years that we have been using Enlighten, we have never had a disappointed patient who has used our teeth whitening in Guildford.

Your treatment process

You come in to see us so that we can take impressions of your teeth, from which we make bespoke whitening mouth trays. You take these home, along with the whitening gel. You put the gel in the trays and wear them overnight, or during the day for several hours, for about two or three weeks. After which you will have a guaranteed B1 shade of white, the brightest there is.

To maintain it, you need to wear the gel trays overnight for a night or two every three to four months.

Health benefits of straighter teeth

Many adults seek our help to get straighter teeth for cosmetic reasons, but having straight teeth actually makes your whole mouth healthier. Even having minor adjustments to our teeth can help us keep our teeth into later life.

Of course, the cosmetic reasons are still important. Having confidence in the way we look can open many doors to us in our social lives, love lives and even careers.

Six Month Smiles in Guildford With modern dental treatments, it’s easier than ever for us to straighten our teeth. Because of the new wave of treatments, we also have much more choice on how we straighten our teeth.

Which treatment you choose mainly depends on how much adjustment you want to make to your teeth. Here at Farnham Road Dental Practice in Guildford, we’re here to help you start your journey to perfect teeth.

Options: cosmetic braces

For those of us who want to straighten our teeth to perfect our smiles, there are cosmetic braces. These treatments generally act faster than traditional braces.

In Guildford, Six Month Smiles can, as the name suggests, straighten your teeth in just six months. This also depends on the amount of adjustment you want and how your teeth react to treatment. Most treatments take between four and nine months, which is much faster than any traditional brace treatment.

Six Month Smiles treatment acts so fast because it focuses on just the front six teeth. These are the teeth that are visible when we smile. Because the rear teeth aren’t involved, the treatment time is drastically reduced.

Treatment is also much more subtle than dental treatment in the past. Six Month Smiles uses clear ceramic brackets and tooth-coloured wires that blend in with the teeth.

Options: aligners

There are more kinds of braces available now than ever. Invisalign treatment uses clear plastic tooth trays that, in succession, change in shape.

The tooth trays are transparent, making them almost completely undetectable and are removable, making meal times much less of a hassle. Invisalign can achieve drastic results without the big impact on your normal lifestyle.

Both treatments can improve your quality of life by giving you a big confidence boost.

Choosing an alternative to traditional braces

Many adults want to have straighter teeth but are put off by the reputation and look of traditional ‘train track’ braces commonly worn by teenagers. These types of braces are the most tried and tested method of straightening teeth, but come with disadvantages.

One of the most common issues people have with traditional braces is how they look when the treatment is underway. They are also difficult to keep clean. Combine these issues with long treatment times (around two years) and you can understand why people are seeking alternatives.

Six Month Smiles in Guildford Luckily, due to the huge amount of demand for alternative treatments, there has been a boom in treatments that can offer many different advantages.

Cosmetic braces

For adults who wish to adjust their teeth for mainly cosmetic reasons, there has been a wave of what are known as cosmetic braces. These types of treatments generally have shorter treatment times, and more subtle appliances but can only achieve cosmetic adjustments.

Practices like Farnham Road Dental Practice offer Six Month Smiles. In Guildford, your teeth could be adjusted to perfection in just six months, a huge improvement on traditional braces.

Your treatment with Six Month Smiles is also much more subtle, utilising tooth-coloured wires and brackets. This doesn’t sound like much of a difference, but when the braces are being used, they are hardly noticeable.

How does it work?

Six Month Smiles works so fast because the treatment only adjusts the ‘social six’ – the front six teeth that are visible when you smile.

Because the treatment doesn’t affect the rear teeth, it can act much faster, getting you results in no time.

One of the main cosmetic complaints we hear from adults is that they would like their teeth to be straighter. Now, this is possible with more modern treatments that have much less effect on your everyday lifestyle.

In the social world, confidence is key. Having a warm and welcoming smile could open many doors in our social lives, love lives and even our careers. So, why wait to get the smile you’ve always dreamt of?

Call for an appointment with us at Farnham Road Dental Practice to begin your journey.