Monthly Archives: January 2017

Is it time us Brits straightened up?

cosmetic braces to straighten teeth

In an episode of the Simpsons, a dentist tries to persuade a young patient (Ralph) into taking better care of his teeth by showing him ‘The Big Book of British Smiles’! Whilst the old American stock joke may have held some truth in a bygone era it certainly isn’t true anymore.

Spending on cosmetic dental treatments is certainly on the increase with spending reaching £1.86bn last year in the UK, according to market research group Mintel.

Celebrities have played a big role in the increase of smile makeovers. We only have to look at the culture of shows such as the X-factor, transforming people into superstars would not be complete without the customary smile makeover.

The favoured choice for improving one’s smile was once veneers but this was deemed by most dentists a little too destructive of otherwise healthy teeth and was financially out of reach for most.

Nowadays if people want to transform their smiles they (and dentists) would prefer to go down a more conservative route and keep their teeth as natural as possible. That’s why we absolutely love the latest advancement in tooth alignment technology – cosmetic braces.

A great smile doesn’t have to be absolute perfection but it does require 3 essential components –

• Healthy
• Straight
• Bright

The benefits of straight teeth aren’t just that your smile will look great. A key benefit to straight teeth is that they are much easier to clean. Straight teeth will help to reduce your risk in developing gum disease often caused by difficulty cleaning due to misaligned teeth.

The type of cosmetic braces we use are strictly for adults. They work by aligning only the teeth visible in your smile.

The cosmetic brace systems we use are:

Fast– You will have straight teeth in about four to nine months with the average treatment time of six months
Discreet– the wires and brackets are white and clear
Affordable– the short treatment time dramatically cuts the cost

Many adults are now realising that fixing their uneven smile is quite straightforward and actually improves the overall health of the mouth. They can have a cosmetically pleasing brace for a short period of time and at half of the cost of conventional orthodontics.

BONUS! We also offer complimentary tooth whitening with all of our cosmetic brace treatments at our Leicester clinic. So you can have straight, healthy and white teeth.

Book your free consultation now…

3 easy steps to take care of your childs teeth…

Taking care of your childs teeth

While your children can create healthy habits at any age, it’s easiest to teach and instil habits if you get them started early enough that it becomes the norm. Follow our 3 easy steps for taking care of your children’s teeth so they can benefit from a healthy mouth for life.

Step one: visiting the dentist

There is no need to ‘prepare’ your child for a visit to the dentist. It should be a casual visit, just like going to the shops. Book yourself a visit to the dentist and bring them with you. This way you can lead them by example and it will your child to get used to the practice and get to know the dentists. There is no need for a young child to be examined or sit in the dental chair at first. The most important thing is that we can build a great and relaxed relationship with yourself and also the child.

Step two: taking care with your child’s diet

It’s vital that children develop good eating habits. This will do more to protect their general health as well as dental health in later life.

• Ensure water is the main drink consumed if you want your child to have juice keep it strictly for meal times only
• Stick to regular meal times and discourage overly snacking
• Limit sugary foods sweets and fizzy drinks should be avoided as much as possible. These foods should be encouraged as treat foods and never foods that are consumed on a regular basis.

TOP TIP – cheese is great for snacking on and can be combined with many fruits such as apples, grapes and pear to give a delicious yet healthy snack.

Step three: tooth brushing

As soon as your baby has a tooth, brush it gently with a soft baby brush and a smear of toothpaste twice a day. Your baby will soon want to try brushing, and this should be encouraged even though they might just chew the brush a lot at first!

Children need to follow a very simple routine of using a fluoride toothpaste (appropriate for their age), brushing for two minutes and cleaning twice a day.

Give your child lots of praise, reinforce the message that they have very healthy teeth and show them how lovely and clean they are in the mirror.

Learn more about how we take care of your child’s teeth…

Tooth Whitening Facts…

teeth bleaching

It is not without reason that we call our teeth pearly whites. A bright smile is always deemed more attractive over teeth that are stained yellow or brown. There are a variety of products and procedures available on the market to improve the looks of your smile. But before you decide, you need to get some facts straight.

1. Whitening is safe

If carried out by a trained dental professional, tooth whitening is perfectly safe. Based on our knowledge of your oral health we will discuss with you the options available, decide if tooth whitening is appropriate for you and develop an overall treatment plan that gives the desired result.

2. Only trained dental professionals can whiten teeth

It is illegal for anyone other than dentists or their team to carry out tooth whitening. Anyone else offering tooth whitening (e.g. beauticians, hairdressers and salon staff) won’t have the right training and knowledge. It could permanently damage your teeth and gums and they can’t help you if something goes wrong.

3. The preferred option

Tooth whitening does not remove the surface of your teeth or change their shape. It’s often the better option than alternatives, such as veneers or crowns, because it doesn’t involve permanently altering the tooth structure.

4. Selecting the right product for you

We are trained to know what whitening products will be safe for your teeth and gums. Products provided by non-dentist often do not have enough safety data and evidence to support their use; this can result in burned gums and/or blistered lips or even more serious consequences. Using products that are not appropriate for you will produce poor results.

5. How it works

A carefully controlled concentration of tooth whitening gel is applied to your teeth using specially-made trays that fit in your mouth. We will be able to discuss with you the level of whitening you want and give you an idea of how long the treatment should be carried out to achieve the shade you’re after.

6. What to expect during treatment

You may experience some sensitivity for a short time during your treatment but this is normal and will soon fade away after completion.

7. Over the counter, kits may not be safe

The products you can buy online or from high street shops often fail to declare the precise chemicals used so it’s very difficult to assess their safety. Because of this, they should not be considered safe. These products won’t produce the same good results you can expect by visiting us.

We offer free tooth whitening consultations simply click here or call 0116 2891317 to arrange your FREE no obligation appointment

Taking the fear out of dental injections…

dental wand injection

The way dentists have been given dental injections hasn’t really changed over the last 150 years but there has been a long overdue revolution in the world of dental injections namely – the Wand.

The Wand is essentially a computer-controlled dental injection using a small handpiece instead of an injection syringe. It’s a lot smaller and actually looks more like a pen than an injection. The flow rate of the local anaesthetic is digitally controlled by a computer which means that the injection is guaranteed to be slow and steady and therefore much more comfortable than traditional injection techniques.

We treat our patients as we would treat are family friends and this means trying out the treatments ourselves! Below you can see our practice manager experiencing the Wand for herself.

The reports we have had from patients so far have been fantastic and we have been using the Wand on patients that aren’t nervous too. The feedback we’ve received is that they haven’t felt a thing!

Dental injections are probably the most common dental phobia we see at Smile Essential. It’s fantastic that we can now offer something more modern that promises to be more comfortable than traditional injection methods.

Learn more about the Wand…

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