Dental Procedures For Men

Dental Veneers

A dental veneer is a thin facing of ceramic that is permanently bonded to the outer surface of your tooth to improve the aesthetics of your smile. Dental veneers have become a common treatment for people who are in the public eye and can very successfully hide tooth discolouration, change a tooth's position or fill a space between teeth (diastemer).

A very exciting new development is the "no preparation dental veneer". These extremely thin ceramic veneers can be permanently bonded to your teeth without any tooth substance needing to be removed at all.

Your Specialist Consultation

During your detailed treatment planning session with your dentist, you will look at all the options for treatment and discuss your goals for your new smile; a very comprehensive picture will be built up to ensure that the shade, shape, position and translucency of your veneers all surpass your expectations. In many cases wax models of your veneers (a diagnostic wax up) can be created to help you visualise the end result.

At the next appointment you may have some tooth preparation done to create space for your veneers though in some cases no preparation will be required. Impressions of your teeth will be taken and custom temporary veneers will be placed until your fitting appointment in around two weeks time.

At your third appointment your dentist will try in your veneers to ensure that you are delighted before bonding them permanently to your teeth. Once in place, you care for your new veneers just like your natural teeth.

Dental Implants

Many people have one or more missing teeth. From a failure of certain teeth to form (hypodontia), to trauma - such as a rugby injury or fall from a bike, to gum disease (periodontitis) - where the attachment of the teeth is slowly lost and teeth become loose, it is very common for a tooth or several teeth to be missing.

Before the advent of dental implant based treatments, missing teeth were often not replaced - leaving a space or a denture or bridge was used to fill the gap. Dentures can be a successful treatment, but many people find that traditional dentures are uncomfortable, loose and mean that certain enjoyable foods cannot be eaten. On occasion, a bridge can be used, but this often requires the preparation of the sound teeth on either side of the space. With dental implants - a whole host of highly successful possibilities have been created: -

Dental implants look and function just like natural teeth and leave you with a secure and permanent tooth replacement. Once treatment has been completed, patients should then be able to eat a normal healthy diet without difficulty and smile with confidence.

Implants have been used successfully for over 40 years to replace either a single or a series of missing teeth. Implants are made of titanium and are located into the jaw bone, where they are used to support crowns, bridges or dentures. Titanium is a well tolerated metal in the body and intolerance is extremely rare.

Are Dental Implants Right for You?

A large majority of people are suitable candidates for dental implants. Good general health, not smoking and having plenty of good quality bone at the site are all things that can optimise the success of your implants. If you do smoke, have a systemic illness or have minimal bone at the site - it is still often possible to provide dental implants and you will be evaluated very carefully to make sure that your dental implant treatment plan is absolutely right for you.

Your Treatment

Every persons implant treatment plan is unique with some or all of the following treatment stages being in place: -

Each implant is a cylinder of titanium which is placed into your upper or lower jaw bone. This is often via a small flap created in your gum but sometimes it is placed directly through the gum (the trans-mucosal approach). Sometimes a tooth, bridge or custom denture can be placed immediately on the implant/s (immediate loading) but often a period of healing from 2 - 6 months is required where your new implant/s are covered by the gum so they can integrate with the bone. Once integrated - your dentist can then create a customised crown, bridge or denture to fit on your implant/s giving you a natural feeling, long term solution to your missing teeth.