Teeth Keep Breaking

Teeth with large fillings can be structurally weaker than they were designed to be. There is more biting force through your molar teeth (upto 25kg of pressure) than incisor teeth - this is why molar teeth can break more easily. When there are thin corners or un-supported 'cusps' of teeth surrounded by large fillings, teeth can easily break. Rather than having these corners continually repaired by 'patching' the filling together, a crown can protect the tooth against future damage. A crown acts like a thimble over the tooth holding everything together and stops the tooth breaking down further. For more information about how crowns can protect teeth, click here >>

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Pain from teeth

Teeth have nerves inside them. The nerve in the tooth can become irritated causing sensitivity or full blown toothache. Bacteria in decay can cause the nerve to be irritated. If this irritation of the nerve is reversible, removal of the decay should allow symptoms to resolve. If the nerve is irreversibly damaged, root canal treatment may be needed. This is a pain free predictable procedure as an alternative to having the tooth taken out.

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Excessive biting forces on the teeth can also irritate the nerve in the tooth so it is important that the teeth are meeting together correctly.

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Bleeding Gums

Gums bleed when they are inflammed. Inflammation comes from plaque which is bacteria. This bacteria in plaque can not be removed with something like a mouthwash - it needs to be physically removed by cleaning your teeth correctly and seeing a dental hygienist. Plaque bacteria can cause the bone which holds teeth in place to be lost - this is gum disease or 'periodontal disease'. Once teeth start becoming mobile/ loose from gum disease, the long term prognosis is poor and it is likely they will be lost so it is important there are good prevention strategies in place. For more information about gum disease, click here >>

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Gappy Smile

If your teeth are healthy, the position of the teeth can be improved with cosmetic orthodontic treatment. Braces can be invisible and teeth can be moved in as little time as 6 months. For more information click here >>

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Losing teeth is something we work hard to avoid and our dentists have extensive postgraduate training in advanced techniques to avoid tooth loss. If teeth have been lost or the predictability of treatment to save them is poor then we can discuss ways to fill spaces. Dental bridges rely on the teeth adjacent to a space to support ceramic teeth - these can look great but can sometimes damage the supporting abutment teeth. 

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Removable false teeth - dentures- are a compromised way of filling spaces as they have to be removed to be cleaned but they can provide an aesthetically excellent result in addition to giving you extra teeth to bite on.

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The gold standard way of replacing missing teeth are dental implants. These are titanium implanted teeth which go into the jaw bone in the place of the lost teeth/tooth. Once the implant has healed with the bone around it holding it in place, it can then support a ceramic tooth to replace what has been lost. At Kingston Park Dental Practice, we are able to plan complex restorative cases utilising our cone beam CT scanner which allows a three dimensional x-ray of your mouth and jaws to be taken. This allows us to determine what bone there is for dental implants to be placed into.