Treatments

For examples of all of our treatments please see our Smile Gallery.

Check-ups

We would like all of our patients to experience oral health for life, which is why we place a strong emphasis on prevention. We recommend 6-monthly check-ups for all of our patients as this is the best way to spot and remedy problems early before they require more expensive and time consuming treatment. This gives you the best possible chance of keeping your natural teeth for life.

Hygiene Treatment

Here at Swakeleys Dental Practice we are dedicated and committed to a high level and standard of care, especially for oral hygiene. Oral hygiene is the key to long term success of dental treatment and plays a major role in all of our treatment planning. Many of you may ask why this is. Here at Swakeleys we believe dental work is an art. You could perhaps say the gums are like a blank canvas. So before we create our masterpiece the gums must be healthy as they are the foundations. If the foundations are not strong and solid the treatment may fail.

Many of you have visited a dental hygienist in the past and may be wondering what to expect during a visit here at Swakeleys. No patient is the same and each patient is individually assessed and specific recommendations and advice given to improve certain areas that the denta hygienist thinks necessary. This advice could be in the form of oral hygiene advice, dietary advice, smoking cessation etc. What else can be expected during your visit? The dental Hygienist will thoroughly and professionally clean your teeth and gums removing deposits such as plaque bacteria and calculus.

Last but not least, prevention: we like to anticipate problems before they happen so by attending routine examinations and regular Hygiene visits will help you to maintain a healthy mouth. Regular intervention prevents thus potential problems saving time inconvenience and unnecessary expense.

Veneers

A veneer is a thin shell of porcelain that fits over the front surface of a tooth, like a false fingernail fits over a nail.

Veneers can improve the colour, shape and position of your teeth. They are the treatment of choice used in many smile makeovers. A veneer can hide a chipped tooth, or close small gaps when orthodontics (braces) is not suitable. Our veneers are fabricated using the highest quality porcelain and shade matching techniques, to give a natural and healthy look.

Crowns

A crown is an artificial restoration that fits over the remaining part of a prepared tooth, making it strong and giving it the shape of a natural tooth. A crown is sometimes known as a 'cap'.

Crowns are an ideal restoration for teeth that have been broken, or have been weakened by decay or a very large filling. A crown could be used for a number of other reasons, for instance:

• To reposition a tooth or teeth
• To improve the appearance of the tooth
• To protect weak and damaged teeth
• It may help hold a bridge or denture firmly in place.

We use the highest quality materials and the most experienced laboratories to fabricate your dental crowns.

Whitening

Teeth can easily become stained, especially if you drink a lot of red wine, coffee or tea, or if you smoke. They also become darker as we get older, which means that a less-than-white smile can be ageing. There are numerous methods of achieving whiter teeth – most involve bleaching the teeth with varying degrees of bleaching gel strength available. 

Initially the dentist will take an impression of your teeth and gums. This is used to create a ‘tray’ that fits your mouth perfectly. At the next appointment you will be shown how to charge the tray with gel and fit it to your teeth. The tray is worn for a 2 to 6 hours a day over the course of 1to 4 weeks.

As you might expect higher strength gel gives faster results.  At Swakeleys we believe that whitening should be carried out responsibly and for this reason we recommend a ‘slowly-does-it’ approach and only use gels which are perfectly safe and will never harm the enamel.

Endodontics

Root Canal Treatment is a routine dental procedure which is needed when the blood or nerve supply of a tooth (called the pulp) becomes infected due to advanced tooth decay or injury.

The aim of root canal treatment (known as Endodontics) is to get rid of the damaged pulp and the bacteria that are causing the infection. It involves removing inflamed or dead nerves and blood vessels from the centre of your tooth. This is done by drilling a hole through the top of your tooth to the root canal and removing the dead tissue. The empty root canal system is then cleaned, filled and a permanent seal put over the top of your tooth.

Bridges

A bridge may be described as a replacement for a missing tooth (or teeth) that takes up no more room in the mouth than the tooth (or teeth) which it replaces. They can be used to replace one or many teeth. When missing teeth are replaced with a bridge, the adjacent teeth may require crowns in order to support the replacement teeth.

White fillings

Nowadays, more and more of us are concerned about potential risks to our health and wellbeing. You may know that the silvery substance called amalgam which has for over a hundred years been used to fill teeth as it is very hard wearing is made of a compound containing mercury. However, a tiny minority of people can be particularly sensitive to mercury and some patients object to any unnecessary use of metal in their mouths.

At Swakeleys Dental Practice we understand our patients' concerns and are offering non-metallic fillings on request. New materials mean we can offer you a much more aesthetic result that is just as long lasting.

Mouthguards