Month: February 2017

If you have one or several teeth missing, dental implants can help to restore your confidence, improve your ability to chew and give you a smile to be proud of. Dental implants can also help stop the potential facial distortion which tooth loss can cause. To look your best, you deserve the best treatment, but where do you begin to look for it? To help you we’ve put together a few useful questions you may want to ask when looking for the best implant dentist in London.

What credentials and qualifications to look out for?

It may seem obvious, but one thing to consider when looking for the best implant dentist in London is their qualifications. Many dental professionals place dental implants after attending just one weekend course or a slightly longer training schedule. There are more prestigious training qualifications dentists can gain, so be sure to find out what qualifications they have and what reputable industry bodies they belong to and are associated with. Find out the names and dates of dental implant courses they have carried out as well as any industry bodies they are associated or registered with.

Our implant surgeons are some of the most qualified and respected in the UK. Nikhil Sisodia is a past president of the British Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry and lectures nationally and internationally on all aspects of implant and restorative dentistry. His partner in the practices Dr Martin Wanendeya is one of the few dental professionals to have completed a Faculty of General Dental Practice (FGDP) advanced level Implant Dentistry Diploma at the Royal College of Surgeons London. As well as placing dental implants in London, Martin now tutors and trains his fellow dental professionals in dental implantology at the RCS and is also a member of the Association of Dental Implantology and the British Dental Association.

How experienced and successful are they?

It goes without saying that the more experienced and higher success rate your implant dentist has, the more likely you are to receive the best quality of treatment. It is therefore a good idea to find out what their success rate is and how many dental implants they place annually.

According to the Association of Dental Implantology, the success rate of dental implants is high at about 95%, but if you’re looking for the best in London, look for a higher rate than that. Experienced implant dentists will place around 100 implants a year. The Ten implant Centre places around 450 implants every year and has a success rate of 98%.

Have they won any awards?

Ask staff at the practice you are considering using about any industry related awards they may have won. Often trophies and certificates will feature in a prominent place at award winning practices and are a good indication of how good they are.

Ten Implant Centre has been shortlisted for and won numerous awards including Aesthetic Dentistry Awards for a multiple, restorative, single tooth implants and full mouth rehabilitation as well as Best Patient Care for London at the 2015 Private Dentistry Awards.

What are the facilities like?

Where you are treated, the room, it’s atmosphere and layout can influence how you feel about a procedure. At Ten Dental our patients are at the heart of everything we do and we work with you at every stage to ensure you are relaxed and as comfortable as possible. We have won awards for the Best Patient Care and our state of the art, treatment centres, in Balham, Clapham and Wandsworth, London, are ultra-modern in terms of layout, décor and the technology we use during treatment.

What is their advice before and after treatment?

Dental implants are the only permanent solution to tooth loss, but post treatment care is vital to whether they are successful or not. The best implant dentists should be able to offer you support and advice before, during and after every stage of treatment. Once your treatment is complete you should maintain the highest standards of oral hygiene and care and visit your dental hygienist regularly. Ask if your dental implant dentist offers these regular checks including annual X-rays.

Ten Implant Centre has a clinical dental technician who works alongside us to give patients support and keep you informed and fully advised throughout every phase of your dental implant treatment.

A full smile makeover

Many of our dental implant patients have taken advantage of the fact that we offer many treatments at our cutting-edge practices. We have award winning specialist orthodontists, cosmetic dentists and oral hygienists as well as facial aesthetic practitioners based at our stylish and contemporary centres in London. You can improve the overall appearance of your smile with a full smile makeover with veneers, onlays, inlays, white fillings, tooth whitening, tooth straightening or facial aesthetic treatment.

If you are looking for the best implant dentist in London or have started dental implant treatment and require a second opinion, then why not get in touch with us on 0203 432 9785 or via our contact form.

Tooth loss can be caused by many reasons including gum disease, injury, poor oral health or old age. Missing teeth can often cause people to feel insecure about their smile or experience severe discomfort, difficulty in eating and further problems with existing teeth. Fortunately, tooth-loss solutions have developed significantly in recent years and with so many options available, patients no longer need to suffer with missing teeth. Dental implants and dentures are two common treatments used to effectively replace lost or extracted teeth, but what is the best option for you? We look at some of the key advantages and disadvantages of both treatments, to help you decide.

Cost

If your decision relies heavily on cost, on the face of it, dentures seem to be a much more cost-effective tooth loss solution – particularly if you are looking to replace multiple teeth. A single tooth dental implant can cost anything from £2,000, whilst dentures can cost anything around the £500 mark.

Despite the significant price difference between the two treatments, in the long term dental implants may be the most cost-effective solution. Whilst dentures help to solve the aesthetic problem of missing teeth, and to a certain extent the functionality, they often become loose and food can get stuck behind them, causing potential problems with your remaining teeth. This could end up costing you a lot more money in dentistry bills further down the line. Dental implants however, are a one-off initial cost that could help you to save on dentistry bills later. When looked after properly, they can help to protect your remaining teeth and keep the shape of your jawline, making it a worthwhile investment. Lots of dental practices even have payment plans available for you to pay off the implant treatment in instalments, some with 0% finance options, making it much more affordable.

Comfort

In terms of the initial fittings, dentures are much less invasive and a more comfortable solution. All they require is a pain-free impression of the teeth and gums to ensure that the dentures fit correctly. Dental implants require a more invasive surgical procedure, in which a titanium post is fixed to the bone. An artificial crown is then placed on top of the post to ensure you don’t have to walk around with a gap in your smile during the healing process. Titanium has the highest strength-to-weight ratio of any natural metal and provides the perfect foundation for the crown. The bone and body tissue fuse around the Titanium posts just like real teeth. Once the healing process has been completed, impressions are taken and a permanent crown, specially designed and made for you at a dental lab, is fitted.

Dental implant patients rarely experience pain or discomfort with their dental implant and continue to use them just like real teeth. Whilst dentures are much more straightforward during the initial fitting, overtime they can start to become loose or ill-fitting, causing some patients to experience discomfort. That is why many people tend to opt for dental implants as a long-term solution, as they provide a comfortable and permanent alternative to real teeth.

Durability

A distinct advantage of dental implants is that they are much longer-lasting than dentures. Unlike any other tooth-loss solutions, when looked after correctly, implants can last a lifetime without depreciating in quality. The materials used to make the implants are high-quality and extremely durable, making them the ideal replacement for your teeth. Whilst dentures have significantly improved over the years in terms of materials, they still need to be replaced periodically due to gradual changes in the facial structure, overtime causing improper fitting. This can be a huge inconvenience which is why many people opt for dental implants as the preferable and longer-lasting option.

Aesthetics

Over the years, dentures have significantly improved in appearance and dentists can now provide a much closer match in terms of gum ridge colouring and the quality of aesthetics. However, despite their more aesthetically pleasing appearance, because dentures only sit at the surface of the gum rather than at the root, as real teeth do, over time the jawline can start to recede, causing you to appear much older than you are.

Dental implants are made to look just like real teeth and can be shaped and coloured to match the rest of your teeth or to fit your specific requirements. Because they are surgically inserted into the bone to imitate the root of the tooth, they re-stimulate the jawline, preventing the bone beneath from receding and helping patients to maintain a more youthful appearance.

Maintenance

Maintenance is a key consideration with tooth replacement options. Dental implants require very little additional care other than the necessary aftercare appointments with your dentist and your usual teeth-cleaning routine. Dentures, however, must be regularly removed and cleaned efficiently, otherwise food build-up can cause issues with your teeth and gums. For some people, this can seem like a lot of up keep, particularly as wearing dentures means that you are more at risk of bacterial build-up and even infection.

Quality of living

Missing teeth can really affect your confidence and in lots of cases, your ability to eat certain foods. This can have a significant impact on your quality of life and very often, people can become too embarrassed to go to social events due to unsightly gaps in their teeth or their inability to enjoy meals without difficulty. Both dentures and dental implants can help with this issue to a certain extent, however in this case, dental implants are a much better option.

Whilst dentures help to solve the aesthetic problem of tooth loss, eating tougher foods like red meat or raw vegetables can be difficult and can sometimes cause the dentures to become loose. Smaller foods like nuts and seeds can also get stuck behind the dentures and if left uncleaned, this can cause unwanted bacteria to grow in the gums. Dental implants, however, can replace the teeth with the exact same functionality as real teeth. Inserted directly into the jaw bone, they act just like an authentic tooth and will not come loose when eating tough or chewy foods. They even have the same appearance as real teeth, helping patients to regain their confidence and providing a much better quality of living.

If you would like to discuss the different dental treatment options in more detail, just get in touch with one of our friendly team at Ten Implant Centre and we will be happy to offer our advice.