January 20, 2012 at 5:40 pm by Ian Kerr
Filed under General
This article in The Mail Online -“The pain-free dentists’ jab” gives me mixed emotions. On the one hand I am pleased to see a positive article about dentistry as anything that encourages patients to visit the dentist is a good thing but on the other hand I am hit with my usual all consuming desire to mercilessly ridicule The Mail Online. Anyone reading this article would be forgiven for thinking that The Wand is a new invention whereas the truth is I have been using it for well over 10 years now. It is a wonderful device and I use it every day to great effect and if patients are looking for a more comfortable way of being “numbed up” then they should certainly give it a try. If however patients are looking for well researched up to date medical and dental advice they may need to look elsewhere than the Mail Online.
January 20, 2012 at 5:15 pm by Ian Kerr
Filed under Behind the Headlines
The MP Chris Bryant disgraced himself today with a a wholly unsubstantiated piece or rhetoric when he asked the House to look into private dentistry -Will the Secretary of State add laser surgery clinics to his list, and also private dentists, many of which are encouraging patients to undergo operations they certainly do not need?’
This sort of statement may seem relatively harmless but it is actually an alarming abuse of his power. To make the accusation “encouraging patients to undergo operations they certainly do not need?” without offering any proof or a an opportunity to reply is little better than school ground name calling but potentially much more damaging. As a profession dentistry has a constant up hill struggle to encourage patients to overcome their genuine, fears and concerns about treatment without having the likes of Mr Bryant trying to further his career by throwing cheap jibes like this around
It is not for me to say what each and every member of the dental profession does or how they discuss the various treatment options with their patients but I would say that every single patient should feel confident to sit and talk with their dentist about their care and not feel pressured into taking on any treatment without first having had time to consider all of their options. It is wrong of dentists to project their treatment preferences on patients without consideration of the patient’s wishes and it is equally wrong of patients to abdicate all responsibility and decision making to the dentist and then complain that they “did not get what they wanted”.
There is undoubtedly an urgent need for an honest discussion about the future of dentistry, one that looks at “Holy Cows” such as the NHS and asks is it genuinely giving patients value for money and quality care. One that also looks at the role of the newly formed CQC to see if it can hope to live up to its remit to police the entire UK medical, dental and associated health care professionals by the end of 2013/14. This discussion should look at ways of assessing dentists competence to practice, their levels of continuing professional development, their working practices and much more but it should not involve uninformed, self aggrandising MPs taking cheap shots safe in the knowledge they will not have to defend their claims.
Oh and by the way, if you were wondering if the MP Chris Bryant was involved in the expenses scandal- yes, yes he was http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/5334791/Chris-Bryant-changed-second-home-twice-to-claim-20000-MPs-expenses.html
December 22, 2011 at 8:19 pm by Ian Kerr
Filed under Clinical Cases
This case presented as tooth (upper lateral) giving pain and was scheduled for removal and replacement with an implant retained crown. As the images show it is possible for us to do alternative work to try and delay the loss of the tooth for a few more years so putting off any replacement treatment. Whenever we are planning the loss of a tooth we should always consider how long the replacement options are likely to last. Whilst we hope that all of the work we do will last for many years we can rarely say that any work is likely to be “life long”. It is very difficult to give accurate average figures for certain types of restorations (bridges, crowns, implants etc) and impossible, of course, to say how they are going to apply to each individual patient. With this in mind I always feel we should try to delay the final step of extraction for as long as possible- dentistry is one way street and we should head down this street as slowly as possible! In the example below the root filling and the coronal restoration (the bit above the gum that we see) could both be improved upon and so I felt it was worth trying to do this and then see how long the work lasts. The work as completed in one, 2hour, visit and I think this was time well spent. There are no guarantees with this sort of work but neither are there with the replacement options and once the tooth is out there is no going back. This work will eventually fail and the tooth will then need extraction but if this happens 5 or even 10 years down the road then the replacement options may well have improved and we have delayed the onset of the next round of treatment by this time.
Xray of tooth before treatment
Old filling removed
Pre endodontic build up
Finished root filling
Finished result from the incisal edge
Finished result
If you are worried about a tooth and would like to know if it can be restored then please give us a call on 01580 752202 and we will be happy to help
December 13, 2011 at 9:14 pm by Ian Kerr
Filed under Clinical Cases
This case was a joy from the start and whilst we still have some work to complete at the back of the mouth the smile is looking many years younger and all with no drilling and no injections.
This case was completed using simple home use night guard vital whitening which is the way we do almost all of our whitening cases. We tend to use 10% carbemide peroxide as this is the lowest effective concentration and the one that most of the original research from the 1980s was done on. The trays are worn at night typically for 14 nights and we complete with a simple 40 minutes in the surgery on the 15th day with a higher concentration, if patients feel they need it. The patient is then able to top up their results at home and do not need any further trips for “lazer” or “power” whitening sessions. This approach is not only the cheapest way of whitening your teeth it is also the most researched and has been in use the longest.
The tips of the teeth were built up with direct white fillings which was done in one visit, without the need for any local anaesthetic as we were not drilling in to the teeth at all. The builds up not only enhance the appearance of the teeth they also protect them from further wear and tear. It is inevitable that the build ups will eventually wear down but they can simply be rebuilt with no further impact on the underlying teeth.
If you would like to know more about the techniques discussed here and find out if they would be suitable for you then please do not hesitate to contact the surgery on 01580 752202 and we will be happy to help
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