Wilishire dentist at Devizes dentistry offer advanced dental treatments, dental implants, face and beauty treatments and cosmetic dentistry.

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Dental Practice Description for Accessibility

Why To Choose Us

Our Aims

5 Reasons to Choose Us

1. Expertise in understanding nervous patients and providing gentle treatment.
2. We listen to you, discuss your individual dental related problems.
3. We provide comfort plus confidence: "It was almost bliss from the very first visit. I received brilliant treatment and was made to feel entirely reassured and confident." - Mrs. S. G.
4. Natural looking results.
5. A sense of humour!

Our Aims

Think about it. What matters to you the most?
That you feel as comfortable and confident as possible as possible about attending for dental care?
That the team truly care and understand about your welfare and take the time necessary?
That they aim to help you achive less dentistry?
That you leave thinking "Well, that wasn't at all bad really."
Or that you are computer programmed and the very latest high tech whizzy gadgets are flaunted constantly during visits?
Well we just aim for the first four...

We Care

Naturally, we keep abreast of changes in dental treatments and technology. We update our treatments. These things are important of course, but not nearly as important as our prime aim of really caring and empathising. This is really how we succeed with people, and not by just having a selection of high tech equipment. Our caring and interest in our patients commences from registering with Reception onward.

Apprehensive?

We especially strive to reassure the anxious, the nervous, the apprehensive. There's no cause for embarrassment - you're certainly not unusual in any way in this Wiltshire dental practice. Your concerns can be discussed and solutions suggested.

Benifits in Private Care

Only you can truly judge that. Every practice and dentist is different. We are Private and not bound in to the state NHS or any company or insurance systems.
So we have a choice in how we present our particular practice, our facilities for you the patients, what treatments we offer, and, very importantly, how we choose to actually treat our patients.
You want consistency of treatment by the same team, in order for you to feel confident and comfortable. We provide this. We do not have a different dentist each time and therefore differing treatments. You know who you are going to see, unlike the increasingly common trend in NHS practices of seeing whoever is in attendance on the day.
We choose to follow the simple philosophy of offering to you what we would wish to be offered ourselves.

Premises

Airy relaxed Patient Lounge with comfortable seating and fresh reading matter. Not like the waiting rooms you have been used to.
Three surgeries which are modern and fully air conditioned all year round so that air is constantly refreshed, filtered and temperature adjusted for comfort and safety.
Equipment, techniques and cleanliness are to a high standard. Staff are trained in cross-infection control for your safety and peace of mind.

Type of Practice

General preventative dentistry, with referrals to specialist colleagues as needed. One very experienced dentist supported by an equally experienced hygienist.
A very personal and individual service.

How the Practice Treats Patients

Our Practice is centred wholly upon PREVENTION and/or CONTROL of oral disease.
We assume that patients are similar in attitude to us who provide the care.
We assume that they would prefer to plan for long-term avoidance of unnecessary visits, treatment, and expense and in a caring environment.
We assume that their priority is to avoid discomfort.
At this Devizes dental practice we offer the opportunity to achieve these thing.

The Dentist

John Howard Shrimpton
BDS University of London
LDS Royal College of Surgeons England

General Dental Council registration no. 41968 Howard Shrimpton has been in general dental practice for some 30 years and a dentist in Devizes, Wiltshire for most of his professional life. He has particular interests in providing dental treatment for anxious and apprehensive patients. He enjoys providing cosmetic and natural-looking restorations. He provides a wide range of treatments, but refers to colleagues for certain aspects of care when this is in the best interests of the patient.
He believes that prevention of disease must be the driving factor behind treatment plans for his patients. Patients naturally prefer less treatment overall, and that is the logical result.
As a long-standing member of the Society for the Advancement of Anaesthesia in Dentistry, he has many years experience of making dentistry easy for the nervous. When pleasantly surprised patients thank him and the staff after a treatment they found unexpectedly easy, he still feels the satisfaction of converting yet another patient to regular care.
He is a member of the British Dental Association and the Confederation of Dental Employers, and is dedicated to maintaining high standards throughout dental practice.
Always having had a keen interest in staying up to date with advances and changes within the profession, he finds the stipulations for Continuous Professional Development are easily covered by his learning.programme. Keeping up to date is a constant process and in addition to attendance at various courses he also uses computer-aided education in the form of DVDs and the Internet.

Hygienist

Nichola Tong RDH
General Dental Council registration no. 4071

Nicki is skilful and widely experienced, and she provides the essential core preventive help that patients come to value. Always up to date in the latest methods, she takes a real interest in all her patients.
Her aim is to help our patients to be more in control of their oral health, thus increasing comfort and confidence yet reducing their reliance upon the professionals. She is kept busy since the majority of our patients attend her clinic. Those that put her oral home maintenance suggestions into practice find that they spend less time overall with the dentist.
She enjoys developing her patients’ abilities in the art of prevention, and watching them steadily control and improve their own mouth health. As she says, that makes it all worthwhile.

Our Dental Team

Nurses

Two experienced qualified and GDC registered Dental Nurses, Diane and Lynette, work within the Practice and they have many chairside hours experience between them. Be confident of their excellent care for each and every patient.

Receptionists

There are two Receptionists to help patients with enquiries and bookings, Ros and Anne. They will look after your welfare on arrival. Both have extensive experience in liaising with and assisting pateints with various problems.

Surgery Servicer

Carol, who services and carries out specialised cleaning of the surgeries and equipment for your safety and ours. Although never seen by patients, she is much appreciated by us.

General Cleaners

Premises cleaning is another background essential task carried out after hours to maintain cleanliness of a high standard.

Number 64 New Park Street

The house has been involved in the provision of dental care for well over 100 years. Devizes and the surrounding villages have known where to have their teeth cared for since the late nineteenth century.

Gallery

New Patients

Your First Visit

Your first visit to this Wiltshire dental practice is normally to meet and allow us to discuss your particular mouth status and needs, without any treatment being provided at this stage.
If you have yet to decide whether to consult us, you may wish to send us an enquiry now by using the online email enquiry form. We will either reply online or contact you by phone or mail. However, if you need a rapid answer, we recommend that you telephone.
When you telephone us or call in to enquire about joining our practice, our receptionist will try to answer queries you may have. Should you decide that you would like to arrange a New Patient Appointment, the receptionist will take some details from you, and you will receive a New Patient Pack. In the Pack are simple questionnaires for you to complete and return to us well before your appointment, and your input on these will not only provide us with essential information to aid our assessment of your case, but it will also make your first appointment much more efficient and allow us more clinical time with you. You will be asked for a deposit payment on booking, and you pay the balance on arrival on the day.

Appointments

As a New Patient, your first visit with us will take a little longer than you might expect. Expect to be with us for about 40 to 50 minutes overall.
We like you to arrive earlier than your actual appointment time with Howard Shrimpton, so that you can easily complete any formalities or forms that may need attention and pay the balance of your fee. Our Receptionist will invite you to make yourself comfortable in our comfortable Reception Area.
We know most patients are apprehensive and New Patients are no exception. Please allow yourself adequate time before your appointment so that you can relax over complimentary tea or coffee, and read the newspaper or a magazine.

Face 2 Face Consulation

Later, you will be shown to the Surgery for a discussion with Howard Shrimpton. It is a spacious room and you will sit in a comfortable seat well away from the clinical area. He wants to hear about any past problems, fears or anxieties, about what you think you would like to achieve be it simple or complex. Please do not prejudge what you think can or can’t be done. Just say what you feel.
Afterwards he will carefully and gently examine your mouth area, your teeth being only a part of this examination. Any relevant photographs and X-rays taken are included in the initial Fee.
The findings of the Examination will be discussed with you, as will any treatment options, back in the discussion area. This will allow you to be more at ease away from the dental chair and we want you to feel free to question and discuss.

Traetment Plan Choice

Treatment Plan

A written plan of estimated treatment costs will be provided. You will sign this document, not as a pledge to proceed with treatment but as an acceptance that you understand the costs and terms of proceeding. You will be given a copy.
If subsequently you decide to proceed then that document is our basis of business and treatment at our Devizes dental practice.

Choice

In recommending treatment, sometimes there are several choices for us. First options are those that we would personally have for ourselves, our families, our friends. Other options may be offered to you as well. These may not be our prime choices, but they could be what appeal to you personally. Financial considerations or simplicity of approach may sway your decision. You are put under no obligation to accept any options offered.

Second Opinions

Rather than wanting to have a New Patient examination, it may be that you would like us to provide you with a second opinion on a situation in your mouth where you have already received a treatment plan from another practice.
This is an accepted action to take where there is doubt. We are happy to provide our opinion. Any information is naturally treated in confidence and you need not even tell us who gave you the first opinion if you do not wish to.
We are comfortable with you seeking a second opinion on our recommendations, should you feel it prudent.

Referrals

Following discussion with you, it may be that an aspect of your proposed treatment or even the whole treatment is best carried out by referral to a trusted colleague. In such cases, it may not be possible at the time to give you more than an outline of what that colleague can or will do apart from being asked by us to look at your problem.
Referrals to Hospitals may be under NHS cover or Privately. Referrals to other practices are Private. Orthodontic referrals for under 18s are usually NHS.
We will refer in writing, when necessary sending your photographs/X-rays.
Normally you will be contacted directly. NHS referrals may take longer and will be written. Private referral replies to you are usually by telephone and reasonably quick.

Treatments

Dental Treatments

Online leaflets: If you want general information on a condition or treatment, go to the British Dental Health Foundation's web site where they have over 40 online leaflets.
Online Resource: Want to find out about dental treatment? Want to know how to look after your teeth better? Visit the new BDA Smile web site.
3D Education: Learn about dental anatomy, conditions, treatments and good oral health with the BDA's cutting edge 3D Educational web site.

Anxious & Phobic Patients

At least 10 – 15% of the population are so anxious about a dental visit that they never go. In their Wiltshire dental practice, Howard Shrimpton and his Staff are interested in you and your dental problems. Allow us to hear your fears and discuss them. Patients from a wide area attend on this basis alone. We can help you, however unlikely you think that could be. Over many years Howard Shrimpton has helped those who could not previously imagine that they would eventually become regular patients. Some gained new confident smiles along the way. Others simply gained confidence and comfort.
About 40 to 50% admit to being anxious about seeking dental advice and treatment. Most of these are infrequent attenders.
Just anticipating a visit causes them worry and sleeplessness. You personally may not have to imagine what state their mouths may be in, what needless discomfort, bad breath, or poor smiles they have. You may well know how these things affect a person’s quality of life.
Help them or help yourself and arrange to come to us for a First Visit: a visit that’s all talk and examination and no treatment! Your kind of visit? This is an appointment where we really are interested in how you feel, what your fears are. Together we can help you back to not only acceptable dental comfort and health, but to your own increased personal confidence in returning to us.
Mrs P had neglected her mouth and been too frightened to smile, too worried to attend, for years. This was the result. Finally she sensibly sought help. We arranged comfortable visits with the help of sedation, and she was proud of her final achievement. It changed her into a more cheerful outgoing person. Future dental visits were facilitated.

What to expect

We know you will need time to acclimatise. We make the time. You will have discovered on your First Visit that we took time and care to ensure that you didn’t go straight to the surgery or even have us look around your mouth in a hurry (as is too often the case with us dentists).
Most treatment plans are for quite simple work. By now you will have decided how you are going to be helped to see through your plan.
We will play your favourite music CDs if you bring them along, or we’ll play you some of our music CDs if you prefer.
You can recline and look at either the wall-mounted flat screen with hundreds of relaxing pictures in a continuous show or at our ceiling-mounted colour aerial photo of the town, taking yourself off on a distracting virtual mind tour of the highways and byeways. Many find this quite therapeutic.
You may have consulted our recommended relaxation expert for extra advice on how to control your anxiety. You can easily learn powerful self-relaxation exercises, and these are of course useful both on a visit to us and in general day to day life.
Our trusted colleague Chris Altree is locally based and a qualified and very experienced hypnotherapist. There are a number of very grateful patients who have benefited from Chris’s kind and caring guidance on not only how to cope better with a reluctance to have dental treatment, but also on wider ranging self-management of life’s awkward situations. Often, after our initial suggestion of referral, they were a little wary of attending, but always very appreciative afterwards of this unusual service.

Gum Disease

In this Wiltshire dental practice, we are serious about Prevention. Are you really serious about avoiding false teeth? Here are six facts:

More people lose teeth due to gum disease than to dental decay. Gum disease is widespread, progressive and mostly painless. Certain groups of people are prone to gum disease.
There are important links between gum disease and these conditions:

heart disease
stroke
bronchitis, emphysema, pneumonia
diabetes
smoking
alcohol abuse
poor diet

Please note:

Sufferers from gum disease have twice the risk of fatal heart attack than those with healthy gums. They also have a greater risk of respiratory diseases. Pregnant women with gum disease are more likely to have a premature or low birth weight child or have a miscarriage.
Smoking and alcohol use are linked to oral cancer.
Most patients are unaware that there is a disease process progressing in their mouths, because there is usually no pain and no obvious loosening of teeth until very late stages. Your dentist can detect early stages of the disease and help you. Too many patients don’t take us seriously until the disease is obvious enough to cause them to notice. By then, it’s getting almost too late…

Your six teeth are probably very important for you. Maybe they secure or stabilise a denture? Maybe they are your best teeth for biting? Perhaps loss of one would necessitate a new dental arrangement to be provided for you?
They are precious. Keep them while you can. We can help you to maintain them as long as possible.
Those who do leave it till they have a problem almost invariably say they won’t leave it to chance ever again. All that happens is that disease, which often is "quiet" in the mouth, develops unnoticed by the patient until it reaches a point where help from the professionals to cure pain is suddenly required. The emergency case has to be seen at the Practice’s chosen time and it often entails further visits.
Please let us examine your mouth regularly, normally 6 monthly and no longer than 12 monthly. Please take notice of our recommendations – we want the best for you, as do you.

Hygienist

At this Devizes dental practice we have a Hygienist who is highly trained and qualified. She is an important member of the team who works closely with the dentist in the treatment and prevention of gum disease and maintaining a Fresh Breath
In a friendly informal way, she will both guide and advise you and also carry out prescribed cleaning and maintenance. She can give valuable advice on cleaning methods and even nutritional advice if needed. She is happy to see a small group of children in the holidays for a fun preventive session that they can enjoy rather than dread.
Bad breath is a common problem amongst non-attenders and tackled for you as part of a Preventive Plan.
Prevention is the most important treatment we provide for you since it empowers the patient with the means of achieving and maintaining their teeth and gum health in their best state.
Regrettably, patients generally put a low value on Prevention, perhaps because they have not grasped just how important it is. Having got this far, you know it has high value for you. Minimal problems. Lower dental costs long term. Easier visits. You want those for yourself. Don’t you?

Frequently Asked Questions

Because it’s a legal requirement that the dentist prescribe for you the treatment that the Hygienist is to provide for you. She can’t be responsible for spotting problems as they arise. Please see the dentist at least once every 12 months, but preferably every 6 months for a really effective prevention plan.

Our Hygienist is very gentle and caring. She knows what it’s like having a cleaning. She will take notice if you say you’re uncomfortable, and act on it to improve matters for you. Your friend may well have had a very neglected mouth with a delicate gum condition. In such cases, we would be treating her gently, breaking her in as it were over at least two or three appointments to ensure discomfort was kept to a minimum.

Bite into an apple – any blood on your fruit? Blood when you brush? Teeth wobble a bit? Longer in the tooth than you were? Funny taste when you suck your gums, and we don’t mean fruit gums. These are obvious signs of gum disease.
But mostly it is not that obvious to patients. It is a disease like high blood pressure or diabetes in that you feel nothing. Professionals can detect it and advise on its control.
We inspect your gum health and advise you at your routine Exam appointment.

Fresh Breath

How often have you noticed that someone can be close to you, speaking to you, and you just want to avoid his breath because it’s faintly unpleasant at the least or foetid at worst?
But your breath is always fine isn’t it? No-one says anything so it must be OK. Heard that one before?
Especially in those over 35 to 40, the tendency to unpleasant odours can be due to bacterial action on specks of debris between your teeth and under gum level. So you just brush - right? Well, you can try, and you can spray deodorisers in your mouth and so on. But the odours will creep back.
So what can you do? Come to us. We will help you manage any breath problems, and we can give advice, even if it’s not of mouth-based origin.
Early or late gum disease is often around in breath problem cases. Trouble is, do you know gum disease when you see it? Can you feel it? Most people have absolutely no idea that they have either a gum or breath problem.
Those who are aware of their bad breath have got really bad breath. Do you want to wait until then?
95% of bad breath or halitosis is caused by bacterial action in the mouth. Complex chemical changes occur and smelly volatile sulphur compounds (VSCs) are produced.
TRY THIS: Lick the back of your wrist. Wait 30 seconds. Sniff gently. If there is a whiff of bad breath, it is revealed.
OR: Run some dental floss through a back tooth space. Remove carefully. Put under nose (yours preferably) and sniff.
It is no good just camouflaging with a nice minty spray, rinse or whatever. You must get to the real cause. And the cause is mouth bacteria plus trapped debris, even just tiny amounts.
Learn how to manage the problem efficiently with some help from us on a regular basis and some daily DIY. Easy prevention.
A surprising proportion of the population has bad breath (or halitosis) and is unaware. Generally, we are too polite and feel embarrassed about mentioning bad breath to our acquaintances at work, to our friends, and not often enough to our immediate family.
Bad breath may be due to food and tobacco use. More cases, though, are due to bacterial activity. Mouth sprays and medications only hide the cause.
We can help you cure or manage it. Easily.

Mouth Cancer

Mouth cancer is a malignant growth which can occur in any part of the mouth, including the tongue, lips and throat. Mouth cancers have a higher proportion of deaths per number of cases than breast cancer, cervical cancer or skin melanoma. The mortality rate is just over 50%, despite treatment, with about 1,700 deaths per year in the UK. This is because of late detection. Visit your dentist at once if you notice any abnormal problems or are not sure. Regular dental checkups allow early detection of abnormalities in the mouth.

Exam & Mouth Cancer

We look not simply at your teeth, but at your whole mouth, its tissue health and function, and associated areas. We always examine your soft tissue health and occasionally we have to advise on a condition that must not be ignored. A certain percentage of patients will have a tissue lesion or maybe a cancerous or pre-cancerous condition. Sometimes we don’t know precisely what it is. But we will advise you to allow us to refer you for an expert opinion, either private or NHS, usually to a hospital-based consultant colleague, and it will be done promptly by us.
We will advise you on various aspects of your mouth health. You will be informed about any treatment that is necessary or optional, together with a duplicated written estimate.

Frequently Asked Questions

Tooth decay does not necessarily cause discomfort but the tooth is still deteriorating. Frequent checkups help to detect decay early when cavities are small, so they are easier and more economical to treat. We aim to help our patients to achieve lower maintenance mouths. To do this, frequent monitoring and advice is necessary. Oral cancer and other soft tissue problems may also be spotted at an early stage.

It is a malignant growth which can occur in any part of the mouth. In the early stages it is painless so it makes sense to let us check you regularly. Oral cancers cause a higher proportion of deaths per number of cases than breast or cervical cancer or skin melanoma, mainly due to late detection. Heavy smokers and drinkers are most at risk.
We can use them to detect features we cannot readily appreciate, like early decay, various “quiet” disease processes that may be lurking such as an early abscess, bone loss, etc. – it is a long list.
We are very careful and know the safe levels. Do you? We never operate anywhere near danger levels. We use “fast” minimal exposures so even several in one visit do not approach danger levels.
We have the National Radiological Protection Board to monitor our overall safety procedures. And do you know that when you travel on your holiday jet you get a dose of radiation from space? Travelling to USA you receive the approximate equivalent of a chest X-ray whether you like it or not? That is a lot more than you get on a routine dental appointment. Frequent fliers are at risk.

White Fillings

Gross decay in a front tooth. One easy visit at this Wiltshire dental practice for this patient to provide a tooth-coloured filling.
The material is called Composite and it is bonded into the structure of the tooth rather than just sitting in a dovetailed cavity so it does not drop out (like amalgam).
We can match your tooth shade and make a virtually invisible repair that is instantly set and usable. If a group of old style fillings are replaced then immediately the appearance brightens. Upper teeth transformed back to a natural appearance.
He had never realised that anything could be done for him and expected extractions. What a difference just one easy appointment made? He didn’t look back after that. See flash animation of worn teeth on the left.

Tooth Whitening

Lady in her early forties. Teeth are slowly yellowing (Vita shade A3.5). She had whitening carried out, and was pleased with this result (Vita shade B1).
A simple and effective way to brighten dull or yellowed teeth. You have a special assessment of your mouth, since although in essence simple, we need to take account of anything that could spoil or interfere with the procedure.
Yes usually there is. But allow us to check a few details in your case first, please, and we will advise you whether simple whitening is your answer or if there are other factors to consider as well.
Dentists have access to more effective and efficient materials and methods, so the process is not only much more rapid but safely controlled and supervised as well.

Crowns, Inlays & Veneers

Crowns

Very weak teeth or teeth that are to have a major appearance change will have a crown. This is a protective envelope covering the old tooth and giving it a better chance of long term survival in the 24 hour function situation of your mouth.
Two visits are usually needed and the crown is made by a skilled technician in a dental laboratory.

Inlays

These are somewhere between a large filling and a crown. For example, a back tooth needing a large repair, but not so large that a crown is necessary, will be a candidate for an inlay.
The inlay is produced in a laboratory between two visits, and it looks like a tooth coloured filling that is ready to be fitted (inlaid) into a matching cavity in the tooth, and that is what happens. The tooth is restored to a natural appearance and function.

Veneers

Imagine false fingernails. Now imagine the dental version: false front facings for front teeth made of ceramic or composite materials. These are veneers. They are fixed to the front teeth to change appearance in a simple procedure. Two visits are necessary.
Yes. We can discuss whether straightening by orthodontics or maybe veneering or crowning is for you.

Bridges

A bridge is a fixed appliance that replaces missing teeth or small dentures by being secured to adjacent natural teeth. There are a number of different methods and materials, but mostly treatment is completed in a couple of visits.
Below are before and after photos of a lady aged about 60 here at our Devizes dental practice who had been unable to smile with her very old denture (replacing the two upper front teeth) surrounded by disintegrating natural teeth. Following discussion, she opted not to have a denture and we provided crown and bridgework to not only replace the missing two teeth but vastly improve her appearance.

Denture

Convincingly natural dentures are possible. Sometimes a denture is the best answer for a particular individual. The pros and cons are discussed with you. We will discuss your options. You then decide.
Many patients, when asked if keeping teeth is important to them, confirm that it is. In our Wiltshire dental practice we try to help you avoid dentures if that is in your best interests.
We will always take careful note of what our patients tell us about the denture problems (appearance, function, speech) that they may have had in the past, so that we can attempt an improvement in the replacement appliance(s). Different options are usually available and a full discussion initially is always best for both patient and dentist. As you would expect, we use high quality methods, materials and experienced technicians to produce blended natural results. Both of us want the satisfaction of teeth that are unquestionably "yours" and unremarkable for other people.

Implants

An implant is a device that is placed where a tooth was, and is, in effect, a replacement root. The implant and the bone fuse in a process called osseointegration. Once integrated, a tooth (or teeth) is secured to the implant to provide a result that is both aesthetic and long lasting. Implants offer a very predictable treatment and give success rates that are the best in dentistry today. Indeed, if cared for, the implants, like teeth, should last for life.
If we agree that implants may be the way forward for a patient, Then we advise that they are treated by our recommended practitioners with a special interest in implantology. This increasingly popular treatment is regrettably being provided in many instances by practitoners without adequate qualification, and we steer our patients away from that situation.
Implants are provided on referral to trusted and experienced colleagues who work in cooperation with the Practice. As with other referrals, the patient continues with our Practice following treatment.

Children

This Devizes dental practice welcomes the children of our adult patients. They are treated comprehensively and yet the costs are much lower on our Children’s Tariff.
We encourage both child and parent in prevention rather than simply cure. The importance of preserving the deciduous or primary (baby or milk) set of teeth is stressed. This is not only for comfort and function but because they help to guide through the later secondary (adult) teeth into position.
Our Hygienist is particularly interested and keen to have children of a family together in a visit to show them simple mouth care and chat to the parents about dietary and other matters.
We listen to the parents’ opinions and viewpoints, and try to embrace these if possible in the children’s treatment plans.

Frequently Asked Questions

We like to see infants from two to two and a half years of age in this Wiltshire dental practice. They are in your arms, not ours, for a simple and brief appraisal of their mouths. They are not in a dental chair and neither are you – you sit in an easy chair away from lights and other curious equipment. Then we “count their teeth”. Simple. During your Hygienist visits you are welcome to ask for her advice on your baby’s dental care, long before proper checkups are possible.
The children of our adult patients are automatically entitled to attend. There is no New Patient fee.
We do not charge the under 6 year olds. Out of hours emergency treatment to all under 18s is FREE.
We make nominal charges for children aged 6y to 17y 11m, e.g. £5 for a 6 to 12 yearold’s exam.

Orthodontic Treatment

Orthodontic treatment is a specialised branch of dentistry which seeks to achieve good development, appearance and function of an individual’s teeth and jaws. Mostly it is the young who are treated but adult orthodontics also is a growing field.
Our child Orthodontic cases are referred to trusted local specialist services while the patient continues to attend for regular checkups at the Practice as usual. Referral is normally NHS based but can be Private if preferred. Adult cases are always private.

Frequently Asked Questions

Our normal procedure is to refer our children for NHS orthodontics. We continue their regular checkups here as normal during their orthodontics, and keep an extra vigilant eye on their cleaning.

Restorations

New for Old
Above: deep tooth abrasions from excessive cleaning force, an increasingly common feature in older mouths.
Below: after a simple one-visit restoration of both teeth. Not only natural appearance, but also a protective shield that will help preserve the teeth. Easy for the patient and instantly useable.

Frequently Asked Questions

There is always much debate and discussion but few really hard facts. Amalgam is a combination of mercury and silver. The real problem seems to be “free” mercury itself, in liquid or vaporised forms. But in amalgam it is locked in if the amalgam is produced and handled correctly. Take a look at the Web for information. Fact is, in the UK we have had silver amalgam restorations (i.e. an alloy of silver and mercury) for far longer than most people realise, since the mid 1800s.
Yes. We prefer you to have non-metal restorations generally. The natural colour materials are good and there are always new developments in both materials and techniques
If we can see no harm in it for you, then yes. A number of patients like to show a little gold in their smile.

Mouth Guards

Sometimes called Gum Shields, these are for teeth protection during certain risky contact sports, such as rugby, football, hockey, squash, martial arts.
The ready made ones don’t fit accurately enough to give your teeth the best protection. We will make you a custom fitted appliance suited to the sport you advise us you will be playing.
We can make them in various colours and colour combinations!
They don’t last forever, especially in a growing young person. If in doubt, ask us to check your old one.

Root Canal Treatment

When things go irreversibly wrong in the delicate “nerve” tissue in the middle of a tooth, then root canal treatment provides the means to both keep the tooth and often to relieve discomfort. The alternative would be loss of the tooth.
Patients are continually surprised at what can be saved. Apparently hopeless looking teeth can often be reclaimed as yours, provided good home mouth maintenance is already in place.
Treatment covers systematic internal cleaning and then filling. Following root canal treatment, the tooth needs final restoration with maybe a crown or a simple filling.
Most cases are treated within this Practice. Just occasionally, there are cases better treated by a specialist practitioner (Endodontist) and such a case is referred, with the patient’s agreement, to a trusted colleague. They return to us for final restoration.

Oral Surgery

Removing teeth is a necessary treatment sometimes, but usually much easier than the patient anticipates. We are extremely careful and sympathetic.
Simple root removal and simple gum surgery are undertaken.
Some cases benefit from referral to a specialist colleague and this may be a Consultant Maxillofacial and Oral Surgeon or possibly a specialist periodontist. Such matters are discussed and agreed beforehand.