One of our favourite treatments for cosmetic teeth straightening is the Social 6 lingual brace. This brace is the truly invisible brace as it is placed on the inside of the teeth. Even though lingual braces have been around for many decades, there is little awareness of the system as the treatment in the past has been kept within the realm of specialist orthodontists and the costs have been incredibly high compared to conventional braces. Now for complex cases, lingual brace treatment is an extremely difficult and technically demanding one for dentists and patients and the costs, quite rightly, relate to this. However, for more simple cosmetic alignment, the Social 6 lingual brace is a great option for simple, quick and affordable treatment.
 

Our case of the month November 2022 involves the use of one of our favourite techniques: Philips ZOOM LED teeth whitening. Tooth whitening has been around for many years and there are lots of different systems on the market today. It is probably the most popular cosmetic dental treatment available and for good reason; everyone deserves whiter teeth! The treatment is safe, minimally invasive, easy to maintain and very affordable.
 

Our case of the month for September 2022 is a lovely smile transformation done the Progressive Dentistry way with invisalign full, teeth whitening & a new front dental crown. When we plan these types of treatments, we often will look at whether the teeth are in the right place first. Why is this so important? Well the reason is simple. If the teeth are not in the right place or well aligned, any cosmetic treatment will be a big compromise. For instance, in the days gone by, there was a fad for porcelain veneers and crowns. If the teeth were wonky to start with, this would mean having to cut a lot of healthy tooth to make the ceramic veneers or crowns. This is not a good idea! For every heavily prepared tooth, around 17-20% of the nerves die. This means root canal treatment and a risk the tooth will not last a life time.
 

Our case of the month for August 2022 was a fabulous one! A real smile transformation done correctly. Forget 'Turkey Teeth'! A smile transformation should involve minimal or no biological damage to the teeth and gums to enhance the aesthetic and functional issues. The term 'Turkey Teeth' comes from social media posts where a smile makeover is done over a weekend by hacking away natural healthy tooth structure and placing multiple crowns and veneers. These are often linked together with no means of cleaning between them. This is a recipe for disaster with not only a high risk of nerve death and root canals but also gum disease and infection. The cost of rectifying this treatment will far outweigh the 'savings' from going abroad and also lead to life long maintenance.

Anyway, back to our case and happier news. We first started with careful planning to straighten the teeth using Invisalign full. One of the main issues was that the dental arches were very narrow which is why you cannot see the back teeth on smiling. This is called the buccal corridor. With expansion, we have the opportunity to create space and correct crowding without IPR ( in between teeth filing and slimming) which we always strive to achieve. Invisalign is simply the best at arch expansion in our opinion. After only 8 months, we had lovely straight teeth ready for the next stage.