Why do I need to come to the dentist if I am not in any pain?

The problem is it doesn’t necessarily follow that not having any pain, means you don’t have any dental problems. Tooth decay and gum disease need to be well advanced before they cause pain. By the time they cause pain treatment becomes more difficult more expensive and time-consuming and the outcomes are less predictable. At our examinations, we will check your teeth and gums very carefully and advise you of any potential problems. We also check for mouth cancer. If your teeth and gums are completely healthy, we will give you advice on how to keep them that way.

How do you make sure all your equipment is properly clean and safe?

We adhere to all the latest government regulations advice and guidelines regarding equipment, cross infection and decontamination. All our equipment is properly serviced and maintained and our staff receive regular training to make sure we are completely up to speed. We take your safety and ours very seriously!  With respect to Covid 19 please ask to see our Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) if you require reassurance.

How can I pay my bill?

You can either pay by cash, credit/debit card or cheque or by Bank Transfer

For larger treatment plans we will require at least 50% of the cost of treatment on commencement. We can also provide a simple 12-month Interest-Free plan subject to status.

I'm really scared of the dentist. Can you help me ?

Many people feel a bit nervous at the thought of seeing the dentist, particularly a new dentist. Sometimes this fear or phobia is so severe it will stop people coming to see us unless they are in really severe pain. It could be you’ve had bad experiences as a child and the smells and sounds in the surgery bring those memories back, or your fear is very specific and you are really scared of injections or the slow drill. Whatever your problem is we can help!

The first thing to do is make an appointment and tell us you are nervous. You will find us sympathetic and friendly. We are nice and we don’t tell people off! We will listen to you and will do everything we can to help. We use anaesthetic cream to numb your gum before we give injections, we put you in charge so if you ever want us to stop you just wave at us and we stop. We go at your pace and we do treatment in short bursts. You mustn’t feel worried about telling us to stop if you’ve had enough.

If you haven’t been to the dentist in a long time you may be really worried about how much treatment you need. Most of the time it is nowhere near as bad as you imagine. The biggest thing is picking up the phone and making the appointment and then coming in.

No one is going to force you to have any treatment.  It's up to you to seek help and assistance in your own time at your own pace.

What guarantees do you offer on treatment?

We offer a 12 month standard guarantee on all our fillings, crowns, bridges and dentures. However, on top of this we will always assess each case on its merits, and if we believe an item needs replacing because of something we could have done better, we will redo it free of charge whether it is under guarantee or not. We always try to be fair and reasonable and to treat you the way we would like to be treated ourselves.

How does smoking affect my mouth?

The nicotine and tar in smoke will stain your teeth, it will cause and accelerate gum disease which may lead to tooth loss, you may get bad breath and it also increases your risk of developing mouth and throat (and obviously lung) cancers. Smoking reduces the blood and oxygen supply to the gums. Quite often this will mean that if you smoke your gums don’t bleed (first warning sign of gum disease), even though they are very unhealthy. If you are thinking about quitting please go to http://smokefree.nhs.uk/ where you should find lots of information support and advice and help you to give up.  Bridgewater Dental Surgery will give you every assistance you require to quit smoking.

Mouthwashes will help mask bad breath and may have some effect on the progress of gum disease. You need to visit us regularly so we can check your mouth for the very earliest signs of mouth cancer.

Please be aware that if you are thinking of having aesthetic dentistry and implants  then smoking will be a severe contra indication to these procedures being done.

What are the signs of mouth cancer?

Mouth cancer can appear in different forms and can affect all parts of the mouth, tongue and lips. It can appear as a painless mouth ulcer that does not heal normally. If you ever have a mouth ulcer that does not heal after 3 weeks please come to see us so we can check it out. At every examination, we do a thorough inspection for mouth cancer. We can see parts of your mouth that you cannot see. Mouth cancer is most common in patients over 40 who smoke cigarettes or a pipe and drink alcohol especially spirits. Mouth cancer kills almost 2000 people in the UK every year. Many of these deaths could have been prevented if the cancer had been caught early enough.

Please note, we don’t just restrict our examination to the mouth, we observe all the skin on your face and nose for any abnormality or swelling, as well as examining your neck glands.

Are dental X-rays dangerous?

The amount of radiation received from a dental X-ray is extremely small. We have recently invested in new digital radiography technology which reduces the radiation exposure still further. Radiation is present all around us all the time. You get about the same amount of radiation from having two dental X-rays as you do traveling on a flight to Europe. We take your safety and ours very seriously.

We use x rays to take radiographs which give us much more information about your teeth and mouth than we can see just by looking. It can show us decay in between the teeth or under old fillings which if treated early is much easier than waiting until the problem becomes obvious. They can show us the position of second teeth and what your wisdom teeth roots are doing. We usually take radiographs every 2 years as part of your regular examination or if we are treating specific teeth.