Keep calm and see the dentist in Stevenage

If you are holding off seeing the dentist in Stevenage because of fear or anxiety, here at Smilecraft in Stevenage Old Town, we can help you. We know that many adults experience dental phobia – around 30% in the UK – it’s way more common than you might think and you are not alone.

Whether you are concerned for your child or are anxious yourself, we have many ways to help our nervous patients and pride ourselves on offering the comfort and reassurance you need to sit easy in the dentist’s chair.

You are welcome

Our warm and friendly team have decades’ worth of experience and enjoy putting patients at ease.

Staying relaxed

If you are anxious about a particular treatment, we can offer conscious sedation. This isn’t an alternative to anaesthetic. Sedation isn’t a pain killer, it helps you to relax and stay calm during the treatment. You will be conscious but may not remember the procedure afterwards.

Sedation can be taken either as a tablet before your treatment or administered intravenously through an injection.

Easy does it

We use The Wand, which is a pain-free injection system. The Wand is a small, thin, pen-like device that we use to administer anaesthetic. It works at a low pressure; many of our patients aren’t even aware that it’s in use. We can be much more precise in targeting the area that needs numbing, which means little or no freezing of surrounding areas such as the lips.

Clear and clean

We explain all our treatments in advance thoroughly, including timescale and cost, so you know exactly what will happen each step of the way.

Ask us anything

You are welcome to drop in to see our dentist in Stevenage and talk to any of the team about your dental health. Have a look around and talk to us about any questions or concerns you have.

This surgery has been at the heart of Stevenage for more than 25 years and we have served several generations of the same family. We’ve built up our reputation through trust, consistency and excellent care. Drop in today and see if we could be your new dentist in Stevenage.

The foundation for a beautiful smile

When you visit a dentist these days, you can easily get carried away with fantasies of perfectly shaped white teeth created by cosmetic dentistry.

And, while, at Smilecraft, we agree that of course you should have well-aligned, shapely, white teeth, if you want them, we also believe that good oral health forms the foundation of every beautiful smile.

Dentist in Stevenage That is why when you join our clinic and come to us for your first appointment with a Stevenage dentist, we will start by taking a detailed look at your gums, jawbone, tongue and mouth, as well as your teeth. We will also have a good chat with you about your dental history, and your dental desires.

However, if we find that you need some remedial work, we will carry this out using modern equipment, techniques and materials.

For example, your fillings no longer need to be made of mercury amalgam. Your Stevenage dentist at Smilecraft can use composite materials that match your tooth colour and withstand the stresses and pressures that biting and chewing place on teeth. With this kind of filling material, we do not have to remove so much of the tooth in order to give it something to bond too, which means your teeth are stronger too.

It may be that at some point, you will need to have root canal therapy. This need arises after bacteria have entered into the pulp of the tooth, either via a crack or decay. These bacteria give off acid, which irritates and infects the tooth, leading to severe toothache as the pressure increases inside the tooth. Our dentist will clean out the canal, removing the pulp and filling the resultant space before sealing it.

If you need to have teeth removed, your Stevenage dentist can fill the gap left with a bridge. Bridges are false teeth supported by the teeth next to them, or by dental implants. This stops the surrounding teeth from tipping into the gap left by the lost tooth.

However, if you come to us for a twice-yearly check-up, visit the hygienist, and brush and floss twice a day, you may never lose a tooth or need root canal therapy.

Looking for a dental clinic for life?

If you are shopping around for a dentist in Stevenage, you are probably looking for one whose skills you can trust. Feeling comfortable and able to trust your dentist is as important as trusting your new car, or feeling comfortable in your new home. You only get one mouth, and keeping it in optimum health and looking good over decades of hard wear and tear is very important.

As we go through life, our dental needs change, and what most people want is to be able to find a great dentist whom they can go and see throughout their lives and take their children to see, and, even their elderly parents.

Dentist in Stevenage At Smilecraft, dentists Dr Bradley Abrahams and Dr Caroline King head up a practice with three hygienists, and three nursing and reception staff. We have been established for more than 25 years and extend our caring ethos to your entire family.

When you bring your toddler or baby with you to the dentist for the first time, your Stevenage dentist will make sure that these very young patients have a positive experience. That way, they will be able to start building a lifetime habit of regular visits to keep in optimum oral health.

When your baby becomes a child and then a teenager, our dentist in Stevenage will be on the lookout for the changes that growing mouths and emerging teeth go through. They will be able to catch problems with crowded, crooked or misaligned teeth almost before they happen and recommend the right treatment to give young patients a great smile of healthy teeth.

But it’s not just the teenage year that are important: as we go through adulthood, our teeth and mouths continue to evolve. Accidents, lifestyle, diet, and wear and tear all take their toll on our hard-working mouths. Our dentists can correct any problems, be they health-related, such as infections, or aesthetic problems, such as chipped, worn or broken teeth.

In older age, our dental needs are more likely to include the need for replacement artificial teeth and problems with receding gums. Your Stevenage dentist can look out for the issues that come with old age, recommending the best options for you.

Time for a smile makeover

When you know your car isn’t working properly, but you don’t know how to make it a thing of beauty and a joy to drive again, you take it to a car expert. The same goes for teeth and mouths. Yes, you can live for years with teeth that don’t look great. They may even have a few issues that you can live with (other than decay or gum disease, which cause discomfort). Perhaps you know what we are talking about. You keep your smile under wraps these days. You no longer roar with laughter. If you have removable false teeth or a fixed bridge, you can’t even eat your favourite crunchy, chewy foods.

Smile Makeovers in Stevenage All in all, when your smile is no longer a lovely thing, for whatever reason, each day, in subtle but undeniable ways, chips away at your self-esteem.

If you can do it for your beloved old car, shouldn’t you take your teeth to a professional and see if they can be restored to their full gleaming former glory? If you never had a Rolls Royce of a smile, there are ways to turn it into one.

The world of smile makeovers

At Smilecraft, we can give you one of our famous smile makeovers in Stevenage. This is an umbrella term for a combination of cosmetic dentistry treatments. We take a good look at your mouth and work out a plan to bring your smile to peak condition.

This may include getting some teeth straightened. This will not only make them look better, they will be easier to clean and your chewing pressure will be more evenly distributed, so your teeth will last longer.

If your teeth are chipped and worn, they can be repaired by covering them with veneers or composite bonding. Your back molars may need something stronger like crowns.

Stained teeth, as long as there are no prosthetics such as veneers, can often be whitened.

How these treatments are combined and in what order they are performed is vital to the success of your treatment, and you will receive a treatment plan with the order and cost of treatments needed to make over your smile.

It’s not about vanity, it’s about oral health

Did you sneak past the braces monster as a kid and now wish you had had your teeth straightened? Maybe your teeth weren’t quite wonky enough to qualify for free treatment on the NHS? Maybe your parents could not afford it or you refused? Perhaps now you wish you had straighter teeth, but it’s just vanity right? Well, wrong, actually. Orthodontics in Stevenage could be exactly what you need.

Straighter teeth are generally healthier than wonky teeth. This is for two reasons:

Plaque

Plaque is the sticky film that builds up on our teeth during the day. It is bacteria that live in the mouth and they proliferate by feeding on the sugars in our mouths left from food and drinks. Plaque quickly hardens into tartar and gives off acid. This attacks tooth enamel and creates cavities through which bacteria can sneak in to decay the teeth. Acid from plaque along the gum line inflames and irritates the gums, and can also attack the bone, loosening teeth, perhaps even causing them to fall out. If you take advantage of orthodontics in Stevenage, your straighter teeth will provide far fewer places for plaque to hide and build up, which can lead to decay and gum disease. You will have a much higher chance of hanging onto your natural teeth for life.

Pressure

When you chew, ideally your teeth bite down evenly against each other and work as a team to create the forces (up to 97kg or 200lbs) that are needed to break down your food into a swallowable paste.

However, when your teeth are wonky, only a few teeth bear the brunt of that force and it takes its toll on them. Over time they get worn down and can crumble away, leaving them vulnerable to decay.

Replacement parts

Teeth that are misaligned have a much higher chance of needing to be extracted in later life, and this means you will have to replace them. Orthodontics in Stevenage may seem like a big investment, but it could be nothing compared to the cost of dental implants, or the hassle of dentures.

Quick and easy teeth straightening

If you have been thinking about getting your teeth straightened, you may be wondering about where to get good braces in Stevenage. Teeth straightening, as a term, covers a wide variety of problems, including those relating to the upper and lower jaw not matching up so that the teeth meet evenly.

Problems with jaw alignment usually get fixed when you are a child, and often with funding from the NHS, so if you are an adult looking for braces in Stevenage, you are probably more concerned with some wonky teeth that are at the front of your mouth and show when you talk and smile. At Smilecraft, we call these the front six social teeth, and they can be easy and quick to get straightened.

One of our favourite ways of doing this is with a cosmetic braces treatment called Six Month Smiles. This kind of braces in Stevenage is aimed at people with mild misalignment on the front teeth, and can be placed by a specially trained general and cosmetic dentist, such as at Smilecraft.

How does Six Month Smiles work?

Six Month Smiles are a twist on the traditional metal bracket and wire braces, but so much nicer to look at. The brackets are much smaller and are made of clear ceramic rather than metal. The wire, and there’s only one, is much thinner and is tooth-coloured nickel titanium.

The wire is strung through the brackets, which are placed at just the right angles to pull your teeth into the right position. The wire is tightened through the brackets to achieve a constant, gentle pressure that will straighten your teeth in an average time of only six months, hence the brand name. These braces are not invisible, but blend in with your teeth and look more like a piece of jewellery than a train track.

You will need to wear a retainer after treatment to keep your teeth in place. You can either have one bonded to the backs of your teeth, or you can have one more like a mouth guard, which you wear at night.

We can talk you through which one is right for you when you come in for your consultation with one of our dentists.

Give yourself a good start to the day

For so many people, seeing their appearance in the mirror in the morning is not a pleasant experience. Sadly, many choose to put up with the discomfort, inconvenience or compromised appearance caused by crooked teeth. If you worry about your smile, experience pain or have difficulties with eating or speaking then you may like to speak to our experienced team at Smilecraft in Stevenage. Orthodontics is a branch of dentistry that focussing on how the teeth, jaws and face develop.

Orthodontics in Stevenage You may think that having braces is costly, takes a long time or involves having a mouth full of metal. The good news is that modern treatment is effective and discreet, so that there is no need to put up with wonky teeth any longer. For our patients in Stevenage, orthodontics has improved their quality of life as well as their oral health.

Fast solutions that do not stand out

People nowadays are conscious of their image as well as short on time, so we offer the Six Months Smile technique to people looking for orthodontics in Stevenage. The tooth-coloured wires and brackets are very unobtrusive, so you do not have to worry about whether people are staring at your braces. They work very quickly so you really could be enjoying your new smile in six months. Treatment time can be longer, but we can usually give you a good indication of timescale when we discuss the procedure with you. Many people find that it is a cost-effective way of benefitting from Stevenage orthodontics, as the length of time involved is reduced.

Why have straighter teeth?

Crooked teeth are a common reason that people feel uncomfortable with their smile so correcting this can immediately make everyday life feel more pleasant. If you would like a smile to be proud of then orthodontics in Stevenage can help. There are other benefits too. Excessive gaps between your teeth can allow other teeth to drift out of place, compounding the problem. They are also harder to clean due to plaque accumulation, which can result in gum disease, decay and bad breath.

Find out why so many patients seek orthodontics in Stevenage. Our experienced team looks forward to discussing how we can help you.

Looking after your teeth over Christmas

We need to look after our teeth all year and especially over Christmas. After all, who wants to be stuck in the dentist’s practice over Christmas? Keeping our teeth happy and healthy is the best way to avoid any unwanted surprises this Christmas.

Visiting your dentist regularly and keeping on top of your oral hygiene is the way to keep a high standard of oral hygiene.

Merry Christmas Here at Smilecraft, we also offer a wide range of treatments to keep your teeth looking beautiful, as well as feeling great. The demand for treatments like teeth whitening and cosmetic braces has grown in recent years and so has the number of options available to patients.

Keeping your teeth clean

The most important part of your oral hygiene routine is brushing. Your dentist usually advises to brush at least twice a day. This number can be higher, depending on your habits, dental history and if you wear braces or not.

Although brushing is the most important part of your oral hygiene routine, flossing at least once a day is also important. Many dentists will also recommend using an anti-bacterial mouthwash to keep the nasty bacteria away from your teeth.

Many people also forget to brush and clean their tongue. This is an important part of maintaining a high standard of oral hygiene.

Why is visiting the dentist so important?

Having a friendly dentist that you can visit regularly is important because a dentist can evaluate your overall oral health and spot any problems before they turn into an issue.

During a regular check-up at Smilecraft, your dentist will check for any signs of tooth decay that may need treatment. This treatment could come in the form of a filling or maybe root canal therapy for more serious cases.

At Smilecraft we can treat most dental issues and make your teeth live their full potential. If it’s getting that extra shine or straightening your teeth to perfection you want, we have the treatment for you.

If you have any questions about any treatments, come in for a visit at Smilecraft, and from all of the team here in Stevenage: Merry Christmas.

Improve the appearance and performance of your teeth

At Smilecraft in Stevenage, braces are used for two reasons: to make teeth more effective, and to improve their appearance. If you have front teeth that stick out too much, or a higgledy-piggledy smile, we can realign your teeth with a contemporary method that’s often surprisingly speedy and discreet.

Braces in Stevenage

Braces in Stevenage Our Six Month Smiles braces are a way to reposition the teeth in a short amount of time. As the name suggests, the average duration is six months. This modern dental appliance focuses on the teeth at the front of your mouth, the ones most visible when you smile. They apply gentle pressure to your teeth, following a meticulously customised treatment plan. Plus, they’re made of a transparent material, so they won’t attract too much attention while you’re wearing them.

Dental improvements

If too many teeth are pointing the wrong way, the jaw can be put under excessive strain. Straighter teeth look better, and do their jobs more efficiently. They’re also easier to keep clean. Crooked or crowded smiles have awkward nooks and crannies, in which food particles and bacteria can hide. Realigning the teeth can thus reduce your risk of developing tooth decay and gum disease.

Treatment

Your treatment will begin with a conversation between you and the dental team. If having braces in Stevenage is the appropriate method to achieve your desired outcome, we’ll take some images of your mouth and create a detailed treatment plan.

You’ll then begin wearing your braces, under our supervision. Regular checks on progress will ensure everything stays on track. When it’s time to remove the braces, you may need to wear a retainer at night, to make sure your teeth get used to their new positions.

Healthier future

Improving the position of your teeth will make it easier to look after your oral health. The enhanced aesthetic appeal of your smile can have a positive effect on your overall self-image. These significant and long-lasting benefits, and the speed and subtlety of the treatment, make our Stevenage braces popular with adults. Even those with customer-facing jobs can wear these low-key dental appliances without embarrassment, while the results are plain to see.

Preparing for orthodontics in Stevenage

If you want to get your teeth straightened, you may need orthodontics in Stevenage. At Smilecraft, we do all we can to help you prepare for the experience of wearing braces. This might include giving you information on what will happen and advice on how to cope with each stage of the journey.

Orthodontics in Stevenage When you visit Smilecraft, a member of our team will give you personalised guidance. However, there are some general preparatory steps that apply to almost everyone:

Selecting your braces

Choosing the right braces for your circumstances goes a long way towards making your treatment comfortable. You may be able to select a method like Six Month Smiles, for example, so that you can enjoy fast-acting, discreet braces that are easy to fit and popular with our patients;

Healthy teeth

Before you start having any orthodontics in Stevenage, your teeth need to be in good condition. Braces move teeth gently, but it is still a strong process for them to undergo. In order to enjoy your treatment and reduce the risk of damage to your teeth, you may need to have repairs, fillings or even a good clean and polish before you start your teeth straightening procedure;

Emotions

Teeth straightening is a long-term treatment. While some procedures, like Six Month Smiles, take a shorter amount of time than many methods, you still need to be prepared to wear braces for a few months or more. The best way to prepare emotionally for this is to look forward to the way your teeth will look when they have been moved. You could put up a picture on your fridge of a straight and beautiful smile to help remind you;

Extractions

Occasionally, a tooth or two may need to be removed to make room for the realignment of your smile. This particularly applies if you have had a problem with overcrowding prior to your treatment. Your dentist will only do this if necessary and they will discuss it with you beforehand;

Advice

Following the advice of your dentist helps you to enjoy your treatment and keeps your teeth and gums healthy. This might include tips on food choices, care and frequency of check-ups.

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