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Questions
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Answers
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Why should I have check-ups?
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| Check-ups allow us to diagnose and therefore fix problems before
they cause pain. In general, teeth (or gums) that cause pain are
much more difficult to fix, and therefore more expensive than
catching the problem before discomfort arises. |
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Isn't it easier to have a tooth
extracted when it has an abscess, and isn't it cheaper?
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| Yes and No. It is often easier to have a tooth extracted than
to save it, but equally often, extractions can be difficult and
unpleasant - and you lose the tooth. More often we recommend root
treatment -where the tooth is treated over one or two visits,
to ultimately cure the infection and keep a healthy tooth. |
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What if I am a nervous patient?
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| In many ways, the more nervous a patient is - the more rewarding
it is to treat them. There are few greater satisfactions in dentistry
than helping a fearful patient with toothache to overcome their
fears and become at ease with dental treatment. Often, all that
is needed is sympathetic, high quality, painless treatment. |
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Do we take N. H. S. patients?
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| Yes but we do offer private alternatives |
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Hygiene and
Sterility - How
do we ensure against cross infection ?
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Cross infection control is medical jargon
for techniques to ensure that germs (bacteria and viruses) are
not spread from patient to patient, staff to patient, or indeed
patient to staff. Effectively this is about making sure everything
we use in your mouth is clean - either by sterilization or by
the use of simple disposable equipment.The following will give
an indication of the provisions we take.
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We ensure the sterility of materials
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| By individually mixing for each patient, any surplus is thrown
away. No materials (i.e.) fillings, impressions, temporary crowns,
local anaesthetic etc. are re-used. |
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We ensure the sterility of needles
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| By use of pre-sterilized disposable needles. |
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We ensure the sterility of instruments
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By autoclaving (i.e.) processing in superheated steam, any instruments
with any possibility of being contaminated by blood or saliva.
This includes all our hand instruments, all burs (the things that
shape fillings) and even the high speed handpieces and scalers
that may be contaminated by water splash.
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We ensure the sterility of cotton wool, tissues and
saliva ejectors
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| By using disposable products. |
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We ensure the sterility of our hands
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| By using disposable gloves. |
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Is this not all very difficult and expensive?
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| Yes. A faulty autoclave would mean we would
have to close the surgery - to ensure that every instruments is
sterile, every cycle is checked with a chemical marking strip. |
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Yes. The delicate turbine bearings in handpieces are damaged
by autoclaving-this has cost a great deal over the years. We have
recently invested in the very latest handpieces with fibre-optic
light making it easier for the dentist to see what he is working
on .
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| Yes. British made stainless steel burs rust and are rendered
useless by autoclaving-we buy very expensive West German tungsten
burs. Yes. All this requires extra time in cleaning and sterilizing.
We have taken on an extra member of staff to cope. |
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And what about the environment?
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| We are unfortunately using ever-increasing numbers of disposable
plastic materials, non of which are recyclable due to contamination.
These are incinerated by a commercial concern. We use recycled
paper products whenever possible and do not use bibs routinely-
simply to cut down on the use of paper products. The use of autoclaves
and disposables minimises the use of chemical cleaning and subsequent
disposal problems. |
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