FAQs

How long does a clean procedure take?

This depends upon how clean your mouth is at the outset. Some patients are effective with their toothbrush and flossing habits, and cleaning can take only a few minutes. Others may have tenacious staining (eg from smoking) and a lot of calculus attached to their teeth and may require a 60min appointment, or a number of appointments.

How much does a filling cost?

We get asked this a lot and it isn’t a simple question to answer. We often use the example of ringing up a car dealer and asking how much a car would cost. Some fillings are small, single surface fillings which might only take a few minutes to do. Others are large, awkward, hard to access and complicated and naturally take more time and therefore are more expensive. So if you ask our receptionists this question and they tell that it depends on the filling, don’t think they are being evasive as it’s an impossible question to answer without knowing exactly what the problem is.

Am I too old to have my teeth straightened?

Short answer, no you aren’t.

Longer answer is that there isn’t an age after which teeth can’t be straightened. It may take a little longer but age certainly isn’t a barrier to tooth straightening.

Should I replace all of my amalgam fillings?

Short answer, no.

Longer answer is that there is little reason to disturb satisfactory amalgam restorations. We understand that some patients may wish to do so for a number of reasons and are prepared to do so if this is requested. Otherwise we replace amalgams as they fail, and we don’t use amalgam as a filling material.  Instead we wither use tooth coloured fillings or ceramic restorations.

Does root canal treatment really hurt?

Adequate anaesthesia is the key to ensuring any dental treatment is not a painful process. There is little difference in pain levels for fillings, root canal treatment or extractions and it usually comes back to using sufficient amounts of local anaesthesia.

Why do I have to have x rays?

X rays are another diagnostic tool, and enable dentists to view areas of the tooth that aren’t visible to the naked eye. There are many times when a large area of decay in between teeth can be completely undetectable to direct vision but very visible radiographically.