Harley Street, London (Wikipedia)

I visited my new Harley Street dentist the other day. My experiment with Harley Street has turned out to be extremely successful.

My idea was to visit a Harley Street dentist to see if they were really worth it. Was my own dentist giving me the advice and help I really needed? Or was I being misled?

Were Harley Street prices really worth paying, or were they a rip-off?

Well, it is true that I ended up paying more in Harley Street than I would have done in Brighton. (I suppose that’s pretty obvious…)

In addition to that, my Brighton dentist just had not kept me up to date with the state of my teeth.

I had teeth which were actively decaying. ACTIVELY. But no word from him!

You could easily see the decay from the photographs taken in Harley Street. My Brighton dentist was telling me that in time – some point in the future – I would need crowns.

What I was not being told was:

1. My teeth were actually decaying NOW
2. It was a conservative treatment have crowns. In other words, my teeth would last longer if they were crowned, rather than having the huge fillings which were a legacy from my childhood.

Now, I’m sure that many people have dentists who are extremely careful, highly skilled and give great results. I am not saying you have to go to Harley Street for that. Not necessarily.

But in my experiment, I went to a Harley Street dentist I was recommended to by someone who I respect; someone who hardly recommends anybody, ever! And this dentist is warm  and caring, and everything she does she illustrates through x-rays and films. I can see everything going on in a way I never have before at any other dentist. She explains everything really well, and I never feel at all hurried.

And I feel very confident that I am getting the best treatment.

It’s a bit like taking your car to a mechanic. It’s hard to know what they are doing under that bonnet! Well, with this dentist I feel very confident. You won’t necessarily get that with every Harley Street dentist, I am sure: but this one worked for me!

I am getting some pictures of my treatment and will put them up on the blog. One interesting one is to see an x-ray of a broken root: then of the titanium rod: then of the final tooth implant.

My Teeth – A Dentistry Update is a post from: Living To 150

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There are ‘natural’ dentists around if you look for them. For those of us outside USA the choice is poor though: they are mainly ‘over there’!

Oh well, an excuse for a holiday maybe.

Here are a few resources I picked out which look worthy of investigation.

Ray Behm, Florida, USA

The Institute for Nutritional Dentistry
New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, London

New Concept

Dr Marvin, San Diego

Mercury free dentistry – all over the USA

Dr Alan Green, Boulder, Colorado

Finally – one of the best is last: Tom Cornwell is a great source of knowledge on tooth matters. Check him out here.

Hope these resources provide you with a good starting point for improving your tooth health.

Some Natural Dentists is a post from: Living To 150

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A crown, or, cap, is used when a tooth has worn down or to prolong its life if it has a large filling.

I certainly did not realise that a crown could make a tooth last longer. I also wrongly believed that having a crown made you needed a root canal filling. This is not the case.

A tooth with a large filling in the middle will have two cusps, front and back, which are liable to crack off. This is because of the pressure down on the filling from the tooth above, which tends to spread the filling, pushing the cusps outwards. I had a number of teeth with large filling – a remnant from childhood when dentists seems to drill big holes in all your teeth.

When you have a large filling in a tooth, by having a crown which completely covers the tooth the pressure from the tooth above is absorbed by the crown, protecting the underlying tooth. This makes the tooth last longer.

As it is my aim to live to be at least 150 I need to have my teeth lasting as long as possible.

The Benefit Of Dental Crowns is a post from: Living To 150

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My second trip to the dentist a couple of weeks later was to have the crowns fitted. I knew what to expect now so was not as apprehensive as the previous time.

The crowns had been made and they were sitting there fitted to a copy of my jaw.

Removing the temporary crowns from my teeth seem to require a huge amount of pressure to me. But it was not painful, and I suppose the glue used has to be quite strong so they don’t fall out before the patient returns.

Fitting each new one in place was a long job, longer than the job of fitting the temporary crown.

The fit is incredibly precise, and I was glad I was in the hands of a specialist in this area. I suppose the crowns are made slightly oversized, and then the trims them very slightly so that there is a perfect fit. She chopped off bits here and there, drilling off tiny pieces to make my bite absolutely perfect. She then checked it four or five times each side for each of the two crowns.

Eventually, she was happy, and I was happy. The necessary filling was done to a back tooth, and then it was just the extraction of the broken tooth to be done.

For the extraction, I was ready for quite a fight to pull out this broken tooth, only a small piece of which protruded above the gum line. In the event, I felt absolutely nothing.

I was stunned. The dentist fiddled about for about five minutes sticking something down into the gum, then out came the broken root. I felt nothing! I could have sworn that removing it would involve more discomfort than that. She assured me it should not.

Now I had to wait a few months for the bone to heal whether rooted come out. I would then have a visit to a surgeon who would assess how best to apply the titanium pin into the jawbone which would hold the implanted tooth to fit in the space. The ideal time to leave this was between three and six months, to heal up.

I emerged from dentist feeling a little bit number than the previous time, but still not too bad.

I still felt that I was in excellent hands, and did not regret my decision to proceed with this expensive treatment.

Follow Up – Crowns Fitted is a post from: Living To 150

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I approached my first proper treatment with a little apprehension. I knew it was going to be two or three hours long, and that there was work to be done on both sides of my jaw. I could see me walking out with no feeling at all in my mouth.

You will remember I was to have two crowns fitted, a filling, and the removal of a broken root.

One thing you get in Harley Street (at least in this surgery) is a flat-screen TV fitted to the roof above your dental chair, and the remote control in your hand. This was a first for me!

During this first treatment temporary crowns were to be fitted. This dentist is a specialist in this area.

The injections were fairly painless. The dentist worked on the teeth to be capped shaping them to receive the crowns. She would fit temporary crowns to the teeth once they had been shaped so that they were ready to receive the proper crowns once they had been made.

After 2 1/2 hours I emerged with all the shaping work done, and temporary crowns made in the surgery, and fitted. It was noticeable the great amount of care that went into creating the temporary crowns and ensuring that they did not interfere with my bite.

The anaesthetic was not quite as strong as I had feared, indeed it was nothing like as bad.

I headed for the train and the hour-long trip home.

Serious Dentist Treatment is a post from: Living To 150

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After a week I received a detailed plan of recommended treatment from my dentist. I had explained that I would not be doing everything at once, and so she prioritises the treatment to do the most important first.

One tooth had broken off a cusp and so obviously needed doing quickly. Another tooth had dropped out having had a broken for a few months. My previous dentist said wait till it falls out. Unfortunately, the tooth had become infected in the meantime and was oozing pus. Yuck! Probably a bad call to leave it so long.

So, removal of the root was also a high priority.

The two is next to the broken root had a large filling which was disintegrating. This was also prioritised for early treatment. Finally, back to is have a chunk which have fallen off, and so this was going to be repaired.

This was the initial treatment. The total cost was lower than it might have been because of who recommended me. The first chunk of treatment worked out at a total of £2750.

Follow Up Dentist Visit is a post from: Living To 150

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Having arrived at the dentist in Harley Street I went through the then a thorough examination. The dentist was very pleasant and friendly and made me feel completely at home.

After the consultation she took me through her findings. These were made much more comprehensible by the use of photographs. It was incredible to see excellent photographs of my teeth as she explained what was going on.

I have mentioned before that the photographs showed decay all-rounder large filling which no previous dentist had mentioned to me. This had obviously been going on for quite a while, and needed sorting out.

This alone was enough to convince me that I have come to the right place. Added to the strong recommendation of someone I trust, my decision was made I would certainly trust this person and go through their recommended treatment.

It is quite expensive, though, so I would spread it out over the course of a year.

Trip to Harley Street Dentist is a post from: Living To 150

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I have now had my treatment plan from the Harley Street dentist.

At the bottom left I have three teeth all with large fillings which are the ones she is most concerned about. She thinks these are ‘doomed’ to break down sooner rather than later without intervention. So this means three crowns.

Upper left I have a tooth which has crack at the root and fallen out. I knew this would need treatment. She plans to remove the remaining root, let it heal for three months, then have a titanium screw inserted. She has shown me on an xray that there is plenty of bone at this point to put the screw.

This part is no different from the treatment planned by my usual dentist.

Upper right, the back half of the back tooth has previously been mainly filling and a big chunk of this has fallen off. Another crown there.

Lower right a cusp has cracked off a tooth with a big filling. A crown for this – again, as proposed by by usual dentist.

The differences are – this dentist proposed taking much more action immediately as this is, as she calls it, ‘conservative’. I supposed you could say ‘conservational’. In other words, my teeth will last longer. And that is what I want.

I will go ahead with the plan.

Dental Treatment Plan is a post from: Living To 150

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