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Who’s Terry?

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Terry is our brand new iTero intraoral digital scanner!  We can now digitally scan your teeth instead of taking impressions! No more messy moulds! You get to see all your teeth, in a 3D animation, within minutes! We use Terry for Invisalign consultations and within a few minutes, your predicted Invisalign result shows up on screen! It’s very cool technology! We also use the scanner to send digital records to the lab for other procedures such as crowns, bridges and tooth whitening.  Come and visit Terry on our Invisalign open day and see what your teeth could look like after Invisalign treatment.  We hope to see you there!
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Why do I need a crown?

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When teeth break, eg due to trauma or dental decay, there are various options we use to fix them.  If only a small amount of tooth has broken, or there is a small dental cavity, then a filling (direct restoration) can usually be used to fix it. We use materials such as resin composite and amalgam to do this.  However, if a large part of the tooth is missing, or there is a crack in the tooth, it may benefit from a crown or onlay (indirect restoration).  Before (top) and after (bottom) a crown.  Before (top) and after (bottom) a crown.  Crowns and onlays are restorations that are made in the dental laboratory, and then cemented or bonded onto the tooth. In order to fit a crown/onlay, the tooth needs to be carefully prepared into the right size and shape.  These dental models show the tooth prep (top) and the new crown (bottom).  The tooth preparation is different depending on the material used for the resto...
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Character traits and precise preps!

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My husband used to be a farmer and when we visited his family farm after lockdown, I had a go at driving the tractor to help with the flat rolling. I was alright for a beginner but didn't get perfectly straight lines of even width (which was fine, it did the job!!) but it made me realise how precise I'm used to working in dentistry.  Did you know that in some dental procedures, dentists work to the accuracy of 0.01mm? We consider aspects such as the type of dental material we want to use, the amount of enamel present on the tooth, and the design of restoration we are planning. Did you know that there is a different design of tooth preparation depending on the type of material we're using? This means that the crown prep for a gold crown is different to the prep for a tooth coloured / ceramic crown. Below are some different designs of preparation for gold restorations. We use putty stents to help us see how much reduction we have done. As a dentist, I ...
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The sun is shining and Sherborne is smiling!

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It's been the hottest week of the year so far, and Sherborne is loving it! It's so great to see the community buzzing and enjoying the warm weather, particularly as lockdown restrictions lift and we can enjoy our favourite coffee shops, pubs and eateries once again!  As the warmer weather arrives, don't forget to protect your skin with a sunscreen of at least SPF 30 and a high UVA protection rating. (as recommended by the British Association of Dermatologists)  86% of melanoma skin cancer cases in the UK are caused by overexposure to ultraviolet radiation (Brown et al, 2018), and this is preventable!  Enjoy the lovely weather Sherborne, keep smiling, and stay sun smart!  Our wonderful nurse Charlotte is walking 60 miles during June to raise money for Cancer Research UK. Visit her page  here   Reference Brown KF, Rumgay H, Dunlop C, et al.  The fraction of cancer attributable to known risk factors in Engla...
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