Scottish Centre for Excellence in Dentistry
Multi Specialty Dentistry
Watermark Business Park, 249 Govan Road, Glasgow, G51 1HJ, Scotland
0141-427-4530

Treatments Provided

Prosthodontics

Prosthodontics is the dental term for treatment to replace or restore teeth. Fixed prosthetics include crowns, bridges and restorations planned on dental implants. Removable prosthetics include partial and complete dentures and restorations anchored on dental implants.

Crowns

This type of restoration can be used for front and back teeth and reproduces the anatomy and colour such that it is difficult to tell the difference between a crowned tooth and a natural tooth.

While crowns can be used purely for cosmetic reasons (link to smile makeovers), it is usual for a crowned tooth to be heavily restored with filling material prior to preparation. A crown improves the appearance of a tooth but also protects tooth substance which is at risk from fracture. It is usual to recommend that a root treated tooth (link to this) is protected and a crown is very often the treatment of choice.

Crowns can be made from porcelain (or ceramic), porcelain fused to precious metal or entirely from gold. Great advances have been made in recent times allowing the manufacture of an all porcelain (or all ceramic) crown that is just as strong as porcelain fused to metal and without the grey lines that are sometimes a problem with porcelain fused to metal crowns (link to Procera, Nobelbiocare?).
Making a crown is a highly skilled job completed by a dental technician. Each individual crown is hand crafted and designed for the individual patient’s needs. With an all-ceramic crown, the foundation is sometimes made in Sweden and then shipped back to the United Kingdom and finished to our exacting standards. At SCED, we have our own in-house technicians and we also use some of the best technicians in the United Kingdom. It is amazing that this procedure only takes two to three weeks to complete!

What’s involved?

At the first appointment, any old or defective material is removed and replaced and the tooth prepared. A crown preparation is best described as a reduction of tooth structure – imagine a tooth and then imagine this same tooth shrunk by a precise amount. At the preparation visit any tooth structure is replaced with a provisional or temporary crown which restores the appearance while the crown is being made but allows the patient to get on with their life.

At the second visit, the temporary crown is removed, the final crown placed with try in paste and assessed by the patient and then cemented into place. When multiple crowns are being planned it can be useful to complete a final visualisation of the predicted final outcome on a model of the teeth.
A well planned and well executed crown looks and feels excellent and should last in excess of ten years.

Bridgework

This is a technique which allows the replacement of a missing tooth (or teeth) by anchoring a restoration to the teeth adjacent to that which has been lost.

Visualisation of the Procedure

Bridgework can be adhesive or conventional. Adhesive bridgework has a retentive metal wing and is bonded from behind to the teeth adjacent to the gap. This treatment does not involve heavy preparation of the supporting teeth. In the right circumstances this restoration can offer a predictable and aesthetic solution but case selection is critical. The clinicians at SCED can discuss your requirements and recommend the treatment that is most appropriate for you.
Conventional bridgework involves preparation of the supporting tooth (or teeth) almost as if it were going to receive a crown. The achievable aesthetics with this type of bridge are superb and a ten year lifespan can be expected.

Occasionally, a tooth which has been prepared for either a crown or a bridge can require root canal therapy (link to this). While this only happens in a minority of cases, this can necessitate a replacement restoration.
Sometimes it is better not to prepare teeth for fixed bridgework and an implant can provide a stand alone replacement for a missing tooth (link to this). Again, the clinicians at SCED are well qualified to discuss your requirements.

Dentures

Sometimes despite the dentist’s best efforts a tooth (or teeth) can be lost altogether and replacement has to be contemplated. While the replacement of a single tooth is often completed with bridgework (link to this) or a restoration attached to a dental implant (link to this), the replacement of multiple teeth is often completed with a removable denture.

A well made denture is generally very well tolerated by the patient. This type of restoration can be made from acrylic (a type of plastic) or a special type of metal known as cobalt chromium which has a number of advantages.

  • The metal has superior physical properties enabling manufacture in thin section. This provides a denture which takes up little space in the mouth.
  • The high thermal conductivity of the metal enables greater sensation of heat and cold.
  • Fracture is uncommon.
  • The denture is largely tooth supported. This is protective of the underlying soft tissues, unlike an acrylic denture which rests solely on these soft tissues.

Acrylic dentures generally last at least five years and a metal denture framework generally lasts in excess of ten years. Occasionally further teeth need to be added to the original denture and this is usually not a problem.

Even with complete dentures it is important that patients attend for regular dental examination. Ill-fitting dentures can damage the delicate oral tissues and an examination also allows the dentist to inspect for other health problems such as oral cancer.

With modern techniques and materials and by using some of the best technicians in the UK, a well made denture made at SCED is indistinguishable from your natural teeth.