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Orthodontic treatment by design has to be long-term care, moving teeth from their current positions into a more aligned and healthy, not to mention aesthetically pleasing. locations. This cannot be done quickly without significant discomfort and trauma. So these are many of the factors that affect the costs of these types of long-term care. This article explores some of them and how to get the most out of your treatment.

Common treatment methods

The equipment used in orthodontic care has always been changing, with modern trends towards more convenient treatment methods and ease of daily use, rather than strictly focusing on clinical effectiveness.

Metal braces

The standard metal braces are still the most common treatment method, not only effective in a wide range of cases but is popular due to its wide availability and use of interchangeable parts. It is one of the cheapest pieces of equipment but it requires manual adjustment throughout the treatment cycle, so patients have to attend their clinic regularly, usually every 6 weeks. These clinic visits end up making up the majority cost of the care using traditional metal braces.

Clear aligners

Clear aligners have captured a lot of attention recently. They fully embrace the new demands of patients to have their orthodontic cake and eat it as an effective way of altering position, but are also unnoticeable in everyday situations. They do not reduce your food choices and are easy to maintain. Not to mention clear aligners are produced in sequences with each of the adjustments throughout and care planning pre-baked into these aligners, it is possible to go through treatment with minimal visits to the clinic. Many surgeries will allow check-ups via online video conferencing and only request patients to attend if they have concerns that the treatment is going awry.

Clear aligner alternatives

Whether it is Invisalign in Ipswich or Clear Correct, there are excellent aligner manufacturers worldwide but there are niche alternatives.

Lingual braces share some of the similarities of your standard metal brace, apart from the fact that they are installed on the inside of the dental arch, facing towards the mouth. They are made of metal and deliver forces to the teeth via an arch wire allowing them to produce more force but they are still visually low impact. The brackets have had a low profile as not to disrupt speech making lingual braces intensive to manufacture, significantly increasing their costs.

Finishing with a retainer

There is a common complication in orthodontic care referred to as reversion, when teeth attempt to return back to their starting positions. Therefore, the majority of orthodontic work will finish with a retainer. Whether using more traditional orthodontic tools or clear aligners, it’s a good idea to pay attention to your package to see if retainers at the end of treatment are an additional cost or included.

It would be wise to assume that the retainers are necessary and budget them into your care costs, rather than have an unpleasant surprise and a larger bill than expected at the end of treatment.

There is a range of different marketing techniques that you will need to have in place in order for your dental practice to ensure successful dental marketing. Without dental marketing, your dental practice will eventually get lost in the crowd and you will be losing patients to the other dental practices in your area. Dental marketing has become digitalised over the last few decades, and you need a strong online presence to attract the attention of your patients and encourage them to join your practice rather than those of your competitors.

If you would like to create a strong dental marketing campaign for your dental practice, then you need to speak to a multi-award-winning digital dental marketing team. They will find out everything they need to know with regard to you, your practice and the treatments that you have to offer and put together a bespoke marketing campaign for you.

You will need a marketing campaign that keeps up with the current trends and offers more than what your competitors can. You need to build brand awareness, trust and credibility and have patients address their dental needs with you. Firstly, you must create an online presence by adding your details onto Google My Business. This will put you on the virtual map for dental practices in your area. You need to make sure that you have a fantastic dental website created by a specialist website design team who will also maintain the website for you on a regular basis.

Why are blogs needed?

You need a dedicated writing team that can create new blogs for your website on a regular basis to emphasise the importance of good dental health whilst marketing the treatments and procedures that you have to offer at your dental practice. By speaking to a digital dental marketing team, you will be able to receive individually tailored, bespoke dental blogs directly to your email on a monthly basis, which you can then upload to your website or social media pages. Blogs are a good way of attracting and retaining the attention of patients who are already interested in addressing their dental needs. It also helps showcase your knowledge and expertise, and if you continue to create new blogs on an ongoing basis, then it also helps nurture an interest amongst your patients who will look forward to finding out more about you, learn more about looking after their dental health and be encouraged to address their dental needs with you very soon.

To create successful blogs, you need to carry out keyword research; this involves finding out which dental terms are searched for most frequently by your community. This could be a specific treatment or procedure, dental issue, disease or field of dentistry. This can vary amongst different towns and villages, and by making yourself aware of what your readers are looking for and addressing these topics, you will have a successful dental marketing campaign that will convert readers in your area into patients through your door.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the acronym PPE probably didn’t mean much to most of us. Now, we’ve lived through a time when masks and medical gloves have become part of everyone’s lives. Medical gloves are so important to the British healthcare service that they will spend £6 billion on them in the next two years!

Even though we’ve used PPE more than ever, do you know your latex from your nitrile gloves? Can you say when you should use powdered or when powder-free is best?

Read on for the answers to all your questions about the different types of medical gloves that exist today!

What Types of Medical Gloves Are Available Today?

Disposable medical gloves are vital to the healthcare industry. They protect both patients and healthcare providers. But if you don’t choose the right gloves, they can cause problems.

Latex Gloves

The first disposable latex gloves were manufactured in 1964. There are many advantages to latex gloves, including:

• Comfortable to wear
• Good level of sensitivity
• Flexible

The main disadvantage is that many people have a latex allergy and cannot wear them. Now alternatives to latex gloves have been invented that provide the same advantages, but do not cause allergies.

Nitrile Gloves

Nitrile is a form of synthetic rubber. It doesn’t contain any latex and is well tolerated by people with a latex allergy. However, they’re not as flexible as latex.

Another advantage of nitrile is that they are more durable and resistant to chemicals. They’re also very puncture-resistant. This makes them ideal for medical practice.

Vinyl Gloves

Vinyl is also used to make examination-grade gloves. The gloves fit more loosely and are very inexpensive. They are usually used for short tasks as they are not as durable as nitrile or latex gloves.

They also provide a lower level of protection and are most suitable for use in low-infection settings.

Powder or Powder-Free?

In the past, powdered gloves were common because latex gloves could be difficult to put on. The powder made it easier to put them on and take them off. However, the powder can also be an irritant.

Now, the best medical gloves are easy to put on and take off without the need for powder. In 2017, the FDA banned the use of powdered exam-grade gloves in the United States.

What Are Medical Gloves Used For?

Within the medical industry, there are different grades of gloves. You will usually find them categorized as:

• Examination gloves
• Surgical gloves
• Chemotherapy gloves

Many governments regulate these gloves. They outline which ones a medical practitioner should use in different settings.

Generally, surgical and chemotherapy gloves provide a higher level of protection. Many surgeons and nurses giving chemotherapy practice double gloving for additional protection.

Choose the Best Medical Gloves for Your Needs

Disposable gloves are vital pieces of medical equipment. All types of medical gloves need to meet high safety standards to protect both the patient and the medical practitioner. Latex is a great natural choice, but if you are allergic, nitrile gloves will provide the highest level of protection.

For more great articles for everyone interested in staying in peak condition, check out our Health and Fitness section today!

Having straight teeth helps us to remain healthy. Straight teeth are not only cosmetically beneficial, but function better as well. The ability to chew our food properly relies on our teeth meeting correctly. Having misaligned teeth prevents this from happening, resulting in not being able to chew properly and forcing our stomachs to try and break down larger pieces of food. Misaligned teeth can also cause pockets of bacteria to develop which can instigate a number of unwanted infections.

A new generation of braces and aligners

Wearing a large metal brace with wires, blocks and bands used to be the accepted way that misaligned teeth were treated. These devices were effective but were not comfortable to wear. Those same braces have been made into a far more comfortable and effective piece of modern day equipment. Technology and science have also combined to go further and to produce a number of additional braces. Some of them still use wires, blocks and bands, but they are made from different materials which blend better with the natural colour of our teeth. A lingual brace goes even further and instead of fitting onto the front of the teeth this clever device fits onto the inside of the teeth. These all require regular dental surgery visits for assessment and adjustments. Now there is a new type of brace called an aligner which works using different principles and is computer assisted, Invisalign in Glasgow has embraced this new technology.

Invisalign aligners

Invisalign aligners resemble a gum shield which fits over the teeth and they are made from a clear dental material, making them almost impossible to see. This is far more appealing to both young and old alike who may suffer from a dental misalignment. The scanners and computer software enable numerous images to be taken, so that there is no need for a putty mould of the teeth. These images are far more accurate and can be digitally transmitted to a laboratory quicker and more efficiently than a putty mould. This results in a far more rapid service and also allows the patient to view a virtual image of how their teeth will look once treatment has been completed.

How does it work?

Images of the mouth, teeth and gums are taken and a treatment plan is created. The images are then transmitted digitally to the laboratory where a virtual image of the patient’s teeth is created showing how they will look after treatment. The patient and dentist are also able to discuss the details of the treatment and the anticipated duration. A series of aligners, sometimes referred to as trays, are created, on average twenty-five are required, but the exact number depends on the condition being treated. These are fitted over the teeth and must be worn for at least twenty-two hours per day. It is possible to remove them to eat, drink and to brush and floss the teeth.

The revelation!

At the end of the treatment, one final retainer must be worn for a given time to give the teeth help to settle into their new positions. Once this period is over, it’s time to reveal your new smile to the world as you beam broadly and confidently.

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Progress can be defined as improving the path to a better destination. The dental industry has seen amazing progress over the past decades as technology helps to make the experience less stressful. A progressive dentist Stevenage will be aware that it is important never to forget the human element, which is to build a relationship with every patient. Explaining the benefits of a proposed treatment and answering questions will engender confidence. This will help to build a solid dentist/patient relationship which will result in a better patient experience.

Always improving

As dental equipment and techniques improve it is necessary to attend regular seminars and training to ensure that patients receive the best treatment available at any one time. Techniques in how to handle patients’ anxiety is also an area that is becoming better understood. The latest equipment provides many improvements to the dental experience, especially in the area of reducing pain and discomfort. The latest adaptation of this equipment is an apparatus described as a wand which is used for administering anaesthesia, painlessly. It is computer controlled and ensures that the exact amount of anaesthetic is distributed to the precise location required.

Cosmetic dentistry

Cosmetic dentistry often has a two-fold purpose. The first is always to restore practical usage and secondly to enhance from a cosmetic point of view. An example is teeth straightening which is necessary to ensure that the teeth meet correctly, allowing for proper mastication of food. The cosmetic enhancement is secondary to the primary need, but equally as important. The need to replace a lost tooth, especially at the front of the mouth is also cosmetically motivating, but equally enhances the ability to chew properly. It is therefore wrong to consider cosmetic dentistry as purely an aesthetic procedure.

Different demands

The twenty-first century has brought our dental features to the fore as technology brings us more and more enhanced personal devices. When the smartphone arrived with its camera it signalled a change in how we perceive ourselves. This changed the perception of the dentist as a tooth puller and tooth cavity filler to someone who could improve our smiles and looks. This has not been a bad thing, as we are now more conscious of our teeth and we want to take better care of them because they are on show a lot more than in the past. White fillings, porcelain veneers and teeth whitening have suddenly become necessary for us to present ourselves in public.

A positive benefit

This desire to present with a perfect smile has been a positive result of technology not only for adults, but the young as well. More and more are coming forward to have their teeth cleaned and to have them straightened. Braces and aligners have also developed at a rapid pace giving the dentist more targeted apparatus than ever before. Adults and youngsters alike realise that maintaining their teeth and gums will allow them to retain their smile. The aesthetic aspect has therefore resulted in making us all more aware of the value of our teeth and gums. The importance of six monthly dental visits has been highlighted and the result is that fewer of the new generation are losing their teeth through tooth decay.