Clinical experience, misunderstood concepts and frequently asked questions. Notes from many years of practice.
Dental numbness usually wears off within two to three hours: a median 155 minutes for the lower lip. What to do about eating, smoking and children.
A decayed tooth stops smelling once the decay is cleaned out and the tooth is filled, root treated or removed; the odour comes from bacteria in the cavity.
Same-day dental implants suit patients whose implant is firmly anchored when placed and who need no bone graft at that visit; torque decides it in surgery.
A gum graft stitches tissue from your palate, or a ready-made matrix, onto receding gums; the surface wound usually heals in 7-14 days. Types and recovery.
Most dental implants last 20 years or more; a 20-year meta-analysis found 93.0% survival. Smoking, gum disease and missed check-ups shorten it.
A tooth abscess is pus at an infected root tip or in the gum. Treatment removes the source; in trials of 134 adults, antibiotics added little. Urgent signs.
Counterfeit dental devices are seized by the crateload; published cases of fixtures reaching patients are another matter. Here is how to verify yours.
Under EU device law the implant passport is an obligation with standardised fields. What it must contain, how to check it, and what to do without one.
Clinics say lifetime warranty, but manufacturers' terms promise component replacement, claimed by the dentist, within a deadline. What to get in writing.
