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Clicking in jaws is very common, and most dentist have no idea what it means.

Often the clicking in the jaw joint does not hurt, but the fact it is clicking means that it is not functioning as it should.

The Jaw and the base of the skull are normally separated by a little disc, and when this disc slips away from the joint, you hear a click. You may not get pain in the joint, however you may get headaches, or even other symptoms, which can be very varied, ranging from itchyness to balance disturbances.

Nine times out of ten the problem is the position of the teeth, the bite has often been changed by a dentist (putting a filling in or a high crown), or an orthodontist putting the teeth in an uncomfortable position for the jaw, and stressing the joint – hence starting a click.

How do I know if I have a problem?

Firstly, if you have pain, then there is a problem. If your jaw clicks, then you also have a problem.

In perfect health, you jaw should open in a straight line if you look in the mirror, if your jaw opens to the side, and then clicks into the middle, then you could have a problem in one joint.

You should be able to open your mouth about 50mm when you open and stretch. When you move your jaw to the side, it should move about 15mm. If these measurements are reduced, then you could have a significant problem, even if your jaw does not click!

What can be done?

Depending on the severity of the problem, there could be several solutions. These range from simply straightening a few teeth, to making a hard bite splint to heal the damage to your jaw joint, then reorganise the bite to put the joint in a comfortable position.

If you have a soft bite guard made, and you are told to wear it at night, then you problem is only going to get worse. Most dentists do not understand the jaw joint, and the easy option is to make a soft night guard, and dentists think that if you separate the teeth, the problem will go. Unfortunately this is not only irritating to wear every night, but it just does not work!

What is Six Month Smiles?

Six Month Smiles is (another) branded orthodontic system, like Invisalign, or CFAST, inman aligner – the list goes on! With 6 month smiles, it is basically the first stages of full orthodontic treatment.

Can any dentist offer this treatment?

Yes, general dentists do need to attend a 2 day course to be allowed to use the Six Month Smiles name, and system. In order to fit a brace, any dentist is allowed to do it, if they feel they have sufficient training. With any kind of treatment, the skill of the dentist is very important, and will affect the quality of the end result.

Is Six Month Smiles any good?

I feel Six Month Smiles is a good system, personally, I very rarely use it, I prefer to provide a better quality of brace, and use the Six Month Smile theory. This way, there is flexibility to work outside the Six Month Smile system, to provide perfect results.

In most cases, Six Month Smiles will give a dramatic improvement in overlapped teeth. If you think about it, to create space to overlap teeth, like in the following photo, then you need more space… Where will the space come from?

With Six Month Smiles, the space is almost always gained from bringing all the teeth slightly forward: and this is fine in most cases, however there are cases where this is not a good idea, for example if final position of your teeth will be resting on your lower lip, the teeth may move forward over time, due to the force of the lower lip acting on the upper front teeth.

What are the options?

Whoever provides your treatment should always give you a comprehensive options, and this should be in detail. I personally do not believe it is good enough to say:

Six month smiles will fix your teeth in about 6-9 months, the other option is to see an orthodontist, and this treatment will take 2 years

You should get a full orthodontic option in detail, if a specialist would plan your treatment differently, then there must be an advantage of that treatment option, after all, they are specialists in the field, and there is a tried and tested way of moving teeth!

If after understanding both options, you still opt for the Six Month Smiles option, then that is fine, but you should know about all the options in detail. The last thing dentists and patients want is to provide a treatment, and it does’t meet the expectations of the patient.

I think many dentists will have a problem, mainly because Six Month Smiles is sold to dentists as a way to dramatically increase their income, so dentist pay the money, go on the course, and everyone with overlapping teeth suddenly become suitable for Six Month Smiles! The reality is that Six Month Smiles will improve the alignment is nearly all cases, but many dentists will not assess the effect this has on the face as a whole, in addition, they are not suitably trained to give a comprehensive orthodontic treatment plan, so patients will need to see someone else, and have to pay for another consultation to get the comprehensive option! (In reality – who is going to do this?)

Today we found out that Clearstep OPT have officially gone into administration – Very bad news for a LOT of people!

If you are having Clearstep braces, chances are that you have paid a large sum of money, and are now uncertain about what happens next. Most people don’t see an improvement until the end of this treatment, so you may not notice any real result at the moment!

Have I wasted my time and money?

Probably not, I personally have 30+ clients who are in this treatment, and the treatment does work! The nice benefit of this treatment is that the space creation to move your teeth into is done at the back of the mouth, meaning that we don’t change the cosmetic appearance of the front teeth so much.

After speaking to a lot of my patients, we have found that almost all of them are happy to switch to another brace system, to get quicker results, even if they are slightly more visible.

Will I need to pay extra for further treatment

No – you shouldn’t need to pay anything more. Your dentist should either refund your treatment fee, or provide another treatment. If your dentist cannot provide another treatment, he may need to refer you to an orthodontist (who is a specialist in tooth movement), and they should either pay for the orthodontist to do the treatment, or give your money back, and you pay the orthodontist directly.

What other treatments are available?

There are many other treatments available, the best for you depends on your individual situation. You may be near the end of your treatment, and only need a few clear aligners or have significant movement needed, and would be better suited by treatment with cosmetic fixed braces.

What do I charge for finishing treatment off?

I want to keep treatment fees to a minimum, if you can prove that you were under clearstep, then I can assess and treat you for less than £900. I will charge £250 for the start of treatment, and then £100 per month, until the treatment is finished, or until you have paid £900 in total.

The initial assessment is free.

At the time of writing this, it certainly looks like they have run out of money, or something else very bad is happening there!

This is quite a bad outcome for me, as a dentist, who has a lot of patients in the middle of clearstep treatment. It is an even bigger problem for those who have started the treatment, and not seen any results!

Can I finish my treatment?

You can, however it may mean that you need to switch treatment method. All the patients I have spoken to have been more than willing to do this, and the truth is that in most cases the treatment will be completed in a much shorter time frame!

What did Clearstep do?

They provided a clear brace orthodontic system, and the way they make the braces is very important, which means there are very few (none that I know of), dental laboratories who can make a similar type of brace.

The problem with this kind of brace is that it is very difficult to treat moderate and complex cases, and it takes forever and a day to do! Other brace systems can achieve better results, in a quicker shorter times.

What about Invisalign?

I do not personally use invisalign, however I do know there is a clear shift in demand from clear braces to fixed ceramic braces, as dentists and the public are realising that clear brace treatment will take 2-4 years to complete!

My dentist only does Clearstep

This is a tricky situation, ultimately this means that your dentist cannot complete your treatment! Your options are to seek a new dentist (or orthodontist – a registered specialist).

If you cannot possibly have visible braces (even if they are tooth coloured), then there are hidden braces that you can use. You will definitely need to pay extra to have this treatment.

If you are concerned about your treatment, and would like to see me for a free consultation, then please drop me an email at info@drsehmi.co.uk, and you can see me at my Kensington Clinic, or if you prefer to call, the number is 0207 603 3008.

If you have had brace treatment with Clearstep, and they have since gone out of business – What should you do?

If a business has gone bust, then it will be almost impossible to get your money back from them, there may be insurance you can claim from, and if you paid by credit card, then you may be able to get some money back, check with them.

Another option might be to check with the GDC if there is any compensation available for this.

If you are keen to get the treatment finished, then you will almost definitely need to pay some extra money to have it done.

At The Kensington Clinic, we can finish your treatment at a fraction of the cost of restarting the treatment from scratch. Just give us a call on 0207 603 3008, and arrange a free consultation, and discuss your case with me.

If you prefer, you can drop me an email on info@DrSehmi.co.uk.

It doesn’t look good for Clearstep as I write this, and the big problem is that many people have had irreversible procedures carried out, and now no braces!

If you fall in this category, don’t worry, the extractions were necessary, and your treatment can still be carried out. You may need to switch to a different brace system, or see another dentist. The good news is that the treatment can be carried out more quickly with other systems.

At The Kensington Clinic, we are happy to see anyone who has been caught out with this, and offer alternative treatments. If you can prove that you are in the middle of Clearstep treatment, then you can have this treatment at a nominal fee. What do you have to lose?

Come and chat to us and see what is possible, and find out what it will cost. Be quick, we are only seeing 5 patients a week for this.

Get in touch now

info@drsehmi.co.uk

If you are one of hundreds of people looking to complete your Clearstep invisible brace treatment, then you have some options.

Important things to understand:

1. Even if you have just started the treatment, it is important to know that it will probably cost some additional money to get your treatment finished. 
2. You may need to consider other treatment options, different to what was originally discussed, in order to complete your treatment.

The good news is that Clear Aligners, like Clearstep are very slow, and almost any other treatment is going to be quicker.

I have been using Clearstep myself for a good number of years, and I also use other systems, in order to offer my clients the best treatment option in each case. Because of this, I can offer a variety of brace treatments to finish off what Clearstep has started.

How much will this cost?

This is impossible to say, however I can say that normal treatment fees are £2000-£4000, but if you can prove that you are mid treatment with Clearstep, then we will offer you a very significant discount on your treatment.

Is there compensation available?

The best place to check is the GDC (general dental council), this is a body that is designed to protect patients. Please note, that this is not the fault of your dentist, he or she would only have had your best interests at heart, and he or she is in a very difficult situation. They would have paid a large fee to Clearstep for this treatment, usually half of what you paid for treatment, and now they are probably getting phone calls from angry patients! Dentists did not know that Clearstep would go out of business!

Stopping Treatment

This is an option, however not recommended. When teeth start moving, it is easy to keep them moving, so if you stop for a period of several months, then you almost need to put a lot of effort in to get the teeth moving again!

Get the job finished!

If you want to see what it will cost to get the job finished, then why not email me info@drsehmi.co.uk, or call The Kensington Clinic on 0207 603 3008, and arrange a free consultation.

There have been a lot of rumours that Clearstep the invisible brace company have gone bust, at the time of writing this, nothing is confirmed, but I hope for the sake of all the patients who are having this treatment, that this is not the case!

I myself have prescribed Clearstep treatment for a good number of my clients, and they will be asking me directly “what about my teeth, they are not straight.” – I would, if I was a patient, and spent a good amount on my treatment!

What Will We Do?

Luckily, as I have a lot of experience with clear braces, and traditional braces, we should be able to finish off the treatment for our clients, even if this means that we switch to a different braces system for a few months.

What if my dentist cannot do this?

I think ultimately, you will need to pay for someone to finish off your treatment. At The Kensington Clinic, we are happy to have a consultation with you to see how we can help, if you can prove that you are in the middle of Clearstep treatment, and your dentist cannot help, then we probably can. Come for a consultation, and we can discuss the options, and it may be we can finish your treatment off at a very reduced treatment fee.

What will it cost?

This is impossible to say, I would guess that most cases can be finished for less than £1000, and in almost all cases, we can do it in a fraction of the time that it would have taken with Clearstep.

If you would like to find out more, please email me on info@drsehmi.co.uk or call The Kensington Clinic on 0207 603 3008.

One of the main reasons that patients do not take up dental implant treatment in London, is the fear that it is a surgical procedure, and the risk that there will be a lot of pain after the treatment.

When your dentist recommends dental implant treatment, the first thing most people do is to research it on the internet, and see lots of surgical photos, with lots of blood, and this does a great gob of putting anyone off the treatment!

We can only comment on the experience of our clients at The Kensington Clinic, and we can honestly say that it is very rare that there is any significant discomfort after the treatment. We call every patient who has had the treatment after the day of surgery, and most of the time what we hear is, “There was a little discomfort when I left the surgery, but everything feels perfect now!”

We have heard horror stories of peoples experiences at other clinics, and the pain they felt after the treatment, and I feel most of this is down to poor surgical technique.

Pain can be caused because of a few reasons:

Once we know these risk factors, we can do everything possible to minimise pain after dental implant placement.

The first three points really relate to the skill and understanding of the dental implant surgeon, and some people either have this, or they don’t, make sure you choose a dentist who is well educated in the field, expect to pay a little more, but its well worth it!

The minimising of infection is critical, and we go to great lengths to minimise this.

The Aseptic Setup

During routine dentistry, where we are working in a “dirty” area (the mouth), with its millions of bacteria, there is little chance of acquiring an infection from us, especially when all instruments are sterilised and pouched until use!

During implant treatment, we are putting a foreign implant into a sterile body, so for this reason it is policy to set the surgery up, as if you were having a medical operation, with 100% sterile drapes everywhere, and this dramatically reduces the chance of getting infections around your implant. Surprising as it sounds, many dentists do not do this, as they are trying to save time and money.

In the end, if you see a good dentist, experienced in this kind of treatment, educated to a good level (UK education is very good), you should be fine. Expect to pay a little bit more for the treatment, and try and find someone by word of mouth, ask your friends and family, if someone is happy with the work they have done, then they will be happy to recommend their dentist.

If you dont know anyone who has had this kind of treatment, do a search on the internet in your area, go for some free consultations, and see who you have a good feeling with. Dentistry is very personal, you should find someone you trust.