How Specialist Orthodontist Harley Street is Helping Patients During Lockdown

The current state of the world caused by the pandemic has been a difficult time for many people and businesses too. Lockdown has been a challenge to many, and from the start, dentists have been extremely unsettled with closures to practices. 150 dentists in the UK have even signed a petition to the Health Secretary pleading for clinics to be allowed to open if only to provide help for severe and urgent cases.

What Help are we Providing?

Our primary concern is our patients. Many have experienced dental struggles during the lockdown, including severe tooth pain and problems arising with braces and removable aligners. Additionally, all planned and essential treatments have been cancelled or postponed, including root canals, fillings, and any treatments regarding corrective braces and Invisalign. Many of our patients are at a loss and we have done all that we can to support them from afar.

‘It has been challenging for us during this lockdown period. Not having the opportunity to support our patients in person with regards to treatments and even general dental health, has been extremely difficult,’ confesses Dr Gregory, our leading specialist orthodontist here at Harley Street.

As a practice, we have decided to focus our time on video consultations, a method that has been dubbed 'dental monitoring'. Dental monitoring focuses on remote smile monitoring, as a way to track the progress of a patient online without the need for clinical visits. This strategy has also been extremely popular in places like Australia and the USA.

We aim to provide our patients with a range of orthodontic advice and answer any questions that they may have during these difficult times. It is extremely important to us that our patients do not feel isolated during this time, particularly if they are experiencing stress due to their orthodontic treatment or dental health.

Invisalign Treatment

In the US it is extremely popular to offer treatments like Invisalign to patients who can only attend appointments infrequently, i.e. patients in the military. In the UK, Invisalign treatment has grown in popularity, due to how easy it is to maintain and how efficient and almost invisible the treatment is. Moving forward, it is likely to become even more popular. Due to the uncertainty of the future, Invisalign treatment will offer brilliant results, with little and infrequent maintenance which could be ideal for our current times.

Though we have been able to help many patients during the lockdown using our video consultations, it is important to highlight the fact that there are some things that ‘dental monitoring' will not be able to help fix.

Will my Treatment Stop Working?

There are many patients worldwide who have been caught horrifically in the crossfires of bad timing during these closures. Patients who were just beginning, in the middle of or even close to finishing treatments focused on straightening teeth, have experienced delays in their process.

Due to all clinics being shut, many people have also experienced the difficulty of managing their treatments from home, or treatments failing to work properly throughout lockdown. For those who have undergone Invisalign treatment, many have had to result to wearing the final aligner they have for weeks on end, causing the aligner to get gritty and become unpleasant to wear.

Others have observed that their teeth have stopped moving, which is likely caused due to aligners that no longer fit the teeth or braces that need to be tightened. By not having regular check-ups to update aligners or tighten braces, some treatments can become stagnant and can divert and delay the treatment process. In some more severe cases, teeth can also begin shifting back into their original positioning pre-treatment.

Broken Braces

Fixed braces are a popular form of teeth straightening for many patients. Unfortunately, during the lockdown period, they have been a nightmare for patients worldwide. Fixed braces can only be applied and tightened by a professional, therefore whenever issues arise such as broken brackets or wires, people have not had the opportunity to fix them. Another unfortunate result of broken braces and wires is patients suffering from soft tissue trauma such as ulcers.

During lockdown, DIY disaster stories have been surfacing of patients trying to remove their permanent braces that have broken using tweezers. Unfortunately, the inability to maintain fixed braces by hygienist visits can be disastrous for tooth health. We urge you to refrain from any action to remove braces yourself, as it can be harmful to your teeth. Until practices begin opening again, it is wise to limit sweet and hard treats and continue to brush thoroughly and often.

As a result of these disastrous stories coming out, the British Orthodontic Society decided to release a series of videos to help those who needed help with fixing their braces.

Staying Updated with our Patients

We are very focused on continuing to provide high standards of care to our patients, regardless of the circumstance. Our specialist orthodontists are prioritising communication with our patients, offering whatever help we can during this difficult time.

We also share and keep all of our patients informed through newsletters, emails and our social media accounts, so make sure you follow us and are signed up to our newsletter. This will ensure that you are the first to know of any changes, updates, advice and crucial information regarding the reopening of our practice.

If you are looking for treatment, Specialist Orthodontist Harley Street is the right place for you. Our specialist orthodontics are ideal for tackling the problem of crooked teeth. By allowing our orthodontists with specialist training to lead you through our treatment process, we aim to provide you with an improved smile. Fill out our contact form or call us to get connected and find the help you need.