Restorative Dentistry

A restorative dental treatment repairs and restores damaged oral structures. This can include missing, decayed, weakened, and fractured teeth.

It includes the dental specialties of:

• Endodontics – for root canal treatments and other inner tooth procedures and examinations.
• Periodontics – the prevention and treatment of gum disease and other tissues around your tooth.
• Prosthodontics - simple and complex restorative work to replace your teeth.

Dental restorative treatments include:

• Fillings – are the most common restorative dentistry procedure. They fill a cavity in your tooth to structurally repair and stabilise it. The most common fillings are amalgam (metal) or composite (white).
• Bridges – replace a missing tooth with a false tooth and ‘bridge’ the gap. A bridge is bonded to your natural teeth on either side of the gap. There are two main types of dental bridge. The most common type involves permanently bonding two crowns, made of porcelain or metal, to your natural teeth on either side of the space, with the false tooth (or teeth) in the middle.
• Crowns (or caps) - are a cover for your entire tooth, down to your gum line, to protect it if it has suffered significant decay and is irreparable with fillings.
• Dentures - are removable false teeth made of acrylic, nylon, or metal that fit over your gums to replace missing teeth. They resolve eating and speaking problems caused by missing teeth.
• Implants – is a titanium screw that is placed into your jawbone to replace your missing tooth root. A false tooth (a crown) is then fitted to the top of the implant. The crown can be matched to the colour and shape of your existing teeth.
• Root canal treatment – removes the infection from inside your root canal system, fills the root canal, and seals the tooth with a filling or crown to stop it from becoming infected again. Full treatment can involve two or three visits to your dentist.

Restorative dentistry enhances and restores your oral health to keep your mouth healthy and fully functioning. It does not include those procedures that are considered cosmetic such as veneers or whitening services. It includes inlays and onlays, fillings, crowns, bridges, dentures, and root canal treatment.

Cosmetic dentistry focuses on improving the appearance of your smile. It includes veneers, crowns, implants, white fillings, composite bonding, teeth whitening, teeth straightening, and gum contouring.

Restorative dentistry covers many dental problems and treatments from simple to complex work. The cost of a restorative dentistry procedure with Ramsay Health Care UK will therefore depend on your exact procedure, your dental requirements and preferences, and your chosen Ramsay hospital.

Following your consultation with a restorative dentist, you will receive a written cost quote. This quotation is guaranteed for 60 days and includes unlimited aftercare. 

Ramsay is recognised by all major medical insurers. Most schemes do not cover routine dental treatment but they will cover you if you need to be hospitalised for treatment such as wisdom tooth removal. We advise you to obtain written authorisation from your medical insurance provider before your procedure.

You may pay for your restorative dentistry using a dental insurance plan. They usually cover both maintenance and treatments such as fillings, root canals, and crowns. Cosmetic dental work, such as teeth whitening, is generally excluded. You should consult your dental plan before your dentistry procedure.

We have a number of finance options to pay for your restorative dentistry. These include interest-free finance with no deposit and monthly instalments at 0% interest, a one-off pre-agreed payment for All-inclusive Total Care that comes with unlimited aftercare, and pay-as-you-go that offers flexible funding to pay as and when costs arise.

The recovery process after a restorative dentistry procedure will depend on your dental treatment.

For example, after an amalgam filling, your dentist will recommend that you wait for at least 24 hours before chewing on the side of your mouth with your new filling. This type of filling takes about 24 hours to completely harden and reach maximum strength. A composite filling hardens immediately so you can usually eat as soon as you leave your dentist’s office but you may want to wait a couple of hours if you are still numb from the anaesthetic.

If you’ve had root canal treatment, you should avoid biting on hard foods until your treatment is complete. After your final treatment, your restored tooth may feel sore for a few days and this can be relieved with paracetamol or ibuprofen.

After dental implant surgery, whether performed in one stage or multiple stages, you may experience swelling of your gums and face, bruising of your skin and gums, pain at the implant site, and minor bleeding. Your dentist or oral surgeon will advise on pain medications or antibiotics after dental implant surgery.

After each stage of dental implant surgery, you may need to eat soft foods to allow the surgical site to heal. Your dental implant surgeon will usually use stitches that dissolve on their own but if not, they will remove them.