Dental Centre

About Us

Department of DentistryThe Dental Centre was established in 1981. With a team of 12 Honorary Consultants, 2 of which are Resident Dental Surgeons, the Centre provides a full range of dental services for inpatients and outpatients.

For patients with special needs (such as medically compromised, physical trauma to the head / face / neck), our dentists are experienced in collaborating with physicians, surgeons and healthcare professionals of other disciplines to provide a quality, safe and comprehensive treatment regimen.

Emergency service is provided for patients with urgent dental and oral conditions during non-service hours, i.e. from 6:00 pm to 11:00 pm. Do contact us directly when you are in need. Please note that our dental surgeons are not on duty in the Hospital during the abovementioned period. When you need emergency assistance, we will try our best to call them in. However, the actual waiting time and arrangement would vary under different circumstances.


Good Oral Health
We have selected a few oral health topics to provide you with more information about issues related to you and your family's oral health care.


Bad Breath (Halitosis)
Do you ever worry about having bad breath? Bad breath, also known as halitosis, is a common and embarrassing condition that could be distressing to many people. It is an affliction that can often be easily managed and eliminated.

What Causes Bad Breath?
  • The accumulation of plaque, tartar and other harmful bacteria on teeth and gums are usually the culprits.
  • Many people are not aware that bacteria, food debris and dead cells can also bury themselves in the pits and crevices on the tongue and give rise to bad breath.
  • Medical conditions such as diabetes, stomach disorders, or sinus infections with excessive postnasal drip could be associated with oral malodour.
  • Some food (e.g. garlic), drugs and medications are known to affect breath odour.

How to Manage and Prevent Bad Breath?
Keeping your mouth clean is the first and essential step in eliminating the condition. Maintain adequate homecare and see your dentist and dental hygienist at least once every 6 months for check-ups and cleaning.

Aside from regular brushing and flossing, tongue brushing should also be integrated in your daily cleaning routine.

A healthy lifestyle also plays a role in the prevention of halitosis. For example, tobacco smoking is one of the most common habits causing bad breath.


Periodontal Disease
Periodontal (gum) disease is the infection and destruction of the structures surrounding and supporting your teeth in varying degrees. The most common cause is dental plaque, a sticky film of bacteria that constantly forms on the teeth. The bacteria produce toxins that can damage the gums.

Signs and Symptoms
Mild disease:
The gums show mild inflammation (red and swollen), bleed easily and begin to recede with pocket formation.

Moderate disease:
There is severe inflammation and heavy bleeding. The gums recede further, exposing the root of the tooth. Teeth become sensitive to hot and/or cold drinks or food.

Severe disease:
There is considerable pain and proper chewing is interfered. The loss of periodontal ligament attachment and bone surrounding the teeth results in tooth mobility. The affected tooth may need to be extracted when the periodontium reaches a certain point of destruction.

Simple Steps in Preventing Periodontal Disease
Periodontal disease can be arrested and treated but the already damaged structures cannot be reversed. Therefore, the best action you can take is to prevent the condition from developing:
  • Brush your teeth well at least twice a day and floss daily
  • Have a balanced diet and limit between-meal snacks
  • Visit your dentist regularly for check-ups and professional cleaning, recommended twice a year


Baby Bottle Syndrome
Baby Bottle Syndrome is defined as severe decay in the primary dentition involving multiple teeth in infants and children. Perinatal preventive and educational programmes can be offered by your dentist to help you understand and prevent Baby Bottle Syndrome in your children.

What Causes Baby Bottle Syndrome?
As the name suggests, the development of Baby Bottle Syndrome is primarily associated with babies sleeping with a baby bottle containing milk or other sweet drinks. Lack of proper mouth cleaning and inappropriate eating habits are other common contributing factors.

Simple Steps in Keeping Your Baby's Mouth Healthy
  • Take good care of your own teeth first to prevent the spread of cavity-causing germs to your baby.
  • Hold your baby while feeding. Do not put your baby to bed with a bottle. Wipe your baby's gums with a clean washcloth after meals or as needed. This may also be comforting during teething.
  • Brush your baby's teeth as soon as they appear. Brush twice daily and preferably after food intake with a small amount of fluoride toothpaste. Help your baby build up good cleaning habits early.
  • Train your baby to take sips from a cup instead of using a baby bottle as he/she reaches the age of one.
  • Lift up your baby's lip and check his/her teeth regularly to look for discoloured (often turning brown or black) or chipped teeth, which are the early signs of tooth decay. With severely decayed teeth, infection and abscesses could set in. Tooth decay and gum infection may affect a child's eating habit and behaviour. When in doubt, seek dental advice from a professional.
  • Bring your children for regular dental visits (at least twice a year) by the time they reach the age of one, before detrimental habits are formed.
  • Help your children establish healthy eating habits. Schedule time for snacks and do not allow children to nibble or sip all day long.
  • There are dental specialists trained in treating children – a pedodontist. Seek their advice when you need help.


Effects of Smoking on Oral Health
Smoking affects the body's immune system as well as the ability to recover from unhealthy states. Unknown to many individuals, the detrimental effects that smoking has on the oral cavity is often underestimated and overlooked.

More than Just Bad Breath and Stained Teeth
In addition to having bad breath and stained teeth, the risk of periodontal disease of a smoker is at least five times greater than a non-smoker. Smokers are also at a much higher risk of developing oral cancer. The frequency of tobacco smoking is directly proportional to the severity of periodontal disease that the smoker might develop and his/her susceptibility to oral cancer. A chronic smoker also has a higher rate of failure in many dental procedures such as dental implant placement.

What Smokers Can Do
For smokers, periodontal maintenance is crucial in monitoring the health of the oral cavity. Regular clinical examination and radiography are indicated every 3 to 4 months. Even if signs and symptoms are not yet prominent, early detection and treatment is necessary before irreversible damages from periodontal disease take place.

Want to make a pre-emptive strike against periodontal disease? Simply quit smoking! Take a step towards a healthy body and a healthy life, starting with a healthy mouth.

Our Services

The first key to having a beautiful smile is a set of healthy teeth. Our Department provides comprehensive dental services aiming at giving you a brighter and healthier smile.

Cosmetic Dentistry
Tooth Whitening
Teeth naturally darken as we age. Over time, exposure to coffee, tea, dark-coloured drinks, tobacco and certain food causes staining. In some cases, discoloration can occur because of certain childhood illnesses, medications, physical trauma, etc.

With our in-office one appointment whitening treatment or take home tooth whitening kits, your teeth can be effectively bleached to look whiter and brighter. You will notice the improvement right after treatment, and the whitening effect usually lasts for years.

To make the improvement more long-lasting, it is advisable to reduce your consumption of tooth-darkening food and beverages and stop smoking. Visiting your dentist regularly for cleaning treatments also helps in keeping your teeth white and bright for a longer time.

Veneers
The appearance of defective or roughened teeth surfaces can be improved with veneers, which are thin, custom-made shells crafted with tooth-coloured materials designed to cover the facial part of a tooth. You can also choose the shade of veneer you desire.

You should be aware that veneering is usually an irreversible process because it is necessary to remove a small amount of the frontal surface enamel from your tooth to accommodate the veneer. Your dentist may recommend that you avoid some food and beverages which may stain or discolour your veneer.


Conventional Orthodontic Treatment and Invisible Aligners
You do not have to live with crowded and mal-aligned teeth. With orthodontic treatment, teeth can be straightened for a better-looking smile and proper functioning. Aside from the conventional use of braces to align teeth, the transparent aligners or "invisible braces" can be elected as your treatment system of choice, making you look good even when you are having your teeth straightened.

Children and adults can both benefit from orthodontic treatment. The average duration of treatment is about 18 to 24 months. It varies with the complexities of the problem of each individual case and may take a little longer for adults. Also, an adult's facial bones are no longer growing. Certain corrections may not be accomplished with braces alone.


Conservative Dentistry
Dental Hygiene
A healthy mouth and a set of healthy teeth involve oral health promotion and disease prevention for a brighter and healthier smile. In addition to mechanical removal of dental deposits by scaling and root planning, our registered dental hygienists provide comprehensive oral hygiene education and customise proper maintenance therapy to suit each patient's individual needs and situation.

A regular dental cleaning and check-up every 6 months is recommended and needed to help keep your teeth working well and functioning healthily for life.

Fillings
Small or moderately decayed teeth can often be restored with simple fillings to prevent further destruction. Taking care of early decays and defects could save you time and money in the long run and possibly future dental "nightmares".

Crowns
When a tooth is fractured, extensively filled or severely decayed posing a high risk of fracture, the placement of a crown may be recommended to strengthen and protect the remaining tooth structure in order to restore the tooth back to its normal size, shape and function.

Bridges
When there are one or more missing teeth, your dentist may recommend replacing them with a fixed porcelain bridge, using the adjacent teeth as supports. A bridge prevents the drifting of neighbouring teeth into the tooth space "created" after tooth extraction to restore functions of teeth, including mastication, speech and aesthetics.

Endodontic Treatment (Root Canal Treatment)
Teeth fractured by accident or trauma or severe tooth decay that progresses to a destructive extent in which the bacteria have already entered the pulp (the soft tissue chamber inside the tooth) and infected the nerves may lead to an acute toothache or severe pain. In root canal treatment, the dentist will remove the bacteria, nerves and the infected tissues of the tooth pulp. The pulp chamber of the tooth will then be filled with an inert medication as a permanent sealing to salvage the tooth from the fate of extraction.


Paediatric Dentistry
If your child is one year old, it is time you start taking him/her for regular dental check-ups. Our dentist who specialises in treatment for children (a pedodontist) can make your child's dental experience more enjoyable and fun, whether it is for fillings or just dental cleaning. We also cater to children with disabilities and other behavioural problems. For children who are difficult to work with by local anaesthesia, we sometimes provide treatment pre-medication and general anesthesia with the assistance of a specialist anaesthesiologist.


Implant Dentistry
Implant dentistry has matured to become the treatment of choice in replacing missing tooth/teeth in many situations because it provides a restoration that looks natural and "secure" without irreversibly compromising the adjacent teeth. The procedure requires a titanium fixture placed into the bone to act as the root of a tooth, and a custom-made crown is then fitted on top. The result could be phenomenal in functions and aesthetics.

However, implant placements are not an option for everyone. Because implants require surgery, patients must be in good health, have healthy gums, have adequate bone to support the implant and be committed to meticulous oral hygiene and regular dental visits. If you are considering implants, a thorough evaluation by your dentist will help determine if you would be a good candidate. Some patients may need CT scanning to evaluate the bone quality to assist in diagnosis and treatment planning for implant placements.


Prosthetic Dentistry
Removable Appliances / Dentures

In some situations of missing tooth/teeth when dental implants or fixed prostheses are not appropriate as replacements, removable full or partial dentures may be the treatment indicated.


Periodontic Dentistry
Periodontal disease or "gum disease" is one of the major causes of tooth loss in Hong Kong adults. Noticing the signs and symptoms helps you seek early treatment and prevent the loss of teeth. Notably, if your gums bleed easily or your teeth are loose and separating, you better pay your dentist a visit. Chances are you have periodontal problems that require expert management and advice.

The treatment of periodontal disease involves deep debridement and root planning, while surgery may sometimes be necessary. Our periodontist will tailor a treatment plan to best suit each patient's needs.


Oral Maxillofacial Surgery
Extraction of Erupted or Impacted Wisdom Teeth

Wisdom teeth may erupt with a lot of variations. They may erupt in alignment in the dental arch but more often than not, problems develop that require their removal. Wisdom teeth may grow sideways, only partially erupt or remained embedded in the bone behind the second molar.

It is not unusual that one or more wisdom teeth are naturally "missing". Removal of wisdom teeth can be difficult at times, and these cases are best managed by a dentist who specialises in the field of oral-maxillofacial surgery.

Oral Pathology
The inside of the mouth is lined with a special type of skin called mucosa which is smooth and coral pink in colour. Any alteration in this appearance (outside of genetic pigmentations) could be a warning sign of a pathological process (e.g., cancerous growth), and this could happen anywhere in the oral cavity, including the lips, gum tissue, cheek lining, tongue and the hard or soft palate. This would require full and efficient examination for the diagnosis of oral tissue pathologies which sometimes require biopsy procedures.

Contact Us
For enquiries and appointments, please contact us at:
 
Dental Centre
Address:7/F, Li Shu Pui Block
Hong Kong Sanatorium & Hospital
2 Village Road, Happy Valley, Hong Kong
Tel: 2835 8080
Fax:2892 7528
Email:dentistry@hksh-hospital.com
Service Hours
Monday to Saturday (Except Wednesday):9:00 am - 6:00 pm
Wednesday:9:00 am - 1:00 pm
Closed on Sundays
Public Holidays: by appointment
Emergency Service Hours
From:6:00 pm - 10:00 pm
Please contact us through
Hospital Main Exchange:

2572 0211
The Outpatient Department:2835 8602



Dental Centre
Address:  Level 22, One Pacific Place,
88 Queensway Hong Kong
Tel:2855 6666
Fax:2892 7589
Email:dental@hksh-healthcare.com
Service Hours
Monday to Saturday:  9:00 am - 6:30 pm
Closed on Sundays and Public Holidays
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