A bright, tidy dental treatment room with a reclined chair beside a wide daylight window

General & hygiene dentistry

Dentistry at a pace you can actually follow.

Pine Lumen is a small practice built around longer appointments, written treatment plans and the understanding that a lot of people arrive having put this off for years. Nothing happens in your mouth before you know what it is, what it costs and what the alternative is.

Request an appointment What a first visit covers

Appointment lengthFirst exams are booked for 45 minutes, not 15.
Same clinicianYou stay with the dentist who first assessed you.
Costs in writingA plan with figures before any work is agreed.

Step by step

Your first visit, in order, with nothing left vague.

A new-patient appointment is an assessment and a conversation. We do not start treatment at a first visit unless something is actively hurting and you ask us to.

History and what brought you in

Ten minutes at a desk, not in the chair. Medical history, medication, what you have noticed, and anything about dentists you would rather we knew in advance.

About 10 minutes
Examination, narrated as it happens

Teeth, gums, bite, jaw joints and the soft tissues of the mouth. We say what we are looking at as we go, so the silence does not start filling itself with worst cases.

About 20 minutes
Images only where they change the answer

Small X-rays where decay or bone level cannot be seen directly. If an image would not alter what we recommend, we do not take it, and we will tell you that.

Only when indicated
A written plan, in order of urgency

You leave with findings, a sequence of what needs doing now and what can reasonably wait, the cost of each stage, and what happens if you choose to do nothing yet.

Emailed the same day

Index of care

What we treat, and when each one actually applies.

Routine dentistry covers most of what walks through the door. Anything that needs a specialist, we say so plainly and refer rather than improvise.

Everyday care

Check-up and examination Every 6–12 months
Children's examinations From first teeth
Emergency assessment Same-day holds kept
Night guards for grinding Made from your impressions

Hygiene & gums

Scale and polish 45-minute appointment
Gum disease treatment Staged over two visits
Bleeding-gum review With home technique coaching
Stain and tea-line removal Added to a hygiene visit

Repair & restoration

White and amalgam fillings Material discussed first
Crowns and onlays Two visits, temporary between
Root canal treatment Done unhurried, over 1–2 visits
Extractions Only when saving is not realistic
Bridges and dentures Fit reviewed after wearing

Appearance

Tray whitening Home trays, clinically supervised
Composite edge bonding Chips and worn edges
Veneer consultation Honest about irreversibility
Alignment referral To an orthodontic colleague

If you have been putting it off

Nervous patients are the normal case here, not a special one.

A dental chair and overhead lamp in a calm, softly lit surgery — Surgery two — the quiet room, used for longer and anxious appointments

No lecture about the gap since your last visit. We would rather you came back after eleven years than not at all, and the first appointment can be a conversation with no instruments out.

A stop signal that works
Raise your left hand and everything stops immediately — suction out, hands away. It is agreed before we start and it is never treated as an interruption.
Quiet slots at either end of the day
First and last appointments mean an empty waiting area, less equipment noise through the walls and no queue building behind you.
Numbing taken seriously
Topical gel before any injection, warmed anaesthetic given slowly, and as long as you need before we test that it has worked.
Talk-through or no commentary — your choice
Some people want every step described. Others want headphones and silence until it is over. Tell us which, and we hold to it.

How the practice runs

Two surgeries, four clinicians, one list.

Pine Lumen is deliberately small. Two dentists and two hygienists share a single patient list, which is why you see the same faces and why your notes are read before you sit down rather than during.

Continuity by default
Your examination, your fillings and your reviews stay with one dentist unless you ask to change or the work needs the other's particular experience.
Nothing added mid-appointment
If we find something unexpected, we stop, explain it and book it separately. Costs are never revised while you are lying back and unable to answer.
Referrals, said out loud
Complex surgical work, implants and orthodontics go to colleagues who do them daily. We would rather hand over than attempt a first.

A dentist in a mask and gloves working carefully at a patient's chairside in a clinical surgery — Unhurried appointments are a scheduling decision, not a slogan

Opening rhythm

When you can be seen, and what we keep held back.

Two appointment slots each weekday morning are reserved for pain and breakage, released at opening and not bookable in advance.

Weekdays

Monday & Wednesday: Early start from 7.30am, closing 5pm
Tuesday & Thursday: 9am to 7pm, late slots for working patients
Friday: 8am to 3pm, hygiene list only after 1pm

Weekends

Saturday: 9am to 1pm, hygiene and check-ups, two Saturdays a month
Sunday: Closed; urgent messages answered Monday morning
Bank holidays: Closed, with cover details on the practice answer message

Urgent care

Held slots: Two each weekday morning for pain, swelling or a broken tooth
How to use them: Send the form before 9am and we reply with a time, not a waiting list
Out of hours: Registered patients receive the on-call arrangement by email

Questions worth asking

The things people ask before they commit to booking.

How do I find out what treatment will cost?

Your written plan after the examination lists each stage with its cost, and we go through it together before anything is booked. If a plan runs over several visits, we set out the order so you can spread it rather than commit to all of it at once.

How often do I really need X-rays?

For most adults with healthy teeth, small X-rays every two to three years are enough. Higher decay risk or active gum disease shortens that interval. We explain why an image is needed on the day and you can decline; we will note what we cannot assess without it.

I am genuinely frightened of the dentist. Where do I start?

Book a first appointment and write "nervous" in the note on the form. That appointment can be entirely a conversation — chair upright, nothing in your mouth — and we agree in advance exactly what we will and will not do. Many patients take two or three visits to reach an examination, which is fine.

At what age should children first be seen?

As soon as the first teeth appear, mostly so the room becomes familiar before anything needs doing. Early visits are short: a look, a count, a sticker, and practical advice for whoever is doing the brushing at home.

Can you take over my care from another practice?

Yes. Request a new-patient appointment and we will ask your previous practice for your records and recent radiographs with your written consent. Bring any ongoing treatment plan you have; we will not repeat work that has already been paid for and done.

Is dental treatment safe during pregnancy?

Routine examinations and hygiene appointments are not only safe but recommended, as gums often become more reactive. Tell us which trimester you are in: we keep appointments shorter, adjust how far the chair reclines, and defer non-urgent X-rays and elective work.

What happens if I need to cancel?

Let us know at least a working day ahead and we simply rebook you, since a freed long appointment usually goes to someone in pain. Repeated same-day cancellations may mean we ask for a deposit to hold future long appointments.

Does whitening damage teeth, and will it match my crowns?

Supervised tray whitening at the correct concentration does not damage enamel, though sensitivity for a few days is common. Crowns, veneers and white fillings do not whiten, so we assess shade first — sometimes the honest answer is that existing restorations need replacing afterwards.

Request an appointment

Send this, and we reply with times that fit.

One short form. A member of the practice team reads it and answers with two or three specific slots rather than asking you to call back.

In pain right now?
Choose "Urgent — pain or breakage" below and send it before 9am on a weekday. Those requests are read first and answered against the held morning slots.
What we do with it
Your details are used to arrange the appointment and nothing else. No marketing list, no reminders you did not ask for.

Your name

Reason for the visit

Preferred time of day

Anything we should know first

I am a nervous patient — please book a longer, quieter slot.

We answer requests on working days. If something is severe or worsening quickly, seek urgent medical care rather than waiting for a reply.