Dental Check-up

A dental check-up is the foundation of everything we do at our Wimpole Street practice. It is a structured, unhurried examination with a GDC-registered dentist designed to catch small problems before they become large ones. Rather than simply glancing at your teeth, your dentist assesses your whole mouth — teeth, gums, bite, jaw joints and soft tissues — and builds a clear picture of your oral health that we track over time. Many patients find that a thorough examination gives them something just as valuable as treatment itself: certainty about exactly where they stand.

Check-ups are for everyone, whether you attend every six months without fail or it has been years since you last sat in a dental chair. We see nervous patients, busy professionals working in central London, families, and people who simply want a second opinion on a plan they have been given elsewhere. If you have not attended the practice in the previous 24 months, you qualify as a new patient and pay a reduced fee for your first examination — one use per person, with any treatment or follow-up care quoted separately.

Your appointment usually takes 30–40 minutes. It begins with a conversation: your medical history, any concerns or symptoms, and what you would like from your dental care. Your dentist then examines each tooth individually, charting existing fillings, wear, cracks and early decay. Your gums are screened using the Basic Periodontal Examination, a standard UK measure of gum health, and we check your bite, jaw joints and any existing dental work such as crowns, bridges or implants.

Every examination also includes a soft-tissue screen of your cheeks, tongue, palate and throat. This is a routine check for early signs of oral cancer and other conditions — most findings are entirely harmless, but early identification matters, and it takes only a minute or two as part of your visit.

Where clinically justified, we take small digital X-rays to look between the teeth and beneath existing fillings, where decay often starts unseen. Digital sensors use a substantially lower radiation dose than older film systems, and images appear on screen within seconds so your dentist can talk you through exactly what they show. X-rays are only ever taken when there is a clinical reason, in line with UK guidance on justification and dose.

The examination fee is £95, with a reduced new-patient offer of £30 and X-rays at £20 where needed. You leave with a written, itemised plan — including prices — so nothing is ever booked without your informed consent. Your written, itemised quote is confirmed before any treatment begins, and if no treatment is needed, we will tell you exactly that. Overall costs depend on what the examination finds, which is why we never quote for treatment before we have seen you.

Some patients ask whether a check-up is necessary if nothing hurts. In practice, many dental problems — early decay, gum disease, cracked fillings — typically develop without symptoms until they are more advanced and more involved to treat. A routine examination is usually far quicker and less costly than the treatment needed once a problem announces itself, which is why NICE recommends recall intervals based on individual risk rather than waiting for pain.

After your examination, we agree a recall interval that suits your individual risk — usually between 6 and 12 months for adults. Between visits, your dentist and hygienist can help you refine your home routine so each check-up builds on the last. Patients who attend regularly typically need less treatment over their lifetime, though individual results vary and suitability for any specific treatment is confirmed at an in-person consultation with a GDC-registered dentist.

Choosing a dental check-up in London can feel overwhelming given the number of practices available. Our practice sits in Marylebone, near Harley Street, in a district with a long tradition of medical and dental care. We combine that heritage with modern digital diagnostics, transparent written pricing and genuinely unhurried appointments — the way we believe a first-class examination should be done.

If you are overdue an examination, or you are new to the area and looking for a dentist you can stay with long term, we would be delighted to welcome you. Booking is straightforward online or by phone, and early-morning and lunchtime appointments are popular with patients who work nearby in central London.

Getting to us is straightforward from almost anywhere in the capital. Our Wimpole Street practice is a short walk from Bond Street and Oxford Circus stations, and Regent's Park station is also within comfortable walking distance, which makes it easy to combine a check-up with a working day in the West End or a trip into town. Many patients book their examination for first thing in the morning or over lunch and are back at their desk within the hour. If you are travelling from further afield, our reception team is happy to suggest the simplest route and the quietest appointment times.

Nervous patients often ask what they can do to make a first visit easier. In our experience, small things help: telling us in advance that you are anxious, booking a quieter time of day, and agreeing a simple stop signal with your dentist before the examination begins. Nothing happens without your consent, and a check-up involves no drilling — it is looking, measuring and talking. Many patients find that once the first appointment is behind them, subsequent visits feel far more routine, and regular attendance itself tends to make dentistry less daunting because problems are caught while they are still small.

Technology supports the examination without replacing clinical judgement. Digital X-ray sensors, intraoral photographs and magnification help your dentist see detail that the naked eye can miss, and images can be shown to you on screen so you can see exactly what we see. Photographs taken at each visit also allow changes — a crack slowly propagating, a filling margin gradually breaking down — to be monitored over time rather than guessed at. This record-keeping means decisions about treatment can often be deferred safely and reviewed, rather than rushed, which many patients appreciate.