The latest ten year survey of dental health in the UK shows what we all kind of know - more people are keeping their teeth for longer. Which is great if you're one of them.

But if you're not one of those fortunate people and have missing teeth, what do you do? Most of us have got, or have known, elderly relatives who went to their dentists and had false teeth made.

But here's a trade secret - the dentist didn't "make" them.

The dentist did check the mouth, plan the treatment, take the impressions and the measurements, did dictate the aesthetics and check the results, but actually they worked with a Dental Technician who crafted the final result. And it is these latter Heroes I want to give a big Up to today.

Dental technicians make precision stuff that we can't make in the surgery.

So that might be :

And some of them have studied long hours to be qualified to actually make dentures directly for patients.

I can assure you, they're good. A bit like secret jewellers. Massive advances in dental technology, more post qualification training, new ways of team working, and more face time with the patient have pushed back the limits of the possible and its an exciting field to be in right now.

I have the pleasure of working with some fantastic technicians, locally and nationally, who produce little marvels on a daily basis. One of whom is in Carlisle and was in surgery with me yesterday working on a denture project with a patient. Its looking very, very good and we should be seeing a great result in a week or so. If you're interested, take a look at Rob Taggart's website:

http://www.roberttaggartdentallaboratory.co.uk/