Dentist for Hackney patients

A private dentist for Hackney, one bus from Hackney Central

Hackney does not lack for dentists. Between Mare Street, Lower Clapton, Dalston and the chain clinics around Hackney Central, the high street is busy with dental chairs. So the useful question for an E8 or E5 patient is not where the nearest practice is. It is what kind of dentistry you want over the next twenty years, and who you trust to plan that far ahead.

Dental & Wellness London is at 222 Essex Road, Islington, London N1 3AP, one direct bus from Hackney Central and Dalston, and we have been seeing Hackney patients since the practice opened in 2009. We are a private, clinician-led practice, rated 4.7 from more than 300 Google reviews, and we do not provide NHS treatment.

A routine appointment at a busy practice solves today’s problem. What we built the clinic to do is solve the problem properly the first time, and to consider the rest of your health while we do it. This page explains how to reach us from Hackney, why E8 and E5 patients make the trip, what Hackney patients book most often, what a first visit costs, and what we offer beyond dentistry.

Choosing a dentist in Hackney: what is worth asking first

Most people choose a dentist on convenience, and for a single check-up that is reasonable. For anything longer term, such as straightening, cosmetic work, an implant or a gum problem that keeps returning, a few other questions matter more than distance.

• Who plans the treatment? At some practices the person who designs your plan is not the person who carries it out. Here, Dr Vishal Patel plans every Invisalign and cosmetic case himself.
• Will they tell you when you do not need something? A good consultation sometimes ends with less treatment than you expected. We say no to treatment we do not think you need, and we say it often.
• Is every cost written down before you start? Every option is set out in a written plan with its cost, and you can take that plan away and decide in your own time.
• Does the practice look beyond the tooth in front of it? Clenching, tooth wear and gum inflammation often have causes outside the mouth, such as stress, sleep and diet. We take those signals seriously, and we are careful never to overclaim what dentistry can do for general health.

You do not need a referral, and you do not need to leave your current dentist to come to us for a one-off opinion or a cosmetic consultation. Many Hackney patients start exactly that way.

Getting to the clinic from Hackney

• By bike or e-bike: about 10 minutes from Dalston, and about 15 minutes from Hackney Central or London Fields. Many of our Hackney patients use a Lime or Forest e-bike, and it is often the quickest way to reach us.
• By bus: the 38 runs from Hackney Central and Mare Street through Dalston and along Essex Road, stopping a couple of minutes from the clinic. Allow about 20 to 25 minutes. The 56 also runs between Dalston and Essex Road, and the 73, 341 and 476 all stop on Essex Road near the door.
• By Overground: from Hackney Central, Hackney Downs connections or Dalston Kingsland to Canonbury, then about 15 minutes on foot.
• By rail: Essex Road station (Great Northern, on the line between Moorgate and Highbury & Islington) is two minutes from the door.

Patients from the E5 streets around Clapton and Hackney Downs often find the bus simplest, while those nearer Dalston and London Fields tend to cycle. If you drive, there is metered parking on the surrounding streets, though for most Hackney patients a single bus or a short bike ride is quicker than finding a space.

Why Hackney patients make the trip

Hackney has a lot of high-street practices and chain clinics, and many of them are competent. The Hackney patients who come to us are usually looking for something different: a clinician-led private practice that treats the mouth as part of the body, and that plans cosmetic work for the long term rather than for one photograph. The promise we make is plain: an honest consultation, not a sales conversation.

Cosmetic dentistry with restraint. Dr Vishal Patel holds an MSc in Aesthetic & Restorative Dentistry from Manchester, is an AACD member and has around twenty years in dentistry. We design with your future in mind, and we say no when a treatment is not the right answer. Many E8 patients who arrive asking about veneers leave with a more conservative plan built on composite bonding, whitening or aligners.

Invisalign at Diamond II level. Dr Patel plans every Invisalign case himself and prefers arch expansion to extraction where the teeth allow. The consultation is free and includes an iTero scan and ClinCheck preview, so you can see the proposed tooth movement before you commit to anything.

Implants from an implant dentist. Implant treatment is carried out by Dr Rishil Patel, who holds an MClinDent in Implantology, so the person placing your implant is someone who has trained specifically in that work.

Dental, skin and wellness under one roof. Clenching, jaw tension and gum inflammation often have causes outside the mouth. Our wellness team works in the same building, so those conversations can happen in one place rather than across three disconnected appointments in different parts of London.

What Hackney patients book most often

Hackney sends us two broad groups of patient, and our week is built around both. Younger professionals from the E8 and E5 streets tend to come for cosmetic and orthodontic work. Families come for the full range of general care: examinations, hygiene, fillings and a single calm place where everyone’s dentistry can sit together. What the two have in common is a wish to do it once and do it properly.

• Cosmetic dentistry: bonding from £175 (£350 for complex cases), whitening from £450 (£780 for combination whitening), and porcelain veneers, from £750 to £1,500 per tooth, where they are the right choice.
• Invisalign for crowding, spacing and relapse after braces: Express £2,200, Moderate £3,400 and Unlimited £4,500 to £4,900, depending on the complexity of the case.
• Private dental care: examinations (£65, 30 minutes, including a full risk assessment) and appointments with our hygienist in Islington (£85, 30 minutes, deep clean included).
• Dental implants from £2,200, including the crown.
• Aesthetic medicine, prescribed and administered by Dr Patel, who has ten years of experience in facial aesthetics.

Finance at 0% APR over 12 months is available for larger plans. Whatever you book, every cost is confirmed in writing before any treatment begins.

Cosmetic dentistry for E8 and E5, planned for the long term

Cosmetic dentistry done well is not designed for today. We know what happens to teeth, lips and smiles as we age, so cosmetic plans at the clinic are built for how your smile will look in ten and twenty years. That means thinking about how the edges of the front teeth wear, how the lips thin and drop with time, and how much of the upper teeth show when you speak. Where it is possible, we keep your own tooth structure, because enamel removed for a restoration cannot be put back.

With Invisalign, we prefer arch expansion to extraction where the teeth allow, looking at how the teeth support the smile from within rather than simply lining them up. Because Dr Patel is trained in both aesthetic and restorative dentistry, every cosmetic decision is also a functional one: how the teeth meet, how the bite is loaded, and how long the work is likely to last. That combined view is something a direct-to-consumer aligner brand cannot offer, and something a high-throughput clinic rarely has the time to think through.

A common belief is that veneers are the only route to a straighter, brighter smile. In practice, many people are well served by whitening, a small amount of bonding, or a short course of aligners first. We will explain the options, including doing nothing, and results vary from person to person. There is more detail on our page about veneers in Islington.

Skin and aesthetic care alongside your dentistry

The difference between us and the chain clinics nearer Hackney Central is partly what sits in the rooms around the dental chair. Alongside dentistry, we offer facial aesthetics and skin treatments, including dermal fillers, anti-wrinkle treatment and skin treatments such as HydraFacial and medical-grade peels. A skin or aesthetic consultation is £65, redeemable in full against treatment.

Every prescription treatment begins with a consultation and is prescribed and administered by Dr Vishal Patel, whose training includes the International Fellowship in Advanced Aesthetic Science and a facial anatomy course at the University of Amsterdam. As a dentist, he works with the anatomy of the lower face every day, which shapes a conservative approach to lips, jawline and the area around the mouth. Where a skin concern needs medical treatment, we will tell you and refer you to your GP or a dermatologist.

Wellness care alongside your dentistry

Alongside dentistry and aesthetic medicine, the clinic’s wellness team includes Dr Reena Sohal (Ayurvedic consultations), Nicoletta Peloni (nutritional therapy), Laura-Maria Schober (somatic coaching and mindfulness) and Binta Patel (life and relationship coaching). For Hackney patients who already think about wellbeing in the round, being able to bring a question about sleep, stress or jaw tension to the same building as your dental care is part of the point.

We are deliberate about boundaries. Our wellness practitioners support general wellbeing alongside your GP, not instead of them, and we will say so plainly and refer on where that is the right thing to do.

Your first visit from Hackney

1. A free discovery call. A 20-minute phone call with our team to answer your questions and find the right appointment. There is no clinical examination on the call.
2. An examination or consultation. A dental examination is 30 minutes and £65, with a full risk assessment. For Invisalign, the consultation is free and includes an iTero scan and ClinCheck preview.
3. A written plan. Your options and every cost set out in writing before any treatment begins, with no pressure to decide on the day.

Booking and opening hours

The clinic is open Monday to Friday, 8am to 7pm (Tuesday from 9am), by appointment. We are closed at weekends and do not take walk-ins, so please call 020 8127 4567, message us on WhatsApp, or book online before you come. The early and late weekday slots suit many Hackney patients who travel before or after work. Every cost is set out in a written plan before any treatment begins.

Nearby areas we also serve: Shoreditch, Stoke Newington and Canonbury. Patients also travel from Holloway.

Reviewed by Dr Vishal Patel · BDS Liverpool · MSc Aesthetic & Restorative Dentistry (Manchester) · GDC 103127 · Invisalign Diamond II Provider · AACD Member. Last reviewed 1 October 2026.