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Treatment
Our practice can provide a wide range of dental services. We can typically provide every type of dental service without having to refer you to other specialties. This flexibility saves you time and keeps your total dental care within one practice. Our practice also provides the highest-quality services for restoring mouths that have been damaged by dental disease and injury and common problems that require cosmetic dentistry. Our primary goal for our patients is to achieve and maintain optimum oral health through advances in techniques, technologies and by maintaining their scheduled dental exams. We can provide the results you are looking for at an affordable price. We understand our patients' needs and will make every possible attempt to accommodate your schedule, concerns and financial needs.
CROWNS
BRIDGES
IMPLANTS
PARTIALS/DENTURES
EXTRACTIONS
BONDING
VENEERS
COMPOSITE FILLINGS
TMJ
Crowns
Crowns are needed when there is not enough tooth structure left to hold a filling. Fillings are held in by the strong walls of the tooth. If those walls are weak or non-existent, a crown would be needed to hold the tooth rather than the tooth hold the filling. When there is massive tooth structure loss, then the tooth will require a post so the dentist will have something on which to build the crown. Crowns are routine procedure after a root canal simply because once a tooth loses its vitality, it becomes brittle. The crown keeps the tooth from breaking.
The crown is made by shaping the tooth and taking an impression of the area involved. The impression is then sent to our lab, where they will custom make the permanent crown. This process usually takes about 2 weeks. A temporary crown is placed on the tooth at the time we make the impressions until the permanent crown is ready. A second appointment is set up for approximately 2 weeks after the impressions are taken to seat the permanent crown. This crown is permanently cemented to the tooth, and if taken care of properly, will last many years.
Bridges
A bridge is recommended to replace missing teeth by “bridging” the gap between two remaining teeth. A pontic, or false tooth, is created with a dental crown on either side. The crowns are fitted over the remaining teeth to hold the false tooth in place. An impression is taken and is sent to the lab where the bridge will be made. Temporary crowns are placed on the teeth at the day of the impression. A second appointment is made for approximately 1 week to try in the bridge for any adjustments. A third appointment is made for approximately 1 week later to permanently cement the bridge in place.
With proper oral hygiene, bridges can last many years. However, improper or infrequent brushing and flossing, irregular dental visits and excessive sugar and starch intake can all bring untimely damage to the bridge.
Implants
A dental implant is an artificial tooth root that is placed into your jaw to hold a replacement tooth, bridge or support for a denture. Dental implants are an ideal option for people in good general oral health who have lost a tooth or teeth due to periodontal disease, an injury or some other reason.
Dental implants are so natural-looking you may forget you ever lost a tooth. You know that your confidence about your teeth affects how you feel about yourself, both personally and professionally. Perhaps you hide your smile because of spaces from missing teeth. Maybe your dentures don't feel secure. Perhaps you have difficulty chewing. If you are missing one or more teeth and would like to smile, speak and eat again with comfort and confidence, there is good news! Dental implants are teeth that can look and feel just like your own! Under proper conditions, such as placement by a team of doctors and diligent patient maintenance, implants can last a lifetime.
Partials / Dentures
A partial is a removable appliance used to replace missing teeth. Partials help your remaining teeth stay in position, improve your ability to speak and equally distribute chewing stress throughout the mouth. Its use is generally recommended for a patient who has too many teeth missing to properly support a fixed bridge, but who doesn't yet need full dentures. A partial denture holds artificial teeth in place with a base that saddles the gums and retainers that clasp onto adjacent teeth. If partials are properly cared for, they can last as long as a fixed bridge. Their low cost also makes them advantageous to patients needing only one or two replacements of missing teeth. They are removable, however, and if not worn continually, they can contribute to the misalignment of adjacent teeth. Maintaining a close fit is important in order to keep a partial functioning properly, so it should be checked at least once a year by a dentist.
Dentures are a set of artificial teeth used to replace natural ones lost because of disease or decay. There are two primary methods for fitting dentures. The teeth can be extracted and the gums and jaw allowed to heal before the dentures are fitted, or dentures can be prepared in advance and inserted immediately after the extraction. Immediate dentures are more aesthetically pleasing, but they often require several fittings as the jaw heals and changes shape. They also allow you the advantage of never needing to appear without teeth. Because dentures are foreign to the mouth, they require a certain period of adjustment. Denture wearers must learn to chew and speak with a new set of teeth. However, they can be advantageous to older wearers by adding fullness to lips and cheeks and helping to reduce wrinkles around the mouth. They also provide an alternative to patients with dental disease that want to avoid extensive treatments. Just like partials, dentures should be checked at least once a year.
Extractions
Simple extraction is the uncomplicated removal of a tooth from the bone and surrounding tissues. Root-tip extraction is the removal of a broken tooth or a badly decayed tooth where only the root of the tooth remains in the bone. Wisdom teeth are usually impacted teeth and only about 5% of the world’s population actually has enough room in their mouth for the wisdom teeth to come in properly. Impacted teeth are generally removed because they can cause a number of problems such as infected tissue, cysts, decay or disturbance of the growth and positions of other teeth.
Prescriptions will be given to the patient along with home care instructions during this visit. It is very important for the patient to follow their instructions and take care of the extraction site for maximum healing and minimal discomfort. Soreness may occur for a day or two after the extraction.
Bonding
Dental bonding is a procedure in which a tooth-colored resin material (a durable plastic material) is applied and hardened with a special light, which ultimately "bonds" the material to the tooth to restore or improve a person's smile. Dental bonding is an option that can be considered to close spaces between teeth or repair chipped or cracked teeth.
Veneers
Dental veneers (sometimes called porcelain veneers) are wafer-thin, custom-made shells of tooth-colored materials designed to cover the front surface of teeth to improve your appearance naturally. These shells are bonded to the front of the teeth changing their color, shape, size or length. Veneers can be used to fix teeth that are discolored, worn down, chipped or broken, misaligned, uneven, irregularly shaped and teeth with gaps between them.
Composite fillings
In the past, teeth were most commonly repaired with amalgam (silver) fillings or gold restoration. Thanks to advances in modern dental materials and techniques, teeth can be restored with a more aesthetic and natural appearance. There are different types of cosmetic fillings currently available. The most simple form of ‘white filling’ is technically called a Composite. It is made up of a composite quartz resin and usually contains some sort of light sensitive agent. These light cured composites are extremely cosmetic and most often bonded into place in one appointment. They can be used in both the front of the mouth as well as in your back teeth. These fillings are instantly hardened by a light.
TMJ
The “Temporomandibular Joint,” more commonly referred to as the “jaw joint,” assists in the basic opening and closing movements of the jaw. Unfortunately, this joint is a common area for recurring pain. Although conventional wisdom suggests that “popping” sounds in the jaw indicates a TMJ dysfunction, this is not always true. Many times, your jaw is functioning properly even if a “popping” sound is present when chewing or talking.
We offer a TMJ exam that evaluates the joint tissue in the “hinge” of the jaw. Possible problems include swelling, deterioration of the joint tissue or damaged joint tissue (which cushions the jaw bones during the opening and closing movement of the mouth). Common pain relievers and cold compresses can provide temporary relief for most cases of TMJ.
For more serious cases of TMJ, we will recommend alternate treatments. Often, we will suggest using a mouth guard to relieve teeth grinding. In some cases, we will instruct you to use orthodontic appliances or retainers to alleviate discomfort or redirect positioning of the TMJ joint. For the most severe cases of TMJ, we may recommend certain invasive procedures.
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