General 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 emphasis is on total preventive care for our patients. Total care begins with regular hygiene visits, regular checkups, and continued home oral health routines.
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.
Fillings
The concept of a “filling” is replacing and restoring your tooth structure that is damaged due to decay or fracture with a material. We will replace old, broken-down amalgam/metal fillings with white fillings (composites) to restore your smile and teeth to a more natural look and feel.
With today’s advancements, no longer will you have to suffer the embarrassment of unsightly silver or metal margins of the past. Eliminate the dark, black appearance in your teeth with new-age, state-of-the-art, tooth-colored resin or porcelain materials.
Comparing White Fillings Versus Silver Amalgam Fillings:
- White fillings bond to the tooth; they strengthen the tooth by restoring most of its original shape. Silver amalgams, on the other hand, weaken the teeth and make them more susceptible to breaking. Broken teeth can be very expensive to replace; white fillings can actually save time and money in the long run.
- White filling composites are preferred by most patients. This is due to the natural color, strength and overall appearance and feel. Composites are naturally more comfortable.
- Hot and cold sensitivity is greatly reduced with composite material compared to the silver/mercury amalgams.
- Restorations with composites require less removal of tooth than those with amalgams and especially with new cavities. Dramatically smaller preparations are needed with a composite.
Composite Bonding
Bonding is a common solution for:
- Fixing or repairing chipped or cracked teeth
- Reducing unsightly gaps or spaces between teeth
- Hiding discoloration or faded areas on the tooth’s surface
Composites are used to improve the appearance of your teeth and enhance your smile. As the name indicates, composite material, either a plastic or resin, is bonded to an existing tooth. Unlike amalgams or crowns, composite bonding removes much less of the original tooth.
Composite bonding has many advantages:
- It is a quick process, which typically lasts less than one hour.
- It requires less removal of the tooth’s original structure and is relatively inexpensive.
- Composite resins come in many different shades and provide better matching of shades to the natural color of your teeth.
- Composite bonding, however, is not as durable and long-lasting as veneers and crowns and may need to be re-touched or replaced in the future.
Composite bonding stains more easily and therefore requires proper care and regular cleaning. In order to ensure the longest possible duration of the bonding, composites should be brushed and flossed daily. Common staining elements include coffee, tea, tobacco, foods, wine, and chocolate.
Root Canals
Endodontics refers to root canals. Over the years people have associated root canal treatment with severe pain. Actually, the process of root canal treatment is very similar to a filling with the patient experiencing little or no discomfort during the procedure.
The root canal process starts by removing all decayed tooth structure. The infected nerve in the canals is removed and the canals are cleaned and disinfected. The canals are then filled to seal off any bacteria from re-entering. Once the root canal is complete, the pulp chamber is sealed, and a final restoration is fabricated to ensure longevity of the tooth.
Common causes for the need of endodontic treatment:
- Tooth decay
- A chipped, fractured or broken tooth
- Trauma to the tooth
Common signs and symptoms for the need of endodontic treatment:
- Inflamed/infected tooth pulp (nerve)
- Swelling and/or tenderness near the infected tooth
- Severe sensitivity to hot and cold elements
- Pain when chewing on the tooth.
Sometimes when a tooth is chronically infected, no symptoms occur even though a root canal is needed. That is why a comprehensive exam and a full series of X-rays is needed to detect these types of situations
Please contact our office for an evaluation if you experience any of these symptoms so we may address the problem.
Tooth Extractions
Your third molars are more commonly called “wisdom teeth.” Usually appearing in the late teens or early twenties, third molars often lack the proper space in the jaw to erupt fully or even at all. This common condition is called impaction. When any tooth lacks the space to erupt or simply develops in the wrong place of your jaw, problems can arise. Primarily, these problems include damage to the adjacent teeth and crowding of more anterior teeth.
In certain cases, the wisdom tooth that cannot come through becomes inflamed under the gums and in the jawbone, causing a sac to develop around the tooth which then fills with fluid. This can cause a cyst or an abscess if it becomes infected. If either of these situations goes untreated, serious damage to the underlying bone and surrounding teeth and tissues can result.
