RESTORATIVE DENTISTY
Our practice provides a wide range of dental services. We typically provide most dental services 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 that contain traces of mercury with white fillings (composites) and/or porcelain fillings (ceramic) 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 and unhealthy silver/mercury fillings 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; therefore restoring most of its original internal strength. Silver amalgams, on the other hand, can weaken the teeth and make them more susceptible to breaking. Broken teeth can be very expensive to replace.
White filling composites are preferred by most patients. This is due to the natural color, strength and overall appearance and feel.
Hot and cold sensitivity can be greatly reduced with composite material compared to the silver/mercury amalgams.
Restorations with composites require less removal of tooth, therefore more conservative prepartaions than those with amalgams and especially with new cavities. Dramatically smaller holes are needed with a composite.
Cosmetic 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
Often used to improve the appearance of your teeth and enhance your smile. As the name indicates, composite material, a resin, is bonded to an existing tooth. Unlike veneers or crowns, composite bonding removes little, if any, of the original tooth.
Cosmetic composite bonding has many advantages:
- It is a quick process, which typically lasts less than one hour.
- It does not reduce 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.
Cosmetic composite bonding, however, are not as durable and long-lasting as veneers and crowns made of porcelain. They may need to be re-touched or replaced in the future.
Cosmetic composite bonding stains more easily and therefore require 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 and candy.
Root Canal
A root canal is a procedure that removes the pulp (nerve) from the central part of the tooth, reshapes the canal and replaces it with biocompatable filler.
A cavity is the result of superficial decay of the enamel of the tooth. Left long enough, this decay can burrow into the deeper reaches of the tooth, causing extensive damage to tooth structure which may or may not cause pain. When the damage goes beyond what can be treated with a filling, dentists can perform a root canal (or endodontics), preserving the tooth and retaining its original integrity; thereby, saving a tooth that in the past would have to have been pulled.
Other cause for root canal therapy are; Fractured teeth, cracked tooth syndrome, trauma to the face, and unknown causes.
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 come through or simply develops in the wrong place of your jaw and becomes impacted, problems can arise. Primarily, damage to adjacent teeth and crowding occur.
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 root of the tooth that then fills with liquid. 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. To potentially stave off this result, an extraction of one, several or all of the wisdom teeth may be advised. If that is the case, we will determine the best protocol to perform such extractions. Ask our staff for more information regarding tooth extractions if you feel you may need one.
Dental Implants
Dental implants are biocompatible metal anchors surgically positioned in the jaw bone underneath the gums to support an artificial crown where natural teeth are missing. They are in no way cemented or connected to remaining teeth like traditional crowns or bridges. Implants are usually made from a metal called titanium, which is readily accepted by the body. Next, the crown and final abutmnet (the anchor for the crown to be attached to) is laboratory-fabricated similar to natural tooth supported crowns.
How does it work? There is a phenomenon called osseointegration, meaning that titanium is so compatible that bone actually attaches itself to the implant. The advantages of implants include increased stability of dentures while also reducing long-term bone resorption and the ability to restore a missing tooth without altering the teeth on either side of the space.
Dental Crowns
A crown (or cap) is a covering that encases the entire tooth surface restoring it to its original shape and size. A crown protects and strengthens tooth structure that cannot be restored with fillings or other types of restorations.
Although there are several types of crowns, porcelain (tooth colored crown) are the most popular. They are highly durable and will last many years, but like most dental restorations, they may eventually need to be replaced. The beauty of all porcelain crowns is that they require minimal amount of tooth removed to achieve ideal form, function and aesthetics. Porcelain crowns are made to match the shape, size, and color or your teeth giving you a natural, long-lasting beautiful smile.
Dental Bridges
A dental bridge is a fixed (non-removable) appliance and is an excellent way to replace missing teeth.
There are several types of bridges. You and your dentist will discuss the best options for your particular case. The “traditional bridge” is the most popular type and is usually made of porcelain fused to metal. Porcelain fixed bridges are most popular because they resemble your natural teeth. This type of bridge consists to two crowns that go over two anchoring teeth (abutment teeth) and are attached to pontics (artificial teeth), filling the gap created by one or more missing teeth.
Dental bridges are highly durable and will last many years, however they may need replacement or need to be re-cemented due to normal wear.
Dentures
A denture is a removable dental appliance replacement for missing teeth and surrounding tissue. They are made to closely resemble your natural teeth and may even enhance your smile.
There are two types of dentures - complete and partial dentures. Complete dentures are used when all of the teeth are missing, while partial dentures are used when some natural teeth remain. A Partial denture not only fills in the spaces created by missing teeth, it prevents other teeth from shifting.
A Complete denture may be either “conventional” or “immediate.” A conventional type is made after the teeth have been removed and the gum tissue has healed, usually taking 4 to 6 weeks. During this time the patient will go without teeth. Immediate dentures are made in advance and immediately placed after the teeth are removed, thus preventing the patient from having to be without teeth during the healing process. Once the tissues shrink and heal, adjustments will have to be made.
Dentures are very durable appliances and will last many years, but may have to be remade, repaired, or readjusted due to normal wear.
TMJ Disorders & Sleep Apnea/ Snoring Appliances
Maybe it’s the stress of contemporary life, but more and more people seem to be experiencing problems that can affect their sleep (or their partners’ slumber). Custom fit devices – not mass produced over the counter plastics – can help you get consistent rest every night.
Do you suffer from the jaw stiffness and pain of TMJ or suffer from tooth wear caused by night grinding (bruxism)? A night guard protects your teeth and other jaw structures from the trauma of grinding.
Sleep apnea appliances offer solutions to snoring and blocked airways. A sleep apnea device pulls your jaw slightly forward to open air passages and help you breathe easier.
Please ask us about our services.
Equilibration Restoration
Teeth and jaws do not occlude (come together) in an acceptable position for many reasons. Some of them are fillings or bridges that have been placed over a period of years, orthodontics, developmental defects, oral surgery, trauma, malocclusion (poor bite), bruxism, clenching, and normal wear over time.
Occlusal equilibration is the mechanical adjustment of your teeth, dentures, bridges, fillings, or other oral appliances to a position that allows your lower jaw to function in a natural hinge in relation to your jaw without improper influence from teeth.
Your mouth may be equilibrated because some problem exists: pain, abnormal wear, breaking of restorations, or other situations. The problem is usually present because teeth and/or restorations do not meet in harmony with your lower jaw at the proper position. The teeth and fillings have not "worn in" properly. Occlusal equilibration "wears" some areas mechanically and allows the teeth to meet harmoniously. It is not harmful but is beneficial.
A simple occlusal equilibration can be accomplished in a short time. Only slight future changes in your occlusion (bite) occur over a period of time because of small movements of teeth in the jaw bones. More complex equilibrations may require several appointments, and the teeth may shift more between appointments. When your symptoms are gone and your occlusion is relatively stable, your equilibration will be finished. Placement of any new fillings in your mouth will change the way the teeth contact.