Fillings | Root Canals | Tooth Extractions | Crowns & Bridges
Our practice can provide a wide range of dental services. 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 by using the latest techniques and materials.
Fillings
The concept of a “filling” is replacing and restoring your tooth structure that is damaged due to decay or fracture. We will replace old, broken-down amalgam/metal fillings that contain traces of mercury 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 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.
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Root Canal
A root canal is a procedure that removes diseased soft tissue from the canal inside of the root.
A cavity is the result of superficial decay in 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. When the damage goes beyond what can be treated with a filling, dentists can perform a root canal (or endodontics), preserving the tooth, thereby saving a tooth that in the past would have to have been pulled.
Procedure:
- The tooth is numbed.
- A dental shield is used to isolate the tooth.
- The tooth is opened to allow for removal of infected soft tissue.
- The canals are thoroughly cleaned and rinsed.
- With special tools, the doctor reshapes the canals.
- The tooth is filled again with cutting edge biocompatible filling material.
- A temporary covering is used to cover the access opening.
- Patients MUST see their regular dentist quickly for a permanent restoration of the tooth (usually within 6 weeks).
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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.
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Crowns and Bridges
Crowns
A crown is a permanent covering that fits over an original tooth that is either decayed or cracked. Crowns are made of a variety of different materials such as porcelain, gold, or a mix of these materials. Porcelain generally has the most natural appearance, although it is often more susceptible to fracture.
The steps accomplished during a crown appointment are:
- Numbing the tooth to remove the decay.
- Re-sculpturing the tooth to provide an ideal fit for the crown.
- Making an impression of your teeth in order to create a custom-made crown (usually takes one to two weeks).
- Making a temporary crown out of acrylic resin and fitting it onto the tooth during the interim period when the permanent custom-made crown is being created.
- Applying the permanent crown (when received from the lab) by removing the temporary crown and fitting the permanent one onto the tooth.
- After ensuring that the crown has the proper look and fit, the dentist cements it into place.
This process generally consists of 2-3 visits over a three to four week period.
Once the procedure is completed, proper dental hygiene, including daily brushing and flossing, is required to maintain healthy, bacteria-free teeth, gums and crowns. Teeth are still susceptible to cavities even after they have been crowned, so proper dental hygiene is essential.
Bridges
A bridge is a dental device that fills a space that a tooth previously occupied. A bridge may be necessary to prevent:
- Shifting of the teeth that can lead to bite problems (occlusion) and/or jaw problems and resultant periodontal disease.
- Bridges safeguard the integrity of existing teeth and help maintain a healthy, vibrant smile.
A fixed bridge consists of two crowns with a filler tooth (or teeth) in between. The bridge is fitted over existing teeth and cemented in place.
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