- Cleanings & Preventative Treatments
- Restorative Treatments
- Exams and Diagnoses
- Additional Services
Teeth cleaning is a routine procedure that happens during your regular dentist appointments. Tartar and plaque buildup is removed from your teeth to prevent the growth of bacteria that can lead to gum disease and tooth decay.
A dental sealant is a preventative treatment used to protect your teeth from cavities. Sealants are placed most commonly in the deep pits and fissures of your molars, preventing bacteria from getting stuck in the groves.
Prophylaxis is the medical term for teeth cleaning, a preventative dental health care option recommended twice a year. During prophylaxis, a dentist will remove dental plaque and other irritants in your mouth that can’t be removed by flossing or brushing your teeth.
Oral Hygiene Maintenance
Oral hygiene maintenance is strongly encouraged by your dentist in order to prevent teeth decay and expensive restorative procedures. Most dentists recommend brushing your teeth twice a day as well as regular flossing.
Fluoride is a mineral that prevents tooth decay by making the tooth more resistant to damaging acids. Although fluoride is found in our water, a concentrated level of fluoride can be applied to your teeth by your dentist in order to increase protection. Your dentist might also prescribe fluoride supplements.
Unlike normal teeth cleaning, this process includes smoothing the root surfaces of teeth and removing infected tooth structure as well as cleaning tartar from the surface of the teeth. Also referred to as deep scaling and root planning, this is a common treatment for gum disease, as it cleans the deepened gum pockets under the gum line.
When teeth become so damaged they are irreparable, they need to be removed, or extracted. Using a local anesthetic, your dentist can extract the damaged tooth rather quickly. There are several options to replace the removed tooth, including implants and dentures.
Tooth Color Restoration
Tooth color restoration is the process in which a filling is bonded to the remaining tooth structure to improve the appearance of the tooth. These fillings come in a variety of colors and materials depending on your tooth color and what type of tooth needs repairing.
The whitening process involves treatment of peroxide solution to the enamel, which penetrates through to whiten the dentin layer underneath. Teeth whitening can be an extensive process depending on the state of a patient’s teeth, so it’s always wise to consult your dentist before using any whitening products.
Porcelain laminates are thin shells placed on the front side of teeth to improve their appearance. Attaching laminates is a fairly normal and easy fix for chipped, worn, discolored, or misaligned teeth.
Partial and Full Dentures
When teeth are so damaged they must be removed, dentures are removable teeth that help maintain the look and function of a healthy mouth. Depending on the need (full or partial dentures) the denture development process can take up to six weeks with several dental appointments.
Inlays and Onlays
The inlays and onlays procedure restores and strengthens damaged teeth. Also called indirect fillings, inlays and onlays are bonded to the tooth, and unlike crowns they do not remove healthy tooth structure. It is a fairly simple procedure that most dentists recommend because it is considered minimally invasive.
Dental implantation is a restorative procedure that replaces a damaged or missing tooth with a root and crown implant. The implant is placed into your gum where it integrates with the bone. The crown is fitted and adhered to the implant after several months.
Full Porcelain Crowns
Crowns are tooth-shaped caps placed over a damaged tooth to improve its shape, strength, and appearance. Full porcelain crowns look most like your normal teeth.
Crown and Bridge Restoration
This is a common procedure used when one or more teeth are damaged or missing. A bridge permanently joins artificial teeth to adjacent teeth and is stabilized by crowning the adjacent teeth to support the bridge structure. This is a more complex restorative procedure and can take several dental appointments to complete.
Advanced Gum Treatment
The most common gum problems occur when the tissue surrounding your teeth becomes inflamed and infected. Treatment for gum disease often requires a deep cleaning above and below the gum line as well as a locally administered antibiotic. Advanced gum damage sometimes requires the complete removal of teeth.
Tooth Trauma Treatments
Depending on the type of injury and the extent of damage to the tooth, a tooth can be replanted or restored. That’s why it’s ideal to find missing teeth or teeth fragments once injury has occurred. If the tooth cannot be restored, crowns, bridges, laminates, and implants are available treatments to help reconstruct the damage.
Root Canal Treatments
When damage occurs inside your tooth, treatment sometimes requires the full removal of the nerve, or roots. A root canal is when a dentist clears the damaged root canals by drilling into the damaged tooth. This is an extensive procedure that can require fillings and crowns.
Gum Disease Diagnosis
Gum disease occurs when bacteria multiplies in your mouth, causing swelling, tenderness, and intermediate bleeding in your gums. If you’re experiencing these symptoms, your dentist will X-ray your teeth to look for potential bone damage, and will most likely schedule a deep cleaning.
These X-rays offer detailed imaging of your entire mouth in order to insure a complete diagnosis of your dental problems. Digital X-rays are different than film in that they expose you to less radiation and produce higher quality images faster—making for shorter dentist appointments.
Sometimes dental impressions are required for your dentist to properly diagnose your mouth. An impression of your mouth is created by using elastic material to make an imprint of your teeth, which is then molded into a plaster replica of the inside of your mouth.
Cracked Tooth Test
Sometimes a tooth can crack without completely breaking, causing discomfort but also making the cracking difficult to diagnose. Cracked tooth syndrome is commonly diagnosed with a bite test, and depending on the depth of crack, is fixed by a root canal, crown restoration, stabilization, or tooth extraction.
Consultation and Treatment Planning
Consultations are offered to all new patients in order to establish a full understanding of their dental history and potential necessary procedures.
Comprehensive Oral Exam
Comprehensive oral exams evaluate the health of your mouth in its entirety. These exams include an analysis of the gum, teeth, supporting bones, saliva, and jaws as well as scans and X-rays that check the soft tissues of the throat and mouth for cancer. At the end of this exam, your dentist will have a full understanding of your oral health and any procedures needed to improve it.
For many people, visiting the dentist can cause fear and anxiety, especially if you have an uncomfortable procedure ahead of you. Nitrous gas, also known as laughing gas, is a pretreatment option available for patients, causing you to be relaxed, calm, and sedated without actually putting you to sleep. Patients who’ve been treated with nitrous gas are normally fine to drive themselves home after treatment.