Dental Veneers Are A Popular Tool For The Cosmetic Dentist

As a cosmetic dentist, we have many tools, tricks, and treatment options that we can choose from when it comes to giving you better-looking teeth. Of the many options we offer, there is one that has made a tremendous impact with its versatility, affordability, and ease, which your cosmetic dentist can use to implement a treatment strategy. These are dental veneers. Dental veneers have become one of the most frequently used and powerful tools that a cosmetic dentist has in their repertoire. Despite being in a market where there is an amazing array of highly successful tools, dental veneers have become a primary choice for patients and cosmetic dentists everywhere. From our perspective, dental veneers have an inherent advantage because they enhance, not replace, your regular teeth, so there is less time wasted and less need for a procedure. Any time that you are looking to enhance or replace your teeth so you have a better smile, you will need to remove some level of enamel. The question is, how much of the natural enamel will be removed?

When you think of a device like a dental implant, the answer is that we will need to remove the entire tooth along with its root to make room for the new implant. Other devices do not remove quite so much, but they do get very close. Dental crowns, for example, are used to repair teeth that have extensive damage because of trauma or decay. To properly fit a dental crown, the original teeth will be shaved down to nothing more than mere nubs, enough to hold the new crown but not enough to affect their aesthetic value or functionality. Comparatively, dental veneers only remove a fraction of the natural enamel, fitting over the top of the tooth. This means that most of your natural enamel will stay intact. Saving the majority of your original tooth is a huge advantage to using dental veneers, one well recognized by the cosmetic dentist, but by no means is it the only one.

For the cosmetic dentist, one of our goals is to ensure that you have the shortest possible recovery and treatment times possible. With dental veneers, this is reduced significantly. In the majority of cases, your dental veneers will be fitted by your cosmetic dentist on the second visit to the office. Recovery time is typically a few hours, so you will be using your teeth as soon as the next day with virtually no restrictions. Compare this to the recovery time for dental implants, which can require several weeks of recovery time and places limitations on what you can eat and drink. Or, you can compare the treatment time of dental veneers to that of braces and Invisalign®, which are used to straighten teeth. As a function, dental veneers are used by the cosmetic dentist to visually correct mildly crooked teeth. Braces, however, will take a year of regular visits and wearing metal across your teeth to achieve similar looking results.

Why You Should Visit a Family Dentist For Your Children’s Care

In our family dentist office, we are focused on providing the highest quality of care for your family.  This means focusing on prevention and as a children's dentist we take that aspect of our job very seriously. We understand that if we can educate and empower our patients to make healthy decisions, regardless of how old they are, it will help them to maintain healthy teeth for a lifetime.  This is the power of family dentistry – the habits that you establish now will impact your children for the rest of their life.

What we can do for your child:

Educate.  As a family dentist, part of our job is to inform your children as to what they should and should not eat or drink to keep their teeth healthy.  For example, they should drink milk and eat a diet that contains lean protein, nuts, dairy and vegetables.  Simultaneously, they need to avoid drinking or eating anything that is overly acidic.  Everything has a pH level.  Water has a level of 7, meaning that it is neutral.  Battery acid has a pH level of zero and phosphoric acid has a level of 2.  Dentin begins to dissolve when anything below a 5.5 pH level comes in contact with the teeth.  With that in mind, we warn children to stay away from soda which can have a pH level of 2.5 or lower and juice which can have a pH level in the 3's.  Drinking water and milk, while simple, can make the difference between a life of strong and healthy teeth or a life full of brittle, decayed and damaged ones.

Cleanings.  Part of our children's dentist services is to clean teeth on a regular basis.  We recommend that children have their teeth cleaned twice a year so that we can remove the plaque and bacteria that has built up on them.  Even if your child brushes and flosses every day, there are some areas that are difficult to reach.  As a family dentist, we can use dental tools to reach these places and prevent cavities in the process.  These appointments can be completed fairly quickly and comfortably so that your child can actually enjoy receiving dental care.

Restorations.  As a family dentist, we know how common it is for a child to crack or chip a tooth.  It happens on the playground, when eating, wrestling with friends or playing sports.  While common, it is important to have the option of getting it restored quickly.  Our children's dentistry services include dental bonding since bonding material is a non-invasive and immediate way to restore a tooth.  As a result, it is a comfortable option for children that can restore their appearance and functionality.

Prevention.  We can provide your child with dental sealants to help prevent cavities.  By brushing the sealant onto their teeth, nothing can touch the chewing surfaces of them. This way, plaque cannot gather here and they will experience fewer cavities.

To learn more about our services as a family dentist, call and schedule an appointment.

Children's Dentist  >  Dental Implants

Children’s Dentistry And That Critical First Visit

Children's dentistry has its own unique set of challenges and joys. With challenges come the ability to overcome those challenges and share helpful hints, tips, and inside tricks that work to ensure your children have a very pleasant experience at their dentist appointments. One lesson every professional in the field of children's dentistry will tell you is that the first visit a child can remember will set the stage for years, even a lifetime, of relationships with a dentist, good or bad. In fact, recent studies have proven what those who practice children's dentistry have known for a very long time. Roughly 45 percent of the American public does not visit the dentist with any regularity. Of that, a very large percentage can trace their refusal to go to the dentist to an experience or an unaddressed fear that stems from their childhood. Our goal is to make sure your child has a strong and healthy relationship with all fields of medicine, particularly dentistry, so they have great teeth and good oral health. To do this, we focus a great deal of attention on making sure children have good memories of our offices and their own dentist.

A child's memory of children's dentistry will not begin when they walk in the door of the clinic; rather, it will begin when they start asking questions about their first visit. We know that only about 1.5 percent of parents follow our advice and bring in their children as soon as the child cuts their first tooth or turns one-year-old. For the remainder 98 percent, the first foray into children's dentistry only happens when the parent perceives a need for medical attention in the mouth. At this point, the child is typically older, and may be in discomfort. We strongly encourage parents to have a pre-visit conversation with the child, as this is your opportunity to paint a positive picture, get the child truly excited about the idea of seeing their own doctor, and finally create a sense of learning and education within the child. We do ask that parents avoid going into details, as much of what we do needs to be explained in non-threatening language, something we have worked on perfecting.

During the visit itself, it is critical that you do not demonstrate your own dental anxieties. Children are very good at sensing and then replicating their parent's emotions. If you feel very strongly about the dentist and are affected by anxiety, you should consider allowing the other parent to bring the child in. At the very least, you should discuss things with your dentist, so we know to prepare, just in case. A child who sees their parent calm, collected, and fully trusting the children's dentistry specialists is also going to react the same way. Ironically, the more relaxed the child, the faster we will be done and the happier the visit will be. On the other hand, a crying, upset, or jumpy child can make it harder to diagnose and treat whatever the problem is.

Dental Office  >  Family Dentist

These Bad Habits Can Cause You to Need an Emergency Dentist

As an emergency dentist, we get calls for all sorts of reasons. We know better than most how easy it is to damage the teeth. Simple activities that may seem innocent are often what leads to a tooth becoming cracked, chipped, or even being knocked out. While it would be convenient to think that teeth are only damaged in severe accidents like a car wreck, this is simply untrue, so it is important to change your habits and decrease your risk.

Here are a few habits that frequently lead to emergency calls:

Opening things with teeth. We are not sure where this idea started, but people of all ages tend to use their teeth like scissors. This is all well and good until your tooth breaks. Your teeth should only be used for eating food because the time you save opening a package with your teeth is not worth the risk of you breaking one and needing emergency dental care.

Piercing your tongue. A tongue piercing is particularly dangerous because it is placing a hard metal object inside your mouth. As an emergency dentist, we know this can lead to teeth becoming cracked or chipped when they come in contact with the piercing. Sometimes this happens while you sleep because there is no way to prevent what happens all the time, making it best to avoid the situation.

Not brushing your teeth. Let's face it, while most people know that they should brush their teeth, it is rare to find someone who brushes or rinses throughout the day. The morning and evening routine may be good enough if you eat a healthy diet low in sugar and starch. If, however, you drink a lot of coffee or sports drinks and eat candy or snack on chips, you are placing things on your teeth that can lead to cavities. This makes it important to at least rinse your mouth after eating or drinking something.

Grinding your teeth. If you grind your teeth at night, it can cause damage to them. Grinding is particularly bad for you because it can cause your teeth to chip and restorations to become dislodged. You can also wake up with TMJ-like symptoms, which include jaw, face, and neck pain. To solve this problem and prevent emergencies, we recommend wearing a night guard while you sleep.

Not wearing a mouthguard. If you or your kids play sports, you need to wear a mouthguard. These simple devices are necessary for ensuring that your teeth do not become chipped, cracked, or knocked out due to a sudden elbow jab or flying baseball.

As an emergency dentist, we know these are only a few things that can lead to dental damage and the need for an emergency dentist. The best thing you can do is to eliminate any bad habits from your daily routine and practice good oral care. This includes brushing and flossing throughout the day, visiting our office twice a year for a teeth cleaning, and eating a mouth healthy diet.

General Dentistry  >  Cosmetic Dentist

A Cosmetic Dentist Can Fix Your Gapped Teeth

If you suffer from diastema, also known as gapped teeth, a cosmetic dentist can help. Diastema occurs when certain teeth have grown in but do not match up, or the jaw has extra space that the teeth cannot fill. Usually, gapped teeth are genetic, but it can often be caused by a missing tooth, tongue thrusting, or periodontal disease. If you have diastema due to periodontal disease, you should have the infection treated before pursuing cosmetic improvements. If you have naturally gapped teeth, but do not want a straightening treatment, we can provide you with a few cosmetic dentistry options that can improve your teeth, which will help you feel more comfortable with your smile.

• Dental Bonding: If gaps are not severe, tooth bonding, or dental bonding, is usually the first cosmetic dentist treatment we suggest. During this procedure, dental resin in a pliable form will be applied to the sides of your teeth to create a shapely appearance that will fill in gaps. The bonding is tooth-colored to blends in with your teeth, providing a natural appearance. Dental bonding looks best when used on smaller gaps. Once the bonding is applied, the cosmetic dentist will harden the substance and buff it into a realistic-looking state.
• Dental Veneers: For larger gaps between teeth or for several gaps that need to be corrected, dental veneers are our second most commonly used option. Veneers are custom-created, thin shells of porcelain cemented to the fronts of your teeth. Those placed by the cosmetic dentist will fill in gaps and give you a fuller-looking smile. Veneers are tooth-colored and finished with a material that provides a similar sheen to that of your natural enamel.
• Dental Crowns: If you have a gap every few teeth, another viable option would be our dental crowns. These natural-colored crowns will encase your entire tooth, giving it a fuller shape that will properly occupy any gap space. If you have gaps due to missing teeth, we can apply a tooth-colored crown to a replacement option like a dental bridge or implant. These structures will attach to surrounding teeth or directly to your jaw bone to provide a permanent replacement for missing teeth. We will cover your bridge or implant with a crown to give it a proper, natural-looking dental prosthetic.

We can discuss our dental replacement options more fully when you come in for an appointment. Whichever replacement you choose will be dependent on the soundness of your dental structure and what durability and use you desire from your replacement.

Our cosmetic dentist corrective treatments will fill in your gaps as naturally as possible. These are minimally invasive procedures that do not require much chair time unless you desire a replacement option. Dental replacements take more time but provide permanent results. With most of these treatments, very little anesthetics are necessary, but we will offer them to make you as comfortable as possible. Our materials are long-lasting, stain-resilient, and durable against wear and damage.

Our General Dentistry Office Sheds Light on Common Health Myths

As a general dentistry office, we treat patients who are dealing with a wide variety of oral health challenges. We begin by determining what the issue is, treating it, and then discussing ways to prevent the problem from repeating itself. These conversations can be enlightening, and one thing we regularly hear are questions based on dental myths. For example, there is a myth that diet soda is okay for the teeth because it is sugar-free. Patients who are heavy soda drinkers can sometimes be surprised that they have cavities and that their soda habit could have contributed to the problem. Getting accurate information is important to maintain a healthy smile, both now and in the future. For this reason, we have compiled a list of the myths we hear on a regular basis and our response to them. 

Myth – Raw diets are good for your teeth.

The truth is that any extreme diet has some drawbacks. The biggest challenge with the raw diet is that much of the food is highly acidic. When acid comes in contact with your teeth, it can begin the process of erosion. You only have a limited amount of enamel on your teeth, so when it starts to erode, your teeth could become sensitive. If you are on the raw diet, be sure to rinse your mouth after eating and drinking, and brush your teeth with a fluoride toothpaste that can help strengthen them. We invite you to visit our general dentistry office any time you are trying a new diet and want to know if it is good for your teeth.

Myth – Adults do not get cavities on a regular basis.

Everyone is susceptible to getting cavities. It does not matter how old you are. If you have teeth, they can experience decay. We encourage all of our patients to have their teeth cleaned at our general dentistry office twice a year, so we can reduce the risk of cavities forming in the first place.

Myth – Flossing is optional.

Flossing is one of the most important things you can do for your oral health, and it is the best thing you can do to prevent gum disease. Every time you eat, food particles can become trapped in between your teeth, and plaque can also build up in these spaces. Flossing allows you to remove food and plaque, preventing it from leading to cavities or from becoming trapped underneath your gum tissue. Leaving it there can lead to inflamed and irritated gums in addition to infections. If you do not like to floss, purchase a flossing tool, since these are easy to hold and make it faster to get the job done. 

Myth – Only older people get oral cancer.

This is certainly not the case. While men over the age of fifty are at the greatest risk for developing cancer, anyone can get it. The HPV virus has been known to cause oral cancer, and if you have been diagnosed with it, smoke, drink a lot, or use chewing tobacco, you are at an increased risk. We recommend being screened on an annual basis. 

To learn more about oral health or to ask questions, call and schedule an examination.

Dental Veneers are a Versatile Solution

Dental Veneers are small pieces of porcelain that are used to restore the natural looking beauty of your teeth. They are placed after removing a tiny portion of the tooth enamel, usually not more than a few millimeters and cemented into place so that they are stable. The fact that we do not have to remove a great deal of enamel makes the veneers a much better solution for some kinds of dental problems. Typically dental veneers are used to fix minor problems with your teeth. This can include chips, cracks, and small breaks. They can also be used to correct minor bite related problems and for teeth that have not responded to teeth whitening so that you can have straighter and whiter teeth. With new technology, it is possible to make veneers that are extremely natural looking, doing away with the blocks of fake looking white teeth and replacing them with veneer covered teeth that look extremely realistic. The results are natural looking, dramatic, and beautiful.  Once placed, the best thing about veneers is that they are easy to maintain. You simply need to brush your teeth, as long as you avoid toothpaste isn't excessively abrasive.

Dental veneers are a superior method of correcting minor problems. Some of the reasons for this assessment are well known while other are mostly known by dentists.

Here is why we like dental veneers as a treatment option -
Dental veneers are versatile meaning that they can fix a large number of problems. For example, a number of people use dental veneers to correct the coloring of their teeth. Few of these patients realize that dental veneers can also be used to broaden the smile, and remove wrinkles induced by worn out teeth. When teeth get worn, they lead to sagging in the mouth which creates tiny folds around the nose and in the corners of the mouth. These wrinkles can be easily removed with the help of dental veneers. What we can do is broaden your smile, using bonded porcelain while also lengthening your teeth. This can cause the mouth to be properly stretched over the teeth, and the aging wrinkles to disappear.

Dental veneers are natural in look and feel. Dental veneers have many of the same qualities that the enamel does. It is incredibly hard and incredibly brittle. For a person with veneers what this means is that you will not need to change the foods you eat. You will, however, need to take a few additional precautions when eating food like apples, which are hard to bite into. Taking the time to dice the apples will not only ensure that your veneers do not become broken or fall off, but will also make sure that your teeth do not sustain damage. One common warning we give all our patients is never to use your teeth as a tool. The teeth, with or without dental veneers, are not designed for bottle opening, chip bag tearing, or nail biting. Such activity can and will result in broken teeth and broken veneers. With proper care veneers have been known to last up to 30 years, though the average is around 12.

Cosmetic Dentist  >  Teeth Whitening Service