Restore Your Smile

A smile can be the most eye-catching feature of a face. With dentistry's many advances, you no longer have to settle for stained, chipped, or misshapen teeth. You have choices that can help you smile with confidence. Talk to the doctor about the options most suitable for you, what your expectations are, and the dental fees involved.

Bridges

A bridge may be used to replace missing teeth, help maintain the shape of your face and dental arch, and correct the defects in your bite caused by open spaces. When a tooth is lost, the adjacent teeth can shift, causing other teeth to become broken or prematurely lost.

A bridge replaces missing teeth with a cast tooth that, looks great, and literally bridges the gap where one or more teeth may have been. Your bridge can be made from gold, alloys, porcelain, or a combination of these materials and is placed onto prepared surrounding teeth or dental implants for support.

The success of any bridge depends on its foundation -- the other teeth, gums, or implants to which it is attached. Therefore, it's very important to keep your existing teeth, gums, and jaw healthy and strong by following good oral hygiene practices.

Crowns

Crowns are a cosmetic restoration used to improve your tooth's shape or to strengthen a tooth. Crowns are most often used for teeth that are severely broken, worn, or have major portions destroyed by tooth decay.

Crowns are "caps" cemented onto an existing tooth which fully cover the portion of your tooth above the gum line. In effect, the crown becomes your tooth's new outer surface. Crowns can be made of a variety of materials, the most common being porcelain and metals or a combination of both. In front teeth crowns can restore the aesthetics lost because of decay, abusive dental habits, age and disease. In the posterior regions of the mouth crowns restore strength to teeth damaged by decay, heavy grinding or other oral diseases.

Each patient is unique. Crowns are custom made from impressions taken from the patient's mouth and sent to a dental laboratory where their fabrication is completed. Bite and jaw movements are studied, and when seated, the new crown functions as a normal tooth.

Fillings

Traditional dental restoratives (fillings) include gold, porcelain, and composite/ amalgam. The strength and durability of traditional dental materials continue to make them useful for situations where restored teeth must withstand extreme forces that result from chewing, such as in the back of the mouth.

Newer dental fillings include ceramic and plastic compounds that mimic the appearance of natural teeth. These compounds, often called composite resins, are often used on the front teeth where a natural appearance is important. They can be used on the back teeth as well depending on the location and extent of the tooth decay. Composite resins are usually more costly than the older silver amalgam fillings.

What's Right for Me?

Several factors influence the performance, durability, longevity and expense of dental restorations:

• the components used in the filling material
• the amount of tooth structure remaining
• where and how the filling is placed
• the chewing load that the tooth will have to bear, and
• the length and number of visits needed to prepare and adjust the restored tooth.

Before your procedure, you will need to discuss the options. To help you prepare for this discussion it is helpful to understand the two basic types of dental fillings: direct and indirect.

• Direct fillings are fillings placed immediately into a prepared cavity in a single visit. They include dental amalgam, glass ionomers, resin ionomers, and composite (resin) fillings. The dentist prepares the tooth, places the filling and adjusts it during one appointment.
• Indirect fillings generally require two or more visits. They include inlays, onlays, veneers, crowns, and bridges fabricated with gold, base metal alloys, ceramics, or composites. During the first visit, the dentist prepares the tooth and makes an impression of the area to be restored. The dentist then places a temporary covering over the prepared tooth. The impression is sent to a dental laboratory, which creates the dental restoration. At the next appointment, the dentist cements the restoration into the prepared cavity and adjusts it as needed.

Veneers

There's no reason to put up with gaps in your teeth or with teeth that are stained, discolored, badly shaped, chipped, or crooked. Today, a veneer placed on top of your teeth can correct nature's mistake or the results of an injury and help you have a beautiful smile. Veneers are a highly popular solution among dental patients because of their life-like tooth appearance.

Veneers are thin, custom-made shells crafted of tooth-colored materials (such as porcelain) designed to cover the front side of your teeth. In many instances they require minimum reduction of tooth structure. To prepare for veneers, we will create a unique model of your teeth. This model is sent to the dental technician to create your veneers.

When placed, you'll be pleased to see that veneers look like your natural teeth. Though veneers are made of stain resistant materials, we may recommend that you avoid coffee, tea, red wine, and tobacco to maintain the beauty of your veneer. Also when entire smile lines are restored using veneers, we prescribe the use of a nightguard to protect their longevity.

Implants

Implants are now one of the most predictable ways to replace missing teeth. Today, an implant could be the restoration of choice over a bridge. They have been proven to last longer than a bridge and have the advantage of maintaining your bone.

While implants come in many types, most are made from titanium or titanium alloy. This metal has the unique ability to bond and integrate into human bone.

Implants can replace a partial denture or help to stabilize a full denture. They can also reduce the feeling of a denture "floating" up while eating or talking. Confidence and improved esthetics make implants and important investment in your future.

Root Canal (Endodontic) Treatment

In the past, if you had a tooth with a diseased nerve, you'd probably lose that tooth. Today, with a special dental procedure called root canal treatment, you may save that tooth. Inside each tooth is the pulp and the nerve. The nerve is the vestige of the tissue that originally formed the tooth. Once infected this tissue usually needs to be removed.

When a tooth is cracked or has a deep cavity, bacteria can enter the pulp. Germs can cause an infection inside the tooth. An abscess can cause the pulp tissue to die. When the infected pulp is not removed, pain and swelling can result. Certain byproducts of the infection can injure your jawbones and your overall health. Without treatment, your tooth may have to be removed.

Treatment often involves from one to three visits. During treatment, your general dentist or endodontist (a dentist who specializes in problems of the pulp) removes the diseased pulp. Next the pulp chamber and root canal(s) of the tooth are cleaned and sealed. Often posterior teeth that have endodontic treatment should have a cast crown placed in order to strengthen the remaining structure. Then as long as you to continue to care for your teeth and gums with regular brushing, flossing, and checkups so that the root(s) of the restored tooth are nourished by the surrounding tissues, your restored tooth can last a lifetime.

Most of the time, a root canal can be done with little or no discomfort involving one to three visits. Best of all, it can save your tooth and your smile!