What Is a Cosmetic Dentist and What Do They Do?

The difference between a cosmetic dentist and a general dentist is that while a general dentist is usually solely focused on the function and health of a person's teeth, gums and/or bite, a cosmetic dentist specializes in the appearance of the teeth in addition to their function.

For the most part, general dentists focus on ensuring that your teeth and gums are both functional and healthy. However, while they may be functional, not all dental solutions look good. While patients may be relieved that their problem has been 'fixed', some people may not be happy with how their teeth look, especially in regard to their front teeth.

In our office, the work of a cosmetic dentist extends beyond ensuring that your teeth and gums are both functional and healthy. They are also concerned about whether or not you are pleased with the appearance of your teeth and, if not, work to create a beautiful smile that you are pleased with. They do not just restore teeth to their original appearance, but work to improve the shape and color of your teeth, which will largely depend on your personal preferences and opinion.  This doesn't necessarily mean that every person wants or can achieve, a 'Hollywood' smile. It simply means that crooked, misaligned or stained teeth can play havoc with your self-image and we can correct them.

Common Cosmetic Dental Procedures

• Teeth Whitening: Not only do many people have naturally yellowish teeth, but the enamel is susceptible to discoloration by certain medications, red wine, coffee, tea, and nicotine. Many stains can be removed, and natural discoloration improved by a whitening procedure.
• Dental Veneers: Dental veneers, made of either porcelain or composite resin, are wafer-thin, custom-made, 'shells' bonded to each tooth. They are custom made to match the natural color of your teeth and improve your appearance by changing the shape, length or size of an existing tooth.
• Crowns: Dental crowns are tooth-shaped "caps" that partially, or completely, covers the visible part of the tooth. Crowns can restore or change the shape of the tooth, and thus can vastly improve its appearance.
• Crown-Lengthening: raises and sculpts the gum line. This procedure reshapes the gum tissue which can balance an asymmetrical gum line, or reduce a 'gummy' smile. 
• Bonding: a process in which an enamel-like material is applied to the surface of the tooth, sculpted, then hardened and polished.

If you are unhappy with the appearance of your teeth and would like to improve your smile, there are quite a few options open to you over and above the few mentioned above.  After examining your mouth and thoroughly assessing your individual problems, we will be able to discuss all possible options with you, including the pros and cons of each method. We will also discuss what the changes will look like, the details of the treatment, and what maintenance will be necessary. As a cosmetic dentist, our goal is to produce the result that you are happy with and to use the least invasive procedures as possible.

In Our Dental Office We Use Fluoride: Here’s Why

When you visit our dental office, we may discuss fluoride with you. This is especially true if you have children.  Fluoride has become such a household name that it is easy to assume that most people know what it is and why it is good for them. We have found, however, that most of our patients are still unclear as to the benefits and why it helps in the first place.  With that in mind, here is why fluoride is one of our favorite tools for preventing cavities.
What is demineralization?

The process of the enamel on the outside of the tooth starting to wear away or become softer.  Demineralization occurs naturally as a person ages.  It can happen faster due to a poor or acidic diet, a lack of oral hygiene, brushing too aggressively, or failing to visit the dentist on a regular basis.  It creates a risk because teeth that are softer and weaker are less able to fight off tooth decay.  This leads to a situation where cavities are more prevalent.  In order to understand why fluoride is important, you must first know about demineralization and understand that everyone goes through this at some point.  Fluoride, however, can help to remineralize the teeth.  When you drink it, or fluoride is placed onto the teeth, it can strengthen them, and strong teeth are better equipped to fight off tooth decay.  In fact, after a fluoride treatment, the progression of tooth decay can often be stopped, and some of the damage reversed.
Where do you get fluoride?
In its natural state, fluorine is virtually everywhere.  It is in the food that you had for lunch, the air that you breathed in the restaurant and the dirt that you walked on.  While natural, it is not found in significant enough quantities in these states to make a major difference into how strong your teeth are.  In order to get the full benefit, you have to either drink fluoride through the public water or schedule a fluoride treatment with our dental office. In both scenarios, you will decrease your risk of getting cavities by thirty percent. We also recommend that you brush with a fluoride toothpaste two to three times per day in order to further strengthen your teeth.  While the paste is not as effective, it can work well to augment these other activities.
Why it's important to use fluoride –
In our dental office, we can treat tooth decay but prefer for our patients to avoid getting a cavity in the first place.  This can be hard to do considering that the CDC reported the single largest infectious disease in children is tooth decay.  It leads to missed days of school and causes uncomfortable toothaches, making it important to fight the condition and take steps to further prevent cavities. Knowing that, the benefits associated with reducing cavities by thirty percent are significant.  To learn more or to find out how fluoride treatments can help your child or teen, call and schedule an appointment.

Dentist  >  General Dentist

Visit Our General Dentist Office If You Have Severe Headaches

As a general dentist, we can help if you are experiencing severe headaches, neck, face, or jaw pain.  Around forty percent of the adult population suffers from headaches on a regular basis.  For most people, they are uncomfortable but can be solved with Tylenol.  For one out of every eight adults, the headaches are far more severe and can make it difficult to carry on with normal daily activities.  While most people don't think of a dentist when their head hurts, you should and here's why –
Headaches are typically caused by muscle tension.  The temporomandibular joint is what makes your jaw move and connects your lower jaw to your skull.  These muscles and joints are responsible for allowing you to chew and speak.  They are constantly used  including  to bite down over 2,000 times a day to swallow alone.  With constant use, if you start clenching or grinding your teeth, tension can be placed on these muscles and joints resulting in symptoms of a TMJ disorder.
People that suffer from even mild TMJ can have pain in their jaw that makes chewing uncomfortable or even difficult to open their mouth.  Many people also suffer from headaches, neck and face pain as a result of TMJ.  As a general dentist, this is something that we can help to address.
Not all cases of TMJ are ongoing.  Some people only experience symptoms during times of high stress, perhaps because the stress causing them to clench their teeth at night.  Others suffer on a daily basis and are often unaware of what is causing the problem in the first place.  In either case, we suggest wearing a removable oral appliance at night.  This is a simple device that is created based on an impression and measurements of your mouth.  It surrounds both your upper and lower teeth but is connected in such a way as to prevent your teeth from touching at night.  Without the ability to clench or grind your teeth, your jaw can relax while you sleep.  This solution is so simple, yet entirely effective because when your muscles and joints relax, you will wake up without tension and, therefore, without a headache.
If you aren't grinding your teeth at night, you may still be placing undue pressure onto some of your teeth or your jaw due to how you hold your mouth and jaw throughout the day.  Those with severely crooked teeth or those with damaged teeth are more likely to hold their jaw strangely, very often to prevent the damaged or infected tooth from being touched.  This can create further stress and tension because the jaw isn't allowed to remain in a relaxed state.  This too can lead to symptoms like headaches.  As a general dentist, if we see any infections or damage, we can treat them right away so that your mouth can return to good health.  By doing so, we can relieve some of the pressure you have been experiencing so that you can become headache-free.

Dental Office  >  Teeth Whitening Services

Why You Should Visit the Dentist As You Near Retirement

In our dentist office, we treat patients of all ages and have found that many people believe that as they age, they are stuck with a dated smile or lost teeth and dentures.  This is certainly not the case.  Modern dentistry has changed significantly, and we have a variety of solutions that can be used to transform your smile.  Whether you are nearing retirement or are already a snowbird, we can give you back your youthful smile and appearance.
Here are some of the ways that we can do so:

• Teeth whitening.  Many seniors don't like how their teeth look because they are yellow and dull.  This happens naturally with age and can be reversed by having a teeth whitening procedure completed.  Our solution can whiten your teeth by eight shades or more, which will dramatically improve your appearance and your smile.  Many of our patients find that once their smile has been whitened, they don't require any further dental work.
• Dental veneers.  In our dentist office, we use dental veneers for a variety of reasons.  They are an excellent restorative solution if a tooth has been cracked or chipped.  Simultaneously, they can be used to cover dark stains that won't come up, make teeth the same size and shape, close gaps, and correct other imperfections.  If you are nearing retirement and have issues with your smile that have bothered you for years – now is an excellent time to correct them.
• Dental crowns.  If you have any teeth that are infected or severely damaged, a dental crown may be a better solution for restoring them.  A crown surrounds your tooth like a cap, so it is an excellent way to improve the appearance of your tooth while preventing anything from actually touching it.  If you, like many people, had crowns in the past, we can replace the amalgam ones with ceramic crowns for a more natural looking appearance. 
• Dental implants.  It is common to lose one or several teeth with age.  Many people turn to dentures for a replacement solution and while this works, we have an alternative.  We can replace your missing teeth with dental implants that are as durable and natural looking as your old tooth.  By securing a titanium post to your jawbone, underneath your gums, a new root system is created for a tooth to be attached to.  This will replace your tooth while also strengthening your jaw – important for maintaining your appearance. 

In our dentist office, we can help your smile to stay healthy and beautiful as you age.  Since your oral health needs change with time, we recommend that you visit our dentist office for an exam every six months.  During these appointments, we will clean your teeth and gums to ensure that your risk of cavities and gum disease are reduced.  If we identify any health issues, we can treat them right away before they cause you any discomfort. Simultaneously, if there is something cosmetic that you don't like about your teeth, let us know so that we can work with you to create a comprehensive treatment plan.

General Dentist  >  Dental Office

An Invisalign® Dentist Explains How Aligners Are Created

As an Invisalign dentist, we know that this is one of the most innovative and effective ways to straighten teeth. Through a gradual progression of trays, known as aligners, we will walk you through a process that starts in your current state and ends with perfectly aligned teeth. The process starts with an initial determination if you are eligible for this kind of treatment. Few people are ineligible, but we want to make sure that you are not one of the rare people on whom the treatment will not work. If there are any underlying conditions that could either delay the straightening process or hamper the progress, we will find out during the initial examination. One important distinction that needs to be made is that Invisalign is not designed to work on children. This product is for fully developed teeth in adults and teenagers, not for growing teeth as found in children.

Once the initial Invisalign examination concludes that you are a great candidate for the technology, we will proceed to take a number of measurements. These measurements are sent to the Invisalign  laboratory, where the technicians will fabricate your aligners. We will also be taking a dental impression of your teeth for use by the technicians. Using this impression, they will create a 3D model of your teeth, in their current condition, on their computer.

By scanning the impression and inputting all the measurements, the technicians can create a perfect 3D likeness of your teeth. They will use this model to formulate your entire treatment plan. Using computer animation, the laboratory will gradually and incrementally move your teeth into position. They do so along the same motion curve as the actual aligners will take so that they are noting the progress and adjusting accordingly. Since this entire process is based on the computer we, as an Invisalign  dentist, will have full access to the imaging. We will be giving instructions on teeth movement and making sure that the technicians are adjusting the treatment plan to be in keeping with where we want our teeth to end up. Once we are satisfied with the plan, we will give the go ahead for the laboratory to fabricate your aligners.

Aligner work on a principle of applied pressure and continuous growth. Each new set of aligners you receive is misaligned with your teeth for about 1/10th of a millimeter. When they are worn, they force the teeth to move into position so that the teeth fit the aligner. Since the aligner is straighter than your teeth, the teeth start to become straighter as well. Once your teeth fit the aligner perfectly, you will have achieved a 1/10th motion in the straightening of your teeth and are ready to move on to the next set of Invisalign aligners.

It is critical during this treatment that you wear your retainers at least 20 hours per day. Failure to do so can result in the teeth not moving the required amount, which will have a domino effect on future aligners and make the treatment less effective. As an Invisalign dentist, we can walk you through the process and help you to stay on track.

CEREC Dentistry: The Future of Dental Restorations

As a provider of CEREC dentistry, we are happy to brag about the latest technology being used in our office.  For patients that are in need of restorations due to a car wreck, sports injury or a health issue, we can complete the restoration in one convenient visit.  We understand that our patients are busy with lives full of meetings, school activities, sports, family obligations and all of the other little things that make up modern life.  This can leave very little time for trips to the dentist.  Moms may find this especially challenging when trying to also arrange for child care or pick-ups and drop-offs.  This is why we have found a faster way to complete restorations.

If your tooth is damaged, we recommend that you visit our office right away so that we can examine it and determine the best way to restore it.  If your tooth is cracked, chipped or the enamel has worn way, there is a good chance that we will recommend using a dental crown to restore it.  A crown surrounds the tooth like a cap so that nothing can touch the tooth underneath.  This makes it possible to save teeth that have been severely damaged while giving you the ability to bite down with force, without the fear of discomfort. 

The past…
Previously, those that needed a dental crown could benefit from this comprehensive solution but in order to get there, it would take at least two appointments.  On the first appointment, an impression would be made of the tooth and the surrounding teeth so that the dental lab could use that information to create a crown in the right size and shape.  Since each crown has to fit perfectly in order for your bite to correctly function, it would take the lab one to two weeks to finish it.  During that time, we would prepare the tooth by removing enough enamel so that when the crown was placed, the surrounding teeth would not be irritated.  Since there was a delay between tooth preparation and receiving the crown, we would place a temporary crown over the tooth in order to protect it.  CEREC dentistry has changed this part of the process.

Right now…
Instead of making an impression of the teeth and sending the information to the lab, we can now take digital images of the damaged tooth and mouth that can be uploaded into our CAD software.  The computer is then able to create the exact specifications for the crowns shape.  These instructions are then sent to a 3D printer for the crown to be created while you wait.  All of this is done using computer technology so that no human intervention is required.  This makes it possible to complete what was previously done in two weeks, in two hours or less.  In the meantime, we will still prepare your tooth. The difference is that we can immediately bond the permanent crown in place so that you don’t have to wear a temporary or come back in for a second step.  This makes CEREC dentistry the wave of the future and a convenient one at that. 

Laser Dentistry Can Be Used to Treat Your Gum Disease

If you have gum disease, laser dentistry is the most comfortable way to treat it.  Gum disease is a serious condition that impacts most people during their lifetime.  In many cases, the irritation is temporary and mild, going away after having your teeth cleaned professionally.  This is the best case scenario and one of the reasons why it is so critical to have your teeth cleaned twice a year.

Those living with gum disease that do not have it treated quickly may begin to experience significant discomfort.  Common symptoms include red, swollen and bleeding gums.  In this initial stage (Gingivitis) the gums may feel sore or sensitive while brushing and eating but not significantly influence your daily activities.  This is the best stage to have the condition treated because we can treat it by cleaning on, around, and under your gums.

Laser dentistry enables us to use a laser to break up the plaque and tartar that have formed underneath the gums.  Once tartar is on the tooth structure below the surface, it is impossible to remove it with regular brushing or flossing.  Either a traditional dental tool needs to get under the gums to scrape the plaque and tartar, which can be uncomfortable or a laser can be used to break it.  The laser is a non-invasive solution that can complete the treatment without the need for an incision.  One of the other benefits of working with a laser is that the surrounding teeth and tissue won’t be irritated.  This means that you can recover from the procedure quickly and without the prolonged downtime that can come from deep cleaning the gums the traditional way.

Removing the plaque and tartar is the first step in treating infected gums, and it is extremely effective.  Once the tartar has been removed, the gums can start to feel healthy and rejuvenated.  Many of our patients find that after this procedure, their gums start to look normal again, and there is no need for further treatment.  This is the best case scenario and the non-invasive natural of laser dentistry, makes this a real possibility.  Once the gums do recover, the swelling decreases, and they are secured to the tooth; the risk of other issues like bone loss is eliminated.

If you have sensitive gums that are swollen or look like they are receding, you probably have some form of gum disease.  When considering whether or not to have it treated, think of how important your gums are to your oral health.  The gums surround the tooth structure and the root system in order to protect them.  When gum disease is left untreated, the gums will start to pull back from the tooth (recede).  As a result, the tooth structure and roots will be exposed and susceptible to being attacked by bacteria and acid.  This can lead to infections and even worse – bone loss.  Many people have experienced tooth loss as a result and thanks to laser dentistry; this is something that you can prevent with minimal effort.