Preventative Dental Care
Our Services
Regular Dental Check-Up
Regular dental check up exams and cleaning are essential parts of maintaining a healthy smile and preventing problems from arising. Dental checkups should be completed every six months to maintain optimal, healthy oral conditions.
So how important is oral hygiene?
Oral hygiene is built to eliminate tooth decay and gum diseases causing bacterias from the oral environment. Bacteria that do not get eliminated in time form plaque around the tooth, irritating tissues surrounding the area leading to gingivitis. If these conditions prolong, bacterias form protective housings around themselves coated with hard materials such as calcium to thrive, and this is called calculus. Calculus will protect the bacterias while causing surrounding gums and bones to be infected and causing bone loss and gum recession resulting in periodontal diseases. Periodontal diseases, if not treated in time, can cause a plethora of problems including but not limited to gum infection,inflammation, tooth loss, and dental cavity.
Our office staff, as an interdisciplinary team, will work to help you be informed about your oral health condition and design optimal treatment plans to prevent problems and maintain defectless oral condition.
Dental checkups will involve a series of procedures. First, our front team members will ask you for an updated health history to make sure we address your oral condition according to your overall well being. Secondly, dental x-rays will be taken to check for any dental diseases that need to be addressed. Then you will be thoroughly examined by a trained dentist, going through oral cancer screening, intraoral examination, and periodontal examination. As mentioned earlier, our practice philosophy focuses on prevention and maintenance, so your treatment plan will be planned to prevent further problems and maintain optimal oral health. Treatment plan will be explained step by step by your dentist until you fully understand what your needs are.
Ideally, dental checkups are performed every six months as recommended by the American Dental Association. As long as your mouth is free of gum diseases and heavy build ups, six months is about the average length of time for tartar and stain to accumulate to the point of needing teeth cleaning. For individuals with a history of periodontitis, maintenance visits should be spaced out about every 3-4 months.
Emergency Dentistry
Accidents can happen at any time. We are here to accommodate you in every situation. We will work to restore your smile as quickly as possible while preventing you from experiencing pain and discomfort for long.
Our experienced team knows that a dental emergency is never easy, and we are here to get you as comfortable as quickly as possible. We offer affordable, emergency dental care that will get you back to everyday life as soon as possible. We will try our best to get you on our schedule the same day and work diligently to treat you quickly and bring you back to comfort.
There are several types of dental emergencies. Dental emergencies can consist of a sudden and severe toothache, an accident that chips or cracks a tooth, a damaged or loose restoration or a lost or damaged tooth. To know if your situation is an emergency, ask yourself the following questions:
- Are you in severe pain or experiencing severe swelling?
- Do you have a painful toothache that will not subside even with pain medication?
- Do you have a loose or knocked out tooth?
- Do you have swelling in your cheeks or face in combination with a toothache and elevated temperature?
- Are you experiencing extreme tooth sensitivity?
- Are you bleeding from the mouth that will not stop?
- Did you injure your jaw?
In general, any delta problem that needs immediate treatment to alleviate severe pain, stop bleeding, or save a tooth from being lost is considered an emergency.If you are experiencing any of the above, please call us or your dentist immediately.
Depending on the dental emergency you are experiencing, there are some temporary remedies you can use to ease your pain before coming to the dental office if necessary.
- Rinsing with warm salt water to relieve swelling
- If your tooth is knocked out, place tooth in a glass of milk, avoid touching the root surfaces as much as you can, and bring it to your dentist as soon as you can
- Carefully flossing between gums to eliminate any pressure from foreign materials
- Swelling or elevated temperature area can be relieved with cold compress
- Hydrogen peroxide rinse to kill bacteria
- OTC pain medication to alleviate pain
Restoration (Fillings and Sealants)
Tooth decay is a common dental issue. Our goal is to prevent small decays from expanding and restoring your tooth with tooth-colored filling with minimal tooth preparation as possible.
A filling is a simple restoration procedure used to restore cavities or other mild decay or deterioration. Fillings are very common and have a high success rate. We offer composite restorations that are tooth colored and appear natural for teeth. During the filing procedure, dentists clean out the decay inside the cavity. Once it is confirmed that all cavities are cleaned out and remaining tooth structure is solid and clean, the tooth is prepared and filled with composite to restore the lost structure to bring back original shape and function. Through this procedure, the damaged tooth is cleaned out of all bacterial infection and strength and integrity of the tooth is restored adequately.
Sealants are thin coatings that are painted on teeth to protect deep groove areas from forming cavities by accumulating stains. These are typically used in children but can also be used in adults as well. Sealants are considered preventative dentistry since they lower the possibility of developing cavities in locations that are more prone to accumulating stains that can eventually lead to becoming caries if not properly cleaned out. Sealants will be applied to areas with deep grooves that are harder for toothbrush bristles to reach and clean out adequately so it will result in shallower grooves that’s smoother and easier to clean. Sealants are a quick and affordable option to prevent cavities and tooth fillings.
Pediatric Dentistry
Taking care of teeth is one important aspect of keeping oneself healthy. Therefore, forming good dental hygiene and dental experience for children are very important. Dental care for children can be relatively different compared to adults. Every experience will be new for the children and visiting the dental clinic, not to mention having to sit still in a chair while someone peers inside their mouth and uses different tools, can be a strange and even frightening experience for them. So it helps to find a professional who can expertly meet the needs of your whole family and address their concerns and fears adequately.
Pediatric dentistry includes getting your child used to having regular dental check ups and cleaning. Use of sealants and fluoride helps to strengthen your child’s tooth and prevents decay. Many of a kid’s dental problems are the same ones affecting adults, but as children’s teeth are still developing, untreated dental conditions can cause poor and misaligned tooth development and even affect the developing permanent tooth buds under the affected tooth, resulting in defective permanent tooth.
Some of the most common issues are:
- Tooth decay
- Halitosis (bad breath)
- Sensitive teeth
- Crowding due to thumb sucking or other habits
- Gum disease
- Teeth grinding
- Canker sores
- Baby teeth-loss
- Over-retained primary teeth
- Supernumerary teeth (extra teeth)
- Dental anxiety
Periodontal Disease Treatment
Periodontal structures, including the gums surrounding the tooth and the bones underneath, are the foundation structures for the teeth. These are what’s keeping your teeth root intact to provide proper functions for them. It is essential that signs of periodontitis are identified as early as possible and prevented from further progressing into more advanced stages. All the gum problems begin with gingivitis. Minor redness, swelling, or mild bleeding are early signs of gum diseases. If these signs are not addressed in a timely manner, the infection can spread down into your connective tissues, causing permanent structural damage.
What are the signs of periodontal disease?
The earliest sign of periodontitis is an irritated gum line that presents with swelling, redness, and even some bleeding when you brush or floss. If they are not treated, the bacterial infection will reach down to your gum and bone level, start infecting them and cause bone loss and gum recession. This creates spaces between the teeth and gum, forming deep periodontal pockets, which gets harder to clean properly since there is more room for bacteria to harvest. Once periodontal disease starts progressing into a more advanced stage, more bone loss will result and can eventually lead to teeth being lost due to inadequate surrounding structural support.
Periodontal diseases are treated according to the level of severity.
First choice of treatment is Scaling and root planing. THis procedure is highly effective in managing the conditions in its early to moderate stages. Your dental team will provide scaling and rot planing treatment by accessing areas below the gum line and removing harmful accumulations from the root surfaces.
Second treatment involves surgical procedures where the advanced site will be flapped open to allow access to deep root surfaces, where debris and infections will be removed, followed by bone and gum grafting to restore the lost supporting structures for the teeth.
Risk factors for periodontal diseases
- Tobacco and alcohol use
- Systemic diseases e.g. Diabetes
- Genetics
- Pregnancy
- Prescription drugs
- Steroids
- Cancer therapy drugs
- Oral contraceptives
- An anti-epilepsy drug
- A calcium channel blocker
Please contact our team to consult about your gum health and let us design an optimal treatment plan to maintain healthy oral conditions for you!
Night Guard
Parafunctional habit is when one unconsciously grinds, clench or do any irregular tooth movements both awake or asleep. These parafunctional habits can cause tremendous damage to not only teeth but also to temporomandibular joints, also known as your jaw joints. If parafunctional habit continues on, the TMJ can be damaged permanently, causing clicking upon opening, limited opening, or even locking of the jaw when fully opened. Your teeth can also permanently be damaged from unnecessary teeth interferences, wearing down all the enamel from occlusal surfaces and exposing the dentinal surface and jeopardizing the tooth from experiencing sensitivity or even cavities without enamel protection.
Night Guards or Occlusal guards are provided as treatment plans to prevent these damages from parafunctional habits. What these guards do is re-programming of the jaw joints and Masseter muscles and disabling full closure of the jaw thus preventing traumatic forces from being produced. When the jaw is not fully closed, the Masseter muscles are unable to use their maximal forces, eventually leading to weaning of the muscle. Also the jaw joints are re-programmed so no further damages are being done. Teeth are also being protected from further wearing since even when there is grinding being done, you will be grinding and wearing the acrylic of the occlusal guard down instead of the teeth. These devices provide excellent protection for your whole jaw.
Any questions on night guard? Please contact our team and ask us questions!
