Cleaning, X-rays

Cleaning
Getting your teeth cleaned twice a year will keep you smiling and more importantly, will allow the dentist to detect any unseen problem areas. So schedule your cleaning visit today!

X-rays
As part of your twice annual visit to the dentist, x-rays are beneficial in detecting tooth decay and problem areas that you may not be aware of.

Baby Bottle Tooth Decay

What causes it?
Baby bottle tooth decay, also called bottle syndrome, is a serious condition that can destroy your child's primary (baby) teeth. It occurs when teeth are frequently exposed to liquids that contain sugar, such as milk, formula or fruit juice.

Harmful bacteria feed on sugars
The liquid from the bottle pools around your child's teeth, providing food for decay-causing bacteria. The bacteria form acids that dissolve tooth enamel, causing decay. Any liquid containing sugar - even breast milk - can cause decay-producing acid attacks on your child's teeth.

Preventing baby bottle tooth decay
• Clean your child's teeth after each feeding
• Never give a bottle in bed, unless it contains only water
• Begin flossing your child's teeth daily once all primary teeth have come in
• Bring your child in to see us as soon as the first tooth erupts.

Still have questions? Ask us for more information.

Fluoride Treatment

Fluoride is vital for dental health
Fluoride combines with your tooth enamel to strengthen it and increase its resistance to attacks from harmful decay-causing acids. Plus, if you already have some decay, fluoride can work to repair damaged tooth structure, often slowing or even stopping the decay process.

Beneficial for all ages
Fluoride is the greatest breakthrough in preventive dentistry in more than 50 years. It has dramatically reduced the incidence of tooth decay in children. Plus, it can reduce root decay and root sensitivity in older adults, and it strengthens and rebuilds tooth enamel in all ages.

Where can you get fluoride?
Most toothpaste contains fluoride, and many cities fluoridate their water. If yours doesn't, we can prescribe fluoride in the form of a gel, tablets, drops or prescription toothpaste. It's also helpful to have a fluoride application immediately after a cleaning in our office.

Still have questions? Ask us for more information.

Periodontal Disease (Gum Disease)

What is periodontal disease?
Periodontal (gum) disease is an infection of the teeth, gums and bone. It's caused by plaque, the sticky film of food and bacteria that forms constantly on your teeth. You may have gum disease, and not even know it, because it's rarely painful in its early stages.

How does it affect my teeth?
If plaque isn't removed each day, it hardens to become tartar, and only a professional cleaning will remove it. If it's not removed, tartar invades the root surfaces of your teeth. Here, harmful bacteria thrive and cause toxins to form, destroying gum and bone tissue.

What are the symptoms?
If bone tissue is destroyed, your teeth can loosen. So let us know if you have persistent bad breath, if your gums are swollen, soft or tender, or if they bleed when you I brush or floss. If we diagnose gum disease early, we can stop the destruction and save your teeth.

Other problems
Other ailments have been linked to periodontal disease, including respiratory disease, pneumonia, strokes, ulcers, difficult-to-control diabetes, low birth weight babies, and infective endocarditis, a dangerous infection of the heart valves.

A chronic infection
Periodontal disease is essentially a chronic, open infection in your mouth. Smoking worsens the condition by damaging the natural processes your body uses to fight the periodontal infection; smoking reduces saliva' levels, restricts blood flow, and damages your immune system.

There is no good news
There are over 4000 chemicals in cigarette smoke, including formaldehyde, carbon monoxide, ammonia and arsenic. Also, smokers are four times more likely to have advanced periodontal disease, and are twice as likely to lose their teeth.

Still have questions? Ask us for more information.

TMD / TMJ

What is TMD?
TMD is a cycle of pain, muscle spasms and joint imbalance where the jaw meets the skull. This joint is called the temporo-mandibular joint. It joins the temporal bone of the skull with the mandible bone of the jaw.

What causes the problem?
Within the TMJ is a thin disc of cartilage that acts as a cushion between these two bones. When the balance in this important joint is lost, you can suffer from mild to searing pain, headaches, earaches, stiffness, muscle spasms and clicking or popping in the joint.

Easing the symptoms
To restore balance to the area, we may crown your teeth, fill in spaces, adjust your bite, provide you with a mouth splint, or even re-align teeth. Moist heat, anti-inflammatory drugs and muscle relaxants, muscle massage, and a soft diet may lessen pain.

Still have questions? Ask us for more information.

Intraoral Camera

A tiny video camera
Because we want you to be well informed about all aspects of your dental health, we've invested in an intraoral video camera. About the size of a pen, it allows you to see broken fillings, gum problems or small cracks, even in back teeth!

A better understanding
With the intraoral camera, we can zoom in on one tooth magnified to 25 times its size, or we can give you a "tour" of the inside of your mouth. You'll see precisely what we see, so you'll better understand your treatment problems and options.

We can treat problems early
The intraoral camera can reveal a problem while it's relatively simple to treat. The full-color images produced by this unique instrument give you the knowledge you need to make informed decisions regarding your dental health.

Still have questions? Ask us for more information.

Laser Cavity Detection

It is our goal to help you maintain or improve your oral health
To achieve this goal, the dental care that you and your family receive in our office always includes state of the art equipment that can benefit you in many ways. Among the newest technologies is a small laser instrument called the DIAGNOdent, which scans your teeth with harmless laser light searching for hidden decay.

We can't cure what we can't see!
Locating hidden decay before it destroys tooth structure (from the inside out) is a big problem in modern dentistry. The wide-spread use of fluoride supplements in dental materials, toothpastes and drinking water have made tooth surfaces harder and more resistant to decay. However, diagnosing cavities is more challenging because the disease process can start through microscopic defects in the hard surface enamel and can readily spread into the softer tooth structure beneath the surface.

Meanwhile, the external surface of the tooth still appears to be healthy. X-rays and probing with an explorer are simply unreliable in detecting sub surface decay, particularly when the cavity is in its early stages. Fortunately, the new DIAGNOdent is a major breakthrough that allows the dentist to monitor tooth surfaces. The DIAGNOdent allows the dentist to locate hidden decay, and with treatment stop the spread of disease before it destroys the tooth from within.

Patient friendly, especially for children.
This unique instrument provides instant feedback on the health of the tooth. A pen like probe simply glides over tooth surfaces constantly checking the health of the tooth. A number scale and an alarm signals the operator when there are signs of hidden decay. This new technology is completely safe and pain free.

Still have questions? Ask us for more information.