Patient Education

What are veneers? The word veneer means a “layer” or a “thin cover”. While the word may have various meanings, within the realm of dentistry, it indicates a thin covering of porcelain or a tooth colored filling material bonded on a tooth. Veneers are categorized as a cosmetic procedure to enhance the shape, size or color of teeth. Hence, veneers are a huge component of any cosmetic makeover a person maybe looking for, in order

Whether it takes two visits or six, you will eventually get to the point where your hygienist will establish your personal recall program, a schedule of hygiene appointments. This is another moment when your good work habits pay off for you in time and money. Your hygienist will decide how much time you can go between hygiene recalls based on a number of factors: — Amount of gum recession and bone loss.  If you have

If your gum disease is more advanced than you and your hygienist can handle, you will need to have periodontal surgery. This means you will require the services of your dentist, or periodontist ( a dentist who specializes in the treatment of advanced periodontal disease). If you are a candidate for minor selective periodontal surgery, your hygiene efforts, along with treatment by your hygienist, could very well eliminate the need.  However, if you eventually end

There are a surprising number of people, whether they are aware of it or not, who have at least some problems resulting from malocclusion, or a bad bite. Bite problems can range from minor ones involving only an improperly placed filling ( easily corrected), to those caused by lost teethm, to generic ones ( overcrowding and jaw misalignment) involving most or all your teeth. If you have difficulty opening your jaw fully this could be

The periodontist is the dentist who treats periodontal disease after it has gone beyond what you and the hygienist can treat with in-office hygiene therapy and home care. He may be the only one who can help you save your teeth if you have reached that stage. The periodontist can perform the various types of periodontal surgery that may be necessary to remove infected gum tissue, to remove infection from the bone, and to recontour

After the plaque is formed, the portion of the plaque that lies next to the tooth begins to mineralize.  You now have the beginning of calculus. The mineralized layer of calculus bounds to the tooth even more powerfully than plaque. More plaque becomes calcified and starts to spread in all directions, pushing outward against the gum tissue, while simultaneously making its way into the extremely vulnerable gum pocket. New plaque is constantly being formed on

As soon as the germ-laden plaque starts to form at the gum line, your body musters its defensive forces to battle the bacteria. The germs that come in contact with the gum tissue release toxins that irritate and inflame the tissue. Soon the inflammation stimulates the release of germ-fighting cells in the immediate area of the plaque formation, causing in increase of blood flow to the surface of the gum tissue, which causes the gums

All periodontal disease begins with plaque formation.  In other words, without plaque formation you wouldn’t get gum disease. Plaque is initiated when millions of disease-causing germs attach themselves to the tooth by releasing a gluelike substance. These germs can attach to what appears to the naked eye as a perfectly smooth tooth surface but, to the plaque, is actually not smooth at all. They especially love areas of the tooth that don’t get cleaned properly,

Wisdom teeth are the number two cause of dental emergencies. Most wisdom teeth end up being extracted. The reason for this is they rarely come in properly. And there are two main reasons for that. One: because we no longer eat the type of diet our ancestors ate, over time our jaws have become smaller, but we still have the same number of teeth trying to fit into a smaller space.  Genetics is the other

The orthodontist is trained in the highly specialized branch of dentistry called orthodontics. Orthodontics deals with straightening out teeth that are not in proper alignment( are rotated, tilted, etc.), correcting bite problems, and aligning jaws. For the most part, this treatment is done to restore your mouth to normal health and function, but it can also be done for purely cosmetic reasons. Having properly aligned teeth that close together in the right way is very

It’s easy for the layperson to confuse a stain with decay, but most stains have an external cause and are generally harmless, though they can be an eyesore. You can also mistake a stain for the discoloration caused by an amalgam filling, which can darken the surrounding tooth structure. Normally, routine hygiene therapy will remove self-imposed stains, but if any stain remains after the cleaning have the dentist check it out. Stains come in all

When you feel confident that you’ve found a dentist who is right for you, it’s time to deal with the practical side of dental repair. To make sure you get the best treatment plan possible, tell the dentist, during your initial visit, that you want the same treatment plan he would use if he were treating his own mouth instead of yours. After the examination, X rays, and hygiene therapy, you’ll have a consultation with

Very few parents have been able to keep their kids away from sugar. It seems to be found in everything, kids literally become addicted to it, and parents feel they are fighting a hopeless battle. But there are strategies you can use that work. The three best ways to counter their sugar addictions, if you can’t withdraw them from it, care:

A number of very good filling materials are available these days. New materials and improvements on the old ones are being introduced all the time. In just about every case, there’ll be the right filling material for that particular job. Price is usually the only obstacle to getting the best filling possible. But if  you can’t afford the very best, there will always be a less expensive choice that will do the job until you

Gingivitis is the most common form of periodontal disease. In simple terms, it is an inflammation of the gum tissue.  Uncared for, the inflammation turns into more serious forms of infection and eventually evolves into periodontitis. The most common way to classify gingvitis is by cause and severity.  Generally, it’s enough to know that it has three phases, and if, for example, you are in the third phase you have the most serious form. Your

If you’ve lost a filling, you will still be able to eat many foods, talk, and do just about everything else you could do before you lost it. That’s the good news. The bad news is that if you don’t have it replaced you will lose much, or all, of that tooth’s chewing function, along with the function of the tooth above or below it.  Thus, you will have lost the use of two teeth. 

Facial contours, the size of the jaw, and tooth size are all hereditary ( or, in rare cases, disease-related).  An orthodontist may talk to you about the relationship between jaw and tooth size.  For example, if a child inherits her mom’s small jaw and her father’s large teeth, the end result may be teeth that are too big for the jaw. This overcrowding is a serious problem. It can prevent some teeth from erupting and

Charting pockets is the dental term for the procedure used to measure the depth of the gingival sulcus, or gum pocket. It’s a standard procedure that is accepted and used by all dentists and hyginenists. Although additional methods are also used to evaluate the condition of your gums, charting the pockets is a great way for you to get a clear picture of the extent of your periodotal disease. To measure the pocket depth, your