General Dentistry

The Comprehensive Exam

When it comes to your oral healthcare, we strive to set the standard for excellence. It all begins with developing a personal connection with you, the patient we serve, and listening to your needs and concerns to jointly create a custom treatment plan. Our state-of-the-art facility utilizes the most advanced technology, and the finest quality materials.

Every client benefits from a comprehensive dental evaluation. While many dental offices may treat patients on a tooth-by-tooth basis, we believe in caring for the whole patient. Our skilled team considers your personal history, expectations, present conditions, and future needs. Our goal is to support you in optimal oral health and overall well-being, through preventive care and state of the art treatment.

By using a comprehensive approach that integrates the best possible occlusal or bite function with personalized esthetic treatment options, we are able to achieve a high level of treatment success and patient satisfaction.

Good restorative dentistry is more than excellent clinical skills and state-of-the-art equipment. We feel that mutual trust and respect are important factors in the success of your treatment. Our team members believe that open communication can help build a high level of trust and we work hard to make sure that our care is deserving of our patients’ respect and confidence.

Our job is to listen to you, explore treatment options together, taking the time to answer all of your questions completely, and then respecting your decisions. The more involved you are in making your own dental health decisions, the less room there is for fear and uncertainty.

We pride ourselves on being the best in recommending personalized ways you can maintain a healthy lifestyle so your treatment can be kept conservative and to a minimum. With advanced technology including intra-oral cameras, we can detect problems in their earliest stages, before they can be found on digital x-rays. Our oral cancer and other comprehensive screening allow earlier diagnosis for more conservative treatment. Don’t take your health for granted, make sure to schedule your visit with us today.

The Dental Hygiene Experience

Keeping your teeth and gums healthy is just as important as keeping the rest of your body healthy. In fact, healthy teeth and gums help keep your body healthy. A healthy mouth can add 10-15 years to your life!

In addition to regular brushing and flossing at home, routine dental cleanings by our hygienists remove a build-up of bacteria, what is called biofilm, to keep your teeth their sparkling best. As these cleanings clear away this harmful biofilm, plaque, and tartar build-up under the gumline, we treat and prevent a variety of problems including tooth decay and gum and bone infections. Consistent dental cleanings keep your teeth and gums healthy and can actually aid in the reduction of your risk for heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and low birth weight babies.

Our hygiene staff uses the latest technology to gently and carefully clean all tooth surfaces to improve and maintain your oral health.

Gum Disease Therapy

Gum disease, sometimes called periodontal disease, is one of the leading causes of tooth loss. The bacteria that cause this dental disease have been lined to serious health problems such as heart problems, poor circulation leading to diabetic concerns, strokes premature and even low birth rate babies and even cancer. When we treat gum disease, our concern is for your overall health, not just your teeth. Even with all the advancement in prevention, 70% of all adults still have some form of gum disease present in their mouth. For this reason we always do a thorough evaluation so we can prescribe the right level of cleaning.

Actually there are 3 different levels of gum and bone disease. Even in 2012 approximately 75% of the adult population still has some form of gum disease. Given all the advances in our service and technology this isn’t a particular proud number for our profession since it hasn’t significantly changed in the last several decades. If your one of the 25% - congratulations! A preventive (or regular) level of cleaning works well for you if you have no evidence of disease in your mouth. For the other 75% there are two levels of therapeutic cleaning you need to know about.

If you have disease present, which means bleeding, tenderness or increased depth of the cuff of tissue around your teeth, then a therapeutic cleaning is what is needed for you. Depending on your individualized problem you may benefit from either Supportive Periodontal Therapy (SPT) or Scaling or Root Planing.

Supportive Periodontal Therapy is a more thorough cleaning regimen designed to remove excess deposits that are inflaming the gum tissue.

Scaling and Root Planing is an even more thorough cleaning removing deposits and toxic substances that have attached to the roots of the teeth. Typically there is loss of the supportive bone because of these elements.

Often, these two therapeutic regimens are combined, again depending on the amount and location of disease present.

In summary always remember there are levels and unless you’re one of the fortunate 25% these other levels should be part of your conversation with your dentist and hygienist. In fact, doing a basic cleaning with disease present can actually be harmful to you. Call us if you would like to learn more; and remember, "it’s not just a cleaning."

TMJ/Bite/Headache Treatment

Your bite refers to the alignment of your upper and lower teeth when they meet to cut through or chew food. When your bite is "off," your teeth may appear crooked or protruding. Usually, however, misaligned teeth look perfectly normal to you and everyone else—except your dentist!

A “bad bite” is also known as malocclusion, irregular bite, cross bite or overbite. Whatever it’s called, a bad bite can cause a lot of pain and other problems—and not just in the mouth.

Bad bites cause problems because, when some of the teeth are too far forward or backward, or if some of the teeth are too tall or short, the jaw muscles will apply extra pressure to compensate for the poor alignment. Basically, your body will work overtime to enable you to chew. This puts great stress on the surface of the teeth—leading to cracks, chips and loosening—and on the jaw muscles themselves.

Eventually, the muscle strain extends to other areas of the face, such as the temporomandibular joint. This joint is located in front of the ear and marks the point where the upper and lower jaws meet. When the upper and lower teeth do not align properly, the muscles and the joints in the TMJ area are likewise misaligned, leading to temporomandibular joint disorder—otherwise known as TMJ.

Symptoms of bad bite, and TMJ disorder, may include:

Unexplained loose teeth
Pain in multiple teeth or the jaw joint
Limited jaw movement
Cracked, chipped or broken dental restorations
Headache—especially when opening and closing your jaw
Ear pain—in front of or below the ear, with no other signs of ear infection
Noises “in your head” — grinding, crunching, or popping sounds
A lack of balance or mild dizziness
Congested or clogged ears
Ringing in the ear

Do you have dental or facial pain? It may stem from a bad bite.

Sports Mouthguards

Sports Mouthguards Are Not All Created Equally!

According to the ADA, more than 200,000 oral injuries are prevented annually by sports guards. But, more than 5 million teeth will be knocked out in sporting activities this year. The total for replacing a knocked out tooth is more than 20 times the cost for a custom laminated, professional grade mouthguard. Boil and bite mouthguards provide a false sense of protection. Store bought mouthguards require you to keep your mouth clenched for maximum protection. By using an exact duplicate of your mouth, personalized mouthguards stay in place with no effort.

This gives you the ability to put your attention where it belongs – on the game!