Thursday, July 13, 2017

Should I Take My Kid to a Pediatric Dentist?




Monday, April 10, 2017

Tooth completely broken in half!

Sometimes people chip teeth. 
Sometimes they crack them. 

And sometimes .... they break them completely in half!!
This tooth below is broken completely in half. 

What can be done!
Can it be saved?!

In short... No Way.
There is no magic here.
No miracle cure for something like this. 




This tooth ended up in the jaws of the pliers. 
Later down the road other options can be discussed. 
As for now however, the tooth is in Heaven with 
the patient's wisdom, and baby, teeth. 






Thursday, March 23, 2017

Dental Implant

Lots of people want to know what exactly happens 
during a dental implant procedure.

Well, here it is from start to finish. 

#1 Patient comes into the office with a tooth broken off at the gums. 

#2 Tooth is extracted and implant is placed.
VERY IMPORTANT point her is that the person does 
NOT leave with a tooth at this point. 
The "implant" is merely the titanium screw that sits in the bone.
There is a period of healing that now has to happen. 


#3 Once healing has happened a connecting piece is placed onto the implant.
An impression of the piece is then taken. 
The final crown will cement down over this connector. 


#4 Here is a picture of the tooth in place. 
It is now completed. The 3 pieces (implant , connector, and tooth)
are all secured to one another and the patient is ready to
return to full function.






Tuesday, February 7, 2017

Can that tooth just be fixed with a filling?

A common question I get is ..........
"can that broken tooth just be fixed with a filling"?
The answer to that is normally, yes. 

But it is important to understand what a filling is. 
A filling is NOT a new tooth. 
A filling is a patch.
Like a patch in a pair of pants. 
The patch relies on the strength of the remaining tooth for support.
This puts added stress on the remaining healthy tooth structure.

Here is a picture of 2 teeth where fillings were placed. 
The fillings run the length of the tooth. 
The sides of the tooth are now responsible to support the fillings.
The tooth on the bottom is holding but the tooth on the top has fractured.

The future of the top tooth is now in jeopardy. 
How bad is the break?
Has the break extended into the nerve, thus requiring root canal?
Is there enough tooth for a crown?
Will the tooth need to be extracted? 


Make sure to ask your dentist which is better for you. 




Thursday, February 2, 2017

Fixing that smile

Always such a treat to do cases like this. 
Colton had never been happy with his teeth. 
He played High School and Collegiate sports.
The impacts from those years of playing sports had left him with 
broken, chipped, and nerve damaged teeth. 

He wanted to know what was possible. 
So we showed him. 

Colton before ....


Colton After


2 Appointments. 
2 weeks in temporaries.
1 happy camper