18 year old this time.
Mother and Son both happy with results.
Before
After
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Cosmetic Bonding
This was one of the more challenging cosmetic bonding cases that I have done.
Some teeth that we bond are slightly tilted.
Some are slightly rotated.
Some are too long or too short.
This tooth is rotated 90 degrees.
Meaning the tooth is turned completely sideways.
The bonding was tough because the proportions are off due to the rotation.
However, The patient was very happy with the result.
She was told that expensive braces was her only option.
Turns out 30 minutes in the chair.....
no shots
no drilling
and the cost of a filling later she looked like this.
This is simply filling material and it can be done in lots and lots of cases.
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
When should my new baby get their first tooth?
There is nothing much cuter then an infants big gummy smile. After a while however, parents start to ask the question, "When are my babies first teeth going to start coming in"?
Below is a chart showing not only when the first teeth will come in but when they will come out as well. The first tooth to come in, is typically, the lower central incisor. The last should be the back molars. A quick way to check and see that your youngster has all of their teeth in is to count them. A full set of baby teeth will equal out to be 10 teeth on the top and a matching 10 teeth on the bottom.
Monday, September 26, 2011
What is a cleft lip and palate?
The word "cleft" simply means a crack or divide. A cleft lip is simply the body incorrectly or incompletely closing the facial structures during development. This incomplete closing leaves a cleft, or divide, in the lip and/or palate of the new born. Below is an ultrasound showing a cleft lip
Clefts can be simply the lip (cleft lip).
Or they can be more severe and include the palate (cleft lip and palate).
In the cleft lip and palate the teeth are often involved.
Missing, misaligned, and or misplaced teeth can be common.
Clefts, no matter the severity, are normally very repairable
and the scare can be almost unrecognizable.
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Can too much fluoride kill you?
You bet it can.
But, ANYTHING taken in too great of quantity can kill you!
Take water for instance.
Water is a necessity for life.
However, you drink too much water too quickly and
you will soon find yourself dead from water toxicity.
People take Tylenol for headaches.
Take 3 bottles of it.
You won't be with us much longer.
People take iron supplements.
Take 3 bottles of that stuff.
See how healthy you feel.
And the list can go on and on and on.
ANYTHING that is taken in the improper quantities can harm you.
Fluoride can absolutely have harmful effects.
That is why it is prescribed by a clinician who is trained
on how to prescribe the drug according to a strict set of
guidelines that take into account the area in which a person lives,
their age, their size, what other drugs they are taking, etc. etc.
"All substances are poisons; there is none which is not a poison.
The right dose differentiates a poison..." Paracelsus (1493- 1541)
I give my children and my patients children fluoride supplements.
I would encourage anyone who is nervous about fluoride to read
up on the subject from CREDIBLE sources and then make
whatever decision they feel comfortable with.
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Does your child need to go to pediatric dentist?
Like many things in this world...... it depends.
Pediatric dentists are an amazing tool in the dental community.
I send children to them all the time.
However, there are many many more children
that I never send to them.
Almost everything that a pediatric dentist can do for your child can be done by a general dentist. Placing fillings, straightening teeth, placing space maintainers, extracting teeth,
doing pulpotomies (baby root canals), cleaning teeth, etc.
All of these services are offered by both a pediatric dentist and the general dentist.
So what does a pediatric dentist for?
The thing that, I feel, pediatric dentists are best for is to treat the nervous child.
Children just don't like dentists, doctors, nurses, etc.
We are always the ones giving shots and swabbing throats and so on.
The pediatric dentist is licensed to sedate children.
Whether through I.V. or orally your child can be put to sleep at a pediatric dentists office.
Now, this service will cost more money for the overall treatment but if it is the only way that your child can be treated due to them being scared to death then that is the best thing.
I suggest starting to bring your child to the dentist with you when they are about 3 years old.
Bring the child in for your cleaning. Let them sit in the corner and see that its not such a bad thing to be seen by the dentist. Do the same thing for you next cleaning. At that next appointment we typically will ask to see inside the child's mouth as they sit on the chair in the corner. We simply look around and get the child used to use being in their mouth. After that is done we congratulate the child for being so good and give them a prize. This exercise clears the way for them to be seen for their own cleaning and not be too scared about it because they have already been into the dentist on numerous occasions.
Monday, September 19, 2011
17 yr old bonding case
This is a 17 year old patient at our office.
He just recently got his braces removed.
Two of his front four teeth were too small.
The orthodontist put them in the proper position and then allowed us to fill the gaps.
The before picture.
The after picture.
This procedure took 30 minutes.
Was completed on both sides of the mouth.
No shots.
No drills.
No original tooth structure was removed.
Costs the same as a filling.
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Stop sipping the Mtn Dew!!
We see it all the time.
People coming into the office with with their teeth hurting.
I tell them that they have a ton of cavities and they tell me that that is impossible.
Since nothing is impossible I ask them why they think that.
They tell me its because they only drink 1 can of soda pop a day.
I tell them that that's not so bad and that lots of people have a soda at some point during the day.
I then ask them how long it takes them to drink it.
They tell me that they sip on it throughout the day and that it takes them about 4 hours to finish off a can.
Here in lies our problem.
Cavities caused by soda happen due to the time that the teeth are exposed to the sugar and not the amount of sugar ingested.
If I drank an entire 2 liter of Mountain Dew for breakfast and my patient only had 1 can on Mountain Dew but it took him 4 hours to drink his can, who do you think would be worse off?
If you said the guy drinking the can then you are starting to catch on.
Although my sugar content is higher and I may experience more symptoms throughout my body my teeth are much better off. I get the sugar in my mouth and then get it out and I am done. The person who sips on that one can for hours at a time has sugar covering their teeth all the whole time they are sipping. So less sugar but more tooth exposure.
Moral of the story is DO NOT SIP!
Monday, September 12, 2011
Implant case
Wrapped up this case on Friday of last week.
Patient broke off half of her tooth.
The break was severe and extended down under the gums.
Patient did not want a bridge so an implant was chosen.
(Digital picture of tooth)
(X-Ray of tooth)
After the extraction both root sockets were examined and it was
determined that the socket farthest back would work best for the implant.
The implant was placed.
Bone grafting material was placed in the front most socket.
The spot was then stitched shut.
The implant is at bone level and the outcome for this case is extremely favorable.
The patient will now wait for about 6 weeks to make sure
that the implant site heals completely.
After that a tooth will be attached to the implant
and she will be back to her old self.
There are certain situations in which they don't work
but for the most part implants are wonderful.
Friday, September 9, 2011
Does your jaw pop or click?
TMJ is the abbreviation for Temporal Mandibular Joint. It is the joint directly in front of your ear that is used by your body to open and close your mouth. It is, like most other joints in your body, made up of cartilage, fluid, bones, and muscles.. And just like any other joint in the body any piece to this puzzle can deteriorate, get misplaced, damaged, or have any other number of problems.
If any sort of damage does occur then pain, clicking, popping may result.
If you have had any of the above symptoms the best thing to do
is to see your dentist right away.
He/she needs to determine what is the cause of your TMJ discomfort and
what, if anything, can be done to solve the problem.
Thursday, September 8, 2011
What is the black line around my crown?
Nothing is wrong.
What you are seeing is simply the metal that your crown is
made out of showing out from underneath.
I know I know, you thought that your crown was white and that
there wasn't any metal in it.
Well, there is. You have what is referred to as a porcelain
fused to metal crown of (PFM).
The crown is made of a metal substructure to give it it's strength and
then porcelain is layered over the top to make it look like a tooth.
The PFM has been used for years and has had remarkable success.
The only draw back to these types of crowns is the metal line showing through
and the fact that the porcelain layers can begin to separate from each other
and cause the pieces of porcelain to fall off the crowns.
Today there are new advances in crown technology that have
eliminated both of these problems.
There is a new material, to the world of dentistry that is, called zirconium.
Zirconium crowns are milled from a solid block and are very very strong.
This milling process means that they are not put together piece by piece.
Therefore there are no pieces to come apart. The crown is one solid unit.
Zirconium is also white so the color is that of most teeth and will never show a
metallic line because there is no metal.
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Implant case from yesterday.
Just finished up a nice implant case.
Patient came in with one of his four front teeth broken off at the gum line.
(Pictured here)
The big problem was that he already had bridges on both sides of the broken tooth.
Since he didn't want to destroy a good bridge he went for the implant.
We extracted the tooth, placed the implant, and placed a temporary on it the same day.
The patient returned in 8 weeks to receive the final crown.
He is very happy with the result.
(Pictured below)
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Does it matter what kind of toothpaste you use?
Nope.
Sure doesn't.
Now, if you or someone you know is a dental toothpaste salesmen please don't get all bent out of shape. No matter what anyone says most toothpastes are pretty much the same. There are a few products that someone's Aunt Betty makes in her back yard out of bees wax and real maple syrup. But other then that they are all pretty close.
In fact in a 4 week study the American Dental Association found very little, if no,
difference between folks who brushed with toothpaste vs straight water.
Here is a link to the study.
And what they are made out of is not even really the important thing anyway. The important thing is that you actually pick up the brush and use it. And then pick up the floss and use that. If you do these two things, regardless of what types of toothpaste or floss, you will be in the 95th percentile of people in this country.
Moral to the story is this......
don't be so worried about what you put on the brush,
just put the brush against your teeth.
Thursday, September 1, 2011
I cracked my front tooth! What now?
Okay so you, your child, your mom, your brother, etc. etc. just fell face first into something, over something, under something, etc. etc. and broke the corner of your/their front tooth off.
What do you do now?
Well, that depends. Lets break this down into 3 simplified categories.
The nerve of a tooth is in the middle of the tooth.
#1 If you just broke off a small corner of the tooth and it didn't reach the nerve then a simple filling is probably all you would need.
#2 If you broke off a larger corner but still didn't reach the nerve then you more then likely would need a crown.
#3 If you broke your tooth so severely that you got down into the nerve then you will need a root canal AND a crown.
And although all of this may be a traumatic experience don't worry. Your cracked and broken smile can be completely repaired and have you back to being the model you know you were born to be.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)