A beautiful smile relies on more than straight, white teeth. The gums play a crucial role in framing our teeth. Gum contouring is a procedure that restores harmony to your smile. In today’s blog, your team at Sunny Smiles Family Dentistry, explains the benefits of gum contouring, determines candidacy, and highlights the simplicity of the process and recovery.
Wisdom Teeth and When They Cause Problems
Are you wondering why you’ve been told to remove your third molars? Wisdom teeth, also known as third molars, are the last set of teeth to come in, usually during the late teens or early twenties. Many times, they can bring discomfort and complications, leading to the need for removal. In today’s blog, your team at Sunny Smiles Family Dentistry, explains what wisdom teeth are, what happens when they get stuck, and why they often need to be taken out.
Maintaining A Healthy Smile After Gum Disease
Living with gum disease requires constant monitoring of your oral health to maintain a healthy smile. This is because an infection that reaches the jawbone become permanent. However, by attending cleanings and exams on a regular basis, you may be able to detect an infection when it is in its reversible initial stage. At each exam, we create a dental record that allows us to quickly identify when active threats appear. If we detect a gum infection, we can perform a periodontal maintenance session to get your infection under control. For patients with ongoing outbreaks, we can place you on a 3 to 4 times per year schedule to offer the cleanings you require. Because gum infections are the leading cause of tooth loss, taking care of this aspect of your health is key to preserving your smile.
At Sunny Smiles Family Dentistry, we help patients protect their smiles after taking on a gum infection. By prioritizing your oral health, you can reduce the risk for developing gum disease and lessen its effects when it takes hold. When you attend routine checkups, we will clear bacterial deposits that contribute to disease.
Repairing Your Smile With A Prosthetic Replacement Tooth
If tooth loss strikes your smile, it can be rather upsetting. Not only are the esthetic effects obvious, but losing a tooth can destroy your bite’s function as well. Tasks you once took for granted become measurably more difficult. Certain foods you love must be avoided lest they harm your open gap. Because we rely on our teeth to help form words, our speech can begin to sound strange. As you move your jaw in awkward angles to work around the missing tooth, you can develop pain or strain in your joints. As remaining teeth take additional force from your bite, they can wear down at an accelerated rate. This can worsen your misalignment, increasing your risk for decay and infection. Fortunately, we could restore your smile with a prosthetic implant tooth.
At Sunny Smiles Family Dentistry, we design and place replacement teeth to help our patients regain the function and beauty of a full grin. This requires measuring your oral structures and determining if your jawbone is healthy enough for a titanium implant post. By inserting this prosthetic directly into the bone, it fuses to secure your false tooth for a lifetime. Enjoy your restored smile once again!
We Restore Bright, White Smiles!
Is your smile beginning to dull with stains or a yellowing appearance? If you would like to regain the bright, white appearance you enjoyed in the past, your dentist can help! Our cosmetic treatments address the nature of your discoloration to bring out your natural beauty. We can examine your teeth to determine if the staining lies within the enamel layer itself. If so, a powerful professional teeth whitening session can remove foreign contaminants using our custom bleaching gel. We offer in-office treatment that can bring out your white shade in under an hour. For patients who prefer a more gradual approach, we create take-home kits for you to apply at your speed. Smiles that suffer from the loss of white enamel may benefit from a custom set of porcelain veneers. When designing your new smile, we select the shade of your ceramics to match whatever color you would like.
At Sunny Smiles Family Dentistry, we want to help you unlock the attractive smile you crave. You may be surprised at how quickly we can offer significant results that target the specific nature of your dental blemishes. (more…)
Restoring Your Smile With Dental Implants
When you lose one of your teeth, speak with your dentist about prosthetic options for restoring your smile. By taking on tooth loss early, you can prevent many of the the consequences that can harm the function of your bite. Because we rely upon our teeth to help form speech, your voice may sound off without a dental aid. Left open, a gap can attract neighboring teeth that begin to drift. This harms the alignment of your bite, leading to an increased risk of tooth decay and gum disease. Because gum disease is the primary cause of tooth loss among adults today, failure to restore your smile can lead to additional tooth loss.
At Sunny Smiles Family Dentistry, we encourage our patients who experience tooth loss to explore dental implants. This versatile smile aid can mimic the function of a tooth’s root, burrowing deep into your jaw to provide permanent stability. For individual teeth, we attach crowns above your gumline to recreate your smile. A dental implant can help treat more advanced forms of tooth loss by holding bridges or dentures as well. Each implant transfers the force of your bite, stimulating the jawbone underneath, and contributing to the maintenance of its density. This helps you avoid the loss of tissue that accompanies so many people dealing with tooth loss.
Preserving Your Healthy Gums
If you notice the shape of your gumline beginning to recede, it could be time to call the dentist. The movement of this tissue results from an infection that risks becoming permanent without timely treatment. Other common symptoms include chronic bad breath, bleeding when you floss or brush, and sore tissues. Do not wait until your next checkup, as gum disease that reaches the jawbone must be treated for life. We can perform a cleaning and examination to clear plaque and tartar and determine if you require additional periodontal therapy. A scaling and root planing procedure can lift the gumline to clean bacteria in pockets between the teeth. As your body heals, the tissues reattach to smooth tooth roots, allowing your symptoms to subside. Gum disease is the primary cause of missing teeth among adults today, so please take this condition seriously if it takes hold of your smile.
At Sunny Smiles Family Dentistry, we teach our patients preventive strategies to fight gum disease and other oral threats. By perfecting your daily oral hygiene routine and attending regular checkups, you can minimize your chance of an infection. However, when gum disease takes hold, we help you manage the symptoms and enjoy a high-quality smile. (more…)
Relieving A Chronic Toothache
If you experience a toothache that lasts more than 24 hours, it is important to see a dentist as soon as possible. This condition cannot wait until your next scheduled checkup, as it is a common symptom of a dangerous infection. Without treatment, bacteria could break off a deposit in your tooth’s inner chamber and travel through the bloodstream. By scheduling an emergency appointment, we can examine your problem tooth to determine if you need a root canal. With local anesthetics, this procedure should be no more uncomfortable than placing a common dental filling. Because root canal treatment permanently alters the structure of your tooth, we complete the procedure by placing a crown to restore your tooth’s function and appearance.
At Sunny Smiles Family Dentistry, we know that sudden emergencies can strike when you least expect them. That is why we offer appointments outside of normal business hours to offer your relief when you most need it. After getting your pain under control, we can review the conditions that led to your infection. We could schedule regular checkups and cleanings to improve your oral health and help prevent any future toothaches.
Treating Your Dental Discoloration
If you notice the bright appearance of your smile beginning to fade compared to the recent past, let your dentist know! We can detect the source of your discoloration and explore options for restoring your bright, white look. A review of your oral hygiene habits and diet can uncover room for improving the appearance of your teeth. We can also tell whether the change is due to stains in the enamel itself or a lack of this protective outer material. Certain patients benefit from a professional whitening treatment. This goes far beyond the results promised by over-the-counter products by providing a medical-grade bleaching solution applied by our expert staff. We could perform this service in the office in under an hour or offer a take-home kit for your convenience. For patients who do not respond to whitening, other cosmetic procedures such as placing porcelain veneers can design a smile that you dream of. Made from custom dental ceramics, we can select whatever shade you like to create caps that fit neatly over the front of your existing smile.
At Sunny Smiles Family Dentistry, we understand that your smile’s appearance can play a central role in your self-confidence. Your teeth take center stage whenever speaking, so clearing any unwanted stains or blemishes is highly beneficial. Enjoy a brand new you in as little as one or two visits to our practice!
Dental Implants Help Replace Lost Teeth
If you have recently lost one of your teeth, talk to your dentist about your options for restoring your smile. While the esthetic impact of tooth loss may be apparent, its effect on the function of your bite can be much worse. Certain foods you once loved may now cause serious pain. If your voice begins to sound off, it’s because we rely upon our teeth to help form our words. Without replacement, neighboring teeth can drift into the open gap, further misaligning your bite. As your bite worsens, you become more susceptible to tooth decay and gum disease. This can lead to an unvirtuous cycle that contributes to additional dental loss! Fortunately, a dental implant can secure inside your jaw to secure a permanent prosthetic.
At Sunny Smiles Family Dentistry, we want you to know that a hole in your smile should not be permanent! We can inspect the health of your mouth to determine if you are an appropriate candidate for dental implants. Because this unique prosthetic option anchors to your bone, it provides needed stimulation to maintain the density of your jaw. This can prevent the sunken-in look that affects many people with missing teeth.