The thing about obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is that it can have a multitude of impacts on your health and quality of life before you even realize that you have it. As one of the more common sleep breathing disorders, sleep apnea is known for interrupting your sleep cycle by forcing you to stop breathing repeatedly. While you might not be consciously aware of these episodes, they can still occur hundreds of times a night. This deprives you of deep sleep, inhibits your oxygen intake, and can lower your quality of life due to its resulting health risks. (more…)
How Does Tooth Extraction Restore Your Smile?
Even after you’ve accepted the fact that your tooth needs to be extracted, you might still question just how that restores your smile. After all, most restorative treatments are designed to repair and preserve your healthy, natural tooth structure. However, when your tooth needs extraction, it’s because it can’t be repaired, and in many cases, there isn’t enough healthy structure left to save. By extracting the tooth, your dentist can stop it from threatening the rest of your oral health, and if appropriate make it possible to replace the tooth to fully restore your smile. (more…)
Could Your Denture Be Better?
Thanks to modern, highly lifelike dentures, patients who’ve lost all their teeth on the upper or lower dental ridge can still enjoy a lifetime of full, healthy, and beautiful smiles, complete with full bite function and restored confidence. However, patients who’ve worn dentures for a while are familiar with the few drawbacks, such as the appliance no longer fitting the way it should and shifting painfully along the dental ridge. Fortunately, you can make your denture better by securing it to a series of prosthetic root-like dental implants. (more…)
How to Know if Veneers Can Improve Your Smile
With the wide variety of dental treatment options available today, choosing the right one will always require a thorough examination and diagnosis by your dentist. In some cases, your treatment may be much simpler than you originally thought, especially if you have complex concerns and qualify for porcelain veneers. In fact, many patients can completely makeover their smiles just by having one or more veneers bonded in place. Today, we offer a few questions that can help you determine if your smile might be best improved with porcelain veneers. (more…)
Is Grinding Your Teeth Something You Should Worry About?
If you’ve ever caught yourself grinding your teeth and didn’t develop any serious dental issues because of it, then you might scoff at the idea of teeth-grinding being a serious threat. However, when you grind your teeth constantly (a condition known as bruxism), it might be one of the more impactful and immediate threats to your dental health. Unchecked bruxism can lead to several complications, including excessive tooth wear and various forms of tooth damage. Today, we examine a few facts about bruxism to help you determine if you should worry about your teeth-grinding habit. (more…)
Permanent Relief for Chronic Toothaches
When a toothache strikes, you can often find some measure of relief for it with an over-the-counter pain medication or home remedy of your choice. The problem, however, is that such solutions are typically temporary, and before long, the pain will be back again, sometimes worse. The reason is that toothaches are not a condition that can be treated with home remedies. On the contrary, it’s a symptom of many different dental issues that progressively grow worse the longer they’re left untreated. (more…)
Can a Dental Crown Replace a Missing Tooth?
Replacing missing teeth has always been an important focus of contemporary dentistry. When a tooth is lost, the consequences can be severe for the rest of your oral health, including bite problems, an eroding jawbone, and more. Traditionally, replacing a single lost tooth has always been the job of a dental bridge consisting of a lifelike tooth replacement supported by equally lifelike dental crowns. Today, however, patients can often enjoy a more conservative and lifelike prosthetic option by choosing a single dental crown supported by a dental implant post. (more…)
Good Reasons to Contour Your Gums
Sometimes, improving your smile doesn’t have anything to do with the appearance of your teeth, but rather the gums that surround them. If your gum line is uneven, then your smile will seem asymmetrical, as well. Fortunately, cosmetic dentistry has an answer for that, too. With cosmetic gum contouring, your dentist can carefully and artistically reshape your gum line to create a straighter and more attractive appearance. As an added benefit, contouring your gums also makes them less susceptible to gum disease, which improves your long-term oral health, as well. (more…)
What Fluoride Does for Children’s Teeth
Fluoride has long been an important tool in effective children’s dentistry. For children who are at heightened risks of tooth decay, it’s an especially important tool. The mineral, fluoride, has a unique ability to bond to the layers of enamel surrounding your child’s teeth. By doing so, it can strengthen the enamel against harmful oral bacteria and food particles that could otherwise destroy it. Today, we examine what fluoride does for children’s teeth, and why you should ask if your child can benefit from it, as well. (more…)
Common Questions About Dental Implants
After the initial shock of losing one or more teeth, you may have several questions about your condition. For instance, how will it affect the rest of your oral health, and what’s your best tooth replacement option? In many cases, the best way to restore your smile is with the help of one or more dental implants, which are small, root-like posts that your dentist inserts into your jawbone. With the ability to support any dental prosthetic (i.e., crown, bridge, or denture), implants can be your best option, as well. (more…)