For over 25 years dental implants have provided a natural looking solution for replacing missing teeth and for stabilizing or anchoring dentures. Before placing the dental implant into the jawbone, an analysis is taken to determine how the upper and lower jaw functions together. In addition, photographs, x-rays, and molds are taken of the teeth, smile, mouth, and jawbones.

Based on the analysis, we develop a plan that is in harmony with the patient’s goals and desired outcome. Most commonly, the patient’s goal is to replace their missing teeth, to use implants in place of their partial dentures, or for use with their dentures to create stability when chewing.

Some implants need time (four to six months) to fuse to the jawbone so that they will be strong enough to hold the crowns, bridges, or dentures. Implants usually require a surgical and restorative phase, but in some cases they can be used almost immediately after placement in the jawbone.

Typically, dental implants replace the roots of the missing teeth in the bone so that whatever attaches to it will be more stable. Individuals who have lost many of their teeth, if they have enough bone, have many options for stabilizing and making their dentures more functional with implants. Implants can also be used to build fixed bridges attached in part of the mouth, which is more like replacing teeth that the patient can really bite with. The advantages of putting in implants underneath the denture is, in addition to support, it stimulates the health of the bone and keeps it from resorbing as it does when it has a denture placed on top of it. One of the problems we have is that when the teeth are taken out, the bone begins to shrink down as it responds to the pressure of the dentures.

Over years of wearing dentures, the bone continues to shrink and eventually the dentures do not fit the mouth. Implants slow down this process dramatically by stimulating the bone to stay healthy and keep it from resorbing. The dentures will last longer because the underlying areas of the bone are healthier.

If you would like to learn more about implant dentistry to see if it is the best option for your goals for oral heath and beauty, please contact our office to schedule an evaluation.

Veneers can help improve the size, shape, and color of the teeth. They are thin layers of porcelain that bond to the outer edges of the teeth. Because they rely on the underlying strength of the tooth structure, veneers are not the right solution for all patients.

Veneers are not always the solution.

When a patient seeks out help for worn teeth, far too often the decision is to simply use veneers to lengthen the teeth back out. The problem with simply adding veneers onto the teeth is that it is important to find out why the teeth were shortened in the first place. Simply lengthening the teeth back to where they were may only treat the effect because it does not solve the underlying cause of why the teeth wore down in the first place. This sets the patient up to potentially wear down or break their veneers, just as they did with the teeth the first time. Often it is necessary to reposition the teeth or deal with another problem the patient may be having, such as grinding their teeth at night. If they have veneers placed, they may want to use a night guard to protect the teeth from damage as a result of grinding.

Addressing the Underlying Problem.

Before deciding to use veneers, we carefully examine the underlying problem. We determine whether the problem is skeletal, just the teeth, or the bone that supports the teeth itself in order to truly solve the problem. We also provide you with the options that are available because veneers are a big investment and they are not really reversible. So if the patient has problems with them, they just have to keep replacing them. We make sure that the patient’s gums are in the proper place and that they are not showing too much gums when they smile because their teeth have worn, erupted down and brought the gums with them. We also ensure that the gums are even to assist with a beautiful smile because putting veneers on them does not solve that problem if the gums are not addressed.

If the front teeth are tilted back and in, that is an abnormal relationship that leads to wear and if veneers are put on those type of teeth, the same wear will happen over again only now they will have to pay for the veneers over and over again.

Far too many times veneers are the answer that is given because the patient requests them or the dentist does not properly assess the entire situation. For example, sometimes veneers are put on when the answer really needed to be repositioning of the teeth prior to restoration. If the teeth are properly positioned, that makes room to ensure that the veneers are the appropriate size for the patient. If the teeth are restored in an abnormal position that has taken place because of wear the teeth, the veneers can not be the right width to length ratio for that patients smile…and may not be in the right place in that patient’s smile.

There are negative effects to getting veneers before restoring teeth. The patient may feel discomfort, such as jaw pain. In most cases, there will simply be a problem of maintenance. The patient may break off, chip, or wear down the veneers just like they did with their natural teeth.

A lasting Solution

If the teeth are restored correctly in the proper place, the patient can look forward to increased longevity, increased comfort, and a very beautiful smile as a result. Simply making teeth bigger with veneers often times does not solve the core problem and does not give the patient the best smile that is possible. Although it may offer improvement, it will not give the final result that could have been accomplished. Far too many people get veneers and feel semi-happy with them because it is an improvement over where they were, but they are so far from where they could have been for the final outcome.

Bleaching and whitening is a popular service in dentistry. When done correctly, bleaching has evolved to be safe, effective, and to not damage the teeth. We caution patients about using some over-the-counter whitening products. While many are safe, most are not as strong as what we use at our office and some contain high levels of acid. Short term this will make the teeth whiter because it removes some of the minerals and reflects more light, but it is actually damaging to the teeth over long-term use. Some of these products also make the teeth more sensitive. We are careful to use products that cause less sensitivity and bleaching teeth is a routine service.

Patients who are considering restorations to their front teeth, whether composite fillings or crowns, should consider bleaching before the restorative work because bleaching can not be done afterwards.

If you have an abscess tooth, and its not hurting too bad, it could be draining in to the sinus, causing chronic sinus irritation. When you look at an x-ray of the upper tooth,  the roots are visible up there and the sinus comes down – usually following a pattern of that root. In other words, the roots are holding that up and when you take the tooth out, there is constant gentle pressure there inside the sinus. The bone reacts to pressure and the bone in the maxilla is softer bone. So it does what we call numatizes that area.: the sinus starts enlarging, getting bigger because it is gently pushing that bone and the bone is resorbing (losing substance).

We see a many individuals who, when their teeth are out, have paper thin bone between the ridge and the sinus. If it’s a denture, then that can be tender all the time when they have sinus problems, and the bone goes away so we don’t have a place to put the implants. If the teeth have been removed and left our for a long time, you can still get implants, but you have to go through a grafting procedure to raise the sinus floor and grow new bone to put implants in. The other thing that is particularly prominent when you have a tooth on the side but the middle teeth are missing, is the sinus comes down and now you have a low spot where the fluids are always sitting. This makes the individual more prone to get infections. 

What are some symptoms that may indicate that the sinus problems you are having may be related to your teeth? If you had a tooth taken out and you want to have it replaced you should do it sooner rather than later so that the sinus doesn’t numatize and you don’t require an extra surgery.