It is our goal to keep your mouth healthy, your teeth fully functional, and your smile bright — and we are proud of all the services we offer to do exactly that. At the same time, we want you to understand all that modern dentistry in general has to offer you. To that end, we have assembled a first-rate dental library in which you can find a wealth of information on various dental topics, including:
Cosmetic & General Dentistry
From a thorough professional cleaning to a full smile makeover, there is an amazing array of services that cosmetic and general dentists offer to make sure your teeth stay healthy, function well and look great. If your smile is not all you want it to be, this is the place to start. Read more about Cosmetic & General Dentistry.
Emergency Dental Care
When you have a dental emergency — whether it's caused by a sudden accident or chronic disease — your teeth and/or the tissues of the mouth that surround them need to receive proper care right away. It's also important to be aware, before you're actually in the situation, of what you can do to ensure the best outcome. Read more about Emergency Dental Care.
Endodontics
This is the branch of dentistry that focuses on the inside of the tooth — specifically the root canals and sensitive, inner pulp (nerve) tissue. When this tissue becomes inflamed or infected, a root canal procedure may become necessary. But contrary to the popular myth, a root canal doesn't cause pain, it relives it. Read more about Endodontics.
Implant Dentistry
If you are missing one or more teeth, dental implants offer the comfort and security of a permanent replacement that looks and functions just like your natural teeth. Dental implants also help preserve the tooth-supporting bone in your jaw that naturally deteriorates when even one tooth is lost. Read more about Implant Dentistry.
Oral Health
Oral health is an essential component of general health and well-being. Good oral health means a mouth that's free of disease; a bite that functions well enough for you to eat without pain and get ample nutrition; and a smile that lets you express your happiest emotions with confidence. Read more about Oral Health.
Oral Hygiene
A major goal of modern dentistry is to help you keep your teeth and gums healthy for a lifetime. By following a conscientious program of oral hygiene at home, and coming to the dental office for routine cleanings and exams, you have the best chance of making this goal a reality. Read more about Oral Hygiene.
Oral Surgery
The word “surgery” often brings to mind a stay in the hospital, general anesthesia, and perhaps a lengthy recovery period. However, the experience of having oral surgery is usually very different from that. Some common oral surgery procedures include: tooth extractions, dental implant placement, and biopsies of suspicious oral lesions. Read more about Oral Surgery.
Orthodontics
Adults and kids alike can benefit from the boost in self-confidence that comes from having a great-looking smile with beautifully aligned teeth. Orthodontic treatment can even improve chewing, speaking and oral hygiene in certain cases. And with today's virtually invisible orthodontic appliances, it's possible to keep your treatment a private matter… until your new smile is unveiled, of course! Read more about Orthodontics.
Pediatric Dentistry
It's never too early to get your child started on the path toward a lifetime of good oral health, and there are many services to do exactly that. Monitoring your child's dental growth and development, and preventing and intercepting dental diseases along the way, is the primary focus of pediatric dentistry. Read more about Pediatric Dentistry.
Periodontal Therapy
If you want to keep your teeth for life — a completely reasonable goal in this day and age — you need to make sure the tissues that surround them are also healthy. Should gum problems arise, you may need periodontal therapy to restore diseased tissues to health. Read more about Periodontal Therapy.
Technology
In the field of dentistry, new technology is constantly changing the way diseases are diagnosed, routine procedures are performed, and illnesses are prevented. Although they may seem unfamiliar at first, new and improved dental technologies offer plenty of real benefits for patients. Read more about Technology.
Teeth whitening is one of the most popular cosmetic dental treatments — and it's easy to see why. Having whiter teeth can make you look years younger, and the procedure itself is among the most conservative (and cost-effective) cosmetic treatments dentistry offers. Sometimes, however, achieving a pleasing, even shade of lightness can be challenging; this is particularly true when a tooth that needs to be lightened has been subjected to an injury (dental trauma) in the past.
Dental trauma encompasses any damage to the tooth that's caused by an external agent, whether accidental or intended. It may be due to a fall, a sports injury — or even a past orthodontic procedure. According to some studies, around a quarter of Americans aged 6 to 50 years old have experienced some traumatic dental injury, with most occurring before age 19. Traumatized teeth may react to whitening procedures differently from undamaged teeth, which can make them difficult to treat. However, several effective treatments are available.
Diagnosing a Discolored Tooth
The first step in the process of lightening a traumatized tooth is a thorough exam to find out what's causing the dark staining — and one of the first things we will determine is whether or not the tooth's pulp is “vital,” or alive. This is readily revealed by radiographs (x-rays) or other tests. If the tooth is still vital, external bleaching can often yield satisfactory results — even if it's just one tooth that needs to be whitened. In-office treatments or take-home trays are effective, but office procedures generally take much less time to produce good results.
In many cases, however, discoloration of a traumatized tooth is itself an indication that the nerves in the tooth's pulp have died. In this case, before whitening treatment can start, a root canal procedure will be necessary to remove the dead or dying tissue and prevent infection. It can also happen that a tooth that appeared normal will begin to discolor many months (or years) after a root canal has been performed. In either situation, it may be possible to whiten a non-vital tooth with a procedure called internal bleaching.
Whitening From the Inside Out
Because a non-vital tooth's stains are intrinsic (inside, rather than outside, the tooth), we need to put the bleaching agent itself inside the tooth. Internal bleaching is a routine procedure, here's how it works:
Access to the pulp chamber (the small passageway in the tooth's center) will be gained by making a small hole in the back of the tooth. Then, any debris from the chamber will be removed and rinsed away, and a special cement will be added to prevent the bleaching agent from leaking into the tooth's roots.
Next, some bleaching agent (commonly sodium perborate) will be placed in the empty pulp chamber, and temporarily seal it in. At this point, you can get up and leave the office… which is why this procedure is sometimes called the “walking bleach” technique. However, you'll return in a few days for another round of bleaching; it may take up to four visits to get the degree of lightening you want.
When the tooth reaches the desired color change, a more permanent restoration will be placed on the tooth to seal that little hole — usually a tooth-colored filling material of composite resin. Many times, this relatively conservative procedure will give your tooth all the lightening it needs. If it's not enough, the tooth can be bleached externally as well, or you can even consider a veneer or crown. The goal is to recommend the most appropriate cosmetic dental procedure, and get you the best possible results.
Related Articles
Whitening Traumatized Teeth Sometimes teeth that have had root canal treatment darken over time. These teeth may not respond to the usual methods of whitening, but they can often be successfully bleached from the inside. This offers a more conservative option than using a veneer or crown to cover the discoloration... Read Article