Tooth-Colored Fillings Are Ideal For All Ages

We use tooth-colored fillings to restore our patients teeth and highly recommend them.  Many of our patients don’t understand why a filling is necessary in the first place so we get a lot of questions about it.  Contrary to popular belief, this is not an optional dental treatment but necessary for restoring the appearance and, more importantly, the functionality of a tooth.

When you eat throughout the day, sugar and bacteria are placed on your teeth and gums.  When you brush and floss, most of it is removed.  However, bacteria will often remain in the mouth, trapped in harder to reach places.  The bacteria can then create acid which will start to attack your teeth.  As it does, the tooth starts to decay or die.  How large of an area that experiences tooth decay will depend on how long you go in between teeth cleanings.  By having your teeth cleaned twice a year, we can catch and treat it right away.

In order to treat a cavity, the decayed portion of the tooth is removed.  This will leave a small or large indent or hole in your tooth.  You cannot live like that because you would experience discomfort and irritation every time that you bit down.  Instead, the tooth must be restored.  In order to do so, we will use tooth-colored fillings.  In this situation, once the decayed portion is removed the tooth needs to be cleaned. Once done, a tooth-colored ceramic material will be applied to your tooth and shaped into place.  A dental light will then be used to cause the material to harden.  Once done, you will have a durable filling that makes it possible to use your tooth like normal again.

In our dental office, we prefer to use tooth-colored fillings because of how natural they look.  The results are just as effective as traditional amalgam but when you smile, no one will see a mouth full of metal.  In fact, these fillings blend in so well that it is nearly impossible to tell which tooth ever had a cavity to begin with.  Most of our patients even forget which of their teeth were worked on.  This speaks volumes when you compare it to a smile of someone who has had a lot of amalgam fillings.

If you have a mouth full of metal currently, we can help by removing your old fillings and giving you new ones.  This procedure needs to be completed anyway since fillings are not meant to last forever.  Replacing them early simply helps to accomplish a cosmetic or appearance goal while addressing a future health need. Remember, that fillings are an essential part of restoring the tooth structure and keeping your natural teeth in place.  If you go too long without dental care, the original space that you had the filling in may expand, creating the need for a larger filling. Regular dental checkups can prevent this from happening or at least identifying if it has so that you can receive an updated filling to protect your tooth.

Oral Surgery May Be Necessary As Part of Your Orthodontics Procedure

We perform oral surgery for patients with a variety of oral health concerns.  What many people don’t realize is that when getting an orthodontics treatment, surgery is often part of the overall process. This is because when straightening your teeth, there are multiple aspects that must be addressed.  In our office, we can help you to straighten your teeth with a smile makeover or work with your orthodontist to address any challenges that they are unable to correct.

In order to understand why, it helps to understand what must be addressed when using orthodontics to straighten your teeth.  First, your teeth must be moved into position.  If you have teeth that came in crooked, there are gaps in between them, or they are behind each other, braces or aligners can typically be used to move them into position.  Before doing so, however, there must be enough room in the mouth for all of your teeth and, at times, the palate must be expanded using an oral appliance.

As a provider of oral surgery, we often work with orthodontics offices when a tooth is simply not responding to braces or aligners.  There are times, were certain teeth simply aren’t moving into position and in this situation, the only choice is to leave the tooth intact or replace it with a dental implant.  An implant functions like a natural tooth and by securing a titanium post into the jawbone, it will behave like one as well.  In fact, the body will think that the post is a natural root due to the process of osseointegration.  While we typically don’t recommend replacing your teeth for no reason, if you have undergone years of orthodontics, leaving one crooked tooth can be beyond frustrating. If this happens to you, we can finish the process by replacing the tooth with a straight and beautiful one. 

The second aspect of straightening your teeth is correcting your jaw.  If you have a misaligned jaw, it will negative influence your smile and even your facial appearance.  For example, if you have a severe overbite, underbite, or crossbite, it won’t matter how straight your teeth are, your entire appearance will still suffer.  This makes aligning your bite critical.  This can often be done by an orthodontist using oral appliances.  This is a non-invasive method and by using things like rubber bands strung from an upper to lower bracket, the jaw can start to move into position.  However, if the jaw is too far misaligned, it may not respond to oral appliances, creating the need for oral surgery.

Correcting your jaw is more important than simply improving your appearance. A misaligned jaw, can place undue pressure onto your teeth and cause damage, irritation, and even headaches.  For this reason, many people will seek to correct their jaw and oral health issues, regardless of whether or not they like their smile.  As an oral surgeon, we can examine your mouth and provide a recommendation for the steps you should take to correct your smile.  

In our office, we provide dental laminates for those that are looking to improve the appearance of their smile.  Laminates, also known as veneers, are an excellent way to create a uniform smile – one without stains, chips, cracks, etc.  They can even close gaps in between teeth and change their overall shape and size, making them incredibly versatile.  Since they are created to match the shade of your other teeth, you can use a laminate over one or all of your teeth in order to create a perfect smile.
If you are considering transforming the appearance of your smile, we invite you to call and schedule a consultation so that we can discuss the goals that you have and the best way to achieve them.  We will start the process by completing a thorough examination and taking x-rays.  This will provide us with information we need to make a recommendation regarding how to proceed.  Simultaneously, we will look for any signs of infection or cavities because health issues need to be corrected before starting any cosmetic work.  If your teeth and gums look healthy, we will make an impression of your teeth so that we can send the dental lab the information they need to create the laminates.
It can take the lab one to two weeks to prepare your dental laminate, during which time your teeth will need to be prepared.  In order to do so, we will need to remove a portion of the enamel from the surface of your teeth.  The laminate serves to replace that enamel and this process ensures that it lays flat instead of protruding out from the other teeth.  Since the enamel serves to protect your teeth, once it has been removed, a temporary will need to be worn until your permanent laminate is ready.  This is typically secured with a water-based removable glue that can easily come off when it is time to make the switch.  Given that it is designed to be removable it is important to practice caution while eating to ensure that it doesn't accidentally become dislodged.  Fortunately, it is only worn for a short time before you come back in.
Once the lab is finished completing your dental laminates, you will come back in for the bonding procedure.  In this appointment, we will check to make sure that the laminates have been created to our exact specifications and after removing your temporaries, will place them onto your teeth to double check how they look. If any small adjustments are necessary, now is the time to make them.  Next, we will place dental cement onto your tooth and secure the laminates in place, bonding them with a special dental light for strength and durability.  Once hardened, your teeth will look amazing and you can go about life eating your favorite foods and enjoying your new smile.  There are no restrictions on what you can do so long as you treat your dental laminates as though they were a natural tooth.  For example, you can't eat ice or chew a pencil now, nor should you in the future.

Cosmetic Dentist  >  New York Dental Office

Here Are the Steps For Getting Dentures Fitted

For replacing missing teeth, dentures are by far the most popular and well-known technology. This is because dentists` have been successfully replacing teeth with this method for centuries. Today there are traditionally three types of dentures that all dentists work with. These are the full, the partial denture, and the immediate denture. Today's dentures are nothing like what they used to be in the past. They are made to your specifications, look and feel like real teeth, and are no longer at risk for falling out. In order to accomplish this, your dentures will need to be custom fitted and fabricated, in a process that typically takes most people four to five visits to complete. Naturally there are exceptions since the dentures are dependent on your mouth, and sometimes there are additional steps that need to be taken. For most people, however, here is how the visits will go:

Denture visit number one could be called the examination and preparation visit. During this visit, we will be taking a lot of measurements, examining your mouth thoroughly, taking x-rays to check on the underlying bone, and ensure that your mouth and tissue are healthy enough to get dentures. Occasionally we will make recommendations, like removing the flabby tissue around the gums that may cause the dentures to be less stable.  Another example would be when we recommend that a patient consider reshaping the underlying bone so that they get an optimum fit on their dentures. We will also be taking a plaster impression of the gums, preferably without teeth, so that the laboratory has a perfect match of your gums on which to fabricate the dentures. Finally, we will go over the options that you have with regard to the size, shape, and shading of the teeth in the denture itself.
Denture visit number two is the center jaw relationship (CJR) or the maximum mandibular retrusion (MMR) visit. Basically, this visit focuses on making sure that your teeth are the correct length, that your teeth are on the right plane, and that there is the correct alignment of the upper and lower jaws. Having your jaws in alignment is critically important to the ability to speak and chew without clicking, so we will be using a loose-fitting denture base and wax rim, taking the place of teeth, to determine what length your teeth need to be. Adjustments will be made so that your jaws are properly aligned when you bite together.

Denture visit number three is the “wax try-in” visit when you will get to try on the actual plastic or porcelain teeth. The teeth will be in a loose fitting base that fits over the gums and will be embedded in wax instead of the final plastic. This enables us to see what the dentures will look like once it is completed and make adjustments to the fit as required. We can then let the lab know what adjustments are needed to create the final denture.

Denture visit number four is when you leave with a completely new set of dentures after we make a few minor adjustments to the plastic.

Tooth Extraction  >  Root Canal Treatment

TMJ Treatment Options for Alleviating Your Discomfort

There are several types of TMJ treatments, however, TMJ is not the easiest disorder to diagnose, especially when people are at home and find themselves in pain. When you have typical symptoms that include popping of the jaw or difficulty opening your mouth, you should see a dentist so that we can help you to diagnose TMJ. It can take the experience of a professional to connect your symptoms to TMJ. This is because the disorder can manifest itself in a variety of different ways, including things that would not normally be associated with temporomandibular pain. These symptoms can include random tooth pain, aches in the neck, and even an ongoing headache. People who suffer from reoccurring migraine headaches have also been diagnosed with TMJ, so there really is no single set of diagnosis that can point to a patient having TMJ. 

Similarly, treating TMJ has a variety of different methodologies, requiring a step by step approach. The simplest treatment involves an exercise that causes relief from the symptoms. Some also find relief with gentle message. In our dental office, we find the greatest success in treating TMJ with a removable oral appliance.  We create these appliances out of plastic after an impression has been taken of the mouth.  They look like a full retainer and when worn, prevent the upper and lower teeth from touching.  This eliminates nighttime grinding and clenching, thereby preventing a common trigger for TMJ.  As a result, symptoms are often reduced or eliminated.

If this does not work, we may eventually suggest surgical remedies that may require a hospital stay and take several months to be effective. Given the intensity of these procedures, we always recommend this as the last resort after our non-invasive TMJ treatment has been tried.  There are several types of arthroplasty that is used to repair defects that lead to TMJ. These mostly are focused on the disc which can become damaged or move out of place, leading to the severe pain. 

Surgeries involving joints have become relatively commonplace in America today. Many people choose to have their knees surgically repaired or even have hips replaced when they are no longer able to treat these joints with physical therapy or other means. Similarly, if non-invasive options, for treating your TMJ, haven't worked, we will consider arthroscopic surgery to correct the problem. Using arthroscopic surgery means there will be virtually no scarring from a minimalistic incision. 

The first surgery that may be proposed is a disc repositioning surgery, which moves a slipped disc back to its original position. A slipped disc can cause severe TMJ because when the disc slips it puts a lot of pressure and pinches the nerves that are connected to the temporomandibular joint. This brief surgical procedure can relieve the pressure by moving the disc off the nerves and take away the symptoms of TMJ. If this does not work then there is a second, more invasive procedure that can be performed.  Still, we always recommend starting with an oral appliance as the non-invasive TMJ treatment option. 

Learn What to Expect After Getting a Dental Implant

Recovering from dental implant surgery takes a little time and following a few simple steps. First, it is important to realize that despite it being minor, dental implant surgery is in fact surgery. As a patient, you will be placed under anesthesia, which means you will need a certain amount of time to get over its effects before you are able to drive. We recommend that you bring along a designated driver if you want to return home immediately after the surgery as we cannot allow a patient to drive until they are fully out from under the influence of the anesthesia. When you leave you will have a packet of information that guides you through the steps to a quick recovery, which we would like for you to read and follow. 

Dental implants, once in place, are the best replacement to naturally occurring teeth. To get them to be strong and well rooted requires the skill of an expert dentist, oral surgeon or an orthodontist. For your part, recovery is a very important element. Recovery starts with understanding that there is a certain time commitment that will need to be made in order for your body to start the healing process. For the first few days, we recommend staying away from strenuous activities, like lifting heavy objects, and taking as much rest as possible. We also strongly advise eating soft foods like pudding, yogurt, and rice in order to prevent the site from becoming even more irritated. 

As with any surgery, the greatest risk to a dental implant is that of infection. Infections can be introduced by any number of sources, often from that patient themselves. As such we strongly advise not touching the site of the implant with your fingers until it is completely healed. The fingers may transmit germs and bacteria to the mouth, which could then lead to an infection. In order to offset the chance of an infection, we will be giving you a prescription for antibiotics. Typically the treatment of antibiotics is a precautionary measure which will start the day after the surgery and often runs a course of several days. If you are prescribed antibiotics you will need to make sure to fill the prescription in a timely fashion and complete the entire course. Antibiotics can be harsh on the system, so you will need to take the medication with meals or include a glass of milk when taking the pills. 

Another tool that we will give you to fight infection is a medicated rinse. This oral rinse helps to fight infection by keeping the site clean and disinfected. You can also combine this with salt rinses, another home remedy for disinfection. Rinsing three or four times per day can help fight an infection before it begins. You will want to start your normal oral health routine the night after the surgery, but should avoid brushing the dental implant, until the stitches are removed. This makes using the rinse more important since it is the only way to clean the surgical site.  We may want you to return for a follow-up appointment to ensure that you are healing properly and if so you will be able to eat all of your favorite foods and brush like normal. 

TMJ Treatment Options for Alleviating Your Discomfort

There are several types of TMJ treatments, however, TMJ is not the easiest disorder to diagnose, especially when people are at home and find themselves in pain. When you have typical symptoms that include popping of the jaw or difficulty opening your mouth, you should see a dentist so that we can help you to diagnose TMJ. It can take the experience of a professional to connect your symptoms to TMJ. This is because the disorder can manifest itself in a variety of different ways, including things that would not normally be associated with temporomandibular pain. These symptoms can include random tooth pain, aches in the neck, and even an ongoing headache. People who suffer from reoccurring migraine headaches have also been diagnosed with TMJ, so there really is no single set of diagnosis that can point to a patient having TMJ. 

Similarly, treating TMJ has a variety of different methodologies, requiring a step by step approach. The simplest treatment involves an exercise that causes relief from the symptoms. Some also find relief with gentle message. In our dental office, we find the greatest success in treating TMJ with a removable oral appliance.  We create these appliances out of plastic after an impression has been taken of the mouth.  They look like a full retainer and when worn, prevent the upper and lower teeth from touching.  This eliminates nighttime grinding and clenching, thereby preventing a common trigger for TMJ.  As a result, symptoms are often reduced or eliminated.

If this does not work, we may eventually suggest surgical remedies that may require a hospital stay and take several months to be effective. Given the intensity of these procedures, we always recommend this as the last resort after our non-invasive TMJ treatment has been tried.  There are several types of arthroplasty that is used to repair defects that lead to TMJ. These mostly are focused on the disc which can become damaged or move out of place, leading to the severe pain. 

Surgeries involving joints have become relatively commonplace in America today. Many people choose to have their knees surgically repaired or even have hips replaced when they are no longer able to treat these joints with physical therapy or other means. Similarly, if non-invasive options, for treating your TMJ, haven't worked, we will consider arthroscopic surgery to correct the problem. Using arthroscopic surgery means there will be virtually no scarring from a minimalistic incision. 

The first surgery that may be proposed is a disc repositioning surgery, which moves a slipped disc back to its original position. A slipped disc can cause severe TMJ because when the disc slips it puts a lot of pressure and pinches the nerves that are connected to the temporomandibular joint. This brief surgical procedure can relieve the pressure by moving the disc off the nerves and take away the symptoms of TMJ. If this does not work then there is a second, more invasive procedure that can be performed.  Still, we always recommend starting with an oral appliance as the non-invasive TMJ treatment option.