Ask the Dental Experts

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Cosmetic Teeth Procedures

There are many cosmetic teeth procedures that we can perform for you here at the Houston Medical Center Dental Group. Some are simple, requiring only one or two office visits. Some are more complex, requiring reconstructive dental work to repair or replace damaged or broken teeth.

Cosmetic Dental Bonding
One of our newer, more advanced cosmetic teeth procedures is cosmetic dental bonding. This procedure has basically replaced silver-mercury fillings. A special bio-friendly resin that looks like tooth enamel is used in dental bonding. It fills cavities much better than older amalgams, smoothes out cracks, and whitens tooth surfaces. Because it lasts longer as well, there is little risk that it will fall out.

Cosmetic Dental Bleaching
Another one of our more popular cosmetic teeth procedure is cosmetic dental bleaching. This is done with a bleaching gel. During your initial office visit, the dentist whitens your teeth. You then use another bleaching agent every night, at home, for two weeks. During your second and final office visit, another treatment of bleach is applied.

Cosmetic Dental Veneers
Dental veneers are made of porcelain. They are very hard and very difficult to break. Their color looks like that of natural tooth enamel. Porcelain is resistant to staining, so once veneers are applied, they will retain their color for years.

Veneers are one of the most versatile cosmetic teeth procedures. They can be used to treat a number of conditions. They can cover small chips and pits in tooth surfaces. They can whiten badly discolored teeth which bleach will not work on. They have even been used to correct minor tooth alignment problems.

Cosmetic Dental Porcelain Crowns
Prior to the development of more sophisticated cosmetic teeth procedures, dentists had few choices in treating severely decayed or fractured teeth. When a cavity destroyed more than 40 percent of a tooth, or when a tooth was cracked down to the dentin, the tooth had to be pulled. Prior to the development of dental implants, people no real tooth replacement options beyond traditional bridges or partial dentures. .

Porcelain crowns have introduced a whole new realm of options. While the life of a tooth cannot always be saved, crowns now make it possible to salvage physical structure and function of the tooth. Severely infected or damaged teeth can be cleaned with a standard root canal. Then, they can be capped with a porcelain crown that looks identical to surrounding teeth. Porcelain crowns are much more resilient than natural teeth, so they can restore both aesthetics to the smile and allow you to eat virtually anything.

Cosmetic Dental Implants
For people who have lost teeth, implant dentistry offers the best tooth replacement options. Made from a bio-friendly alloy known as Tivolloy, dental implants screw into the jawbone and act like artificial tooth roots. When the jaw has accepted this implant, the dentist then caps the base with a porcelain crown, effectively creating a whole new tooth where none has existed for years.

Labels: cosmetic dentistry, cosmetic dentists Houston, cosmetic teeth whitening, cosmetic tooth procedures, cosmetic tooth whitening, dental imlplants, dental implant, teeth replacements

Thursday, April 2, 2009

15 Dental Implants With FIxed Bridgework

Two years ago we treated a woman named Susanna, who was in her early sixties. Over forty years ago, she had lost all but 6 of her lower front teeth. At that time, a removable upper denture seemed her most workable and convenient option. True, she did not like having to take it out and clean it in front of her husband and children, and she was embarrassed at times by the sounds it made when she chewed certain foods.

After she retired, however she decided to look into implant dentistry. She called our office and asked if we could help with some kind of payment plan. We told her it is routine for a good majority of our patients to pay for dental implants over a period of time. Susanna was more than happy to come in upon hearing this news, excited to hear that an alternative to dentures had finally presented itself within reach.

It is unfortunate that so many people like Susanna assume that implant dentistry is beyond their budget, and that they must settle for a lifetime of removable dentures. Nothing could be farther from the truth. While it is true that this treatment is certainly much more expensive than other forms of tooth replacement, implant dentistry does not have to be paid for all at once. A full list of financial options can be explored by visiting this link on our main website. Any number of these can be within the realm of possibility for a gainfully employed or comfortably retired person to qualify for. She had very good credit and a comfortable income from her savings and retirement plans, and her credit immediately qualified her for one of our plans.

Susanna was a unique case in that she had lived without her natural teeth for over 40 years. However, she had not experienced the severe bone loss that often ensues after teeth remain missing for a period of time. In most cases like hers, there is seldom enough bone mass to place more than a few implants. The remainder of a full-mouth reconstruction has to be done with fixed bridgework attached to implants that are used as anchor points. In fact, we were a bit shocked at this remarkable condition after looking at the x-rays of her mouth. Susanna simply told us that she took good care of herself by eating healthy and taking daily supplements.

We never complain when a patient is this proactive in self-care. Over the next 18 months, we placed a total of 15 dental implants in Susannas upper jaw. In the few gaps between these implants, we placed porcelain cosmetic dental bridges to completely rebuild her smile.

Susanna reports today that she loves the new freedom she has to eat anything she wants (although she still eats only healthy foods). She also remarked that it is a genuine pleasure to finally be able to brush her upper teeth—something she has not been able to do since her early twenties. Again, it makes us feel good as dentists to hear a patient so passionate about dental hygiene.

For more information, visit the following articles on our main website:
Dental Implant Procedures
Dentures Dental Implants
Dental Tooth Implants
Dental Implant Surgery

Labels: cosmetic dental implants, cosmetic dental procedures, dental imlplants, dental implant, dental implant procedures, Dental Implants, implant dentistry

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Houston Cosmetic Dentists

The Cosmetic dentists at the Medical Center Dental Group in Houston are some of the world’s best doctors. They are equally concerned about the emotions of their patients as they are concerned about their medical needs. Our cosmetic dentists want every person to feel comfortable while undergoing treatment at the center. Pain is something we strive to eliminate, and expectations are things we aim to exceed. Our professionals have spent years training in both general dentistry and the advanced procedures and technology of cosmetic dentistry. Two have served as dentists in the US Navy, and all have studied special procedures and treatments such as Advanced Anterior Aesthetics, Comprehensive Aesthetic Reconstruction, Practical Occlusion in the Progressive Practice, and Neuromuscular Dentistry at the Las Vegas Institute for Advanced Dental Procedures.

In addition to their dedication to the care and comfort of their patients and ongoing pursuit of more advanced medical knowledge, our cosmetic dentists also use some of the most advanced technology found anywhere in the world of dentistry. Dental examinations are performed with an intra-oral camera that allows the dentist to look anywhere inside the mouth without any pain or discomfort to the patient. The camera sits on the end of a flexible tube that can look anywhere in the mouth, examining teeth up close and rendering high-resolution images of enamel and gums on a full color monitor. Patients much prefer this to the old-fashioned mouth mirror that the family dentist once used to poke around the mouth and cheeks with.

An even more advanced tool at their disposal is the ultra-sophisticated ND: YAG laser which is used to perform laser assisted new attachment procedure (LANAP). This new form of treatment promises to replace periodontal surgery with a healthier, precision method of treating gum disease. Rather than cutting away diseased tissue with a knife and damaging surrounding healthy tissue in the process, the laser removes only the diseased tissue. No anesthetic is needed, and long-term recovery is statistically higher even in the more severe cases of periodontal disease.

Cosmetic dentists of Houston also use more advanced materials than most general practices employ. For example, we do not use metal amalgams to fill teeth. Metal simply does not belong in a human mouth and will often cause problems later on down the line when the tooth ages. Cosmetic dental bonding is used instead of metal amalgams to provide a more bio-friendly means of filling teeth, and to provide a more cosmetic solution that more accurately mimics the color of teeth. Metal braces are not used in our practice, either. Instead, Invisalign cosmetic dental braces are used instead to unobtrusively correct teeth alignment problems painlessly and discreetly a little bit at a time. People with embarrassing and inefficient dentures can have them replaced with dental implants.

Labels: cosmetic dentists Houston, dental bonding, dental imlplants, LANAP, ND: YAG laser