Ask the Dental Experts

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Soft Tissue Grafts

A soft tissue graft is a procedure that involves taking tissue from either your palate or your gumline and connecting it to receding gums. In most instances, gums recede because of periodontal disease. In other cases, they can recede as a result of physical trauma, crooked teeth, or age. It is important that you take this condition seriously. It affects more than just your looks. If left untreated, it can expose tooth roots, which will in turn result in tooth sensitivity and possible tooth loss in the future.

The good news is that soft tissue grafts will stop gum recession in its tracks, protect exposed tooth roots, and make the appearance of the smile more aesthetic and natural looking. One noticeable benefit that you will immediately become aware of is a decreased sensitivity to hot and cold and a greater comfort eating a wide range of foods.

There are three types of soft tissue grafts, briefly described as follows:

1. Free gingival graft- The dentist cuts a small strip of tissue from the palate and stitches it to the receding gum line. This method is used mostly for people with naturally thin gums who can benefit aesthetically from the addition of new tissue.
2. Connective-tissue graft- The dentists takes subepithelial connective tissue from under the palate. This tissue is very similar to the type that surrounds tooth roots, and it is ideal for covering roots that have been exposed. .
3. Pedicle graft- This type of graft is used when an exposed root is located adjacent to a tooth with healthy, abundant gum tissue. A flap of healthy gum tissue is partially cut away, flipped over, and stitched to the damaged area. This procedure offers the benefits of connecting existing blood vessels as well as tissue to the area being treated.

There will be a certain amount of discomfort after any of the above procedures are performed. Most dentists will use a soft, clay-like periodontal dressing to protect the grafted tissue while it heals. Prescription pain medication will be used in most cases as well. You should follow all post-operative instructions, the foremost of which is to keep his or her mouth clean during the healing process.

For more information on this and related topics, read the following articles on our main website:
Cosmetic Dental Teeth Procedures
Periodontal Surgery
Root Canal Therapy
Tooth Decay
Tooth Pain and Sensitivity

If you are experiencing pain or tooth sensitivity any time you eat or drink something hot or cold, then you need to call our office for an appointment. Your condition may or may not be related to gum recession, but regardless, it is something we need to look at and address because no doubt it will lead to future complications if left untreated.

Labels: cosmetic dental procedures, Gum Disease, intermittent toothache, pain in tooth, pain while chewing, soft tissue grafts, tooth sensitivity

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Cracked Tooth Syndrome

Six months ago we were contacted by a patient named Sandra, who told us that one of her teeth intermittently hurt when she ate. The pain seemed to be in a certain molar toward the bottom front of her mouth. When she felt it, it was very sharp. However, it lacked the constant aching feeling most people associate with toothaches. She had looked at the tooth in the mirror several times, but found nothing wrong with it.

When Sandra came in for her appointment, we pull up her medical history on our computer. It revealed that she had been suffering from anxiety for the past few years. This caused her to grind her teeth at night without even knowing she was doing it. (In dental terminology, this grinding of teeth is known as Bruxism. We investigated further, taking a good, close look at the tooth in question by means of our intraoral camera. We found there was a very fine, but severely deep crack on the inside surface of the molar. In fact, this crack was so deep it was dangerously close to breaking into the nerve chamber. If were to happen, the way to avoid tooth extraction would have been to perform a root canal.

Cracked tooth syndrome is not the same thing as a fractured tooth. Fractures are more severe, and often clearly visible in the mirror even without dental instruments. Cracked tooth syndrome is much more subtle. It often takes very sophisticated dental instruments to detect the cracks in teeth, and since the syndrome causes such intermittent symptoms at times, many people assume that the problem is not that severe. This is not the case. If the crack in the tooth works its way all the way to the nerve cavity, then a root canal or tooth extraction becomes imminent. An early diagnosis, as we were able to provide for Sandra, can often prevent such drastic measures.

A number of things can cause cracked tooth syndrome. Repetitive chewing itself can cause very fine cracks, known as stress fractures that can develop into the syndrome. Bruxism is another cause that can crack the teeth. Trauma to the mouth often causes cracked tooth syndrome as well. Chewing on ice and hard candy is another cause for this condition.

Sandra was very fortunate. We had caught the condition quickly enough to avoid a root canal. We were able to cap the tooth with a cosmetic dental crown made to mimic her original tooth. The procedure was painless, and the resulting smile looked as good as the one she brought in. She has also reported since that day that all pain has left her mouth.

It is essential that anyone who thinks they have a cracked tooth call the Cosmetic Dentistry Center and schedule a dental appointment as soon as possible. Just because the symptoms are intermittent does not mean the condition should be ignored.

Labels: cosmetic dental crowns, cracked tooth syndrom, intermittent toothache, root canal, tooth fracture

Monday, February 2, 2009

Intermittent Toothache Symptoms

Last month we got a call from a lady named Stacey who was suffering from an intermittent and annoying toothache. The pain did not appear to have any definite pattern or cause. Sometimes her tooth would ache while she drank anything cold or hot. At other times, she would feel intense pain while chewing foods, although the constituency of the food (hard or soft) did not appear to matter. Then, at other times, she would eat an entire meal with no symptoms of a toothache at all. She decided to call us when she felt a dull, throbbing pain in the side of her mouth during the workday, making her irritable and causing her to have difficulty focusing on her job.

It may surprise you to learn that what Stacey experienced is not unusual. Many people assume that a toothache is just that---a tooth that aches with intense, chronic pain all the time. This is not always the case. Many people suffer from intermittent toothache symptoms that linger for hours, and then disappear as suddenly as they came. If this happens to you, you may find it hard to function in even the simplest areas of life, because you never know when the next round of pain is going to begin.

Toothache symptoms should be taken seriously, no matter how mild they may be at times, and no matter how irregularly they appear to come and go. This is because toothaches almost always originate deep within the tooth and indicate that something is wrong with the root itself. This is common with people who had silver-mercury fillings years ago, which have since fallen out undetected. By the time decay sets in to the point that toothache symptoms begin to felt, a root canal is often the only course of action. If left untreated, a dying root can become abscessed, and create an even worse condition.

In the case of Stacey, the culprit was an old silver-mercury filling that had fallen out of one of her teeth. Our intraoral camera showed very clearly where this had reopened the cavity and allowed infection to set into the root pocket. Even though the symptoms of her toothache were relatively mild and sporadic, the intermittent severity was deceptive. When a tooth root dies, it may not hurt significantly until the very last, and at that point, a severe infection or abscess is usually well underway.

Fortunately, this was not the case with Stacey. We had detected the problem soon enough to treat her with a simple root canal and dental crown. She has since reported all pain has left her mouth, and the new implant is not even noticeable in comparison to her natural teeth.

If you are a persona like Stacey who suffers from intermittent toothache symptoms, please call our office as soon as possible. Waiting until the last minute can result in very severe complications. Proactive, early treatment will deal with both the cause and the symptoms with much less pain and cost to you in the long run.

Labels: abscess, emergency toothache treatment, intermittent toothache, pain in tooth, root canal, toothache symptoms