December 3rd, 2008
Last month I had a pleasure to treat several patients, who needed implants. It takes a while to have an implant placed, and the most time goes towards planning and preparation. First: not everybody knows what a dental implant is. It is a small body of titanium, resembling a root of a tooth, which needs to be placed in the bone, like a dental root. For the best prognosis it is left alone for 3-6 month in order to heal in properly, and then a crown or a connector to denture can be placed to either replace the missing tooth or keep this “loose” denture from falling out. Also an X-ray or a CAT-scan needs to be done before, to find out if there is enough bone to place the implant in to. The advantages of an implant are numerous: it replaces the missing, broken or the otherwise not savable tooth to the best ability we have right now. We do not have to cut adjacent teeth, and the adjacent teeth do not have to carry the load of the missing tooth, so each tooth keeps on working for itself.
Also once a tooth is pulled, a process starts, where the surrounding bone gets resorbed and this process never stops. An implant is right now the only way to prevent this from happening. This way you do not lose your jaw bone, your face features do not change and your teeth do not shift.
For the denture wearers (and even though there are less of them now than 20 or more years ago), it can mean the difference between continuing to suffer from pain or having finally being able to bite in to a steak or an apple.
I work with several specialists in order to achieve the best possible outcome for my patients. Depending on the situation at hand, I place the implants myself, or refer to a surgeon. I use only those dental labs that have been licensed by dental implant companies and also have been around for a long time and have experience,e.g: www.renzoswissquality.com or www.davincilab.com.
There are limitations when we can and can not place an implant (auto immune disease, diabetes, gum disease and others). There are also different types of implants on the market that are designed for different situations.
You are welcome to call and come in for a consultation
Tags: dental implants, tooth replacement
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October 30th, 2008
I do get asked a lot about the chewing gum being a replacement for the “in-between brushing”. The advertising by Wrigley seems to get attention from my patients.
Even though chewing gum does not replace the tooth brush, it has some other benefits I would like to explain.
1st it stimulates your saliva production and this way helps to remove acidity from the mouth and helps remineralize the teeth.
2nd by using a chewing gum with Xylitol there is an additional benefit: bugs think it is sugar, so they eat it. However, the bugs can not digest it, and they get “plugged-up” and die. To get this effect, you have to use 5 sticks (at a time) of the Rx gum twice a day.
Now, not everybody’s mouth is big enough to accomplish this task. And also chewing gum is non functional use of your muscles and especially for people with TMJ disorder it is not advisable.
So, as usual you have to weight the benefits and decide what is important and more beneficial for you.
Tags: chewing gum, dental health, tooth brushing
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October 22nd, 2008
We have acquired a new “toy” for our office - a soft tissue laser. It can do some things that I have done before, just easier and more painless for my patients. But it can do MORE! I can use it to disinfect your gums before the gum treatment (”deep cleaning”) and promote faster and better healing of the gums. I can use it to speed up the healing of canker sore or lip herpes. Everybody, who has experienced this pain and discomfort for 10 days (or “only” 7 days with the prescription), will be amazed to find out how fast and easy the treatment is: usually 3 minutes of application. Absolutely no anesthesia is needed. In most cases all the symptoms are gone within 24-48 hours! It also helps me with the treatment of implants, cosmetic gum re-contouring, denture sores, disinfection of the root canals and so much more. And all of this with virtually no postoperative wound pain. Can you tell that I am excited? You are right! Dentistry has come a long way since I started my dental school in 1982 and I am glad that I have the opportunity to experinece it!
Tags: cosmetic, gum treatment, laser, painless
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October 17th, 2008
Dear Patients,
If you have dental insurance and don’t take advantage of it before the end of the year, you will permanently lose those benefits. When the ball drops on TV, and another year has ended, part of the cheering is from your dental insurance company because the benefits you didn’t take advantage of this year are gone forever, and they get to keep your money! If you or a family member have not been in for a check-up or you have dental work to be done, call to schedule an appointment now. Extensive treatment can even be planned to do some of it at the end of this year and the rest at the beginning of next year to double your insurance benefits. Please don’t wait until the year end approaches, appointments are harder to get!
USE YOUR BENEFITS BY THE END OF THE YEAR OR THEY’RE GONE FOREVER! CALL FOR YOUR APPOINTMENT TODAY
Tags: dental insurance
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