Sedation Dentistry: Relax and take the edge off

Has dental anxiety kept you from getting regular cleanings and exams? Do you avoid the dentist’s office until you’re in such pain that it’s an absolute necessity?

If you answered yes to those questions, an appointment with a sedation dentist may help you overcome your fears and get the dental care that’s so essential to good overall health.

A sedation dentist provides patients with anti-anxiety medications that facilitate a deep state of relaxation. Patients may choose sedation for procedures ranging from prophylaxis (cleanings) to oral surgery, along with many others.

The sedation dentist can administer the drugs in a variety of forms, based on the patient’s preference. Patients may choose to take the medication orally or intravenously. The oral form will appeal to patients who are skittish of needles, while patients who prefer an instantaneous effect can opt for IV medications. Patients can also choose nitrous oxide gas as the sedative.

Sedation is safe and effective, and patients are monitored closely for any signs of distress while they are under the influence of the medications.

Although patients are deeply relaxed under sedation, they remain conscious. This aspect of sedation allows patients to follow the dentist’s directions. At the same time, the patient’s airway is not compromised, which is unlike general anesthesia. For this reason, sedation is considered safer than general anesthesia even though both techniques achieve the same effect.

As an added bonus, patients who choose sedation have little or no recollection of the procedures performed, so there’s no need to worry that you’ll leave the office with more bad memories that will keep you from going back again.

Even patients who aren’t afraid of the dentist can benefit from sedation dentistry. The medications help patients endure longer sessions in the dentist’s chair, so patients in need of lengthy, complex procedures can take advantage of this option.

Sedation can give you a completely new experience at the dental office. To learn more about your sedation options in the Oak Lawn area, call Dental Solutions at 214-521-5900 to schedule your professional consultation.

Tooth-colored Fillings: Enjoy a more natural-looking smile

It’s important to have cavities filled as quickly as possible to protect your oral health. If decay has the opportunity to progress, tooth loss and other complications can occur.

In addition to the health benefits, addressing tooth decay has an aesthetic purpose, too. As cavities get bigger, they get more unattractive. If cavities lead to tooth loss, that will have a seriously detrimental effect on the smile and may warrant an extensive intervention by a cosmetic dentist.

While plugging the cavity, some fillings may mar the smile, though. When silver amalgam fillings are used to seal cavities, the material is quite noticeable and it tends to detract from the smile.

Patients who have had their fillings for years may not have hand any other options at the time. Now, cosmetic dentistry can offer a better solution: tooth-colored fillings.

Tooth-colored fillings made of composite resin materials offer a more natural appearance. In fact, it can be very difficult for an observer to detect a composite filling.

For patients who didn’t have a choice of tooth-colored materials when their fillings were first placed or opted against them for some other reason, an upgrade may be in order. The dentist can remove a patient’s existing amalgam fillings and replace them with composite fillings. 

If you choose to have your amalgam fillings replaced, be sure to talk with your dentist about precautions in place to prevent the negative effects that can occur from exposure to the mercury contained in the amalgam.

Tooth-colored fillings are more versatile than they’ve been in the past. The composite materials have become more durable in recent years, which allows them to be used in more locations on the teeth, including the large occlusal surfaces of the rear teeth.

In addition to the aesthetic advantages, composite fillings can help the dentist preserve more of the biological tooth material while filling the cavity. The composite materials bond better with tooth enamel, reducing the need to drill a cavity extensively before filling it.

If you need to have a new cavity filled or want to update an old filling, talk to Dr. Riad Almasri, serving Dallas Texas, to get more information on tooth-colored fillings

Teeth Whitening: Is it really possible to have a brighter smile?

There are many procedures available when considering a new smile makeover. Possibly one of the most dramatic uplifts you can realize is when teeth whitening is the option selected. Teeth whitening can provide the utmost in “wow” results from a non-invasive, budget friendly smile makeover procedure.

Teeth whitening is available in many formats. You can purchase strips, pastes, gels, trays and rinses from your corner drug store. But these products have their limitations and there isn’t a dental professional available to answer questions and give advice to allow you to achieve the optimum results.

In-office teeth whitening allows you to obtain the most dramatic whitening improvements available in about 90 minutes from start to finish. However, one of the drawbacks to many in-office whitening products has been sensitivity. But with LUMIBRITE in-office teeth whitening, the teeth zinging sensations experienced with other products has been eliminated.

There are definitely advantages to in-office teeth whitening versus across the counter products. Dental providers are able to offer the most powerful whitening agents available. You can realize up to eight shades brighter in one brief appointment. The do-it-yourself products available can take days, even weeks, to achieve results. And quite often those results are disappointing.

With sensitivity being a primary concern when considering teeth whitening, LUMIBRITE combines a desensitizing enhancer with the whitening gel which helps reduce discomfort while producing safe and effective results. Another added benefit to whitening with LUMIBRITE in-office treatment is the addition of fluoride to the whitening agent used.

When considering in office teeth whitening, your cosmetic dentist will recommend your teeth are professionally cleaned before starting whitening. Also, if any restoration work is needed, it will be important that these needs be considered prior to whitening as porcelain and composite resin are not affected by whitening products.

With LUMIBRITE, a take home touch-up kit is provided that allows you to refresh your new whitening enhancement so you can enjoy the benefits of your new bright smile for a very long time.

If you are looking to transform your smile, contact Dental Solutions, serving Oak Lawn and the surrounding areas, at 214-521-5900 and learn how you can benefit from teeth whitening.

Benefits of Ultrasonic Cleanings

When you go to the dentist, there are a variety of tools and hand pieces that are used by the dental providers that treat conditions from cleaning teeth to surgical applications.

When the procedure is your hygiene appointment, there are a couple of different approaches. If you are one of the lucky ones that don’t seem to suffer from excessive plaque build-up, scaling your teeth with a manual scaler is the likely treatment you can anticipate. 

But for the thousands of patients that deal with a large amount of calculus that has formed on their teeth since their last cleaning, your dental appointment can be made better when implementing the use of ultrasonic cleaning.

There are many benefits to using the ultrasonic method:

- Since ultrasonic cleaning works much more efficiently than manual scaling, treatment time is significantly reduced. For patients with considerable plaque build-up, this is ideal.

- A more thorough cleaning is available as the ultrasonic tips are very small and can reach below the gum line to remove plaque build-up that manual scaling might not reach.

- Patients that are susceptible to or have already developed gingivitis or periodontal disease can receive the most optimal cleaning available for their condition. With a manual scaler, the dentist must put pressure on the tooth to remove plaque and stain. For patients already at risk for gum problems, the ultrasonic method eliminates this unnecessary pressure.

- No more anxious moments at the thought of that sharp pick grinding away on your teeth and gums.

- Uncomfortable scaling is eliminated as plaque is removed through the power of sound waves.

Plaque build-up can lead to many serious problems so removing it as thoroughly as possible is important. Patients who are fastidious in their oral hygiene habits are less likely to develop plaque build-up. But daily flossing and brushing might not always be enough since this build-up is a result of bacteria that form at the gum line and harden over time. There are many hard to reach places in the mouth that can really benefit from using the ultrasonic cleaning method.

At your next hygiene visit in our uptown Dallas office, ask about how you can benefit from a professional cleaning using the ultrasonic approach.

All-On-4 Dental Implants: Am I a candidate?

For many patients that research whether or not they are a good candidate for dental implants, they seldom realize that the procedure implementing dental implants can take months to a year from start to finish. For those patients who do not wish to endure this timeline, All-On-4 dental implants is certainly an option for consideration.

Patients that are faced with replacing just one or a couple of teeth would not be candidates for All-On-4 dental implants. However, for people that are facing replacing either all upper or lower teeth, this could be the perfect plan for you.

The procedure involves surgically placing four titanium implants in strategically located spots in the gum tissue of the upper or lower arch. The angulation and placement of the implants will secure the best result available. The dental implants will eventually fuse to bone giving the dental implants the stability and comfort of your natural teeth.

Your implant dentist will take x-rays, photographs and dental impressions prior to the procedure to guarantee qualifications are met before starting the process. On your big day you will be able to complete the entire All-On-4 implant procedure from start to finish in just one appointment.

Once the dental implants are surgically placed, your implant dentist will be able to place the final restoration to complete your makeover. You will not be faced with dealing with temporary restorations that might come off, look unnatural, or restrict how you eat.

The final restoration will be made to match the shape and shade of the teeth you had lost. Over time your implant dentist will monitor your progress to make sure the healing process is on track. It is important that all four implants are successfully grafted to the bone to guarantee the success of your All-On-4 dental implants.

Upon completion of the implant procedure and healing process, your smile makeover will be complete. Taking care of your new implants involves the excellent oral hygiene care of daily flossing and brushing at least twice per day. Seeing your dentist twice per year for a professional cleaning and exam along with your own daily care should allow you to enjoy your new makeover for a lifetime of smiles.

To learn more about All-On-4 and to schedule a consultation inDallas, contact Dental Solutions at 214-521-5900.

Dental Crowns: Restore a tooth’s natural look and function

Broken or worn teeth can have a negative effect on our appearance. While broken or worn teeth can affect our self-confidence in social situations, they can also affect our speech and the way in which we bite or chew our food, causing damage to other healthier teeth.

However, advances in cosmetic dentistry mean that broken or worn teeth can easily be concealed through the use of a dental crown.

A dental crown is an artificial cap that is custom-made to cover the affected tooth or teeth by a cosmetic dentist. Such caps can completely conceal broken or worn teeth and serve to provide and restore a natural look to the patient’s teeth.

Typically, dental crowns are made of ceramics, but they can also be made from porcelain or metal alloy, or a combination. Your dentist will help you decide which dental crown best suits your needs depending on the location of the tooth to be capped.  They will consider other factors such as the aesthetic appearance of the cap.

Dental crowns involve the cosmetic dentist preparing the affected tooth to receive the cap by first taking impressions of the patient’s teeth, before stripping off the enamel from the affected tooth. After further impressions, a custom-made tooth cap is made and bonded over the tooth to be covered.

The benefits of dental crowns through cosmetic dentistry include:

• Strength and support – a dental crown can restore much of the strength, size, and functionality of the affected tooth;
• Durability – dental crowns are very sturdy and are designed to last several years;
• Tooth preservation – dental crowns can seal the affected tooth and prevent bacteria in the patient’s saliva from penetrating weak spots in the tooth;
• Appearance – dental crowns are custom-made to mimic the look and color of existing teeth, and are virtually indistinguishable from the patient’s real teeth.

Dental crowns can also be used in other dental treatments. They are commonly used in bridge treatments to act as supports for the bridge, and are placed on metal pillars during dental implant treatment. Dental crowns are also commonly used to protect teeth after root canal surgery.

Coupled with good dental hygiene and regular check-ups with our cosmetic dentist, dental crowns can last many years and go a long way to restoring not only your smile but your self-confidence, as well. Call the office of Dr. Almasri, serving Oak Lawn TX and the surrounding areas, to schedule a consultation!

Reasons to Replace a Missing Tooth

While it is true that a missing tooth can have a negative effect on one’s appearance and self-esteem, a missing tooth can also lead to other, more serious dental health problems. But advances in implant dentistry today mean that a missing tooth can be replaced quickly and easily, with no noticeable sign that a tooth was ever missing in the first place.

While many people may think a missing tooth is no big deal, there are plenty of reasons why a replacement tooth should be sought in order to not just restore a smile and self-confidence, but also to minimize the potential for dental health problems later. Problems that can be associated with a missing tooth include:

• Looking older than you really are – missing teeth can cause the cheeks to be drawn, adding years to your appearance;
• Problems with biting/chewing – missing teeth can affect your biting and/or chewing capacity, making it more difficult to eat certain foods;
• Speech problems – teeth influence the way we speak and pronounce sounds – missing teeth can alter the way we talk, making social interaction more difficult and can affect our self-esteem;
• Malocclusion – shifting teeth is a common effect of a missing tooth, where the gap left behind weakens the integrity of the surrounding teeth. Moving teeth can alter your smile, affect your bite pattern and can lead to broken or worn teeth. In severe cases, shifting teeth can lead to temporomandibular disorder.
• Jawbone deterioration – the roots of your teeth help promote and stimulate the tissue surrounding the jawbone. Without stimulation, the tissue can deteriorate and cause the gap between the mouth and nose to shorten and the lip to curl inward; this in turn can affect your appearance.

Replacing a tooth is a simple procedure and your dentist can offer a range of treatments from standard dentures to a dental bridge to dental implants. Each of these can restore your smile back to its former glory.

While dentures or a dental bridge can do a great job aesthetically of restoring your teeth’s appearance, dental implants can much more closely resemble and mimic real teeth. Dental implants help to stimulate the gums as they are grafted directly onto the jawbone, helping to nurture and maintain the surrounding tissue.

Dental implants also offer greater strength to the surrounding teeth than dentures or bridge treatments, with little negative effect on your biting or chewing strength. Plus, they are virtually indistinguishable from real teeth, so friends and family will never know you missed a tooth in the first place! To find out more information on implant dentistry in Dallas TX, call Dental Solutions at 214-521-5900.

Treating Bruxism with Customized Nightguards

Many of us may not be aware of doing it, but when we sleep, we could be causing damage to our teeth and jaw, as well as associated areas such as muscles, through the simple act of teeth clenching or grinding.

This phenomenon is known as Bruxism, and involves the patient involuntarily clenching or grinding together both the upper and lower teeth while asleep. This action can cause teeth to wear and break, cause undue pressures on the muscles within the mouth and jaw, and can lead to jaw disorders, neck and/or ear pain, headaches and more.

For a dentist, Bruxism is a very common complaint to treat although in many cases, Bruxism doesn’t require any treatment. However, in others non-treatment can lead to damage of the temperomandibular joint – the hinge between the upper and lower jaw.

Although the causes of Bruxism are mostly unknown, many believe the condition is caused by stress and anxiety. And in many cases, sufferers are unaware of the condition; it only coming to light through a sleep-deprived partner or through a dental check-up where damage may be evident to the dentist.

A dentist can help alleviate the stresses associated with the condition through the use of a nightguard, which the patient fits into their mouth at night, before bed. The nightguard is a common, yet highly effective method of treating Bruxism. It is a horseshoe shaped shield, similar to a boxer’s gum-shield, and works by protecting the teeth from applied pressure during bouts of Bruxism by acting as a cushion between the upper and lower jaw.

When treating patients for Bruxism, a dentist will take a cast of the patient’s mouth – both upper and lower teeth – in order to create a dental mould. In turn, this mould will then be fashioned into a hard-plastic nightguard that is customized to fit the patient’s mouth and worn over a period of several nights.

These customized nightguards provide a better fit and offer more protection than over-the-counter gumshields, which may be ill-fitting and uncomfortable to wear. As a result, using a customized nightguard could result in better sleep, less damage to your teeth and jawbone. You may even see a reduction in headaches, neck pain or other ailments if you are prone to suffering from these aches and pains.

As you get used to the nightguard being in place, the guard has the added benefit of not only protecting the your teeth and jaw from damage caused by Bruxism, but could also subconsciously help break the habit of clenching and grinding during sleeping hours. For additional information on how to treat teeth grinding, call the office of Dr. Riad Almasri, serving Oak Lawn and the surrounding areas, at 214-521-5900.

Am I a Candidate for Dental Implants?

It’s no surprise that dental implants appeal to patients. When compared to tooth replacement alternatives like bridges or dentures, dental implants have a number of advantages. They look, feel and function like natural teeth, and they require minimal adjustments to patients’ oral hygiene routines and overall lifestyles.

An implant dentist can place the devices in an outpatient procedure that takes just a few hours. However, before that surgery can take place, patients must meet the necessary conditions for a successful dental implant placement.

Dental implants are so effective because they are made of titanium that fuses with the jaw. Therefore, patients must have enough bone material to facilitate that osseointegration.

The jawbone erodes after a tooth is lost or extracted and there’s no longer a root to serve as an anchor. So, if patients wait for a lengthy period of time before pursuing dental implants, this atrophy may present a problem.

The jawbone is also naturally thinner in some areas of the mouth, particularly toward the rear of the upper jaw, which can also limit the available bone material.

If the patient has minimal bone, the implant’s bond with the jaw will not be as sturdy, and the dental implant may ultimately fail.

Fortunately, implant dentists have developed strategies to overcome this obstacle when it arises. In some cases, an adjustment to the placement technique may suffice. For example, a complete denture can be held in place by a small number of dental implants located toward the front of the jaw, if the bone in the back has eroded.

Other dental implant candidates may face more extensive surgery. If the patient has insufficient remaining jawbone material at the implant site, a bone graft or sinus augmentation can be used to provide supplemental bone.

If a bone graft is necessary prior to dental implant placement, patients should be prepared for a lengthier treatment timeline. The jaw must heal completely from the bone graft before the implant procedure can take place.

Ultimately, almost any patient who wants to get dental implants should be able to qualify for them eventually, although it may mean undergoing a preliminary surgery. Talk to our experienced team at Dental Solutions serving Dallas TX about any concerns that you have about the process. Call 214-521-5900 to schedule your consultation.

Advantages of a Cone Beam CT Scanner?

Many dentists are turning to the most advanced technology available for imaging used in treatment planning. A dentist needs a complete picture of the structure of the skull and jaws to design cutting-edge interventions like dental implants and new orthodontic techniques.

As a result, one piece of equipment that has begun to show up in dental practices is the cone beam computed tomography (CT) scanner. 

Although cone beam CT scanners were originally introduced in medical settings, the device is useful for your dentist, too. In fact, dentists rely on information contained in these scans to prepare for a variety of procedures, ranging from dental implant placement to wisdom teeth extraction and cancer screening.

The images produced by a CT scanner are far more graphic, lifelike and informative than those from a standard radiograph.

An improvement upon the conventional CT scanner, which builds a three-dimensional image through a series of scans that are compiled into one picture, a cone beam CT scanner has a different mechanism. It uses a single targeted cone-shaped beam of radiation to capture a volume of data on which such images are based.

A conventional CT scanner requires separate scans for the upper and lower jaws, but a cone beam CT scanner can capture images of both simultaneously. Cone beam scans take less time, and when a CT image is needed, cone beams limit the patient’s exposure to radiation in comparison to the traditional CT approach.

Cone beam CT scans also have a lower margin of error than their conventional CT counterparts. This feature makes the cone beam scanner particularly helpful in planning the placement of dental implants, in which the implant site must be precise.

When patients have a cone beam scan, the images are thoroughly reviewed, with dentists evaluating all aspects, even ones that are unrelated to the particular treatment that originally prompted the scan. As such, a cone beam scan may also identify other problems that the patient had been previously unaware of.

To learn more and to schedule your consultation, contact our Uptown Dallas office at 214-521-5900 today!