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Dental veneers, thin layers of porcelain bonded to chipped, stained or slightly crooked teeth, are an effective and affordable way to transform your smile. Their color, translucence and shape blend so well with the rest of your teeth that it's often difficult to tell them apart.
But traditional veneers have one drawback: although they're less than a millimeter in width, they can still appear bulky on unprepared teeth. To help them look more natural, we often have to remove some of the enamel layer from the tooth surface. Enamel doesn't grow back, so this alteration is permanent and the prepared teeth will require a restoration from then on.
But you may be able to avoid this—or at least keep the alteration to a minimum—with no-prep or minimal-prep veneers, two new exciting choices in cosmetic dentistry. About the width of a contact lens, we can bond these much thinner veneers to teeth with virtually no preparation at all or, in the case of a minimal-prep veneer, needing only an abrasive tool to reshape and remove only a tiny bit of the enamel.
These ultra thin veneers are best for teeth with healthy enamel, and can be placed in as few as two appointments. And besides being less invasive, the procedure is reversible—we can remove them and you can return to your original look without any follow-up restoration. One caveat, though: because of the strong bonding process used, it's not always easy to remove them.
Although their thinness makes it possible to avoid or minimize alterations, there are some dental situations like oversized teeth that may still require extensive tooth preparation. With some poor bites (malocclusions) orthodontic treatment to straighten the teeth may also be needed first.
All in all, though, no-prep or minimal-prep veneers could help you avoid the permanent tooth alteration that usually accompanies their thicker cousins. What's more, you'll have the beautiful, transformed smile that veneers can achieve.
If you would like more information on minimal or no-prep veneers, please contact us or schedule an appointment for a consultation. You can also learn more about this topic by reading the Dear Doctor magazine article “No-Prep Porcelain Veneers.”
What makes an attractive smile? Of course, shiny, straight and defect-free teeth are a big factor. But there’s another equally important element: all your teeth have come in.
Sometimes, though, they don’t: one or more teeth may remain up in the gums, a condition known as impaction. And if they’re in the front like the upper canines (the pointed teeth on either side of the front four incisors) your smile’s natural balance and symmetry can suffer.
Impaction usually happens due to lack of space on a small jaw. Previously erupted teeth crowd into the space of teeth yet to come in, preventing them from doing so. As a result the latter remain hidden within the gums.
While impaction can interfere with the smile appearance, it can cause health problems too. Impacted teeth are at higher risk for abscesses (localized areas of infection) and can damage the roots of other teeth they may be pressing against. That’s why it’s desirable for both form and function to treat them.
We begin first with an orthodontic examination to fully assess the situation. At some point we’ll want to pinpoint the impacted teeth’s precise location and position. While x-rays are useful for locating impacted teeth, many specialists use cone beam CT (CBCT) technology that produces highly detailed three-dimensional images viewable from different vantage points.
If the tooth is in too extreme a position, it might be best to remove it and later replace it with a dental impact or similar restoration once we’ve completed other necessary orthodontic treatment. But if the tooth is in a reasonable position, we might be able to “move” the tooth into its proper place in the jaw in coordination with these other tooth-movement efforts to make room for it.
To begin this process, an oral surgeon or periodontist surgically exposes the tooth crown (the normally visible portion) through the gums. They then bond a small bracket to the crown and attach a small gold chain. An orthodontist will attach the other end to orthodontic hardware that will exert downward pressure on the tooth to gradually bring it into normal position.
Dealing with impacted teeth of this nature is often part of a comprehensive effort to correct the bite. If we’re successful, it could permanently transform both the smile and overall dental health.
If you would like more information on treating impacted teeth, please contact us or schedule an appointment for a consultation. You can also learn more about this topic by reading the Dear Doctor magazine article “Exposing Impacted Canines.”
Have you lost one or more teeth? If so, dentures, bridges, and dental implants, are all quality treatment options that can restore your missing teeth and give you something to smile about again. Here at Brookside Dental Care in Stockton, CA, your dentists, Drs. Alexander Pritsky, Roger Lang, and Ravneet Nijjar, can help you decide which option is right for you.
Why replacing your lost tooth is so important
In addition to improving your appearance, restoring lost teeth offers a few benefits that you may not realize. Once a tooth is lost, the teeth surrounding the gap may begin to drift. Drifting changes the alignment and appearance of your teeth and can lead to bite problems and difficulty removing plaque from overlapping edges of teeth.
Lost teeth can also make biting, tearing, and grinding food difficult. If you've lost multiple teeth, you may even give up eating hard or tough foods because they're just too difficult to chew. Unfortunately, this may cause nutritional problems. Restoring lost teeth helps you avoid these issues.
What choices are available in Stockton?
One of more of these restoration methods may be a good option for you:
- Bridge: A bridge replaces one or two missing teeth. Artificial teeth are connected to dental crowns at either end of the bridge. Crowns are hollow restorations that fit over teeth after they've been reduced in size. The crowns are cemented on to the supporting teeth and hold the bridge firmly in place.
- Dentures: Both partial or full dentures can restore your smile, depending on the number of teeth you've lost. Partial dentures hook over supporting teeth, while full dentures rest against your gums. Immediate dentures are placed in your mouth just after any remaining teeth are pulled, while full dentures are used after healing occurs. Dentures are created from impressions of your mouth to ensure a comfortable fit.
- Dental Implants: Implants are synthetic substitute roots placed in your jawbone during minor oral surgery. They're topped with dental crowns to completely restore missing teeth. Although dental implants are most often used to replace single missing teeth, they can also restore multiple missing teeth and can even be connected to dentures.
Need dental work? Give us a call
Restore your smile with dentures or other tooth restoration options. Call your dentists in Stockton, CA, Drs. Pritsky, Lang, or Nijjar, at (209) 952-8804 to schedule your appointment.
Mayim Bialik has spent a good part of her life in front of TV cameras: first as the child star of the hit comedy series Blossom, and more recently as Sheldon Cooper’s love interest — a nerdy neuroscientist — on The Big Bang Theory. (In between, she actually earned a PhD in neuroscience from UCLA…but that’s another story.) As a child, Bialik had a serious overbite — but with all her time on camera, braces were just not an option.
“I never had braces,” she recently told Dear Doctor – Dentistry & Oral Health magazine. “I was on TV at the time, and there weren’t a lot of creative solutions for kids who were on TV.” Instead, her orthodontist managed to straighten her teeth using retainers and headgear worn only at night.
Today, there are several virtually invisible options available to fix orthodontic issues — and you don’t have to be a child star to take advantage of them. In fact, both children and adults can benefit from these unobtrusive appliances.
Tooth colored braces are just like traditional metal braces, with one big difference: The brackets attached to teeth are made from a ceramic material that blends in with the natural color of teeth. All that’s visible is the thin archwire that runs horizontally across the teeth — and from a distance it’s hard to notice. Celebs like Tom Cruise and Faith Hill opted for this type of appliance.
Clear aligners are custom-made plastic trays that fit over the teeth. Each one, worn for about two weeks, moves the teeth just a bit; after several months, you’ll see a big change for the better in your smile. Best of all, clear aligners are virtually impossible to notice while you’re wearing them — which you’ll need to do for 22 hours each day. But you can remove them to eat, or for special occasions. Zac Efron and Katherine Heigl, among others, chose to wear clear aligners.
Lingual braces really are invisible. That’s because they go behind your teeth (on the tongue side), where they can’t be seen; otherwise they are similar to traditional metal braces. Lingual braces are placed on teeth differently, and wearing them often takes some getting used to at first. But those trade-offs are worth it for plenty of people. Which celebs wore lingual braces? Rumor has it that the list includes some top models, a well-known pop singer, and at least one British royal.
So what’s the best way to straighten your teeth and keep the orthodontic appliances unnoticeable? Just ask us! We’d be happy to help you choose the option that’s just right for you. You’ll get an individualized evaluation, a solution that fits your lifestyle — and a great-looking smile!
For more information about hard-to-see (or truly invisible) orthodontics, please contact our office or schedule a consultation. You can read more in the Dear Doctor magazine articles “Orthodontics for the Older Adult” and “Clear Aligners for Teenagers.”
“What can I do about my child's teeth grinding habit?”
It's a common question we get from many concerned parents. Their exasperation involves more than having to wake every night to the annoying sounds coming from their child's bedroom: they're also worried about any potential damage occurring to their teeth.
Teeth grinding and similar habits fall under the umbrella term “bruxism.” In basic terms, bruxism is the involuntary movement of the teeth and jaws not engaged in regular functions like chewing, speaking or swallowing. Bruxism is actually common among pre-adolescent children, considered by many healthcare professionals as normal behavior like thumb sucking.
It's not fully known why children grind their teeth, especially during sleep. Stress can play a part, but many believe it could also be related to immaturity on the part of the neuromuscular system that controls chewing. In some cases it could be linked to sudden arousals from sleep, particularly if the child is prone to airway obstruction causing sleep apnea. And there may be a link with certain medications, especially for hyperactivity disorders like attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
Most children eventually outgrow the habit. If it persists, though, it can contribute to teeth problems. Teeth can withstand a lot of biting force, but when chronically exposed to the higher than normal forces produced during teeth grinding they can begin to wear. Sodas, fruit juices, sports drinks or similar acidic beverages complicate matters because they increase mouth acid that can soften enamel. And besides dental issues, teeth grinding can also cause jaw problems, ear pain and headaches.
If symptoms begin to appear, we can take steps to reduce the effect of teeth grinding, such as a mouth guard worn at night to reduce biting forces and protect against wear. We can also look at curbing consumption of acidic foods and beverages, addressing possible airway obstructions, changing medications or counseling for psychological stress.
As with thumb sucking, there's no cause for immediate alarm if your children grind their teeth. But if it continues on into their later childhood years or begins to affect their health and well-being, we'll need to intervene to prevent further harm.
If you would like more information on teeth grinding and similar habits, please contact us or schedule an appointment for a consultation. You can also learn more about this topic by reading the Dear Doctor magazine article “When Children Grind their Teeth.”
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