Restorative Dental Care to Stabilize Your Oral Health
At Balian Family Dental, we are dedicated to addressing your dental issues and helping you reach optimal oral function and health. Our conservative approach focuses on saving as many natural teeth as possible while stabilizing your overall oral health. We involve you in your treatment planning to provide truly personalized treatment designed to help you and your family enjoy healthy smiles for a lifetime.
Could your smile be healthier? Find out how dental restorations can help you, call our talented team in Auburn today!
CALL US: (508) 721-7720 REQUEST APPOINTMENT
What is a Dental Restoration?
While preventive dental care remains the best way to keep your smile healthy, accidents happen. Between dental trauma and routine wear, parts of the smile can become deteriorated and damaged.
Without proper and proactive treatment, patients may find themselves facing more serious oral health conditions in the future. As a result, restorative dental care plays an essential role in protecting the immediate and long-term health of your smile.
We offer a broad range of restorative services, including:
Why Do I Need Restorative Dental Care?
Depending on the damage caused to the smile, restorations are often used to prevent current dental problems from magnifying and further damaging your oral health. In cases such as post-root canal therapy as well as cavity treatments, solutions like dental fillings and crowns are particularly useful in preventing recurrent infection as well as reinforcing the strength of the tooth.
We provide solutions for the following issues:
Cavities destroy the structure of the tooth and leave it vulnerable to advanced decay. Caries can be treated by removing the decayed portion of the tooth and filling the structure with composite resin or amalgam.
Advanced Decay that has entered the dental pulp often requires a root canal to save the tooth. Extraction can be used to protect your oral health if the tooth cannot be saved.
Damage or trauma can lead to complications such as decay, loose teeth, a dead tooth, and pain during chewing. In some cases, bonding can repair cracks and chips. However, when damage is severe, a crown may work better to restore the structure and protect the tooth from further damage.
Gum Disease is best addressed when it is in the earliest stages. Periodontal therapy like scaling and root planing can remove tartar buildup from below the gum line, encouraging the natural healing process, and help reverse the progression of gingivitis and advanced periodontitis.
Missing Teeth can cause other teeth to move out of place and accelerate jaw bone deterioration, which eventually leads to more tooth loss. Dentures or bridges can restore the visible structure of the tooth, and dental implants can completely replace the tooth, from root to crown. For those missing a complete upper or lower arch of teeth, or both, dentures can be combined with dental implants to provide support for both the jaw and prosthetic teeth.
Our 5 Most Popular Restoration Options
- White fillings can quickly and effectively repair teeth with small cavities. This tooth-colored resin material blends in with the color of surrounding enamel for a healthy, stable, natural-looking restoration.
- Crowns are caps placed over an entire tooth to restore the structure and protect against damage and decay. Our crowns are crafted using high-quality materials in a trusted state-of-the-art lab. We offer many different choices of material, from metal to porcelain, and can help you determine which option will work best for your dental health.
- Bridges use a combination of crowns and porcelain prosthetics made to mimic a group of teeth to restore bite function and fill gaps from missing teeth. These restorations use neighboring, healthy teeth to secure themselves in place and work very well for one to three missing teeth in a row.
- Full and partial dentures are prosthetic appliances that can replace combinations of missing teeth and even an entire arch. Dentures and partials can restore bite force and keep any remaining teeth from drifting out of alignment. Dentures have been used for many years, and the technology used in creating them has increased dramatically, making them a very popular and economical option for anyone facing the loss of multiple teeth.
- Dental implants are a comprehensive tooth-replacement option that offers unmatched support and strength. An implant is surgically placed directly into the jaw to replace one or more missing teeth while supporting surrounding oral structures and overall oral health.
The Importance of Periodontal Care to Restore Oral Health
Gum disease is a common problem that affects millions of Americans. It comes with a range of symptoms, some serious, but is treatable in many cases, especially if diagnosed early. In its initial phases, gum disease can go unnoticed. Bad oral hygiene can create fuel for bacteria to produce plaque, a sticky substance that forms on our teeth. Over time this plaque turns into tartar, which contributes to plaque development and the spread of disease below the gums leading to further decay and tooth loss. If you brush and floss regularly, and get professional cleanings done every six months or more often, then you help increase your chances of maintaining a healthy smile, free of gum disease.
Help for Advanced Periodontal Disease
In cases when oral health has been neglected, the disease may advance deeply into the gums and teeth, causing tooth loss, further gum recession, and bone decay. This is a vital stage in your oral health, and recovery from this condition will take work. The more advanced gum disease is, the more thorough your dental treatments must be. With treatments like scaling and root planing, we can work with you to renew your gum tissue, ligaments, and overall oral health.
Saving Your Smile with Root Canal Therapy
If a tooth is severely infected or damaged, it can be treated with a root canal, or it may be extracted altogether. At Balian Family Dental, we provide both extractions and root canal treatment. If you’re currently experiencing a toothache, it's essential to understand all your options and consult with Dr. Balian to determine if removal is required.
Can the Tooth be Saved?
If a tooth can be preserved, a root canal is the preferred option. Keeping your tooth provides overall dental health benefits and is recommended if it can be maintained successfully. Usually, a tooth has to be extracted if the damage is extensive enough that it compromises oral health, and there is not enough tooth structure to save.
What is Root Canal Therapy?
Although the root canal procedure may intimidate some patients, it’s a straightforward process with many benefits. With advanced dental technology and care from our skilled team, the root canal experience is nearly as simple as a filling.
During a root canal procedure, the interior of the tooth is cleaned of damaged pulp and filled with an anti-bacterial material for added protection. A temporary crown is placed over the tooth while your custom crown is being fabricated. After about two weeks, you will come in and have your permanent crown placed and adjusted to perfectly fit your bite and feel comfortable.
Root Canal Cost and Considerations
A root canal generally costs more than an extraction, simply because the procedure is more complicated. However, after an extraction, there may be long-term costs to repair your smile, especially if you choose to replace the lost tooth with a denture, bridge, or implant. Having root canal therapy and saving the tooth structure allows for optimal function and stability for gums, tissue, and bone development.
There are a variety of reasons why Dr. Balian would recommend a tooth extraction. A severely damaged tooth or an unsuccessful root canal treatment may leave you feeling like you're out of options. However, extraction is an option that, when used properly, can grant several benefits.
- Make Some Room: Some people’s teeth are too big, or there are too many of them. Removing a tooth can create enough space in the mouth for more even spacing. Teeth can also erupt from the side of the gums if they don’t have enough room to enter the smile correctly. High canines can erupt from the side, and extraction can resolve issues associated with this condition.
- Decay Prevention and Treatment: Crowding can cause teeth to be more prone to cavities because the spaces between them are smaller and harder to clean. Plaque builds quickly in these tight spaces. If not adequately managed, the bacteria leads to deep cavities that can travel deeper and infect the root of the tooth (the pulp) and create an abscess. An abscess is a pocket of fluid that accumulates as the body tries to fight the infection. Removing an infected tooth is sometimes the simplest solution.
- Remove Infection: Sometimes, an infected tooth is too far along to salvage. Root canal therapy may not be able to save the tooth. It may be better for your health to remove the tooth than to repeat endodontic procedures.
- Correct Impaction: Overcrowded teeth can inhibit permanent teeth from erupting. These teeth stay lodged in the jawbone and can develop into cysts. Cysts can grow and invade space needed by bone and the soft tissue. Removing an extra tooth as a preventative measure can avoid trouble in the long run.
Why Replace Missing Teeth?
Conditions such as tooth loss and jaw bone resorption often leave the smile severely damaged and at risk of further additional tooth loss. Over time this can result in altered facial appearance, compromised digestion, and increased risk of alignment problems. By replacing missing teeth with dentures, dental implants, or implant-supported treatment options, you can address these issues before they snowball into serious health concerns.
How to Replace Missing Teeth
Fortunately, if you need teeth replaced, you have more options than ever before. Dental technology and procedures have advanced rapidly in the last several decades. This means that you have the choice of how you handle the restoration of your smile.
Dr. Balian uses an array of modern technologies to replace missing teeth. Which path we take depends on your oral hygiene, as well as your personal preferences. Some options include:
Some methods require that the surrounding teeth be healthy enough to support whichever restoration is needed. For example, dental implants are standalone replacements, but a bridge may require that the surrounding teeth have the structural integrity necessary to support it. In the end, it is best to consult Dr. Balian for a professional opinion.
Restorative Treatments in Auburn
Our dental team can provide more information to help you make your decision and answer any questions you might have about dental care for infections and serious damage. It’s important to listen carefully to the benefits and considerations of each procedure, as your ultimate decision will impact your treatment plan and overall oral health.
At Balian Family Dental, our goal is to create healthy, lasting smiles for every patient. Through our comprehensive restorative dental treatments, we help patients with compromised smiles regain full health and function. To learn more, schedule an appointment with our skilled and compassionate team today!
CALL US: (508) 721-7720 REQUEST APPOINTMENT
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