Crowns and bridges

A crown is a dental restoration that covers your entire tooth. While fillings just fill cavities and fit inside your tooth, a dental crown will cover the entire tooth and will replace the entire chewing surface of the tooth. Some people call this a "cap."

A crown is placed to prevent a tooth from breaking. As we get older, we are more prone to breaking teeth. If a tooth has a large filling, it is more prone to cracking or breaking. A crown, especially if it has metal in it, will help protect a tooth against breaking. Some people can break back teeth even if they have small fillings or no fillings in the tooth—their occlusion is that powerful.

A dental bridge is a false tooth, known as a pontic, which is fused between two porcelain crowns to fill in the area left by a missing tooth. The two crowns holding it in place that are attached onto your teeth on each side of the false tooth. This is known as a fixed bridge. This procedure is used to replace one or more missing teeth. Fixed bridges cannot be taken out of your mouth as you might do with removable partial dentures.

In areas of your mouth that are under less stress, such as your front teeth, a cantilever bridge may be used. Cantilever bridges are used when there are teeth on only one side of the open space. Bridges can reduce your risk of gum disease, help correct some bite issues and even improve your speech. Bridges require your commitment to serious oral hygiene, but will last as many ten years or more.

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Endodontics (Root Canal treatment)

Root canal treatment (also called a root canal) is done when decay will likely damage or has already killed a tooth. During a root canal, a dentist or endodontist removes the pulp from the center of a tooth and fills the pulp cavity. This can prevent the development of a painful infection in the pulp that may spread to other teeth. A root canal can also treat an infection that has developed into an abscessed tooth. This procedure can relieve toothache, stop infection, and promote healing.

A general dentist or one who specializes in diseases of tooth pulp (endodontist) can perform a root canal.

• First, the dentist will numb your gums with a substance that feels like jelly. After your gums are numb, the dentist will inject a local anesthetic that will completely numb the teeth, gums, tongue, and skin in that area. Sometimes nitrous oxide gas will be used to reduce pain and help you relax.
• The dentist may separate the decayed tooth from the other teeth with a small sheet of rubber on a metal frame. This protective rubber sheet also helps stop liquid and tooth chips from entering your mouth and throat.
• The dentist will use a drill and other tools to remove the pulp from the tooth and will fill the inside part of the tooth below the gum line with medicines, temporary filling materials, and a final root canal filling.
• After the root canal, a permanent filling or crown (cap) is often needed. If a crown is needed, the dentist removes the decay, and then makes an impression of the tooth. A technician uses the impression to make a crown that perfectly matches the drilled tooth.
• The tooth may be fitted with a temporary crown until the permanent crown is made and cemented into place.

Why not just have your tooth removed?
Adjoining teeth may shift and interfere with biting and chewing.  You can have a replacement tooth implanted or attached to adjacent healthy teeth, but this can be expensive and require even more dental treatment.  There is no real substitute for your own tooth, which is more efficient in chewing and biting than an artificial one would be. 

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Dental implants

Replicating the natural function and appearance of your lost teeth can be very difficult to accomplish. Historically, dentures or bridge restorations would be used as replacements, but with limited results. Dental implants, however, are natural-looking replacements for missing teeth that also provide the same function as your natural tooth root. They have also been used to anchor these other types of restorations for greater success and patient satisfaction.

A dental implant is a small, sturdy, titanium post that acts as the root structure would for a natural tooth. A dental implant is placed into your upper or lower jaw bone and allowed to heal. During the healing phase, your bone is growing right up to the implant surface in order to lock it in place. After the bone has grown around the implant, implants can hold a crown, bridge or over-denture just like roots hold natural teeth in place. Implants are very durable and can last a lifetime. They require the same maintenance as natural teeth; this includes brushing, flossing and regular dental check-ups.

A single tooth or a full arch of teeth which have been lost due to injury or disease can be replaced with dental implants. Titanium metal is used because of its compatibility with bone and oral tissues.

Dental implants restore your confidence to talk, laugh, and chew with comfort and without worries.

Implants preserve the integrity of facial structures because they prevent the hard and soft tissue collapse that can occur under conventional bridges and removable partial dentures. In patients who have lost all of their teeth, the lower one-third of the face is prone to collapse if implants are not placed to preserve the bone and the facial profile. Implants form a strong bond to the surrounding bone to provide support and anchorage for biting and chewing as well as stimulation for the bone to hold it in place.

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Dentures

If you’ve lost all of your natural teeth, whether from periodontal disease, tooth decay or injury, complete dentures can replace your missing teeth and your smile. Replacing missing teeth will benefit your appearance and your health. Without support from the denture, facial muscles sag, making a person look older. You’ll be able to eat and speak—things that people often take for granted until their natural teeth are lost.

A denture is a removable replacement for missing teeth and surrounding tissues. Two types of dentures are available: complete and partial dentures (or bridges). Complete dentures are used when all the teeth are missing, while partial dentures are used when some natural teeth remain.

There are various types of complete dentures. A conventional full denture is made and placed in the patient’s mouth after the remaining teeth are removed and tissues have healed which may take several months. An immediate complete denture is inserted as soon as the remaining teeth are removed. The dentist takes measurements and makes models of the patient’s jaws during a preliminary visit. With immediate dentures, the denture wearer does not have to be without teeth during the healing period.

Even if you wear full dentures, you still must take good care of your mouth. Brush your gums, tongue and palate every morning with a soft-bristled brush before you insert your dentures to stimulate circulation in your tissues and help remove plaque.

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