Treatments

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Air Abrasion: The Drill Alternative

Many children associate the high-pitched whirring of a dental drill with pain. Just the sound alone can make even adults wince. Air abrasion is an especially good option for children who may be afraid of the needle, and the noise and vibration of a regular dental drill. Air abrasion procedures are virtually painless, almost entirely eliminates the need for an
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Bleaching

Bleaching and non-bleaching products are the two basic kinds of whitening products available today. Non-bleaching products normally use abrasives or chemicals and only remove surface stains on teeth. Bleaching products work with a chemical called peroxide and can brighten your teeth several shades. Another process employs the use of a special gel that is placed inside a flexible device you
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Bonding

Bonding is a process in which an enamel-like material is applied to a tooth`s surface, sculpted to an ideal shape, hardened, and then polished for an ideal smile. This procedure usually can be accomplished in a single visit. Bonding is often performed in order to fill in gaps or change the color of your teeth. It typically only entails one
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Bonding, Veneers, Contouring & Reshaping

Cosmetic dentistry is an important part of overall dentistry. In some cases, people elect to have cosmetic dentistry performed on their children in order to improve their smile and overall appearance. In others, cosmetic dentistry is chosen in order to reverse or repair a defect that, while not harmful to overall health, has a negative impact on appearance. Moreover, some
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Braces (Orthodontia)

Braces are applied to teeth for various reasons, including poorly aligned jaws, crooked, crowded and missing teeth, or a bad bite (also called malocclusion). Various things can cause teeth to become crooked or jaws misaligned, including thumb-sucking or a traumatic injury. Some conditions are inherited. Children between the ages of 7 and 14 are typical candidates for braces because their
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Bridges

Bridges are natural-looking dental appliances that can replace a section of missing teeth. Because they are custom-made, bridges are barely noticeable and can restore the natural contour of teeth as well as the proper bite relationship between upper and lower teeth. There are several types of fixed dental bridges (cannot be removed), including conventional fixed bridges, cantilever bridges and resin-bonded
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Chipped, Cracked, and Worn Teeth

Special thin laminates, called veneers, can often be used to correct discolored, worn down, cracked and chipped teeth. Veneers can also be used to close unsightly gaps between teeth. Stronger types of veneers made of porcelain, also called composite veneers, typically last longer because they are bonded to the tooth. Another process called bonding can accomplish some of the same
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Crowns

Crowns are synthetic caps, usually made of a material like porcelain, placed on the top of a tooth. Crowns are typically used to restore a tooth’s function and appearance following a restorative procedure such as a root canal. When decay in a tooth has become so advanced that large portions of the tooth must be removed, crowns are often used
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Dentures

A denture is a removable replacement for missing teeth and adjacent tissues. It is made of acrylic resin, sometimes in combination with various metals. Types of dentures Complete dentures replace all the teeth, while a partial denture fills in the spaces created by missing teeth and prevents other teeth from changing position. Candidates for complete dentures have lost most or
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Excessive or Uneven Gums

Many people inherit the problem of excessive or uneven gums. An aesthetic surgical procedure called a gum lift can be used to correct this problem.
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Extractions

In most cases, a tooth may need to be pulled when other less radical procedures, such as amalgams or restoration, make it impossible or imprudent to save your child’s original tooth. Advanced anesthetic techniques today greatly minimize discomfort associated with a tooth extraction. First, the area surrounding the tooth is numbed to lessen any discomfort. After the extraction, your child
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Extractions

General Procedure When restoration procedures such as root canal therapy, crowns, or fillings are not enough to save a tooth, it may need to be pulled, or extracted. Tooth extraction procedures today are far less painful than ever before, thanks to powerful anesthetics and sedatives. In many cases, a patient who has tooth pulled experiences little or no discomfort, and
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Fillings

There are three basic kinds of fillings used to restore teeth after decay is removed: amalgams, composites and stainless steel crowns. Amalgams Most dental amalgams are silver in color and are made from a mixture of mercury and an alloy of silver, tin, and copper. Mercury makes up about 45-50 percent of the compound. Mercury is used to bind the
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Flap Surgery

Your bone and gum tissue should fit snugly around your teeth like a turtleneck. When you have periodontal disease, this supporting tissue and bone is destroyed, forming “pockets” around the teeth. Over time, these pockets become deeper, providing a larger space for bacteria to thrive and wreak havoc. As bacteria accumulate and advance under the gum tissue in these deep
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Grafts

Soft tissue grafts are sometimes performed to treat gum disease, or correct other abnormalities. The procedure involves taking gum tissue from the palate or another donor source to cover an exposed root in order to even the gum line and reduce sensitivity. Periodontal procedures are available to stop further dental problems and gum recession, and to improve the aesthetics of
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Guidance Eruption

Guidance eruption is a method used to create enough room for crowded lower permanent incisors. Crowding can often be seen with the eruption of the permanent teeth of the lower jaw at 6 to 7 years old. The permanent incisors will usually compensate for this crowding by erupting behind the primary teeth. If this happens, both sets of teeth may
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Implants

Before development of dental implants, dentures were the only alternative to replacing a missing tooth or teeth. Implants are synthetic structures that are placed in the area of the tooth normally occupied by the root. Implants are anchored to the jawbone or metal framework on the bone and act as a foundation for an artificial tooth or permanent bridge. In
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Jaw/TMJ

People who grind their teeth can sometimes develop a serious problem with their jaw, which left untreated, can adversely affect the teeth, gums and bone structures of the mouth. One of the most common jaw disorders is related to a problem with the temporomandibular joint, the joint that connects your lower jaw to your skull, and allows your upper and
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Maxillofacial Surgery

When facial reconstruction, including procedures involving the oral cavity, is called for, a specialist is needed. Surgical procedures of the neck and head area are performed by a maxillofacial surgeon. Common maxillofacial procedures include denture-related procedures and jaw surgery. Jaw Correction Protruding chins, crooked or buck teeth or misaligned teeth are good candidates for maxillofacial surgery. In some people, jaws
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Missing Teeth

Fixed bridges and implants are often used to replace missing teeth and to correct some kinds of bite problems. Crowns and bridges are the most effective procedure for replacing missing teeth or bite problems.
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Old and Unsightly Fillings

Newer kinds of fillings made from composite resins and porcelain can restore unsightly fillings; many people are surprised how natural these kinds of filling materials can make a tooth once covered by the old-fashioned silver amalgams.
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Ridge Augmentation

If you lose one or more permanent teeth, an indentation may result in the gums and jawbone where the tooth used to be. When no longer holding a tooth in place, the jawbone recedes and the resulting indentation looks unnatural. Ridge augmentation is a procedure that can recapture the natural contour of the gums and jaw. A new tooth can
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Root Canal

Root canals are rarely needed in children. However, there are instances when a root canal becomes necessary in an older child. Before root canal therapy came into practice, if your child had a tooth with a diseased nerve, she’d probably lose that tooth. Underneath each tooth’s outer enamel is an area of soft tissue called the pulp, which carries the
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Root Canal Therapy

Root canals are tiny passageways that branch off from beneath the top of the tooth, coursing their way vertically downward, until they reach the tip of the root. All teeth have between one and four root canals. Many tooth problems involve infections that spread to the pulp, which is the inner chamber of the tooth containing blood vessels, nerves and
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Scaling and Root Planing

Some cases of acute periodontal (gum) disease that do not respond to more conventional treatment and self-care such as flossing may require a special kind of cleaning called scaling and root planing. The procedure begins with administration of a local anesthetic to reduce any discomfort. Then, a small instrument called a “scaler,” or an ultrasonic cleaner, is used to clean
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Sealants

The pits and grooves of your teeth are prime areas for opportunistic decay. Even regular brushing sometimes misses some of these intricate structures on the chewing surfaces of your teeth. Enter sealants, which are thin coatings applied to the chewing surfaces designed to prevent the intrusion of bacteria and other debris into the deep crevices on the tops of your
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Teeth Whitening

There are two types of tooth stains – intrinsic (internal stain) and extrinsic (external stain). Intrinsic stains occur from within the tooth, and cannot be removed by brushing and flossing; bleaching may also not be effective. Some causes of intrinsic staining occur from tooth injury, certain medications such as tetracycline, or an excess fluoride ingested during the formation of teeth.
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Teeth Whitening

Whitening procedures have effectively restored the smile of people with stained, dull, or discolored teeth. The darker tissue of your teeth, the dentin, can become exposed as the outer layer of enamel is worn away by the effects of aging or things like caffeine and tobacco. Food particles are naturally attracted to a tooth’s enamel by a certain protein. Products
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Veneers

Teeth that are badly stained, shaped or crooked may be improved by a veneer placed on the surface of the affected teeth. Veneers are thin pieces of porcelain or plastic cemented over the front of your teeth to change their color or shape. Veneers are used on teeth with uneven surfaces or are chipped, discolored, oddly shaped, unevenly spaced or
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X-Rays

In addition to spotting cavities early, X-rays are used to examine erupting teeth, diagnose bone diseases, evaluate injury, or plan orthodontic treatment. In general, children need X-rays more often than adults because their mouths grow and change rapidly. The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry recommends X-ray examinations every six months for children with a high risk of tooth decay. Children
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