The Centre For Contemporary Dentistry
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Office News
Our goal is to develop a strong partnership with every patient. When you understand the importance of your dental health, we can help you maintain a healthy mouth, as well as treat the causes and symptoms of any dental condition.
We invite you to read our latest SmileLink newsletter and to check out our website often for new information, or contact our office with any questions or concerns. Working together, we can help you achieve a lifetime of healthy and attractive teeth and gums.
Featured Article |
SmileLink Articles |
Growing Bone is Like Growing a Garden
It might surprise you to know that your dentist has a green thumb—sort of. I am not referring to begonias or radishes, but dentists use their expertise and modern science to help your body grow a substance that is vitally important to your dental health—bone. You can lose bone because you have a poor-fitting denture, a tooth injury or a developmental defect. Inadequate bone can also be caused by periodontal disease or some other infection. Without adequate bone we cannot place an implant and restore your beautiful smile. An implant is a metal post that is inserted into your jawbone and onto which we place an artificial tooth.
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You Can Have a Hollywood Smile
These are exciting times for anyone who has considered improving their smile. Yesterday, many people thought that only Hollywood movie stars could get dazzling smiles, but today people know that anyone can enhance the smile that Mother Nature gave them. Just look at the results of a recent survey of several thousand dentists. They are eye-opening. It perhaps is not so surprising that more women than men are changing their smiles—67 percent to 33 percent. What catches the eye is the number of men who are jumping into the smile makeover arena. And their numbers are steadily increasing.
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Cleft Palate Disguises Opportunities
Are you someone who is offered fantastic opportunities but they are cleverly disguised as impossible challenges? You may be a teenager who was born with a cleft palate, or your son or daughter may be that teenager. While it is desirable to begin treatments on a child born with a cleft palate as soon as possible, treatments do not end with childhood. They actually stretch over the person's lifetime. It is not uncommon for teens and adults to have treatments that continue the work begun when they were children to improve their facial features, enhance their smiles or to help them develop better speech sounds. Having more confidence helps teens in social and business relationships and makes them feel better about themselves.
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No Reason to Fear an Implant
If you have been putting off getting an implant because you are afraid of the recovery, there is nothing to fear. Implants are receiving kudos from former denture wearers. Compared to their denture, patients reported that implants gave them greater levels of comfort, the ability to speak clearly and were very stable. They also liked the better esthetic look of an implant and how easy it is to clean their teeth. And best of all, it was easier to chew with an implant. You are one of an increasing number of people who are choosing an implant over other treatment options. And as for those lingering fears, a few simple precautions will put you in the prime of dental health in a short time.
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Tooth Extraction Options
Your teeth are amazingly strong and were meant to last you a lifetime, but they do have their limits.
When you have a dental problem and we have exhausted all other choices, an extraction will be the best and least invasive treatment for your tooth.
There are several reasons we need to use this extreme treatment: when there is a risk of getting an infection, or periodontal disease is in an advanced stage that we cannot reverse, for example. We might also consider an extraction if there is a cyst in your jawbone, or you have severely crowded or misaligned teeth.
If we extract a tooth, we will thoroughly discuss options you have after the extraction. It is critical to your oral health not to leave the space empty. The neighboring teeth can shift out of position [top photo] and create serious problems such as—
- clenching and grinding your teeth.
- pain in your jaw joint.
- loss of bone in your jaw.
The opposing tooth in the other dental arch will not have a partner to bite down onto or to chew against. This could cause the tooth to protrude from its socket.
One option is to fit the empty space with a bridge [middle photo]. A bridge is an artificial tooth that has a crown on each side of it. The crowns are placed over your natural teeth, and the artificial tooth sits in the space where your tooth was removed.
We could also fill the empty space with a single-tooth implant [lower phot...