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Dental issues can become more severe and costly the longer you leave them untreated.
By examining your teeth, your dentist can assess the extent of your dental issue and whether or not you will need restorative treatment. X-rays may be taken to ensure proper diagnosis.
After your dentist has diagnosed the dental issue, you will be provided with a tailored treatment plan to restore your smile to its natural beauty and function.
No treatment plan is one-size-fits all. Most dental issues have multiple treatment options. Dentures, dental bridges, and dental implants can all restore and replace missing teeth. Your dentist will walk you through each option to help you choose what’s best for your lifestyle, budget, and needs.
In cases like emergencies, you’ll need to receive care as soon as possible, if not the same day. If you are facing a non-urgent issue, your follow-up appointment will be after your initial visit. We’ll schedule your treatment for a day and time that works for you before you leave your appointment.
The best way to treat and fill cavities in decayed teeth are with dental fillings. Using a drill, your dentist will remove damage and decay within your enamel. They’ll follow with a tooth-colored dental resin to restore the shape and structure of your tooth. If you have a cavity, timely intervention with a filling is essential. You could require a dental crown and/or root canal therapy if your cavity is left untreated for too long.
Using CAD/CAM (Computer-Aided Design/Manufacturing) technology and a specialized milling machine, your dental crown can be crafted within 2 hours at your dentist’s office.
Same-day crowns will restore damaged teeth by covering the entire tooth down to the gum line, just like lab-made crowns. Your dentist will remove the damaged portion of your tooth by trimming it slightly, then shaping it into a strong, sturdy space for the crown to be attached.
Next, your dentist will take a 3D scan of your teeth and send it to the milling machine, which immediately begins to craft your crown. Within just a couple hours, your crown will be complete, and then your doctor will attach it permanently. This process allows you to get immediate same-day care and a crown in a single appointment.
A dental bridge uses two dental crowns to suspend a pontic, or false tooth, in the gap where a natural tooth has been lost. A dental bridge can prevent your other teeth from shifting over time and last for years.
The best way to treat an infected tooth is through root canal therapy. When the vulnerable pulp inside the tooth and root canals is exposed to oral bacteria, teeth become infected. This can happen if you accidentally crack your tooth or if you experience severe tooth decay.
To begin the procedure, your dentist will clean your teeth and numb the infected tooth to ensure you are comfortable. By drilling a hole in the enamel, your dentist can access and remove any decayed material from the interior of your tooth all the way down to the roots. After your roots are thoroughly cleaned, they will be filled with an inert material to maintain the structure and integrity of the tooth. You’ll be given either a dental filling or a dental crown that will protect and restore your tooth to complete the procedure.
To replace one or multiple missing teeth, partial dentures use false teeth and a metal and plastic framework that clip directly onto your remaining healthy teeth. This appliance can restore your smile, your bite, and your self-confidence. They are a convenient and affordable way to get your smile back, and typically don’t take too long to create.
Full dentures are used to replace the upper arch, lower arch, or both arches of your teeth and fit snugly on the gums. This restorative appliance is a strong option if you struggle with more serious dental health issues or have lost most or all of your natural teeth. You must have all remaining teeth extracted in order to have a full set of dentures fitted.
Tooth enamel is the hardest structure in the human body; even harder than the femur bone!
A cavity can be treated in a few different ways depending on the location, size, and severity of the cavity as well as how soon you seek treatment. An early-stage cavity will be treated with a dental filling.
This involves drilling out the decayed portion of the tooth under local anesthesia and then refilling the missing portion of the tooth with composite resin that is shade-matched to blend in with the rest of your teeth. This restores the functionality, structure, and aesthetic of your teeth.
However, if a cavity has reached the tooth’s deeper layer of dentin, it typically can still be treated with a cavity but it will require more removal of the tooth and should be also protected with a dental crown.
Once a cavity has affected the tooth’s dental pulp, this will cause inflammation and infection that is typically painful. A root canal will be necessary to remove the infected pulp along with the tooth’s roots.
An infection is a dental emergency requiring immediate treatment to prevent the infection from spreading. In severe cases, when infections have been left untreated for a long time, patients can suffer from serious health problems like sepsis which can cause death.
If your tooth infection is caught early enough, a root canal will restore it to health, repair the missing inside portion of the tooth, and be protected with a dental crown. If the tooth cannot be saved, it will be extracted and replaced.
We can repair a broken tooth in various ways depending on the severity of the fracture. If it’s a small chip or crack, this can be repaired with minor cosmetic treatments like dental bonding or you can cover chipped teeth with veneers.
Bonding repairs the damage by building the tooth back up with composite resin, the same material used in dental fillings. This lasts on average for about 3-10 years. Veneers involve filing down a small amount of enamel and then bonding a thin porcelain shell to the tooth to cover up the imperfection, such as a chip.
However, these cosmetic solutions are not suitable for severely damaged teeth. Firstly, we need to know if any damage has occurred to the tooth’s pulp as a result of dental trauma. If so, you could need a root canal to treat an infection.
Teeth that have severe breakage can be protected with a dental crown and rear molars that receive root canals should also be protected with crowns. Crowns provide strength and durability to weakened and damaged teeth. They can even hold broken teeth together. In rare cases, a tooth will need to be extracted, such as if it has broken off at the gum line.
Yes, insurance plans typically cover fillings as a preventative treatment at 80 to 100% of the cost and cover restorative treatments such as root canals and dental crowns at up to 50% of the cost.
However, cosmetic treatments like veneers and dental bonding are not covered by insurance when they are purely elective. Some insurance companies may cover bonding if you can prove it is necessary to cover an exposed tooth root or repair damage that puts your oral health at risk and compromises tooth functionality.
Contact your insurance provider directly to find out what and how much they cover. If you don’t have insurance, we offer financing options through CareCredit to help you fund your treatment.
3 million Americans wear dental implants to replace missing teeth.
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