Fixed Bridges

If you have lost a tooth, a large gap in your smile, left uncorrected, can create significant problems for your dental health. Gradually, your bite pressure may shift to other parts of your mouth to compensate for an inability to chew efficiently in the area of the missing tooth. Neighboring teeth may begin to move into the gap resulting in discomfort, pain and more problems in the future. After some preparation of the two neighboring teeth, crowns are created for them. A prosthetic tooth, or pontic, is fused between the crowns. Fixed bridges literally “bridge the gap” in your smile. Dr. Maddox creates a functional, life-like bridge to correct your smile, restore your bite, and alleviate your discomfort.

Porcelain Crowns

You can erase years of wear and tear with porcelain crowns. Dr. Maddox uses a tooth-like crown made of porcelain to restore your tooth after the decay has been removed. Crowns are also used to restore chipped teeth, broken teeth, gaps in teeth, and other damage. Also called “caps,” porcelain crowns mimic natural-looking teeth in both shape and color.

Root Canals

Damage to the nerve tissue inside of a tooth sometimes requires a root canal procedure. Dr. Maddox takes advantage of advances in technology and dental techniques that make root canal procedures more effective, while also taking less time. The procedure involves removing the soft tissue within the tooth when it has become infected and inflamed. Dr. Maddox gently removes the infected tissue and fills the void with an inert material. The procedure is completed with the placement of a crown.

Grinding and Clenching

Many people who notice chipped or cracked teeth, but don’t remember when the injury occurred, damaged their teeth while they were sleeping. Grinding or clenching your teeth during the night will cause your teeth to chip, crack, and even break. To keep you from seriously damaging your teeth, we recommend a dental appliance called a nightguard, which protects you from grinding and clenching your teeth in your sleep. Dr. Maddox takes great care in making sure you have a proper fit to prevent pain in your jaw joint.

Do you suffer from headaches? If so, you may find that a side benefit of your night-guard is headache prevention. Many headaches start during the night, caused by the extreme pressure generated as you grind and clench your teeth. Ask Dr. Maddox about having a nightguard custom created for you.

Tooth-Colored Fillings or Restorations

Are you embarrassed about your smile because of decayed, disfigured, or discolored teeth? You may be a good candidate for composite resins-¬-also known as tooth-colored fillings or restorations. When the decay has been removed from the tooth, it is replaced with “filling” material. In the past, amalgam (silver) fillings were placed into the cleaned out portion of the tooth. With new advancements in dentistry, you can now have tooth-colored fillings instead of silver fillings, resulting in a long- lasting, brighter, whiter smile. The new tooth-colored material is bonded to the teeth for a stronger restoration.

Extractions

In some cases, injury or decay damages a tooth extensively, and an extraction is the proper treatment option to start you on the path toward complete dental health. Dr. Maddox can remove your troublesome tooth and give you the treatment options for replacing that tooth and for completing your beautiful smile once again.

Tooth Replacement

See information on bridges, partials, dentures, and implants.

Supportive Care

Most of the conditions that negatively affect your smile can be avoided with regular care. Dr. Maddox and her team are committed to answering your questions about proper hygiene and providing you with the most advanced preventive dentistry.

Charting: Health of Gums and Supporting Bone

Dr. Maddox and her team will spend time gathering needed information prior to talking with you about your dental care needs. It is important for us to have a good baseline of information so we can track your successes. If you are periodontally healthy, that is where we want you to stay. Once diagnosed with periodontal disease, dealing with its effects in your mouth and teeth will be a continual battle throughout your lifetime. Monitoring will be done through thorough documentation whether you are periodontally healthy or in need of periodontal treatment.

Treatment of Periodontal Disease

Often, the first treatment option is active periodontal treatment (root planing, scaling, and curettage). This extensive cleaning treatment is provided by our hygienist for patients who have both soft and hard deposits embedded in the teeth, tissue, and bone supporting the teeth, as well as embedded bacteria and toxins buried below the gum line on the teeth. When soft and hard deposits attach to your teeth below the gum line, they pull the gum tissue away from the tooth, creating deep pockets. The deposits must be removed so that the gingival tissue can heal and close the pocket. If not treated, the deposits and bacteria will continue to cause more damage to the bone, tissue, and teeth.

Regular Preventive Care or Professional Dental Cleaning Appointments

This appointment is performed by a registered dental hygienist. In our practice, you will see the same hygienist at each cleaning visit so that you can develop a relationship. The hygienist will remove plaque (soft deposits), tartar or calculus (hard deposits), and stain from your teeth. The evaluation of the gum tissue, probing pockets and recording their depths for future reference will also be accomplished. After the cleaning, the hygienist will polish your teeth to a beautiful shine.

Additionally, you will have all of your questions answered about your homecare procedures and products. If you have trouble choosing the right toothbrush or flossing effectively, your hygienist can help. Should you develop gum disease, which is extremely common; our hygienist will provide counsel and treatment to control the condition.

Fluoride Treatment

Fluoride is a mineral that is found naturally in many things we eat or drink. It is nature’s way of helping prevent cavities, and it plays an important role in helping to keep your teeth for a lifetime. Professional (in-office) fluoride treatments make teeth stronger and even reverse damage from decay in the outer layers of enamel on the smooth surfaces of the teeth. Additional home fluoride treatments assist in this process. In the lifelong fight against cavities, Dr. Maddox believes that both adults and children benefit from in-office treatment and home fluorides.

The benefits of Fluoride include:

• Strengthening teeth
• Remineralizing weakened areas on teeth
• Desensitization
• Expanding some antimicrobial effects
• Increasing salivary action
• Enhancing rate of natural remineralization

Home Care or Co-therapy

It will be important for you to work with the dental hygienist so that you can achieve the healthiest mouth possible. This will mean working together through homecare or co-therapy to keep your teeth for your lifetime. It is a commitment from you, the patient, to do your best at home and a commitment from your hygienist to provide the best treatment possible during your hygiene appointments.

Mouth and Body Connection

The Relationship between Heart Disease / Stroke and the Health of your Mouth Did you know there is a link between your oral health and cardiovascular disease? New research shows that certain people may be predisposed to periodontal disease. The bacteria associated with periodontal disease is the same bacteria associated with heart disease. These bacteria cause plaque and tartar (soft and hard deposits) around teeth and in arteries. Take time to talk to the Lake Pointe team about the connection between your mouth’s health and your body’s health at your next appointment.

Do you have any of the following?

• History of periodontal/gum disease
• Family history of periodontal disease
• Bleeding or irritated gums
• Heavy plaque (soft deposits) or Tartar buildup (hard deposits)
• Inflammation (swelling and redness) of the gums surrounding your teeth
• Family history of cardiovascular disease
• History of cardiovascular disease
• Diagnosis of periodontal disease