Restorative Dentist in Whittier
Experience exceptional dental care with our highly skilled and experienced dental team at Perfect Smile Dental Group in Whittier. Creating beautiful smiles through transformative restorative dentistry.
Most people have heard of both general dentist and cosmetic dentist, but they rarely hear about restorative dentist. It can be said that a restorative dentist performs an important aspect of cosmetic dentistry in helping to build the foundation for a beautiful smile.
What is a Restorative Dentist?
Restorative dentist helps to bring back the form and function to damaged, broken, or compromised teeth. Restorative dentistry concentrates on repairing and replacing damaged or missing teeth to improve oral health and function. Restorative dentist performs dental procedures such as dental fillings, dental crowns, dental bridges, dental implants, and dentures that help bring back the form and function of your teeth to allow you to eat, speak and smile with confidence.
Why is a restorative dentist important?
Restorative dentist helps give you the best chance at long-lasting oral health and restore your smile to full function by restoring damaged or decayed teeth. This improves your ability to eat, speak and chew.
What are the benefits of seeing a restorative dentist?
Dental filling cavities help prevent further decay and harm done to the tooth and surrounding teeth. Any missing teeth that get replaced with implants, bridges, or dentures are performed by a restorative dentist on a daily basis. Teeth that need to be strengthened with crowns or caps is also considered a restorative procedure.
What type of procedures does a restorative dentist do?
Dental Fillings
Dental fillings can be white composite dental fillings or silver amalgam dental fillings. Silver amalgam dental fillings expose the patient to mercury during the placement and removal of silver fillings; therefore, at Perfect Smile Dental Group we only recommend white composite dental fillings for our patients. Cavities that are superficial to the enamel can be re-mineralized with high concentration topical fluoride; however, when cavities have progressed deep into the tooth, the decay have to be removed and restored with dental fillings to halt the progression of tooth decay, to reduce the risk of further damage and to restore the function of the tooth and prevent the need for more invasive & expensive dental treatments.
Dental Crowns
When a tooth has suffered extensive damaged from cavities or from an accident that resulted in the loss of large portion of the tooth, dental crowns are diagnosed to restore the tooth. Dental crowns are sometimes referred to as a “cap.” It can be seen as a metal helmet that protects the tooth from further damage. Dental crowns are made from a wide variety of dental material such as, full metal, porcelain fused to metal, zirconia and lithium disilicate (emax). In patients that grind or clench their teeth, zirconia dental crowns are the ideal treatment options. In patients that grind or clench their teeth, a night guard is often recommended to prevent further damage to the teeth and crowns.
Dental Bridges
When an accident breaks a tooth or cavities have damaged the tooth beyond saving, often the tooth has to be extracted. Often dental extraction of a tooth will result in a hole that must be filled with the bone of nearby teeth. As a result, nearby teeth will start to shift and lean into the empty space after extraction of the bad tooth. The opposite tooth will start to super-erupt, get longer and invade into the empty space. The elongated opposing tooth will hit the leaning lower nearby teeth and cause pain whenever the patients bite down. To prevent the teeth from shifting and super-erupting, bone graft and a dental bridge or dental implant are recommended to restore the missing tooth.
A dental bridge can replace a single missing tooth or multiple missing teeth. A dental bridge consists of an artificial tooth (pontic) with dental crowns on either side. With Dental bridges there are pros and cons.
Advantages of Dental Bridges are:
•Less expensive than dental implants.
•Requires fewer trips to the dentist (2 visits)
•Does not require surgery.
•Less invasive than dental implants.
•Look and feel more esthetic and realistic than dentures.
Disadvantages of Dental Bridges?
- Healthy neighboring teeth may need to be shaved to make the Dental Bridge.
- Any future Cavities on a supporting tooth of the bridge causes entire bridge to be compromised.
- Inconvenience of flossing under bridge with Floss threader/Super Floss.
- Does not last as long as a dental implant.
Dental implants
For patients that have a single or multiple missing teeth, dental implants are the golden standard of teeth replacement that allow the patient to reclaim their smile and chewing capabilities. A dental implant is a titanium, threaded post placed in the jaw bone to replace a missing tooth root. Once an implant-supported crown is placed on the implant, it functions like a natural tooth. Dental implants have their pros and cons. Unlike traditional dental crowns and dental bridges, dental implants do not require altering nearby natural teeth. Because dental implants look, behave and act like natural teeth, they must be maintained by brushing and flossing.
Disadvantages of Dental Implants are that they are more expensive than dental crowns/dental bridges and they require oral surgery to place the dental implants. Dental Implants also require healing time of 4-5 months for the dental implant to integrate before a crown can be made for the dental implant.
Root canal Treatment
Through neglect or limited access to a dentist, cavities that have extended deep into the tooth can infect the nerve and blood vessels (pulp) and cause a painful infection. Sometimes through sports injuries or accidents a tooth can fracture and expose the pulp. In these cases, root canal treatment is necessary to save the tooth.
During root canal treatment, the infected nerves and blood vessels inside the tooth are removed. The internal surface of the tooth & root canals is thoroughly cleaned and disinfected and filled with a dental material to seal the tooth and prevent bacteria from re-entering. Teeth that undergo root canal treatment often require a core buildup to build the tooth back up for a crown to provide strength and support for the tooth.
Dentures
When we think of dentures, the most famous person associated with dentures would be General George Washington. General George Washington was an American hero and the first president of the United States that suffered from dental problems throughout his adult life. When he became president at the age of 57, he wore full dentures. It was often heard that George Washington wore dentures that were made of wooden false teeth. The dentures that George Washington wore were actually made from animal teeth, human teeth, elephant and walrus ivory that were held together with lead and steel springs. Dentures are traditional option for replacing missing teeth. Depending on the number of missing teeth, the patients may need a complete denture or a partial denture. Complete dentures replace an entire arch of missing teeth, while partial dentures replace only the selected few missing teeth. The dentures rest on the gums and the jawbone. We all have seen meme videos of patients wearing dentures that pop out while blowing a birthday cake. With advancement in technology, dentures can be held in place with implants. This offers more stability compared to conventional dentures.
Dental fillings restore esthetic of your smile & eliminate pain & sensitivity caused by cavities. Dental fillings restore the esthetic of your smile and prevent further decay leading to a root canal.
Dental Crowns restore your beautiful smile by improving the esthetic of discolored teeth and restoring the appearance and function of severely damaged teeth. Dental crowns relief Dental Pain, protect tooth that had a large filling and protect tooth after root canal.
Dental bridges restore your beautiful smile, ability to eat and prevent your teeth from shifting.
Dental implants restore your smile & confidence and improve the quality of your life by preventing facial sagging due to tooth loss.
Dentures restore your smile, ability to eat and speak properly and prevent facial sagging due to tooth loss.
Experience exceptional dental care with our highly skilled and experienced restorative dentist at Perfect Smile Dental Group.
