Dental Ideas Straight to the Point

Every time you drink or eat something cold or hot you feel tiny little shocks go up your teeth? In my last blog I talked about causes of tooth sensitivity. This time I will tell you how to stop and prevent it. Actual tooth problem. If you have an actual tooth problem, meaning the pain lingers (5-10 sec) and is getting progressively worse please come in as an emergency because that tooth needs to be treated asap. This usually means a cavity has progressed to the nerve. Likely you will need a filling or a root canal. Make an appointment with us and we can take you out of pain within an hour of you arriving with minimal discomfort. You can be back in your office or back to your family the same day without any disturbances to your daily life except maybe to avoid chewing on that side until the treatment is completed. We will likely do a "pulpotomy" which is basically a half root canal just to take you out of pain. You will have to return another day to complete the case...

Treating sensitive teeth Teeth sensitivity is a large problem for several of my patients as they get older. How do we determine if you have sensitive teeth vs an actual tooth problem? We need to x ray and inspect your tooth to see if any cavities are present or close to the pulp.  Infections are typically what causes actual tooth pain and not just sensitivity. How can you tell usually? Actual tooth problem Lasts 5-15 seconds with stimulus or without. 3-10 on the pain scale history of infections or deep fillings in the area Gets worse with time. (until the tooth devitalizes then it does get better) Swelling, symptoms with touching the gum above the tooth or biting. Teeth sensitivity. Lasts 1-3 seconds with stimulus, 2-3 pain scale no history of past infections or deep fillings Gets better with time. No other symptoms with touching the gum above the tooth or biting. What Causes tooth sensitivity? - over brushing causing gum recession and small lesions on ...

What dentists hate to hear When you come into the office telling us that you hated your previous dentist. We are a small community of professionals and we understand that everyone has their good days and bad days. We refuse to put one of our peers down. If you talk bad about them, the chances are you will talk bad about us when we have one of our bad days. Dentistry is hard we try to be 100% everyday, but it doesn't always work out that way. We are humans too. When you have a high gag reflex- This one we can not blame our patients for, but it can be frustrating when the patient is uncooperative. Unfortunately, some people just have high gag reflexes; however, if you are willing to work with us and try to work through the discomfort, we will do our best to complete your treatment as fast as possible. When you are late For everyone time is money. If you are late, we will move on to the next patient so be prepared to wait. If we can no longer see you today our staff will...

What your Dentist loves to hear We love when you tell us that your teeth are feeling great.  When we ask how your teeth are doing and you tell us that your teeth are great, we feel like our job here is done. Contrary to popular belief, we are not obsessed with money. We love it when our patients have a clean bill of dental health. We feel like we did our job and are happy to spend the extra time that's usually saved for treatment to talk to you about your life and learn more about our wonderful patients. We love when your teeth are flawlessly clean. Again this gives a feeling like we were able to educate and take care of your mouth to the best of ability. We see the drastic difference in health when you first come into our office to now. We love when you trust in us . I love when a patient tells me "doctor do whatever is best for me." I understand dental treatment is costly but in most cases in the long run doing what is necessary can save you the most amount...

Root canal or implants.   With the new development of implant dentistry dentist have been able to do so much more with dentistry. However conventional dentistry still has its place. The dreadful words of root canal makes people cringe and most people don't understand why it can cost so much for a root canal and crown to protect the tooth. The truth is it takes just as long for a dentist to do a good root canal and crown as it does to complete an extraction implant. In fact it probably takes more time. The truth is your natural teeth is king. If you ever talk to anyone who had a complicated case with implants they will tell you not everyone individual is that straightforwards. Implants can be an easy procedure but when problems arise it is very difficult to fix.   Why natural teeth? Even when we do a root canal and your nerves are dead you still have these nerves called periodontal ligaments which attach to the root of your teeth. These ligaments still provi...

Whitening First come in for your normal hygiene appointment and tell  my team that you are concerned about your stains. 90 percent of the stains can be removed from your regular hygiene appointment. Most of the stains are attached to the plaque and calculus stuck to the rough surfaces of your teeth. These stains can be removed with the ultrasonic machine. However, not all stains can be removed as seen below on the left those are stains that we can remove. The general yellowing of the patient on the right can not be removed with a cleaning.             CAN BE CLEANED                                                                                            CANNOT BE CLEANED After your clean...

Whitening Dental whitening is not for everyone, but it probably is for you.   Patients ask me about how they can receive dental whitening at my office before their wedding or after college where you want to look the absolute best for those close up photos and job interviews. Patients always ask me how do you keep your teeth so white? There are three factors in keeping those teeth white.   1. DIET! The new fad with coffee and tea have been the bane of our existence. Although, we personally can't live without it but trying to clean coffee and tea stains at every recall appointment is a challenge. Stains on your plaque and calculus are removed very easily but stains in the nooks and cranny of your teeth can only be removed with whitening or fillings or crowns. For my Asian American patients the act of dipping soy sauce with your food can cause significant staining if not immediately cleaned or rinsed. However, we all know caffeine is a drug and your no...