Regular dental checkups are imperative to maintaining optimal oral health. In addition to a good home regimen, regular cleanings and exams will help to avoid tooth decay and gum disease and to prevent many expensive dental treatments.

Prevention starts with controlling plaque, a colorless bacteria that sticks to the surface of your teeth, and calculus, a harder mineral deposit. These are the main sources of decay and periodontal disease. By maintaining a proper routine of daily hygiene, you can prevent most oral disease. Our hygienists at Englander Dental are excellent and are available to assist you with your hygiene and management of your gums.

During your regular checkup, your hygienist will:

• Review your medical history
• Look for cavities or evidence of tooth decay
• Take necessary digital x-rays
• Check for any problems or oral cancer
• Inspect your teeth and gums for signs of gingivitis or gum disease
• Thoroughly clean and polish your teeth
• Provide fluoride treatment for prevention of decay

The Treatment of Gum Disease

Gingivitis

Gingivitis is the early stages of periodontal disease, when only the soft tissues of the mouth are affected. Plaque buildup leads to tartar and bacteria below the gum line, which cause the gums to become inflamed, irritated, and bleed. A few of the common contributing factors include dry mouth due to medications or medical conditions, orthodontic braces, and mouth breathing. Fortunately, gingivitis is reversible! With good professional care, like the care you get here from the team at Englander Dental, followed by a good home care routine of regular brushing and flossing your gums can become healthy again.

Periodontitis

Periodontitis is a progressed stage of gum disease and is marked by the breakdown of the bone and gums that secure and support the teeth. Periodontal disease is the number one cause of tooth loss in adults. Though the main cause of gum disease is lack of oral hygiene, contributing factors include heavy smoking and diabetes. Unfortunately, bone that has been resorbed due to periodontal disease will not grow back, but aggressive professional treatment and thorough home care can prevent the situation from getting worse.

Diagnosis of Gum Disease

The early signs of gum disease include redness, swelling, or inflammation around the gum line. If these systems appear, your dentist will check for the build up of calculus (tartar) below your gum line. Your dentist or hygienist may use a tool called a probe to test your gums for bleeding and measure periodontal pockets. X-rays are also helpful in evaluating the bone level around your teeth.

Treatment of Gum Disease

Gingivitis, the early stage of gum disease, is easily treated with professional cleanings with a dental hygienist and proper home care to remove the plaque before it becomes calculus. Periodontitis, however, will require more aggressive treatment. Your dentist may recommend that you have a deep cleaning (called scaling and root planing) to remove the plaque and calculus below your gums. For your comfort, anesthesia is used and the procedure is broken up into two or more visits followed by a final polish visit where we remove any residual stain and check for persistent areas of inflammation. A slow-released antibiotic is often placed into deep pockets. You may also be prescribed mouth rinses. Patients in periodontal treatment frequently require cleanings and check-ups every three to four months to maintain their periodontal health.

Scaling & Root Planing

Patients with gum and periodontal disease require help in cleaning the deeper pockets found in the mouth.  This deep tissue removal of calculus restores your mouth to health below the gums. If left untreated, calculus build up propagates periodontal disease and irreversible bone loss. Not only will your bone begin to recede leaving your teeth more fragile and prone to loosening, it is linked to a number of other diseases.

Your hygienist will spend a significant amount of time on each tooth that requires this deep cleaning.  Usually, only one fourth of your mouth will be completed per appointment.  You should expect to receive anesthetic during this procedure since a cleaning of this depth is often uncomfortable.  There are three levels of pain management available during this procedure, from topical gel, to a gel that is placed in each sulcus (gums around each tooth), to local anesthetic injection.  Your hygienist will help you to choose which form of anesthetic is most appropriate for your procedure.

Periodontal Maintenance

After successful scaling and root planing, your hygienist will recommend that your mouth require a little extra attention above and beyond what is provided at a regular cleaning appointment. By coming in for periodontal maintenance, your hygienist can keep the bacteria growing in your mouth under control and help you to avoid further periodontal disease and bone loss.  Generally, periodontal maintenance patients are recommended appointments at intervals of every 3-4 months.

We love kids and believe it is important for their long-term health to give them a positive first experience in a dental office. The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry recommends that your child have their first visit to the dentist by their first birthday (or when their first tooth erupts). Research shows that early detection and good oral health care impacts their general health and can help improve their school readiness. In addition, children benefit from early exposure to the dental office because it alleviates unnecessary future anxiety about the unknown and allows us to establish a relationship for the future.

Your Child’s First Dental Visit

We encourage you to bring your child in for a “get acquainted visit”. We will show them around to help make them familiar with our office and have them sit up in the chair for an examination with one of our friendly dentists. Your child may choose to sit in your lap, and that’s okay, too! Our goal is for them to be comfortable and relaxed.

We will count their teeth, show them how to brush, and talk about how important it is to take care of their teeth. Our dentists will also assess their oral health and can discuss with you any concerns with crowding, occlusion (bite), or risk of cavities to ensure they are developing appropriately.

Your child might enjoy watching one of these videos before their visit:

• A Child’s First Dentist Visit
• Going to the Dentist
• Childs First Trip to the Dentist
• Peppa Pig – The Dentist
• Billy Blue Hair – Why Do I Have To Go To The Dentist?

Professional Dental Pediatric Cleaning

We recommend that kids have their teeth cleaned every six months. At that appointment, we will clean their teeth and remove any hardened calculus and plaque that may have form then we will use hand instruments and a state-of-the-art ultrasonic scaler to polish their teeth so they are bright and shiny. We also recommend a fluoride treatment to protect their teeth and keep them healthy and strong.

Fluoride Treatment Helps Keep Your Child’s Teeth Strong

Tooth enamel is one of the hardest substances on Earth. Unfortunately, acid from the foods we eat and the bacteria in our mouths can eat away that enamel. Fluoride helps keep enamel strong and prevent cavities. It can even reverse the problem by helping enamel to re-mineralize and harden. Topical fluoride application can also help re-mineralize sensitive areas of exposed roots and close off the microscopic tubules leading to the nerve.

Professional fluoride treatment is a safe and effective way of reducing your risk of dental decay. We use the latest proven methods of fluoride application to safely deliver fluoride to your teeth.

Reasons to get a professional fluoride application:

• Children and adults that are moderate and high risk for decay
• Desensitization for exposed root surfaces
• Decay prevention on exposed root surfaces
• Surrounding metal orthodontic braces and brackets

Dental Sealants Helps Protect Your Child’s Teeth

A dental sealant is a thin coating that your dentist or hygienist will paint on the biting surfaces of your child’s back teeth. Sealants help to prevent tooth decay by sealing off the deep grooves that are often too narrow and too deep for their toothbrushes to clean. Sealants cover up the pits to avoid letting bacteria get into them and they smooth out the surfaces so it is easier to keep them clean.

Your child’s first set of permanent molars will erupt around age six. We recommend having sealants placed between the ages of six and 14, the time when they are especially prone to getting cavities.

Though we want kids to learn to manage their own oral hygiene, some children don’t have the coordination yet to properly clean these teeth. (Ideally, they should be brushing independently for at least two minutes, twice daily.) Six-year molars are statistically the most restored teeth in the mouth for this reason; they are the first permanent teeth to erupt so they have to stick around the longest, and they are present during the most cavity prone period of their life. Sealant can help keep the teeth healthy and avoid problems.

Sealants can last up to 10 years, but since they are a thin plastic coating it is possible that they can chip or break off. Dr. Huepfel Dental and your hygienist will check them at your regular dental cleanings to make sure they are still in good shape.

To view the most recent guidelines set forth by the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry, visit: http://www.aapd.org/media/Policies_Guidelines/G_Periodicity.pdf

For additional information, go to http://www.aapd.org

When decay gets down below the surface enamel and into the dentin of the tooth, we must remove the cavity (also called caries) and fill that space with a restorative material to preserve the tooth. Common filling materials are silver amalgam and composite resin.

At Englander Dental, we use composite resin because of its ability to bond to the tooth and because it looks more natural. Dental composites are tooth-colored. In contrast to silver (amalgam), composite tooth-colored fillings are much more conservative because less tooth structure needs to be removed. Additionally, because the composite material bonds to the tooth it adds strength, making it less prone to fracture or breakage in the future.

Cosmetic Solutions with Dental Crowns

A dental crown is a custom-made artificial tooth cap that completely covers a chipped, cracked or damaged tooth. The tooth-shaped “cap” that is placed over a tooth to cover the tooth to restore its shape and size, strength, and improve its appearance. The crown, when cemented into place, fully encases the entire visible portion of a tooth above the gum line. Crowns can be made from a number of different materials. All-ceramic crowns are milled out of blocks of solid porcelain to match the shade and color of your tooth.

Most commonly, dental crowns are a restoration procedure for teeth needing more structural support and long-lasting protection than cavity fillings or inlays. Dental crowns can be used in connection with a variety of procedures in cosmetic dentistry:

• Dental Implants: Dental crowns are used to cap the metal rod implant in place of a missing tooth.
• Dental Bridges: Dental crowns on the teeth adjacent to the bridge serve as anchors for the bridge to clamp onto for support.
• Root Canal Therapy: Dental crowns protect brittle teeth after root canal therapy.

Advantages of Dental Crowns

Support for the Tooth

While dental veneers only conceal the front surface of a tooth, dental crowns cover the entire damaged tooth, restoring functionality, shape, size, and strength to the tooth. This is especially important for posterior teeth where up to 150-200 lbs. of pressure can be placed on the teeth while chewing.

Long Lasting

Dental crowns are designed to last several years when accompanied by good oral hygiene. On average, they last at least ten years, but generally much longer depending on the type of crown and oral health of the patient.

Preserve The Tooth

Dental crowns seal the damaged teeth off from bacteria in the saliva that can cause teeth to deteriorate. They can also hold together cracked teeth, preserving their functionality.

Natural Looking Results

The dental lab can custom mold dental crowns that closely match the curves and shape of your other teeth.

A bridge is a fixed dental restoration used to replace a missing tooth by joining an artificial tooth permanently to adjacent teeth or dental implants. Types of bridges may vary, depending upon how they are fabricated and the way they anchor to the adjacent teeth. Conventionally, bridges are made using the indirect method of restoration. However, bridges can be fabricated directly in the mouth using such materials as composite resin.

Other tooth replacement solutions include:

• Dental implants
• Dentures

Sometimes the pulp inside a tooth becomes infected. When this happens, the infection must be removed with root canal therapy (also called endodontic therapy) to save the tooth. The nerve tissue and blood vessels are removed and the inside of the tooth is cleaned with tiny files and irrigating solutions. The decontaminated canals are then filled with a filling material. Root canal therapy both removes infection and protects the decontaminated tooth from future infection.

How Does The Pulp Become infected?

There are a number of ways that the pulp can become infected.

• A deep, untreated cavity
• Repeated dental procedures
• Trauma to the tooth
• Cracked or broken teeth

Whatever way the tooth becomes infected, the pulp eventually dies, and over time, will cause a painful dental abscess within the surrounding jawbone.

How Do I Know If I Need A Root Canal?

If your tooth becomes sensitive to hot or cold food or beverages or hurts when you bite down, it may meant that your tooth has become infected. Another sign of infection is if the tooth becomes discolored or if the gums around the tooth swell. In some cases, a tooth will have no symptoms, but a dental exam and x-ray will reveal a tooth that requires root canal.

A dental extraction is the removal of a tooth and is performed for a wide variety of reasons, including tooth decay. Fortunately, modern dentistry makes routine tooth extractions relatively comfortable, painless procedures.

Simple extractions are usually performed under local anesthetic, and require only the use of instruments to elevate or grasp the visible portion of the tooth. Impacted or problematic wisdom teeth are routinely extracted, as are extractions of some permanent teeth to make space for orthodontic treatment. It the tooth cannot be easily accessed, either because it has broken under the gum line or because it has not fully erupted, it may require a surgical extraction. Dr. Manuel Englander can give you more information about your particular situation and will make sure you are comfortable throughout the process.

Dentures are prosthetic devices designed to replace missing teeth. Conventional dentures are removable; however, there are many different denture designs, some which rely on bonding or clasping onto teeth or dental implants.

Removable Dentures

Removable partial dentures are for patients who are missing some of their teeth on a particular arch.

Fixed Dentures

Fixed partial dentures are made from crowns that are fitted on the remaining teeth to act as abutments and pontics made from materials to resemble the missing teeth.

Implant Dentures

An implant-retained denture is a denture held in place by implants. Usually two to four implants are surgically placed in the bone and become anchored as the bone heals and secures itself to the implant. Once the bone has healed, Dr. Manuel Englander can create an implant denture. An implant denture is a removable denture with attachments on the underside that clip onto a bar connected to the implants. The attachments and bar hold the denture in place and keep it from moving when chewing and speaking. Implant dentures can be classified into two groups: Implant Retained Dentures and Implant Supported Dentures. Implant Retained Dentures are held in place by the attachments, but are mainly supported by the bone and gum tissue as is a conventional denture. Implant Supported Dentures are for patients who do not have sufficient bone and supporting gum tissue. This denture is mainly supported by the bar attached to the implants.

Other solutions for tooth replacement include:

• Dental Implants
• Dental Bridges

Bruxism is a condition in which you grind or clench your teeth. Some people are not even aware that they do this and may unconsciously clench their teeth together during the day or at night while they are sleeping. The evidence is often visible from wear on their teeth, headaches or neck pain symptoms. Treatment can include appliances such as nightguards or jaw exercises. Our expert dentists will do an examination and find a comfortable and effective solution.

If you are an athlete, it is important to protect your teeth during both practices and games. Dental trauma occurs in 25% of children ages 7-14.  While some of that injury is accidental, many injuries are sports related.  A mouth guard can help protect your teeth from being broken, displaced, or damaged and requiring years of costly maintenance and restoration. Custom-fitted mouth guards are easier to wear and offer you the best protection for your smile. We can make that for you right here in our Edina office!