Should all wisdom teeth be removed? Not necessarily. The majority of us don’t have enough room in our mouth for wisdom teeth. If you have room for your wisdom teeth and you can keep them clean, great!  If you don’t have room for your wisdom teeth, the result can be pain, infection and, even worse, mal-positioning of the other teeth. A simple x-ray can determine if you should have your wisdom teeth removed.

What is a root canal? A root canal is a procedure to treat the diseased nerve within a tooth. In earlier years, if you had a tooth with a diseased nerve you'd probably lose that tooth. Today, with root canal therapy you may save your tooth. Inside each tooth is the pulp which provides nutrients and nerves to the tooth, it runs like a thread down through the root. When the pulp is diseased or injured, the pulp tissue dies. Root canal therapy removes that infected or inflamed tissue, sterilizes the inside of the tooth then seals the canal chambers. A crown is subsequently placed to support the tooth. Most of the time a root canal is a relatively simple procedure, with little or no discomfort, involving one to three visits. Best of all, it can save your tooth and your smile!

What type of anesthesia is available to me? The type of anesthesia that is best for you is usually dependant on your mental state and the procedure that is required. For those patients that are not nervous and they require relatively non-traumatic procedures, local anesthesia is usually the anesthesia of choice. If the patient has slight apprehension, we can use local anesthesia as well as nitrous oxide. For patients that are emotionally unable or unwilling to cope with the thought of being alert during a dental procedure, we have other alternatives. Popularly known as sleep dentistry, enteral conscious sedation is the answer for many. This therapy consists of giving the patient an oral medication  starting one hour before treatment followed by additional oral medication at the time of treatment. The patient will be given nitrous oxide as well as local anesthesia. The reason that it is called sleep dentistry is because most people sleep through most of the procedure. There also is the option of I.V. Sedation where we have an anesthesiologist come to the office to administer the anesthesia.

What is tooth bleaching? Bleaching is a process to whiten your teeth. As we go through life, the enamel that covers the crown of our teeth gets more and more micro-fractures. Debris gets into these micro-fractures and results in the general darkening or yellowing of our teeth. Bleaching oxidizes the debris in the micro-fractures and results in whiter, brighter teeth.  Bleaching does not damage the teeth but it might make the teeth sensitive to hot and cold for a short period of time. Bleaching may not correct all types of discoloration. For example, yellowish hued teeth will probably bleach well, brownish-colored teeth may bleach less well, and grayish-hued teeth may not bleach well at all.

What are Veneers? Veneers are thin, custom-made shells crafted of tooth-colored materials designed to cover the front side of teeth. They're made by a dental technician, usually in a dental lab, working from a model provided by the dentist. You should know that this is usually an irreversible process, because it's necessary to remove a small amount of enamel from your teeth to accommodate the shell.
 

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