Why choose New Smiles Dental?
At New Smiles, our three dentists pride themselves on having the training, expertise, and experience to perform all necessary general dentistry treatments and procedures and a full range of cosmetic treatments. We also place our own dental implants, perform root canals, treat most forms of gum disease, and extract wisdom teeth — this saves our patients the trouble of having to find specialists for these procedures.
We feel the depth of our experience with Drs. Doyel, Aanderud, Wisenant allows us to provide our patients from Sherwood and the surrounding areas with the finest quality and most extensive services in the area. We enjoy working with generations of patients and being a part of this great community.
And we enjoy giving our patients the smiles they’ve always dreamed of having!
Can I Have Porcelain Veneers Placed Over a Crown?
A porcelain crown is placed over a single natural tooth for two reasons — to save a tooth with serious damage from needing extraction or to cosmetically alter the appearance of a misshapen or otherwise flawed tooth. Crowns are also used as anchors for dental bridges. Crowns are long-term dental prosthetics that can last the remainder of the patient’s life.
Porcelain veneers are thin porcelain shells that are placed over the visible front surfaces of the teeth to change their cosmetic appearance. To place a veneer, we need to shave a small amount of the tooth’s natural enamel off before placing the veneer. This makes room for the veneer to sit on the tooth and not make the tooth thicker than it was originally.
There isn’t any reason to place a veneer on a crowned tooth. Number one, both the crown and the veneer are made of dental porcelain, so they look the same. Two, the crown has already improved the cosmetic appearance of the tooth in addition to returning strength and function.
You can have porcelain veneers placed when you have a crown or crowns, but we would skip the crowned teeth.
How Is Sleep Apnea Usually Treated?
Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy is the most recommended treatment for patients with obstructive sleep apnea. CPAP involves the patient wearing a mask over their nose and mouth that creates higher pressure in their respiratory system than the outside room pressure. By creating a pressure difference, this keeps the tongue and the tissues at the back of the throat from sliding back and blocking the airflow. There are different CPAP devices, but all require some sort of mask along with equipment that sits bedside.
Oral appliances are the other typical treatment for sleep apnea. Worn at night, these appliances help keep the jaw and tongue in the proper position. There are generally two types of oral appliances we custom fit at New Smiles — mandibular (lower jaw) advancing devices and tongue-retaining devices.
I Have Dental Anxiety. how Can Sedation Dentistry Help Me?
Some people experience deep anxiety when even thinking about going to the dentist, much less walking in and actually having a procedure done. This type of anxiety can keep a patient from coming in for their regular exams and cleanings, which is where we spot problems such as decay early on when they are easy to address. Or it can keep the person from having a restoration that involves their overall oral health.
That’s why we offer sedation dentistry at New Smiles Dental. Sedation dentistry allows our patients to relax and feel calm during their visit. We offer various sedation options depending upon the level of the patient’s anxiety and what they are comfortable with. Plus, sedation allows patients to group various procedures into a single office visit, making for better use of your time. Sedation has the added benefit of keeping the patient from remembering much, if anything, about his or her visit.
How Often Should I Schedule My Professional Cleaning and Exam?
The American Dental Association recommends seeing your dentist every six months for professional cleanings and oral exams.
Why is six months the timeline for these exams and cleanings? It’s not an arbitrary number.
Six months is about the length of time it takes plaque to harden into tartar to a degree in your mouth that it should be removed. While brushing and flossing remove plaque every day, that same plaque hardens into tartar if you don’t brush enough and in some places such as the inside of your lower teeth (where everyone builds up tartar). Tartar can only be removed by a professional hygienist using a dental pick. When you get beyond six months, tartar can begin to creep under your gumline, and that spells the beginning of gum disease.
Also, when our team at New Smile sees a problem after only six months since the last time we saw you, odds are the problem is only small and easy to address and reverse. This isn’t the case the longer you push off your regular exams.
