Signature Smiles Dental Care
1128 Lake Street Suite 1
Oak Park, IL 60301
(708) 386-6190
While the long-term success rate for a dental implant is well over 95%, there are factors that can compromise their success. For this reason, our office has put together this list so that you can be prepared should you ever need a dental implant. We feel that by providing our patients with this type of easy-to-understand information, we can educate, address any concerns and help produce the best results.
The three most common categories for classifying factors that influence dental implant success are: general health concerns, local factors and maintenance issues. As you may suspect, general health concerns include factors such as:
The second category is “local factors” and includes bone quantity and quality — there must be sufficient bone to anchor implants. Other considerations that fall into this category include whether or not you clench or grind your teeth or have additional bite concerns, as all of these can have negative impacts on both the short and long-term success of an implant.
The last category concerns maintenance. While dental implants are superior works of technology that can last a lifetime and produce results that are nearly identical to natural teeth in looks and durability, they do require routine maintenance. This includes daily cleaning (brushing and flossing) and routine visits to our office for evaluation and professional care to make sure they are functioning properly.
To learn more on this subject, continue reading the Dear Doctor magazine article “Factors which can influence implant success.” You can also contact us today to schedule an appointment to discuss your questions about dental implants.
As the Boy Scouts say, it's best to be prepared. You may never have a traumatic injury to your teeth. But what if you do? Here are four questions and answers about such injuries and their treatment that may be helpful some day.
What are traumatic injuries?
We are talking about physical damage caused by a fall, an accident, or a blow to the face. The word trauma comes from the Greek root meaning “wound.”
A traumatic injury can also cause broken, cracked, or split teeth, or a fracture to the root of the tooth. A tooth may be dislodged from its proper position, pushed sideways, out of or deeper into its socket. It may even be completely knocked out of your mouth.
What should you do if your tooth is knocked out?
With proper treatment, the tooth can be restored to its original place. You must handle the tooth gently and seek professional help as soon as possible. Rinse the tooth in cold water if it is dirty, but do not use any cleaning agent. Avoid touching the root. While hurrying to your dentist, keep the tooth from drying out by keeping it in a container of milk or of your saliva, or by holding it in your mouth between gum and cheek. It is vital to keep the tooth's living tissues moist until it can be professionally assessed and replanted in its socket. If a tooth has been dislodged but not knocked out, it must be repositioned in its socket and may be stabilized with a splint.
Who can treat a tooth that is damaged by a traumatic injury?
A general dentist, an oral surgeon or an endodontist is trained to treat such injuries. An endodontist is trained to treat the root canal(s) inside a tooth. The word comes from “endo” the Greek word for “inside,” and “odont,” the word for “tooth.” After a tooth is replaced in its socket and stabilized, root canal treatment is often needed.
What is root canal treatment?
A tooth is composed mostly of dentin, a living tissue. The top part or crown is covered by hard mineralized enamel. The soft tissue inside the tooth, the pulp, contains blood vessels, nerves and connective tissues. It extends from the crown to the tip of the roots. Treatment of dental pulp injuries is called root canal or endodontic treatment and is usually needed to treat teeth that have been dislodged or fractured.
Contact us today to schedule an appointment to discuss your questions about injuries to teeth and related nerve damage. You can also learn more by reading the Dear Doctor magazine article “Trauma & Nerve Damage to Teeth.”
A dental crown is a tooth-shaped “cap” or cover that we place over a tooth that is badly damaged from trauma or decay to restore its shape, strength, size and functionality. We also use them for cosmetic reasons to improve a tooth's appearance with natural, life-like results. Crowns are generally handcrafted by dental laboratory technicians using high-quality dental porcelains (ceramic materials) that are made to fit on precise replicas (molds) of the prepared teeth. In our office, we generally make temporary crowns to protect the teeth to keep them comfortable and functional while the permanent crown(s) is being made. And once a crown is placed (cemented into position), it fully encases the entire visible portion of the tooth that lies at and above the gum line.
There are many reasons a crown may be needed. Some of these include:
To learn more on this topic, read the Dear Doctor article, “Porcelain Crowns & Veneers.” You can also contact us to discuss your questions or to schedule a consultation.
If you cringe at the appearance of your less than pearly whites when you look in the mirror, you are not alone. A frequently requested cosmetic procedure, teeth whitening is a very successful and relatively inexpensive way to enhance your smile. We can determine which whitening treatment will work best for you after performing a basic oral examination in our office. When will it work and when won't it? Here's some background:
Teeth most commonly become stained or discolored due to surface (extrinsic) changes, the most common of which are dietary and smoking. Foods including red wine, coffee, and tea can cause extrinsic staining. Teeth can also commonly become discolored or stained due to intrinsic (internal) reasons, such as changes in the structure of enamel or dentin or by incorporation of chromogenic (color generating) material into tooth tissue during formation or after eruption.
If you would like to discuss whitening your teeth with us, call today to make an appointment. To learn more about the various teeth whitening procedures, read the Dear Doctor magazine article “Teeth Whitening: Brighter, Lighter, Whiter…”