Reasons to Have Your Old Metal Fillings Replaced
Reasons To Have Your Old Amalgam Fillings Replaced With Natural-Looking Composite Fillings If your mouth is still full of those old, metallic fillings that were inserted into your teeth years ago, then you may want to consider making the switch to more natural-looking composite fillings. It’s been shown in studies the average life of a metal filling is 8-15 years. If your fillings are older than 15 years, you may want to consider having them updated. Here are some great reasons to upgrade your old amalgam fillings: 1. Hidden Decay A metal filling can have fractures or weak margins allowing bacteria to enter the tooth beside the filling, ultimately causing decay under or around the filling. This cavity can not be detected in the dental x-ray, as the metal filling will mask it. The only way its detectable is to remove it and look under it. 2. Increased Strength Since composite fillings are actually bonded into the matrix of the tooth structure, they can slightly strengthen your teeth and help hold the tooth together. If an old metal filling is large and little natural tooth structure exists, a crown may be the best way to update and strengthen the tooth. 3. Steady Size Silver fillings expand or contract due to temperature change. If your fillings change size whenever you drink hot or cold beverages, then your teeth may develop cracks. Since composite fillings aren’t made of a metal that expands or contracts in such a manner, you will have less potential for tooth damage. 4. Less Invasive If you are terrified at the thought of somebody drilling holes in your teeth, then you should definitely choose natural-looking composite fillings over amalgam fillings. Although the removal of some of your tooth is necessary because of the cavity, much less of the tooth will need to be removed, which means more conservative drilling is involved. Composite fillings don’t need the same depth, thickness and mechanical retention to be stable, unlike metal fillings. 5. Natural Appearance For most people, this is the biggest benefit of composite fillings. Instead of having a mouthful of silver fillings, your teeth will look all-natural, and after a while, you probably won’t even remember which teeth have fillings! 6. Metallic Taste Some get a metallic taste in their mouths from having metal fillings. By getting rid of them, we can eliminate this metallic taste which can allow foods to taste better. Micro metal wear and fatigue occur during chewing. 7. Potential Health risk While the FDA and the ADA do not claim metal fillings pose health risk, there are studies out there that show different conclusions. While I am not legally able to say metal fillings pose a health risk, I do feel there has to be some small merit in these studies. I let people make their own decisions about this subject, and don’t recommend people to remove metal fillings based on this reason alone. Have a great day.
Taste of My Own Medicine
Today, I went to the dentist to update my fillings. I need to admit, I had a horrible love with candy during my teen years, which led to having many fillings completed in my adolescent years. (Being in the dental office so much interested me in becoming one – so its not all bad!) What got me was braces, braces and candy don’t mix. You can’t floss very easily with braces, so I decided brushing would be enough. In college, some of these metal fillings had cracked and needed to be replaced. So in college, I had another round of metal fillings. After college and into dental school, I became and still am, a dental mutt. I had a filling or two done in dental school by other students and teachers. When I graduated from dental school, I had several other dentists I worked with do fillings on me. Two years ago I had a small laser gum surgery at a laser course as a demonstration! So, in my goal book this year, I wrote down to get my routine dental work updated. So today, I went to a dentist I met in a conference in Scottsdale, AZ, who practices in Lafayette, CO. His name is Dr. Greg Keene of Keene Smiles. Last night (the night before the appointment, I was nervous. I thought about shots, drills, feeling the pain, etc. This morning on the drive to the appointment, I was also nervous. I had to tell myself everything would be ok! However, I was going to a new dentist I have never gone to before, trust is huge, other than knowing Dr. Keene at dental courses, I did not know what he was like as a dentist. This morning he replaced 8 metal fillings on my upper right and lower right side. I replaced them with composite and porcelain onlays. My teeth were not bothering me, I just knew that it had been over 13 years since those fillings were placed. I know that fillings can leak and decay can set up under them and go undetected, even with dental x-rays. I was right, some of my fillings, had decay under them. I have had excellent hygiene, a fairly good diet, and received professional cleanings every 6-8 months the last 10 years of my life too! So, today, I felt the needles, drill sounds and vibrations, was opened for long periods of time, numb lip, bad tastes, etc. Was the work totally comfortable? No, but it wasn’t bad at all. Dr. Keene did a great job! I am so proud of myself today that I took care of this and know my teeth are in much better shape. I have one more round on the left side and my teeth and fillings will be up to date. I now have a thorough understanding and appreciation of the drilling noises, vibrations, needles, taste, numbing feel, etc. During the appointment, I thought about all my future patients and what I can do to make it more comfortable for you all. I want to give a big thanks to Dr. Greg Keene of Keene Smiles in Lafayette, CO for all the work he did on me today. In conclusion, I wanted to share with you, that today – I received a dose of my own medicine.
Top 11 Reasons Cerec is Better..
(For those of you who don’t know what a Cerec Machine is….please see our webpage over here here) This past weekend, I attended the Cerec 3rd Annual Symposium, in Scottsdale, AZ at the Scottsdale Center for Dentistry, a premier leader in Cerec Education. Many Topics were covered over the weekend and we even met the software designers from Germany. They presented us the new Cerec software coming out next month, version 4.0, which is one of the best software improvements of Cerec over their 25+ year history. We heard from independent dental material researchers,dental lab technicians, and top clinicians. I took home many things from this meeting, but mainly the confidence that Cerec is the best way of making dental restorations. Here are reasons why Cerec is better than traditional dentistry (presented to us again by top researchers and lap technicians in the world). 1) No Temporaries / One Visit – Temporary restorations can break, fall off, or not last during the 2 weeks needed to fabricate a crown at a lab. Teeth can be sensitive, micro-shift and drift, etc. that can allow the crown from the lab not to fit well or damage to the unprotected tooth. 2) No lab remakes – A lab presenter from a major dental lab stated on average crowns remakes range from 6-10% of the time. This means a crown could take up to 3 maybe even 4 visits! 3) Machine Made Materials – Traditionally porcelain is stacked from a powder liquid technique allowing for weak micro space in the porcelain. Regulated, precise, machine made porcelain is precise and uniform, allowing for a consistent, strong and predictable material. 4) Accurate Impressions – Digital scans are shown to be up to 20-40% more accurate than traditional impression material. Traditionally, a impression is made, sent to the lab and poured up in stone. There are about 20-40 inconsistencies / distortions that can occur in this traditional step. Materials can shrink, expand, get to hot or to cold during shipping, etc. This more accurate scan leads to a more accurate fit and seal with the tooth. 5) Better Bonded Strength- Traditionally, dental crowns are cemented. Cerec crowns are bonded to the tooth vs cemented, using stronger, high sealing, long lasting bonded materials. 6) Every step can be controlled by the dentist – From Start to Finish, the whole CEREC procedure is controlled by the dentist. You can tweek everything about the crown such as bite, tooth contacts, anatomy, width, etc. 7) You can copy– With Cerec, existing Teeth can be copied. This means we can let you keep the exact shape you are used to. This cannot be done with a dental lab. We scan, prepare tooth, copy the scan onto the prepared tooth and give you exactly what you were used to. 8) No 2nd Numbing – many times you need to get numb again to take the temporary off. Not a concern with Cerec single visit porcelain dentistry. 9) In office custom staining and glazing – Traditionally if the crown color we got back from the lab isn’t correct, we had to send it back or you had to go to the dental lab. With Cerec, we can re-stain and glaze the custom color right here in the office. 10) Crown is saved – If you happen to break or fracture a crown make with Cerec, we have the crown stored in the computer. We hit mill and make you a new crown instantly. 11) Environmentally friendly – Instead of delivery trucks to send the case to the lab, we can now email the precise scan to a lab, and the lab can fabricate the crown. You also don’t have to come here twice, so that also saves gas. No need for impression materials, stone, temporaries to go into landfills. Have a great Day
Oral B ProfessionalCare SmartSeries 5000 Kit Now Avaliable!
We are now selling Oral B’s best electric toothbrush. Oral-B’s most technologically advanced toothbrush, ProfessionalCare SmartSeries 5000 with SmartGuide provides Oral-B’s most advanced cleaning technology for ultimate plaque removal and also features a wireless SmartGuide. Separate, wireless SmartGuide helps maximize brushing performance Deep Clean mode removes up to 99.7% of plaque from hard-to-reach areas* Pressure sensor stops pulsations when brushing too hard Gentle on teeth and gums Improves gum health better than Sonicare FlexCare Offers outstanding whitening and polishing in 3 weeks** 5 modes: Daily Clean, Sensitive, Whitening, Massage, Deep Clean Oral-B is the #1 dentist-recommended toothbrush brand worldwide Also includes Crest Bag, Toothpaste, Rinse and Floss We are selling these for $125 and it comes with a $15 mail in rebate so your price is $110 total. Compare this to 159.99 at Target.com. We feel this is a great deal and toothbrush. Give your mouth the clean it deserves!
Oral Cancer / Velscope
Most of us are familiar with cancer. Its crossed our path in one way or another during our lifetime. We don’t necessarily know why we get it but unfortunately it happens. We don’t know why we get it but we do know how. Cancer (all forms) is mainly caused by problems with cell replication. Daily our cells which form our tissues undergo death and replication which is all a very complex process involving many stages that have to work precisely. Tissues with higher than normal replication cycles include but are not limited to: skin, breast, GI tract, genital, oral. Lets take this discussion and focus on oral. Oral tissues involve tongue, lips, mucosal lining of mouth (including hard and soft palate), salivary glands, tonsils, beginning of throat. Daily, we eat and drink, most of us three times a day or more. What do we eat or drink? Everything and anything. Sometimes we don’t even know whats in the food we eat or the things we drink. The things we place in our mouth sit on our tongue, our oral tissues, or teeth. Things we place in our mouths can be cold, hot, spicy, salty, sweet, acidic, basic, and even toxic! As you can see the tissue in our mouth undergoes many cycles. Daily we loose and rebuild cells in our oral tissues at a higher rate that other parts of the body. Just like other types of cancer, oral cancer has a good prognosis if detected early. For years dentist have detected oral cancer, but have detected it when they could visibly see it. Once you can visibly see oral cancer its likely to be in a lower prognosis. (stage 3 or 4) Until 5 years ago, there was no other way for dentist to detect oral cancer other that visibly. Gynecologist detect cancer with a pap smear, but dentist never had a pre-visible diagnostic attack on cancer until now. Enter the Velscope. The Velscope is a light that shines on the tissues and fluoresces normal tissue green. If the tissue does not fluoresce green, it needs to be looked at in greater detail. This technology allows dentist to actually look into tissues in greater detail and detect cancer in earlier stages. This technology is also moving to the gynecological circuit as they are hoping to reduce pap smears. (After all a pap smear caused you to rebuild cells that just got scrapped off) Is this light safe? Completely! Its not a laser, its a normal light that is taken at a different spectrum to allow fluorescence. Since the Velscopes introduction, oral cancer is quickly on the rise. I believe this is due to dentists being more aware and easily being able to detect it. We have elected to participate in this brilliant Velscope technology. Everyday we learn something new and things seem to always change. It is my job as a clinician to keep you informed. Till next time…. Have a great day!
Most Dental Problems are Silent
Daily, I get asked from patients, if I am not having pain, why do I have to get a filling? Like cancer and heart disease in the body, most dental problems are silent. Lets look at a few silent dental problems. Cavities When a cavity starts to hurt, that is when it is almost too late to just simply do a filling! Cavities do no hurt until they get close to the nerve in the tooth. The tooth has 2 layers to protect the nerve, the enamel and the dentin. The enamel is one of the hardest elements of the human body, its amazing to think microscopic bacteria can destroy it. Once the bacteria sets up in the dentin of the tooth, the tooth can literally become an eggshell and still look like nothing is wrong. The longer the bacteria sit inside the tooth, the more they destroy by their acid secretion/waste. The bacteria work their way through the dentin to the nerve. This is when pain can start. By then, the nerve has bacteria in it and an infection develops at the root tip of the tooth. The only way to save this tooth now is a root canal and crown, when a filling would have been more simple and cost effective. The assumption is if the tooth doesn’t hurt, it doesn’t need to be fixed Gum Disease Gum Disease is bacteria, plaque and tartar, that develops under the gums. The bacteria also secrete a substance that can kill and destroy bone structure around the teeth. As painful as that sounds, it can present no pain. With destroyed bone around the teeth, teeth can eventually get lose and fall out. Generally, this process can take 5-15 years, but can also happen rapidly, depending on diet, hygiene, bacteria levels in the mouth, etc. Existing Root Canals Once a root canal is completed, there is no more nerve in the tooth. At the bottom of the tooth (the root tip) is where a infection can set up. Bone doesn’t have nerves like tissue does, so therefor if there is an infection underneath a root canal, it can’t be felt. Once this gets to a large level, prognosis of retreating the root can decrease. Implants Dental implants can get gum disease around them and fail as well. Anytime a dental implant becomes loose, its a failure. So, the point of this blog is for me to show you examples of why and how most dental problems are silent. After any dental work is completed it should be checked yearly with an x-ray. The more dental work you have completed, the more work it takes to keep the work lasting. Don’t take chances and see a dentist routinely, so we can get to the problem, before other major problems creep up on you.