With family dentistry, we offer an array of treatments that address the more common oral health concerns, or help you avoid them altogether. These treatments can help kids and adults alike, and be key to long-term smile health. In today’s blog, your Leawood, KS, dentist talks about what to expect from family dentistry.
Checkups
The checkup is a key component of family dentistry. We suggest one every six months for everyone ages two and older. The checkup is a chance to monitor the smile and catch signs of trouble in the early stages, often before you or your family experience toothaches. We can then create a treatment plan to improve the smile’s health and function.
Cleanings
In the same visit as your checkup, we will clean the teeth with an ultrasonic scaling device and a manual tool. The cleaning enables us to remove all plaque and tartar from the teeth in a matter of minutes, which helps lower the risk of bad breath, teeth stains, cavities, and even gum disease. This is helpful for kids and adults alike, and you can further protect your smile with daily brushing and flossing daily in between your visits.
TMJ and Bruxism Treatment
When you have TMJ disorder, the balance of your bite is upset and this could cause painful symptoms and issues opening and closing your month. With bruxism, you grind your teeth at night, which can damage the teeth and leads to major complications. To avoid pain in the head, face, and jaw, and to prevent cavities and infections, you need treatment. With a custom oral appliance, which fits like a mouthguard and is worn at night, we can shift your jaw to ease TMJ systems, and place a barrier between the upper and lower sets of teeth to prevent bruxism-related damage.
Oral Cancer Screenings
During the exam portion of your six-month visit, our team can conduct an oral cancer screening to catch the disease in the earliest stages, which helps improve your chances of a full recovery.
Scaling and Root Planing
What if you have symptoms of periodontal disease or gingivitis, such as sore, red, and bleeding gums? To help make the disease manageable with preventive care, we will first conduct a deep cleaning. Using the same ultrasonic scaling tool, we will remove buildup from the surfaces of your teeth and also from the exposed roots and beneath the gum line. The procedure is more involved and could take up to four visits, but helps us protect your smile from periodontitis, the stage of the disease linked to tooth loss.
Dental Fillings
What if you have a cavity? If so, we can numb the tooth, remove the decay, and then apply a filling in one visit to save your tooth and stop discomfort. The filling material is a metal-free composite resin that is safe for all ages. We can color match it to blend with your smile too!
Root Canal Therapy
When a tooth is infected, then you need more than a filling or crown to stop discomfort and avoid tooth loss. With a root canal, we can gently and comfortably open the tooth to remove the tissues from within and clean the inside of the tooth. We then add a special restorative filling and finally, we cap the tooth with a lifelike custom crown. This helps save the tooth and keep your smile whole!
Tooth Extraction
Many of our treatments are designed to save teeth and prevent them from being lost. But in some cases, such as severe infection or damage, or wisdom teeth poised to erupt, we could extract the teeth instead. This helps stop the spread of infection and also prevents issues like wisdom tooth eruption from changing the health, function, and appearance of your smile. Our team will plan the procedure in detail and offer anesthesia and sedation to help you enter a deep state of calm and relaxation, so you have a positive experience. The procedure could take as little as 30 minutes, and you could return to your normal routine in as little as a day or two of rest.
If you have any questions about how we protect your smile, or if you want to schedule a family dental visit, then contact our team today to get started.
Do You Have Any Questions About Family Dentistry?
We want to help you smile with confidence and enjoy optimal oral health too. Call Dreem Dentistry in Leawood, KS by calling (913)681-5500 to learn more about how we protect your whole family from poor oral health.
