Our team wants to help protect your smile from common concerns like tooth decay and gum disease. We also want to help take on these concerns when they develop with metal-free dental work and custom oral appliances. In today’s blog, your team at Lake Orion Family Dentistry talks about helping smiles in Lake Orion, MI, with general dentistry.
General Checkups and Cleanings
Helping smiles with general dentistry starts with a dental checkup. With a routine exam, we will look closely at your teeth, gums, roots, and interior structures with digital x-rays and intraoral cameras. These provide a safe and holistic approach, as we use 90% less radiation, eschewing bitewings, and providing images instantly chairside. We can make a diagnosis with precision and plan treatment carefully, tailoring it to your unique smile.
General dentistry also helps smiles with a dental cleaning. During your cleaning visit, we will use an ultrasonic scaling device and a manual tool to remove all plaque and tartar from your teeth. This only takes a few minutes, and removing plaque helps fight bad breath, teeth stains, cavities, and even gum disease. The last step is to polish the teeth, a process that brightens them and also helps limit the ability for plaque and tartar to cling to them.
Treating Bruxism
General dentistry could help your smile by letting us identify and treat bruxism. Also known as chronic teeth grinding, bruxism means there is serious pressure on your teeth each night as you grind and clench them. Without treatment, this could wear down teeth so they appear shorter than normal, and could also crack and chip them. Even minor injuries could leave the teeth vulnerable to painful decay and infection, and even threaten smile stability with time. But we can help! If you have nightly grinding episodes, or if you experience toothaches and tooth sensitivity, soreness in the face or jaw during the day, or headaches and migraines, then let us know. Our team will conduct a diagnosis with digital imaging and we find you have bruxism, we can help with a custom oral appliance.
Our team will take detailed images of your bite to design and craft an oral appliance, one that is worn like a mouthguard at night while you sleep. When in place, this helps reposition the jaw to ease underlying stress and strain, and also places a soft barrier between the upper and lower teeth to prevent further damage, so you enjoy a holistic and comfortable way to address teeth grinding. If your teeth are damaged, we can offer repair with metal-free dental work, using biocompatible and holistic materials that are all metal-free!
Helping Little Smiles
Our team is proud to offer pediatric dentistry to help smiles of all ages. Our approach to general dentistry includes helping kids. Not only do we offer checkups and cleanings every six months, but we can talk to parents about ways to boost smile health from home. We also offer unique treatments to help lower the risk of tooth decay. Fluoride can be applied to the teeth in a varnish form to strengthen enamel for months to come, and can be re-applied during each checkup and cleaning visit.
We could also offer dental sealants, which are a thin acrylic layer that coats the rear teeth and prevents food and drink particles from being caught between the molars, which kids often have trouble reaching when they brush and floss. Sealants take seconds to apply but can stay in place for years to come, even a decade for some kids!
Metal-Free Dental Work
Our team is proud to offer metal-free dental work as part of our general dentistry approach. Which means when you have an issue like tooth decay, we offer a composite resin filling that bonds with the tooth and looks natural, one that is safe for all ages. Likewise, if a tooth needs a crown, we could create and place a custom one in one visit, which again looks natural and blends with the smile. Even tooth replacement is possible with a holistic approach, as metal-free dental work includes creating bridges and dentures made from porcelain.
If you have any questions about how we help smiles with general dentistry, or if you would like to schedule a visit to start improving your smile, then contact our team today. You can see us now to use your benefits before they expire, and start a new year with a better smile!
Lake Orion Family Dentistry Provides General Dental Care
We want to help protect the health and beauty of your smile with general dentistry, including metal-free dental work. To find out more about general dentistry, or to schedule an appointment, call Lake Orion Family Dentistry in Lake Orion, MI at (248)693-6213.
