dentist in indianapolis

Dentures and Bridges: Are They Worth It?

July 12, 2015

Did you know that the average American adult is missing three teeth, or is soon to lose them? The largest contributor to tooth loss is advanced gum disease, or periodontitis: a one-two punch of corrosive organic acids (produced as waste by oral bacteria) and chronic inflammation that destroys your gum tissues and the bone density of your jaw, until finally the teeth begin to come free from their fleshy moorings and either fall out, or are so loose that they cannot be salvaged through dental intervention and must be extracted by an oral surgeon (which even today is a risky undertaking; while we can control the pain you experience during the procedure, the risk of postoperative infection is high; this can be deadly).

To avoid additional (and even more miserable) complications caused by tooth loss (which among other things includes further tooth loss), you need to reach out to your dentist immediately. In our Carmel, IN dental practice, we offer dental implants, bridges, and dentures. Of the three, dental implants are the superior option; we offer dental bridges and dentures because not all patients are suitable candidates for dental implants. However, many of our patients also view dental bridges and dentures as a more cost-effective means of dealing with missing teeth.

While it is true that these restorations have a lower upfront cost than dental implants, the compromises in performance, potentially dangerous drawbacks, and need to regularly replace them makes the decision more complicated than it seems. As the old saying goes, “The sweetness of a lower price is lost to the bitterness of a lower value.”

Dentures: Compromises in Performance

Dentures are perhaps the most well-known form of dental prosthetic; we offer high quality natural looking dentures to our patients who need them, because they approximate the appearance of natural teeth much better than more conventional dentures and therefore provide a better value.

However, if you don’t have to get dentures (because you are well enough to undergo oral surgery and able to support dental implants), your best option is to steer clear and go for dental implants.

Dentures, no matter how well they improve your appearance, do not come close to dental implants in terms of performance. In this context, performance refers to your ability to eat and speak. Chewing food and speaking depend upon a strong bite. Tooth loss will permanently reduce your bite strength; there’s no getting around it, so your bite needs to be restored. Dentures depend upon fit to stay in place (more on this later), and that’s it. Even with adhesive strips supplementing them, dentures simply don’t allow for an efficient transfer of bite power to the food you need to chew. You will get your bite strength back, but only 20%, and sometimes as low as 10%.

Dental implants on the other hand are embedded directly into your jawbone, beneath your gums. In fact, during the healing process following your implant placement, the implants virtually become part of your anatomy as your jawbone fuses with the implant, a process referred to as osseointegration. This means a much more efficient transfer of power from your jaws and jaw muscles, through the implant, and into the food you’re chewing. Dental implants can be expected to restore at least 90% of your bite strength (if not more). This means no change to your lifestyle and diet. You can live just as you did prior to your implant (with much more attention paid to oral hygiene, of course).

Dentures and Bridges: Increased Risk of Infection

Dentures and bridges present the risk of serious infection that dental implants do not.

Dentures and Infection

Dentures, as mentioned earlier, depend upon their fit to stay in place. For dentures to work, they must interact properly with your oral tissues and even some of your remaining teeth to stay in place. If the fit is lost (and it isn’t really a question of if, but when; changes to your body such as weight loss or gain can significantly change the shape of your oral cavity), your dentures will start to slip and slide in your mouth. Not only can this lead to embarrassing moments (dentures that slide completely out of your mouth, or dentures that create a telltale clicking sound when you speak, yawn, or laugh), but it can lead to serious infections. All that slipping and sliding causes a lot of rubbing between the dentures and your oral tissues and teeth. This can create mouth sores, which are portals for bacteria to enter your body; it can also invite tooth decay (due to the rubbing off of enamel).

Bridges and Infection

Dental bridges can also present a serious risk of infection and tooth decay. Bridges depend upon (usually) two crowns, which are placed on the teeth on either side of the gap (bridges are used to replace one, two, or three teeth); these teeth are called the abutment teeth, and the crowns support artificial teeth in the gap. The risk of infection comes when the bridge is placed: it is very common that a bridge won’t fit precisely how it should in the gap, and this means that your healthy teeth must be filed down considerably to make them fit properly. This removes enamel, which is your best defense against tooth decay and oral bacteria. When it’s gone, it’s gone; you can’t replace your enamel on your own, nor is there an artificial equivalent.

Need For Continuous Replacement

Dental implants are permanent in the truest sense of the word; one placed, they will last as long as you do. Dentures lose their fit frequently, and must be replaced, and dental bridges, while “more permanent” than dentures, are supposed to last around ten years, but in most cases, the longevity of a dental bridge is closer to five or seven years. Every time you have a new bridge placed, or you are fitted for new dentures, these can be rolled into the total cost of having them.

Want to Learn More About Dental Implants?

When you consider the financial cost, risk of infection, and the time spend required, why not just go the “one and done” route with dental implants?

Give us a call to learn more; you don’t have to live with the pain and embarrassment of tooth loss!

Dial 317-451-4050 or click here to reach our online appointment form to book your visit right now!

Dental Implants: Do You Have What It Takes?

July 9, 2015

If you’ve lost your teeth, you know that it has a much greater impact beyond your appearance. Your self-confidence will take the first hit, but soon other problems will become apparent. You’ll notice that when you eat, it gets harder and harder to chew, to the point where it is so painful it seems impossible. People have a hard time understanding you when you speak; at first, you try “speaking up” but soon it is apparent that there is something strange in how you sound, and how your mouth feels when talk.

Even worse, one lost tooth can lead to another, and another, because your teeth will be even more vulnerable to the infections that cause tooth loss. Your teeth are designed to fit together in a specific way; if this is altered, your teeth can be damaged (cracks, fractures, and so on). This injuries will invite infection, which if unaddressed will cause you to experience the trauma of tooth loss all over again. Additionally, you lose bone density in your jaw in the area of the tooth loss, and without your teeth supporting the shape of your face, your face will start to almost collapse as your nose and chin get closer and closer.

Does this sound familiar? If so, you’ve probably heard by now about how dental implants can almost completely restore your ability to chew and speak (much better than more traditional solutions), provide the necessary support to your face shape and appearance, and give you back your smile without the embarrassing or even dangerous drawbacks of conventional treatments (dentures and dental bridges). If you’re interested in dental implants and what they can do for you, we encourage you to make an appointment with us at our Carmel, IN dental practice.

Not All Contestants Will Win

Dental implants are indeed amazing, and can have a life-changing impact on the lives of those who have lost their teeth, or even have had teeth missing for sometime and are tired of having to constantly replace dentures and bridges that only offer a compromised return to normalcy.

However, you must be in good enough health, both orally and generally, to get dental implants. Dentures and dental bridges are prosthetics that only simulate the appearance of healthy teeth, but provide limited functionality because they are designed to work with the structures of your teeth and oral tissues to stay in place. Dental implants are also a type of prosthesis, but they do much more than simulate natural teeth; they are the closest thing to your natural teeth that dental technology has yet devised, and they work as well as they do because they are surgically implanted, directly into your jawbone.

Because the procedure requires intensive, invasive surgery, you must be well enough to endure the procedure, and you must also be well enough to support the implant successfully (otherwise, the implant will fail).

Are These Requirements?

No, the contents of this post should not be considered requirements, but rather guidelines: everyone is different, with different health needs. Your dentist will need to give you a comprehensive examination that takes into account your whole health history to determine your suitability for implants.

What Your Dentist Will Look For

Your dentist will be looking for warning signs, either present in your body or oral cavity, or in your medical history that might make oral surgery dangerous, or if you’re more likely than others to experience dental implant failure (essentially breakage).

In terms of your general health, your dentist will want to make sure that you are able to tolerate general anesthesia. The procedure requires the implantation of an object directly into your jawbone, beneath the gums; needless to say, you’ll want to be “out” while this is happening. However, some people (for a number of reasons) have difficulty with anesthesia, and may even experience potentially deadly complications. Your dentist will definitely want to know if you’ve had problems with general anesthesia in the past.

You must also be free of serious diseases, or at least have them well under control. Diseases such as arthritis, Type II diabetes, high blood pressure, and certain autoimmune diseases and disorders have a high chance of causing complications before and after your surgery, and may even slow the healing process during your recovery (which is critical to the success of the implant).

Your dentist will also want to check your oral health for any signs of serious disease. This is what most people have difficulty with, because statistically speaking it is most likely their tooth loss was caused by advanced gum disease, which degrades your gum tissue as well as the bone density in your jaw, which must be strong enough to support the implant. It is very possible, through interventions such as a bone graft (the transplantation of bone from one part of your body to another), that the ravages of diseases like gum disease can be overcome, but this must take place before implant surgery can begin.

Are You Ready For Dental Implants?

You will only know for certain after an exam from your dentist at Really Smile; in addition to being an expert in placing dental implants, your dentist is also an expert in restoring failed implants. This is added protection for your health and your investment.

Give us a call at 317-582-0884 or click here to reach our online appointment form.

How Tooth Decay Works

July 5, 2015

Do you suffer with tooth decay? You’re not alone. It’s one of the most frequent health complaints in the US, just behind the common cold (the number one complaint). Tooth decay leads to cavities, and if it isn’t addressed in time, it can lead to tooth loss, or could even be potentially deadly.

In addition to great cosmetic dentistry, we also offer general dentistry to help you keep good oral health, as well as a beautiful smile. One of the ways we do that is by providing education to our patients in Carmel, IN on exactly why common oral diseases and problems happen, so that they can take action and hopefully avoid pain and expense.

In today’s post, we’re going to talk about tooth decay: how it happens, and what you can do to stop it.

How Tooth Decay Works

Most people, if you ask them how tooth decay and cavities happen, would probably tell you what they’ve heard all their lives, that sugar causes cavities. While sugar plays a significant role (limiting your consumption of sugar is a good way to reduce your risk of decay), it is only one part of a more complex whole.

Tooth decay is actually caused by your oral bacteria. Your mouth is full of bacteria, and there’s nothing you can do about it; you were born with it, and it’s a natural part of the your body’s ecosystem. Regular brushing, flossing, and rinsing (at least twice a day) can control the amount of bacteria you have in your mouth, but you can’t ever be fully rid of it.

The bacteria eat sugar (more specifically, a kind of sugar called glucose); they access it through the tiny bits of food left in your mouth following meals, as well as from your bodily fluids, such as saliva. Unlike humans who are satisfied with “three squares a day”, bacteria don’t stop eating, and as they eat they excrete powerfully corrosive organic acids as waste. This is why most people say that tooth decay is caused by sugar; the more sugar you consume, the more food for the bacteria, and the more tooth decay you’ll experience.

How Enamel Protects Your Teeth

Enamel is a translucent hard substance that constitutes the outermost layer of your teeth. It’s the hardest substance in your body, and it protects your teeth from damage, including tooth decay.

If you were able to get close enough to look, you’d see that your enamel is made of mineral crystals (a form of calcium, for the most part). These mineral crystals are densely packed together on the surface of your teeth. Your enamel is analogous to a brick wall, and the individual crystals are the bricks. The brick wall that is your enamel is under constant attack from the acids your oral bacteria produce. Eventually, the minerals are lost as a result; this process is called demineralization. However, your body is able to “rebuild the wall” by replacing the lost mineral crystals; this is called remineralization. If the rate of demineralization is higher than the rate of remineralization, the acids will get past the enamel and begin to destroy the dentin, which is the softer, second layer of your teeth. Over time, the acids will destroy enough of the interior of your tooth that a hole, or cavity, forms.

What You Can Do

There are a number of things you can do to improve your ability to fight tooth decay. One, you should see your dentist regularly, at least twice a year for exams and cleanings. Your dentist and the Really Smile dental hygiene team will be able to remove plaque and even slow its return far more effectively than you can with even very disciplined oral hygiene at home (which of course also helps: brush, floss, and rinse with a mouthwash at least twice a day to regulate your oral bacteria). Another thing you can do is use toothpastes and mouth rinses that have a lot of fluoride.

Want to Keep Your Teeth Healthy?

At Really Smile, your oral health is our top priority. We use advanced technology in conjunction with years of experience and training to provide comprehensive dental care to our patients.

Make an appointment today! Dial 317-451-4050 or click here to reach our online appointment form!

Improve Your Look Without Surgery!

July 1, 2015

When it comes to your appearance, your Really Smile dentist (in Carmel, IN) can do a lot for your smile and the look (and health) of your teeth. Of course, your appearance isn’t just about how good your teeth look; there’s a whole face surrounding your teeth!

Over the years, you might have noticed that your face has begun to sag, and your chin and nose even seem to be getting closer together. This is a natural part of aging, but that doesn’t mean you have to live with it. The facelift is one of the most popular plastic surgery procedures, but many people have misgivings about actually going under the knife to improve their appearance.

What if we told you your dentist could make you look years younger without surgery? Your Really Smile Dentist can give you a whole new “lease on youth” with a non-surgical facelift.

What is A Non-Surgical Facelift?

A conventional facelift is an intensive surgical procedure. To eliminate wrinkles and sagging in the face, a plastic surgeon removes “excess” skin from your face and neck, then tightens the skin and tissues that remain.

Sounds pretty gruesome, doesn’t it? The good news is you don’t have to go under the knife! Instead of surgically altering your body’s tissues, we focus on how improvements we can make to your teeth, jaws, and the structures of your face to improve your appearance.

What is the Relationship Between My Teeth and the Look of My Face?

Your teeth are an important part of your anatomy; they play a role in the digestive system (chewing and grinding food), and they also part of what makes you look like you.

Have you ever sat on a wobbly chair? It makes you keep an odd posture to stay upright and It’s not very comfortable. It’s usually because one leg is somewhat shorter than the others, or is missing a foot pad. In a restaurant, your waiter might fix the problem with a book of matches.

Your teeth and face operate on a similar principal. Your teeth are the “legs” of the chair, but over time, your teeth become worn and sustain other damage that affects how they are aligned. If your teeth get sufficiently misaligned due to wear and damage, your face will slowly develop that “collapsed flan” look that is considered a characteristic of extreme old age.

How Does It Work?

Your dentist will need to examine your teeth, face, and other important anatomical structures to determine exactly where the problem areas are. Your dentist will use a number of interventions to create a specific treatment plan just for you. Your Really Smile Dentist is not just a great dentist, but is also a specialist in neuromuscular dentistry. Neuromuscular dentistry is a discipline within dentistry that focuses on how the alignment of the jaws and teeth affect other bodily systems, including the appearance of the face and the maintenance of its shape. This expertise allows us to approach cosmetic dentistry from a holistic, or “whole-face” approach.

While the procedures your dentist might use to resolve your specific issue vary, none of them require invasive surgery; this means healing time is short (if any at all) and you’ll be able to re-enter the world with a beautiful new face without ever setting foot in an operation hall!

Want To Improve Your Looks Without Surgery?

Your Really Smile team is ready to help! We offer a range of cosmetic and general dentistry procedures and services to help you achieve your best look without surgery. Call us for a consultation and learn how we can can help!

Dial 317-451-4050, or click here to reach our online appointment form to book your visit now!

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