dentist glen ellyn Archives - Smile Glen Ellyn Restorative Dentist
top
+
Home Tag: "dentist glen ellyn"

Tag: dentist glen ellyn

Dental Exam in USA
15Jul

An exposed tooth root can be an uncomfortable, inconvenient dental issue. It’s a problem that can occasionally result from receding gums, or from any sort of trauma that causes gum damage. It can also be a sign of gum disease, including severe periodontitis where the gum tissue has regressed significantly. Older adults are at greater risk. 

It’s important to recognize the symptoms of an exposed tooth root and the steps you can take to deal with the issue. Dr. Jessica Gibbs is pleased to meet with patients to discuss exposed root problems and your dental health. Here’s what you need to know about how to handle exposed tooth roots in anticipation of a dental appointment. 

How to spot an exposed tooth root

The tooth root is the part of the tooth that extends down into the socket of the bone in the jaw. These roots are covered by a hard tissue called cementum. Exposed tooth roots typically occur when that cementum wears away over time with brushing. As the gums recede and the cementum wears down, you may begin to see a little bit of the exposed tooth root.

Symptoms of an exposed root

The symptoms of exposed tooth roots vary depending on what caused the issue to begin with. In some cases, you might be able to see the exposed root without any other accompanying symptoms. In other cases, there are several telltale signs of an exposed tooth root. When symptoms do occur, these are among the most common examples:

  • Discoloration: For people who experience exposed roots as a result of tooth decay, you’re likely to notice some discoloration in the tooth. This includes yellowing or browning. 
  • Gum tenderness: If you have exposed tooth roots, you might start to notice sore gums or feelings of tenderness during brushing, or if you press on them. Gums may even start to bleed during brushing or flossing.
  • Appearance: Teeth that have exposed roots might appear to be longer than usual, or than other teeth in the mouth, especially if the gum line is receding.
  • General sensitivity: You might experience sensitivity around the affected tooth in circumstances aside from brushing, such as when you’re eating food that’s hot, cold, or particularly sweet, sour or acidic.

What NOT to do if you have root pain

If you’re experiencing root pain caused by an exposed tooth root, don’t delay in taking action. Not tackling the problem only allows it to become worse. Avoid brushing hard on the area, grinding the teeth or other behaviors that could result in a grater level of wear and tear. Avoid chewing gum or hard candies or food items. Most importantly, don’t delay treatment. Pain and discomfort will only persist the longer you avoid dental intervention. 

Exposed roots will get worse without care

An exposed tooth root needs immediate action to correct the problem. This means speaking to a dentist and scheduling an appointment for an examination to begin corrective work.

According to the American Academy of Periodontology, certain root coverage procedures can help you protect exposed roots from decay. Gum grafts and the like can also be effective methods of preventing further recession. Your dentist will analyze your mouth and determine if any of these procedures are an effective means of resolving the problem. Other treatment methods for people with exposed roots as a result of gum recession include:

  • Crowns: Dental crowns cap the tooth to afford it greater strength and protection. Custom crowns are useful for covering exposed roots. 
  • Flap surgery: This surgery involves small incisions in the gums to remove buildup of tartar and bacteria, and to cover up exposed roots.
  • Gingival masks: If the problem extends to multiple teeth, a gingival mask (a type of removable artificial gum) can cover up receding gums.

Other solutions vary depending on the cause. For teeth grinding, dentists may prescribe a mouthguard to avoid worsening the problem. If misaligned teeth are the problem, corrective action like braces, retainers or aligners can help. Finally, if the issue is gum disease, procedures like dental scaling, root planning and root canals may be useful.

Contact Dr. Gibbs if you have root pain

If you’re experiencing tooth pain and believe it’s associated with an exposed root, it’s important to seek the advice of a trusted dentist. They’ll provide guidance about the types of treatments that are most effective for your situation. If you’re in Glen Ellyn, IL, contact Dr. Thomas Gibbs or Dr. Jessica Gibbs with your questions, and for more information about exposed root treatment options.

24Dec

Losing teeth is not a good thing, but it’s much more common than you may realize.

Most American adults are missing at least one tooth, and 10 percent of Americans between the age of 50 and 64 no longer have any of their original teeth, according to the National Institute of Dental Craniofacial Research.

Losing one tooth is inconvenient and maybe somewhat embarrassing, but losing several or all of your teeth can have a big impact on your quality of life.

We may not be able to give you back your teeth, but we may be able to give you the next best, All on Four dental implants. Keep reading or call the Smile Glen Ellyn dentist office to learn more about this life-changing system.

Life without teeth

If you are missing a full arch of teeth, you already know it has changed your life.

Edentulism, the condition of being without teeth, often occurs as a result of poor dental hygiene.

In some cases, embarrassment prevents patients from seeking dental care. Trust us, we would rather see you while you have some teeth to save then see you when it is too late to help.

When you don’t have any teeth, it can change the appearance of your face. As you lose teeth, you lose bone density as well. This can give your face a collapsed appearance and make you appear older than you are.

This may make you uncomfortable going out in public or even spending time with your family and friends. When you don’t interact with the people you love and care for, it can lead to a sense of isolation. We want you to stay involved in the lives of your loved ones, and we believe they would say the same thing.

In additional to the emotional impact of missing several teeth, you will have physical consequences as well.

When you don’t have teeth, you can’t bite into things, and you can’t chew your food. This could mean a diet of soft foods and liquids. You may be able to survive that way, but we can’t imagine you want to spend the rest of your life dining on mashed potatoes, applesauce, and milk shakes.

Dental implants can save you from dealing with the problems mentioned above and help you begin enjoying your life again.

How All on Four can help

Before we explain All on Four, we need to first explain dental implants.

Dental implants are used to replace missing teeth. When you lose a tooth, it leaves a space in your smile and below your gumline.

The roots of your teeth are the anchors that hold you teeth securely in your mouth. Dental implant replaces the roots of your teeth. Like your roots, your dental implants stimulate the jawbone, and this spurs new growth. This growth keeps your jawbone healthy and prevents bone loss.

To get the full impact of a dental implant, you need to attach something to replace the crowns of your teeth as well. If you were missing one tooth, we would add a dental crown. If you lost three or four teeth, we would recommend a dental bridge.

If you need to replace a full arch of teeth, however, All on Four may be your best option. With All on Four, you can go from having no teeth to having the appearance of a full set of teeth in a day.

All on Four is just what it sounds like. We start by strategically placing four dental implants inside your jawbone. Then, we attach a set of implant-secured dentures to your implants.

In other words, you regain the appearance of all your teeth on four dental implants.

But All on Four dental implants aren’t just about looks. If that’s all you were interested in, then dentures might be an acceptable option. 

The problem with most dentures is that you have significantly less bite force than you did when you had all your teeth. All on Four dental implants give you back both the look of your real teeth and something very close to the function of those teeth as well.

You dental implants are held securely in place by your jawbone, and that give you significantly more stability than you can expect with other kinds of dentures. With All on Four, you can eat all the foods you love without worrying about your dentures coming loose when you bite or chew.

Be happy, be healthy

Is there a better gift to give yourself than an improved quality of life?

Don’t hide from your loved ones because of your lack of teeth. Don’t deprive yourself of the foods you love, either. All on Four dental implants will make you want to smile and allow you to keep eating whatever you like.

To learn more, contact Dr. Gibbs, our dentist at Smile Glen Ellyn, by calling 630-858-8800 or by filling out our online form.

16Dec

What do Christmas trees and great smiles have in common? Both can light up a room and bring a smile to other people’s faces.

You can tell if someone is filled with joy when they smile, and you know from personal experience that seeing someone else smile can make you want to smile, too.

Unfortunately, some people are so ashamed of their teeth that they are embarrassed to smile. That’s too bad for them and for the people around them.

Our team at Smile Glen Ellyn wants you to feel comfortable sharing your joy during the holidays and all year round. One way we can do that is with Lumineers, the thinnest veneers available at our dentist office.

If you’re happy and you know it, share your smile

In a piece for Psychology Today,  social psychologist Dr.  Ronald E. Riggio explained some of the benefits of smiling:

  • Smiling triggers chemical reactions in your brain that help you relax and can lower your blood pressure, according to Riggio. This also can have pain relieving effects, and these chemical are natural antidepressants.

 

  • Smiling also makes us more attractive to other people, and if other people see us smile, they are more likely to smile, too.

In other words, if you are happy, then you should show it for your sake and the sake of the people around you.

But what if you don’t feel like smiling because of your teeth? Lumineers and your dentist can help.

How Lumineers can brighten your day

Veneers, including Lumineers, are a great way to fix any number of problems you may have with your teeth. Here are a few examples of the things our dentist can fix with Lumineers:

  • Discolored teeth — If you use tobacco or you used to, then you know how nicotine and tar affect your teeth. If you drink a lot of coffee or tea, then your teeth may have taken on a yellow tint. And if you have not been consistent with your oral hygiene, then your teeth may show the results of that as well.

All these things can leave you teeth looking anything but “pearly white.” No matter the reason your teeth have lost their luster, we can give it back to you with Lumineers.

  • Broken teeth — If you miss a pass during a game of pickup basketball, it may have knocked off part of your tooth. Maybe you tripped and hit your teeth on something when you fell. Maybe someone else wasn’t paying attention and bumped into you (and your mouth) with something they were carrying.

Chipped teeth can happen at any time for lots of reasons, but Lumineers can restore the look of your teeth to their original size and shape.

  • Crooked teeth — Have you ever seen a “Hollywood smile?” The odds are that person was not born with teeth that straight, but with veneers, anyone can look like they have perfect teeth.
  • Teeth with gaps — When you have a noticeable gap between your teeth, people do notice. It’s inevitable.

If that bothers you, or it bothers you that other people are paying attention to your gap, Lumineers can given you the appearance of evenly spaced teeth.

How Lumineers are different

Lumineers are just one of the veneers we offer in our practice, so what makes Lumineers different? Size, or rather, the lack thereof.

Veneers are a kind of shell that we place onto the front of your teeth. This shell changes the appearance of your teeth and therefore your smile.

Veneers aren’t thick — most are around 1 millimeter — but that is enough that they could change the shape of your teeth and you mouth. To keep you looking more like you, the dentist must remove some of the enamel from the front of your teeth.

After this prep work, the dentist will make an impression of your slimmed down teeth. When your veneers are ready, they are bonded onto your teeth.

In contrast, Lumineers are about 0.2 millimeter “thick,” which means no prep work is required. Because they are so thin, Lumineers have little if any effect on the shape of your mouth.

That means the dentist does not need to remove anything from your teeth to make room for your Lumineers.

We want to see your smile

Perfect smiles rarely happen on their own, but you can get one with a little help from our dental team. Having bright, white, straight teeth can improve your outlook on life, and that may be just what you need to smile again.

And we promise, that will make other people smile, too.

Our team at Smile Glen Ellyn would be happy to talk to you about Lumineers at our dentist office. Just call us at 630-858-8800 or use our online form to make an appointment.

1Dec

Millions of people all over the United States would love to improve their smiles. You may be one of them.

You might look at your teeth and wish there was something you could change. Even one bad tooth can be enough to change the appearance of your smile and affect your ability to bite and chew your food.

Fixing your smile may seem daunting, especially at first. How many trips will you need to make to the dentist? How long will it take?

Thankfully, there is a simple solution, CEREC same-day dental crowns. In one visit to our dentist office, the team at Smile Glen Ellyn can craft a dental crown for you that looks and functions like a real tooth.

Simple process

CEREC dental crowns offer patients an easy, effective way to fix a number of problems. CEREC is short for Chairside Economical Restoration of Esthetic Ceramics.

What that means is that we can do in about an hour what may take weeks at another dentist office.

The process starts when we make a “digital impression” of the tooth or teeth that need work. Our dentist then reshapes your tooth into an abutment that will support your dental crown.

At other offices, this may require sending your impression to a laboratory. The lab will then craft a dental crown for you as soon as they are able. Who knows how many dentists and how many patients send requests to that lab? It could be weeks before they are able to get to your dental crown and send it back to the dentist.

With CEREC, we can skip that step, which saves you from having to make an extra trip to the dentist. With CEREC, we use our on-site milling machine to craft your dental crown while you wait.

Using computer software, we are able to send a digital impression of your teeth to the CEREC machine. The machine turns that information into a dental crown for you.

You can walk in with a tooth that has been bothering you and go home with a natural-looking smile. It really is that easy.

Simple product

How can we make your dental crowns so quickly? CEREC crowns are made from one thing — porcelain.

Many other dental crowns are made by fusing porcelain to metal. This makes the crafting process more complex, since two separate pieces need to be made to fit together.

Some patients are allergic to the metals used in these crowns. If you are one of those patients, the metal in your crown could irritate your gums.

With CEREC dental crowns, you won’t have worry about either of these issues.

Because CEREC crowns are made with one substance, they can be crafted more quickly. We entering your information into our machine, and the machine mills a piece of porcelain into the precise shape of a healthy, natural tooth.

Simple solution

When your CEREC dental crowns are placed in your mouth, you will see and feel the difference. It’s an easy way to fix any number of dental problems in less time.

If you have tooth decay, you know that it changes the color of your teeth. Yellow teeth and teeth with dark, ugly spots stand out for all the wrong reasons.

Just as important, tooth decay weakens your teeth. This can make your teeth more sensitive, which can make it painful to eat certain kinds of foods.

Likewise, chipped and broken teeth can make you more self-conscious about your smile, and create problems with your bite.

With either of these tooth problems, CEREC crowns can repair the appearance of your teeth and restore your bite force. On a practical level, you can smile without feeling self-conscious, and you can eat without worry.

Simply call

You know better than anyone how a tooth problem can affect you. It may reduce your self-confidence or force you to give up eating certain things. With CEREC dental crowns, you can get back your smile, regain your chewing ability, and have both in less time than you would with other crowns.

The easiest way to get your teeth back into shape is to call Smile Glen Ellyn to make an appointment. Use our online form or call our office at 630-858-8800 to schedule your visit.

up-arrow-1