Importance of Invisalign Retainer

Getting braces off or completing Invisalign treatment is exciting. Active orthodontic treatment requires a lot of checkups, scrupulous dental hygiene and occasional discomfort. While you might be ready to show off your new smile free of any appliances, you might be surprised to find out that there is another phase of treatment. Most patients will need to wear a retainer to keep their teeth in the new position. 

Our Orange County cosmetic dentist can explain how often and how long you will need to wear your retainer. During orthodontic treatment, your bone tissue remodels to make way for the roots of the teeth as they move. It takes time for new bone tissue to grow around the roots, and the retainer helps keep your teeth where they need to be while this happens. If you fail to wear your Invisalign retainer, your teeth could shift back to their original positions, a problem called orthodontic relapse. The risk of relapse is highest right after treatment but can continue for months until the position of your teeth has stabilized.

Invisalign retainer looks and feels much like your Invisalign aligners, but it will not put pressure on your teeth. It will simply hold them in their proper position. You might need to wear it all the time at first, but most people will be able to decrease their wear time to nighttime only or less frequently as time passes.

Root Canal Therapy Process

An infected tooth is considered a dental emergency, as is a severely broken one. In either case, surgery is likely needed. This is because the inside of the tooth, or the pulp, has been affected. The pulp consists of blood vessels, nerves, and connective tissues. Our dentist in Orange County can perform a root canal treatment to will restore the tooth back to health.

Many believe that a root canal therapy is very painful, but this is actually not the case. This treatment is meant to alleviate pain caused by infection and damage. And thanks to local anesthesia, patients do not feel anything at all. Our root canal dentist in Orange County will create a hole in the tooth with a drill. They can then access the pulp in order to remove the decayed tissue. Removing any and all of the decayed tissue is removed, as this is the only way the infection will be completely remedied.

After this is completed, the pulp will be replaced with a packing material called gutta percha. The tooth will then be capped with a dental crown. This will restore strength and protect it from further damage. Sometimes, root canal retreatment is necessary, to remove missed decayed tissue.

What are Inlays and Onlays?

Restorative treatments are possibly the most useful and necessary of the dentistry field. They are needed due to physical damage that can suddenly occur or develop over time. These include worn enamel, chips, cracks, and cavities. Some of these issues can be corrected with inlays and onlays.

Inlays and onlays are indirect fillings. Like traditional direct fillings, they are used to fill in a hollow space in a tooth. However, whereas traditional fillings are created in the teeth, indirect fillings are first created, then placed. Inlays are fillings that go inside of the tooth, and onlays are those that are placed on the cusps, or top of the teeth. Our cosmetic dentist in Orange County will remove the decayed tissue, create a model of the affected tooth, and then place your custom porcelain restoration.

Patients and dentists alike prefer inlays and onlays to direct fillings for several reasons. Indirect fillings tend to fit better thanks to how they are made, and therefore require less follow up appointments to make adjustments for comfort. They also are known to be more durable and resilient, offering a more healthy restoration overall. 

If you require a dental filling, talk to our dentist about the possibility and benefits of inlays and onlays. 

Dental Veneer Options

Our teeth come up against many forces on a day-to-day basis, which can result in damage. Issues that affect our dental and oral health should be addressed right away. But if the flaws in your smile are simply cosmetic, it may be disproportionately costly to have each fixed individually. Dental veneers provide the perfect solution to this problem.

Dental veneers are thin porcelain shells that are bonded over the teeth in order to mask unsightly flaws. Some flaws they can cover include:

•             Chips

•             Cracks

•             Stains and discolorations

•             Small and misshapen teeth

•             Crooked teeth

•             Gaps and crowding

Patients of our dentist in OC have several options when it comes to their dental veneers. First, they can decide if they want coverings on all of their visible teeth, or only certain ones. They can also make decisions regarding the size, shape, and color of their veneers.  If only placing them on a few certain damaged teeth, they can choose to do a teeth whitening treatment, so all of their teeth can be a nice and bright shade of white.

Having the perfect smile may not be as far away as you think. Call our office and schedule a consultation appointment with our dental veneers dentist in Orange County today.

Is Invisalign Express the Right Option for Me?

Invisalign is an orthodontic treatment that is the first choice for many new patients. There are many great benefits that Invisalign provides, such as their removable and see-through aligners. But one benefit that is often looked over is the different types of treatment plans they provide to cater to different types of patients and their orthodontic needs. For example, Invisalign Teen is made specifically for younger patients and their lifestyle.

Invisalign Express is another type of treatment plan. Express is made for those with minor orthodontic corrections needed. Our cosmetic dentists in Orange County may consider you a candidate for Invisalign Express if your smile needs:

•             Less than two millimeters of spacing correction per arch

•             Minimal rotation of the cuspids, bicuspids, and incisors per arch

•             Less than 2 millimeters of midline correction per arch

•             Less than 1.5 millimeters of dental expansion per arch

More moderate or severe cases of these issues may require Invisalign Full treatment, or more likely, a more traditional version of orthodontics, such as metal braces.

Due to the fact that the movements needed are minor, Invisalign Express takes only a fraction of the time Full treatment does. Where Invisalign Full requires twenty to thirty aligners over the course of twelve to fifteen months, Express typically involves ten aligners over the course of six months. Talk to our Invisalign Express dentist in Orange County for more information.

How Zoom Whitening Affects the Teeth

There is a big difference between teeth that are bright and white, and teeth that are yellowed or discolored. Teeth that aren’t the natural white color they should be can make a smile look considerably unhealthy. There is a change in the person, as well. Those with dark teeth are not as likely to flash a wide smile or engage in conversations as freely. Zoom whitening offers a simple solution to this problem, and has worked for many patients everywhere.

After a successful exam, and possibly a routine teeth whitening to prep the teeth, our Orange County cosmetic dentist will cover the lips and gums to protect them from materials that could irritate them. The special Zoom hydrogen peroxide gel is then applied to the teeth. The bleaching ingredient in this gel is activated by a light or laser. Together they will break up the stains embedded in the teeth. The gel will need to remain in place for three sessions of fifteen minutes, the entire process taking about an hour.

You will likely notice that your teeth are considerably whiter right after the treatment. But to ensure they stay this white, you will need to take some extra measures. Our Zoom whitening dentist in Orange County will supply you with a kit with the tools needed to touch up your teeth at home. You should also avoid foods and drinks that stain to make sure your results last as long as possible.

Candidates for Dental Sedation

It is no secret that the dentist’s office is not everyone’s favorite place to go. Many can be apprehensive or even panicked at the idea of going, whether because they anticipate discomfort, bad news, or simply because they do not know what is going to happen. For these patients, our Orange County dentist offers dental sedation.

Dental sedation is the use of medication to put a patient in a relaxed state while the dentist works. This allows patients to be free of stress and anxiety, reduces the memory of the appointment, and creates a much more pleasant experience overall. It also makes it easier for our dentist to perform his tasks.

The best candidates for sedation dentistry are those who:

•    Are unable to sit still in the dentist’s chair
•    Have a low pain threshold
•    Have a bad gag reflex
•    Have very sensitive teeth
•    Need a large amount of dental work completed during a single appointment
•    Or children who are too afraid or refuse to cooperate during an appointment

The different types, or essentially different levels, of sedation allow for a customized experience. Minimal sedation leaves you awake, but relaxed, moderate sedation makes you more tired and possibly a bit loopy, and deep sedation puts you at just the edge of sleep. General anesthesia is available for patients who desire or need to be rendered unconscious during their appointment.

If this appeals to you, ask for our sedation dentist in Orange County.

How Do Dentists Whiten the Teeth?

Every day, a thin coating called pellicle forms on the enamel, or the hard protective layer, of your teeth. Pellicle picks up stains, and your tooth enamel has pores that can hold stains, too. This is why it is important to have your teeth whitened by an Orange County cosmetic dentist.

Common substances or factors that create stains on your teeth are:

•    Tobacco or smoking
•    Liquids, like coffee, dark sodas, tea, red wine, etc.
•    Bad dental health
•    Aging

If you are planning a visit to an expert in teeth whitening in Orange County, or are considering planning one, it may be helpful to know what to expect. The following are the typical steps of having your teeth whitened by a dentist.

•    Your dentist or dental assistant will begin by taking a photograph of your teeth. This is to compare to your progress throughout the treatment.
•    They will spend some time removing a film of bacteria, food, and, other substances that have built up over time.
•    Your dentist will apply a special gel to your teeth, which will contain varying levels of hydrogen peroxide. This is a bleaching gel.
•    The bleaching gel will be activated by a laser, which speeds up the bleaching process.

These are the usual, basic steps of a Vital whitening, but other steps may be necessary depending on your specific needs. Typical whitening treatment takes one to three appointments, lasting between thirty to ninety minutes each.

What Does Invisalign Retainer Do?

After you have had orthodontic treatment, either from braces or from Invisalign, keeping your smile perfect thereafter must be a conscious effort. Otherwise, teeth will inevitably turn and twist and drift in your mouth. It is to this end that our dentist in OC strongly suggests the use of an Invisalign retainer to maintain your smile.

An Invisalign retainer is molded to fit your teeth perfectly. In fact, it is made from your teeth. One is made of each dental arch, top and bottom. While it should be worn more often during the first six months after treatment, it is important to wear them at night from then on. Because they fit so perfectly over your teeth, they will prevent the teeth from moving away from their new, ideal locations, which it does while you sleep.

Wearing an Invisalign retainer is the next logical step when it comes to having a perfect smile. You spent the time to get the straight teeth, you invested the money, now you need to keep it. Invisalign is able to help you do that. Contact our expert in Invisalign retainer in Orange County to learn more or to schedule a consultation.

Veneers, Their Uses and Advantages

Dental veneers, also commonly known as porcelain veneers, are a type of cosmetic dental treatment for people wanting a perfect-looking smile. Our expert in dental veneers in Orange County uses them for a variety of situations, including the following.

Hiding Blemishes

Teeth that are otherwise perfect in size, shape, and alignment might still have problems that cannot be easily fixed by other means. Perfect examples of this are patients who have severe staining or discoloration that is not responsive to teeth whitening, including “tetracycline teeth” and those with fluorosis.

Hiding Gaps

Minor gaps between front teeth can be embarrassing and orthodontics can be cost-prohibitive. Veneers are able to hide these minor problems in as little as two dental appointments.

Aligning Vertical Unevenness

Some patients have teeth that are inconsistent in their length. For example, with an ideal smile, the top two front teeth (known as central incisors) should form a smooth curve line from them all the way back to the molars, with only the canine teeth protruding slightly lower. Many patients, however, have second teeth (lateral incisors) that are significantly shorter. Veneers are able to address this issue, giving the appearance of an even arc.

Learn more about the uses and benefits of dental veneers by contacting our Orange County cosmetic dentists.