What happens when a tooth is chipped or cracked, or if you have painful toothaches due to cavities or an infection? In these situations, you need a dental restoration to help repair the tooth and save your smile from major complications! In today’s blog, your Shrewsbury, MA, dentist talks about how we protect your smile with custom and lifelike dental restorations.
When to Seek Dental Restorations
When should you see our team for treatment? If you sustain injury to the face or jaw, and a tooth is cracked or chipped, you should see us for treatment. If you sustain an injury and no damage is visible, consider an appointment as fractures are often practically invisible to the naked eye. You should also consider an appointment if you have a tooth that aches or feels sensitive when you eat or drink. With a restoration, we can correct these issues and return your smile to optimal health, function, and beauty, sometimes in as little as one visit.
The Initial Dental Exam
To get started, we will conduct a detailed examination of your tooth from multiple angles, so we can assess the cause and extent of the issues impacting your oral health. We do so with advanced digital imagery, such as digital x-rays and intraoral camera technology. With this information, we can plan care in detail and find the best restoration to improve your smile!
Sedation
Our team wants to ensure the preparation of your tooth and the placement of a dental restoration is a comfortable experience, which is why we can administer a local anesthetic to the area being treated. But we also have dental sedation too, treatments that help you enter a deep state of calm and relaxation, often with little to no memory of the procedure at all. We can choose from three different options, nitrous oxide, oral conscious, and IV, to help ensure your visit is calm and comfortable, if you have dental anxiety or special needs that could otherwise complicate your ability to receive treatment.
Dental Fillings
If you have a cavity, then our team can help with a dental filling. The process only takes one visit. We will numb your tooth as mentioned above, and then remove the decay from it. We then clean the tooth thoroughly and apply the filling material. Instead of metal, we opt for a metal-free composite resin that is safe for all ages. This can also be shaded to blend with your tooth. We then sculpt the tooth as the material cures under a light. The last step is to polish it for a brighter appearance. Along with treating tooth decay, the same material can be used in a bonding procedure to mask common cosmetic imperfections with the shape and color of a tooth.
Same-Day Crowns
What if you have an issue too severe to be addressed with a filling or bonding procedure? In these cases, we may need to offer a crown, a restoration that covers the visible portion of your tooth. The restoration is custom-made to ensure a lifelike appearance and a comfortable fit. We can also complete and place it in only one visit! We start by numbing the tooth and then removing structure to make room for your restoration. Next, we will take images with digital technology, and use them to create a 3D impression of your tooth. We then design the crown and upload the information into an onsite milling machine, which crafts your crown from lifelike and durable ceramic. The finished product will blend with your smile and be placed in only one visit.
Root Canal Therapy
When a tooth becomes infected, this could lead to major discomfort and over time, the risk of losing your tooth. But with restorative treatment known as a root canal, we can stop the pain and save the tooth to keep your smile whole. Once we numb the tooth, we will open it to remove the infected tissues and then replace them with a special restorative filling. We then cap the tooth with a crown to complete the process and offer a lifelike appearance at the same time. If you have any questions about how we save your tooth with restorative dentistry, or if you have damage or aches that need attention, then contact our team today.
Schedule a Restorative Visit with Our Shrewsbury Team!
A custom restorative treatment can return your smile to full function, health, and beauty! To learn more about restorative dentistry, or to schedule your next appointment, give us a call at Modern Dentistry Of Shrewsbury at (508)842-8838 today!
