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Dental stains are bothersome for everyone. Fortunately, there are several ways to help you eliminate them. Here at East Boca Dental Implant & Specialty Care in Boca Raton, FL, we use a variety of cosmetic dentistry procedures including in-office whitening and veneers among others, to banish or conceal discoloration. But first, you need to understand why you have dental stains.
What Causes Dental Stains?
Teeth stains appear on the surface of the tooth, or underneath the tooth enamel. Your teeth may be discolored due to multiple reasons. The following list can help you determine the possible reason(s) why your teeth are discolored so that you can prevent your teeth from getting stained any further:
- Drinks and food like coffee, tea, heavily colored sodas or juices, red wine, and particular vegetables and fruits.
- The use of tobacco, whether chewed or smoked.
- Poor oral hygiene. Improper brushing and flossing can contribute to dental staining.
- Disease or trauma can affect enamel development in children below the age of eight. Similarly, trauma to adult teeth can also lead to discoloration.
- Certain kinds of medical treatments. Medication for high blood pressure, chemotherapy, radiation, certain antipsychotics, and antihistamines could likewise cause dental stains.
How Can You Get Rid of Dental Stains?
Various teeth whitening methods that could easily remove those nasty dental stains are:
In-Office Tooth Whitening
Dentist-performed tooth whitening is way more superior and safer than at-home kits. This is mainly due to the fact that the whitening ingredient used is stronger and that your dentist will supervise the entire process to ensure safety. To strengthen the whitening process, heat, light, or a combination of both may be utilized. In just several 30 to 60-minute in-office appointments, your teeth can whiten up to three to eight shades lighter.
Dental Veneers
Dental veneers are made to conceal the front surface of the teeth. Aside from the fact that it can change the color of your teeth, it can also redefine its shape, length, or size. Your dentist in Boca Raton, FL, may recommend veneers if you have multiple stained teeth that bleaching can’t address.
Crowns or Dental Bonding
These are viable options for a stained tooth that don’t respond to bleaching. With a crown, it will be fitted over the stained tooth to hide the discoloration. With dental bonding, the dentist will apply a thin coat of composite-resin material over the stain to conceal it.
At-Home Whitening Methods
These include whitening toothpaste, tray-based whiteners, and whitening gels and strips. While these whitening treatments are convenient, it’s best that you ask your dentist for specific recommendations since improper use of these products could lead to irreversible sensitivity and enamel erosion. In most cases, dentists suggest these products for maintenance in between professional teeth whitening sessions because they’re simply not capable of achieving the whiteness that in-office bleaching provides.
Get Rid of Dental Stains Now
Dial (561) 226-0100 to reach East Boca Dental Implant & Specialty Care here in Boca Raton, FL, and arrange your appointment with one of our dentists to find out whether your stains can be addressed with in-office bleaching, veneers, crowns, or bonding.
Nowadays, dentists utilize a plethora of orthodontic treatments other than metal braces for straightening your smile. One of these treatments is Invisalign, which is more discreet and comfortable than traditional orthodontic treatments. Here at the East Boca Dental Implant & Specialty Care in Boca Raton, FL, our dentists use Invisalign for realigning crooked teeth and correcting bite problems.
What Exactly is Invisalign?
With Invisalign, you won’t require metal brackets or wires to straighten your crooked teeth. This orthodontic treatment corrects your teeth’s position with a series of detachable, clear aligner trays made of thermoplastic material that snugly fit over your teeth. These aligner trays will apply constant pressure on the teeth to gradually put them in the correct position.
Your Invisalign aligner trays will be customized for you after your dentist has created a 3D digital image of the inside of your mouth. This image will then be used for plotting your entire Invisalign treatment. You will need to wear each tray for 22 hours every day for roughly two weeks before you can wear the succeeding tray.
Will Invisalign Work Effectively Like Metal Braces?
Absolutely! This treatment is just as effective as traditional metal braces for fixing mild-to-moderate bite problems, spacing issues, and crookedness. However, while many people could benefit from Invisalign aligners, metal braces might be a better fit for you if you have more severe misalignment or bite issues. For teenagers, treatment times could take up to two years or more depending on various factors. For adults, the treatment time is typically shorter, which is roughly a year or two in most cases.
How Will Invisalign Benefit Me?
Invisalign aligners are a great option if you’re looking to treat your issues without drawing unwanted attention to your smile during treatment. Likewise, because of their snug fit, your aligners will blend right in and won’t be visible in person or in photos. You also won’t need to worry about cutting the inside of your mouth or your lips with stray metal wires because the aligners don’t have any wires. Oral hygiene is also very easy with Invisalign—you simply remove the aligners prior to flossing or brushing, and then pop them back in once you’re done. You can likewise remove the aligners before eating, allowing you to eat anything you want without fear of food particles becoming stuck in your teeth.
Interested in Straightening Your Smile Discreetly with Invisalign? Call our Boca Raton Office Today
Call the East Boca Dental Implant & Specialty Care in Boca Raton, FL, at (561) 226-0100 to schedule your appointment with one of our dental professionals today.
The internet has transformed how we get information. Where you once needed to find an encyclopedia, telephone directory or library, you can now turn to your handy smartphone or tablet for the same information.
But this convenience has a dark side: A lot of material online hasn’t undergone the rigorous proofreading and editing published references of yesteryear once required. It’s much easier now to encounter misinformation—and accepting some of it as true could harm your health. To paraphrase the old warning to buyers: “Viewer beware.”
You may already have encountered one such example of online misinformation: the notion that undergoing a root canal treatment causes cancer. While it may sound like the figment of some prankster’s imagination, the idea actually has a historical basis.
In the early 20th Century, a dentist named Weston Price theorized that leaving a dead anatomical part in the body led to disease or major health problems. In Price’s view, this included a tooth that had undergone a root canal treatment: With the vital pulp removed, the tooth was, in his view, “dead.”
Price amassed enough of a following that the American Dental Association rigorously investigated his claims in the 1950s and found them thoroughly wanting. For good measure, a Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA Otolaryngology—Head & Neck Surgery) published a study in 2013 finding that not only did canal treatments not increase cancer, but they might even be responsible for decreasing the risk by as much as forty-five percent.
Here’s one sure fact about root canal treatments—they can save a tooth that might otherwise be lost. Once decay has infiltrated the inner pulp of a tooth, it’s only a matter of time before it spreads through the root canals to the bone. Removing the infected pulp tissue and filling the resulting empty space and root canals gives the tooth a new lease on life.
So, be careful with health advice promoted on the internet. Instead, talk to a real authority on dental care, your dentist. If they propose a root canal treatment for you, they have your best health interest—dental and general—at heart.
If you would like more information on root canal treatment, please contact us or schedule an appointment for a consultation. You can also learn more about this topic by reading the Dear Doctor magazine article “Root Canal Safety: The Truth About Endodontic Treatment and Your Health.”
Pain is the body’s warning system: It tells us something is wrong. And depending on the location and intensity of the pain, it can give us vital clues about the problem.
Sometimes, though, it’s not so clear and direct—the pain could arise from any number of sources. Toothaches often fall into this category: Although it’s likely indicating a tooth or gum problem, it could be something else — or even somewhere else.
This is known as referred pain, in which you may feel pain in one location, like your mouth, but the actual source of the problem is somewhere else, like an infected and congested sinus passage. If we’re able to identify the true source and location of the pain, the better the chances of a successful treatment outcome.
Besides sinus infections, there are other conditions like trigeminal neuralgia that can refer pain to the mouth. This painful condition involves the trigeminal nerve, a large nerve running on either side of the face that can become inflamed. Depending on where the inflammation occurs, you might feel the pain at various points along the jaw, feeling much like a toothache.
There’s also the case of an earache mimicking a toothache, and vice-versa. Because of the proximity of the ears to the jaws, there is some nerve interconnectedness between them. For example, an infected or abscessed back tooth could feel a lot like an earache.
These and other possible problems (including jaw joint disorders or teeth grinding) can generate pain as if it were coming from the mouth or a single tooth. To be sure you’ll need to undergo a complete dental examination. If your dentist doesn’t find anything wrong with your mouth, he or she may refer you to a medical doctor to explore other possible causes.
Getting to the root cause of pain can help determine which treatment strategy to pursue to relieve it. Finding the actual source is the most efficient way to understand what a pain sensation is trying to tell us.
If you would like more information on dental pain, please contact us or schedule an appointment for a consultation.
Let’s say you’re traveling to Italy to surprise your girlfriend, who is competing in an alpine ski race… and when you lower the scarf that’s covering your face, you reveal to the assembled paparazzi that one of your front teeth is missing. What will you do about this dental dilemma?
Sound far-fetched? It recently happened to one of the most recognized figures in sports — Tiger Woods. There’s still some uncertainty about exactly how this tooth was taken out: Was it a collision with a cameraman, as Woods’ agent reported… or did Woods already have some problems with the tooth, as others have speculated? We still don’t know for sure, but the big question is: What happens next?
Fortunately, contemporary dentistry offers several good solutions for the problem of missing teeth. Which one is best? It depends on each individual’s particular situation.
Let’s say that the visible part of the tooth (the crown) has been damaged by a dental trauma (such as a collision or a blow to the face), but the tooth still has healthy roots. In this case, it’s often possible to keep the roots and replace the tooth above the gum line with a crown restoration (also called a cap). Crowns are generally made to order in a dental lab, and are placed on a prepared tooth in a procedure that requires two office visits: one to prepare the tooth for restoration and to make a model of the mouth and the second to place the custom-manufactured crown and complete the restoration. However, in some cases, crowns can be made on special machinery right in the dental office, and placed during the same visit.
But what happens if the root isn’t viable — for example, if the tooth is deeply fractured, or completely knocked out and unable to be successfully re-implanted?
In that case, a dental implant is probably the best option for tooth replacement. An implant consists of a screw-like post of titanium metal that is inserted into the jawbone during a minor surgical procedure. Titanium has a unique property: It can fuse with living bone tissue, allowing it to act as a secure anchor for the replacement tooth system. The crown of the implant is similar to the one mentioned above, except that it’s made to attach to the titanium implant instead of the natural tooth.
Dental implants look, function and “feel” just like natural teeth — and with proper care, they can last a lifetime. Although they may be initially expensive, their quality and longevity makes them a good value over the long term. A less-costly alternative is traditional bridgework — but this method requires some dental work on the adjacent, healthy teeth; plus, it isn’t expected to last as long as an implant, and it may make the teeth more prone to problems down the road.
What will the acclaimed golfer do? No doubt Tiger’s dentist will help him make the right tooth-replacement decision.
If you have a gap in your grin — whatever the cause — contact us or schedule an appointment for a consultation, and find out which tooth-replacement system is right for you. You can learn more in the Dear Doctor magazine articles “Dental Implant Surgery” and “Crowns & Bridgework.”
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