PAINLESS DENTAL TECHNIQUES
Proven dental techniques with a 60 year track record
Crowns and bridges that do not fall out
Sound engineering that prevents decay and periodontal bone loss
We care about your well-being.
Are you among the 40% of adults who have avoided seeking regular dental care? According to the ADA, there are various reasons why. About 24.7% feel that visiting a dentist is not necessary until a problem occurs. The ADA estimates that 34.5% are afraid of the cost of dental care and 17% are afraid of the uncertainty of what care they might need. Approximately 26.3% have had a bad experience with the dentist and at least 21% avoid the dentist because they are afraid of pain. [American Dental Association 2008; “Key Dental Facts]
If you are harboring these reasons for avoiding dental care, you are doing yourself a tremendous disservice. Knowledge is power, and misconceptions are preventing you from having the facts you need to make intelligent decisions about your oral health.
Painless Dentistry
Dentistry should not be painful. Most often local anesthesia is sufficient for dental procedures, but the practitioner must never work on a patient when there is inadequate anesthesia. The patient’s trust can never be violated when it comes to anesthesia. Occasionally, a patient’s metabolism or mindset on a particular day makes it impossible to achieve full local anesthesia. In this instance it is best to send the patient home that day.
For a patient who has full-blown phobias about dentistry and dental care, treating the phobia first will make it possible to have pleasant experiences in the dental chair. General anesthesia can be accomplished for patients who have full-blown phobias, but precision dentistry and general anesthesia are not a good fit. Precision dentistry demands the practitioner’s full focus on the restorative procedures. General anesthesia interferes with full focus because it always puts the patient at risk. General anesthesia is best reserved for relatively quick procedures like extractions.
A scientific step-by-step approach to dentistry makes restorative dentistry a comfortable experience for the patient and not a chore. With this approach, dentistry is never forced to “go on” or banged so that it can come off. Restorations are custom made to fit with precision to tolerances measured in tenths of millimeters. However, the materials used are repeatedly heated close to their melting points, so errors can easily occur along the way. For this reason, two-visit crown and bridgework often presents problems with fit and less than ideal outcomes. However a step-by-step approach assures that any error is immediately identified and corrected before going on to the next step. As a result there is no guesswork and no uncomfortable sessions of trying to make dentistry that does not fit “go on”. The most ideal outcome is almost assured.
Patients need to be comfortable and pain-free between visits. Every effort is made to create temporary restorations that are esthetic, comfortable, seal the teeth effectively to prevent sensitivity and do not come out between visits. The temporary restorations serve as a blueprint for the finished restorations so that that permanent dentistry does not have different dimensions that patients have to “get used to”. Precision dentistry is supposed to feel wonderful the minute it is inserted. It is usually worn for a trial period with Vaseline® ointment or silicone–that is how well it fits! Adjustments are therefore easily accomplished before permanent cementation so comfort is assured.