Crown Lengthening and How It Can Fix Your Smile

Crown lengthening can help to improve the look of your smile and can restore your smile to its natural healthy state. If your tooth has been negatively impacted and not enough of it is above the gum line to fix, crown lengthening can expose more of the tooth structure to allow the tooth to be restored.

If you are struggling with your smile and think that crown lengthening may help to fix your problem, you can contact Dr. Rice and her team. Once she has evaluated your smile and taken x-rays, you will be able to develop a plan in order to determine if crown lengthening is appropriate for you.

The length of time that crown lengthening takes depends on the number of teeth you have that need to be corrected. In order to expose more of the tooth, Dr. Rice may need to cut some of the area around the gum. Once the incisions have been made, sometimes sutures will be necessary, but generally your gums will be able to begin immediately to repair themselves.

For more information on crown lengthening and how to improve your smile, contact Dr. Denine Rice and her team today.

Should I Have Laser Surgery

Time has allowed for new and improved options to support the health of your mouth. One of those valuable procedures is called LANAP laser surgery and is used by a periodontist when a patient has periodontal disease. While periodontal disease is not one hundred percent reversible, the results are very promising and it increasing the health of your mouth more than traditional root scaling and planing.

LANAP laser surgery allows for the pulses of a laser to go below the gum line and kill harmful bacteria. After your periodontal specialist will remove plaque build-up. There are no sutures required and very little bleeding. While patients may have been out of work for a few days with traditional periodontal surgery, most are returning to work the same or next day. Healing time is significantly reduced and Dr. Rice, one of Inland Empire’s top rated dentists, is seeing phenomenal results.

“Traditional periodontal surgeries required the patient to be numb in order for the periodontist to cut open their gums,” says Dr. Denine Rice. “LANAP laser surgery does not require cutting.  The surgery itself usually takes about two-one hour sessions and does not involve a numbing agent. Traditional surgery could last as long as eight to ten hours between all of the sessions.

The laser that is used has three fine hairs on the end of it. They are so small they can seamlessly fit between the gums and the tooth. You may not even know the procedure as started because they are so delicate. And while you may think the procedure sounds costly, it is actually comparable to the more traditional surgery.

Call Dr. Rice and her team today to find out more!

My Gums Are Healed. Do I Have to Keep Going to the Periodontist?

It is awesome that you visited your periodontist and completed your LANAP surgery. By now you should have noticed the healing of your gums. Your pocket depths should be decreasing and your tissue getting stronger. While this is important and fantastic you need to continue visiting your periodontist every three months for a while.

 

      Dr. Denine Rice recommends that you continue regular visits with her and her team until the presence of the disease is gone.  You may have one or more years of healing after you have had LANAP surgery. It is critical to the success of your surgery to continue to visit your periodontist as long as is recommended.  The goal is to get your gums back to a state of health, regenerate bone growth and to alternate between your Periodontist and your regular dentist for regular dental check-ups and cleanings. There is no perfect time line that this occurs and may take longer for some patients than others.

      LANAP laser surgery offers faster healing of diseased gums so that most patients can return to work the next day. With healing this quick and effective it also offers opportunities for patients to return to their general dentist for care in a faster amount of time then traditional periodontal surgery.

Why should I floss if all my gums do is bleed?

When flossing your teeth you may notice some bleeding. This bleeding is due to a condition called gingivitis.  It is the first stage of periodontal disease but is reversible with the right treatment. “Part of that treatment is brushing and flossing says,” Dr. Denine Rice.   Dental plaque and tarter has bacteria in it that causes irritation to the gums. If you continue to not take proper care of your teeth the bacteria will continue to build and gingivitis can quickly turn into periodontal disease. Once you have periodontal disease, this unfortunately is not reversible.

                             Although, you may feel that you are doing more damage to your gums and therefore want to discontinue flossing you are not doing more damage.  “If you continue to floss for a week and your gums continue to bleed,” Dr. Rice, one of Inland Empire’s Top Periodontists suggests you set up a visit with your dentist.

                             Your gums will not bleed once the bacteria are removed. You want to floss in order to remove food from the gums where your toothbrush cannot be reached.  Depending on how much tarter and plaque is built up will depend on what type of treatment is recommended. You may need to have root planing and scaling to help remove the plaque from your teeth. What you don’t want to do is stop flossing, instead it’s time to actually floss more.

Gum Damage

Teeth and your health connection

One of the benefits of a soft toothbrush is that it does not damage the gums. “A rigorous brushing routine,” says Dr. Denine Rice, “damages the gums.” Gum’s that are brushed too hard become sensitive and can begin to recede.  Gum recession is the process of your gums pulling back from the teeth. As more of your tooth becomes exposed, you run the risk of losing your teeth because the gums are like a pocket that securely keeps your teeth in place.

         When you are brushing your teeth you should gently brush the teeth in a circular motion. Each quadrant should take about thirty to forty seconds. It is not recommended that you brush your gums, because you can cause damage to them.  While you are flossing, Dr. Rice suggests, “Gently glide the floss between the teeth. You do not want to push or force floss between your teeth because this can cut the gums.”  Food begins to build up between the teeth at every meal and will stay there until you floss. The longer that food builds up on the gums the more time that bacteria has to attack the gums and the enamel of the teeth.

         You only have one set of gums and the damage you do to them is most of the time irreversible. Damaged gums become susceptible to bacteria while pocket depths increase between the gums and the teeth.  Brushing and flossing twice a day can help remove plague from the teeth.

Implants – Your Periodontal Surgeon and Dentist Working Together

As implant success rates soar, and more and more patients are finding the benefits of replacing teeth, or even a single tooth, with this titanium technology, it is becoming even more important to understand how you can achieve the best result.

“The first thing to consider is the number of implants that your dentist has surgically placed,” advises Dr. Denine Rice, one of the Inland Empire’s Top Dentists. “With experience comes expertise.”

Peridontists are a specialty that focuses on gum tissue, and while the implant will be placed in the bone, it is important to have someone who is well knowledgeable about how to prevent tissue from “sloughing” or having other tissue damage. “Your gum tissue is the frame for your smile,” adds Dr. Rice, it is important to make sure that what can be seen is beautiful, while what is unseen, the implant, is structurally sound.” Having a 99% success rate is what draws patients to Dr. Rice.

While your peridontist may be the best person to surgically place your implant, it is your general dentist who has the expertise to place the final restoration. “Working together has many benefits. One is that the patient has two professionals both working to make sure the end result is stable and esthetic. Another is that the patient will be benefiting from the expertise of each individual,” says Dr. Rice.