Dr Gatti's Blog a Lawrence Dentist Reflections

In today’s world dental implants are no longer considered exotic or experimental treatment. The fact of the matter is that they are now a routine part of dental treatment. If a tooth is lost there are many options available. There are many reasons to consider a dental implant as the first choice. To begin with, an implant will help preserve the bone structure. When a natural tooth is removed, the bone surrounding the area remodels and collapses. An implant will prevent this collapse from occurring. Secondly, if an implant is placed there is no need to alter the natural teeth on either side of the extraction site. Additionally, the final result can be highly functional and appear completely natural.

Often times the ideal time to place an implant is at the same time as the removal of the natural tooth. Depending on the circumstances, it may be that several months will need to pass before the placement of the implant. There are a number of different scenarios that can occur so, it at all possible, it is best to have a plan in mind prior to the removal of a hopeless tooth.

A dental implant can be utilized for the replacement of one tooth or multiple teeth. Additionally, implants have become the treatment of choice to help retain full dentures, particularly lower dentures. In the past, successfully wearing a lower denture was highly unpredictable and long term functional stability was questionable at best. With the placement of two to four implants we can now make it so a lower denture literally snaps into place. This eliminates the denture from slipping or coming out in unintended situations. The long term comfort and predictability can be a real gift for denture patients. We recently completed a case for a woman who was unable to retain her lower denture due to very little bone structure. I received a wonderful note thanking us for making it possible for her to comfortably eat a meal for the first time in over five years. Talk about life altering –  it was truly a wonderful experience for all of us that were involved.

We look forward to discussing the possibility of a dental implant for you, a friend or a family member in the future if the need arises.

Summer Is Here!

Even if I lived in a closed box I think I could tell when summer arrives by the phone calls and questions I receive. With people going out of town for vacation or having guests with them, dental concerns take an elevated status. The panic factor increases. So I wanted to review a couple of common scenarios that seem to occur more at this time of year.

I am at my sister’s and I just had a crown come off, what should I do?

First, there are many reasons that a crown might come off, so if possible, visit her dentist and have it temporarily cemented. If that is inconvenient you can go to the drug store and buy a denture adhesive. Clean out the crown as well as possible and add a very slight amount of denture adhesive to the inside of the crown. In this situation very little is needed. The crown will only go back on one way – give it a few trial runs before putting in the adhesive. Once comfortable with the orientation, put the crown to place with the adhesive inside of the crown. Please understand that this is a temporary fix. You will be able to dislodge it with chewy or sticky food, so be careful. The reason it is important to place the crown back in your mouth if at all possible is to preserve the space. Teeth shift and drift until they hit something. If the crown is left out for a period of a week or so it may no longer fit the space.

I just bit into something and part of my tooth broke!!!!

Most of the time, this is much more startling than painful. The worst pain will be when it first happens. Usually the tooth will be sensitive to cold; however you will be surprised that it is not worse because it will feel like a huge hole in your mouth.  Most likely it will be fine and we can deal with it when you get back home. Again, the normal initial response is one of panic. What is typical is that it is rather sharp to your tongue, but otherwise not terrible.

My parents are visiting and my dad’s tooth just……… (You fill in the blank)

Give us a call. I am sure that we can find a way to help get him taken care of or at least get him comfortable until he gets back home.

Regardless of the situation, please remember that you can always give me a call. If I am not in the studio, our voice mail will give you my cell phone – call me. There is no need to have pain or panic ruin your vacation. We can usually get things under control pretty quickly.