Sheridan Dentists’ Guide to Cavity Prevention & Treatment

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pretty woman with thumbs up smileDo you know the best way to treat a cavity? Technically, there are a few choices that can effectively treat tooth decay and repair your tooth from the damage of cavities, depending on the severity your condition. However, preventing tooth decay in the first place, or treating it early enough to prevent cavities, is the best way to protect your smile. Your Sheridan dentists explain the tenets of effective cavity prevention, as well as how to successfully treat cavities should your preventive measures fail.

Preventing Cavities

Tooth decay is a progressive disease, and though you may not notice it yourself until cavities form and toothaches occur, the process begins long before then. The protective layer around your teeth, called enamel, is your body’s strongest and most mineralized substance. Some oral bacteria, which form dental plaque and adhere to your tooth enamel, consume sugars and carbs from your meals and convert them into acid, which the bacteria excrete onto your tooth enamel. (more…)

filed under: Patient Education, Tooth Decay

Besides Brushing & Flossing, What Else Constitutes Good Oral Hygiene?

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oral health eating habitsHopefully, you already carefully brush and floss your teeth at least twice a day (once before bedtime, preferably). If so, then you’re well on your way to achieving an excellent oral hygiene routine. However, there’s more to a clean and healthy smile than just a toothbrush and floss. Your Sheridan dentists explain why taking care of your eating habits is equally important to your continued good oral hygiene.

Watch your eating habits

“Sugar causes cavities” has been repeated so often that it can almost be considered clichéd. Nevertheless, it’s true, and there’s more to the story. Other fermentable carbohydrates, as well as sugar, feed certain oral bacteria, which convert them into acid. Though bacteria-produced acid dissipates after a few minutes, it weakens your enamel while it remains in your mouth, depleting your teeth of essential minerals. The more often you eat or snack throughout the day, the more often your teeth are exposed to enamel-destroying acid and the more likely you are to develop tooth decay. Limit your snacking habits, and if you can’t brush your teeth after eating, try rinsing your mouth with water to neutralize acid and rinse out oral bacteria and food debris. (more…)

filed under: Oral Health, Patient Education

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How Would You Like to Whiten Your Teeth in Just One Visit?

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pretty woman with a bright smileYou probably wouldn’t want to leave your car at a shop for the day just to have it washed and waxed. Likewise, you might not want to undergo extensive dental treatment just to whiten common tooth stains, which are the most-often complained about tooth blemish. At your Sheridan cosmetic dentist’s office, you have a choice of professional teeth-whitening treatments that can have little to no impact on your hectic daily schedule, including one-visit teeth-whitening that can brighten your smile in as little as an hour.

A Brighter Smile in the Span of Your Lunch Break

Many patients seeking to whiten their teeth in a hurry can do so in just one visit with our one-visit teeth-whitening treatment. While protecting your lips and gums, Dr. Coon will apply a professional-strength bleaching agent that’s activated with a special curing light, brightening your smile up to 8-10 shades in about the same time as an average lunch break. (more…)

filed under: Cosmetic Dentistry, Teeth Whitening

Sheridan Dentists Explain Other Reasons for Tooth Loss

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pretty girl covering mouthRecently, we discussed why severe gum disease is the leading cause of adult tooth loss, as well as the destruction of your smile’s foundation. However, gum disease isn’t the only manner by which one or more of your teeth can leave the nest. To help you preserve a whole and healthy smile, your Sheridan dentist, Dr. Coon, explains a few other common reasons behind adult tooth loss.

Extreme Tooth Decay

While gum disease attacks your gums and jawbone, tooth decay directly attacks the structures of your teeth and leads to holes called cavities, which continue to grow until treated. Typically, tooth decay can be treated by removing the decayed structure to halt the spread of infection, then replacing the extracted tooth structure with a dental filling. In some cases, severe decay can render your tooth useless, and if left untreated, your tooth can fall out or require extraction. (more…)

filed under: Patient Education, Tooth Loss

82801 Dentist: Try This Homecare Quiz

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toothbrush and dental flossMaintaining thorough and consistent homecare can do wonders for your mouth. By brushing and flossing correctly, you can keep harmful bacteria from damaging your teeth and gums, keeping your smile healthy and functional. Therefore, to help you maintain your oral health, your 82801 dentist, Dr. Coon, has created this quiz to sharpen your homecare skills. (more…)

filed under: Healthy Living, Oral Health

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Sheridan Dentist Discusses Teeth Stains and Whitening

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smiling couple white teethA beautiful smile can light up a room because it is, well, bright. Thus, if you see yellow or dull teeth when you look in the mirror, chances are that you don’t feel your smile is capable of lighting up a room. Thankfully, cosmetic dentistry has developed teeth whitening treatment, which can remove stains and lighten teeth several shades. But did you know that teeth whitening is ineffective against a certain type of stain that discolors teeth? Read below as your Sheridan dentist, Dr. Coon, takes a closer look at teeth stains and shares the solution to stains that cannot be lifted with professional whitening treatment. (more…)

filed under: Cosmetic Dentistry, Teeth Whitening

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Sheridan Dentist: 38 Percent of Children Grind Their Teeth

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sleeping child with animalHave you ever heard the sound of teeth grinding against one another? It can be disturbing, especially if the teeth in question are part of a smile you adore. But did you know that children rarely receive treatment for bruxism (teeth grinding)? It’s not an oversight either. Below, your Sheridan dentist, Dr. Coon, explains why bruxism treatment is rarely necessary in young children. (more…)

filed under: Family Dentistry, Preventive Dentistry

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Dental Cleanings in Sheridan: More Important than You May Know

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checking teethWhile most people are aware that brushing and flossing your teeth twice a day is vital to keeping your smile clean, but how often do you visit your dentist for a regular dental checkup and cleaning? Your daily hygiene ritual is fairly simple and can be practiced in a matter of minutes every day, but visiting the dentist’s office every six months may seem like more of a chore. Your Sheridan dentist, Dr. Coon, explains why your dental cleaning is also vital to your smile’s health, and why you shouldn’t ignore professional maintenance when caring for your oral health.

What Your Toothbrush Can’t Do for You

The point of brushing and flossing your teeth is to control the buildup of dental plaque, which contains over 600 different kinds of oral bacteria. Some of these germs produce acid that erodes your tooth enamel (the strong protective layer around your teeth), and others can irritate and inflame your gum tissue, paving the way for gum disease. While brushing and flossing is essential, however, it is not full-proof, and missing a spot of plaque now and then is natural. After about 48 hours, dental plaque calcifies (hardens) into tartar, which is more stubborn than plaque and cannot be removed with your toothbrush and floss. (more…)

filed under: Oral Health, Preventive Dentistry

The Beauty of Dental Implants, with Your Sheridan Dentists

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beauty smileThere are a number of options for restoring your smile after losing one or more teeth, each designed according to the amount of teeth lost and their pattern within your mouth. However, dental crowns, bridges, and partial/full dentures focus only on replacing the crowns, or visible portions, of your teeth, which is necessary to once again complete your smile, but does not effectively address the destruction that follows the loss of healthy teeth. Your Sheridan dentist, Dr. Coon, has extensive experience restoring our patients’ smiles after they’ve suffered tooth loss, and explains why dental implants are a must-have for eligible patients who need to replace one or more teeth.

The Discrete Destruction of Tooth Loss

While manmade replacement teeth offer a variety of anchors, including intricate frames and powerful dental adhesives, your natural teeth provide the sturdiest base of all—healthy tooth roots, which are embedded in your jawbone. (more…)

filed under: Dental Implants, Restorative Dentistry

Porcelain Veneers—A New Face for Your Smile in Sheridan

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attractive young woman with a confident smileYour smile is one of the most dominant features of your face. It plays an important role in first impressions, and can significantly impact your self-confidence, for better or worse. Luckily, like other aspects of your appearance, you can tweak your smile’s visage to improve its aesthetic value and your pride in showing it. When it comes to giving your smile a makeover, however, limiting the disturbance to your healthy tooth structures is vital to maintaining your good oral health in the process. To this end, porcelain veneers provide the optimal solution in many smile makeover cases that involve multiple tooth blemishes on more than one tooth. Your Sheridan cosmetic dentist, Dr. Donald Coon, explains the diversity of porcelain veneers, and why they’re ideal for providing your smile with the face it deserves.

What are Porcelain Veneers?

In the quest to provide dental restorations and replacements that closely resemble the real thing, dental porcelain is perhaps one of the most valuable resources. Used for a variety of treatments, including dental crowns and dentures, porcelain is also used to create dental veneers. Essentially thin wafers of dental porcelain, veneers are small shells that are custom-designed to match the contours of your smile, and the porcelain is specially layered to mimic the light-reflecting properties of natural tooth enamel. Porcelain veneers are bonded to the front surfaces of your teeth and can simultaneously cover a variety of cosmetic blemishes, including severe tooth stains, unsightly chips, odd spaces, and slightly misaligned teeth, among others. (more…)

filed under: Cosmetic Dentistry, Porcelain Veneers