Clinic
Services
Pella \ Iowa
Family Dentistry
Checkups and Cleanings
Everyone should attend a checkup and cleaning at least once every six months. Along with excellent hygiene, checkups and cleanings help keep your teeth and gums clean of plaque and tartar, which lead to tooth decay, periodontal disease, and more.
Checkups and Cleanings
Professional dental cleaning involves carefully but thoroughly cleaning every inch of your teeth’s surfaces, removing deposits of plaque, tartar (calcified plaque), and food particles that your toothbrush and floss missed.
Because tartar can’t be removed at home, routinely cleaning your teeth with professional equipment is the only way to control it. Otherwise, the bacteria it harbors can continuously produce harmful substances that attack your teeth and gums.
During your exam, we’ll carefully check your oral tissues to spot any signs of trouble, such as redness or swelling in your gums or unseen damage to one or more teeth. Advanced technology such as digital X-rays and intraoral cameras, helps ensure accurate results.
Periodontal Disease
Periodontal disease, or gum disease, affects more than 80 percent of adults in the U.S. to varying degrees. In its severe stage, known as periodontitis, gum disease is the most common cause of adult tooth loss.
Periodontal Disease
While many things can raise your risks of gum disease, its main cause is oral bacteria. When the bacteria work their way underneath your gums, plaque and tartar develop on your teeth roots, infecting the gum tissues surrounding them.
As the infection (gingivitis) grows more severe, symptoms such as redness, swelling, and bleeding in your gums will become more prominent. Treatment for gum disease depends on the extent of your condition by the time you address it.
If it’s still in the earlier stages, then a deep periodontal cleaning (or scaling and root planing) can effectively keep the disease from progressing. If the gum disease is more advanced, other treatment may be necessary. Most of the time, ongoing periodontal maintenance is required to keep it at bay.
TMJ Treatment
TMJ disorder symptoms can be hard to ignore – such as chronic jaw pain, headaches, sore and aching facial muscles, and more. During your checkup and cleaning, we can help you diagnose TMJ disorder if it’s the cause of your discomfort.
TMJ treatment
TMJ disorder affects your jaw joints, and can describe damage, misalignment, inflammation, malfunction, or other issues that complicate their movement. For example, constant teeth-grinding might wear down or damage them over time.
While everyone’s TMJ disorder is different, many patients can find relief from their jaw dysfunction with the help of a custom-designed oral appliance. The appliance can support your jaw comfortably so your TMJs can relax and heal.
If you also constantly grind your teeth as well, a condition known as bruxism, then your appliance can be designed to protect your teeth, as well. Treating bruxism can prevent damage to your teeth and further complications with your jaw joints.
Sensitive Teeth
Various factors contribute to tooth pain, but gum recession is a primary cause. Likewise, the causes of gum recession also vary, and can include excessive plaque buildup, brushing your teeth too harshly, grinding your teeth, and more.
sensitive teeth
For example, if you’re not brushing your teeth regularly, plaque will buildup on the roots of your teeth. Plaque causes gum recession, so establishing a better brushing routine can help prevent this condition and its resulting discomfort.
Brushing your teeth too harshly can cause the gum tissues to recede gradually, exposing your teeth to roots to uncomfortable stimulation. It can also wear down your tooth enamel, making the crowns of your teeth increasingly more sensitive.
There are some simple precautionary steps you can take to prevent tooth sensitivity, such as:
- Using a toothbrush with soft bristles, and brushing in circular strokes along the gum line
- Eating a healthy, well-balanced diet
- Flossing your teeth daily
- Using desensitizing toothpaste
- Attending regular checkups and cleanings
overcoming dental fear
Dental anxiety, fear, and phobia are different degrees of a similar condition – an overwhelming sense of uneasiness at the thought of receiving dental treatment, or even visiting the dentist’s office. Fortunately, we can help you overcome dental anxiety with nitrous oxide.
overcoming dental fear
For many patients, this uneasiness can prevent them from attending the routine checkups and cleanings their smiles need to remain healthy. Or, it may stop them from undergoing necessary treatment to address existing oral health concerns.
To help ease your fear and anxiety and make it more comfortable to receive the care your smile needs, we can offer nitrous oxide, which is safe and effective for patients of all ages.
Nitrous oxide may also be appropriate if you’re undergoing comprehensive tooth restoration or tooth replacement. You can remain calm and relaxed in the chair for longer periods of time, allowing us to complete more of your treatment at one time.
sleep apnea
Many people who snore constantly every night do so because of an underlying disorder known as sleep apnea. This describes the complete obstruction of your airway, which causes you to stop breathing for several moments at a time every night.
sleep apnea
The word “apnea” is a Greek word that means to stop breathing, and in cases of sleep apnea, this occurs due to mouth and throat tissues obstructing the airway. It causes you to snore increasingly loudly as the blockage grows worse. The snoring then stops as you stop breathing, and gasp into partial wakefulness, as breathing resumes.
However, snoring isn’t the only sign that you might be losing sleep to a disorder. When left untreated, the constant interruptions to your sleep breathing pattern can deprive you of deep sleep, leading to daytime exhaustion and other signs of sleep deprivation.
If you snore constantly and in such a distinct pattern, or experience signs that you’re not sleeping well, then sleep apnea may be the cause. If you’ve been diagnosed with it, we may be able to custom-design a sleep appliance to help you address it comfortably.
Cosmetic Dentistry
teeth whitening
Sometimes, teeth develop stains, usually after years of exposure to food and beverages. Fortunately, most of them develop on the outer layer of your tooth enamel, are merely cosmetic, and can be erased with cosmetic teeth-whitening.
teeth whitening
Teeth-whitening treatment involves the use of a highly potent but gentle bleaching agent on the surfaces of your teeth. Your custom-designed whitening kit will include a set of trays that you can wear comfortably over your teeth.
You can fill the trays with the suggested amount of gel and apply them to your teeth for about an hour or two every day. The gel works to break up and remove the staining deposits on your tooth enamel, and by the end of the treatment, your teeth will be stain-free.
Because teeth stains can occur from natural things like what you eat and drink every day, most people can benefit from teeth-whitening at some point in their lives. However, you can keep your smile brighter longer by keeping your teeth consistently clean and healthy.
Porcelain Veneers
When your smile is affected by one or several cosmetic blemishes, custom-designed porcelain veneers may be able to address all of them at once. The wafer-thin porcelain shells closely mimic the healthy and blemish-free surfaces of your natural teeth.
Porcelain Veneers
Each veneer is individually bonded to the appropriate tooth, which creates a natural finish that makes your veneers almost indistinguishable from your healthy teeth. Because veneers are so thin, teeth only need minor sculpting of their enamel to accommodate them.
Along with their ability to correct multiple smile concerns at once, this is one of the biggest benefits of porcelain veneers. The minimal amount of tooth preparation needed to place them helps preserve a maximum amount of your healthy tooth structure.
This means your teeth will not become more susceptible to conditions like decay or structural damage after your porcelain veneers have been placed. Therefore, if improving your smile requires addressing several different concerns, veneers may be the best option.
invisalign orthodontics
If your teeth aren’t aligned correctly, then we may recommend straightening them with custom-designed Invisalign®. Unlike traditional braces, the discreet orthodontic solution consists of a series of acrylic aligners that remain virtually invisible.
invisalign orthodontics
When your teeth are crooked, their misalignment could be the biggest factor in your smile’s appearance. It can also pose a significant risk to other aspects of your oral health, including the integrity of your teeth, the health of your jaw joints, and more.
Invisalign® aligners are designed according to highly precise measurements of your teeth, jaw, and dental ridges to optimize your bite’s overall function. The movement of your teeth is facilitated by changing your aligners for the next in the series every couple of weeks.
Because they’re crafted from clear, BPA-free acrylic, Invisalign® aligners offer a much higher level of discretion than traditional braces. In fact, most patients report that their aligners remain unnoticed unless they tell someone about them.
Tooth Restoration
White Filling
Treating a cavity involves cleaning the infection from your tooth and filling the cavity with a biocompatible material. At our office, we use tooth-colored composite resin to create fillings that not only effectively treat cavities, but also blend in with your teeth.
White Filling
A cavity is caused by tooth decay – an infection in your tooth structure – that results when the bacteria in plaque and tartar erode your tooth enamel. To restore the tooth, we’ll carefully clean away the bacteria and infected tooth structure to stop the cavity from growing.
Then, we’ll fill the cavity with a safe and biocompatible material, known as composite resin, to reestablish the tooth’s strength and integrity. Composite resin is tinted to match your tooth’s unique color and shade, allowing it to blend in naturally.
Because tooth-colored resin can be bonded securely to your tooth structure, it also creates a tighter and more secure seal against bacteria. This significantly reduces your risks of the tooth becoming infected again and needing root canal therapy.
Root Canal Therapy
Root canal therapy means to conservatively remove the infected nerves and tissues housed within the pulp and the canal of your tooth’s roots. If the infection reaches your tooth’s inner chamber, or pulp, then root canal therapy may be necessary.
Root Canal Therapy
The tooth decay that causes cavities to form in your teeth is a progressive condition. The cavity will grow larger as the decay progresses, and it doesn’t take long before it reaches the sensitive nerves and tissues in the tooth’s pulp.
The pulp chamber of your tooth is connected to its root, which connects the tooth’s nerves and blood vessels to the jawbone that supplies it with vital nutrients. An infection in your tooth pulp can lead to severe discomfort as well as severe risk to your oral health.
Root canal therapy stops the infection from spreading through the tissues in your root canal and toward your jawbone and other oral tissues. This helps you avoid the need to extract the tooth in order to preserve the rest of your oral health.
Dental Crowns
Dental crowns used to be a de facto treatment for nearly any dental concern. In many cases, creating and placing a highly customized dental crown over a tooth is still the most effective and conservative way to restore it.
Dental Crowns
Before recommending a crown, we’ll carefully examine your tooth and oral structures to determine if it’s your best option. For example, crowns are often most appropriate for restoring teeth that are fractured, broken, or have recently received root canal therapy.
The material used to craft your dental depends largely on the location of the tooth, as well as your personal needs and preferences.
More cosmetically appealing porcelain and zirconia crowns are most frequently recommended for more visible teeth, as both materials can be highly customized to blend in naturally with the healthy teeth around them.
Tooth Replacement
Dental Bridge
A single lost tooth can have a devastating impact on your long-term oral health if you don’t replace it. Modern dental bridges are custom-designed prostheses that help prevent these issues by replacing your lost tooth and restoring your bite’s function.
Dental Bridge
A dental bridge is a fixed dental prosthesis, meaning it is bonded permanently in place and cannot be removed without the help of your dentist. It consists of a custom, highly lifelike replacement, or pontic, and one or two dental crowns that support it.
The crowns of the bridge are bonded to the nearby healthy teeth, or abutment teeth, and hold the pontic steadily and comfortably in place. In some cases, a bridge can also be designed with more than one pontic to replace several adjacent missing teeth.
dental implants
Losing your teeth roots can have several significant long-term effects on the health and integrity of your jawbone. The most effective way to prevent these effects is to replace your lost teeth roots with an appropriate number of dental implants.
dental implants
Dental implants are designed as supportive structures for custom-designed dental crowns, dental bridges, and dentures. An implant post is made from biocompatible titanium, which your healthy jawbone structure fuses to as it heals.
Compared to the abutment teeth, clasps, or adhesives that more traditional restorations rely on, dental implants offer a more comfortable and lifelike solution. By more closely mimicking your healthy, natural tooth structures, implants offer several important benefits.
Those include helping prevent the loss of your jawbone’s mass and density following the loss of your teeth roots and the stimulation they provided. Also, implant posts anchor a crown, bridge, or denture in place so it doesn’t shift or move when you bite and chew.
partial and full dentures
Today’s dentures address more types of tooth loss than ever before. For example, traditional full dentures consist of a complete row of replacement teeth, while partial dentures can be made to fit around any healthy, natural teeth that remain
partial and full dentures
Severe tooth loss (edentulism) can occur for many different reasons, and can affect patients to varying degrees. Therefore, the first step to designing your dental prosthesis is to carefully examine your teeth, dental ridges, and oral structures.
If all of the teeth on your dental ridge are missing, then a complete denture may be necessary. However, if you still retain healthy teeth that are worth saving, then a partial denture can offer much-needed support as well as fully restore your smile.
In addition to restoring your bite’s function and your smile’s appearance, the right denture can also help you preserve the rest of your oral health and reduce your risks of losing the healthy teeth that you still retain.