Here at King Family Dental, we emphasize the importance of preventing and not reacting! Diagnosing problems with your mouth, while they are still small, can help save your teeth and maintain your smile for years to come, not to mention save you thousands of dollars. A simple set of x-rays and a cleaning on an annual basis can go a long way towards preserving your oral health. Preventive care includes a comprehensive review of the state of your teeth, supporting structures or periodontium, and general head and neck health. X-rays will be included for a thorough and complete diagnosis. Finally, a cleaning will help prevent the onset of gum inflammation and disease. Supplemental treatments such as topical fluoride and pit and fissure sealants can also provide further protection from dental decay. Lastly, we want to teach you how to better take care of your teeth with oral hygiene instructions. This can be the cheapest form of dental insurance!!

Most of us are familiar with dental fillings. Commonly called fillings, direct restorations serve as a viable replacement structure when tooth material is removed to eliminate mild-to-moderate decay from a tooth. Dental decay, if left in place, will continue to spread and eventually cause odontogenic infection, or an abscessed tooth. In order to prevent premature tooth loss or more costly root canal treatments, fillings can replace the missing tooth structure and protect the tooth for long periods of time. Fillings can be either silver-based or white colored, the later of which is more contemporary and esthetically pleasing.

When dental decay gets too severe and causes infection, it goes beyond the need for a filling. This is when root canal therapy comes into play. This is the more viable alternative to having a tooth removed, as it preserves the tooth in its place while removing the infection from the tooth. In other words, we can save your bad tooth without pulling it! Teeth treated with root canal therapy will likely need crown for further long-term protection. Your tooth remains and is now sealed from further infection for years to come! No other tooth replacement, including implants, will work like your own teeth. If it's possible to save the tooth and build it up, then it's almost always best to do so.

In the event that an infected tooth cannot be saved, then the next-best alternative would be the dental implant. A surgically-placed implant is the best that our industry has to offer in replacing teeth. When placed properly, and if cared for, an implant can replace a missing tooth and last for a lifetime! In addition, implants can serve as anchors for denture and partial placements, allowing the prosthesis to "snap" in place for a better fit, better function, and better retention. Implants are biocompatible, binding with your bone with no complications to give great stability, greatly improving your ability to chew. Implant dentistry really is an innovative and awesome service to provide for our patients.

Fillings, root canals, pins, and posts.... the tooth can only take so much! Once teeth have been operated on through the years, they grow more and more fragile. This can lead to fractures that leave the teeth unrestorable and prone to loss. Crowns can cover teeth and give them added protection and resistance to fracture. Do you have a missing tooth? Well, a fixed partial denture can "bridge" that gap, giving you a tooth back in that place. A bridge must involve a tooth in front and behind that space, however. Crowns and bridges can last for a lifetime, if properly maintained. They can be tooth colored, gold, or silver.

Some form of tooth replacement can be very helpful in restoring proper chewing and function. A complete denture or partial denture can be that viable replacement. Although they must be taken in and out of the mouth daily, dentures and partials can be made to be quite esthetically pleasing. With today's technology and materials, dentures can now be combined with implants to render what we call an implant overdenture. The advent of the "snap-in" denture has really changed the game for denture wearers. You can now enjoy them with better stability and comfort, while the implant attachments do the work!

Teeth may need to be removed for various reasons, whether because of severe decay, gum disease, fracture due to trauma, etc. And let's not forget those pesky wisdom teeth that erupt in every way but right! Our doctors have vast experience in not only removing these teeth, but also in altering the bony landscape of the oral cavity. Often large bony lesions are present that need to be surgically augmented or removed prior to further oral rehabilitation. Dentures will irritate if the bone is not properly adjusted. Implants can suffer if the bone is not remodeled properly. As we perform "limited" oral surgery, we also have established relationships with oral and maxillfacial surgeons who are ready to take on those cases that we deem "beyond our scope". We'll have you covered, either way.

The term "Cosmetics" is relative, as we expect all of our treatment outcomes to have the best possible esthetics and bring you, as our patient, much satisfaction and confidence. But there are some supplemental treatments, such as bleaching and dermofillers, that can take your smile to another level of "bling". A simple consultation or a few minutes after your cleaning can allow us to discuss what your desires are. Remember, teeth are naturally a "pearl-ish" color rather than white, but we find no fault in wanting the "optic white" effect!

Dental implants have revolutionized the field of dentistry, as they can be applied to almost any restorative scenario. As mentioned previously, we can now offer you the denture that "snaps" in place! Once the implants have been placed, they will heal prior to being loaded by a crown, bridge, partial, or denture. Implant overdentures still allow you to remove your denture on a daily basis, but now utilize button-like attachments to "snap" the denture into place, giving them a new level of stability and retention.