Comprehensive Dental Exams

Comprehensive Dental Exams entail all the patients' needs (and wants) addressed in order to achieve a healthy oral environment with a team approach of the doctor and patient.

Family dentistry is a part of Fullwiler Dental to make it more convenient for one-stop visits.

We invite people to a new dentist environment with the years of an experienced dentist.

The dental treatment can include teeth pain (dental emergency), cosmetic dental work, crowns, bridges, teeth fillings(tooth-colored fillings and more), invisalign (clear tray braces), implants, endodontics (root canal), teeth bleaching, wisdom tooth removal, denture, partial denture, and children dentistry.

Teeth Cleaning and Whitening

Dental treatment includes teeth cleaning at the frequency that the individual dental patient needs for proper oral health.

Teeth bleaching (whitening) is elective and part of cosmetic dental work that a patient can request.

Tooth-Colored Fillings

A supplement of cosmetic dental work is getting tooth-colored fillings versus the alloy or silver-colored fillings.

Both have their benefits, but the more esthetic ones are the tooth-colored fillings.

We recommend the esthetic fillings in the visible area, as one can often see in a person's smile zone a darker area caused by alloy fillings or decay. .

We also recommend tooth maintenance and possibly diet adjustment to get more longevity out of the fillings and their esthetics.

Porcelain and Gold Crowns

The restoration of teeth may require a crown or bridge. Porcelain crowns offer another aspect of cosmetic dental work.

It is a gold or tooth-colored full coverage restoration of the tooth in order to gain back the lost tooth structure from broken down structure or decay.

Tooth-matching shades have a wide range to accommodate individual's needs.

An all-porcelain crown offer the translucency and less metal shadowing in the gum line than Porcelain-fused-to-metal (PFM) crowns.

Porcelain-fused-to-metal (PFM) crowns are tooth colored and stronger than all porcelain crowns, so they are preferred on the back teeth.

Gold crowns are great for back teeth and mimic the expansion and shrinkage the oral environment goes through better than Porcelain or Porcelain-fused-to-metal (PFM) crowns.

Keep in mind that materials are getting better with technology, so all-porcelain crowns may be preferred throughout the mouth soon.

Veneers

Veneers are thinner than crowns and partially cover the tooth.

They are often used in the esthetic zone (front teeth that show in a smile) to close spaces for smaller looking teeth, discoloration deep into the tooth, or other esthetic concerns.

Veneers can be used in conjunction with invisalign or braces in order to straighten teeth and compensate for some teeth that are smaller looking in proportion to the other teeth.

Crowns

Crowns are full coverage restorations of the tooth in order to gain back the lost tooth structure from decay or broken down structure.

Many times a tooth had a filling in it prior to getting crowns or bridges. As a result, it is often (but not always) necessary to remove the old filling to get at all the decay and then to build up the tooth prior to placing the crown.

Bridges

Bridges are restorations that replace a missing tooth (edentulous area) or two by spanning the gap by attachment to the adjacent teeth.

Many bridges can only fill an area for one to two teeth and need an abutment tooth on both sides.

Rarely are bridges made that have a tooth cantilever off the abutment to not have support on one side.

The abutment teeth are often covered with Crowns and the edentulous area has teeth (pontics) attached to the abutment teeth. The pontics look like teeth, but do not have any anchor in the gums or bone, just supported by the abutment teeth.

Implant Restoration

Implants are titanium pieces that integrate with the bone in the oral cavity in order to supply a strong base for an individual tooth, bridge, or for dentures.

This type of restoration is becoming more popular as the longevity of these tooth replacements are showing they have a good success rate and don't require restorations on adjacent teeth like in a bridge or potentially a partial denture.

An implant may require bone augmentation (graft) in order to ensure there is enough bone for the implant to integrate properly and give enough support to the biting action. Implants are gaining popularity with lower complete dentures since lower dentures are often not as easy to secure down and bone atrophy in the mandible changes the dentures' fit.

Cosmetic Reconstruction

Cosmetic Reconstruction involves the esthetic zone (front teeth and gums that show in a smile).

Cosmetic reconstruction can involve various procedures. It can range from a simple smile design with bleaching and restorations or invisalign to bone/gingival/or connective tissue graft surgeries with restorations.

Cosmetic work is in the eye of the beholder and is case dependent on what will be recommended or needed to get a person's oral health maintained and esthetics to a desirable level.

To maintain the effectiveness of the cosmetic reconstruction, it's important to develop a plan of regular home maintenance, dental office check-ups and teeth cleanings.

Dental Bonding

Dental bonding is always being improved and researched.

Dental materials are continuing to improve as teeth continue to have decay.

Tooth bonding involves two areas of a tooth:

• The outer layer is the enamel that most people are familiar with.
• The second layer under the enamel is called dentin and is softer and has small tubules within it that communicate to the inner most area called the pulp.
  The pulp is the nerve and vessel bundle.

Dental materials need to be able to bond to both dentin and enamel. Dental bonding is quite strong and has very high strength under the forces that a jaw can bring down on it. But many factors affect the bonding that include:

• the oral environment pH levels,
• physical wear and tear of the restorations,
• the environment at the time of placement,
• and many more.

Each brand and series of materials have differing benefits and must be considered in relation to their use.

Root Canals (Endodontics)

Root canals (Endodontics) are one of the dental visits that most people fear the most. Many root canals can be avoided by addressing an oral issue sooner than later.

Many times the periodic exams at a dental office can identify a cavity before it needs a root canal.

A root canal is needed when the tooth's inner chamber, pulp, that contains the nerve and vessels are swelling or necrotic (dying/dead).

The pulp can be attacked by bacteria from a cavity that started from the bacteria and now there is nowhere for the pulp to swell due to its constricted area. As a result, the pulp becomes necrotic and perfect for the bacteria to eat.

The bacteria have a home to perpetuate the problem since the body cannot reach it inside the tooth without the blood supply. So it develops into a chronic problem because the bacteria are safe inside the tooth and many times an abscess will develop that can drain into the oral cavity or in a more dangerous situation is confined to the body that could enter the blood stream in large doses or spread to other spaces within the body to include areas that affect breathing and/or the heart seriously. That is when the necrotic pulp needs to be cleaned out and the inner pulp chamber walls shaped and irrigated to fit a filler material of gutta percha and sealer. This prevents the bacteria from harboring within the tooth safely.

Dentures:
Complete and Removable Partials

Dentures are used to replace missing teeth in certain areas or the entire mouth.

There are completed dentures that include identifying the individual person's tooth proportions, comfort, and biting ability.

The removable partial dentures (RPD) use the adjacent dentition and/or gums for support depending on the design and teeth present. RPDs are great for giving people their function back for both chewing and filling those gaps.

Dentures are not as strong as natural dentition, but are much better than no teeth.

If a patient has enough bone structure or can receive a bone graft, then implants can be placed to support the denture in a few key locations. Many times implant placement is associated with the lower complete denture because it is more easily displaced than the upper complete denture.

Invisalign

Invisalign are clear tray braces that move teeth into a more esthetic, functional, and hygienic position.

They are gaining in popularity because they are not an obvious visual that the traditional brackets display.

Invisalign is great for past braces (Orthodontics) use that show some teeth getting crowding/spaces with age.

Many adults like to use this system due to its more covert appearance.

Invisalign are an example of modern technology in orthodontics.

The more complex cases may require some brackets as an adjunct or instead because it would be quicker to use the traditional brackets.

Call for a consult with your next appointment or cleaning to find out if you qualify for this system that many use today.

Tooth Extractions

Extractions are part of dentistry when a tooth is not able to be saved, it is creating too much crowding that invisalign or braces cannot correct, or a patient opts to remove the tooth because the cost to save the tooth is too high (often associated with a root canal/build up/post/and crown).

Tooth extractions are often associated with getting wisdom teeth pulled in early adulthood.

They are also necessary with an abscess that is associated with an "un-fixable" tooth.

Tooth replacements include complete dentures or removable partial dentures (RPD) or implants.

Complex Cases

Complex cases are welcome and can take more time, but often, the treatment gives a great result for the patient and more importantly makes for maintenance and control of oral diseases.

Complex cases vary from one patient to the next because they are combined with patient desires, doctor recommendations, and oral health maintenance ability.

Cases could range from tooth-colored fillings, to implants, or gum and bone surgery depending on the patient at the time.

The options are discussed prior to finalizing the plan with the doctor to ensure all health and patient desires are met.

Digital X-Rays and Charting

The digital x-rays use displays a modern dentistry feel and the convenience of enlarging the image immediately for patient education on their own dentition.

Digital x-rays use about ⅓ to ½ the dose of conventional x-rays that use film that takes more time to develop.

The charting system is transitioning from hard charts to digital charts. The digital charts display a range of visual descriptors for both doctor and patient understanding and communication.

The digital charting also aids in adjunct videos and images for patient education.