Our team of dental specialists and staff strive to improve the overall health of our patients by focusing on preventing, diagnosing and treating conditions associated with your teeth and gums. Please use our dental library to learn more about dental problems and treatments available. If you have questions or need to schedule an appointment, contact us.

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IMPLANTS ARE THE BEST SOLUTION FOR MISSING TEETH. If you are missing one or more teeth and would like to restore your ability to smile, speak, and eat with comfort and confidence then dental implants are right for you. Perhaps you hide your smile because of spaces from missing teeth. Perhaps your dentures don't fit as securely or comfortably as they once did. If any of these situations keep you from feeling good about yourself and your smile, dental implants may be a solution for you.

Implants can make you feel younger, attractive, and confident. They are the smarter and healthier choice.

Implants can provide you with:

1. Self-Esteem Look and feel younger. Recover your natural smile.
2. Confidence Talk and laugh with confidence.
3. Comfort Eat what you want comfortably.
4. Aesthetic Looks and feels like natural teeth.
5. Function Restorations are secured and held firmly in place and improve chewing ability.
6. Health Implants allow you to eat better foods to sustain a healthier lifestyle.
7. Speech is improved.
8. Longevity implants can last a lifetime.
9. Conservative Does not require drilling or modification of healthy surrounding teeth.
10. Preservation Implants helps maintain jawbone volume.
With missing teeth bone begins to shrink and deteriorate over time, which can change your facial structure.

What are dental implants?
Dental implants are artificial substitutes for natural tooth roots. They are small threaded Titanium cylinders that are surgically implanted into the jawbone. The implant is allowed to heal for a period of months after which replacement teeth are attached.

Mini Dental Implants for Dentures

Are you completely unhappy with your dentures? Are they unstable? Do they need a lot of denture adhesive just to make it through one meal? Modern dentistry now has an AFFORDABLE way to stabilize your dentures so you can enjoy eating and speaking much like you did before dentures.

Lower dentures are notoriously unstable, and upper dentures can pose problems like instability and possible gagging issues with the full coverage over the palate. With the modern technique of Mini Dental Implants we can stabilize your denture so you can eat and speak with supreme confidence.

Utilizing Mini Dental Implants we employ miniature titanium implants that mimic the roots of teeth, as well as a retaining fixture which is incorporated into the base of your denture. In most cases, four of these implants are placed into the patient's lower jaw during a relatively painless procedure. The denture snaps onto the mini implants resulting in a tight fitting system that allows the patient to eat and speak with confidence. After some practice, the patient can easily remove and replace the lower denture without assistance. Similarly, with the upper denture we can utilize ideally six of these mini implants for stabilization. When the upper denture is stable we can remove the palate of your denture to offer a palate-free denture which provides maximum comfort.

This new technology allows you to visit us in the morning and go out within two hours to eat your favorite light lunch, while your denture feels secure and firm! It truly is a revolution in modern dentistry.

Sedation

Sedatives are agents to aid in relaxation. They work by reducing your anxiety level and are often given when basic relaxation techniques fail. Sedatives may be used in tandem with anesthetics and analgesics. These kinds of sedatives (such as nitrous oxide and tranquilizers) can be administered before, during or after dental procedures. Patients normally receive sedation orally by inhaling nitrous oxide or swallowing a tranquilizer.

Here are some basic kinds of sedation:

  • Conscious sedation is sense of calmness while awake. Analgesics, anti-anxiety agents, and sedatives are used in some combination in order to make the patient more comfortable and relaxed, thereby making pain more manageable. Patients who have received this kind of sedation typically feel as though they have been asleep throughout their appointment. Patients who are faced with a greater degree of fear or anxiety, or are experiencing root canals or tooth extractions sometimes ask to be sedated for their treatment.

  • Intravenous (IV) sedation

    Intravenous sedation is the administration of a tranquillizer drug into the blood system in order to facilitate dental surgery in the highly anxious patient. An IV sedative produces a very strong sensation of deep relaxation and well-being in the vast majority of patients.

    Most patients who have IV sedation report remembering very little or nothing from their dental surgery. IV sedation is administered by injecting a sedative agent into one of the superficial veins of your arm or hand. As the vein is usually just under the skin and the needles used these days are extremely thin, this is usually quite painless. Most people are good candidates for this kind of sedation. Some medical conditions such as severe lung diseases, some heart problems, obesity or anorexia rule it out as an option, however.

    Unlike general anesthesia, IV sedation allows you to remain medically conscious yet deeply relaxed throughout your surgery.

  • Inhalation sedation, Nitrous Oxide

    Inhalation sedation uses combinations of nitrous oxide and oxygen gases, which are inhaled by the patient through a rubber nose mask. Nitrous oxide is a very benign, safe and simple drug to use. The strength of the sedative effect depends upon the concentration of nitrous oxide that is inhaled. The effects of nitrous oxide are easily controlled by the patient simply by breathing more or less room air through the mouth.

    The effects of the gas wear off quite quickly upon removal. This gas does produce a feeling of well-being and euphoria combined with a feeling of good self-control while the treatment is being performed.

    Children tend to respond better to nitrous oxide as apposed to other techniques, although some are fearful of having a mask placed on their nose.

Wisdom Teeth


Wisdom teeth, also known as third molars, are the last teeth to erupt in your mouth. This generally occurs between the ages of 17 and 25, a time
of life that has been called the "Age of Wisdom".

It isn't wise to wait until your wisdom teeth start to bother you. In general, earlier removal of wisdom teeth results in a less complicated healing process.

Before your surgery, Dr. Lin will discuss with you what to expect. This is a good time to ask any questions or express your concerns. It is especially important to let the doctor know about any illness you have and medications you are taking.

The relative ease with which may be removed depends on several conditions, including the position of the tooth and root development. Partially or totally impacted wisdom teeth may require a more involved surgical procedure.



 

*Dental photos used with permission from the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons