How Sleep Apnea Harms Your Health

Many of our patients associate sleep apnea as a problem with excessively loud snoring. While snoring is a frequent feature of sleep apnea, the disorder is more significant, and the health concerns far-reaching. Sleep apnea is a widespread issue that impacts millions of people. When a patient has sleep apnea, they stop breathing during their sleep cycle. When the breathing ceases, the patient’s body does whatever is necessary to wake them so that breathing can resume.

The official diagnosis of sleep apnea must come from a sleep practitioner. However, it may surprise you to learn that someone practicing dentistry is often the first medical professional to discover a patient has indications of sleep apnea.

Our sleep apnea dentist in San Francisco, often notices common dental and physical issues that are usually present in sleep apnea patients. These symptoms of sleep apnea include:

• Signs of teeth grinding (also called bruxism)
• Worn or cracked tooth enamel, especially if the wearing is uneven
• Patients showing signs of chronic dry mouth
• Complaints of headaches that radiate out from the ear
• Patients who report excessive fatigue even though they get enough sleep

Sleep apnea has many detrimental effects on your overall health. Here are several of the detrimental effects of sleep apnea.

• ELEVATED BLOOD PRESSURE- Because your body experiences stress from the frequent waking to breathe, your blood pressure can become high.

• CARDIAC DISEASES- Your heart is not getting the necessary amount of oxygenated blood because you are in a state of oxygen deficit. The situation weakens the heart and circulatory systems and increases the likelihood that you may experience a heart attack or a stroke.

• WEIGHT GAIN- The cycle of continuous waking and sleeping wreak havoc on your body’s hormones causing weight gain

• EXCESSIVE DAY TIME TIREDNESS- Sleep apnea keeps your body from entering the deepest and most restorative phase of sleep. The result is a dangerous level of exhaustion

If you believe you could be one of the more than ten million sleep apnea sufferers, please feel free to contact our office. Our staff can schedule an appointment where you can learn more about sleep apnea and learn if it is affecting you.

What are Clear Braces?

Patients who visit our office in search of orthodontic solutions for their dental issues have more choices than ever. Even though the word braces still frequently bring to mind the image of a teen with a mouth full of metal, this is not the only option.

Our dentist in San Francisco offers patients several types of braces that are discreet and work wonderfully to straighten teeth in numerous situations.

INVISIBLE BRACES- There is some confusion regarding the difference between clear braces and invisible braces. Invisible braces are actually not braces. They are custom made trays built to sit on top of your teeth and push your teeth into the best position possible. The Invisalign alignment system is a good example of Invisible braces.

CLEAR BRACES- When we speak of clear braces, we mean braces that work similarly to traditional wired braces.

TYPES OF CLEAR BRACES

• CERAMIC BRACES- These braces are difficult to notice, but they are not technically clear. They are a strong ceramic compound made to match the colour of your teeth. The brackets attach to the front of your teeth and have similarly coloured wires to make the braces less noticeable.

• DAMON CLEAR BRACES- The Damon braces are available in clear or teeth- coloured styles. The brackets attach to your teeth like traditional braces. However, Damon braces do not require rubber bands and are self-adjusting. This makes keeping your braces and teeth clean easier than braces with rubber bands. There is nothing to get in the way while flossing and there are no extra surfaces for debris and bacteria to occupy.

All of these types of braces are highly effective. If you would like to learn more about clear braces and how they could help you, please feel free to contact our office. Our staff can give you helpful information and make an appointment for a no-obligation consultation with one of our dentists.

Benefits of Laser Teeth Whitening

Our dentists consistently work to stay on pace with the latest treatments and technologies. Patients benefit from this commitment by experiencing the best and most cutting-edge treatments available.

One treatment that is receiving a great deal of attention is laser teeth whitening. There are several different ways for our patients to improve their smiles with teeth whitening. However, patients often tell our San Francisco cosmetic dentist and our associate dentists they prefer the results they get from teeth whitening with a laser.

There are several different ways to whiten teeth. The in-office professional whitening treatments are more effective and faster than the professional whitening kits our patients purchase and use at home. Both of these professional whitening options are light-years ahead of the whitening kits available at drug stores and mega-marts. However, no other professional whitening treatment comes close to the speed and effectiveness of laser teeth whitening.

ADVANTAGES OF LASER TEETH WHITENING

• FAST TREATMENT- The whitening solution combined with laser light has a dramatic impact on the efficiency of the whitening process. It is common for patients to see their teeth up to nine shades whiter after a single treatment. Specially formulated particles within the whitening gel react with laser light. This creates a noticeable whitening in about half the time of a regular in-office whitening procedure.

• LESS CONTACT WITH WHITENING SOLUTION- Many patients report an unpleasant sensitivity during whitening using the regular in-office whitening agent. Sensitivity becomes a non-issue with laser light teeth whitening treatments. This is because the whitening gel spends less time on your teeth. Reduced contact leads to less sensitivity.

• LONG-LASTING RESULTS- When our patients complete in-office laser teeth whitening treatment, they can be confident that the beautiful white teeth they saw after treatment will still look great long after the treatment.

If you would like to know more about how laser teeth whitening can improve your smile, please contact our office. Our staff can provide helpful information or schedule a no-obligation consultation appointment. We recommend this to our patients because it allows you to ask specific questions and our dentist can give you more detailed information if you visit our office in person.

How Invisalign Aligns Teeth

One of the most popular treatments our dental office provides for our patients is the Invisalign alignment system. For over 20 years, Invisalign has given patients with various misalignments an alternative to metal orthodontic treatments.

Our dentist in Huntington Beach is an Invisalign Premier provider with a great deal of experience and success in treating patients using the Invisalign alignment system.

Invisalign puts your teeth into their best alignment by using a series of clear plastic alignment trays. At your first visit, our dentist will scan your teeth and send the scans to the Invisalign lab. At the lab, a specialist reviews your scans and creates your alignment trays. Each tray will guide your teeth towards the best position using pressure. Our dentist will see you about every four weeks to give you new aligner trays. The trays are all slightly different as they move your teeth at different stages of your treatment process. The number of aligner trays you need varies based on the condition of your teeth. Generally, patients get about 20-24 aligners. However, some may need as many as 48 and others will only need a dozen. The treatment differs for each individual patient.

Our patients love Invisalign for many reasons.

• Some patients are self-conscious about wearing orthodontic devices and appreciate the clear plastic aligner trays because they are discreet and difficult to notice.

• Other patients like the fact that the alignment trays are removable. In fact, patients must remove the aligners before eating or drinking. This means patients can eat the foods forbidden for those with regular wire braces.

• Our patients all are glad that the Invisalign alignment system works very quickly with considerably less pain than wire braces and no need for uncomfortable tightening or pinching wires.

If you think the Invisalign system could be right for you, please contact our office to set up a no-obligation consultation with our Invisalign dentist in Huntington Beach. You will learn what Invisalign can do for your smile, usually in less time than regular wired braces.

How Quickly Does Invisalign Express Work?

We see many patients who would like improvements on slight smile imperfections. While traditional orthodontics or Invisalign would correct the issues, both of these options are a bit extreme answers to minor difficulties.

Align Technology, the makers of Invisalign, made a special type of aligners to help people who want slight adjustments to their smile. This product is called Invisalign Express.

The Invisalign Express treatment system works the same way traditional Invisalign works. Our dentist scans your mouth and sends the images to an Invisalign lab, once there a specialist creates a series of alignment trays. These gradually move your teeth into the correct position.

The biggest difference between Invisalign and Invisalign Express is the number of aligner trays you will use during your course of your treatment as well as the length of your treatment.
A typical treatment with regular Invisalign uses between 20 and 30 aligner trays, which our dentist changes every two weeks. A regular course of Invisalign normally takes between 12 to 18 months, depending on the severity of the malocclusion and the way each patient responds to treatment.

The Invisalign Express course of treatment normally takes a shorter amount of time. Patients using the Invisalign Express system usually receive between 10 and 12 alignment trays. Patients must wear the trays 20-22 hours a day and thoroughly clean the trays as well as their teeth, just as those using traditional Invisalign. Our dentist will change the aligner trays every two weeks, but the course of treatment for Invisalign Express is between six and eight months.

If you would like to learn more about Invisalign Express, please feel free to contact our office. We will provide information you need to make an informed decision regarding Invisalign Express. Additionally, you can make a no-obligation consultation with our dentist is the best way to be sure that Invisalign Express will meet your orthodontic needs.

Uses of Laser in Dentistry

Here at our office, our patients enjoy top of the line dental care using cutting edge technology performed by highly skilled practitioners. An example of this is our use of lasers in our dental practice.

According to our cosmetic dentist in San Francisco, laser dentistry has several benefits and various uses.

• BIOPSIES- Using a laser to perform a biopsy means the piece of tissue removed is smaller and more precise than biopsies done in the traditional manner. The procedure also is faster having less pain and less preparation.

• GUM DISEASE- Lasers are helpful in cleaning out a tooth and reshaping it for a root canal procedure.

• TOOTH DECAY- Dentists use lasers to remove decayed tooth material and prepare the area for a filling.

• TEETH WHITENING- Laser teeth whitening is likely the best-known use of lasers in dentistry. After applying a bleaching solution, our dentist uses laser light as a heat source to speed the whitening process.

Lasers in dentistry date back to the mid-1990s and are approved for use in dentistry by the Food and Drug Administration. When a dentist is using a laser for restorative or surgical procedures, it acts to vaporize tissue or to cut specific spaces. In teeth whitening, the laser interacts with the whitening solution speeding the removal of stains. Patients undergoing whitening appreciate the speedy treatment as it eliminates the need for repeat visits.

If you are considering laser dental treatments and would like to know more, please contact our office for more information. You can have total confidence in your laser treatment. Our dentist is certified in laser dentistry by the World Clinical Laser Institute and is a faculty member certified in laser use at the University of California, San Francisco. His skills are second to none.

When are Dental Crowns Used?

Our dental practice offers our patients the latest breakthroughs in dentistry. However, there are older treatments capable of resolving dental problems that we rely on because they work well. Dental crowns are one such treatment. Even though it is easy to trace the history of dental crowns all the way back to 700 BC, crowns are still a practical and efficient way to manage several types of dental issues.

While our methods and materials differ from those of our dentist ancestors, modern crowns solve some of the same dental issues that plagued early man as well as some issues unique to the present day. These include:

• Restoring a cracked or broken tooth
• Guarding a tooth against decay
• Holding a crumbling tooth together
• Correcting the appearance of misshapen teeth
• Masking severe stains or noticeable discolorations
• Covering and supporting a tooth that has a large filling and little natural support from the existing tooth
• Helping to secure a dental bridge
• Improving cosmetic appearance

Our Huntington Beach dentist uses porcelain crowns for our patients because they are durable, easy to care for, and can match the color of your natural teeth. Our office proudly offers you the option of getting same day crowns. This is made possible by CAD/CAM technology. By using computer-aided design and computer aided manufacturing, our dentist can prepare and scan your tooth. Then the same technology makes it possible to create and place a high-quality crown in a single convenient office visit.

The procedure used for attaching your crown is easy and fairly painless. After anesthetizing the area and preparing your tooth for the crown, our dentist takes a computerized image of the tooth and sends the image to our computer which uses the images to design a crown that will fit perfectly. After the image is complete, the manufacturing component uses a single piece of porcelain and crafts your crown. Our dentist double checks the fit and color of your crown and cements your crown in place.

If you are interested in learning more about dental crowns or CAD/CAM technology, feel free to contact our office. We have information we can share with you.

How Effective is Root Canal

We see patients arrive for a root canal procedure in various stages of fear. This is very unfortunate and unnecessary. Throughout the past several decades, the treatment that removes diseased pulp inside of a tooth to relieve pain and save the tooth, known as the root canal, has gained the unwarranted reputation for being torturously painful. The fact is, a root canal is an extremely useful procedure that will eliminate a patient’s pain and prevent tooth loss.

Root canals are a procedure that falls within the dental specialty known as endodontics. Our endodontist in San Francisco is a part of this dental discipline that focuses on caring for the pulp on the inside of your teeth.

Our San Francisco dentist recommends root canal treatment for cased where the pulp inside your tooth experiences decay or disease. The infection or decay usually will be accompanied by extreme pain in the area surrounding the afflicted tooth. The infection attacks the nerves and blood vessels that help make up the pulp and actively dying; this causes the pain.

The procedure is quite straightforward. After numbing the area around your tooth, our dentist removes the dead and decaying pulp, cleans away any remaining bits or infected tissue, and fills the tooth with a material known as gutta-percha. Depending on the degree of infection, our dentist may place medicated material inside your tooth to eliminate any traces of bacteria. You also have the option to receive a CAD/CAM engineered same day crown when the procedure is complete. Generally, it is in your best interest to get a crown as it will protect your tooth and strengthen it as well.

Nearly every root canal patient we see comes away from the procedure feeling 100% better and in the majority of cases, completely pain-free. If you would like to know more about root canals or endodontics, contact our office.

How Effective is Tooth Whitening?

It is no secret that people with beautiful smiles are thought to be friendlier, smarter, and more capable than those with average or flawed smiles. Even though this is not true, disproving a commonly held stereotype is close to impossible.

Here at our dental office, we work to create smiles our patients are proud to share with the world. Teeth whitening is one way our cosmetic dentist in North Hollywood helps many patients love their smiles.

If you go to the oral care section of a drugstore, you will find dozens of products promising a gorgeous white smile. While these products may remove some surface stains, you will not see a dramatic change in your teeth. This is because, in order to be effective, teeth whitening products must contain 20-40 percent concentrated hydrogen peroxide. This is a professional strength concentration and is not for over the counter sales. Using a drug store whitener will not hurt you, but it will likely disappoint you with the results.

The professional whitening treatments we offer are highly effective in whitening your teeth. Normally, a patient will see an eight-shade difference after a professional tooth whitening in our office. Our patients who choose to use a professional take-home whitening kit also enjoy noticeably whiter teeth.

We do want to caution you, even though whitening treatments work wonderfully for most patients, there are a few instances where another option is the best way to improve your smile. Stains from certain medications and dental bridges, crowns, and veneers will not respond to the whitening agents in the treatment. Our dentist will gladly explain other options to give you a fabulous smile.

If you spend more time hiding your smile than you spend sharing it with the world, you may want to think about a professional whitening. Our staff will guide you through the process and help you choose your best whitening options. Feel free to call our office and schedule a consultation. We can explain the whitening process and show you how amazing your smile could be after whitening.

Are Dental Implants Always the Right Option?

The vast majority of our patients who are missing teeth are good candidates for dental implants. Our dental implants dentist in Huntington Beach has years of experience in assessing patients for implants and nearly always finds implants to be a good choice.

According to the American Dental Association, dental implants are one of the most important developments in dentistry. In addition to rebuilding your smile, implants also advance the overall health of your mouth.

When a permanent tooth falls out or is extracted, the nerve endings that once surrounded the root no longer experience any stimulation. The brain senses the lack of contact and stops supplying this area with the needed nutrients to keep the bone and surrounding tissues healthy.

Over time, bone loss begins due to a lack of nutrients to the area. When bone loss reaches an advanced stage, your face will start to shrivel and appear as if it is caving in on itself.

The good news is that when you get a dental implant, the titanium screw our dentist places will provide sufficient stimulation to make your brain believe there is a root in the once empty socket. The process of supplying the area with nutrients begins again, and the bone loss ends.

There are a few circumstances where dental implants are not a good idea. Patients who are experiencing certain medical treatments such as chemotherapy are advised to wait until the end of their course of treatment before considering dental implants. Additionally, if you have any systemic infections, waiting until you are well and then getting implants is your best choice.

If you are missing one or more permanent teeth, contact our office. We can schedule a consultation with our dentist who will examine you and explain your options.