Services
Royal Oak Family Dentistry offers a full range of both family and cosmetic dental services to meet your family’s need. Every new patient receives a complimentary consultation with your doctor to ensure a personalized approach to achieve your ideal dental goals. To read more about the services listed click on the titles below:
- Composite (tooth colored) fillings
- Amalgam (silver) fillings
- Root Canal Therapy
- Oral Surgery
- Implants
- Fixed Bridges
- Complete Dentures
- Partial Dentures
- Orthodontic care (braces)
Many patients (up to 50% of the population) avoid seeing a dentist due to fear. Our goal is to create a relaxed, comfortable, and safe experience for our patients. We are committed to providing the latest in relaxation techniques. We offer both Nitrous Oxide (laughing gas) and oral sedation.
Fillings
Composite (tooth colored) and Amalgam (silver) fillings are restorations to rid the mouth of decay or from trauma to the tooth. The filling material used to restore the tooth to proper structure, function, and morphology.
Root Canal Therapy
A procedure to replace the tooth’s infected pulp with an inert material.
Oral Surgery
Our practice offers services to diagnose and treat oral conditions requiring surgical intervention, for example, surgical extractions and biopsy.
Implants
Implants are a great option for replacement of a missing tooth. It acts as the root of the tooth providing stability for the implant crown that is placed on the implant and is fully functional while looking just like a natural tooth.
Bridges
A bridge is a fixed restoration to replace a missing tooth using the adjacent teeth as anchors for the replacement teeth. This is done by joining the adjacent anchor teeth to the pontic or missing tooth or to an implant tooth.
Dentures
A removable framework that is a permanent solution to one or more missing teeth. It serves to function as a tooth and gives a beautiful aesthetic smile.
Orthodontics
- Early Treatment
- Comprehensive Treatment
- Invisalign Clear Aligners
Periodontics
- Implant Placement
- Sinus Lift and Bone Grafting Procedures
- Cosmetic Periodontal Procedures
Orthodontics
Early Treatment – Although orthodontic treatment can be performed at any age, children are easier, faster, and less expensive to treat than adults. Most often orthodontic treatment is used on older children and adolescents whose teeth are still developing. However some types of problems are corrected more readily before all of the permanent teeth have erupted and facial growth is complete. If a child’s permanent lower incisors erupt behind each other, braces may be required at a young age. Crossbites are usually treated early because they can interfere with biting and chewing. Early treatment also is used when thumb- or finger-sucking has affected teeth positioning.
Early orthodontic intervention can provide the following:
- straighten crooked teeth
- preserve or create space for incoming permanent teeth
- guide erupting permanent teeth into the correct positions
- prevent impacted permanent teeth, those that remain partially covered by gum tissue or partially or completely buried in the jawbone
- correct harmful habits such as thumb- or finger-sucking
- lower the risk of accidents to protruding upper incisors
Other advantages of early orthodontic treatment include the following:
- correction of bite problems by guiding jaw growth and controlling the width of the upper and lower dental arches
- reduction or elimination of abnormal swallowing or speech problems
- shortening and simplification of later orthodontic treatment
- prevention of later tooth extractions
- improvements in appearance and self-esteem
Comprehensive treatment – Comprehensive Orthodontic Treatment is the most common form of orthodontic treatment patients receive to correct problems. In most cases, braces are added to the upper and lower teeth to correct orthodontic problems involving alignment of teeth, proper jaw function and how the upper and lower jaw fit together. The objective of comprehensive treatment is to correct each problem and achieve the best bite possible for each patient during one single phase. Treatment consists of the placement of the appliance, adjustments and follow-ups, removal of the appliance, construction of the retainer and any follow-up treatment needed to maintain the desired anatomical and aesthetic results.
Ceramic braces – Ceramic braces are the brackets that are the same size and shape as metal brackets but are “tooth” colored to blend in more. Ceramic braces can be a great alternative to metal braces if you keep them well. Ceramic braces are a lot less noticeable then metal braces and move teeth much faster than clear plastic aligners do.
Periodontics
Implant Placement – A dental implant is an artificial tooth root that a periodontist places into your jaw to hold a replacement tooth or bridge. Dental implants are an ideal option for people in good general oral health who have lost a tooth or teeth due to periodontal disease, an injury, or some other reason. Dental implants are so natural-looking and feeling; you may forget you ever lost a tooth.
Under proper conditions, such as placement by a periodontist and diligent patient maintenance, implants can last a lifetime.
Sinus lift and Bone Grafting Procedures – A sinus lift, sometimes called a sinus augmentation, is surgery that adds bone to your upper jaw in the area of your molars and premolars to make it taller. The bone is added between your jaw and the maxillary sinuses, which are on either side of your nose. To make room for the bone, the sinus membrane has to be moved upward, or “lifted.” A sinus lift usually is done by an oral and maxillofacial surgeon or a periodontist.
When teeth are lost, the “alveolar” bone that previously housed them begins to dissolve away in a process called “resorption.” Depending on the rate of resorption, the remaining bone may be insufficient to replace the missing tooth with an implant. If the missing tooth is to be replaced with a fixed bridge, the prosthetic tooth (“pontic”) may look artificially large if the bone and gum tissue (“gingiva”) have resorbed significantly.
One solution to this dilemma is to “graft” new bone onto the site. This process is sometimes referred to as “site development”, which refers to the fact that proper bony and gingival contours need to be re-established before ideal tooth replacement can be done. There are several ways of doing this. First, the bone resorption can be minimized by packing the tooth socket with powdered bone graft material at the time of tooth removal.
Bone grafting is prescribed to prevent the loss of tooth supporting (“alveolar”) bone following tooth removal, and to re-establish the height (limited) and width of alveolar bone that has already been lost. This is especially important if a patient’s restorative treatment plan includes fixed bridgework, or dental implants.
Cosmetic periodontal procedures – A gingival graft (also called gum graft or periodontal plastic surgery) is a generic name for any of a number of surgical periodontal procedures whose combined aim is to cover an area of exposed tooth root surface with grafted oral tissue. The covering of exposed root surfaces accomplishes a number of objectives: the prevention of further root exposure, decreased or eliminated sensitivity, decreased susceptibility to root caries and improved cosmetic appearance. These procedures are usually performed by a dental specialist in the field of gingival tissue, generally periodontist.
Crown Lengthening is a procedure to remove the excess gum tissue, exposing more of the “crown” of the tooth. The gum line is then sculpted (or sutured) to create the right proportion between gum tissue and tooth surface. This sets the stage, allowing your new veneers or crowns to have the correct length and shape. Reasons for Crown Lengthening: This procedure is for patients who feel their teeth are too short (known as a gummy smile) or their gum line is uneven.
Scaling and Root Planning – The objective of scaling and root planning, otherwise known as conventional periodontal therapy or non-surgical periodontal therapy, is to remove or eliminate the etiologic agents which cause inflammation: dental plaque, its products and calculus, thus helping to establish a periodontium that is free of disease. This procedure helps the gum tissue bounce back from deep pockets. It will help restore a health mouth and smile.