Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Dental whitening

There are, nowadays, several dental whitening techniques. After having used them all (including those using light as UVA and LASER in order to accelerate the process), we reached the conclusion that the technique we are using is the one providing the best results. Although the LASER technique is more rapid, it does not produce more whitening. It has instead important side effects, as the dreaded dental sensitivity, which we completely eliminated.

This is the way we do the whitening at Omega Clinic:

First, the dentist will thoroughly examine the patient, in order to detect any dental problem: cavities, fissures or any defective treatments. A dental cleaning is always done before the whitening procedure.
The following step is the taking impressions of the teeth which will be used to reproduce them in a plaster cast.



After this model a couple of fine plastic trays are made, which must perfectly fit the teeth to be whitened. The correct manufacturing of the trays is essential for a good result.



Once the trays ready, we proceed to do the whitening session at the clinic. This is the phase controlled by the dentist, in which the trays filled with a concentrated whitening gel is applied after the gums are carefully protected. This is important if one is to avoid damaging of the soft tissues and the consequent pain. The application lasts about 30 minutes and a whitening effect is obvious immediately after.
A whitening kit containing a less concentrated gel is handed out to the patient afterwards, to be applied at home, together with the corresponding written instructions.
A few days of treatment (a couple of hours daily while reading a magazine, watching TV or sleeping) will obtain spectacular results. And with no dental sensitivity afterwards.





Our technique uses more time but obtains excellent results, which are more persistent and without side effects. The patient can keep the trays and repeat the treatment later at a lower cost. In this way this technique assures long-term persistence of the whitening effect. Obviously, the result is more or less stable depending upon the tooth staining type of substances one consumes: coffee, tee or tobacco.

Before:


After:

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Afraid of needles?

Piercing of the tongue and lips is frequently found in younger patients visiting the dentist’s office. Fashion vanquishes anything, even the natural fear towards the penetration of one’s soft tissues with sharp objects of considerable diameter.





Strangely enough, many of these patients still complain about being afraid of medical needles or of being pricked by them when anaesthesia is performed, and visit the dentist only when forced by an emergency situation.
It is important to underscore that many times the emergency situation is created precisely by the presence of the piercing.
Frequently enough, we see damage inflicted by the constant trauma produced by the piercing’s labial or lingual ball upon the teeth. Bone tissue and gum tissue loss are frequent around the teeth’s roots (especially seen at the level of the front lower teeth).
In this picture one can see how the root of an inferior incisor tooth has been uncovered and appears bared and surrounded by a painful inflammatory tissue, a situation difficult to correct.





We therefore want to send a warning against piercing, which can produce permanent damage leading even to the premature loss of one of several otherwise healthy teeth.

Complete dentures

Full dentures are still a good option for a significant group of patients. It is an affordable solution for those who have lost not only all teeth, but also bony mass which once acted as a support for lips and cheeks.

Lack of teeth leads to progressive loss of maxillary and mandibular bone, and this gives an aged look to the patient’s face, independently of his or her age.



Patients unable to afford a complete rehabilitation with implants can benefit of highly aesthetic complete dentures. Designed with functional as well as aesthetic criteria, they can recover the vitality and freshness of the facial expression. The complete denture must be designed in accordance with the facial characteristics of each particular patient.

And who can say, once all functional and aesthetic criteria taken into account, that the user of a complete denture hasn’t a wonderful smile?