An Alterative Treatment for Sleep Apnea Patients

• Medical health review: our mouth is  closely connected to many body organs, and oral diseases have a negative impact on things such as our heart, blood glucose levels, brain, and more. We will review your overall health, any medications you take, and use this as part of our overall oral health plan.
• X-rays: modern x-rays are very safe and critical to understanding many aspects of your oral health that we can’t see on the surface. We’ll recommend needed x-rays for screening and diagnosis of common oral health problems, and will recommend a unique routine for you depending on your health needs.
• Jaw movement and function: important to our oral health and nutrition is our ability to chew properly. Some people have problems with their TMJ, or temporomandibular (jaw) joint, which can cause pain and discomfort and impact our ability to eat. These problems may be associated with clenching and grinding of the teeth, which can happen in daytime or nighttime (bruxism).
• Oral cancer screening: a routine and thorough screening for cancer in and around the mouth is a critical part of your visit here. We will check many body parts around the mouth by x-rays, palpating the facial skin, lymph nodes in the face and neck, salivary glands, and examining the throat, to ensure that, if you do have a lesion or lump that is a potential concern, we will find it early.
• Airway screening: many oral and dental conditions can restrict our airway space, and in many patients, increase their risk for problems such as snoring and obstructive sleep apnea. We will assess your airway and discuss the many ways in which your airway can affect both your oral and your whole body health. If there is a potential airway concern, we will guide you through the process of getting answers and any needed treatment.
• Teeth and gum examination: we will assess the condition of each tooth, as well as your overall dental condition, tooth alignment, and discuss if any concerns of decay, misalignment, or wear and tear are detected. We’ll also examine your gum health in detail and discuss what to do if there is bleeding and gum disease present.
• Diet, nutrition, and oral hygiene habits: our oral health is important to be able to eat healthy foods, and of course, unhealthy foods can negatively affect our oral health (as well as the rest of the body). 

If you have healthy gums (minimal to no bleeding) coupled with good home habits, we recommend regular cleanings to reduce the bacteria and plaque on your teeth and gums. Regular cleanings with our dental hygienists are foundational to oral health, as is your home oral hygiene routine. Our hygienists will teach specific routines and techniques of brushing and flossing you should use, depending on the condition of your mouth, to obtain and keep optimal oral health.

When tooth damage is more extensive, whether from decay, breakdown, or excessive wear and fracture, it may need to be protected with a crown. The damaged outer enamel of the tooth is removed and a crown, usually made of a tooth-colored material such as ceramic or Zirconia, is cemented in place to make the tooth more durable and bacteria-resistant so you can smile and chew without worrying that your damaged tooth will break.

Many patients with gum disease develop a condition called periodontitis where they begin to lose the bone, gums, and ligaments that surround and support their teeth. This can lead to worsening bleeding and inflammation, looseness and loss of teeth, and infections or abscesses. In the earlier stages of periodontitis, a therapy called scaling and root planing is used to remove the soft and hard buildup and bacteria that are damaging the teeth’s foundational structures. In more advanced stages, a patient may need to be referred to a gum specialist, a periodontist, for more thorough treatment.

If you have pain or swelling in a tooth, it may be a sign that the nerve is inflamed or infected. Teeth with these symptoms may require a root canal. We understand that the phrase root canal makes people nervous! We have good tools and training here at our practice to perform a root canal, which is where the damaged nerve inside the tooth is removed and the canal is disinfected and filled, while keeping you comfortable and treating you gently. This procedure will help remove the pain and the chance of an infection. Teeth need protection after a root canal to seal the root canal filling material, which requires either a white resin filling or a crown, depending on the state of the tooth.

If a tooth has significant decay, cracking, damage, or symptoms, it may need to be extracted. We as dentists want to save teeth as often as possible, but we understand that problems can happen, and sometimes teeth can’t be saved. We are very experienced in providing this service in a skilled and gentle manner, as well as in giving you clear post-operative instructions to ensure good healing and recovery. We have mild sedation options we can perform together with an extraction if you are feeling more than a little nervous! Please ask us and we’ll review all your options, including possibly seeing an oral surgeon for deep sedation or putting you to sleep.

An important service that we will often recommend with an extraction is to put something back in the socket that will preserve the bone. Without a tooth to support, the bone around an empty socket will dissolve and shrink away quickly. This can cause shifting of teeth, decreased gum and bone support on the surrounding teeth, root exposure and sensitivity, or even gum and bone defects. We can place a material similar to bone that stabilizes the bone and gums and allows for better, more rapid healing. This is especially important to do if you are considering replacing the extracted tooth at any time in the future with something like a denture, bridge, or implant.

We offer sedation with nitrous oxide, sometimes called laughing gas. When you breathe a combination of nitrous oxide and oxygen, you’ll experience a mild anxiety-easing effect that can make your dental procedure a little easier! This is easy for us to give, and you’ll be able to walk and drive and function normally afterward.

In some cases, we can offer minimal conscious sedation with an anti-anxiety drug, known as Halcion (similar to Xanax or Ativan). It has a stronger sedation and anti-anxiety effect than just the nitrous oxide (laughing gas) for patients who are more nervous. If you are wondering if you are a candidate for this type of sedation, please call and we’ll be happy to set up a consultation to discuss this with you.

A major part of oral health, proper nutrition, and cosmetics and confidence in our smile is having all our teeth. Aside from wisdom teeth, when other teeth need to be extracted, we are normally left with a space in our smile. This space will often cause shifting teeth, bite changes, and accelerated wear and tear on other teeth that work more to compensate. There are many reasons why a tooth may need to be extracted, and we understand this and won’t judge you for it! But it is important to us to consider options to replace missing teeth, whether they are front teeth that we need for speaking, smiling, and confidence, or back teeth that we need for effective chewing and good nutrition.

A common technique that has been around for centuries to help people with missing teeth is to make a removable denture, either to replace some or all of your missing teeth either on the upper or the lower jaw. Many people function with these every day and can eat and speak better as a result, but they do not chew nearly as well as natural teeth or fixated tooth replacement options such as a dental bridge or implant. They are an economic and straightforward option for those who are concerned about the cost of replacing multiple teeth that are missing. We’ll take several appointments to custom make this for you so it fits your mouth and matches your other teeth.

In some cases, missing teeth can be replaced by a bridge. If you have a space in your mouth that has teeth on either side, you may be a candidate for this service. A bridge is essentially several crowns that are fused together that fit over the teeth on either side of the missing space in order to fill the missing tooth space with a functional and realistic-looking tooth. This does require preparation (drilling) of the teeth on either side to make proper space for the bridge to cement over the top. This is often a more functional and cosmetic option for replacing teeth than a partial denture, especially for front teeth.

An excellent service that allows for replacement of teeth that require extraction is to place a dental implant. Often done by a specialist, the implant is placed below the gum tissue surface into the bone for stability. The bone then heals and solidifies the implant, allowing it to work similarly to a tooth root. We then can place a crown on top of the implant, allowing it to look and work very much like the tooth was never extracted. In some cases, larger tooth replacement options can be made with implants to replace many missing teeth, such as a bridge or even a whole denture supported by implants.

Many patients experience clenching or grinding either daytime or nighttime, or sometimes both. This can wear down and damage teeth and gums over time, compromising function and cosmetics, and can contribute to or cause TMJ (jaw joint) pain. In many cases, making something called an occlusal guard to wear to protect the teeth and jaws from the harmful effects of clenching or grinding is an effective way to prevent breakdown and cracking of teeth, which can result in needing significant dental work, or even loss of teeth, over time. An occlusal guard is somewhat similar to an athletic guard, and is a durable option that helps ensure that your upper and lower teeth are not damaging each other by these excessive forces.