Restorative Dentistry in Laguna Hills
Restorative Dentistry Offers a Brand-New Smile
If you’re dealing with pain from damage, decay, or disease within your smile, you don’t have to accept it! At Laguna Hills Dental, we provide the high-quality dental care you need to get your smile back in shape with restorative dentistry.
DR. MILLARD ROTH, our periodontist DR. TRICIA BATO, and the whole team are passionate about helping you enjoy a smile that is healthy, functional, and appealing. Whether you need a simple filling or full-mouth restoration, you can count on us to have the expert care and compassion you’re looking for.
Rediscover how good it feels to have a healthy smile! Contact us and make an appointment today!
Please review the information we have provided below to learn more about the variety of treatment options available at our dental office.
What is Restorative Dentistry?
As the name implies, restorative dentistry is about treating damage and disease and restoring your smile to a healthy state. This can be simple, like filling a cavity, or as complex as replacing an entire arch of teeth with dental implants.
There are various options and levels of treatment to meet the individual needs of each patient. Our office provides the following dental restorations:
- COMPOSITE FILLINGS
- CEREC® SAME-DAY CROWNS
- DENTAL IMPLANT PLACEMENT & RESTORATIONS
- Inlays & Onlays
- BRIDGES & PARTIAL DENTURES
- PERIODONTICS
- FULL MOUTH REHABILITATION
How Do I Know if I Need Restorative Dentistry?
It’s important to pay attention to the health of your smile. If you notice damage, decay, or pain in your teeth or gums, you’ll likely need some level of restorative treatment to correct it.
However, there can also be problems that don’t cause pain or leave any obvious signs. This is why it’s essential to maintain your regular six-month dental visits. During these visits, Dr. Parekh examines your teeth and gums for any sign of trouble. With our advanced technology, we can look beneath the surface to find hidden health concerns and address them while they’re still in the early stages, making treatment easier and less invasive.
Which Treatment Do I Need?
Depending on what the issue is, there can often be multiple options for treatment. For example, fillings, inlays, onlays, and crowns are all viable options for treating tooth decay. When evaluating treatment options, our Laguna Hills Dental team considers the many factors involved, such as the severity of the problem, its location, and the number of teeth affected.
Dr. Parekh takes the time to communicate openly and clearly with you about your oral health and your various options. He never tries to press you into a particular treatment, but presents the facts to allow you to make an informed decision.
Dr. Parekh also knows that preserving as much of your natural smile as possible is better for your long-term health. He takes a conservative approach, looking for treatments that are effective while having minimal impact on your overall smile.
What is Restorative Dentistry?
When it comes to replacing teeth, dental implants offer unmatched permanence, versatility, and customization. As the only tooth replacement option that replaces both root and crown, they can effectively complete your smile and get you back to speaking, eating, and living life the way you like it.
What Exactly is a Dental Implant?
An implant consists of three parts: the implant post, the abutment, and the restoration. The implant post is a biocompatible titanium post placed into the jaw, where it fuses with the bone to create a permanent root replacement. Once fusion is complete, an abutment is added to hold the restoration in place.
How Many Teeth Can Implants Replace?
Implants are highly versatile, and can effectively replace any number of teeth, from a single crown to every tooth in the jaw. Each implant is planned and placed to provide ideal support for the restoration. The position and angle are carefully considered, as is the number of teeth, the pressure of daily biting and chewing, and the thickness of the jawbone.
Are Dental Implants Permanent?
Yes, implants become a permanent part of your smile once placed. The titanium used in the implant posts is safe and accepted by the body. After placement, the bone slowly fuses to the implant in a process called osseointegration. This fusion means the post won’t move unless there is trauma or the jawbone deteriorates due to health conditions.
It can be possible for the IMPLANT-SUPPORTED RESTORATION to become damaged or worn and need replacing. However, implants are designed to make replacing the restorations simple. A new crown, bridge, or denture can easily be fashioned or attached without causing you pain or stress.
Why You Want Our Laguna Hills Periodontist to Place Your Implants
As with any medical treatment, you want to feel confident that the person who provides your treatment has the skill and experience to do it well. Dr. Tricia Bato is our in-house periodontist, and her advanced education and talents allow her to place dental implants with expertise.
A periodontist studies all things related to the gums, jaw, and supporting structures of your smile. She can evaluate, plan, and place the implants in a way that provides the greatest support and security for your smile. If your jawbone is too thin to support implants, she can also strengthen it through bone grafts and sinus lifts. With Dr. Bato handling your treatment, you can feel safe and secure about your care and results.
The Dental Implant Process
The implant process works in four stages taking place over several months. The stages typically involve:
- Evaluation & Planning – Your smile is evaluated to see how many implants are needed and where the best placement would be. If jawbone density is a problem, an additional procedure such as a bone graft or sinus lift will strengthen the jaw before the implants are placed.
- Implant Placement – The implant posts are surgically placed in the jaw. The number of implants depends on how many teeth are being replaced and what type of restoration you need. It’s common for multiple implants to be placed at the same time, but this may change depending on your unique case.
- Recovery – After implant placement, the surrounding tissue is given time to heal as the jawbone gradually fuses to the implant post. This stage typically takes the longest, averaging several months. Your custom implant-supported restoration will be prepared for you during this period.
- Completing the Implant – Finally, your custom restoration is put in place. Once locked into place by the abutment, your new implant will look, feel, and function just like natural teeth. Our team will provide you with care instructions and schedule your follow-up visits, and then your treatment is complete.
Full Mouth Restoration
Sometimes, due to damage, disease, or severe decay, patients may face a situation where all of their teeth need replacing or repair. We offer full-mouth restoration to help these patients overcome oral health challenges and enjoy a functional, beautiful smile once more.
Using a combination of dental restorations and COSMETIC TREATMENTS, we can rebuild your smile according to your needs. Each full-mouth restoration is completely customized, whether that includes crowns, inlays, onlays, implants, or periodontal care. Dr. Parekh will talk through your options and work with you to build a plan that is affordable and effective, giving you a smile you can wear and use with confidence.
Comprehensive Protection with CEREC® Same-Day Crowns
When a tooth suffers from serious damage or decay, a dental crown can help to protect and preserve it. Crowns are tooth-shaped caps that fit over the existing tooth, sealing it off from decay or further damage and avoiding the need for an extraction.
Our practice can make crown placement a simpler and more comfortable process for you, thanks to our CEREC machine. This machine uses a digital map to CREATE YOUR CUSTOM CROWN RIGHT IN OUR OFFICE, so it’s complete and placed in a single visit.
Are Same-Day Crowns Good Quality?
Absolutely! Each CEREC crown is made from a high-quality ceramic, which both looks and feels like natural tooth enamel. This allows it to blend into your smile while still having the strength to function normally. Having the crown prepared from an exact digital impression of your tooth also creates a comfortable fit, so Dr. Parekh will only need to make minor adjustments, if any.
Inlays and Onlays for Conservative Treatment
Inlays and onlays may not be as well known as other restorations, but they provide a valuable option for conservatively repairing and protecting a tooth. Inlays cover the inner chewing surface of a tooth between the cusps (points), and onlays include one or more cusps as well.
Both options offer restoration in cases where a filling would be too large, but when a whole crown isn’t needed. Like crowns, they are custom-made in advance and shaped for placement, but they require less enamel removal and leave much of your natural tooth intact.
Replacing Teeth with Bridges and Partial Dentures
If you’re missing teeth but can’t have or don’t want dental implants, it doesn’t mean you have to go toothless. Tooth replacement is still possible thanks to bridges and partial dentures.
A DENTAL BRIDGE consists of up to three crowns suspended over a gap and held in place by crowns placed over neighboring teeth. Partial dentures are removable appliances that sit on the gums and are secured by metal or acrylic hooks around the surrounding teeth.
Both of these options help to restore your speaking and chewing ability, and they keep teeth from drifting into the open space, preserving alignment and protecting your overall dental health.
Protecting Gum Health with Laguna Hills Periodontics
Though they’re often overlooked, our gums are an essential part of our smiles. Gum tissue and the underlying bone structure provides vital support and protection to your teeth from root to crown. Our periodontist, Dr. Bato, monitors and treats gum and jawbone issues to help your entire smile stay healthy and whole. Whether you need a deep cleaning or something more complex, we use our skill and advanced technology to provide top-notch treatment for your gums.
How Your Unhealthy Gums Impact Your Overall Health
We often think of our mouth as its own system, separate from the rest of our bodies, but recent discoveries have shown that our mouth is connected to and IMPACTS OUR HEALTH ACROSS OUR ENTIRE BODY. Studies have shown that diseases occurring in the mouth can have unexpected consequences for your overall health.
Gum disease is a common problem, but it can also be a dangerous one. If left untreated, the infected gums can shrink, leading to tooth loss and affecting your speech and digestion. The infection can also travel through the bloodstream, leaving secondary infections in other areas, even the heart and brain.
How Did I Get Gum Disease?
Gum disease is actually quite common, and since the early symptoms are subtle, many people don’t realize they have it until it becomes severe. Most people assume that brushing and flossing are enough to stop gum disease, but that isn’t always the case.
Common causes of gum disease include:
- Poor oral hygiene
- A sugary or acidic diet
- Smoking and tobacco use
- Diseases such as diabetes
- Side effects of medication
- Hormone changes, especially during pregnancy
- Genetics
What Can a Periodontist Do?
A periodontist specializes in helping your gums stay healthy. Treatment depends on how severe your gum issues are and whether the gums have receded or not.
Routine Cleanings
If gum disease is still in the earliest stage, gingivitis, a standard cleaning may be enough to help restore gum health. These cleanings remove irritating plaque and tartar below the gum line, allowing any inflammation to heal and reducing the risk of infection. Pair it with good hygiene at home to give your gums the best possible chance.
Scaling and Root Planing
If the gum disease has advanced, pockets of bacteria may form beneath the gum line. Scaling and root planing, also called a deep cleaning, is the next step in gum treatment. Using special tools, we eliminate the bacteria and remove tartar from the root surface. We then smooth out the root to encourage the gums to reattach and support the tooth once more.
Pocket Reduction Surgery
If the pockets have grown large, surgical care is needed to shrink the pockets and help secure the tooth. Using advanced dental techniques, Dr. Bato can reduce the pocket effectively and safely.
Gum Grafts
If the gums have receded, exposing more of the tooth, they won’t grow back even after the infection is removed. To restore the gum line, our periodontist takes soft gum tissue from another area and grafts it onto the weakened part. Rebuilding the gum line helps to protect the teeth and restore a healthier appearance.
Does My Child Need a Frenectomy?
If you’ve noticed your child having difficulty speaking or eating, it may have nothing to do with their dental structure. Sometimes, the tissue connecting the tongue to the floor of the mouth extends too far, limiting tongue movement. Correcting this involves a simple procedure called a frenectomy.
In this procedure, the connective tissue (called the frenum) is trimmed back to allow the tongue more freedom of movement. Your child will be able to speak, eat, and use their tongue normally. Frenectomies may also be needed if the tissue connecting the upper lip to the gums is too short, affecting lip movement.
In infants, difficulty breastfeeding can be a common indicator that a frenectomy is needed. It’s also common for this issue to go undetected until the child is older. If you aren’t sure if your child needs one, here are some signs that indicate you should have your child evaluated.
- Their tongue is heart-shaped when extended
- They have a speech impediment
- They struggle to communicate and become frustrated
- They’re very picky eaters
Comprehensive Care from a Compassionate Dental Team
At Laguna Hills Dental, we’re committed to helping you enjoy your best smile, whether you have small or complex dental concerns. For experienced dental care you know you can trust, come visit Dr. Parekh and his team today!
