Dentures are worn daily, full dentures at times require aids to help make them more retentive and stable, implants is the most reliable of these options. The denture is placed in the morning and removed at night to give the tissues in the mouth time to relax. Dentures can be worn while eating but normally will need to be taken out sometime after eating to rinse out any debris caught underneath the denture. Your denture should fit into place with relative ease. Never force your denture into position by biting down. This could bend or break the clasps on partial dentures or cause you to scrape your gum tissues underneath your denture.

Once decay has started it won’t stop unless the destroyed tooth structure and bacteria are removed from the tooth. This is accomplished by getting a “Filling”. At times the destruction of tooth structure is too big for a filling to fix, if this is the case Dr. Petersen will recommend the needed treatment. Getting a filling involves removing the destroyed tooth structure and replacing it with a “filling”. Historically, fillings were completed with a material called amalgam, also known as silver or metal fillings. While there are many benefits to amalgam fillings, over time the advances in dental materials have allowed us to use a more esthetic option for filling materials.

Dr. Petersen uses Composite or Resin materials to restore teeth that have tooth decay and only require a filling. These materials are “white” or “tooth-colored” and blend in very well with the natural teeth so that others won’t even realize you’ve had a filling. These composite or resin fillings are bonded to the existing tooth structure and make for a high-quality and high-strength restoration.

Tooth decay, or a cavity, occurs when bacteria from plaque destroy the outer layer of tooth structure. This outer layer of tooth structure is called “Enamel”. Once the enamel has been penetrated by this destruction you have tooth decay, or a cavity. The inner layer of tooth structure, called “Dentin”, is not as strong as the enamel and once decay reaches this layer the destruction occurs more rapidly than in enamel.

• Brush twice a day for 2 minutes each time, with a fluoride containing toothpaste.
• Floss daily!
• Eat nutritious and balanced meals and limit snacking in between meal times. Limit sweets, sodas, and sticky foods.
• If your local city water does not have fluoride we recommend your children take “supplemental fluoride”. Kids benefit from taking a supplemental/systemic fluoride tablet as this allows the fluoride to be incorporated into the enamel layer of their teeth as they develop. This benefit is not the same for adults because their teeth have already been developed.
• While teens and adults can’t benefit from systemic fluoride they can benefit from a fluoride varnish application during their visit to our office. We recommend this for kids and adults just the same.
• Sealants help by making the chewing surface on our back teeth easier to clean. This resin coating eliminates the deep crevices on the biting surfaces of those teeth where cavities usually start and make it easier to keep them clean.

Get your teeth cleaned/polished and examined two times a year. This way we can catch things before they turn into bigger issues.