Lakeview Dental News

A Discussion on Dental Implants with Your Chandler Dentist

lakeviewdentalnews — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 05:13:06 +0000

As part of our dedication to the continued good dental health of our patients, Dr. Arooni has treated a wide variety of dental health issues. One of the most devastating of these issues is tooth loss, which can result from a number of reasons and is often difficult to hide. Aside from the gap in your smile, however, there are more profound consequences of tooth loss that you may not be aware of and that can slowly destroy the remainder of your smile. To help prevent this gradual destruction after you’ve suffered tooth loss, Chandler dentist, Dr. Mark Arooni, offers innovative dental implants to support your dental prosthetic.

Examining Tooth Loss

Replacing lost teeth is important for more than aesthetic reasons. Remaining teeth can shift towards the space to try to take up the slack, which can leave them vulnerable to tooth decay and excessive wear, as well as throw your bite off balance. The loss of your tooth’s roots can negatively affect the health of your jawbone, which is the foundation of your healthy teeth. As your jawbone slowly deteriorates from the loss, it can lose its ability to retain the rest of your teeth and further tooth loss becomes a real threat.

What Can a Dental Implant Do?

Before your dental crown or denture is placed, a dental implant can be surgically inserted into your jawbone where your tooth roots once were. Your jawbone will fuse to the biocompatible titanium surface of the implant, effectively creating a prosthetic tooth root housed in your jawbone as securely as your natural tooth roots are. Once healed, Dr. Arooni can attach your dental prosthetic to the implant to complete your total tooth replacement. With your implant and replacement teeth firmly intact, biting and chewing stimulation is restored and can help prevent subsequent jawbone deterioration.

Dental Implants and More at Your Chandler Dentist’s Office

If you’ve lost one or more teeth and would like to learn more about replacing them with dental implants, then schedule an appointment with your Chandler dentist by calling 480-855-1200. Located in the 85224 area, Lakeview Dental Care proudly serves patients from Chandler, Gilbert, Ahwatukee, Mesa, Tempe, Phoenix, and all surrounding communities.

Is Gum Disease a Serious Problem?

lakeviewdentalnews — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 15:28:27 +0000

You may hear quite a bit about gum disease when you visit your dentist or watch a dental product commercial, but the condition is not as widely discussed as many other health issues. Nevertheless, gum disease affects approximately 80% of the adult population in America, and is the number one cause of permanent tooth loss. The best chance of defeating gum disease lies in detecting and treating it early; as a chronic illness, gum disease is incurable once it sets in and will continue to grow worse until stopped. Chandler dentist, Dr. Mark Arooni, helps you protect your smile by exploring the destructive mechanisms of gum disease and how you can prevent or treat it.

The Silent Epidemic

The devastating effects of gum disease begin with the excessive accumulation of bacteria. At any given time, a healthy human mouth contains about 600 different identifiable kinds of bacteria, which come together and form the sticky biofilm called dental plaque. Among these germs lies one that experts and researchers are very familiar with, called Porphyromonas gingivalis, which avoids your immune system’s attempts to destroy it by manipulating its inflammatory response. The result? Excessive inflammation in your gingival tissue (gums), often accompanied by bleeding and the gradual separation of your gums from your teeth, marks the beginning stage of gum disease.

Incurable, but Not Inevitable

When the earliest stage of gum disease, called gingivitis, begins to develop, there is a small window of opportunity during which the infection can be reversed with periodontal therapy and an improved dental hygiene routine. When the window closes, your approach may change, but the priority remains treating the condition before excessive damage can be done to your teeth and gums. Treating gum disease depends on the severity of the case, but you can prevent gum disease, or control it if you’ve already been afflicted with it, by strictly adhering to a good hygiene routine and a schedule of dental checkups and cleanings as often as Dr. Arooni recommends.

Treating Gum Disease with Your Chandler Dentist

To exacerbate the seriousness of gum disease, numerous studies have suggested that the mechanisms leading to the development of gum disease (i.e., microbial invasion and soft-tissue inflammation) may be factors in an increased risk of serious systemic illness, including heart disease and dementia. If you believe that you may be in danger of gum disease, or to learn more about protecting and improving your smile, then schedule an appointment with your Chandler dentist by calling 480-855-1200. Located in the 85224 area, Lakeview Dental Care proudly serves patients from Chandler, Gilbert, Ahwatukee, Mesa, Tempe, Phoenix, and all surrounding communities.

Chandler General Dentist Explains the Science Behind Tooth Decay

lakeviewdentalnews — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 15:40:14 +0000

There’s a good chance that you’ve had a cavity before. In fact, about 90% of adults in America have had tooth decay in at least one of their permanent teeth. Other than the discomfort that often accompanies advanced decay, however, you may not realize that your tooth is in danger until the symptoms become obvious, by which time your tooth has probably suffered extensive damage. You may not even consider tooth decay a problem other than the physical discomfort, which is a dangerous assumption that could cost you your tooth, and more. To help you better understand the dangers of this widespread epidemic, Chandler general dentist, Dr. Arooni, discusses the science behind tooth decay and the importance of treating it early.

Big Damage in Little Packages

In its most severe state, decay can destroy your tooth so thoroughly that your only option for stopping the infection is to extract it. As destructive as it is, though, tooth decay typically begins on the microscopic level. While many people are familiar with dental plaque, fewer people know that it’s a mass of oral bacteria; over 600 different kinds of them, to be exact. One in particular, called Streptococcus mutans, consumes the sugar and carbs that you ingest and converts them into lactic acid. This acid weakens your tooth enamel, which is your body’s strongest substance, and paves the way for tooth decay development. Composed mostly of calcium and phosphate, enamel is also your body’s most mineralized substance, and when weakened, it can refortify itself by absorbing more minerals. Unfortunately, bacteria-produced acid saps the minerals from your teeth, and over time, your enamel can grow weak enough to allow bacteria access to the more vulnerable tooth structure underneath it, called dentin.

Avoid Your Tooth’s Destruction

When caught early, before your enamel is destroyed, acid erosion can usually be reversed with specialized enamel-enhancing procedures, such as fluoride treatments, and an improved oral hygiene regimen. Because discomfort is typically not felt until decay has a decent hold on your teeth, erosion is most often detected by your dentist at a regularly scheduled dental checkup and cleaning. Once decay has gained a foot hold, treatment can range from a simple dental filling to a more extensive root canal procedure, depending on its severity. In extreme cases, your tooth may not have sufficiently survived the decay and might require extraction.

Treat Your Tooth Decay in Chandler Today

To treat your tooth decay, regardless of its severity, or to learn more about protecting and improving your smile, then schedule an appointment with your Chandler general dentist by calling 480-855-1200. Located in the 85224 area, Lakeview Dental Care proudly serves patients from Chandler, Gilbert, Ahwatukee, Mesa, Tempe, Phoenix, and all surrounding communities.