A beautiful smile is important to your health, hygiene, confidence, and self-esteem. At our office, we can help you have the most attractive, natural-looking smile possible through advanced prosthodontic care. Prosthodontics, or prosthetic dentistry, is an area of dentistry that concentrates on the aesthetic restoration and replacement of teeth to their proper form and function.
As a comprehensive dental practice, we offer our patients a wide range of prosthodontic treatments. Prosthodontic care focuses on complete oral rehabilitation and treatment of numerous dental conditions, such as:
- TMJ/TMD
- Traumatic injuries to the mouth’s structures
- Congenital or birth anomalies to teeth
- Snoring and sleep disorders
- Oral cancer reconstruction and continuing care
PROSTHODONTIC TREATMENT OPTIONS
In order to restore your smile, we may recommend the following prosthodontic treatments:
Bridges
A bridge may be used to replace missing teeth, help maintain the shape of your face, and alleviate stress on your bite. A bridge replaces missing teeth with artificial teeth, looks great, and literally bridges the gap where one or more teeth may have been. Your bridge can be made from gold, alloys, porcelain, or a combination of these materials and is bonded onto surrounding teeth for support.
Crowns
Crowns are a restoration used to improve your tooth’s shape or to strengthen a tooth. Crowns are most often used for teeth that are broken, worn, or have portions destroyed by tooth decay. Think of a crown as a “cap” cemented onto an existing tooth which fully covers the portion of your tooth above the gum line. In effect, the crown becomes your tooth’s new outer surface. Crowns can be made of porcelain, metal, or both. Porcelain crowns are most often preferred because they mimic the translucency of natural teeth and are very strong.
Dental Implants
An implant is an artificial tooth made of metal and porcelain that looks just like your natural tooth. It’s composed of two main parts: one is the titanium implant body that takes the place of the missing root, and the second part is the tooth-colored crown that is cemented on top of the implant. With dental implants, you can smile confidently knowing that no one will ever suspect you have a replacement tooth.
Dentures
Dentures are a final treatment progression for severely worn down or damaged teeth and their supporting structures. Full dentures replace ALL missing teeth from an entire arch, while a partial denture replaces a select few teeth. Full dentures rely on retention from the gums or implants, and partial dentures hook or clasp on to select remaining teeth.
Dentures in the modern age have come a long way. Most dentures in years past were prosthetics that lay on the gums often causing pain or limited chewing with particular foods. Dentures today can be fabricated to attach to implants (artificial root replacements) that can almost completely restore your original tooth function and form.
Typically, new dentures from Petrie Advanced Dental can be fabricated in just a few weeks for people who already have a set of dentures. If other procedures and/or surgery is needed, the time frame changes to a couple of months, and up to a year if removal of teeth and bone or the placement of implants is needed.
Because we are an advanced dental care office, we are often able to place implants in house and fabricate the entire prosthetic without referring to a specialist. We work with an exceptionally trained denturist who comes into the office to work directly with our patients and Dr. Petrie to fabricate and create each denture to look and function as naturally as possible.
Denture Care
We recommend that you clean your denture with soap and water or other store brand cleaning agents every day. You will also need to clean the gums and remaining teeth (in the case of a partial) as normal so as not to risk damage to the remaining support teeth.
After you receive your dentures, we recommend that you visit our Tacoma dental office for a once-a-year screening to evaluate the denture, clean it, and do a head and neck cancer screening.
Fillings
A filling is often used to repair a tooth that is affected by wear, decay, cracks, or fractures. The decayed or affected portion of the tooth is removed and replaced with a filling, which can be made up of many different materials, such as gold, porcelain, composite, ceramic, and plastic compound.
Occlusal Disease Treatment
Occlusal disease is caused by a misalignment between the teeth of the upper and lower dental arches, also called malocclusion. If left untreated, occlusal disease and can damage your teeth, the supporting bones and gums around your teeth, temporomandibular joints, and the jaw muscles you use for chewing. Many people dismiss excessive or abnormally accelerated tooth wear as natural aging or wearing of teeth, however, prosthodontic treatment can alleviate the pain and discomfort caused by occlusal disease.
Veneers
Veneers are a wonderful, minimally invasive treatment tool we can use to preserve natural tooth structure but also greatly change the look and aesthetics of a tooth. Veneers are thin, custom-made shells made from tooth-colored materials (such as porcelain) designed to cover the front side of your teeth. They are effective at correcting gaps, chips, stains, and misshapen teeth. Veneers generally last many years and have a great long-term outcome.
Why choose Petrie Advanced Dental for your veneers?
As an occlusion-based dental practice, we always look at how the teeth come together and articulate to ensure proper function first. Your bite is like a foundation and your teeth, like a house. You must first have a solid foundation or else you will build a house of cards. Dr. Petrie has taken extensive CE and possess a very natural talent at aesthetic and cosmetic work.
Are veneers right for you?
If you want better smile aesthetics, a fuller smile, or lighter teeth, veneers are an excellent choice. If there is minor crowding or spacing, orthodontic treatment alone or in conjunction with veneers may be better to give you the smile you’ve always wanted. The only way to determine your best treatment option is to schedule an appointment at our Tacoma dental office. Dr. Petrie will go over your smile goals and needs, and create a custom treatment plan just for you.
