Procedures

Taking care of your oral health means so much more than paying mind to your oral hygiene. As a matter of fact, excellent smile health contributes to excellent health overall. Indeed, your smile’s health is the most important thing to consider when seeking dental work of any kind, and though some procedures may be more appealing over others, it is important to maintain a healthy foundation of care. In today’s blog, your North Hollywood, CA dentist discusses instances that might warrant the need for root canal therapy and how restorative treatment can save your smile.

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From a young age, we are taught that most of our oral hygiene efforts are to combat cavities. It’s easy to remember back to early Halloweens with our parents telling us not to eat all of our trick-or-treat hauls, so we don’t suffer from the dreaded cavities. While it is still essential to prevent this form of tooth decay, it is also important to understand what causes them and how to treat them. In today’s blog, your North Hollywood, CA dentist discusses cavities, how to prevent them, and how we can treat them should they occur.  (more…)

Taking care of your smile involves a number of practices and moving parts. What’s more? Neglecting any one area of your oral cavity can lead to the development of a number of concerns, including tooth decay, gum disease, and virtually everything in-between. Indeed, preventive dentistry helps keep your smile healthy and strong, but sometimes you may fall short. In cases such as these, restorative treatment can help. In today’s blog, your North Hollywood, CA dentist discusses why it is important to fill your cavities sooner rather than later, as well as how our team can help.

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By now you are likely aware that your smile endures a significant amount of wear over the years, and nearly everything impacts your grin in a negative matter. Indeed, from TMJ disorder to dental decay and infection, and everything in-between, there is hardly anything out there that your smile is actually safe from. Still, however, it is always better to seek treatment sooner rather than later, and our team is ready to help. In today’s blog, your North Hollywood, CA dentist takes a look at the way restorative dentistry helps preserve your teeth, and how cavities can be treated with mercury-free fillings.

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When you develop a cavity, one of the first noticeable signs of it is the discomfort that it causes in your tooth structure. This discomfort can vary depending on several different factors, including how big your cavity has grown, but fortunately, it often causes patients to seek treatment for their cavities as soon as possible. In addition to alleviating the pain of the cavity, filling it early with biocompatible, tooth-colored resin also allows us to restore your tooth’s good health and integrity more discreetly than ever before.

Stopping the cavity from growing

The main point of filling a cavity is to preserve your healthy, undecayed tooth structure. To do this, your dentist first has to stop the cavity from growing, which requires cleaning away the harmful bacteria that caused the tooth decay and any lingering infected tooth structure. Cleaning a cavity is a highly precise process, and your dentist will take steps to ensure that a minimal amount of your healthy tooth structure is affected. Once the decay and harmful oral bacteria are removed, the cavity will stop progressing and your dentist can fill the cavity to seal and protect it.

Using tooth-colored resin to fill it

Over the years, dentists have used a variety of materials to create fillings for mild to moderate cavities. Until recently, the most common material was metal amalgam, which was often preferred due to its high durability. Today, however, more dentists prefer to use tooth-colored composite resin, which consists of finely ground acrylic and quartz-like particles rather than metal. Tooth-colored resin can be custom-tinted to match the unique color and shade of your tooth structure, creating a filling that not only restores the tooth but also blends in discreetly with its natural appearance.

Avoiding future problems with the tooth

Their highly lifelike appearance is one of the biggest reasons why more patients choose tooth-colored fillings to treat their cavities. However, dentists typically prefer them because, in many cases, they can offer better restorative benefits for the teeth that they treat. For example, composite resin is known for retaining its shape long after it’s been placed within a cavity, and its ability to bond securely to the tooth structure means it can offer a highly secure seal to protect the tooth from further infection.

Learn how to treat your cavity discreetly

Tooth-colored fillings not only fill your cavity and protect your tooth, but also blend in with the tooth’s natural structure to keep your treatment highly discreet. To learn more, schedule a consultation by calling Modern Smile in North Hollywood, CA, today at 818-763-9353. We also proudly serve patients who live in Burbank, Toluca Lake, and all surrounding communities.

Tooth fillings have long been the most common solution to dealing with common cavities, and today, they can effectively treat cavities with more lifelike results than ever. However, even with more advanced materials and dental treatment techniques, modern tooth fillings are still limited in what they’re able to accomplish. In cases of more severe tooth decay, a filling may not suffice to remove the infected tooth tissues and fully restore the tooth’s health and integrity. Today, we examine what tooth fillings can do, why they can’t treat severe levels of decay, and what you should do if your decay has gotten that severe. (more…)

The point of endodontic treatment, or root canal treatment, is to address a tooth infection that has become so severe, the nerves and soft tissues of the tooth have been affected by it. This tissues rest in the pulp chamber, which lies at the center of the tooth’s main, most dense structure (dentin). However, it might also be recommended to prevent such an infection if your tooth has become fractured and broken severely enough to expose the pulp.

Like a tooth filling, but deeper

Tooth infection, or tooth decay, is progressive, and in most cases, it’s detected and treated in its mild to moderate stages. The cavity that forms from the decay can be filled with a tooth-colored, biocompatible material, stopping the decay and restoring your tooth. However, in cases of internal infection, a filling isn’t enough. Your dentist will have to clear out the infected tissues as well as the infected tooth structure, and then fill the pulp and root canal as well as the cavity in the dentin.

It’s better than tooth extraction

Many patients who experience internal tooth infection consider extracting the tooth to be done with the pain. However, doing so just raises further concerns related to the tooth loss, and the need for more extensive treatment to replace it. By contrast, saving the tooth with root canal therapy enables you to regain your bite function, alleviate your tooth discomfort, and preserve your healthy, natural tooth.

Benefit from Modern Endodontic Treatment

Endodontic (root canal) treatment can provide a convenient and minimally invasive way to relive severe tooth infection, as well as the debilitating toothaches that come with it. To learn more, schedule a consultation by calling Modern Smile in North Hollywood, CA, today at 818-763-9353. We also proudly serve patients who live in Burbank, Toluca Lake, and all surrounding communities.

If you are in the entertainment business such as modeling or acting which requires you to be photographed often, then consider the effect lighting will have on your smile. Bright lights create more shadows and emphasize discoloration, spaces, crowded teeth, or any other defect or flaws present in the mouth. Remember you are in a business where your smile may make the difference between getting or not getting that dream job, so maximize your ability to have not just a nice smile, but a dynamite smile! But don’t automatically think that “capping” or crowning is your best bet. Now a days you have many different options to correct shape, shade, or size of your teeth without needing a crown. This is where cosmetic dentistry can be a great asset in improving how those bright lights reflect of your teeth.

Here are a few tips for before and after the camera   

1. Have one of  our cosmetic dentists at Modern Smiles dental office do a smile analysis and cosmetic contouring to make sure the shapes of your teeth are as attractive as possible. Remember that tooth shape and position are more important than color. 
2. Don’t go overboard with whitening or pick the whitest color possible in the shade tab for your veneers. Teeth that are too light may look false and unnatural.
3. Don’t go for perfectly straight across upper teeth. They can make you look older and look like you have worn them down over the years. The cutting edge of your upper Teeth should follow the curve of your lower lips when you smile. Porcelain veneers, Invisalign clear aligners, composite fillings, or a combination of them can be used to achieved this look.
4. Widening your arch by doing either a short Invisalign therapy or Veneering your teeth can help get rid of black corridors that appear in the corners of your mouth when you smile.
5. If you’re being closely photographed and will be smiling, be sure not only your teeth look good but also your GUMS! Puffy, red gums can be a sure “turn-off” when your picture is viewed by others. A dental cleaning with one of our hygienist or laser gum recontouring and reshaping may be all that is needed to get your gums ready for the flashing lights.
6. Metal fillings (Amalgam) or crowns can reflect unwanted light into the camera. Alert your photographer in case there a better angle to photograph you or allow one of our cosmetic dentists replace those fillings for you with biomimetic white resin fillings to match your natural tooth’s shape and color.

If you are interested in learning more about how cosmetic dentistry can help transform your smile we encourage you to schedule a free consultation either online or calling us at 818.763.9353. During this one-on-one appointment with you can explain your cosmetic concerns, explore your options, and decide which treatment or procedure is best for achieving your goals!

Displaying too much gum tissue can either be the result disease or it can be normal for some people who have a high lipline. If the problem is due to periodontal disease, the overgrowth is usually thick , swollen, puffy, and may bleed. The inflammation is generally treated with scaling and root planning by your hygienist or dentist. After the tissue responds as much as possible, it will be re-evaluated for potential future surgery. In either case of cosmetic gummy smile enhancement or periodontal surgery, one of several types of corrective treatments are likely to be suggested:

• Gingivectomy – a cutting away of the gum tissue which can help enhance the size and shape of your teeth and gummy smile without having to do veneers any permanent alterations to your tooth structure. This technique is only used if an adequate amount of attached gum tissue will remain in place.  
• Gingivoplasty – a reshaping of the gum tissue. It can improve the shapes of the gums around the teeth. The results of this treatment are visible immediately  and is often done with a dental laser in 30 minutes or less with very little discomfort. 
• Crown Lengthening Surgery – a peeling away of the gum tissue to the surgeon to treat the underlying bone and surrounding tissue. The flap may then be reattached at the higher point to permit less gum tissue to show when smiling.
  

If you are interested in gummy smile correction or evaluating your option please call our office at 818.763.9353 or make an online appointment for a free consultation at our dental office in North Hollywood.

We are happy to announce that we have recently upgraded our office with Itero 3D Color Digital Scanner! No more messy impressions.

The Itero Digital Scanner is an intraoral scanner that creates a 3D model of your mouth by capturing 6000 frames per second to create a high precision simulation of your teeth and gum tissue. The scanner is so accurate that it can virtually replace those messy and uncomfortable impressions. Itero scanner makes it easier and faster to capture impressions for things like crowns, bridges, implant crowns and Invisalign clear aligners! It can also create a diagnostic cast model of your dentition for digital record keeping. It comes with the industry-leading 3D technology which makes it easier for your provider to show you exactly what can be done in your treatment and even show what your teeth will look like once the treatment is completed!

Here at Modern Smiles state of the art facility in North Hollywood we strive to give our patients a more comfortable experience through using latest technological advancements in dentsitry.  Our doctors stay up to date with latest advancements in orthodontic and imaging technology so you can have the best possible results. Call us today at (818) 763 – 9353 or book online to schedule your complimentary consultation!