Teeth Talk: New Year,New Smile

Happy New Year Everyone! I’d like to thank The Marco Eagle, it’s readers and all of my patients for their continued support of me and this column.

In this weeks column I’m going to take a different approach. Instead of answering one of your questions, I’d like to talk about something we all pledge to do every year. Can you guess what it is? That’s right New Years resolutions.

Each New Year we vow to become healthier, whether it be to join a gym, work out more or go on some new diet, we all do it. This year why not resolve to have a healthy beautiful smile. Smiling is something we all do each and every day, so why not make yours as healthy as it can be.

Many people put off going to dentist for various reasons with fear, expense and a lack of time being just the top three. Now that a new year has dawned upon us, it is a perfect time to make a fresh start and visit your dentist for that check up you have been putting off or avoiding. You’ll have peace of mind knowing that you’re doing something good for yourself.

Is this the year you have decided to quit smoking or stop using tobacco? Your dentist and dental hygienist can help you achieve that goal. You’ll feel great that you have taken that positive first step toward longterm health.

If you’re unhappy with the appearance of your teeth, why not make a resolution to change your smile.Go visit your dentist for a consultation and see what they can do to improve your smile.There are so many options available from something as simple as Teeth Whitening, which can brighten and take years off your smile to whole cosmetic makeovers and anything in between.There are veneers and ceramic crowns for that Hollywood smile or Invisalign invisible braces to straighten your teeth without anyone knowing.

Your smile is with you all day every day. Why not take the opportunity to make 2009 the year where you will have the most healthy and beautiful smile possible.

Source Link :- http://marconews.com/news/2009/jan/13/tooth-talk-new-year-new-smile/?partner=RSS

Tooth Whitening

Tooth enamel is porous and over time, teeth become stained. After years of eating pigmented foods such as blackberries or blueberries, and consuming pigmented beverages like black tea and coffee, teeth become darkened and yellowed, losing their youthful shine. This fact makes Teeth Whitening one of the most sought-after cosmetic dental procedures in the United States.

There are two options to whiten dull and dingy teeth: go to a cosmetic dentist for professional intervention, or use a take-home professional whitening kit.

In-Office Whitening
According ADA the most effective treatments for whitening teeth are performed by trained dentists using a whitening agent and special light. The active ingredient in most whitening gels is hydrogen peroxide. Your cosmetic dentist uses a stronger gel than you can buy in any store, making an in-office treatment more effective in-office procedure takes a bit over an hour. The cosmetic dentist first applies protective gel to the lips and gums. Then he applies the whitening gel to all the teeth to be treated. A special light activates and speeds the whitening agent. This sequence takes about 20 minutes and is repeated twice more. To finish off, a fluoride treatment is given.

A take-home follow-up kit will usually be given, so you can do touch-ups later on.
Temporary tooth sensitivity is sometimes felt with in-office whitening procedures. If that happens, your cosmetic dentist will stop treatment and apply a desensitizing agent to the teeth. Treatment can be resumed at any time. You will be astounded at the different in your smile after an in-office tooth whitening treatment.

At Home Whitening
There are two options for at-home whitening: using a professional-strength kit with custom-made trays, or choosing an over-the-counter whitener. If you choose a professional kit, your cosmetic dentist will have the trays made for you and explain how to use the kit.

You can wear the two trays when it’s convenient for you. Some people wear them overnight. The whitening agent stops working after about 45 minutes, so you can wear them during the day for that length of time and then remove them. The kits come with a shade strip where you can mark your Before and After colors.
Store-bought whitening kits are less effective, as (a) they have one-size-fits-all trays; and (b) they have a less-than-professional strength whitening gel. Teeth get whiter only while they are in contact with the whitening agent. So an ill-fitting pair of trays will give uneven results.

Whitening toothpastes are a poor idea, as they do not contain any bleaching agent, but an abrasive ingredient. They try to scrape the stains off, but also gradually scrape off your tooth enamel as well. This will make your teeth look more yellow, because the less enamel they have, the more the yellow dentin layer will show through.

Sourcelink:- http://www.bestsyndication.com/?q=node/19935

Porcelain Crowns to Improve Your Smile

In the past, crowns have been made of a gold alloy.This is very durable and provides a strong chewing surface. But a gold crown stands out among its natural, white neighbors and does not give an aesthetically pleasing appearance. Cosmetic dentistry has advanced in huge strides over recent years, so that now the material of choice for a crown is dental porcelain.

What is dental porcelain?

It’s a glass-like ceramic material that comes in many shades of white. A qualified cosmetic dentist can give you a porcelain crown that nobody will ever identify as a crown. He will match the exact shade of porcelain to your natural enamel, and will even have the crown made of several subtly different shades of porcelain, to mimic the subtle variations in natural tooth enamel.

Advantages of porcelain :-

It is translucent like natural tooth enamel.

Light can travel through it, but is also reflected back to the viewer from the dental cement holding the crown to the tooth. Similarly, light travels through enamel and is reflected back from the dentin layer beneath. So in both cases, the result is a characteristic white sheen.

It is strong and long-lasting and gives a good chewing surface

It is stain-resistant like glass. The pigmented substances we eat and drink, like cola drinks, blackberries and red wine, do not affect its color as they do our enamel color.Conversely, it is not affected by any teeth whitening procedure. It retains its original shade of white.

A porcelain crown can be:

1. All-porcelain, with porcelain on the outside and a porcelain lining; or

2. Porcelain-fused-to-metal, with porcelain on the outside and a metal lining.

Source Link:- http://bestsyndication.com/?q=node/20252

Healthy Smiles grinning again

Healthy Smiles Family Dentistry, after a short period of some turbulence, is organized and grinning to continue to serve the community.

Healthy Smiles is a non-profit community dental clinic that offers general dentistry, cosmetic dentistry, endontics (root canals),teeth whitening, prosthetics including crowns, bridges, partials and dentures, prophys (teeth cleaning), and restorations including fillings.

The clinic accepts Nevada Checkup and Medicaid as well as most private insurance plans and is part of Delta Dental, Connection Dental, Met-Life, Diversified, Aetna and Northern Nevada Operating Engineers. For those who are non-insured, the clinic also offers a sliding fee scale, which determines payment according to a patient's income.Although Healthy Smiles is a non-profit clinic, it offer dental services to all private patients with varying dental needs.

The clinic is open Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. with Dr. McGraw and Dr. York, as well as several backup dentists and dental professionals there daily to serve the needs of the community.

Source Link:- http://www.rgj.com/article/20081114/MVN03/811140405/1040/MVN

Dental Work Without The Dentist

Tooth Whitening is the fastest, cheapest and most convenient way to a brighter smile, but is it safe?

NewsChannel 5 Investigates went undercover to find out, and what it found won't make anyone smile - dental work without a dentist.

"What she's going to feel during the process is a whole lot of tingling," said technician working at a mall kiosk told our undercover operative."That's basically from the bubbles working.

But a real dentist said that's not supposed to happen.

"That's called the gums burning," said Dr. Ellen Shemancik.

While there are whitening toothpastes, some people are opting to get their teeth whitened while they shop.

"We use two gel strips. We do one on the top, one on the bottom," said an employee at a mall kiosk.

"What we do is put this in your mouth and then we put the gel in the tray and we set you under the light for 12 minutes," she said. "All it does is just take the stains right off."

But the employees are not dentists.

"What we can do is get these teeth a little whiter," said another technician.

Yet NewsChannel 5's undercover investigation found employees at two different locations doing things only dentists are supposed to be doing.

"I would think twice about having it done in the middle of a mall," Shemancik said.

Shemancik and others with the Tennessee Dental Association are concerned that customers are being misled, even possibly harmed by these shopping mall operations.

"When you have a person standing in a white lab coat, they immediately think it's a health care professional," she said. "These are non-health-related individuals usually that have no dental background."

When someone spoke to the mall employees and asked if they were a dentist or a hygienist, the employee said they weren't.

In fact, she told NewsChannel 5's undercover crew she didn't have any dental training. But she assured them she knew how to whiten teeth.

"It's not really hard to learn. It's pretty easy," one employee said.

Because the employees are not dentists, they're not supposed to do anything more than just fill the mouth tray. Customers are supposed to do the rest.Yet, they are seen in undercover video repeatedly adjusting the lamp and touching the customer's mouth trying to get the tray in, sometimes without wearing gloves.

"The gel is professional-grade peroxide," said one employee.

State rules said the whitening gel they use is not supposed to be any stronger than what consumers can buy over the counter. Yet, based on what they said, the mall workers seem to be ignoring that rule.

"It's a carbamide peroxide and it's professional grade. You can't get it over the counter. It's what dentists use," said one employee.

"If the solution is not placed properly in the trays that these people are using, you can have severe burning on the gums. You can also have tooth sensitivity," Shemancik said.

"What she's going to feel during the process is a whole lot of tingling," said one employee about the process.

"That's not normal. That's not supposed to be happening," Shemancik said.

"That's basically from the bubbles working," said a mall employee.

"That's called burning the gums," Shemancik said.

Shemancik in a dentist's office, the dentist would check the patient's teeth to make sure their mouth is healthy enough for the procedure.The dentist would also carefully monitor the patient throughout the whitening process.The procedure would cost on average several hundred dollars.

"We do it for a fraction of the cost. We do it for $129," a mall employee told the undercover crew.

"So what's the main difference between doing this here versus doing it in a dentist's office? Money," said another employee.

Employees at both kiosks NewsChannel 5 visited said dentists don't like the competition.

"They're trying to make it illegal to do this because of the fact that we take all of their patients from them," said one employee.

But dentists said they're trying to stop people who are not dentists from acting like they are.

"The state needs to be investigating and doing what you're doing, sending people in undercover and see what they're doing and either fining or shutting down these people," Shemancik said.

"We put this impression in your mouth," said another mall employee.

.

"It can be a danger to the customers," Shemancik said.

The Tennessee Health Department didn't say whether they've receive any complaints. But, in other states, customers have complained about getting severe burns in their mouth.

However, one of the teeth whitening manufacturers sent NewsChannel 5 a statement Thursday afternoon that reads in part, "We do not have a single situation where we have caused permanent damage.The overwhelming majority of customers experience anywhere from zero to tolerable sensitivity."

The full statement is on our website.

Mall kiosks are legal in Tennessee. The state doesn't have very specific rules when it comes to teeth whitening at malls right now.

Source Link:- http://www.newschannel5.com/Global/story.asp?S=9389165&nav=menu374_2_2

Award Winning Dentist Joins San Jose Cosmetic Dentistry Team

Dr. Liza Karamardian has become the latest addition to the experienced Los Gatos Dental Group team.

Los Gatos, California – October 27, 2008 – Los Gatos Dental Group team announces today the addition of a new dentist to the San Jose Cosmetic Dentistry office. Dr. Liza Karamardian brings over 15 years of experience in the dental field to the San Jose and Los Gatos dental office, starting late October, 2008. An addition to the team that San Jose residents can trust will provide the dedication that they deserve where the focus is on both the health and beauty of their teeth.

Dr. Liza Karamardian has been practicing dentistry for over 15 years in the Bay Area. She graduated from UC Irvine with a BS in Biology in 1988. She then attended the UCLA School of dentistry, graduating in 1993. Dr. Karamardian practiced in the city of

San Francisco for 12 years before moving to the South Bay.

In San Jose she enjoys all aspects of general dentistry and cosmetic dentistry and strongly believes in treating the “whole patient” with a strong emphasis on the relationship between oral health and complete health. Dr. Karamardian is dynamically involved in her profession and but still continues to further her dental skills by attending many continuing education classes throughout the year.

While in dental school, Dr. Karamardian won several awards from her instructors and the administration. As a highly recognized practicing dentist in San Francisco, she became involved with the San Francisco Dental Society and soon after was elected as its President in 2001. In this leadership role she worked side by side with the San Francisco Department of Public Health to begin the first city wide kindergarten dental screening program. The screening program was to emphasize the importance of dental hygiene and oral health from an early age. This program successfully screened over three thousand children in its first year and has continued to grow.

As a result of Dr. Karamardian’s outstanding qualities as a dentist and her contribution to the profession of dentistry, she was nominated to join the prestigious International College of Dentists and the American College of Dentists in 2004. Dr. Karamardian is also a member of the Santa Clara Dental Society, the California Dental Association and the American Dental Association.

Dr. Karamardian is married and lives in near San Jose with her husband and two children. When not working diligently at the San Jose Cosmetic Dentistry, she volunteers at her kids’ schools and various community events. She also enjoys keeping physically fit with yoga and aerobic classes at Courtside Club.

Los Gatos Dental Group is a general and cosmetic dentistry team that serves the San Jose and Los Gatos area, that is a full service dental office with a extensive range of family and cosmetic procedures offered, including: porcelain veneers, invisalign, root canals, teeth whitening and dental implants. Los Gatos Dental team can fix almost any problem including and not limited to pain, infection, bleeding gums, loose teeth, cavities, broken teeth, stained teeth, gaps in between teeth and teeth grinding.

Source Link:- http://www.bestsyndication.com/?q=node/19298

Laser Teeth Whitening Advice

Laser Teeth Whitening is also known as a power bleaching or whitening.

Many people who are very concerned about their smile, especially actors, artists and those in the media prefer to other procedures to whiten teeth that the results are faster and the excellent.

Laser Tooth Whitening is the latest technology and systems for the upper teeth whitening are available today.

It is just an hour to endure this kind of treatment.The treatment is easy and painless when the laser teeth whitening system is used. It starts with a bit of preparation before getting into the real effect.

The first dentists cleans the teeth and it is very important, because if the seeds are present and the plaque, it will impede the process of bleaching.The lips and gums are isolated prior to the transaction and a whitening gel is applied to the teeth by activating a specially designed light on the subject.The result is surprising that the teeth will be six to ten times more than white color before, and sometimes more than that may also occur.

For people with extreme discoloration, a meeting may not be sufficient to achieve the desired results and, consequently, the treatment can be repeated until the white coloration is sensitive. Of course, this must be done with the consultation of the dentist.

In the process of laser tooth whitening, a rubber dam was placed on the teeth to keep the gums and a teeth whitening products is painted on teeth, and then the laser light is focused on the chemical to stimulate change of color teeth.

The gel activated by laser light used in the procedure of tooth whitening was developed after many years of research.The gel formula is scientifically done using hydrogen peroxide,which is pH balanced.

When the gel is activated by light, it penetrates deep removing the teeth discoloration and stains. A take-home tooth whitening laser procedure is also available, which operates in the same manner as the techniques of laser tooth whitening, except for the fact that it needs to be worked on for three nights.

Laser teeth whitening procedure is very much like a spa. When the procedure is conducted the machine used to perform the procedure allows the person to relax in a comfortable chair with a film or music to be seen or heard. But unfortunately, it's not for everybody and anybody, as the dentist to check the dental health needs of the person before getting into the proceedings.

Laser teeth whitening treatment requires a lot of money because it is regarded as an expensive procedure assisted dentist.However, the cost of the procedure may vary from a dentist and a dentist at the clinic where it is performed. If a search carried out on this subject, one can obtain treatment at a competitive price.After the procedure, patients should be extremely cautious in the care of their teeth.

Dentists advise not to consume food or beverages that stain. Too smoking should be avoided. Those who have undergone laser treatment will find their teeth sensitive to hot spots or cold, but these symptoms disappear within a few days.