Treatment

Prosthodontics

Prosthodontics is the dental specialty using facial and oral prostheses to treat or correct appearance, speech and swallowing problems caused by disease or injury. It uses biocompatible substitutes (prosthetics) to maintain oral function, comfort, appearance, and health of patients who have with missing or deficient teeth, or missing or damaged oral and maxillofacial tissues.

Thanks to the significant advances in dentistry and advanced training, prosthodontists are able to offer patients referred to them a wide range of professional prosthodontic procedures. These services may include:

Complete Dentures: A total loss of teeth may present some very special problems. Some of the more frequent problems are:
 

•  Extreme loss of the underlying bone.

•  Loss of facial tissue support.

• Inability to chew food properly.

• Pain or dysfunction of the jaws or joints.

• Difficulty in adapting psychologically to artificial teeth.

• Difficulties in getting artificial teeth to fit or function comfortably.

Removable and Fixed Partial Dentures: The partial loss of teeth may be treated by fixed restorations (bridges) which are cemented to remaining teeth; or by fabrication of partial dentures that are readily removable. The decision as to which is preferred or necessary is dependent on several important factors that must be carefully examined. Several such factors are:

• Bone support of remaining teeth.

• Condition of the remaining teeth.

• The way in which the teeth function.

• The overall general health of the patient.

Fixed prosthodontics is a cosmetic/esthetic way to replace missing or repair/conceal damaged teeth by the use of several dentistry methods, which include:

1. Crowns - or "caps" are used by dentists. This process involves getting a negative of the tooth to be covered by the crown. Afterwards, the tooth impressions are sent to a dental technician, in which the technician, in turn, fabricates the crown using different dental materials (depending on the agreement of the patient & dentist). Materials include: gold, silver, other metals and the cheaper porcelain.

2. Bridges - are false teeth installed on the gums, whereby the dentist attaches them to adjacent or neighboring teeth. "Abutment teeth" is the term used for the teeth where the dental bridges are attached to.

3. Inlay - is a filling made up of a solid substance (gold/porcelain) that is cemented in the drilled portion of the tooth. An inlay used for severe cases wherein a composite or amalgam filling is not enough to repair the damaged structure of the tooth.

4. Onlays - are used for teeth whose structure cannot be repaired by inlays or dental composites alone. Onlays are used when the cusp or perimeter wall of the tooth is missing. Gold is the preferred substance used on onlays, since gold never tarnishes and is durable enough to withstand any future cracks and sills that may compromise the structure of the filled tooth.

5. Veneer - is a thin layer of restorative (composite or porcelain) material used to conceal cracks, malocclusions and gaps in-between adjacent teeth. Veneers are bonded onto the surface of the teeth. People who suffer from healthy but slightly malocclused teeth are given the preferred option of getting veneers.