Managing Dental Anxiety

May 15th, 2012 Posted in Uncategorized
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If your heart starts racing and your palms get sweaty just thinking about a visit to the dentist, you are not alone.  Millions of Americans have dental anxiety or dental phobia that is so severe that they avoid dental care completely.  Millions more are able to make themselves get regular dental care, but they suffer needlessly through every dental procedure and struggle to control their anxiousness.

Dental anxiety is a natural anxiousness or fear of dental treatment that can be due to a wide variety of sources.  Maybe it was a painful dental experience when you were younger or a fear of needles.  Whatever the reason, no one needs to suffer due to dental anxiety.

Advancements in dental care in recent years have made it possible for every person to get the dental care they need no matter how much they fear the dentist. Talking to your dentist about your fears is the first step to take toward conquering dental anxiety.  Your dentist has a variety of alternatives to help you have a stress-free, painless dental experience but your dentist cannot help you unless you make your feelings known beforehand.

For very modest anxiety, your dentist may suggest distractions such as watching television or listening to music while using visualization techniques to take your mind somewhere else during the procedure.  Moderate anxiety can be addressed with an appropriate level of conscious sedation to match the level of anxiety.

Sedation dentistry included nitrous oxide, mild oral sedatives, and stronger intravenous sedatives.  These conscious sedation techniques offer the majority of patients a comfortable, stress-free dental experience.

For the most severe dental anxiety or dental phobia, you may need to see a dentist that specializes in sleep sedation dentistry or hospital dentistry.  These dentists are specially trained to perform all types of dental procedures on patients while they are under general anesthesia.

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Two Routes To a Brighter Smile

May 3rd, 2012 Posted in Uncategorized
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Now more than ever before, patients seeking a brighter, whiter smile have many options to choose from.  Two of the most popular alternatives are teeth whitening (also called teeth bleaching) and porcelain veneers.  Both can the job done and each has advantages and disadvantages.  Your dentist can help you decide which one is the best option for you.

Teeth whitening has become very popular.  Whitening products are available over the counter and at a dentist’s office.  Over the counter products such as whitening strips, whitening gels, and whitening trays work to a degree, but the results can be disappointing.  They use a peroxide based whitening agent similar to the whitening agents found in professional strength whitening system, but at a much lower concentration.  They are not as effective as products applied or dispensed by a dentist.

Whitening agents are applied to the patient’s teeth either in the dentist’s office or at home and left on the teeth for a period of time to give the bleaching agent time to work.  Products applied in the dentist’s office produce noticeable results in as little as a single treatment while home use products take several applications.

Porcelain veneers use a very different method to achieve a whiter smile.  Veneers are thin porcelain wafers that are bonded to the front surface of the patient’s teeth.  The procedure is much more invasive and more expensive that teeth bleaching, but the results are excellent especially for patients with other issues such as dark staining or chipped, uneven, and mildly crooked teeth.

The better option depends on the needs of the patient.  A patient with healthy straight teeth can achieve excellent results at a much lower cost with teeth bleaching, especially if the patient follows good oral hygiene habits.  On the other hand, a patient with other issues to be addressed would probably be better off with veneers.  There is a significantly higher initial cost to the veneers, but they will retain their bright white color for 15 years or more with very little maintenance.

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Digital X-Rays

March 1st, 2012 Posted in Uncategorized
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Dental x-rays are very important because they help dentists to monitor and diagnose treatment needs between the teeth and below the gumlines. Otherwise these areas are out of the range of vision and could allow decay or gum disease to harbor until it was far too late.

While dental x-rays are already safe and use low doses of radiation, digital x-rays use far less radiation than traditional films. In fact, digital films require about 80% less radiation exposure than traditional dental x-rays. Even though exposure is very low, we also use additional personal protective equipment such as lead aprons with a collar to shield patient’s vital organs and thyroid gland.

Appointments time becomes more efficient with digital x-rays, because the images are viewable almost immediately as they are integrated into the office software system. This means there is less time waiting between taking the films and the examination, because no process time is needed.

Your dentist will share your digital x-rays with you during the appointment to help diagnose your treatment needs and allow you to further understand the treatment process. Because the copies are soft, they can also easily be submitted along with insurance claims or when making referrals between offices.

Routine bitewing x-rays are taken about every 12 months, while full mouth series of films are taken ever 3-5 years. These timelines are based on the ADA standard of care and allow dentists to appropriately monitor dental health. Sometimes one or more x-rays may be needed on specific teeth for diagnosis or treatment needs. Each type of x-ray is angled in a different manner to target specific viewpoints.

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Sedation Dentistry | Georgia Dentist Discovers Helpful Law

August 18th, 2010 Posted in Sedation Dentistry, Uncategorized
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Severe anxiety, phobia, severe gagging, life threatening allergies and the inability to use local anesthetics are among the myriad of reasons that over 100,000 Georgians are unable to receive the dental care they need in a dentists’ office. For these people, dentistry ranges from almost torture to a life threatening experience – yet many want and need care.
In 1999, to little fanfare, the state senate of Georgia passed a law to help these people. Since their only alternative is to have their dental work done while they are truly and fully asleep, “Senate Bill 66” mandates Medical Insurance to pay the additional costs of general anesthesia and hospital costs for these people. Once the often prohibitive costs of being fully asleep in the hospital are handled, a lot more of these people can afford the dental care they really need.
Dr. David Kurtzman, a Marietta, Georgia, dentist who has been treating these cases for over twenty (20) years says, “No one really talks about this law – certainly not the insurance companies!” He had worked for years trying to get these costs paid. Even when he got to speak with people within the insurance companies he called, nobody ever mentioned it. Not until a chance call to the Insurance Commissioners’ office in Atlanta lead Kurtzman to the obscure bill did his office start getting more and more coverage for their patients.
The law states that medical insurance must pay hospital and anesthesia fees for any person for whom a successful result cannot be expected using local anesthesia (Novocaine, etc.) “Because of physical, intellectual or other compromising medical condition” of the insured patient. Anyone who really needs it can now expect coverage for sedation dentistry.
“We are seeing people who have lived with pain and infection for literally years!” says Kurtzman. Care under general anesthesia in the hospital operating room gives thousands of these people hope for a healthy, painless and beautiful smile.

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