Our Services
Dental Exam
At your comprehensive dental exam we will examine the jaw joint, do an oral cancer screening and evaluate the head and neck for any tenderness, swelling and discomfort. Your gums are examined to check for active disease, recession and inflammation. Digital x-rays and intra-oral images are used to provide a more accurate diagnosis and to help show you what we see when looking in your mouth. Each and every tooth is checked for cracks, decay, broken fillings, and discoloration.
Dental Hygiene
First, we will examine your gums, taking note of any signs of periodontal disease. Next, your teeth get a thorough cleaning, removing all the sticky plaque and hard calculus. We will discuss areas you might be having problems with, and the best way to address them. The goal is to help you better maintain oral health and improve on any areas that have disease. New research shows that oral disease can make you more vulnerable to heart disease, clogged arteries and stroke. Gum disease can also cause your blood sugar levels to rise, making the control of diabetes more difficult.
Night Guards
A custom night guard is made of clear plastic. It fits over the biting surface of the teeth of one jaw, so that you bite against the guard rather than your teeth. This helps your jaw joints and muscles to relax. Depending on your condition, we may tell you to wear a splint 24 hours a day, only at night, or for some length of time in between.
Sports Guards
Sports guards, mouth guards and mouth protectors are different names for the same thing: a device worn over your teeth that protects them from blows to the face and head. Mouth guards are highly recommended for anyone participating in a sport that involves falls, body contact, or flying equipment. This includes football, basketball, baseball, soccer, hockey, skateboarding, mountain biking, etc.
Fillings
Tooth colored fillings, also called composite fillings, are used to repair mildly decayed, chipped, or cracked teeth. Using composite fillings we do not need to remove as much tooth structure as with a conventional silver filling, amalgam fillings. Composite fillings can be colored matched to mimic the shade of your natural teeth.
Crowns
Sometimes fillings are not enough to restore the tooth. Crowns can be used to recover total or partial tooth structure loss. It can also be used to replaced large fillings, protect a tooth from cracks, or used for cosmetic purposes. New materials like E-max and Zirconia offer an improved balance between esthetics and strength. Often after doing a root canal procedure, it is followed by placing a crown.
Bridges
A bridge is a fixed solution to replace one or more missing teeth. Usually a bridge is made up of an artificial tooth connected between two crowns. These crowns are permanently fixed onto your natural teeth. Bridges need special care with special floss and can sometimes be more difficult to clean than your natural teeth. We can provide you with some tips and tricks on how to keep a bridge clean and healthy.
Root Canal Therapy
The main purpose of doing root canal treatment is to eliminate bacteria from inside the tooth, prevent reinfection and possibly saving the tooth from having to be extracted. A modern root canal treatment can usually be completed in one or two appointments. Root canal treatment is relativity painless and if done correctly extremely effective.
Extractions
As a last resort if a tooth can not be fixed, we have to remove it. Here at Riverjoy Dental we try and make the experience as comfortable as possible and will discuss options to replace you missing tooth in the most convenient way.