Healing Smiles with Dependable Dental Restorations
There’s no denying that teeth are strong, with the ability to endure the daily pressures of speaking, biting, and chewing. While our smiles are designed to withstand a lot, they’re not completely invincible, and certain situations in life can compromise dental beauty, function, and overall health.
At Beautiful Smile Dentistry, Dr. Luis E. Calixto and his team can reestablish the essential aspects of your smile through our various restorative dentistry services. Whether you need root canal therapy to eliminate infection, CEREEC crowns for long-lasting protection, or dental implants to reinforce your health and bite, our San Diego dental experts are here to help rejuvenate your smile!
If damage, trauma, or decay are getting in the way of your dental comfort, happiness, and oral health, don’t wait! Contact our office and schedule your appointment for skilled care with quality dental restorations today.
CALL US: (619) 287-8437 REQUEST APPOINTMENT
Why Restore Teeth?
Restoring your teeth after infection, trauma, or decay is vital to your oral and overall health. While daily brushing and flossing significantly help maintain healthy teeth, it doesn’t take the place of regular examinations, cleanings, and essential treatments performed by our professionals.
Oral health issues can get worse, and infections can spread, leading to tooth loss or future complications that can impact overall body health. These can include difficulties with diabetes, the heart, and pregnancy.
When you visit us for care, we have the means to treat any dental concerns before they have the chance to develop into unpleasant effects on your well-being. We’re also equipped with advanced technology and treatment techniques for ridding your smile of dental issues for good.
Our Available Treatments for Smile Restoration
We provide many ways to restore your smile like new. Regardless of the extent of your needs, our experienced and passionate dentist works with you to recommend the right treatment.
With innovative, in-office technology and using the highest quality of materials, our restoration treatments plans can meet the needs of young, adult, and senior smiles.
Our solutions for restorative care include:
Why Replace Missing Teeth?
Every tooth in your smile is important, serving a pivotal role in long-lasting health, function, and appeal. Strong, healthy teeth are also necessary for proper chewing, grinding of food, and speaking clearly.
A single missing tooth can cause irregular bite pressure on healthy teeth, causing them to shift towards the open space the missing tooth once occupied.
Another critical problem is, if missing teeth aren’t replaced, the bone in your jaw can start to weaken and recede. This creates an almost domino effect as a declining jawbone can lead to facial features sagging, neighboring teeth becoming loose, and the need for tooth replacement becoming more difficult.
Our Options for Full Smile Replacement
With the many advancements in today’s tooth-replacement options, you have choices. After a thorough consultation, including digital x-rays and an examination of your jawbone and oral health, we may recommend one of the following treatments:
CEREC Crowns - are prosthetics crafted within a single visit for replacing one missing tooth. Our crowns can mimic the function, feel, and look of a healthy, natural tooth when affixed to a dental implant.
Fixed Bridges - literally “bridge” the gap created by one or more missing teeth. A bridge is anchored by two or more crowns on either side of the gap or by dental implants to permanently support the bridge.
Complete Dentures - are removable when resting on your natural gums, or permanently affixed when attached to four to eight dental implants. They’re a popular option if all teeth are missing in the upper or lower jaws.
Partial Dentures - are removable, life-like appliances that restore the function and form of your bite while replacing one to several missing teeth. They’re are often recommended when the remaining teeth in your smile are still healthy.
When your customized crown, bridge, partial, or complete dentures are affixed to dental implants, you can achieve a full, functional, and beautiful smile once more!
What are Dental Implants Exactly and How Do They Work?
Dental implants have the unique ability to protect your smile from the debilitating repercussions of tooth loss once and for all.
This is possible because implants are body-safe, titanium posts that serve as artificial tooth roots, providing the vital stimulation your jawbone needs to remain healthy, strong, and intact. Once inserted into the jaw by our skilled San Diego dentist, these posts fuse naturally with living tissue and bone in a process known as osseointegration.
It is this process that allows your implants to anchor your tooth-replacements, delivering you a completely rejuvenated smile!
Diving Deeper into Dental Implant Anatomy
Dental Implants typically include three essential parts:
- The Titanium Post - looks similar to a tiny screw. The post is surgically placed in a precise location within your jawbone. This section of your implant isn’t visible once placed, but it is the most essential part.
- The Abutment - is attached to the post once your gums are healed. This piece is responsible for connecting the post with your new restoration.
- The Tooth Restoration - is the visible, artificial tooth or teeth. Made of enamel-colored, porcelain materials, your prosthetic can include a crown, bridge, partial, or complete denture.
Can Anyone Qualify for Dental Implants?
Typically, yes. If you’re in suitable oral and overall health, have healthy gums and a smile free of decay, disease, or infection, and have enough bone volume to support implants, chances are you’re an excellent candidate for dental implants without the need for additional treatments.
What Option Do I have if My Jawbone is Weak?
If during your dental implant consultation, your jawbone is determined to be weak or lacking proper volume, don’t give up hope! As an accomplished professional in oral surgery services, Dr. Calixto provides bone grafts to help increase your chances at successful implant treatment.
During bone grafting, we can either take a section of bone from another area of your body or use a special bone grafting material and place it into your jawbone. Then, over several months, the graft gradually builds-up new bone material, making it strong enough to hold an implant properly.
Wondering if Dental Implants are Worth it? Discover Their Many Benefits!
The benefits of dental implants range far beyond enhancing the beauty of your smile. Some of the most notable benefits provided by dental implants include:
- Preventing or halting further bone loss
- Keeping surrounding teeth in place
- Helping preserve facial features
- Feeling, functioning, and looking like natural teeth
- Encouraging proper eating, chewing, and speaking
- Lasting a lifetime with proper care
Do You Need a Root Canal?
At the center of your teeth is a soft material known as the pulp. Located in the pulp is a network of nerves and blood that keep each tooth alive and healthy. When damage causes teeth to crack or fracture, the pulp chamber is also where bacterial infections can cause the most harm.
For our team to save your natural tooth from potential disease, pain, and loss, root canal therapy is often necessary. Contrary to the negative reputation, root canals alleviate dental concerns and discomfort, not add to them.
During your procedure, the infected tissues are removed, protecting it from further damage. The pulp chamber is filled with an antibacterial material and sealed with a filling or crown.
After root canal therapy, you can enjoy days without pain and improved oral health and function once more!
What If My Tooth Needs Care After a Root Canal?
Although root canal therapy has high success rates, some factors like curved pulp chambers, deep-seated infection, and bacteria may call for root canal retreatment.
A root canal retreatment is necessary if a tooth previously treated by root canal therapy does not heal properly or is re-infected. Possible infection or inflammation may recur despite a dental professional’s best efforts.
In the event of a traditional root canal failing to remove all the infected tissues and dead nerves, an apicoectomy may be performed by our team. Because improper removal of these materials can lead to serious re-infection of where the tooth’s apex (where the roots come to a point), an apicoectomy corrects the issue by removing the apex along with any surrounding, damaged tissue.
Top Off Your Treated Tooth with a CEREC Technology Crown!
When you’ve experienced debilitating pain from dental infections, inflammation and have received treatment with a root canal, we safeguard your tooth in the same appointment.
Using our advanced, in-office technology, and the CEREC system for same-day crowns, we can complete your root canal treatment and place your permanent, customized crown the same day!
With CEREC, we can design, mill, and fabricate your new, porcelain crown within the same appointment. Your entire root canal procedure can be completed in a single office visit without having to worry about unreliable, temporary prosthetics associated with traditional crowns.
Get the Restorative Care You Need from Skilled Professionals You Can Trust
At our office, Dr. Calixto is proud to return hindered smiles to their full function and beauty. We offer quality dental restorations to patients throughout the La Mesa, Rolando Village, San Marcos, and San Diego communities. Contact Beautiful Smile Dentistry today if you’d like to learn more!
CALL US: (619) 287-8437 REQUEST APPOINTMENT