YES!

We offer a few options for in-office sedation including oral sedation and nitrous oxide.

For oral sedation we will write you a prescription for a sedative medication, similar to Ativan, which you will take prior to your dental appointment. This will  help reduce anxiety, make you feel sleepy and allow you to have a more comfortable visit in the dental office. For this option, we do require that you have a ride to and from your appointment as you will be disoriented after taking this medication.

For nitrous oxide sedation (often referred to as “laughing gas”), we place a nasal mask on your nose which delivers a combination of nitrous oxide and oxygen as you inhale. This helps with managing pain and anxiety during dental treatment. The sedative effect with this option is short-lived, and you can continue on with your day as normal following your dental visit.

There are a number of reasons:

• Teeth are decayed and you are unable to brush them.
• They are partially impacted and at high risk of becoming infected.
• They are fully impacted but may become an issue in the future, and you are currently insured but may not be insured in the future, although there are options such as uprighting your wisdom teeth, see below.
• They hurt or are already abscessed.

According to some Facebook articles, Wisdom teeth are key to the health of your liver because the nerves in your teeth are linked to other areas of your body. Clearly all your nerves are connected through your brain, but removing this tooth will not damage your liver. The article is right that there are risks of Paresthesia (temporary or permanent feeling loss) after the extraction, however this is a risk, albeit less of one, in all extractions and oral injections. This usually only lasts for a couple of weeks to a couple of months. This article would also have you believe that wisdom teeth are removed because our hygienists are lazy, and don’t want to clean them. We always want you to keep all your teeth if this is a possibility, and if we all had the room for our wisdom teeth to come in and not cause issues we would see a lot less of them extracted.

There are treatments available that can reduce the risks of these extractions by uprighting and allowing the wisdom teeth to erupt fully into the oral cavity. By erupting the wisdom teeth we may allow them to either be kept or be removed by less invasive methods. Talk to your dentist to find out if the option of uprighting your wisdom teeth is for you. What do you have to loose, besides the teeth that you were going to loose anyways.

This is a field that has changed a lot in the last decade. The amount of radiation needed to take standard dental x-rays has gone way down, the film technology is continuing to change allowing us to significantly reduce exposure time. During our lives we are continually picking up background radiation from the earth and the atmosphere around us. We calculate the amount of radiation that an x-ray uses in BERTs (Background Equivalent Radiation Time) in units of days adn hours. The standard 2 bitewing xrays that you have at your yearly check-up, are the equivalent to the amount of radiation you pick up in 14 hours. If your dentist is using digital x-rays your exposure is even less.

Another way of calculating radiation is in BED units (Banana Equivalent Dose) Bananas contain natural radiation because of the isotopes that they contain. Dental X-rays are somewhere around 50 BED. Close to eating about 50 bananas. Contrast that with the natural radiation from potassium isotopes in your body over a year which is about 3900 BED, or a flight from New York to LA which is around 400 BED. Basically you could have 8 sets of x-rays.

Recent studies have showed that the amount of radiation from Dental X-rays are so low that the apron is really not necessary any more, unless the patient is pregnant. However, we don’t know how much radiation you receive on a regular basis. You may live in an area with higher background radiation, you may have had a full body CT scan last week, or you may be receiving radiation treatment for something else, and so limiting the amount of radiation is always the best practice. In most instances rather than explaining that there is not a need for the apron, or determining the level of need for protection it is less time consuming and just makes more sense to protect everyone. We leave the room because we are exposed many times a day, and lowering the level of radiation that you are exposed to is always the best practice, your dentist will only ask for x-rays if he feels it is necessary and the benefit outweighs any risk.

What are Dentures?

Many people around you wear dentures, and most of the time you would never know. They are artificial teeth that can be easily removed and replaced by the wearer. They are the most cost effective way to replace your missing teeth.

Complete lower denture

Complete lower implant supported denture

Partial lower denture

Will I notice them?

Dentures can take 2-6 months to get used to. You are probably used to limited chewing surface or no teeth at all, and having new dentures your mouth will feel abnormally full. You will sound funny when you talk, eating and drinking will be foreign. Eventually you will get used to them. The fit of them may change over the years and you may need to have them relined (adjustment of the surface that contours to create a better fit). Keep in mind as well if you opted for the immediate dentures (teeth out and denture in same day), for the first month your dentures are more of a bandaid, and an aesthetic accessory than a functional denture. Once healing has occurred make sure you come in for your soft relines.

Here are some things that will help you get used to wearing your dentures:

• Drink lots of water
• Massage your gums
• Use adhesives for better fit, usually where the anatomy of the bone structure is not conducive to a stable denture base.

Eating

You may bite your cheek and tongue for the first while with new dentures. Chewing tough or fibrous foods such as steak or lettuce, may be difficult to chew. Chewing slowly and avoiding tough foods is a good idea. Steaming your vegetables will help also.

Your Dentures are more fragile than your natural teeth. Opening bottles, cracking nuts, etc. will damage your dentures.

Speaking

Reading out loud to yourself or videotaping yourself speaking, will help you figure out how your dentures work into your scheme of speech. You can ask someone to listen to you to help you hear the differences that subtle changes in your functioning make. But keep in mind you will most likely notice the change in your speech more than anyone else.

Cleaning

Wear your glasses/contacts while cleaning so you can see the areas that need to be cleaned.

Fill the sink with a towel or water so that if you drop the denture the porcelain does not cause anything to be broken.

Brush your denture. It is not necessary and can even be harmful to the denture to use toothpaste. Toothpaste is very abrasive. Don’t hold your denture by the back teeth on both sides at the same time as this pinching motion will break the denture. Always hold the denture by one side.

Brush your gums and existing teeth. It is very important to maintain the health of the gums and save any teeth that are left.

Clean your dentures every day and rinse them with water after every meal.

Soak your denture overnight in water or denture cleaner. It will help kill bacteria that live in the acrylic, and it is good to give your tissues a rest. Check any cleaner you use to make sure that it is safe for your denture. Some cleaners may damage metal dentures. If your dentures are out of the mouth make sure that they are soaking in water, so that they don’t dry out.
Some recent research points to a link between sleeping without your dentures and sleep apnea. This is because the airway collapses without the dentures to hold it in it’s natural position. If you find sleeping without your dentures causes you to have restless and/or uncomfortable sleep or you are tired all the time, fall asleep anywhere even sometimes while driving. You may struggle with sleep apnea and it would be a good idea to sleep with you dentures in, but make sure you find some other time during the day to give your tissues a break for at least 3-4 hours a day.

It is your responsibility to know your insurance’s coverage and plan maximum and fee guide. As a courtesy to our patients we do electronic billing to your insurance on your behalf. We will do pre-authorizations on major dental treatment, however, due to the Privacy Act it is your responsibility to follow up with the insurance and inform us. Please be aware that if for any reason the claim is rejected or not paid in full, you are financially responsible for the balance on date of service.

It is customary that payment is due as services rendered. We accept cash, interact, MasterCard, Visa, and personal cheques.

More information on Dental Financing can be found at: https://www.dentalcard.ca