When you make oral care a priority, daily brushing and flossing help you maintain a healthy, vibrant smile. Unfortunately, even the most attentive hygienic practices can result in a cavity throughout an entire lifetime. This is one of the reasons regular dental checkups are vital to creating a beautiful smile! When you take the time to visit us at least twice per year, we can catch problems with tooth decay early in their development. Early detection often leads to more conservative treatment, so please do not wait for a painful symptom to give us a call!
At your Prairie Village, KS, dental office, we would love to see you semiannually. By cleaning plaque and tartar deposits you cannot handle on your own at home, we can prevent the likelihood of developing a cavity. But when you do, your dental examination will detect it to provide a timely removal. Because removing decaying material leaves a permanent hole in your tooth, we must restore it with the proper treatment. In today’s blog, we describe the various procedures we use to return the function and look of your tooth after treating decay.
How Does Decay Build In My Smile?
When a tooth is healthy, its outer layer withstands thousands of pounds of pressure from the force of your bite. Made from the hardest material in your body, your enamel also prevents oral bacteria from accessing more sensitive tissues inside your tooth. To preserve this hardy surface, brushing and flossing regularly removes corrosive plaque buildup from your smile. When you fail to remove it daily, bacteria produce acidic waste that wears away at your enamel’s protection. To stop this process, attend routine checkups to clean and inspect your smile.
Removing Decay And Restoring Your Tooth
If we detect a cavity at one of your checkups, we will suggest removing it right away to stop its progression. We can provide dental sedation if you have anxiety about the thought of drilling decay. To prevent pain during cavity removal, we will apply a local anesthetic that numbs the affected area of your problem tooth. Using special tools, we clear away all decaying parts and clean the entire tooth.
Depending on the size and location of your cavity, we could place a dental filling or crown to repair its surface. We construct each out of a composite resin material that instantly hardens into the desired shape. Because we take your smile’s appearance seriously, we will shade your restoration to match your natural smile.
Talk To Your Prairie Village, KS Dentist About Your Options To Treat Tooth Decay
Regular dental checkups can help you detect and treat cavities. To learn more about how we prevent and treat the effects of tooth decay, contact our Prairie Village, KS dentist’s office today at (913) 901-8585.