General Dentistry
Helping our patients maintain a healthy mouth and smile is the main goal of general dentistry. We prefer to provide more minor, preventive care than to see patients suffer with more intensive treatments from a problem that was not managed in time. We want to ensure that your oral health is in its optimal state and positively contributing to the health of your entire body. We are here to brighten your smile and pave the way for a brighter life.
Preventative Dentistry
It is important to brush your teeth at least twice daily to help remove plaque and food particles that get stuck to your teeth. It is recommended that you brush your teeth for two minutes (or longer), though most people rush through this time. You need to make sure that you reach every side of each tooth, including the inside and outside. To help keep your breath fresh, you should also brush your tongue. Then, you can begin flossing.
Cleanings And Exams
Having a dental practice perform a checkup and regular cleaning gives a preventive approach to dental care. These general dentistry treatments help prevent problems with your teeth, gums and jaw bones, or they catch and manage problems before they worsen. During your visit, our doctors will take a picture of the current standing of your dental health and what would be needed to keep your oral hygiene in its best state.
Teeth Whitening
A common request we receive is how to make a smile whiter and brighter. This is a relatively simple and quick treatment option that can be performed periodically. Certain foods and beverages, such as wine and coffee, stain the teeth and contribute to discoloration. The teeth whitening process provides a solution that lightens the shade of the teeth. Additionally, the process actually rids the teeth of plaque and tartar that tend to lead to dental problems.
White Composite Fillings
Each of our fillings is completely custom shaded to match the exact shade of your teeth. One of the most common problems with dental fillings is pain following the procedure. Beneath each of our fillings, we place a desensitizer to help reduce this post-operative sensitivity – an extra step that makes a difference in the comfort of our patients.
Root Canals
We ensure that every root canal we perform is completely painless. We use a state-of-the-art rotary system that allows us to finish root canals more efficiently than traditional methods. We use cutting edge antibacterial materials throughout the procedure to maximize the long-term success of this treatment for your tooth. Dr. Kay will explain how safe this treatment is for you, and that nothing in dentistry is better than saving your existing teeth.
Oral Surgery and Extractions
Dr. Kay has a substantial amount of experience with extracting teeth, having worked in underserved areas where saving teeth was not an option. We can extract almost all teeth safely and painlessly. We do offer some sedation options, such as nitrous oxide. We see many emergency cases each week and will extract teeth on the same day if needed. For younger patients who will need all of their wisdom teeth extracted, we generally recommend they have them removed by our local oral surgeons. However, we recommend consulting us first because we extract many wisdom teeth in our office.
iTero 3D Scanner
Here at Northern Shores Dental Group, we are proud to offer our patients innovative technology. Introducing the Itero Element Plus Intraoral Scanner - the leading technology in digital dentistry. We want patients to know that they are being treated to the best that dentistry has to offer.
This powerful scanner takes hundreds of photographs per second to produce a 3-Dimensional model of your teeth that is extremely accurate. It is extremely comfortable and 100% painless, with no harmful side effects. These scans serve as an alternative to the traditional impressions with the uncomfortable trays and mouthfuls of putty material.
Our Itero scanner is used for many procedures. We take scans of teeth when making crowns, which ensures the best fitting and most comfortable porcelain crowns. Our hygienists will take periodic scans at your cleaning appointments at no charge. The powerful software allows us to compare your teeth from one scan to the next, allowing us to track things like tooth wear, gum recession, and shifting teeth.
For Invisalign, the Itero scanner allows us to offer a completely digital experience from start to finish. This is the only scanner that provides instant Invisalign simulations, where we can show our patients what their smile will look like with the push of a button instead of waiting for weeks. The scanner ensures that your Invisalign aligners and retainers fit perfectly and allows us to make them faster than if we took impressions.
We process all of our removable appliances, including bite guards, whitening trays, sleep appliances, TMJ appliances, partials, and dentures using our scanner. We are able to create the best-fitting and most comfortable appliances using this technology.
For more information or to request an appointment, contact us today at (231) 276-9051.