Many common dental procedures are listed below. When you click on one of these,
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• Cleaning, Fluorides Space Maintainers, and Sealants
Teeth cleaning is the removal of plaque and tartar from the visible surfaces of the teeth to prevent cavities, gingivitis, and gum disease. Usually this material (tartar and plaque) is removed from the crown portion of the tooth, but as you get older, the material may be visible on some of the root surfaces.
Fluoride(treatment) is the delivery of fluoride to the teeth topically in order to prevent tooth decay. Fluoride is applied topically to the teeth using gels, varnishes, or mouth rinse. It is very effective at reducing tooth decay on the smooth surfaces of teeth
Space maintainers are appliances made of metal or plastic that are custom fit to your child’s mouth. It is an appliance that is used to help save space for the permanent teeth when the baby teeth are lost prematurely. Usually these appliances are used when the posterior (back) teeth are lost before their normal time.
Dental sealants are thin plastic coatings that are applied to the grooves on the chewing surfaces of the back teeth to protect them from tooth decay. The grooves of the back teeth are the areas most prone to tooth decay in children. Dental plans that cover sealants most often cover the 1st and 2nd permanent molars and have an age and frequency limit for the service.
• Anesthesia and Sedation (Nitrous)
General anesthesia results in a state of unconsciousness and loss of protective reflexes of an individual resulting from the administration of one or more general anesthesia chemical agents. It is usually a covered benefit when the service the person is receiving is a complex surgical service and requires a long operating time, or the person has an underlying medical condition.
Sedation refers to the use of pharmacological agents to calm and relax a patient prior to and during a dental appointment. The pharmacological agents usually belong to a class of drugs called sedatives, which exert their action by depressing the central nervous system, specifically those areas concerned with conscious awareness.
• Bridges
Bridges are prosthetic services that help replace missing teeth. This can be used for a single missing tooth or multiple missing teeth in the same arch. They are fixed in the mouth. The missing teeth (pontics) are supported by teeth with crowns (abutment teeth) on both ends of the space(s) and all the parts are cast together as a single unit (Bridge).
• Crowns (Caps) and cast restorations
Crowns (caps) are a type of dental restoration made from either metal or ceramic material which completely encircles a tooth or dental implant. Crowns are often needed when a large portion of the tooth is destroyed by decay or injury. These restorations are usually fabricated using indirect methods – not on you while you sit in the dental chair - and are bonded to the tooth using dental cement. Crowns are often used to improve the strength or appearance of teeth.
Cast Restorations are dental restorations that use an indirect method (not done in the mouth) of fabrication for tooth restoration. This indirect method usually involves a dental laboratory to fabricate the restoration because these fabrication procedures require intense heat for casting metal (gold or titanium) or firing porcelain which would not be possible to complete inside the mouth. Restorations such as gold or ceramic crowns, inlays and onlays are cast restorations.
• Dentures (Complete & Partial), Prosthesis
Dentures (complete or partial) are prosthetic appliances that help replace multiple missing teeth in an arch. If all the teeth are missing in an arch it is a complete denture. These prosthetic devices are supported by the surrounding soft and hard tissues of the mouth. Conventional dentures (complete or partial) are removable and made predominately of acrylic resin with some metal.
Prosthesis is a fixed or removable dental appliance used to replace one or more lost or missing natural teeth in an arch.
• Diagnostic - X-rays, Casts, Tests
X-rays are two dimensional pictures of the teeth, bone and surrounding soft tissue (diagnostic tools) that are used to help determine the health or disease of the teeth, soft tissue or bone.
Diagnostic cast (study models) is a model of a person’s teeth (usually upper and lower) that is used to help determine the relationship of the teeth to each other so that treatment planning can be performed. It allows the dentist to study the teeth at times when the patient is not available and helps determine appropriate treatment for the patient.
Tests(Pulp test) are performed on a tooth to help determine the vitality of the tooth. If the tooth does not respond to the pulp test stimulation, there is a chance that the tooth is not vital and may need some dental work. The pulp test should be combined with other findings before a final decision can be made.
• Emergency Treatment-Palliative
Palliative care is care provided to an individual to help relieve a situation that is causing some discomfort. It is usually a temporary fix to the problem, not a final treatment. In most cases another appointment will be needed to complete the treatment on the patient.
• Endodontics – Root Canals, Pulp Therapy
Endodontics is one of the specialties in dentistry that deals with diseases of the tooth pulp (nerve tissue) and the tissues surrounding the root of a tooth.
Root Canal is a naturally occurring space within a tooth that consists of the pulp chamber (within the crown part of the tooth), and the canal(s) spaces going from the crown of the tooth to the apex (bottom) of the root. Within this space are the blood and nerve supply for the tooth. Root canal treatment involves removing the nerve and blood supply from the tooth, cleaning and widening the canal spaces and placing a filling material (gutta percha) into the root canal spaces.
Pulp tissue is the tissue in the middle of the tooth that conducts feelings of pain, temperature, etc. Pulp tissue is nerve tissue and pulp therapy is treatment actions that are applied to this nerve tissue. This is usually involving endodontic treatment, such as root canals.
• Exams and Consults
A dental examination is the evaluation of the health / condition of the teeth and soft and hard tissues of the mouth using a visual assessment and other diagnostic aids such as radiographs. This is the first necessary step prior to receiving any dental care.
A consultation is an evaluation by an individual with specific expertise in an area, who is not the person who is currently treating the patient who was referred. A consultation provides information on the presence of disease or compromised function and potential treatment options.
• Fillings
A dental restoration or dental filling is a process that repairs a portion of a tooth by removing diseased tooth structure (decay). After the diseased material is removed, it is replaced with a dental material which helps restore the function, integrity and morphology of the missing tooth structure. If the filling is done directly in the mouth the material is usually amalgam or a composite resin.
• Implants
Virtually all dental implants placed today are endosseous implants. They are surgically placed within the bone of the upper or lower jaw, appear similar to an actual tooth root and support crown(s) in order to replace teeth that have been lost. When they are first placed into the jaw, the bone of the jaw accepts and osseointegrates with the implant to give the implant stability. The implant is made of the metal titanium.
• Periodontal (Gum) Services
These are the services that treat diseases of the supporting structures of the tooth, both the bone and soft tissue. These services run a wide range of treatment, from non-surgical procedures, such as scaling and root planning, to surgical procedures such as bone grafts and soft tissue grafts.
• Surgery - Extractions and Impactions, Biopsy
The term extraction describes the removal of one or more teeth or parts of teeth from the supportive bone and tissue. Extractions are typically considered to be a surgical procedure.
An impacted tooth refers to a tooth that has failed to emerge fully into its expected position in the jaw. This might occur for several reasons, such as not enough room in the jaw to accommodate the tooth, the tooth's eruption path is obstructed by other teeth or because the angle of the impacted tooth is not proper. The most common impacted teeth are 3rd molars or wisdom teeth.
Biopsy is a surgical procedure to remove an abnormal area of tissue. If all this abnormal area is to be removed, it is an excisional biopsy. If only a part of the abnormal area is to be removed, it is called an incisional biopsy. This tissue is removed so that it can be evaluated microscopically to determine if it is dangerous.
• Miscellaneous services (e.g., mouth guards, injections)
Miscellaneous services are services that do not fall into any single category of dental care, such as Endodontics, but can be used across many categories of care. For example, general anesthesia can be used if a person is getting oral surgery, or endodontic treatment.
A mouthguard, also known as an Occlusal (night) Guard is an appliance that is placed in an individual’s mouth to help protect the teeth from the effects of grinding teeth together, or bruxing. Many plans may not cover this service so you should check with your plan administrator to know if this is a covered service
Injections are a means to deliver a drug to an individual. In dentistry the most common injections are for local anesthetics (numbing agents) in order to perform dental services. When a person is receiving a dental service such as a restoration, the local injection charge is usually included in the charge for the service you receive, not a separate charge to you.