Test Your Knowledge: Bone Grafting

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Have you been thinking about coming in for a visit to discuss bone grafting but you are not sure what to think? Perhaps you know that you need some assistance with treating your jaw tissue before you can move ahead with replacing your missing teeth with implants (but you are a little unsure about certain details). For now, we offer you a brief quiz that may provide some insightful information. We also strongly suggest you schedule a visit to come in to see us with your questions.

Your Quiz: Grafting Questions

  1. True or False: We often perform bone grafting and sinus lifts during the same procedure. As a result, if you are prepping for dental implants, your prep process might prove more convenient than you initially imagined.
  2. True or False: There are many types of grafting. As a result, we do not suggest one universal treatment to all of our patients. You will need to schedule a visit with us, so we can determine the best course of action for your smile.
  3. True or False: If you have been told that you may need grafting but you are not really sure where to begin in your dental implant journey, we are more than happy to see you for a consultation, so we may introduce you to the details.

Your Answers

  1. True. Fortunately, we generally perform both of these procedures at once. This means you will need to recover from preparatory treatment just once before you are on the road toward receiving implants instead of requiring multiple procedures.
  2. True. Everyone requires care tailored to his or her own personal needs, which are commonly very different from one patient to the next. We will examine you and figure out what will best improve your jaw for successful implant placement.
  3. True. We are always glad to schedule a consultation with you to introduce you to the possibility of implants and to discuss any treatment you might need before replacing your teeth becomes an option.

ABOUT YOUR ROHNERT PARK, CA, ORAL SURGEONS:

Combining experience in oral and maxillofacial surgery with a genuine care for their patients’ health and comfort, the team at Santa Rosa Oral Surgery is ready to improve the health and beauty of smiles in the Sonoma County and North Bay area. To schedule a consultation, contact our office by calling 707-545-4625 (Santa Rosa).

Dental Implants: Good Ways To Get Motivated

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Do you find that there’s something keeping you from taking a step forward toward choosing dental implants to replace missing teeth? This is not something to be taken lightly, of course, so it’s understandable if you are not having a very successful time nudging yourself along in the process. However, garnering just a bit of motivation and getting your feet wet can help immensely. Once you become introduced to implant basics, it’s much easier to make some headway as you learn more and more (and come to your ultimate decision). For now, let’s help you out with that motivation factor.

Remember, There’s A Timeline

You may feel overwhelmed as you learn about the different steps required when receiving dental implants. Fortunately, this is not something that happens all at once. We encourage you to remember that choosing implants is a bit of an adventure that can take several months to a year. This means that you will have more than enough time to comfortably make your way through the process without feeling rushed or stressed.

Schedule A Visit

If you want to find out whether dental implants are a good choice for you, if you have questions, if you think you may need other treatment (like bone grafting) in preparation, or if other thoughts are weighing heavily on your mind, contact us. We invite you to come to our practice for a consultation. Taking this first step is often quite a relief. You will meet our friendly team and walk away with lots of answers.

Check Out Patient Testimonials

You may wish to spend a bit of time scrolling through our dental implant testimonials page. Read real stories from our patients about their positive experiences in achieving complete smiles with implants.

ABOUT YOUR SANTA ROSA, CA, ORAL SURGEONS:

Combining experience in oral and maxillofacial surgery with a genuine care for their patients’ health and comfort, the team at Santa Rosa Oral Surgery is ready to improve the health and beauty of smiles in the Sonoma County and North Bay area. To schedule a consultation, contact our office by calling 707-545-4625 (Santa Rosa).

Why Schedule A Visit “Early?”

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You may think to yourself that you would really like to learn more about dental implants. In fact, if all goes well, you plan on selecting them in the future when you are ready to replace missing teeth. Or, you might know that you need bone grafting or you have early signs of requiring the removal of your wisdom teeth. While it may seem best to wait until you are completely ready (if not nearing the need for urgent care), it’s actually a much better idea to get a head start on such oral health treatment. Allow us to give you a new perspective on this idea.

Why Plan?

You know there’s something you need to do for your oral health but you are not currently ready to move forward. Whether the issue is financial, personal, or otherwise, there are many factors that can affect one’s timeline, of course. However, when you choose to come in for an “early” visit, we can become familiar with your smile and your health history (and we can create a plan). As a result, we are completely prepared to move forward when the time comes. This means that you won’t deal with any last minute frustration if you suddenly decide you want dental implants but the introductory process takes more time than you imagined, for instance.

The Little Details

About those little details we were discussing: Budget, personal questions or concerns, your timeline … they are important. By coming in before you have a dire need for a treatment, we can sit down with you and comprehensively cover all bases. As a result, you can make a comfortable, confident decision about dental implants or other procedures. You can plan carefully and feel at ease, rather than stressing or scrambling to “make it work.” We are always happy to see you, so please give us a call!

ABOUT YOUR SANTA ROSA, CA, ORAL SURGEONS:

Combining experience in oral and maxillofacial surgery with a genuine care for their patients’ health and comfort, the team at Santa Rosa Oral Surgery is ready to improve the health and beauty of smiles in the Sonoma County and North Bay area. To schedule a consultation, contact our office by calling 707-545-4625 (Santa Rosa).

Dental Implant Rumors Quiz

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What’s what when it comes to the truth about dental implants? Do you feel like the moment you expressed just a tiny bit of interest in implants, everyone around you suddenly become an expert on the topic? If so, unless you were speaking with our team about the details, your colleagues, best friend, and favorite aunt may have been filling your head with a lot of information that you cannot quite feel good about. To find out whether any of these rumors have made their way to your personal data bank of details, we encourage you to take a quiz to sort out the truth from the not-so-accurate.

Quiz: Implant Rumors

  1. True or False: Even though the restorations for dental implants are made of artificial tissue, they can still develop cavities like your natural teeth.
  2. True or False: You can only choose implants if you want to replace one tooth at a time, even if that means you’re replacing a full arch of missing teeth with individual replacements.
  3. True or False: An implant is one single unit that replaces your entire tooth.

Quiz Answers

  1. False. Natural tissue is vulnerable to acid and the bacteria in your mouth, which can lead to decay and erosion. Artificial tissue is not. As a result, though it’s important to continue caring for your smile, prosthetic devices will not develop cavities.
  2. False. One major benefit of dental implants is the fact that you can replace multiple teeth at once by choosing implant-supported prosthetics like a partial or full denture.
  3. False. It’s accurate that choosing implants will guide you toward complete tooth replacement (including restoring missing roots). However, the implant only replaces your roots. It’s the abutment (connector) and restoration (false tooth or teeth) along with the implant that complete the replacement.

ABOUT YOUR ROHNERT PARK, CA, ORAL SURGEONS:

Combining experience in oral and maxillofacial surgery with a genuine care for their patients’ health and comfort, the team at Santa Rosa Oral Surgery is ready to improve the health and beauty of smiles in the Sonoma County and North Bay area. To schedule a consultation, contact our office by calling 707-545-4625 (Santa Rosa).

3 Steps: Prevention For Dental Implants

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Do you hear quite frequently that preventive care is an extremely important aspect of protecting your dental implants? While the idea that you can inhibit problems from affecting your oral health sounds wonderful and relieving, it’s not too helpful if you’re not sure where to begin. Rest easy, becoming a pro at prevention is a simple and very rewarding journey. Just become familiar with the main steps and your complete smile will stay that way.

Step #1: Stay Recent With Cleanings And Checkups

It’s extremely important that you stay up-to-date with cleanings and checkups. As much as removing plaque and tartar (and monitoring your oral health) is important for your natural teeth, it is just as important for your dental implants. This form of preventive care (the professional services) will provide you with the smile care you cannot accomplish on your own and which is essential in avoiding all manner of disease.

Step #2: Do Your Hygiene Thing At Home (Without Faltering)

True, your professional care is very important but your smile doesn’t stand a chance without home care, too. Your commitment to cleaning all tissues in your mouth, including natural and artificial, is essential to good oral health. Your dental implants can easily remain in place for years and years to come, as long as you follow our suggestions for twice-a-day brushing and once-a-day flossing.

Step #3: Contact Us The Moment You’re Concerned

The final step in practicing optimal preventive care is trusting your intuition. If you feel like something requires attention, contact us. We can often treat a problem early and before damage occurs if you visit us the moment you notice you’re experiencing an oral health change.

ABOUT YOUR SANTA ROSA, CA, ORAL SURGEONS:

Combining experience in oral and maxillofacial surgery with a genuine care for their patients’ health and comfort, the team at Santa Rosa Oral Surgery is ready to improve the health and beauty of smiles in the Sonoma County and North Bay area. To schedule a consultation, contact our office by calling 707-545-4625 (Santa Rosa).

Your Dental Implant Review

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You probably notice as you become more and more familiar with dental implants that there are many categories of information to give your full attention. You might focus on the technical details of the journey at one moment and then shift your attention to the esthetic benefits. Next, you might spend some time concentrating on the oral health benefits that implants provide before doing a complete 180 and considering what makes this prosthetic solution so cost effective. To help you get your ducks in a row, so to speak, we offer some helpful categories to review as an accessible, helpful “at a glance” view of implants.

The Esthetic Benefits

Dental implants offer a wealth of esthetic improvements to your smile. First, the easiest to detect: They will complete your grin by replacing the teeth that are missing. Fortunately, implants also look completely natural, so you will simply look as though you have your teeth back.

The Oral Health Benefits

In addition to improving the appearance of your smile, dental implants can improve and also safeguard your oral health. They will achieve a number of benefits, including preserving the alignment of your teeth, stimulating your jawbone (which protects you against deterioration and bone resorption), and they can re-balance your bite.

The Journey

The journey with implants is unique for every patient. We can provide you with more specific details in person. In general, you can expect a multi-month to yearlong journey from start to finish, which will include surgery, recovery, and restoring your implants.

The Investment

The investment in dental implants may seem more substantial than alternative options (like a denture) in the present moment. Fortunately, you may wish to consider their cost-effectiveness over the course of their life – they have the potential to wear forever without the need for any repair or additional costs.

ABOUT YOUR SANTA ROSA, CA, ORAL SURGEONS:

Combining experience in oral and maxillofacial surgery with a genuine care for their patients’ health and comfort, the team at Santa Rosa Oral Surgery is ready to improve the health and beauty of smiles in the Sonoma County and North Bay area. To schedule a consultation, contact our office by calling 707-545-4625 (Santa Rosa).

Taking Sensitivity Seriously

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Everyone has a different threshold when it comes to experiencing and handing discomfort. As a result, your tooth sensitivity may prove excruciating and frustrating, while another patient simply ignores the sensation. Here’s what you need to know about this oral health concern: Whether you’re wonderful at tolerating it or not, sensitivity may suggest something serious is going on with your smile – though that is not always the case. If you notice this type of change, we encourage you to give us a call right away. Give us a moment of your time to explain why.

It Makes Daily Tasks Difficult

Think about how often you use your teeth on a daily basis. You use them to chew food during breakfast, lunch, and dinner. You use them to form words as you speak to friends, loved ones, colleagues, and more. They often touch one another even while you are at rest. As a result, tooth sensitivity has the capacity to disrupt your usual habits – essential habits, we might add – putting a cramp in your life.

It Could Mean Hygiene Issues

It’s entirely possible that the cause of your tooth sensitivity is entirely your own doing – but you might not even realize it! If you are overzealous with your dental hygiene (brushing and flossing) or you’re using a harsh product, this can aggravate your teeth, lead to gum recession, and sensitivity may follow. Fortunately, this is an easy fix.

It Could Mean An Oral Health Problem

Tooth sensitivity may also point to an issue like an infected tooth, oral cancer, decay, or gum disease. See us ASAP, so we can get to the bottom of the issue and move forward with treatment if necessary.

ABOUT YOUR ROHNERT PARK, CA, ORAL SURGEONS:

Combining experience in oral and maxillofacial surgery with a genuine care for their patients’ health and comfort, the team at Santa Rosa Oral Surgery is ready to improve the health and beauty of smiles in the Sonoma County and North Bay area. To schedule a consultation, contact our office by calling 707-545-4625 (Santa Rosa).

Don’t Brush Too Hard!

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You may not have ever given much thought to how forcefully you brush. If anything, you may be under the assumption that the harder you brush, the better the results. As a matter of fact, this line of thinking – though common – is actually not accurate. You need to be quite careful and thoughtful about your dental hygiene habits to ensure your smile remains in one piece. Curious about what you should be doing to better protect your oral health and any restorations you may have, such as dental implants? Let’s take a look!

How You Should Brush

In order to protect your teeth, dental implants, restorations, etc., it’s important that you remember not to brush too hard. What you should be doing for effective dental hygiene is quite simple and requires you to press gently throughout the entire process. Keep the following in mind and you’ll keep your smile in top-notch condition:

  • You need to brush your entire smile – every tooth surface – with a soft-bristle toothbrush and nonabrasive toothpaste (Remember: Gentle brushing only!)
  • Make sure you brush your teeth twice a day
  • You need to floss your entire smile once a day (Again, gentle care is important here, too)

Why Too-Hard Brushing Is Dangerous

When you brush your teeth with too much vigor or pressure, you can cause immediate and long-term damage and irritation. Too much force irritates gum tissue, which means your gums will begin pulling back – eventually, this may lead to a receding gumline, only partially protected teeth, and negatively affected teeth replacements like dental implants. Going overboard with dental hygiene may also scrape or erode natural or artificial tooth tissue.

ABOUT YOUR SANTA ROSA, CA, ORAL SURGEONS:

Combining experience in oral and maxillofacial surgery with a genuine care for their patients’ health and comfort, the team at Santa Rosa Oral Surgery is ready to improve the health and beauty of smiles in the Sonoma County and North Bay area. To schedule a consultation, contact our office by calling 707-545-4625 (Santa Rosa).

Why Address Jaw Issues?

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Are you dealing with some jaw issues that we can solve with oral surgery – but you’re putting this concern on the back burner of your life? Why? Are you feeling somewhat intimidated by the idea of a surgical procedure or you simply assume it’s not a very big problem? When it comes to your oral health, protecting your jaws is extremely important. Allow us to explain why it’s in your best interest to schedule a consultation with us.

To Improve Your Daily Quality of Life

You use yours jaws every single day, multiple times a day. You may rely on your jaws to break down food so you can eat, to open your mouth so you may laugh or sing, and to move to permit you to speak articulately. When you’re dealing with jaw problems, these essential motions you rely on daily can become challenging rather than something you can simply expect to work. We encourage you to meet with us to discuss how to best address your jaw concerns with oral surgery, so you may regain and protect your quality of life.

To Avoid Long-Term Damage

Have you discovered that you are experiencing jawbone deterioration due to tooth loss? While it may not seem like a pressing issue at the moment, it’s important to make a single note: As the deterioration continues to progress, you will lose more and more jaw tissue and volume. This means that you may suffer additional oral health and teeth-related issues in the future. In addition, your lower face will lose a significant portion of its underlying framework, potentially resulting in a collapse and shrinkage. Choose to speak with us about oral surgery to address your concerns and to protect your smile.

ABOUT YOUR ROHNERT PARK, CA, ORAL SURGEONS:

Combining experience in oral and maxillofacial surgery with a genuine care for their patients’ health and comfort, the team at Santa Rosa Oral Surgery is ready to improve the health and beauty of smiles in the Sonoma County and North Bay area. To schedule a consultation, contact our office by calling 707-545-4625 (Santa Rosa).

3 Reasons To Schedule A Visit

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Sometimes you have a feeling that it’s time to schedule a visit with your oral surgeon – but you have trouble deciding whether or not to follow through, pick up the phone, and set a time and date. We understand that attempting to determine whether you should wait a bit longer or come on in can feel somewhat confusing. This is why we suggest that the moment you think it’s time, you simply trust your instincts. To provide you with a bit of motivation regarding this facet of protecting your oral health, we offer a few reasons to schedule your visit with us!

Reason #1: To Talk Tooth Replacement

Are you missing a tooth or multiple teeth? Perhaps a tooth or multiple teeth require extraction because of illness. In any case, discussing tooth replacement options is certainly a wonderful reason to schedule a visit with your oral surgeon. The sooner you address tooth loss concerns and set up a plan for the future, the more successfully you can protect your smile.

Reason #2: You Found A Bump, Lump, Or Otherwise

Did you find something different in your smile? Maybe you discovered a lump or bump. Perhaps there’s been a color change or an alteration in a usual sensation. When your “norm” suddenly shifts, it’s always a good idea to see your oral surgeon. We can examine your smile and let you know what’s going on, whether you require treatment, and how to proceed.

Reason #3: For Wisdom Teeth Removal

Do you have wisdom teeth that need to go? If so, give us a call. Ignoring third molars can lead to severe consequences for your oral health, so removing them as soon as possible is always the best decision.

ABOUT YOUR SANTA ROSA, CA, ORAL SURGEONS:

Combining experience in oral and maxillofacial surgery with a genuine care for their patients’ health and comfort, the team at Santa Rosa Oral Surgery is ready to improve the health and beauty of smiles in the Sonoma County and North Bay area. To schedule a consultation, contact our office by calling 707-545-4625 (Santa Rosa).