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.
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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.
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Zoom! In-Office Whitening
“The Zoom! Chairside Whitening System is a scientifically advanced, patent pending, tooth whitening procedure. It’s safe, effective and fast, very fast. In just 45 minutes your teeth will become dramatically whiter. Zoom! Chairside Whitening is ideal for anyone looking for immediate results. The convince of Zoom! in comparison to days of wearing trays or strips, makes it the perfect choice for the busy individual.” – *Taken from Zoom! advertising*
Do you have heavy staining or tooth discoloration that you just can’t seem to whiten? Zoom! Whitening is our most powerful in-office whitening system. This works very well for most tooth discoloration. This works very well for the patient who does not want to wait weeks before their over-the-counter products start to work. After just one session, you’ll already see a difference! Come in today to learn more and see if you can get your teeth whitened with Zoom!
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Tooth-Colored Fillings
Tooth-colored fillings, or “Composite” fillings as they are known in the dental community, have been around for many years. They have advanced far enough that their durability rivals that of Amalgam (or silver) fillings. The real advantage of these fillings is their “chameleon effect” in your mouth. They are semi-translucent so they simulate the translucency that teeth normally have. No longer will you have to worry about those old silver fillings that look like black spots in your teeth! Although there is no ADA restrictions on amalgam fillings, if you are worried about small amounts of mercury that are in amalgam fillings, composite fillings are the perfect alternative.
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Root Canals
Root canal treatment often gets a bad rep for being very painful. It’s exactly the opposite! Root canal treatment (or RCT for short) is performed when your tooth is dying or the pulp is irreversibly irritated. Usually that happens when you have a tooth ache! So RCT is actually performed to get you out of pain! The process is simply cleaning out the dead or irritated pulpal tissue, cleaning and disinfecting the canal space, and finally filling it with a material called “gutta percha” that seals up the canal so no more germs can enter the canal. A filling or crown is placed on top to restore the tooth’s shape, and the tooth is back in business! It’s always best to keep your own teeth in your mouth!
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Extractions
An extraction is performed to remove a tooth, whether because of disease, crowding, or damage. When extractions are required, the area around the tooth will be numbed and your dentist will remove the tooth. A small amount of bleeding is normal, as your mouth will replace the removed tooth root by forming a blood clot in the area.
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Emergency Care
Our highly trained doctors and staff are ready to manage all of your concerns. We have methods to alleviate the pain and help you feel calm during your emergency dental visit.
If you are facing a dental emergency, please don’t hesitate to contact us immediately at (425) 746-5907!
Sealants
When we apply a dental sealant, we paint a plastic coating on top of your teeth. This makes your teeth smooth getting rid of the rough edges, depressions, and grooves that are commonly found on teeth. It is essentially a protective coating against tooth decay and cavities.
The most common place to paint sealants is on back teeth since they are often irregular. They can also be very hard to reach, even if you brush your teeth regularly. We use it more on children though we do perform sealants on adults too!
Night Guards/Sports Mouth Guards
Your teeth may seem pretty strong since you chomp on them all day, but that doesn’t mean they can’t break. A stray ball or the constant grinding at night may cause damage to your teeth. That’s why we offer mouth guards for our patients. They will protect your teeth, along with the rest of your head, from impact, or in the case of nightguards, from your grinding. Most people grind or clench their teeth throughout the day and at night while they sleep. This condition is called bruxism, and is apparent when we look in your mouth and see that your teeth have worn down. Sometimes, this grinding may even cause you to have pain in your TMJ (jaw joint). In order to slow down the damage and protect your teeth/jaw for the long run, often times a nightguard is prescribed so that your teeth and jaw will be protected at night while you grind away. This is a great way to protect your teeth!
For our athletes out there, it’s important to protect your head and your teeth from impact. Most athletes know that accidental collisions happen all the time, and you can’t always prevent it. For these cases, we recommend a custom fit sportsguard that you can wear during sports. These are slightly softer than nightguards so that they can absorb more force from a sudden impact. This protects not only your teeth, but the potential trauma of your lower jaw hitting your upper jaw, and consequently, the rest of your head. A sports-guard is the best way to protect against such types of impact. They can also be customized in different colors!
TMJ Treatment
At Factoria Dental Care, we are proud to offer temporomandibular joint dysfunction, otherwise known as TMJ, treatments to provide relief for our patients. TMJ is caused by an inflammation in the temporomandibular joint, which acts as a sliding hinge that connects your jawbone to your skull.
What are the symptoms of TMJ?
TMJ causes pain and discomfort along the jawbone and can make it painful to even move your jaw. While jaw pain and discomfort don’t always equate to TMJ, if you are also experiencing headaches, trouble chewing, or pain in the face, jaw, and ear, you’re more than likely experiencing TMJ.
Wisdom Teeth Extractions
Wisdom teeth are the last set of molars. Most people start to get their wisdom teeth when they are teenagers, though some teeth don’t come in until you are in your early twenties.
Wisdom teeth have a purpose. They are another set of molars, but more often than not they cause more problems than they are worth. Wisdom teeth can come in misaligned, facing any direction. They can even try to come in horizontally, growing into your other teeth. This can damage your nerves and even your jawbone.
Since wisdom teeth are often harmful, most dentists recommend their removal. The surgery goes much better if you get the teeth removed before any signs of problem. The recovery is easier also. Surgery and recovery are also easier when you are younger.
Take-home Whitening Trays
When you don’t have the time to come to the dental office to get your teeth whitened, one alternative is to have us make custom whitening trays for you! Then you can use them at your own leisure. It’s so convenient! You can wear them briefly while at work, at home watching tv, or at any other leisure time you may have. All you need to do is come in for a quick appointment to take an impression of your teeth, we’ll make the trays and you can pick them up at your convenience. Use the provided gels in your trays with the recommended prescription and within a matter of a few uses, you’ll notice a brighter smile!
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Fillings
Cavities are a necessary evil in our lives. We don’t want them, but we get them because we need to continue to eat! When you do, we’ll be there to catch the cavities before they get too big and replaced the decayed tooth structure with a filling. We will do our best to keep our teeth preparations conservative so that you keep as much as your own tooth as we possibly can! We offer both Amalgam (“silver”) and Composite (“tooth-colored”) fillings. Both are very durable and have a long history of great success as restorative materials. There has been recent concern regarding the minute mercury levels from amalgam fillings, but still to this day, the American Dental Association has not found any worthy evidence against the use of amalgam fillings. This is why we still offer them for our patients. While working with amalgam, we utilize a high-volume evacuation system as well as amalgam-traps to make sure that we get rid of any and all material so none of it gets into your body. An alternative for patients who absolutely do not want any amalgam in their mouths are Composite/Tooth-colored fillings. The finished result is very aesthetic because we match the color to your existing teeth. It will practically look like nothing’s there!
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