Frequently Asked Dental Questions in Flowood MS

Everyone should visit their dentist a minimum of once a year even if they don’t have any teeth. It is not uncommon to find oral cancers on routine screenings, even for patients without any teeth. these problems often go undetected as they are asymptomatic until they are a major problem, so routine exams are critical.

 Most people w teeth should visit twice a year, and some patients even need four times a year, depending on if they have any gum disease.

The most common dental procedures are fillings, extractions, crowns, and implants. Fillings and extractions typically range between 250 and $350, and crowns and dental implants typically range between 1500 and 2500. There are a number of factors that can affect the cost of dental implant surgery such as bone, quality, and volume, as well as soft tissue volume and quality. Advancements in these grafting procedures has made it far more predictable in achieving highly successful outcomes in dental implant surgery. These are important things to discuss with your Dentist when planning your surgery.

Absolutely! Two things are relentless and they rarely happen at a convenient time. Our goal is to get you comfortable as soon as possible. Never hesitate to call and see how quickly we can get you in.

Typically dental problems like cavities income disease are not noticeable to most people until they are a much bigger problem. That is why it is important to come in for a routine cleanings and exam exams twice a year. By the time you can feel a cavity, it is already much larger than we would like. Ideally, you treat cavities while they’re small and you’re unaware that they’re there. The more time they have to grow the higher the risk of needing root canal therapy. Some signs that you might have cavities are cold and sweets, sensitivity, and signs of gum disease is bleeding gums with brushing or flossing.

Good oral hygiene at home is critical. The importance of self maintained health cannot be underestimated. Ideally, brushing and flossing twice a day followed by a good mouth. Rinse is typically all you need and conjunction with your six month cleanings. If you prioritize one time of the day over the other for brushing, brush at night right before bed. The saying is you brush at night to keep your teeth and in the morning to keep your friends.

The two main types of dental fillings are a Malcolm restorations, silver fillings and composite restorations tooth color fillings. There are other options for gold or ceramic in layers made in the laboratory. Composite an amount of fillings are the most common. There are pros and cons to each, but the pros for composites typically outweigh those for a Malcolm‘s. Be sure to ask your Dentist what is best for you in your circumstance.

In the event of a dental emergency, contact your dentist immediately. We can typically get patients in for same-day treatment. If a toothache is caused by a dental infection, the use of antibiotics can temporarily alleviate the pain. Unfortunately, the issue will not fully resolve until the infected tooth is treated so antibiotics are not a long term solution.

In the event of severe dental trauma, if a tooth is knocked completely out out of the mouth, placed the tooth in milk if if possible or under the tongue if not, and get to your dentist as quickly as possible. Often times a tooth can be re-implanted if treated quickly.

As with any medical procedure, there’s always some associated risks.  While it is very rare, some procedures are at risk for bruising and swelling, prolonged numbness, or tooth sensitivity after a procedure.  Typically if a cavity or tooth problem is identified early and treated before the patient feels any symptoms, the risk of post operative sensitivity is greatly reduced.

The best way to overcome dental anxiety is to go routinely to the dentist for cleanings and exams.  Many patients avoid the dentist because are embarrassed about the condition of their teeth, but DON’T BE!  We have seen nearly everything and we’re very empathetic to our patients suffering with troubled and failing dentition.   Often patients are concerned that someone working in their mouth will hurt.  We fully understand that tooth pain is like no other and we make every effort to never cause discomfort and to alleviate your pre-existing pain as quickly as possible.

While Fluoride has shown great results in tooth hardening and therefore fewer cavities, systemic fluoride doesn’t help strengthen teeth after their initial development. Topical fluoride application is far more beneficial. 

Dental implants are one of the greatest advancements in dentistry in the last 30 years.  While we are huge advocates for saving your natural teeth, we love being able to offer dental implants for missing or non-restorable teeth.  The benefits of dental implant tooth replacement is that it “keeps a single tooth problem a single tooth problem”.  Bridges and partials rely on neighboring teeth to support the missing teeth.  Eventually those will have an issue and the missing tooth replacement will be lost.  A dental implant replaces the root of the tooth and therefore it stands alone.  Success or failure of the neighboring teeth have little impact on the success or failure of the dental implant.

Other benefits of dental implants is that they do not get cavities.  There is no tooth structure to decay.  With proper cleaning and care, dental implants are proving to be successful for decades.

Absolutely!  While some adjustments may need to be made to treatment depending on you and your babies health, we can treat pregnant patients at any stage of pregnancy.  For elective procedures, we typically recommend the second trimester, but if you’re having pain or an emergency, we can treat you in a way that is safe for you and your baby.  

Many over the counter whitening treatments will work.  We do offer in office whitening that has a take home follow up kit as well. 

Some causes of bad breath may be plaque buildup or periodontal disease.  Other causes can be tonsil stones or even poor systemic health.

Root canal therapy gets a bad reputation.  Many people have heard a friend say “I had to have a root canal….it was the worst pain of my life.”  I know I’ve heard it countless times.  The truth of their statement is that the root canal procedure was not bad at all.  The toothache that brought them into the dentist to get the root canal treatment  was the  worst pain of their life.  

Root canal therapy is cleaning out the soft tissue inside of a tooth.  That means amputating a live nerve or a necrotic nerve and then disinfecting the inside of the tooth.  Because of that, it is not always 100% pain free.  There’s sometimes soreness around the gums or an achy feeling for a day or two.  Overall it is very comparable to other dental procedures.

We firmly believe that there shouldn’t be pain during a dental treatment.  While some patients are more difficult to numb, and some patients have their numbing wear off more quickly than others, we can still provide you with profound anesthesia.  We always tell patients that we can take away “Sharp pain”, but we cannot take away pressure.  You will often feel a pressure sensation during some procedures, but it shouldn’t be painful. 

For highly anxious patients, Nitrous oxide often helps relieve their anxiety and it increases the analgesic affect of the numbing medicine.  

We do not do sedation in our office.  We find that even our most nervous patients tolerate their procedures extremely well with just local anesthetic and sometimes Nitrous oxide.  We perform advanced implant surgery, surgical extractions, root canals and multiple other dental procedures every day with local anesthetic only, and patients are very pleasantly surprised at how easy and comfortable it was. Just read our Google reviews!  Patients love getting excellent treatment without the unnecessary risk of sedation.  

Improper brushing technique could be an issue, but it’s more likely related to diet, salivary flow, and the overall strength of your teeth.  Some people have deeper grooves in their teeth that hold plaque and are best treated with sealants when young.  Some of those developmental grooves never closed when the tooth was forming and they’re very susceptible to cavities.  Often times dry mouth will contribute to increased cavities, because there’s less saliva to wash a way the bad bacteria in the mouth.  Another reason for a higher incidence of cavities is the frequency of sugar in the diet.  Even the smallest amount of sugar in the mouth will feed bacteria the nutrients they need to grow and multiply.  Their metabolism creates an acid that eats holes in the teeth.  As soon as the sugar is gone, they become less active.  As soon as you eat sugar again, they make more bacteria and more acid.  The quantity of sugar intake is less important than the frequency of sugar intake when considering the effect on cavities.

Children should start seeing the dentist around age 1.  It is important that they learn early that the dentist is a fun place to go to stay healthy and that there’s nothing to be afraid of.  It is a natural tendency to be apprehensive about anyone working in your mouth, but through positive fun experiences at a young age, that nervousness is alleviated and it sets up your child for success.