Restorative Dentistry at East Peak Dental

Biomimetic Dentistry: Mimicking Nature for Stronger, Healthier Smiles

At East Peak Dental in South Lake Tahoe, we embrace the philosophy and approach of Biomimetic Dentistry, also known as “conservation dentistry.” This innovative approach to dental care prioritizes preserving natural tooth structure while restoring function and aesthetics, drawing inspiration from the brilliance of nature itself.

Key Principles of Biomimetic Dentistry:

• Minimal intervention: We prioritize smaller restorations and repairs whenever possible, avoiding extensive drilling or tooth removal.
• Biocompatible materials: Our restorations are carefully chosen to match the strength, elasticity, and bonding properties of natural teeth, ensuring long-term success and minimizing the risk of future problems.
• Preserving tooth vitality: We employ techniques to maintain blood flow to the inner pulp of the tooth, keeping it alive and thriving.
• Strength and aesthetics: Our restorations are designed to combine strength and beauty, replicating the natural appearance of teeth.

Benefits of Biomimetic Dentistry:

• Stronger, longer-lasting restorations: By preserving natural tooth structure and using biocompatible materials, Biomimetic restorations are known for their strength and durability, outlasting traditional methods.
• Reduced chance for future procedures: Our focus on prevention and minimal intervention helps minimize the need for future invasive treatments, promoting lasting oral health.
• Improved oral health: By preserving tooth vitality and minimizing trauma to teeth and surrounding tissues, we contribute to better overall oral health.
• More natural-looking results: Biomimetic techniques allow us to create restorations that seamlessly blend with your natural teeth, resulting in a more aesthetically pleasing smile.

Experience the superior approach of Biomimetic Dentistry at East Peak Dental in South Lake Tahoe. Our commitment to preserving your natural smile while enhancing its health and aesthetics sets us apart. While Biomimetic Dentistry may require a bit more effort to find, its long-term benefits, including stronger, longer-lasting restorations, reduced future procedures, improved overall oral health, and seamlessly natural-looking results, outweigh any initial cost or treatment time. Discover the beauty and strength of Biomimetic Dentistry with us, where your smile's health and longevity are our top priorities.

Tooth-Colored Fillings

When you eat or drink, sugars and acid are left behind in your mouth. Oral bacteria use what lingers as their food source. As they eat, they multiply and produce acids that eat away at the enamel of your teeth, causing cavities. As bacteria multiply, the cavities become larger, and can even go through the enamel all the way to the dentin, which contains hollow channels that lead all the way down to the nerve of the tooth. Bacteria inside your tooth can lead to many other significant health issues, so for that reason, the cavity needs to be removed – this is where fillings come in. Amalgam fillings aren't typically used anymore and composite filling material have become more commonplace. Composite filling restorations are made up of composite resin, which is a mixture of fine glass silica in a resin liquid. This particular material matches the color of your natural teeth, unlike amalgam fillings, and is relatively strong, and able to withstand normal biting and chewing forces. They are placed in cavities after decay and bacteria have been removed, in order to seal the teeth off from further damage.

Once a filling is placed, bacteria still try to reach the inside of the tooth, which is why continued oral hygiene is recommended. Proper flossing and brushing of teeth with fillings is still highly recommended in order to prevent the bacteria from contaminating the tooth again. A properly placed biomimetic filling is usually placed with the help of a rubber dam that isolates the tooth off from saliva or blood. This isolated working area ensures that the tooth-colored filling is well adapted and bonded well with no moisture contamination.

Dental Crown

Occasionally, damage to your teeth can compromise their structure and strength. When this happens, any wrong move can break it. One solution is to pull it, but then this leaves you the need to completely replace a tooth. If the tooth is still firmly rooted in place, a dental crown can be used. Crowns are like little caps for your teeth that cover the affected area of the tooth. They act as protection for a weakened tooth, both from further damage and from bacteria, allowing it to continue to function for years to come. They are strong, designed to withstand normal, everyday wear. Crowns are also frequently used after root canal procedures, during which infection is removed from the innermost surface of the tooth – the nerve. Crowns are typically recommended for teeth in the back of the mouth to ensure enough strength to maintain your chewing.

Dental Bridge

Sometimes called fixed partial dentures, dental bridges act as a restorative bridge across the gaps left by missing teeth. They’re permanently cemented or bonded with an artificial tooth in the middle to the neighboring teeth. To make it possible to place a dental bridge, Dr. Gordon or Dr. Appelblatt will  prepare the teeth on the adjacent sides so that they can act as supports for the false teeth in the middle. Dental bridges need to be made of strong materials in order to span the gap of missing teeth – most commonly used materials for dental bridges is zirconia (strong porcelain), porcelain-fused-to-metal (white porcelain layered over a silver-colored metal) and gold.

Tooth Extraction

A tooth extraction is a procedure done to remove a tooth that is damaged beyond repair from its socket in the jawbone. Extractions are also done to remove wisdom teeth that may be impacted or have the potential to create future problems. Many extractions can be performed in our South Lake Tahoe office; however, more complicated procedures may be referred to a trusted specialist in the area (oral surgeon or periodontist).

Dentures

When your mouth has suffered from significant decay or gum disease, you are often faced with tooth loss. Without teeth, even just a few, eating and speaking become a bit more of a chore. If you still have healthy teeth remaining, these teeth can shift around in your mouth, throwing off your bite, which can lead to uneven wear and other issues. Missing teeth need to be replaced. A popular replacement option is the use of dentures and removable prosthetic teeth. Dentures can be made to replace a group of missing teeth (a prosthetic known as partial dentures) or they can replace an entire mouth (full complete dentures). No matter what type is used for your needs, your dentures will be custom fit to your mouth, ensuring a proper and comfortable fit.

Partial Dentures

Partial dentures can replace multiple missing teeth and unlike bridges, are removable. The base is usually a molded plate of pink acrylic to better mimic the gums, to which the replacement teeth are then physically attached. Our doctors will discuss with you the process of removable partial dentures and how the partial denture will attach to the surrounding teeth.  The best thing about partial dentures is that you can remove them yourself, making them easier to clean. It will take some time for you to adjust to eating and speaking while wearing a partial denture. It may also take time to learn how to properly insert, remove, and clean it to prevent problems in the future.

Choosing between Dentures and Bridges

When choosing between partial dentures and bridges, it’s best to consider how each one helps solve your problem with missing teeth. Both dental appliances do fill the spaces where the teeth once were, and both prevent the teeth from shifting even further. Also, both can help you talk and chew normally. However, both have different functions and have to be cared for differently from one another. Certain factors that you’ll want to remember are how bridges are best for smaller gaps on the same side of the teeth and how they remain safely fixed on your teeth – they stay on your teeth and are not removable. Meanwhile, partial dentures can become broken or lost, but are easier to adjust, as well as repair and are generally cheaper. Either way, it’s best to have your teeth fully evaluated by our dentists first before making any decision. The evaluation can show you the current status of your oral health and help give you, as well as your dentist, a better idea of which treatment option can help you achieve your goal best and which makes more sense financially.

Root Canal

A root canal can be a last-ditch effort to save a tooth from extraction. Root canals can also be on teeth that may have had trauma or teeth that have died slowly over time from cavities, cracks in teeth or other causes of nerve damage to the tooth. We may recommend a root canal if an infection has spread to the center of the tooth that contains nerve endings and blood supply. Once the infection has been removed, we fill the canals with a rubber-like material known as gutta-percha. A tooth that has received root canal treatment typically needs to be capped with a crown to fully protect it.

Restorative Dentistry In South Lake Tahoe

Using restorative dentistry, it is our goal to give you your healthy teeth back. Contact East Peak Dental today at (775) 580-7410 for more information about restorative dental services at our Stateline, NV dental office.