Celina Dentist Helps Decide if Oral Fractures are Emergencies

Pain in the jawFractures. They can be vary in depth, placement, and severity, but however you slice it, a fracture is basically a break. Breaking a tooth can be upsetting, scary, and embarrassing. Fractures are sometimes not as easy to spot. However, they can fester, deepen, or even cause cosmetic issues on your most visible teeth. Is a fracture a dental emergency? The best thing to do is to call your Celina dentist, Dr. Newton, if you have suffered from a crack or fracture in any part of your mouth and jaw, and let our team help you decide if you should come in to the office right away.

Do Cracked Teeth Always Require Dental Attention?

Any injury to your tooth that causes pain or even just feels odd should elicit quick action on your part. Fractures and cracks can’t always be seen or felt. Early identification can help you save your tooth from needing a full extraction. It is very important that the crack not reach the pulp chamber where your roots (more…)

Prosper Dentist Can Restore Missing Teeth with Dental Implants

TrueFalseBlackboxWalking around with even one missing tooth can be inconvenient at best and downright embarrassing at worst. When you are missing entire arches, or even your entire mouth of teeth, you will look nothing like the person you’re used to. Teeth are important for both appearance and function. The inability to smile will decrease your quality of life. You also need your teeth to chew and speak properly. Teeth even keep your jawbone at a healthy density. So what should you do if you lose your teeth? Prosper dentist, Dr. Newton, wants to find out if you already have the answers by challenging you to this quiz on dental implants.

Questions

Q1. True or false – Dental implants include the root replacement rod and a tooth-like dental crown.

Q2. True or false – The only advantage of dental implants is that they don’t slip like dentures sometimes can.

Q3. True or false – Dental implants can be cleaned just like regular teeth.

Answers (more…)

Prosper Dentist Discusses How Gum Disease Affects Women

Dr. Newton, your  Prosper family dentist, takes pride in having a special understanding of her female patients. Hormone fluctuations during certain times in a woman’s life can put the female members of our species at a much higher risk for periodontal disease. Gum disease is the primary cause of tooth loss in the United States, afflicting approximately 80% of the population, so we already have the odds against us.

Gum Disease Symptoms

Gum disease has been linked to many other systemic health issues: strokes, diabetes, heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and even pre-term labor. Early gum disease is marked by such mild symptoms that it may go unnoticed until it’s more severe. If there are symptoms, the main ones generally seep to be:

  • Tender/Swollen Gums
  • Pink/Red/Purple/Gum Tissue
  • Bleeding Gums

Hormone Related Gum Disease

At the various times of life that generally come along with major hormonal fluctuations for women, there can be a greater chance of gum disease incidence. Puberty, pregnancy, middle-age, and menopause would be examples of times when hormonal related gum disease would most likely be seen. When gum disease starts, it cannot be stopped completely, but it can certainly be controlled.

Preventing Gum Disease

Gum disease is an inflammatory issue. Infection of gingival tissues usually results from plaque and tartar buildup at the gumline. Brushing and flossing twice a day can reduce plaque and bacteria from breeding by the thousands in your mouth. Plaque that is not cleaned off by brushing and flossing will harden into tartar (also known as calculus) in about 48 hours. Tartar will have to be removed by a professional dental hygienist for your safety. Depending on the health of your gums, your hygienist or dentist may recommend a special oral hygiene regimen or a deep cleaning to control gum disease.

 Consult with Prosper Family Dentist

If you are a woman of any age that is due for a dental checkup, your Prosper family dentist would love to see you. Call (214) 851-0130 to schedule an appointment with Dr. Newton at our 75009 dentist office. We welcome patients from Celina, Prosper, Gunter, Frisco, Anna, Pilot Point, McKinney, and other nearby communities.

Gorgeous Smiles in a Snap from Prosper, TX Cosmetic Dentist

SmilingThere are several ways to deal with cosmetic flaws on your teeth. Some of them are very time consuming and costly. Others might not give you the desired results. If you’re hoping to improve the appearance of your smile in one of the easiest and most efficient ways, consider the Snap-On Smile. Dr. Newton, your Prosper, TX cosmetic dentist is one of the area’s first dentists to ever have been trained in this amazing technology. Read on to learn more about the Snap-On Smile.

Snap-On Smile Defined

Picture an oral appliance that fits over your natural teeth, actually snapping into place for an instant, secure, and gorgeous new smile. Snap-On Smile is a non-invasive cosmetic procedure that doesn’t alter your teeth in any way. This means the process is reversible, removable, and customizable. If your mouth structure should change in any way over time, or if you decide that you want another look you can easily change things up. The Snap-On Smile appliance is great for gapped, crooked, stained, or missing teeth, and can cover up imperfections on both your upper and lower teeth.

The Snap-On Procedure: What to Expect

At your first visit with your Prosper, TX cosmetic dentist, an impression of your teeth will be taken so that we can customize the size and fit of your new smile. You will consult with Dr. Newton regarding the style and shade you want for the apparatus. You’ll get to see an image of what your new smile will look like before the procedure even (more…)

Celina Dentist Explains Obstructive Sleep Apnea

People who suffer from obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) may have to deal with a daily struggle of all-day exhaustion. OSA is not just an annoying condition, but a potentially life threatening one. Driving while exhausted, for example, is thought of as being equally as dangerous as driving while intoxicated. Your sharpness while working, desire to exercise and eat healthy, ability to rear children in a consistent and patient manner – all of these daily tasks can be completely challenging when you are sleep deprived. Since pervasive snoring and OSA often go hand-in-hand, and OSA can be a dangerous (even life threatening) condition, Celina dentist, Dr. Newton, will relate the two conditions.

Explanation of Obstructive Sleep Apnea

OSA occurs because the tissues in the throat area collapse and block your airways while you sleep. This can be a result of the structure and size of your tonsils or adenoids. OSA can also be caused by your bone structure in your head and neck. People who are overweight or obese often tend to be at higher risk of OSA because of an excess of fat tissues. When those tissues cause the blockage, you stop breathing until (more…)

Celina Dentist Asks: Do You Need Dentures?

If you’ve lost most or all of your teeth on one or both of your dental ridges, then the answer is yes, you do need dentures. Replacing lost teeth is a choice, but choosing not to is never preferable, especially if your tooth loss is significant. After all, you need your teeth, or effective replacements, to eat and consume the proper amount of nutrients for your body to function properly. A full set of teeth also helps support your facial features and keep your appearance young and healthy-looking. If you’re debating whether you should opt for dentures after losing numerous teeth, your Celina dentist, Dr. Newton, explains why the choice shouldn’t be a difficult one.

Enjoy a Fully-Functional Smile Again

Dentures are a set of prosthetic teeth, often crafted from tooth-like dental porcelain, that rest on a gum-colored base and are secured to your dental ridge using a special strong adhesive. Full dentures replace all of your teeth on your upper and/or lower ridge, while partial dentures are custom-designed to fill the spaces between remaining healthy teeth. Completing your dental ridge can allow you to once again effectively chew and process your food for digestion, as well as enunciate clearly when you speak. The less-obvious benefits of replacing your teeth involve retaining your surrounding facial structure, which they perform more effectively when coupled with a series of dental implants. (more…)

Celina Dentist on the Complexities of TMJ Disorder

The wellbeing of your smile involves more than how brightly it shines when you show it off. A truly healthy human mouth functions as perfectly as it looks. For instance, even if your teeth are flawless and shine as bright as a movie star’s, their beauty would be little solace if they didn’t work well enough for you to eat and speak properly. As the hinges upon which your jaws move, your temporomandibular joints (TMJs) are subject to damage and misalignment, which leads to TMJ dysfunction and chronic discomfort throughout your craniofacial region. As part of our dedication to the optimal beauty and function of your smile, Celina dentist, Dr. Newton, explains the complexities of TMJ disorder and why it’s often difficult to escape its uncomfortable grasp.

A Different Kind of Joint

Although they are joints, your TMJs are not typical. Instead of the ball-and-socket construction that allows your knees and shoulders to rotate, your jaw’s joints slide to allow for a more diverse range of movement with a disc of cartilage like those between the bones of your spine. Sliding TMJs distribute the pressure of your bite throughout the entire jaw joint instead of focusing it on a single area, which helps accommodate the up-to-200 pounds of pressure that your jaw can exert. (more…)

What Does it Take to Enjoy a Brighter Smile in Celina?

If you’re a stickler for brushing and flossing your teeth every day, then you may be surprised (and more than a little frustrated) to find one or more stains adorning the fronts of your teeth. If so, then don’t fret; tooth stains are by no means a testament to your dental hygiene skills. Every time you eat a meal, your food and drink can potentially leave a lasting mark on your smile. Luckily, while tooth stains can appear regardless of your efforts to prevent them, they can also be dealt with in a relatively simple manner. To help you keep your smile as bright and beautiful as it is healthy, Celina cosmetic dentist, Dr. Newton, offers a couple of professional teeth whitening options designed to fit your schedule and needs.

A Smile You Can Be Proud Of

Because of their natural development, tooth stains are among the most commonly-complained about dental blemishes today. Your smile is one of your face’s most dominating features, and along with the eyes, it is one of the first things people notice about your appearance. Being ashamed of your smile, then, can diminish your social confidence and the quality of your interactions. Luckily, addressing most tooth stains is fairly simple and doesn’t even have to affect your hectic daily schedule. (more…)

What are Dental Inlays and Onlays?

Your smile is as unique as your fingerprints, and much like your general health, so are the issues that can afflict it. Celina dentist, Dr. Newton, takes pride in crafting personalized treatment plans that fit our patients’ specific needs and desires, and offers a wide range of tools to meet those needs in a conservative manner. For instance, tooth damage caused by decay can vary in severity from mild to critical. Precision is vital to effectively halting the cavity and restoring the damage, while still upholding the integrity of what’s left of your healthy tooth. If the damage is minor, a traditional tooth filling may suffice to remove the decay and reinforce the tooth. Severe tooth decay, however, can render the tooth too weak to support the amount of filling necessary, in which case a dental crown may be placed over the tooth to shield it from damage. Sometimes, however, the level of decay can be too much for a filling, but not enough for a dental crown. Rather than wait for it to progress enough to justify a crown, Dr. Newton can restore your tooth with a dental inlay or onlay.

A Dental Restoration that’s Just Right

Capping your tooth with a dental crown typically requires the removal of some tooth structure. Manipulating your tooth unnecessarily can cause more damage to your tooth and allow an infection to develop again. Meanwhile, dental fillings were meant for minor restorations, and placing a large amount of filling material may not be enough to keep the remaining tooth structure strong. Inlays and onlays address this middle ground and provide an option that’s just right for treating your unique level of tooth decay. (more…)

Celina Dentist: The Benefits of Digital X-rays

One of the best ways of protecting your teeth and gums is with preventive dentistry. By catching issues such as tooth decay and gum disease early, treatment can be prescribed before these dental problems become worse. Digital x-rays allow your Celina family dentist, Dr. Newton, to look beneath the gums and inside the teeth, to maximize dental health.

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