Our Dental Services | Dentist in Sarasota Florida

At Simply Smiles, we offer the following dental services:

Partials/Dentures

When you have several teeth missing from different areas,a partial denture can restore your biting and chewing abilities as well bring back a beautiful smile and retain the shape of your mouth. Partial dentures can be either fixed or removable. A full denture is needed if all of your teeth have been extracted, and the prosthesis that replaces your teeth, can be conventional removable dentures or implant-supported dentures.

Crowns and Bridges

If you are missing one or more teeth, your dentist may suggest the use of a fixed bridge and dental crowns. Since the gap left by a missing tooth can cause the remaining teeth to shift or move, it is important for your oral health to replace the missing tooth or teeth, and fixed bridges are one of the solutions for doing so. Bridges consist of a pontic (artificial tooth) and crowns, which are ‘caps’ that go over the teeth on both sides of the bridge and serve as anchors to stabilize the bridge.

Tooth-Colored Restorations

If a natural-looking smile is important to you, your dentist can now repair and restore your teeth with tooth-colored fillings, inlays, onlays, crowns and veneers that when placed look just like your teeth. Made of a complex composite of plastic and zirconia/silica, tooth-colored restorations bond to your tooth, helping prevent any filling leaks or chances of any cracking or breaking of the tooth. They also feel, look and function like your natural teeth and are ninety to ninety-five percent as strong as a healthy tooth whereas silver fillings are only forty to forty-five percent as strong.

Veneers

These wafer-thin shells that are most often made from porcelain or ceramic are bonded to the front surface of a tooth to cover teeth that are discolored, stained, chipped, cracked or even misaligned or have gaps between them. Your dentist makes impressions of your teeth and then a mold of the way your teeth will look once the veneers are placed. The mold is sent to a dental lab where the veneers are created. Once they are returned to your dentist’s office (typically in five to ten business days), your dentist uses a special cement to apply the veneer to your tooth or teeth.

Teeth Whitening

Your dentist can help you determine if your teeth and gums are healthy and good candidates for teeth whitening and which whitening process will give you even, natural looking results. If the discoloration or stains on your teeth will not respond well to whitening, your dentist will have other options that will work best for you.

Composites/Inlays/Onlays

When your decayed tooth needs more than a filling but less than a crown to repair it, your dentist will use either an inlay or an onlay to bring your tooth back to a healthy state. Inlays are used when the decay is within the indented top surface (cusp) of a tooth and an onlay is used when the cavity involves one or more cusps. Composite inlays and onlays are made of a combination of plastic and zirconia/silica which is bonded to the tooth. They are tooth-colored in appearance and actually strengthen the structure of the tooth by up to seventy-five percent, and because of the composite materials from which they are made, they can last up to thirty years.

Periodontal Disease

Also known as gum disease, this is a serious infection in your gums that is mainly caused by bacterial plaque that is constantly forming on your teeth. When plaque isn’t removed by brushing, flossing and regular dental cleanings, it can turn to tartar—a hard substance that can only be removed by a dentist. When left in your mouth, plaque and tartar can cause inflammation of your gums which can develop into infections below the gum line causing the gum to separate from your teeth creating pockets that become infected and can even fill with pus. As the pockets deepen and the disease becomes more pronounced, bone and gum tissue are destroyed which can ultimately result in tooth loss. And periodontal disease is stealthy…usually giving no or very few signs of its existence. Regular dental checkups can detect periodontal disease at even its earliest stages.

Root Canal Therapy

The space within the root of each of your teeth is called a ‘root canal,’ and within that canal there is dental pulp which consists of soft tissue, nerves and blood vessels. Tooth decay or trauma can cause damage to your dental pulp which results in infection that if left untreated, can spread to the bone around your tooth, resulting in the loss of the tooth. To save the tooth, your dentist will first remove the dental pulp and then the area that held the pulp is cleaned and shaped to hold a specialized filler material that will protect your tooth from any more infection and reduce any sensitivity of the tooth. Once the root canal is cleaned, filled and restored, your tooth is capped with a crown that protects the mended root canal and looks and functions like a normal tooth.

Dental Implants

If you are missing one or more teeth or wear partial or full dentures, dental implants can be the perfect solution. An implant is a titanium screw that is placed in your jaw where it functions like a tooth root and stimulates the bone and tissue to keep them from disintegrating. An abutment is fastened to the implanted screw and an artificial tooth is attached to the abutment that protrudes from the gum. Once the artificial tooth is placed on the abutment, it looks, feels and functions like a natural tooth. Dental implants can also be used to secure partial or full dentures and instead of attaching an artificial tooth to the abutment, the dental plate or partial is fitted with an O-ring that snaps on to the abutment. For a partial denture, as few as one implant may be needed and for full dentures, it will take four or more implants to securely hold the prosthesis in place. Implant-supported partials or dentures function just like normal teeth, allowing you to bite and chew just as you did with your permanent teeth, but the dentures can still be removed for cleaning.

Scaling and Root Planing

Even with good daily oral hygiene, some plaque still remains in your mouth and over time it can harden and becomes tartar (also known as calculus) which, if left in your mouth, causes periodontal disease. Tartar can only be removed by a dentist or dental hygienist with a process called ‘scaling’ where either ultrasound vibrations or a manual tool called a scaler are used to remove tartar from the portion of your tooth that is below the gum line. Since plaque and calculus love to grab onto rough surfaces of the tooth, once the built-up tartar has been removed from your tooth, the rough or irregular surfaces are smoothed away with a process called ‘root planing.’ This process is used to prevent periodontal disease, reverse any early signs of gum disease and to prevent any existing periodontal disease from spreading.

Wisdom Teeth Extraction

Because of a lack of adequate space in the jawbone for them, wisdom teeth that usually come in, often come in sideways pushing at an already established tooth, which causes the wisdom tooth to only partially erupt through the gums, or in some cases, it does not push through the gums at all and stays impacted under the surface. Bacteria can grow around a partially erupted wisdom tooth causing periodontal disease or food can get caught between the wisdom tooth and the adjoining tooth creating tooth decay in both teeth. When a fully erupted wisdom tooth needs to be extracted, it is pulled like any other tooth. However, if the tooth is partially or fully impacted under the gum line and in the jawbone, an incision has to be made in the gums and the tooth, as well as a portion of the bone that is covering the impacted tooth, has to be removed.

Removable Partial Dentures

If several teeth are missing in either your upper or lower jaw, a removable partial denture that is either supported by adjoining teeth or by an implant can be used to replace the missing teeth thus giving you the ability to chew more naturally, keep your remaining teeth from moving into the space left by the missing teeth, ensure proper jaw alignment and support the structure of your face.

Complete Dentures

When all of your permanent teeth need to be extracted from either your upper or lower jaw because of decay, periodontal disease or trauma, complete dentures are created in a dental lab to replace your missing teeth.

Dental Bonding

This is a process where a tooth-colored resin material is used to repair chips and cracks on teeth as well as to change the shape of a tooth or to close gaps between teeth. It can also be used to repair a decayed tooth or to fully restore badly damaged teeth. The resin that is used is matched closely with the color of your teeth so that it looks exactly like your natural teeth when the process is done.

Enamel Shaping – Also known as re-contouring, this is a process that can be used to fix minor problems in the shape or texture of your teeth such as small chips or pits in a tooth’s enamel or even irregular or uneven teeth. During the process, your dentist will use a sanding disk or fine diamond burs to sand your tooth or teeth to remove any roughness or pits or to slightly reshape them. Once your teeth are smoothed and/or reshaped, they will be polished to finish the
process.

Invisalign

Invisalign is essentially an invisible way to straighten your teeth without the use of traditional braces. The Invisalign system employs a series of clear, removable aligners that move your teeth, over time, to give you the smile you always dreamed of.

Night Guards

People who grind their teeth at night might not even be aware they are doing that. A night guard protects your teeth from wear and can prevent problems with the jaw joint (TMJ).

Simply Smiles Sarasota is your Florida source for the latest dentistry services. Set up your free dental consultation with Dr. Gekht today by calling 941-921-4654.