General Dentistry Services

Bruxism (tooth grinding), if left untreated, can cause damage to your teeth by wearing down enamel, weakening crowns and fillings, creating sensitivity, and causing jaw pain. In more severe cases, bruxism can even cause fractured, chipped, or permanent tooth loss, increasing the risk of tooth decay. In the event that you are grinding on a nightly basis, your dentist will perform a thorough exam of your teeth, cheeks, and gums as a part of our general dental services to determine the severity of the grinding and if you would benefit from the use of a custom-made nightguard. Depending on the severity of the damage caused by grinding, we may recommend treatment services for repairing the damage before we fit you for a bruxism nightguard.

Some of the most common signs of tooth grinding are:

• Painful or stiff jaw
• Sensitive, loose, or broken teeth
• Sore gums
• Sores on the insides of your cheeks
• A popping sound in the jaw joint
• Morning headaches
• Worn-down teeth
• Fatigue caused by restless sleep

A thin plastic coating, called dental sealant, can be applied in liquid form to the chewing surface of a tooth to help protect it from decay. Dental sealant is specifically designed to seep into the pits and fissures on a tooth’s surface to create a protective shield over the enamel, while also smoothing out the tooth’s surface so that it is easier to clean.

The main benefits of dental sealants for better oral health are:

• Cavity prevention—liquid sealants seal off grooves, crevasses, pits, and fissures, making the tooth surface smoother and easier to brush.
• Easy application—sealants are brushed onto prepared, clean teeth and are then cured using a safe, ultraviolet light.
• Fast application—in most cases, dental sealants can be applied in as little as 5 minutes per tooth.
• Cheaper than fillings—dental sealants are cheaper than most restorations and other tooth decay treatments (fillings, crowns, root canals, extractions, etc.), which means most insurance companies will cover the cost of them.
• Durable—if properly cared for by maintaining a regular health care routine at home and avoiding the crunching of hard foods, dental sealants can last up to 10 years.

Reach out to your dentist today to learn more about our dental sealant services.

As a part of our dentistry services, we use digital x-rays to expose tooth decay hiding under gumlines, fillings, and caps, as well as in between teeth. Digital x-rays can also be used to help detect other oral health care problems like abscesses, cysts, gum disease, tumours, and early signs of cancer.

The types of x-rays used in dentistry are:

• Bitewing—taken on either side of the mouth (two on the left side and two on the right side), this type of x-ray is ideal for detecting cavities and seeing how well your smile aligns.
• Occlusal—this type of x-ray is ideal for showing how the top and bottom teeth line up, as well as for detecting abnormalities in the mouth floor and palate.
• Periapical—focuses on two complete teeth, showing everything from the crown to the root.
• Full-mouth—utilizes 18 films that capture the entire inside of your mouth.
• Panorex – a single picture of all your teeth and surrounding bones of the face and neck.

Cavities are small holes caused by acid that form on the surface of teeth. If left untreated, cavities can cause infections and further decay, leading to weakened teeth, pain, and even tooth loss. By carefully monitoring problem areas and by practicing preventative dentistry, your dentist can catch and repair small cavities with fillings, which can help to prevent them growing and becoming more painful and expensive to treat.

The different types of dental fillings used in dentistry include:

• Tooth-coloured composite fillings
• Tooth-coloured glass ionomer cement fillings
• Cast-gold fillings
• Porcelain inlays/onlays

Specifically designed to help prevent cavities by making teeth more resilient, rebuilding lost enamel, and re-mineralizing teeth, fluoride dentistry treatments slow down the loss of minerals by preventing proliferation of oral bacteria, reversing early tooth decay, and treating tooth sensitivity. While brushing your teeth with fluoride toothpaste is often sufficient for oral health care at home because most of North America has fluorinated drinking water, patients from parts of the world without fluorinated drinking water may be prescribed fluoride tablets or drops to take daily. Speak to your dentist to learn more information about how a fluoride treatment can help keep your smile healthy.

During your general dentistry visit at our office, your dentist will perform an oral cancer exam by thoroughly checking for white or red areas, lumps, or rough spots in the soft tissues in your neck, face, and head, including tongue, cheeks, soft palate, tonsils, pharynx, lips, and salivary glands. In some cases, we may ask you a series of routine questions to determine if you have experienced unusual bleeding, a change in your voice, numbness, or if there have been changes in your ability to eat, swallow, chew, the way your teeth fit together, and/or jaw movements.

A root canal treatment (endodontics) focuses on treating diseases and injuries that affect dental pulp, which is the soft interior of nerves, blood vessels, and connective tissue inside each tooth. Dental pulp is extremely important in the development of baby teeth; however, adult teeth can survive without pulp, which means that the best dentistry treatment for fixing inflamed or infected pulp is to simply remove it along with the infection. By removing the dental pulp, your dentist can relieve the pain you are feeling as quickly as possible without removing the tooth. An infected tooth that is left unchecked may need to be removed. In some cases, your teeth may even shift into the gap left by the missing teeth, impacting the way your teeth and jaw fit together.

Tooth sensitivity is usually caused by tooth decay, cracks, worn enamel, worn fillings, or exposed tooth roots. The most common treatment of tooth sensitivity is using desensitizing toothpaste to block the sensation that causes pain. In the event the desensitizing toothpaste does not work, your dentist can apply fluoride gel or a special desensitizing agent to the affected tooth as a part of our dentistry services. If this treatment is not as effective as you need it to be, we will look at other general dentistry treatment options, such as crowns, fillings, bonding, or inlays, depending on your unique needs.

Regular dentistry examinations and cleanings are essential for growing kids. Family dentistry services for kids will often include x-rays and fluoride therapy; however, if your child feels apprehensive, we can delay these treatments until the next visit.

Our child dentistry services also cover:

• Cavity control and dental hygiene
• Thumb sucking treatment
• Space maintainers to prevent teeth from shifting into empty spaces
• Dental sealants to protect against developing cavities

At Medicine Hat Dental, we want to make our general dentistry services fun for kids. That is why our special patients get to choose from a selection of different costumes to wear during their Junior VIP visit, and access to our toy shelf!

Visiting our dental office every 6 months for a regular hygiene appointment will allow your dentist to identify and address developing oral health problems before they can become serious. During your hygiene appointment, our experienced hygienists will professionally clean your teeth, using a scaler to get rid of plaque and tartar around your gumline and in between your teeth before applying a fluoride treatment. As a part of our dentistry services, our dental professionals will also thoroughly examine your smile bite, gums, and each tooth, as well as perform x-rays, oral cancer screenings, and additional diagnostic procedures as necessary.

Help protect your teeth and jaw by wearing an athletic mouthguard while participating in various sports and activities. Mouthguards are custom-fitted to each patient’s mouth by their dentist and are perfect for athletes of all ages, from teenagers to adults. Mouthguards can also help prevent concussions. Reach out to your dentist today to learn more information about how mouthguards can help protect your oral health.