General and Preventive Dentistry

Keeping Your Family’s Smiles Strong We know how important your family’s oral health is to you and it’s why we practice the dentistry we do. We believe in preventive care – or dentistry with the goal of helping you keep more of your own teeth – and we always emphasize the importance of regularly scheduled dental exams and screenings. These valuable dental exams and screenings allow us to look for developing signs of periodontal disease, oral cancer, TMJ, and even the earliest signs of tooth decay. Remember, when a problem is caught early, it is much easier and less expensive to treat and has much less impact on your overall health. To ensure that our screenings are the most accurate possible, we have invested in the latest technology such as intra-oral cameras and digital x-ray equipment. This advanced dental imaging technology uses far less radiation than traditional x-ray machines (up to 90% less) This allows us to get a detailed overview of your entire mouth including your teeth, jawbone, sinuses and other parts of your head and neck. Each exam room has a computer for easy storage and access to your screening results, allowing us to quickly access your information for comparisons and updates. Great oral health starts with keeping your teeth and gums clean and free of bacteria, plaque, tartar and another buildup. That’s why we encourage consistent and regular hygiene visits, during which our hygienist will examine and evaluate the health of your mouth, teeth and gums. Once the examination is complete, our hygienist will use the latest techniques, including the Cavitron — an ultrasonic device designed to clean and polish teeth and remove calculus, stains, and plaque. We use a gentle touch and anesthetics if needed to ensure that you are comfortable during every hygiene visit. Book your regular cleaning at The Wachendorf Dental Group by clicking here.

Gum Disease Therapy Keeping Your Whole Body Healthy Approximately 40% of all adults have chronic periodontal disease, and in recent years, scientific evidence has shown the effect gum disease can have on the body. Your gums are mucous membranes, and like all other mucous membranes in your body, they are involved in absorption and secretion. If there is an infection in a mucous membrane, the infection quickly spreads throughout your body. This spread of infection and the inflammatory response it can cause has been shown to lead to issues such as strokes, heart attacks, diabetic complications, and certain cancers to low birth-weight babies and joint replacement difficulties. If you already have an active gum infection, we can treat and heal your gums with a variety of new technologies such as ultrasonic scalers that deep clean with sound waves for effective periodontal therapy. Powerful antibiotics, such as Arestin, kill bacteria under the gum line with antibacterial microspheres that remain under the gums for up to 21 days. If you suspect that you have any level of gum disease or if it has been a while since your hygiene visit, please contact us to schedule an appointment.

Protect Your Teeth With a Night Guard Do you have frequent headaches? Do your teeth seem shorter than they used to be? Are your teeth painful or sore? You might be grinding or clenching your teeth without even realizing it! This damaging habit is also known as bruxism and can be caused by chronic stress, certain medications or even medical conditions. Essentially, bruxism is the act of clenching or grinding your teeth when you wouldn’t normally be chewing or biting anything. It is usually done unconsciously and happens primarily when you are sleeping, driving or working. While most people clench or grind primarily at night, you could be clenching any time of day, especially during times of increased stress. Grinding your teeth can cause a wide variety of problems from wearing down or breaking your natural teeth, to jaw disorders and chronic headaches. If we see signs of bruxism or tooth grinding, we can fit you with a custom-made nightguard in order to reduce the damage to your teeth from grinding or clenching and relieve your TMJ pain. We always recommend that patients who have had restorative work completed with us protect their new dental work against the damaging effects of bruxism. The more you wear your appliance, the more you protect your teeth – and the better you feel! Contact us for a custom night guard fitting at The Wachendorf Dental Group.

Painless Tooth-Saving Procedures We understand how some people feel about dental care and visits to the dentist. Here at The Wachendorf Dental Group, we go out of our way every day to change those perceptions by offering gentle and personalized care. Our approach to root canals is no different than our approach to any other dental treatment. In fact, root canals we perform are so painless and effective they have changed the way our patients view dentistry in general! A root canal is necessary when the pulp inside your tooth becomes damaged or decayed. If not treated, your tooth will become infected and you could lose it. During treatment, you are made completely comfortable with a local anesthetic. The root canal area is cleaned, disinfected and the tooth is sealed. Much of the procedure is controlled by a computer, making the process efficient and effective. Most of our patients who need a root canal tend to experience a persistent toothache and pain when chewing; discoloration or darkening of the tooth or even gum tenderness, swelling or a ‘pimple’ on the gum, or sensitivity to temperature changes that don’t resolve on their own. A root canal stops the spread of infection and eases the pain significantly until the body heals itself. If you have a toothache of any kind, don’t hesitate to contact us for an appointment, as delaying treatment may mean that you could lost that tooth.

Protecting Your Teeth Has Never Been Easier! Every day, your teeth lose some of their protective minerals, especially when you consume acidic foods or drinks such as sodas and fail to brush correctly. Loss of these protective minerals means that your tooth enamel can become weak or damaged. One way to help strengthen teeth and reverse this damage is through remineralizing fluoride treatments. Fluoride helps prevent tooth decay by making teeth more resistant to acid attacks from plaque bacteria and sugars in the mouth. It also reverses early decay. Fluoride is essential for the development of permanent teeth in children under six years of age. Fluoride treatments have been proven tremendously beneficial for adults as well. Fluoride remineralizes teeth, stops the progress of newly-formed cavities, reduces adult root caries and helps prevent periodontal disease. Ask for fluoride at your next hygiene visit to add an extra layer of protection to your dental care. Book an appointment today!

Protect Your Kids’ Teeth We take extra steps to protect your children’s teeth from harm, and your children from pain. In fact, our sealants are so effective we call them super sealants! Super sealants are applied in a way that makes them last a very long time and become an effective protective barrier against cavities. Dr. Wachendorf takes the time to air abrade any and all debris out of the deep grooves of the tooth. If there is any sign of decay in those pits and fissures, we make sure nothing is left behind. Each individual tooth is then scrubbed with an antibacterial cleaning agent, rinsed, etched and rinsed again. Once all debris and early decay is removed, we carefully and thoroughly dry the teeth before the sealant is placed and light-cured. This technique has been proven to prevent the start of cavities in the deep grooves of permanent teeth. Contact The Wachendorf Dental Group to book a super sealant appointment for your kids’ teeth.