Welcome

          Gentle Family Dentistry has been at its current location for over 25 years with a proud reputation for excellence. We provide a warm and inviting atmosphere so you feel at home from the moment you step into our office. Our professional and caring staff has your needs as our first priority. We work hard to ensure you have the best dental experience possible. Our doctors place a strong emphasis on continuing education so they may provide you with state of the art dentistry which can improve your quality of life. As dentistry has advanced so have our office and our commitment to providing the highest quality of care for you and your family. 

            We opened The Dental Implant Center because of our belief that implants are ideal replacements for missing teeth.

Implants can best restore for our patients what they have lost or in some cases never had. We take pride in the fact that we are the first dental office in the area to both place and restore implants. This allows us to control costs for the patient as well as to ensure we obtain the best outcome possible. We still offer all treatment options to our patients and then let them decide what they prefer.

Once you have decided what treatment option is best for you, our warm and caring staff have been trained to help you make financial arrangements to suit your specific needs.  

            Gentle Family Dentistry continues to provide comprehensive care to all of our valued patients from children to adults. We provide annual screenings for periodontal disease as well as oral cancer and blood pressure monitoring. Our goal has always been early prevention and detection to prevent extensive treatment. This dedication to not only your mouth but to your entire well being is just one of the many ways we go above and beyond for our patients each day. Come join our family and see the difference caring can make.            

     
Mini Dental Implants

               Mini Dental Implants are one of the greatest technologies in dentistry today. Made of a titanium alloy these narrower diameter implants are three times stronger than other metals of the same diameter. They were designed and developed for the retention of dentures so they “snap in”. In one short dental appointment Mini Implants can be placed and your existing denture can be converted so that it snaps into place. Imagine never needing denture pastes or creams again!  We also have the ability with this technology to shorten your denture and remove the portion which covers the roof of your mouth. This

helps to make your dining experience much more pleasurable. 
            Mini Dental Implants have also enjoyed more recent success in the replacement of single or multiple teeth. Although a larger diameter implant continues to be our first choice in the replacement of teeth, many patients do not possess adequate bone for the placement of traditional implants. In these cases extensive bone grafting could be required or not possible making other alternatives necessary. Mini Implants have been used to retain a crown with amazing success for the last 5 years. Although there are currently no studies published on their use for longer than five years these implants have given us another option to improve a patient’s quality of life where other options would not have worked successfully.                        

Click here to see our video

     
Nobel Biocare Full Mouth Implants

         With dental implants we can allow you to take those old, loose fitting dentures and throw them away!  By placing multiple implants we are able to create a mouth full of beautiful teeth that are as solid as your natural teeth were. Imagine a “cavity free” replacement for all of your teeth that will allow you to chew all of the foods you used to love.

     

The pictures on this page are of a patient who was tired of loose dentures. Implants were placed and crown and bridge work was made to replace all of her upper teeth. She was so happy with her upper teeth she decided to crown all of her bottom teeth to match!

Please click on the following address www.nobelsmile.com to learn more about this wonderful treatment.   

     
Nobel Biocare Single Implants

         An implant is a titanium replacement for the root of a tooth that is missing.

This gives us a “cavity free” option for the replacement of teeth with a proven track record of over twenty years of clinical success. This technology is the state of the art in dentistry and quickly becoming the standard of care for the replacement of teeth. Whether restoringone tooth or all of your teeth, implants can improve function and change your quality of life.

              Nobel Biocare is one of the top implant companies in the world. Their vast array of choices and the ease of placement made this company our implant of choice. Whether we need to replace multiple teeth or just one tooth this system has everything we need to create for you the smile you’ve always wanted. Please click on the following address www.nobelsmile.com to learn more about this wonderful treatment.   

     
Mini Dental Implants

         The Mini Dental Implants are one of the greatest technologies in dentistry today. Made of a titanium alloy these narrower diameter implants are three times stronger than other metals of the same diameter.

They were designed and developed for the retention of dentures so they “snap in”. In one short dental appointment Mini Implants can be placed and your existing denture can be converted so that it snaps into place. Imagine never needing denture pastes or creams again! We also have the ability with this technology to shorten your denture and remove the portion which covers the roof of your mouth. This helps to make your dining experience much more pleasurable. Mini Dental Implants have also enjoyed more recent success in the replacement of single or multiple teeth.

Checkout our video     (click on the image to view the video)

          Although a larger diameter implant continues to be our first choice in the replacement of teeth, many patients do not possess adequate bone for the placement of traditional implants. In these cases extensive bone grafting could be required or not possible making other alternatives necessary. Mini Implants have been used to retain a crown with amazing success for the last 5 years. Although there are currently no studies published on their use for longer than five years these implants have given us another option to improve a patient’s quality of life where other options would not have worked successfully.                        

     
Sealants

         Sealants are a protective coating which adheres to the grooves of the teeth and helps to prevent cavities.

They are typically placed on your children’s six and twelve year molars but may be recommended on any tooth which has grooves deep enough to catch food. We also recommend sealants for adults with a propensity for cavities.                        

     
State Of The Art

        Proper treatment requires proper diagnosis. Gentle Family Dentistry has incorporated the use of digital x-rays along with intraoral cameras to not only aid our eyes in diagnosis, but to also allow you the patient to more clearly visualize the proposed treatment.

With this new technology we can better diagnose your oral health problems. Also, as you can see in the pictures above we can do computer simulations to show you what you could look like with crowns, veneers, bleaching, or other procedures.

               

     
Crowns, Inlays, Onlays

       When a tooth is over 50% filling it has been weakened and is at risk for fracture. In these situations it is recommended to have the tooth covered by a crown, an inlay, or an onlay. A crown can be made or many different materials depending on the desired outcome to help prevent a fracture and eventual loss of the tooth.

A crown can make your tooth stronger as well as make it look better. It can protect a weak tooth from breaking or restore one that is already broken. Inlays and onlays are basically “partial crowns” in that they protect the teeth but do not completely cover the tooth. Dependent upon the specific needs of the tooth one option is chosen over the others.                        

     
Bridge (fixed partial denture)

      A bridge replaces missing teeth with artificial teeth which alleviates stresses on the teeth on either side of the space. Unlike a partial denture which is removable for hygiene purposes a bridge is known as a fixed partial denture because it is cemented to place. Your home care is critical to the long term success of a bridge as it cannot be removed for cleaning purposes and the teeth are attached so normal flossing is not possible. If proper hygiene practices are followed patients have had many years of success with bridges as a replacement for missing teeth.               

        

     
Veneers

      These porcelain restorations are thin “veneers” which cover the front teeth and is capable of closing gaps, straightening the appearance of teeth, strengthening teeth, or just improving on your smile.

A small amount of tooth is removed during the procedure so although it is conservative it is an irreversible process.                        

Tooth Whitening (Bleaching)     

Teeth are porous and look similar to a sponge under the microscope. With time the foods and habits that we have tend to clog these pores and create a darkening on the surface of the tooth. Beverages such as coffee, teas, and red wines as well as some foods create a darkening of the surface of the tooth. Habits such as smoking can also contribute to a darkened appearance.                          To whiten these surface stains the application of a topical bleaching agent, typically a peroxide based material, is placed on the teeth for a period of time which essentially causes the pores to open up again. Realizing this fact, your teeth cannot be made whiter than they originally were with any of the bleaching agents. Often the white teeth of actors or super-models are actually veneers and not just natural teeth that have been bleached. There are also conditions that occur while teeth are developing which stains the tooth from the inside and surface bleaching will not create much improvement. However, most patients with realistic expectations are happy with their results from tooth whitening.

     
Partial and Complete Dentures

   Partial Dentures

     This is the replacement of a few teeth with other teeth still present to hold the denture. This prosthesis comes in and out of your mouth each day for cleaning purposes. Because it is removable, it is more mobile in your mouth than the other treatment options such as a fixed bridge or an implant.

Although no longer our first choice in the replacement of teeth, partial dentures have been around for years and for many are a viable alternative to other treatment modalities.    Complete Dentures     If you’re current condition dictates that we cannot save your teeth due to periodontal disease or decay and your teeth require extraction then one of your options would be complete dentures. These prostheses are custom fit to your mouth to return as much function to you as we can. When all of your teeth are lost your chewing ability becomes 20% of what it used to be. This can affect digestion and nutritional intake. Patients often tell us their lower denture

 “floats around”. This is because your tongue is a strong muscle and dislodges the denture. Many patients are electing to get implants placed to increase retention for their dentures. Others choose to have full mouth rehabilitation with implants and crowns to regain almost all of their original bite force            
           

     
Root Canal Therapy

         Teeth grow inside the bone and it is the tissues inside the tooth that helped it to do so. After the tooth is fully formed the tissue is the “alarm system” for the tooth and lets us know when something hurts.

If a tooth gets damaged by a deep cavity, trauma, or a fracture it may need a “root canal”. This treatment removes the damaged nerve and allows us to save the tooth. Following a root canal a tooth requires a crown to prevent future fracture and to seal off the root canal system. The above pictures demonstrate a cavity which went into the nerve of the tooth and the crown which was made to protect the tooth following root canal therapy.