Same day crowns are a terrific option that makes getting a crown much more practical and less time-consuming. These crowns operate in much the same way as traditional crowns, other than that same-day crowns are made in the dentist’s office while you are waiting, instead of being purchased from a dental laboratory like traditional crowns.
Listed below are two reasons to speak with Dr. A. J. Boyajian about the possibility of getting a same day crown:
Convenience is going to be the most significant reason that many people choose to go with a same-day crown.
In the past, getting a crown would mean that you would need to have multiple appointments before the crown was in place. One appointment would be committed to preparing your tooth. Then another appointment to put the permanent crown over your tooth.
While that may not seem like it is too time-consuming, it can often be tough to takeprecious time off from your job or family.
A same-day crown can be produced in-house by Dr. Boyajian in Westchester, CA. You will have the last crown fitted over the tooth before you leave from your one required crown appointment.
This is handy because you will not have to worry about irritating your employer, having your colleagues cover for you, or missing out on pay; since you had to leave in the middle of the work day numerous times to go to your dentist.
Another reason to ask Dr. Boyajian for a same-day crown is comfort. Same day crowns are more comfy. This is due to the fact that you won’t have to spend a week or more wearing a short-term crown while waiting for your long-term crown.
A short-term crown can often be a source of quite a bit of irritation and pain due to the fact that it can typically end up being loose quickly.
When a temporary crown is loose, it can allow liquids to get under it and touch nerves in the exposed roots of your tooth. The loose fit can also cause the short-term crown to move along your gum and trigger the skin to end up being scratched and swollen.
While you generally do not have to wear a temporary crown for long, a same-day crown can allow you to avoid any issues related to the temporary crown entirely.
This kind of crown is going to be both a lot more comfy and far more convenient to obtain than a standard crown.
Using the CEREC unit, a crown is first made by the CAD/CAM (computer-assisted design/computer-assisted manufacture) digitally recording an image of the tooth. Calculations are processed, and the computer designs, then mills a crown perfectly suited to the shape of the tooth. The crown is then bonded on, and, voila! The patient’s visit is complete.
Dr. Boyajian, West Los Angeles
www.dentalwellnessarts.com
One of the greatest perks that comes with CEREC technology is the speed at which we can formulate restorations. In comparison to barely twenty years ago, forming a crown or veneer required a painful series of several dental visits. There were molds to be made, pictures to be photographed, temporary crowns to be endured, a perfectly fitted restoration to be slowly developed in a lab, and bonding to be done. CEREC accomplishes all of this in a single visit, in just a few hours!
Dr. Boyajian, West Los Angeles
www.dentalwellnessarts.com
Prevention is definitely your best bet for avoiding cavities… but what if it’s too late for you? What if the cavities have already formed, or you thought your mouth’s health was top-notch and sneaky cavities still wormed their way through your teeth? We’ve already discussed a little bit about fillings, but if the damage requires more than a small composite filling, a larger, stronger restoration is needed.
This is where the CEREC system comes in handy. A crown, inlay, or onlay will be formed for the damaged area out of a strong ceramic material. This ceramic behaves similarly to natural tooth enamel, therefore maintaining (or, in this case, restoring) a tooth’s natural strength and durability. It is also minimally invasive, meaning far less of the healthy tooth is “shaved down” to fit something such as a toxic and malleable amalgam restoration. Results are both functional and beautiful.
Dr. Boyajian, West Los Angeles
www.dentalwellnessarts.com
So what is the best “remedy” for these little monsters in your mouth? You guessed it — prevention! Taking precautions seriously is always the best way to avoid any kind of disease or infection.
Keep your teeth clean! Brush at least twice daily and be sure to floss thoroughly. Brush every single surface of your teeth that you can possibly reach. Flossing cleans out the old food particles and plaque from the places a toothbrush can’t reach.
Eat well! Nutrition largely impacts the overall health of your mouth and determines which bacteria dominate the environment in your mouth: the health-promoting, good bacteria, or the acid-producing, bad bacteria. Avoid refined sugars, refined flours, and heavily processed foods.
Visit the dentist regularly! Be sure to have regular cleanings and thorough inspections of what’s going on with your teeth. Be open to new suggestions and forming better habits. Take care of yourself.
Dr. Boyajian, West Los Angeles
www.dentalwellnessarts.com
So what happens to cavities if you just leave them there? Well, cavities in their early stages cannot be felt by the person, but they can be spotted visually by the dentist. It’s a fairly uncomplicated fix at this point — a filling and regular cleanings to prevent further damage. But if the cavity has worn its way through to the dentin, the tooth is noticeably sensitive to heat, cold, or touch. At this point, a barrier must be laid over the damaged dentin, and then filling material to cover and seal the opening. If a cavity is yet still left untreated, the tooth’s nerve and pulp become infected and immense pain is experienced. A full root canal is required to clean out and seal off the tooth, along with reconstruction and reinforcement to rebuild the tooth’s strength, and a crown to replace the tooth loss.
Dr. Boyajian, West Los Angeles
www.dentalwellnessarts.com
CEREC is a state-of-the-art system that allows full restorations of one or more teeth to be made in a single visit to the dentist’s office. Whether it is a crown, inlay, onlay, filling, or veneer, the CAD/CAM technology the CEREC unit uses will design and produce a perfect restoration of the damaged tooth. The replacement material looks like, feels like, and is strong as a real tooth; biocompatibility and aesthetics are well-maintained; and further damage to the tooth is eliminated.
Do you have a need for a crown, or have large cavities? Have you had trouble with previous “restorations”? Do they look awful or keep on falling apart? Look into CEREC dentistry. There’s no better option!
Dr. Boyajian, West Los Angeles
www.dentalwellnessarts.com
In Hawaii, our vacation home host works at a surfboard manufacturing shop. I was curious about the trade, so I took my son and daughter-in-law inside the shop to see if we could get a glimpse of the behind-the-scenes (rather, behind the rows and rows of colorful boards found in shops on every corner on the North Shore!) process of surfboard making. May as well since we were already there! Though many people surf in Los Angeles, I think it would be harder to just walk in the back door of a random surfboard place and “demand” a tour.
The white (often colored) boards we usually see are made out of polyurethane or polystyrene foam. Balsa and other light woods are also commonly used, only they are much more expensive than the foam boards. The shape and size of the board is sanded down to resemble what looks exactly like a surfboard carved out of fancy styrofoam or wood. Much care is taken in measuring the shapes, sizes, and weights of the boards. Then layers of fiberglass, cloth, paint (for designs), and resins are applied to form the complete product. We saw some beautiful boards, including a custom-made decorative one made out of several different hardwoods.
Being a dentist, I couldn’t help but compare the similarities in this process, and the restoration process used in CEREC system, which I have and definitely use. When a tooth needs restoration, the CEREC system records a digital image of the tooth’s structure, and within a matter of hours, carves out a perfect crown/filling out of a small block of ceramic inside a special machine (many demonstrations of this were held at the ADA Session). The faulty tooth is sanded down ever so slightly, and then, after some refining, fitting, and adjusting of the occlusion, the crown/filling is bonded or cemented right where it needs to be, fitting perfectly with the other teeth. It’s quite amazing.
Aloha!
Dr. Boyajian, West Los Angeles
www.dentalwellnessarts.com
Veneers are an interesting option for improving the appearance of your teeth. There are many great advantages about veneers, yet some of their restrictions often cause people to search for other cosmetic enhancement options.
Veneers are almost like artificial teeth worn over your teeth. Hardy materials are customarily molded into the unique, perfect smile for you, and are permanently applied over your teeth. Veneers are permanent because the enamel on your teen must be sanded down in order for the veneers to function properly, and removing them is damaging to your real teeth.
Many advantages come with veneers, though, as their main purpose is to hide imperfections such as crooked, gapped, or discolored teeth. They are made out of a material that doesn’t change color over time and won’t even collect stains from coffee or tobacco. How long they last varies from patient to patient, even though they are made to be very durable and maintain good condition for many years. However, it is still best to ask your dentist how long yours would last if you are considering veneers for yourself.
You will also have to brush and floss regularly even though you have “fake teeth.” Keeping veneers clean helps them last longer. You will have to be careful because some foods aren’t recommended for you to eat if you have veneers, things like nutshells that must be cracked.
Veneers are great! Talk to your dentist for more insight to see if they’re right for you!
Dr. Boyajian, West Los Angeles
www.dentalwellnessarts.com
Cosmetic dentistry is different from bioesthetic dentistry, even though some aspects of each are similar (improvement of looks, for example). Bioesthetics concentrates on foundational anatomy of your mouth, with good looks and comfort resulting from treatment, while cosmetics is primarily beautifying the outward appearance of your teeth. Here are the most commonly practiced procedures of cosmetic dentistry: teeth whitening, bonded white fillings (I do not use mercury in any of my dentistry, and we are a mercury-safe office), veneers, porcelain crowns, and dental implants. I will go over each of these in more detail soon.
Dr. Boyajian, West Los Angeles
www.dentalwellnessarts.com
It never ceases to amaze me how my TMJ (Temporal Mandibular Joint) experience comes in handy on a daily basis. About half of my practice is devoted to TMJ treatment so I am always thinking about solving TMJ problems or managing bruxing (grinding of teeth) habits. Patients frequently come in with broken and cracked teeth, and maybe some irregular, strange pain that comes and goes on its own whims. Well, knowing how the TMJ joint works with all the muscles, discs, etc., I can use this knowledge to help determine if those phantom pain symptoms are for an undiagnosed TMJ.
Sometimes a tooth will break because of TMJ, yet anyone might think it was caused by something completely different. The knowledge is best practically utilized in how I repair teeth. Through experience of solving TMJ problems, I know how teeth are supposed to hit when you bite down. This is extremely valuable, because if I were to place a crown or filling in the mouth and it did not hit the opposing tooth correctly, I could have inadvertently caused a TMJ problem for the patient. Yes, you heard right. In my opinion, small mistakes in general dentistry gradually snowball into large TMJ problems.
There is a principle called the DUML rule that I follow religiously. DUML stands for the Distal of Uppers and the Mesial of Lowers. This translates into avoiding bad contact points between teeth that can contribute to TMJ. When I solve TMJ problems, I make sure that I do not have those contacts on the teeth.
These incorrect points are like sitting next to a car booming with ear-grating rap music at an especially long red light. Is there even such a thing as good rap music? I am revealing my age now…
Dr. Boyajian, West Los Angeles
www.dentalwellnessarts.com