Comprehensive Exam

On your first visit to our office, we will give you a complete dental examination.  We’ll take digital x-rays, images and a medical history to determine your current oral health.  Then Dr. Obholz will sit down and discuss our findings with you and talk to you about any dental treatment that you need, and about your satisfaction with your current smile.

Routine Dental Hygiene

Excellent dental hygiene is key to ensuring your dental health. After a comprehensive examination, Dr. Obholz will develop an individualized treatment plan for you.  Then she or one of her staff will work with you to develop a schedule of regular examinations and cleanings and instructions on oral hygiene.  You will also receive advice and instruction about new dental techniques and procedures that may benefit you.  Our goal is to maintain your long-term oral health, to help you get and keep a beautiful smile, and to detect any potential problems in their early stages.

Oral Cancer Screening

Approximately 8,000 people in the U.S. die as a result of oral cancers each year.  Unfortunately, oral cancer has no easily recognizable symptoms, but dentists are trained in its detection and can see and/or feel the changes in tissue that signal its presence.  During your comprehensive examination, Dr. Obholz will carefully check your mouth, lips, gums and tongue for any signs of oral cancer.

Composite Restorations (tooth-colored fillings)

We use composite (tooth-colored) fillings instead of older silver fillings for several reasons. The composite material, which comes in a wide range of shades, can be bonded to your teeth and molded and sculpted to create almost any shape or contour.

Tooth-colored fillings also seal your teeth better, and are less prone to leakage than silver fillings. This means your natural tooth is less likely to crack after it’s been restored. They also look more natural, so that you can eat, smile and talk with confidence.

Porcelain Restorations (crowns, bridges, onlays and inlays)

When you have large areas of decay in a tooth, or when you have lost teeth, we can use porcelain restorations to bring them back them as close as possible to their natural, healthy state.  Porcelain restorations are strong and long lasting and your smile will look great when we’re finished!

• A crown is a permanent covering that fits over the original tooth providing it strength and natural beauty. You may need a crown if your tooth is cracked, decayed, damaged or has a large restoration. Crowns can also be used to whiten, reshape, and realign your existing teeth to create a healthy and vibrant smile
• A bridge replaces lost or missing teeth. The teeth on either side of the space hold the bridge replacement in place.
  
  A bridge can make your smile look better, but they serve more than a cosmetic purpose. Spaces created in your mouth by the loss of a tooth can cause multiple teeth to shift, can lead to bite or jaw (TMJ) problems or can spur periodontal disease.  A bridge fills that space and helps prevent such problems.
• Onlays are used for large restorations. They restore the area inside the cusp and extend over one or more sides of the tooth. Because of their size they are usually made of porcelain.
• Inlays are used to restore the area of teeth inside the cusps. Inlays are a conservative tooth restoration, which means they require far less drilling and preparation of the tooth than a metal filling. Inlays are usually made of porcelain or composite resin, making them “invisible” in your smile.

Implant Restorations

Have you lost a permanent tooth (or teeth) because of an accident, injury, disease or extraction?  Dental implants can be a solid, secure and aesthetic way of replacing those lost teeth.

An implant is a special titanium post that is secured into the upper or lower jaw. The bone in your jaw bonds to the post, forming a secure anchor for a replacement tooth or teeth—a crown or a bridge, for example.  Implants allow you to have stable dentures that actually snap in and do not move around, so you can eat and speak normally and naturally.

If dental implants are a good option for you, Dr. Obholz will recommend an oral surgeon and work closely with this specialist for placement of the implant.  Then Dr. Obholz will complete the restoration crown, bridge or denture.

Bleaching

No off-the-shelf remedies are as effective or can give you the same dazzling results that you can get with the professional-strength bleaching products offered in our dental office.  We provide two bleaching options for your convenience:

Get ready to Zoom!

The Zoom! Whitening procedure is simple and painless. It begins with a short preparation to isolate your lips and gums. Then the proprietary Zoom! Whitening Gel is applied, which is activated by a specially designed light. Teeth typically become at least six to ten shades whiter, sometimes more. A five-minute fluoride treatment completes the procedure. You will be amazed with the results! In most cases, your teeth will get even whiter the first few days after the procedure.

How Zoom! Works

The Zoom! Light-activated gel was developed after years of research by Discus Dental, the leaders in professional take-home tooth whitening. The gel is a scientifically formulated, pH balanced hydrogen peroxide that, when activated by the Zoom! light, gently penetrates the teeth to remove deep stains and discoloration. With proper care and an occasional touch-up at home, your whiter smile will sparkle for years.

At-home whitening

You may prefer the convenience of whitening your teeth in your own home over a period of a few weeks.  This involves wearing custom-fit trays with prescription-strength bleaching gel for a few hours each day. 

Dr. Obholz will be glad to discuss any of your questions or concerns about bleaching and help you decide which option will be best for you.

Porcelain Veneers

Veneers allow you to achieve a brand-new, improved and dazzling smile in an amazingly short period of time.  They can be used to cover chipped, stained, discolored, unevenly spaced, or even slightly crooked teeth.

Veneers are ultra-thin pieces of porcelain or composite restorations that are artistically shaped to fit your mouth and your smile and then bonded quickly and painlessly to the front of your tooth. Veneers look completely natural, and allow you to achieve a brand-new, improved and dazzling smile in a short time.  The process usually takes just two visits about three weeks apart.  We’ll also give you instructions on caring for your new smile to ensure that it lasts years and years.

Invisalign

If you’ve always wanted straighter teeth, but don’t want traditional metal braces you might be a good candidate for Invisalign invisible braces.  Invisalign braces move your teeth using a series of clear, removable custom-made aligners. Because you remove your aligners before you eat and drink, there are no food restrictions or problems with flossing or brushing. And with Invisalign, most people won’t even know you’re wearing braces. It’s a comfortable and convenient solution for straightening your teeth!

Root Canal Therapy

You may need root canal therapy when the nerve tissue in your tooth is irreversibly damaged due to decay, trauma, or tooth fracture. But don’t worry-- today’s root canal treatments are nothing like the treatment of earlier decades. Now root canals are relatively simple procedures (just one or two visits) that involve little or no discomfort.  A successful root canal treatment saves your tooth so you can keep it for a lifetime.

Periodontal Therapy

Do you have gums that bleed when you brush them? That could be an indication of periodontal, or gum, disease.

Periodontal disease is a bacterial infection in your gums that, if left untreated, can ultimately lead to the loss of your teeth.  The bacteria that cause periodontal disease have also been linked to systemic health problems such as heart disease, stroke and diabetes. 

During your regular visits to our office we will check your gums carefully for any signs of periodontal disease and will educate you about the best ways to care for your teeth and gums to prevent the problem.  If you do have periodontal disease, we can treat it in our office or recommend specialists in the area to get it under control and then work with you to prevent recurrences in the future.

To help you relax during your dental treatment, we provide special touches such as massage chairs, movie glasses and radios with headphones. Your comfort and safety are our primary concern.

Toothprints

Toothprints® is offered by the office to its young patients as a safeguard. The product was developed by a pediatric dentist who began using dental bite impressions as a way of safeguarding his own child, and other young patients. A thermoplastic wafer records the size and shape of a child's teeth, the tooth position within the arch, and the relationship between upper and lower jaws. Like fingerprints, dental imprints are unique to every person, so bite impressions serve an accurate method of identification - not even identical twins have the same bit characteristics. A Toothprints impression also captures saliva, which is a powerful source of human scent, thus making the wafer effective for scent-dog tracking. The saliva also provides a DNA sample.