General Dentistry

So, it is time to get your braces removed! And you are anxious about what comes during and after the removal of braces. We hope this blog allays all your fears and concerns about what to expect during and post removal of braces and how to take care.   

Does it hurt? 

Braces are used for straightening teeth and once the time is right and the braces have fulfilled the objectives set at the beginning then they need to be removed. This could be a few months or few years after you started wearing braces. 

The foremost question on people’s mind is – does it hurt to get braces removed? Well, the answer is most people do not experience any pain during the process of removal of braces however people do experience discomfort. If you happen to be one of those who find the process painful, your orthodontist will be more than happy to prescribe over the counter medication like ibuprofen to manage the pain. It is important to note here braces need to be removed by a professional orthodontist and cannot be done on your own.  

During the removal process the dentist will remove the brackets, the metal wires and any bands. Usually, braces can be removed in a single sitting of one hour or so and do not need more than one appointment.  

What next after removal of braces? 

Normally immediately after removal of braces the dentist will thoroughly clean your teeth (there are good chances that food would have been stuck in the braces even if you have been cleaning your teeth properly).  The dentist will then polish your teeth with a grinder to ensure all adhesive used to fix the brackets is removed completely. This may be followed by few x-rays to check if the braces have done their job right. A dentist will then take a digital impression of your teeth to make a retainer for you. A retainer is a device used after removal of braces to make sure that your teeth do not shift. Retainers can be fixed or removable but are very important part of the process. If not used properly your teeth can become misshapen once again. 

Here are some other things you may notice post removal of braces – 

1. Calluses – You may notice calluses where there was sensitive skin once on the inside of the lips. There is nothing to worry about here, they generally go away on their own. 

2. Eating weird – After having gotten used to eating with braces it will feel a little weird to eat after the removal of braces. And guess what you can go back to eating anything again, no restrictions. However, a word of advice – make sure you eat healthy as much as possible. 

3. Oral care – Having removed the braces you can now brush and floss your teeth without any difficulty. No more metal brackets and wires creating obstacles in the way. But make sure you don’t take your oral care routine lightly. Ensure you are brushing your teeth with a fluoride toothpaste at least twice a day and floss at least once a day. You can also use a mouthwash. 

4. Tenderness – Once the braces are off, you may feel that your teeth are a little tender and sensitive. It generally goes away on its own once you get adjusted to your new set of even teeth. 

5. Discoloration of teeth – Due to long usage of braces there are chances that your teeth may be a little discolored. There may also be some calcification. Speak to your dentist about how it can be addressed. You can ask for teeth whitening treatment also. 

You may need some follow up appointments to make sure your retainers fit properly and the teeth are not becoming misshapen again. Some people may even need more orthodontic treatments like partial braces, spacers and others.  

In some cases, there may be complications like gum recession and jaw problems like the TMJ disorder. Please contact your orthodontist if you observe the symptoms like tissue around the teeth near the gums pushed back or wearing away or any clicking sound of the jaw and if facing any difficulty in chewing. 

Make sure you are following your dentist’s instruction on how and how often to use your retainers. Getting your braces off can be a very exciting time but at the same time you must take care of your teeth so that you do not undo all the hard work and pain you underwent with your braces on.  

All in all, one can say that it will take some time for you to get used to your new beautiful even teeth. Till then keep smiling. 

We really hope this blog has been an interesting and informative read for you. We recommend that you share this blog with your family and friends who may also benefit from this information. If you wish to avail any of our services, please call Ensure Dental Care on 682-213-4114 for an appointment today.  

We are a family dentist near you. Ensure Dental Care is the one of the best family dental clinics located in Saginaw Texas. We also get patients from Fortworth. We accept all major insurance providers. We have an in-house payment plan and accept care credit too. We have a very experienced and professional team of dental practitioners and we look forward to serving you to the best of our abilities. 

Ensure Dental Care offers emergency dental services. Irrespective of the problem we offer same day emergency treatments. We entertain walk ins as well. 

We would love to hear from you. If you want to interact with us or give feedback and suggestions about our website, content or services on social media you can follow us on instagram. Our instagram handle is @ensuredentalcaresaginawtx. Look out for exciting offers, deals and more fun stuff on our social media handles. We look forward to interacting with you on instagram and Facebook soon.  

Hello! How are you doing today reader? We have a very interesting blog for you today. No, the subject of our blog today is not any dental or oral problem. It is not even about what you need to do or should do to take care of your teeth and gums. Instead, we bring to you, all that you can know about Ensure Dental Care’s latest technological acquisition the CEREC – Primescan! 

CEREC – Primescan is a technological wonder in the field of dentistry and now Ensure Dental Care your Saginaw Tx Dentist has bought one just for you. Now you may be wondering what it is and how is it going to be useful to you so let us not wait any longer. Let us begin. 

What is CEREC – Primescan? 

CEREC – Primescan in simple words is the latest digital oral scanner in the market. It uses a digital camera to capture 3D digital images inside the mouth of a patient. It is an improved version of its previous avatars. It is more advanced, quicker, easier and most importantly very accurate in capturing these images. 

CEREC stands for Chairside economical restoration of esthetic ceramics. It uses the CAD/CAM technology to make impressions of the teeth and generate precise restorations. The CEREC software now uses the artificial intelligence while making impressions so this means the software is learning while it is working to make sure it delivers a better performance every time it is used.  

The scanner can now access hard to reach areas and also view larger areas in the mouth in lesser sweeps of the scanner. It can capture and consolidate up to 50000 images per second and process the same equally quickly. It requires very few clicks to create a finished restoration with CEREC – Primescan. 

How will CEREC – Primescan benefit me the patient? 

Have you even visited your dentist for a dental impression whether to make a filling or an implant? The dentist makes you bite down on a tray full of gooey stuff until it takes the shape of your teeth and you have to keep holding it with your mouth tightly shut around it till the gooey sticky stuff hardens. Well not anymore. With CEREC – Primescan you just need to keep your mouth open while the dentist scans the teeth or the complete arch of the teeth in a jiffy. The dentist will use a small handheld camera which will be used to scan your mouth and he/she will have your teeth impressions just like that.  

This means the dentists can now make fillings, crowns, veneers, implants and other restorations more accurately and in a much lesser time. What it means to you as a patient is that you don’t have to visit the dentist’s office multiple times. Depending on your issue there is a chance that your restoration work will be done in a single visit. And we all know time saved is money saved. 

This amazing technology can be used to make better fitting aligners and night guards too. The CEREC – Primescan is also extremely useful in better and quicker diagnosis of – 

1. TMJ Pains 

2. Sleep Apnea 

3. Cavities and decay in teeth 

4. Fractures, cracks and chipping in tooth 

If we were to list down the benefits in simple words for you – 

1. It will save you time. You don’t need to visit multiple times. You can get accurate and more fitting, permanent restorations in a single visit.  

2. It will give you a pleasant dental experience. No more gagging reflex or anxiety while visiting the dentist. 

3. The scans are quick and minimally invasive making them more hygienic and safer. 

4. Because the images are captured digitally there is little chance of ill-fitting restorations. What this means is no more going back to the dentists for follow up appointments for adjustments. 

What’s in it for the dentist? 

Better quality restorations in less time. Less work and lesser adjustments will save them precious time that they can then use to attend to more patients and or more critical problems. Because there is a possibility to transfer data from CEREC – Primescan to others dental practitioners can now transfer the information about the patient to labs and other 3^rd parties who are manufacturing the restorations with a few clicks of the mouse. 

Having CEREC – Primescan means they will have less anxious, happier and more satisfied customers at the end of the day. The ultimate end goal for all dental practitioners is to treat the dental problems of their patients and make the whole process as painless, quick and minimally invasive as possible.  

Technological advancements are playing a major role in changing the way dentistry works today and will do in the future. You can read more on the latest technological trends in dentistry in our blogs 3D Printing in Dentistry and Laser Dentistry. 

At Ensure Dental Care we care for our patients and strive to deliver the best services in the safest and most comfortable way possible. Our latest technological acquisition the CEREC – Primescan has also been bought with the intention to serve you – the patient in the best way possible.    

We hope you enjoyed reading this blog and will not only share it with your family and friends but also recommend it. If you have any dental queries, you can always call Ensure Dental Care on 940-274-3229 for more information or to schedule an appointment.  

We are the family dentist near you. Ensure Dental Care is the one of the best family dental clinics at Saginaw Texas. We accept all major insurance providers. We also have in house payment plan. We have a very experienced and professional team of dental practitioners and we look forward to serving you to the best of our abilities. 

If you want to interact with us on social media or give any suggestions you can also follow us on instagram for offers, deals and more fun stuff. Our instagram handle is @ensuredentalcaresaginawtx. We look forward to interacting with you on the instagram soon.  

Christmas is such a magical time. We at Ensure Dental Care wish you and your families a very merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Christmas is all about fun, parties, eating, drinking and family. One of the most integral parts of all Christmas celebrations is, well you guessed it right! GIFTS!!! Who does not love getting gifts? But buying Christmas presents for others is not an easy task. You have to really think hard on what to buy for everyone keeping in mind their needs and wishes and of course your pocket 😊. 

So, we thought why not give you a few dental themed ideas for gifts which make for excellent Christmas presents irrespective of age and gender of the recipient.  

1. Electric toothbrush – Dentists across the world love electric toothbrushes. This is because they are more efficient and effective than a manual toothbrush. Electric toothbrushes are not too expensive to buy and make excellent gifts especially for kids who are fussy when it comes to brushing. If you also are having trouble getting your kids to brush read our blog Kids hate brushing? What can you do? For kids there is also an option of getting a toothbrush that lights up or plays music while brushing the teeth. 

2. Waterpik – Flossing should be an important part of everyone’s daily oral care routine but a lot of people find it difficult to floss their teeth with the thread flosser and many do it the wrong way. So one of the most useful gifts one can give such people is a waterpik. A waterpik uses the pressure of the water to clean between the teeth. It is easy to use and as effective as any other flosser. To read more about it, check out our blog Water Flossing. 

3. Cheese collection – We tend to pick up chocolates or other sweetmeats to gift our friends and family. All of these are really harmful for the teeth. So why not instead gift something that people love and is also good for teeth. Cheese.  Many kinds of cheeses are good for teeth like among aged cheese there is Monterey Jack and Cheddar. From the soft cheeses there is Brie and Camembert which are excellent and if your family or friends like blue cheeses then go for Gorgonzola and/ or Roquefort. Cheese has no sugar and has neutralizing acids in the mouth which prevents the oral bacteria to grow thereby reducing the chances of developing plaque, tartar and consequently cavities. 

4. Teeth whitening kits – This is a very interesting gift to give albeit to people you are really close to (you don’t want to offend anyone). These kits are available online as well as with offline retailers. One word of caution here -many of these kits may not be very effective or even harmful if not bought from a reliable source. So if you plan on picking these up we suggest you do a little research before getting them. 

5. Tea Collections – For those who love tea, this will be a perfect gift. But doesn’t tea stain and discolor our teeth, you may ask? Yes, you are right, most of the time teas contain a substance called tannin which is the reason behind staining of the teeth but there are many herbal teas which are available in the market that do not contain tannin. Pick a good selection of teas to gift to your loved ones. Not only will it be healthy but also unique. 

6. Tooth Fairy Box – If you have kids in the family who are in the process of losing their milk teeth this can be a fun gift to give to them. They can store their fallen milk teeth in this box for the tooth fairy to pick up. You can include a bigger bag for the tooth fairy to put money or gifts. Besides this you could add additional stuff along like books or games about losing milk teeth and the process of eruption of permanent teeth making it not only a fun and exciting gift for young kids to enjoy but also learn from it. 

7. Ceramic tooth shaped planters – There are many people who love and enjoy gardening and this is a wonderful present for them. These teeth shaped ceramic planters are great for planting small plants in and around the house and they also come with a cavity for draining of the water. How convenient right? 

8. Dental Jewelry – If that special girl friend of yours is into funky jewelry this one is totally up your alley. Tooth shaped earrings, dental necklaces, bracelets are easily available. Then there are dental tote bags too. All of these make for really special one-of-a-kind gifts and people will remember you for having gifted them these. 

So how did you like our dental themed Christmas gift ideas? Tell us if you have any more such unique ideas. We will love to hear from you and include them in our future blogs. Get in touch with us. Our instagram handle is @ensuredentalcaresaginawtx. We look forward to interacting with you on the instagram soon.  

If you liked this blog, please share it with your family and friends. You can also follow us on instagram for offers, deals and more fun stuff. 

Once again, we wish you a Merry Christmas and hope you have lots of fun baking goodies, decorating your trees, caroling and exchanging gifts. 

If you have any dental queries, you can always call Ensure Dental Care on 940-274-3229 for more information or to schedule an appointment. We are the family dentist near you. Ensure Dental Care is the one of the best family dental clinics at Saginaw Texas. We accept all major insurance providers. We also have in house payment plan. We have a very experienced and professional team of dental practitioners and we look forward to serving you to the best of our abilities. 

Did you know that the word Laser is an acronym? It stands for Light Amplification by the Stimulated Emission of Radiation. Lasers have been used in dentistry since 1994 to treat a number of dental issues.  Dental professionals have been using lasers for a variety of procedures like removing overgrown tissues, teeth whitening and reshaping the gums. Yet most of the people have never even heard of this till they get a laser treatment done. 

How does laser work in dentistry? 

Laser is a narrow focused beam of light which dentists use like a cutting instrument. Laser is used to cut the tissue it comes in contact with. It is used not just as an energy source but also as a heat source to vaporize overgrown tissue or increase the efficacy of teeth bleaching agents.  

Types of lasers 

Lasers used in dental treatments are generally of 2 kinds – 

1. Soft tissue laser – these lasers are light and easily absorbed by water and hemoglobin in the blood and are used for treatment of gum related problems.  

2. Hard tissue laser – these lasers have wavelengths that can cut through a bone and hence ideal for issues related to the teeth. 

What are the procedures that use laser dentistry and how? 

Some procedures in which laser technology has been used successfully include – 

1. Tooth sensitivity – Dental lasers can be used to seal the hollow tubes known as tubules in dentin. Dentin is that part of the teeth which get exposed when there is loss of enamel leading to tooth sensitivity.  

2. Cavity detection – Lasers can find cavities easily and earlier than a physical examination. Early detection of cavities can help arrest the dental problem before it becomes big thereby reducing the loss of teeth due to cavities. Laser can also kill bacteria in the cavity without the need of local anesthesia and any drilling of the tooth. 

Both the above mentioned procedures are classified as hard tissue procedures. Some soft tissue procedures are – 

1. Reshaping the gum – Sometimes gums can cover too much part of the tooth leading to a gummy smile. This problem can be fixed using a soft tissue laser to reshape the gums as desired. Not only is it used for reshaping gums but also sometimes to lengthen the crown. 

2. Tongue tie issue correction – Some children have problems in breastfeeding or speech because the fold of the skin under the tongue is too thick or tight. This problem known as tongue tie can be resolved using a laser.  

3. Denture fold removal – If someone has ill fitting dentures then their soft tissue may get folded unnaturally. These folds can also be removed using lasers without sutures. 

4. Teeth whitening – Lasers can speed up the process of bleaching during teeth whitening. 

5. TMJ treatment – Lasers can help to reduce the pain and inflammation of joints in TMJ giving relief to the patient. 

6. Cold sores treatment – Cold sores can be treated using lasers. Healing time also gets minimized if lasers are used. 

7. Benign tumor removal and nerve regeneration – Lasers can remove tumor from lips, cheeks, gums and the palate in a pain free manner. It can help in the regeneration of nerves and healing of blood vessels also because it can seal the nerves and blood vessels respectively. 

8. Use of laser is very effective and minimally invasive method by which a dentist can take a look at what is inside your teeth and gums. 

Advantages of using laser technology over other traditional treatment options 

1. Because no drills and fewer sutures are needed in a laser treatment it is the perfect option for people who are anxious about dental treatments. 

2. It is relatively pain free as compared to the traditional methods. 

3. It minimizes the bleeding and swelling of soft tissues during and after the procedure. 

4. It is less time consuming and more accurate procedure as compared with traditional treatments. 

5. Because it sterilizes the area where applied it reduces the chances of a bacterial infection and promotes faster healing. 

6. In some procedure it eliminates the use of anesthesia and can also help regenerate the tissue. 

Disadvantages of using laser technology  

1. Hard lasers can hurt the pulp inside the tooth if not handled properly. There is also a chance of gums getting injured in the process. 

2. Some laser treatments may still need anesthesia or usage of drills and some still cannot be done using lasers. 

3. Lasers cannot be used on teeth that have metal or any other kinds of fillings. 

4. Laser treatments for dental problems can be a little expensive as compared to the traditional method of using drills.  

Despite its disadvantages laser treatments are still one of the least risky methods of dental treatments. It is important that you find the right dentist for your laser dental procedure. One who has the appropriate knowledge and experience needed for such procedures. Make sure they are using the right kind of laser and the right level of power with adequate safety protocols like special glasses for the protection of your eyes during the treatment. Laser dentistry is simple and a very convenient option for many dental issues. Make sure you ask your family dentist about this option whenever he/she advises any dental procedure to you or your family the next time.       

If you have more queries you can always call Ensure Dental Care (the family dentist near you) on 940-274-3229 for more information or to schedule an appointment. Ensure Dental Care is the one of the best family dental clinics at Saginaw Texas. We accept all major insurance providers. We also have in house payment plan. We have a very experienced team of dental practitioners and we look forward to serving you the best of our abilities.  

If you liked this blog share it with your family and friends. You can also follow us on Instagram for offers, deals and more fun stuff. Our Instagram handle is @ensuredentalcaresaginawtx. See you on Instagram soon.