Treatment Involving Other Specialists

The overall good health of our patients is the most important thing to us. As we are hearing more and more about these days, our oral health and our physical health are interconnected – makes total sense, doesn’t it? We each only have one body so what affects one part of our body has the ability to affect other parts of our bodies. With this knowledge we are able to work with other doctors – both in the dental field and in the medical field – to ensure that we are all working together to ensure the best health care possible for you.

If the treatment we recommend for you involves other specialists, we will work closely with the other doctor(s) and plan your treatment accordingly. We will keep you abreast of the recommendations from all disciplines, how the separate treatments will work together to make you well and how our timelines will work in concert with each other so you are getting the appropriate treatment at the right phase of your treatment plan.

Full Mouth Extractions

When all the teeth remaining in the mouth are extracted due to one reason or the other, it is called a full mouth extraction. It usually precedes a definitive treatment to provide the patient complete oral rehabilitation. In the course of dental practice at some point, dental practitioners encounter patients with teeth which are affected by caries or periodontal disease to the extent that no other treatment is possible except for full mouth extraction. The conditions in which the teeth are judged to be hopeless usually include multiple conditions, such as genetic dental malformations, hereditary diseases of teeth, poor oral hygiene care, financial problems, improper maintenance of routine oral hygiene, lack of insufficient fluoride exposure and unhealthy dietary habits. Once the condition of the teeth is diagnosed as hopeless, a treatment plan has to be developed by the dentist so that the infections can be treated and the patient is relieved of acute or chronic pain. Sometimes a full mouth extraction is the only option left.

When Full Mouth Extractions Are Needed

It is not easy for the patient and the dentist to make the decision for full mouth extraction. In the course of a doctor’s dental practice, at some point, the dentist encounters a patient with teeth which are affected by caries or periodontal disease to the extent that no other treatment is possible except for full mouth extraction. So keeping all of these things in mind, there are certain conditions where full mouth extraction is indicated and these are:

• Periodontal Problem

  Full mouth extraction is sometimes carried out in the case of periodontal problems. Periodontitis is a disease affecting supporting structures of teeth and causing their destruction leading to loosening of teeth. Though it can be treated by various measures, if it progresses to an advanced stage it may lead to loss of teeth. At this stage excessively loose teeth remaining in the mouth have to be extracted to prevent further progression of disease in the bone. Full mouth extraction at this stage can help in controlling excessive bone loss.

• Extensive Caries

  If a patient has many grossly carious teeth in his mouth which cannot be restored, the patient may have to go for full mouth extraction of all the teeth. The rate of extensive caries among people is increasing due to certain reasons:

  • Food Habits

    Evidences indicate that because of the changing dietary pattern of many Americans, the incidence of dental caries is increasing in young adult patients. Increased consumption of foods such as excessive intake of sweets and beverages leads to extensive caries and loss of teeth.

  • Xerostomia (Dry Mouth)

    Xerostomia is a condition in which the amount of saliva in the mouth decreases. Saliva protects the teeth from attack of caries due to its flushing as well as buffering action. Saliva also helps in remineralization of teeth which have been demineralized due to attack of acid. A large number of patients suffering from Xerostomia have it due to various medications such as antidepressants, antibiotics etc.

  For more information, please go to the All-on-4 section of this website.

Orthodontic Movement Assistance

Wilkodontics® or Accelerated Osteogenic Orthodontics™ (AOO™)

The information below pertaining to AOO™ is taken from the following website : fastortho.com/Consumers/AboutTheProcedure.html

Over four years of research has culminated in the development of a new procedure by which teeth can be moved approximately four times faster than ever before possible with conventional orthodontics. As a result, the treatment time for most orthodontic cases can be reduced to 3-to 8-months. This new patented method is a combination of time- tested and proven techniques from the fields of orthodontics and periodontics and is called the Accelerated Osteogenic Orthodontics™ (AOO™) procedure.

With the new AOO™ procedure, patients who would have declined conventional orthodontics strictly due to the length of treatment now have a viable alternative. This group of patients has tended to include adolescents who do not want to wear braces for 1- 1/2 to 3 years while in high school and adults whose social or professional responsibilities would preclude their wearing braces for a long period of time. The AOO™ procedure is feasible for most patients, regardless of age, as long as their permanent teeth are present.

The AOO™ procedure has solved the time dilemma by exploiting the dynamic of bone physiology and redirecting the emphasis in tooth movement to the manner in which the supporting bone responds to orthodontic forces rather than just concentrating on the manner in which the forces are applied to the teeth. By stimulating and harnessing the innate potentials of living bone the teeth can be made to move through the bone very rapidly and when the tooth movement is completed the bone around the roots of the teeth will rebuild itself.