Archive | May, 2011

Our Newest Training

By • May 26, 2011 • Training and Missions Trips • Leave a comment

In May 2011, Dr. Powell and the entire staff at Asheville Dental Care traveled to LasVegas to attend a 3 day training event called The Townie Dental Meeting. We feel we already offer the most current, modern, and up to date services and techniques available. That same technology is always being enhanced and improved. The only way for a practice to stay on the cutting edge is for the doctor and the entire staff to be educated together. During the 3 days we attended a total of 98 hours in some really great courses. Among some of the advanced courses were took were:

  • 3D Dentistry for the General Practice
  • Laser Periodontal Pocket Therapy
  • Single Tooth Implants
  • Cerec Updates
  • Laser Benefits
  • Placing Implants
  • Periodontal Microsurgery
  • Continuing to Care: Team Approach
  • Immediate Implant Treatment
  • Sleep Apnea and Snoring
  • Cerec Advanced and Beyond
  • Power of a Team

Needless to say, we are excited to be back and ready to serve you even better than before. We won’t stop here, we are already scheduled in June for a training session in Raleigh, and in Dallas in July. We are never satisfied with the ordinary, there is so much more to offer. Leave it to us to be the ones to provide! That’s what we’re here for.

Do you need a “Regular ” cleaning OR periodontal maintenance?

By • May 18, 2011 • Preventative Care • 2 Comments

 

The prophylaxis patient

A prophylaxis is the type of cleaning that everyone expects when they get to the dentist’s office.  It involves scaling calculus above the gum line followed by ordinary flossing, and pumice polishing using a rubber cup on a slow speed handpiece (drill).  Note that this procedure can be done only if the patient has little or no calculus below the gum line.  In other words, a prophylaxis is performed only on patients with little bone loss and only minor, localized pocketing.  When the dentist or hygienist probes the gums around the teeth in a “normal” patient, he finds the probe goes no deeper than two or three millimeters below the gum line.   A prophylaxis is not appropriate on patients who have periodontal problems beyond minor redness and bleeding.   A prophylaxis patient can expect a full dental exam, x-rays and his/her cleaning on the same initial visit.

Periodontal Maintenance

Periodontal disease most frequently starts between the teeth because it is between the teeth that patients are most likely to neglect to clean.  Left alone, the bone loss continues until the pockets become deeper and deeper, eventually fanning around the tooth to effect the bone on the outside and inside of the teeth.  When pockets measure 4 to 6 mm between the teeth, then the patient fits into a more severe classification of periodontal disease.  He is said to have moderate periodontal disease.  The treatment for moderate periodontal disease is root planing, the same as is done for incipient periodontal disease.  But since there is more root exposed above bone line to plane, the patient’s mouth is done in two separate visits, one half of the mouth per visit.  Once the initial periodontal treatment has been carried out, these patients are frequently placed on a three or four month recall schedule to receive periodontal maintenance prophylaxis rather than the normal six months prophylaxis that non-periodontal patients are placed on.

 

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