The BEST way to do teeth whitening!

Teeth whitening is one our most popular treatment options. It is - in my opinion - one of the single BEST ways to make your smile look great. Why…you might ask? Well, because it’s conservative (doesn’t damage the teeth or require any drilling), its cost effective (versus porcelain veneer options) and it’s long lasting and a treatment that you can continue to use for years to come. Take home whitening trays allow you to simply “touch up” your whitening every year…so your teeth remain the amazingly beautiful shade of your initial whitening.

I’ve learned a lot over the years, and some of the most important things I’ve learned with whitening is 1) there are NO shortcuts 2) you need to do it the RIGHT way for it to work predictably. What do I mean by that? I mean the way we do it at Ivory Dental Group - professional teeth whitening with custom take home trays and our world class Kor whitening gel system. After years and years of working with whitening systems - I’ve fallen in love with Kor for its predictability and scientific approach. It’s not a gimmick - promising same day movie star white - it’s a product developed through science and studies - in order to produce predicable, repeatable and profound teeth whitening - with as little teeth sensitivity as possible. For us…it simply works. Our trays are CUSTOM made to fit perfectly to your teeth, and trimmed in a way to guide the excess gel away from your gum tissues (avoiding uncomfortable chemical burns on the tissue). The gel is formulated to work with our trays to penetrate into the stained enamel and break down the stain molecules predictably.

If you want to see what teeth whitening can do for you - check our our COSMETIC DENTISTRY gallery or schedule a consult to see if our Kor teeth whitening system is right for you!

~ Dr B

SMILE Design ~ It's all about what you want!

Cosmetic Dentisty is part art and part science. I love the combination. The primary challenge with any cosmetic procedure is aligning what is theoretically cosmetically pleasing with what YOU, the patient, actually want for your smile. Cosmetic dentistry is so subjective…What looks good and “ideal” to you may be different from what another patient views as “beautiful” and ideal for their smile. For example, one of the discussussion I ALWAYS have with patients when discussing front teeth make overs is how long the lateral incisors should be…(these are the second upper teeth over from the middle). There are several different smile designs and some involve making the smile line (line from K9 to central incisor) flat, and some involve making the lateral incisors slightly ofset or shorter. See the images to get a better idea of what I mean…

A natural “youthful smile” usually shows a slightly shorter lateral incisor, or “offset” design. Some patients love this look, but I’ve had many that want a “Flat” smile design. Neither option is wrong. It’s just a matter of opinion. Which is why I always start out treatment planning and vision for a case, with questions about what you think is the perfect image you have in your mind, for your smile.

With porcelain veneer, porcelain crowns or composite bonding: we can acheive almost anything you desire. But, your homework before committing to any treatment plan or treatment plan discussion will be to go online and find some photos of smiles that you think are beautiful and examples of smiles that you hope to replicate.

After we establish what is ideal to you…we can then start narrowing in on what type of treatment you’ll need to make your dream come true!

Jaw Pain? Teeth Grinding and Clenching? Here's the fix!

Bite splints or “occlusal guards” are very common. Ask around and you’ll soon realize that many of your friends and family wear one at night. Typically these types of guards are worn by people the consistently clench and/or grind their teeth at night. Clenching and grinding can increase the incidince of tooth fracture by up to 7x the normal rate! Meaning that if you have large fillings or weaker teeth - you are at risk to break those teeth. I’ve even seen patient with NO fillings crack thier molars due to the extreme forces created during night time clenching and grinding. Not only can teeth break, but clenching can create a “charlie horse” effect in the jaw muscles/temples causing pain, soreness and headaches. Here is our protocol for treating TMJ issues at Ivory.

Step 1 - Dental Exam

During your exam we’ll ask questions about your clenching and grinding history. Many times people don’t actually know they are grinding unless a spouse tells them that they could hear the horrible grinding sound at night. And, cleanching patients are sometimes not aware of their clenching untill we narrow down symptoms they have been recently having. Symptoms like:

• muscle soreness on the side of their face

• popping or clicing in their TMJ

• problems biting down or opening their jaw wide

• headaches or muscles aches in the temple area

When these signs and symptoms are identified we’ll often move on to step 2.

Step 2 - TMJ Massage - Stretch and Exercises

If your TMJ symtoms are mild and inconsistent. Often we’ll try TMJ stretch and exercise before moving on to the dental splint. If you clench often and ESPECIALLY if you grind…we will also reccomend a splint asap. The muscles that often trigger myofacial pain “face muscle pain” are the masseter and temporalis. The anatomy picture at the top of the page will show you where these muscles are located. When you clench and grind all night long you are basically overloading and stressing these muscles. Because of this, they often spasm and cramp during the daytime…causing you pain or discomfort. Stretching and massage can often help aleviate mild TMJ issues. We usually reccomened avoiding hard and chewy foods, making sure to keep teeth apart “tongue up and teeth apart” during the day; and a regimen of stretch and massage to help sooth muscle fatigue. Check out the videos below to learn these techniques!

Step 3 - Bite Guard

As mentioned earlier, if you clench regularily or grind your teeth, massage and stech alone will not be enough to protect your teeth. We will likely still reccomend you go through the PT (stretch and massage) protocal, but we will also make clear the importance of wearing your bite guard EVERY night in order to help take stress off your jaw joint and protect your teeth. Teeth under the stress of night time clenching or “bruxism” are many times more likely to fracture than normal. The bite guards we fabricate are top of the line , made of hard acrylic with soft internal liner (see image on right). We custom scan your teeth with our state of the art ITERO ELEMENT 3d scanner. No goopy molds or putty for your imressions…This scnaner allows us to digitally send a model of your teeth to our partner lab. We then fabricate your guards and try it in before sending it home with you. I have 3 guards, and I can tell when I’ve “cheated” and gone a couple night without wearing it…My teeth get sensitive, my jaw clicks and pops, my temporalis muscles ache…not fun. So, If this sounds familiar, give me a call and I’ll show you what works for us at Ivory!