Restorative Dentistry Huntersville, NC

Natural-Looking Restorations

At Lake Norman Dentistry, we provide natural-looking restorations that can return health and function to your smile. Missing teeth or untreated tooth decay do more than affect your self-image and confidence in social situations. These issues can lead to serious health issues including gum disease which, if not addressed, can put you at risk of infections, diabetes, and heart disease.

Whether you have a tooth that’s damaged or infected, we can restore it using tooth-colored materials that match the shade of your surrounding teeth. This way, once placed, they’ll appear natural and blend in with your smile.

No matter which restorative procedure Dr. Guice determines is best, we’ll work to ensure that your restoration matches your natural teeth and supports your oral health.

Dental Fillings

Dental fillings are widely used and recommended for treating cavities. Cavities are holes in teeth that are caused by bacterial decay. Dr. Guice will first clean your teeth thoroughly before filling in the cavity with a tooth-colored filling in order to protect the inner parts of your teeth and prevent further decay or damage.

Dental Crowns and Bridges

If you have more serious tooth decay or are missing teeth, Dr. Guice may recommend a dental crown or dental bridge as the best restorative option for you.

Dental crowns are an excellent restorative solution in the form of a tooth-shaped ceramic cap. We create dental crowns after taking accurate impressions of the teeth and customize each restoration for a perfect fit. After customization, the crown will blend in with your surrounding teeth and prevent anything from directly touching the affected tooth.

If you’re missing one or several teeth, dental bridges can be an ideal solution for replacing them. For this procedure to work, you need to have remaining healthy teeth that can serve as anchors for the bridge. Dr. Guice will secure a dental bridge by placing dental crowns on the two teeth surrounding the missing ones. These crowns hold the bridge in place and provide support.

Dentures

Dentures are an affordable and easy way to address any number of missing teeth without a procedure. They are a set of prosthetic teeth that are natural-looking, removable, and are customized to fit comfortably. Dr. Guice may recommend a partial or full denture depending on your unique restoration needs.

Dental Implants

At Lake Norman Dentistry, we often discuss the benefits of dental implants with our patients. For the best results, it's important to deal with tooth loss as soon as possible. After losing a tooth, the jawbone will no longer receive stimulation from that area and may begin to deteriorate. Dental implants are the best solution for preventing jawbone loss since an implant replaces both the tooth and root.

In this procedure, Dr. Guice will implant a titanium rod under the gums and secure it to the jawbone. The bone and metal fuse together through a process called osseointegration. Once the process is complete, we can secure an artificial tooth to the post. The result is a restoration that looks, feels, and behaves entirely natural.

Restorative Dentistry For the Whole Family

At Lake Norman Dentistry, we treat patients of all ages because restorative dentistry plays a critical role in the overall health of your mouth and jaw. In younger patients, tooth decay can result in premature baby tooth loss and the need for costly dental implants. For seniors, missing teeth can result in excess bone loss and affect their facial structure.

Restorative Dentistry For Seniors

We have found that many seniors assume that they won’t experience tooth loss and don’t pursue restorations when their teeth become damaged or infected.

Most seniors, especially women, tend to experience some type of bone loss; the severity of which is highly dependent on a persons' health history, diet, and whether or not they exercise. Bone loss can lead to an increased risk of breaking bones, a loss of height, and a change in appearance.

This is particularly true when it comes to your facial appearance. Your natural teeth provide stimulation to your jawbone. Every time that you bite down and chew, your bone is being utilized, and the body supports it as such. If you start to lose teeth, the body may stop supporting the jawbone in a particular area because the stimulation has ceased.

Resorption starts to occur, a process in which the body begins to take the calcium away from the jaw and feed it to other areas of the body. This can alter a person’s looks and create a sunken appearance.

We encourage patients to address damaged or infected teeth as early as possible so that we can preserve as much of their natural smile as possible, avoid tooth loss, and prevent further damages from occurring.

Restorative Dentistry for Kids

While most adults are familiar with restorative dentistry, these solutions are also available for kids. If you have a child or teenager, remember that their permanent teeth are the last natural teeth they’ll have. If they damage one while playing sports or swinging on the monkey bars, give us a call. If we can correct the damage quickly, there is a reduced risk of the site becoming infected or the damage spreading.

With younger children, we typically recommend a dental bonding procedure because we can complete it quickly, without the need for more invasive care. With bonding, a tooth-colored composite material is applied to the tooth and shaped. Once it looks perfect, we’ll use a dental light to harden it. The results look natural, and your child will have a newly restored tooth in one visit. This is a painless procedure that can benefit both children and adults.

One challenge to be aware of is that a child’s teeth may continue to grow and a restored tooth may appear shorter and need to be touched up later in life.