YOUR FAVORITE SMILES ARE SAFE
With Chapel Hill Family Dentistry
At Meadowmont Dentistry, we know how hard it is to work dental appointments for everyone in your household into a family schedule that’s already being stretched too thin. That’s why we’re happy to offer quality family dentistry in Chapel Hill, NC that makes your life easier.
We offer full-service dental care for all ages that simplifies your efforts to keep your loved ones’ smiles healthy and happy by:
- Accommodating everyone in your family in a single appointment
- Opening our practice early in the morning for convenient scheduling
- Being available 24/7 to help with your family’s urgent dental needs
- Proactively keeping dental problems under control and treatment costs low
- Building relationships, especially with young children, that reduce dental fear
Trust your family’s oral health to our kid-friendly team! Call 919-969-9330 to schedule an appointment.
Preventive Dentistry
Preventive dental care is key to keeping your teeth healthy throughout the course of your life. Oral health will impact your general health. Preventive dental services help maintain good oral health. They are a combination of routine hygienist visits for check-ups and teeth cleanings along with good habits, like flossing and brushing. Properly caring for your teeth should start in childhood and extend throughout the rest of your life.
Cleaning & Exams
Regular teeth cleaning combined with a dental exam is usually scheduled with a dental hygienist. You will be asked about any medical conditions and screened for oral cancer, gum disease, and tooth decay.
Dental X-Rays
Teeth x-rays, called radiographs, are images that your dentist will use to evaluate the health of your mouth. Low level radiation produces images of the interior of your gums and teeth to help your dentist with the identification of possible current or future issues, such as decaying teeth, impacted teeth, etc.
Fluoride Treatments
Dental fluoride treatments usually consist of professional treatments by a hygienist of high concentrations of fluoride applied to the teeth in order to reduce the risk of cavities and improve the health of the mouth.
Oral Cancer Screening
It is important to see a dentist one or two times each year to maintain a healthy mouth. Oral cancer screening tests can be a valuable addition to routine visits. Oral HPV testing and VELscope oral cancer screening can be included.
Urgent Dental Care
Meadowmont Dentistry is your emergency dentist in Chapel Hill.
Dental emergencies are not an issue at all for our loyal patients! When you have a toothache or some other problem with your teeth, you can count on us to:
- Be available when you call us for help, 24/7 – 365 days a year
- Walk you through the immediate aftermath of an emergency
- Set up an appointment for urgent dental care as soon as possible
- Take quick action to relieve your tooth pain and fix your dental problem
- Give you what you need to feel calm, comfortable, and relaxed
You don’t have to waste a moment wondering where to turn when you emergency dental services. Give us a call right away at 919-969-9330 when you need help.
Crown vs Filling
A tooth filling is used to treat minor damage or tooth decay. Untreated dental plaque causes cavities. The decayed tooth matter is removed and the tooth is filled with a composite resin or amalgam. Composite fillings can match the color of the natural enamel. If the cavity is large enough, removing all the decayed matter may threaten the tooth’s structural integrity. A crown may be the preferred solution.
With a dental crown, much of the tooth enamel must be removed. The crown will cover the visible part of the tooth above the gum line, and the strength of the tooth will be restored. A crown can match the color of the surrounding teeth.
Periodontal Care
Periodontal disease attacks the areas around the teeth, including the gums and the bone. A sticky film, called plaque, that forms is made up of food debris, saliva, and bacteria. If is not removed, it becomes tartar or calculus that begins to destroy the gums and bone. Gums become red, swollen, and bleeding. Eight percent of people have periodontal disease and don’t even know it, because it is initially painless.
Gum disease (gigivitus) treatment will depend on the stage of the disease. Regular cleaning and improved daily oral hygiene may cure some. Scaling and deep cleaning (root planning) may be recommended for advanced stages. Receding gums treatment may be suggested if bacterial gum infections have destroyed gum tissue and supporting bone.
Root Canals
Painful tooth infections can be repaired with endodontic procedures and root canals. Endodontics involves treating the sensitive soft tissues inside of teeth. These “soft pulp” tissues contain blood vessels, connective tissues, and high numbers of nerve cells, making them critical to a tooth’s health and function. Root canals are one of the more common endodontic procedures, treating painful infections and inflammation that can develop in a tooth’s soft pulp. At Meadowmont Dentistry, we can relieve the intense pain caused by tooth infections while repairing the tooth root base structure of infected teeth to prevent dangerous abscesses and future infections. In most cases, our endodontic skills enable patients to keep teeth that may otherwise require removal if an infection is left unchecked.
Tooth Extraction
There are a variety of reasons why a tooth may need to be removed. For older adults, it may be wisdom teeth removal for wisdom teeth that are positioned poorly and become impacted, risking infection or other damage to the surrounding tissues. In younger children, it could be a baby tooth that’s still adhering and interfering with the proper growth of adult teeth. It could be years of decay requiring a tooth to be extracted when it’s beyond repair. Teens who are about to get braces or other orthodontic treatment might have overcrowding that needs to be addressed. Sports injuries, accidents, and other trauma to the face can crack teeth and render them unfixable.
If we believe that tooth removal is in your best interest, we’ll start with x-rays to examine its position and see if there might be any complications. We’ll assess your medical and drug history and discuss your options for anesthesia with you. We generally use local anesthesia, numbing the tooth as well as the surrounding gums and bone, but we may use additional sedatives, as needed. During the removal process, we’ll make sure the surrounding tissues aren’t damaged. In some cases, we’ll add bone-grafting material to the socket to preserve proper bone volume.
After your tooth extraction procedure, we’ll use gentle pressure to control any bleeding or small stitches, if necessary. Mild to moderate discomfort or swelling is normal, and typical over-the-counter anti-inflammatory drugs, like ibuprofen or aspirin, should be sufficient to manage these symptoms. We may also recommend antibiotics to prevent infection in some cases. You may need to ice the jaw and eat softer foods, but you should feel totally normal within a few days.
Mouth Guards and Retainers
Mouth guards are used to protect the teeth, tongue, cheeks, and gums from the damage from teeth grinding or sports injuries. Night guards could be called mouth guards, bite splints, dental guards, occlusal guards, or nocturnal bite plates.
Retainers are custom made plastic or metal pieces that are custom-made to match the alignment o the teeth and the shape of the mouth.
There are permanent retainers, fixed retainers and removable retainer.
The removable types can be inserted and removed daily. They can be made of wire and plastic or a transparent plastic-like material.
Fixed retainers use a thin wire that is bonded to the inside surfaces of the front teeth. You can’t forget to wear them, and you can’t lose them.
A common need for retainers is to rebuild the bone when braces come off. The new teeth positions can be maintained after the orthodontic treatment is completed. Sometimes retainers are used instead of braces. They can also alleviate teeth grinding or bruxism.