Baton Rouge Dentist

Archives for February 2019

Why is my teeth whitening causing me pain?

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I have been whitening my teeth, using an at-home system, for a couple of weeks now and have had no problems. However, during my whitening session yesterday, I experienced an intense pain for about half of a minute in my front tooth. This tooth has a dental bond that was chipped and corrected over a decade ago. Do you think the pain is any indication that the dental bond needs replaced? Or, is there any chance that the whitening I’ve been doing is causing the bond to lose its strength? I’m worried that it could be both.

Thank you,
Lindsay

Dear Lindsay,
It is unlikely that the bleaching would cause the bond on your tooth to weaken. The bleaching gel has no history of weakening bonds such as this. In addition, if the bond were beginning to lose its strength, the repair, which you mentioned having done to to the chip in the bond, would likely fall off and not just cause pain.


The pain you mentioned experiencing can be attributed to the bleaching gel applied to a part of the tooth which is sensitive. If the tooth has been chipped and repaired, it’s possible that the part which is sensitive was previously covered by a bonding agent that is no longer there.

This is a good reminder that teeth whitening is best done under the supervision of a dentist and hopefully this is the case with you. You should make your dentist aware of the pain you’ve been experiencing. He or she should be able to determine the cause of the problem. If there is a sensitive part to the tooth, something can be applied to address the sensitivity, allowing you to move forward with your current bleaching treatment. It is important that you address this prior to any more bleaching.

This blog post is brought to you by Baton Rouge teeth whitening dentist, Dr. Ryan Perry.

Why did my dental implant fail?

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I am in desperate need of dental implants that are affordable. I consulted several dentists, but had succumbed to the idea that my only affordable choice was a partial denture. Not all of the dentists I met with suggested this. Some advised that I needed dental bridges, and one even suggested I needed surgery. I finally landed on a dentist who said he could provide me with affordable dental implants, with no prior surgery. It never occurred to me that I should have questioned this, seeing as none of the other dentists made this suggestion. Therefore, I proceeded with his treatment plan and received the implants. Unfortunately, they have been problematic from the beginning. In fact, one of them fell out completely! Is this typical or did I receive sub-par treatment? The dentist states that there is no way to anticipate problems like this, and sometimes dental implants fail. Is this the case, or did I have the wool pulled over my eyes?

Thank you,
Mandy

Dear Mandy,

The affordability of the implants is not as important to answering your question as is the skill level of the dentist. The success rate of a procedure such as this can be as high as 98%. However, this statistic varies greatly based on the skill and experience of the dentist.

No, a dental implant completely falling out is not common. If no other symptoms accompanied this issue, the signs point to the implant not having adequate time to complete integrate with the bone before the crown was placed. This is called osseointegration, and generally takes six to nine months to be fully complete.

It is possible that your dentist did everything correctly, yet your body rejected the false tooth. This has happened before and there is no way to predict to whom it will happen. But, when it does happen, and the body rejects the tooth, it can look different from patient to patient.

Considering all of the above factors, it is difficult to conclude whether your dentist was just inexperience, or if he short-changed you. It would be a a great idea for you to consult with an experienced dental implant provider, in order to for your implants to be evaluated. He or she may be able to provide you with a better understanding of why yours failed, as well as help determine a plan to replace the one that fell out.

This article is brought to you by Baton Rouge affordable dental implant provider Dr. Ryan Perry.