Smile Solutions by Emmi Dental

Why do I need so many dental x-rays?

I get asked every day” why do I need dental x-rays”. I tell the patient that “it is the only way I can see between the teeth”.  Dental decay can be the fastest-growing oral pathology.

What needs to occur in your mouth to get a cavity? To get a cavity you need three things:

  1. You need to have bacteria in your mouth. All people have some bacteria in the mouth. All of us need a balance of the good and bad bacteria so our oral cavity functions well. Too little bacteria and we will get an overgrowth of yeast. So a healthy mouth needs some bacteria.
  2. The bacteria need a food source. The bacteria can digest most of the foods we eat. So anything other than water eventually allows bacteria to digest and then secrete acid as the byproduct of their digestion which causes dental decay.
  3. The last thing that is needed for dental decay is time. I mean that if bacteria have enough time they will digest the food source and then excrete acids which can start the decay process.

As you can see, we all have bacteria, we all need to eat and if left alone this will lead to tooth decay. We can’t control the bacteria or the need to eat. We can control the time that the bacteria is digesting the food. So ideally, every time we eat we should brush, floss, and rinse to stop the decay process. Some people are lucky and have less aggressive dental decay bacteria and can neglect the cleaning process and still not get decay. They are the lucky ones. However, as in life, not everyone is that lucky.
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“Best Dentist in Delaware!”

I just saw a new patient this morning that found my office by searching for the “Best Dentist in Delaware” on google. She was having a problem with a crown done by another dentist. We took x-rays and spoke with her about her tooth complaint and figured out the cause of the pain.

I sat down with her and explained it wasn’t the other dentist’s crown or work, although she said she felt they were rushed at the other office. It was just the trauma from having the tooth and fillings and other work on it since she was 12 and something I see all the time. We gave her the treatment options and she was very happy with us. She said that I explained her problem in a way she understood and took the time to do it.

So that last statement brings me to the main topic, what is the best dentist? Certainly, all patients want the best dental care that the dentist can provide at a reasonable price. They want the office staff to be friendly and to have a clean office. Patients want to be treated as a person not as a procedure as we feel sometimes when going to government offices. And lastly, I think that the patient just wants to know the potential cause and potential remedies for their discomfort or pain explained in an understandable way in a friendly manner.
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Total Family Dental Care.

Smile Solutions is a total family dental office. We provide services in all aspects of the dental disciplines that we can do as well as the specialist. We provide all the needs for your family from early child dental services to geriatric care for your parents or yourself. We have the best staff in Delaware in my opinion. They are friendly, courteous, knowledgeable, and here to serve your dental needs. Our dentists have been voted the best dentists in Delaware Today several years in a row. We take more than the required continuing dental education courses. Our clinical staff is patient-centered and bends over backward to make your visits pleasant and we submit your dental claims for you. Our clerical staff works behind the scenes just as hard to track and make sure you get the maximum insurance benefits your plan offers. When your insurance company tries to deny rightfully allowed procedures we submit appeals on your behalf to fight for your benefits.

If you don’t get satisfaction at my office for any reason then just let me know and I will personally investigate and correct the situation on those extremely rare occasions.

I instruct my staff to treat you as they would a loved family member. Call Smile Solutions by Emmi Dental Associates and test us.

CALL 302-999-8113

Can I get dentures in a day?

The short answer is yes. However, the real question I think that you should ask is do “I” want dentures in a day? I am being somewhat facetious with my last statement so I will try to explain my point.

I would like to lose weight in a day or get in shape in a day or bench press more in a day. Most things in life that are valuable or worthwhile take more than a day.  Now, I can make a set of dentures in a day if certain things happen:

  1. I need a thorough exam to make sure dentures are what is required to fix the patient’s problem.
  2. I need to make sure the person has an established bite or vertical dimension that is functional.
  3. I need to make sure I can capture the bite accurately so the lab can duplicate it in the dentures
  4. I need to take an accurate impression of gums and teeth.
  5. I need to pour models and send them to the lab
  6. The lab needs to mount the case at the proper bite
  7. The lab needs to remove the stone teeth from the model and adjust gum tissue on the model.
  8. The lab needs to set the teeth in the proper three dimensions so they look and function properly.
  9. The lab needs to process in a stable material.
  10. The lab needs to finally adjust the bite after processing to minimize any errors from processing then polish and send it to the office.
  11. I need to try in your mouth and make sure all your teeth hit properly
  12. I need to remove any spots on the denture that rubs your gums too much.

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Best denture in Delaware.

 

Smile Solutions by Emmi dental associates will make every attempt to get you the best denture that you could possibly get in our great State.  We will go the extra mile to make sure you are satisfied. We first try to listen to your concerns and determine if a denture could meet those concerns. If a denture can be fabricated to meet your needs we will try our best to fulfill your desires.

Our motto is” we strive for perfection but will accept excellence.”

Many dentists do not even make dentures because they can be very subjective. I mean that the patient must like the feel and look even if the dentists would have made them more ideal or different. Sometimes patients want the denture to look perfectly white and straight. Sometimes patients want the denture to look more natural with slight rotations to replicate natural teeth. I must get in my head what the patient wants so I can instruct the lab to make the denture fit the patients’ needs.

I enjoy doing dentures even though they can be very challenging.

If you need a replacement or a new denture please call to have a free consultation.

Call 302-999-8113 and as for Dr. Jeffrey Emmi

The Dentist ground down my good tooth!

 

I hear this from my patients every day. They point to a tooth or refer to a previous dentist that “drilled on a good tooth”, so that must be the reason for the problems they are having.

I understand that sentiment 100%. I would think and feel a similar way if I was a patient and if I was not fully informed why the dentist “ground down” a good tooth. And when I say fully informed, I do not mean informing the patient that they need a different tooth smoothed down. I mean really getting the patient to understand that, most likely, the tooth that needs to be “ground down” is ultimately the villain or the cause of the problem for the other tooth. Let me explain further.

When a tooth breaks or is cracked, a dentist must look for the reason. Many times it is simply that the patient bite on something harder than the tooth and the tooth broke. But frequently, the reason the tooth broke is that the opposing tooth is stronger and has a very pointy chisel-like cusp that exerts too much point contact pressure. Think of the chisel-like cusp as a log splitter. It is hitting the tooth hundreds of times per day and eventually a small crack develops and increases until the tooth either breaks or hurts to chew on it.

In those situations, a dentist MUST smooth the opposing tooth or the new crown/filling will be under the same stress and will break just like the natural tooth. So the easiest solution is to smooth the offending cusp and recreate a situation where the new crown will be under normal biting forces.

 

Please remember, nothing in the mouth happens without a reason. If a tooth hurts, is rotated, has red gums, and or a myriad of other problems, something is causing the issue. Our job as dentists is to figure out the cause and remediate it as best we can so the patient can function normally.

 

Please Call SMILE SOLUTIONS BY EMMI DENTAL ASSOCIATES 302-999-8113

Why do dental implants cost so much? Affordable implants.

Dental implants are expensive. My experience has been that, in some situations, they are one of the most satisfying procedures done for patients. There are a few procedures in dentistry that bring smiles to both the patient and the Dentist. A well-done set of porcelain veneers or crowns can transform a poor smile into something the patient just loves to show by smiling all the time. Even though it was expensive, the patient feels a new sense of self-confidence that is worth the expense.
A patient that wears loose dentures is mostly disabled from a mechanical chewing perspective. Their chewing forces decreases from 700 pounds per square inch to 70 psi. Patients learn to accept to smile with a slight fear of their teeth slipping or moving. They also learn that they cannot chew some foods anymore. When implants can be placed and a new denture attached to them, the patient gets a tremendous amount of satisfaction from their new ability to chew and speak with a newfound confidence.
Now back to the question of why are dental implants expensive. The main reason for the expense is the training and expertise of all the people involved in manufacturing, delivering, placing, and restoring a dental implant. It must be made from surgical grade titanium, placed in an atraumatic way, and in a healthy position into adequate jaw bone. The implant, once healed, needs to be restored by a well-trained laboratory person using high end digital mills to create an implant tooth that will function in your mouth for many many years if not many decades.
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Should my Root Canal last forever?

Patients ask me every week why did that dental procedure they had fail by the other dentist. When I explore the question further, it may be a filling placed 10 years ago, a root canal done 15 years ago, a crown that got decay below its margins done 13 years ago, or any number of procedures done by me or another dentist.
I then ask what in their body is as good as it was 10-20 years ago. All body parts are in a state of failure. Nothing lasts forever. A new hip or knee may only last 5-10 years. The mouth is a very difficult area to survive in. The mouth has extremes in temperature daily. Drinking fluids that are 40 degrees colder than ambient mouth temperature. Or drinking or eating stuff that is hotter than ambient temperatures. This sometimes happens many times during one meal!! The expansion and contraction caused but radially variant temperatures causes stress on dental materials.
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“Can you re-cement my crown?”

“Can you re-cement my crown?”
What does this statement mean to a dentist?
1. It could simply mean the cement is washed out and needs to be re-cemented.
2. It could be that decay has decayed the tooth so that the crown is no longer viable.
3. It could mean that the tooth was fractured under the crown.
4. It could mean that the bite is off so the crown loosens due to an off bite.

I see patients every week with this issue. The first step is to access the problem. Patients need to remember that everything in the mouth happens for a reason. It may be that your crown really does need to be re cemented. But the situation has to be evaluated by the dentist.
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Should I save my tooth or pull it?

I hear this question every day in my dental office. Unfortunately, many times the patient is in pain and wants immediate relief. The quickest and “cheapest” way to get out of pain is to pull the tooth.
The problem always arises when the patient eventually asks, “How can I replace the tooth so I don’t see the black gap in my smile?” At this point, the answer is slightly more complicated. There are options that involve a removable tooth or a non-removable tooth.
The removable tooth is called a flipper and varies in size but usually is not tolerated well if only replacing one tooth because of the size it needs to be to be strong enough to maintain biting forces. The non-removable tooth can be an implant or a bridge. Both of these choices are more like having a natural tooth.
The bridge advantage is that it can be done quicker. And if the teeth on either side of the space are weak, the bridge will strengthen those teeth. So by filling the space, you have actually improved the overall strength on that side of your mouth. But a disadvantage if the teeth on either side are not weak, then I will have to drill them. And that is done all the time, but now that we have implant therapy, there is an alternative to drilling on good teeth.
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