Types of Dental Services Provided at Inside the Smile

Your smile and your oral care are monumentally important to our Oak Lawn dentist. You certainly have options when it comes to your dental care. At Inside The Smile, we prioritize your needs and delivers professional services that are backed by years of experience. Whether you need help restoring or enhancing your smile or are looking to maintain its health and natural beauty, Dr. Mike and the dental team at Inside The Smile are devoted to helping you accomplish your goals.

Come see us in our modern facility that offers all of the amenities meant to ensure that your visit is a pleasant one. We believe in conservative, state-of-the-art procedures that will result in a smile that you can be proud of.

Below, you will find an overview of each of the services provided, along with links to learn more about the specific procedure.

Family Dental Checkups & Exams

Good oral health must include regular dental checkups and exams. At Inside The Smile, we understand the importance of dental checkups as part of your regular preventive health care and perform thorough evaluations that will provide key insights on your overall health and oral hygiene.

These routine checkups and exams are extremely important in helping you to identify potential problem areas and avoid more difficult and costly dental work later. In addition to removing stains and deposits on your teeth, the dentist or hygienist will evaluate your risk of tooth decay, gum or bone disease, and check for bite or jaw problems. Inside The Smile also provides a wide variety of X-rays that allow the dentist to see detailed images of your mouth and clearly identify any signs of trouble.

Root Canals

A root canal can be necessary when an untreated cavity infects the blood and nerve supply of a tooth. Among the results of the infection is severe pain in the affected area. While root canals have a reputation for being especially painful treatments, Inside The Smile ensures that root canal treatments are done in an efficient and effective manner to help you get faster relief from pain.

Root canal problems stem from inflammation or infection of the tooth’s soft pulp, or the nerve inside the tooth. Inflammation or infection in the tooth’s pulp can indeed be extremely painful. The root canal procedure, however, is the relief from that pain and not the cause of it. It’s important not to ignore tooth pain or forgo root canal treatment. Root canals typically save natural teeth whereas extraction can be necessary if an issue is ignored.

During a root canal treatment, an anesthetic is administered, and a small opening is made in the surface of the affected tooth. Dead and dying pulp tissue is then removed from the pulp chamber and root canals before the chamber and empty canals are cleaned and filled. The tooth opening is then sealed, and the treatment is complete.

Cosmetic Smile Makeovers

If you’re at all unhappy with the way your smile looks, you should consider a cosmetic smile makeover. A smile makeover can mean different things depending on your situation, but it might include procedures such as:

• Veneers
• Tooth implants
• Whitening
• Composite bonding
• Crowns
• Tooth contouring

As we age, our smiles can lose its natural appearance due to tooth loss, tooth discoloration, grinding, cavities, or decay. The foods that we eat, our oral health, and our general health can all impact our teeth and turn a great smile into a smile that needs restoration. A smile makeover includes any combination of dentistry treatments that will address your desire to improve your smile’s appearance and leave your teeth in better health and looking great.

Invisalign

While it’s easy to see the attraction of straight teeth, the advantages aren’t just cosmetic. Crooked or misaligned teeth pose a health risk as well as take away from the vibrancy of a wonderful smile. Malocclusion, or imperfect positioning of the teeth, affects many adults and can lead to difficulty chewing and digesting food, headaches / migraines, jaw popping, periodontal disease due or premature wear due to the stress it places on teeth and jaws. The effects of crooked teeth often get worse over time.

Invisalign is a set of clear aligners that are custom made to straighten teeth. These aligners are an almost invisible and faster alternative to braces. For Invisalign treatment, first, an impression or scan of your teeth is used to create a 3D model. That model is used to custom fabricate individual aligners that are comfortable and removable, positioning your teeth so that they’re straight and fit together properly.

Dental implants

Dental implants are a used to replace missing teeth that have been lost due to gum disease or trauma. Missing teeth should be replaced because other teeth can shift out of place when a tooth is missing and cause problems or collapse.

During a dental implant procedure, a small screw is inserted into the jawbone and serves as an anchor at what was once the root of the missing tooth. After the anchor is implanted, an artificial replacement tooth is attached. Dental implants can replace a single tooth, multiple teeth, or dentures.

Dental implants are a proven, stable way to replace damaged or missing teeth. They’re durable, and can last for decades meaning that missing teeth don’t have to be a long-term problem for your smile or oral health.

Treatment of Gum Disease

Gum disease, or periodontal disease, is an infection of the teeth, gums, and the bone surrounding the teeth. As plaque accumulates on your teeth, it can invade the spaces between the teeth and gums. This hidden plaque produces toxins, which destroys the bone around your teeth. Once this bone is lost, it cannot be replaced. If too much bone is lost, there is no support for the teeth and the teeth must be removed. Gum disease is one of the leading causes of adult tooth loss and measures should be taken to ensure that the underlying issue is treated.

Many people who have gum disease aren’t even aware of it. Thorough, regular examinations as well as cleanings will help to identify and alleviate the risk of gum disease. Once we identify gum disease, we’ll talk with you about your treatment options. The right care will stop or reduce the disease progression.

Teeth Extraction

We always aim to preserve the natural beauty of your smile. In some circumstances, a tooth may be too damaged or infected to remain and your dentist may recommend extraction in order to prevent other problems to surrounding teeth or tissue.

Dr. Mike and the team at Inside The Smile do their best to make sure your tooth extraction is as painless as possible. We also provide options to return your smile to full health and function after a tooth extraction. From tooth replacements to bridges, one of our dental professionals will work with you to review your options and post-treatment care to restore your smile.

Tooth Colored (metal free) Fillings

Dental patients today are fortunate to have a range of options to repair worn, damaged, or decaying teeth. We offer several different materials for filling teeth, including a mixture of fillers that produces a tooth-colored, metal-free filling. This cutting-edge process results in a color-matched filling that keeps your smile and tooth appearance seamless and healthy.

Our fillings are designed to withstand high chewing loads and can be used to fill molars. This newer, reliable material is a great option to help bolster or replace a missing tooth structure and to keep your smile metal free and looking great.

Crowns and Bridges

A dental crown may be necessary in situations where a tooth has become weak, is broken, or severely misshapen. A crown is a tooth-shaped “cap” that goes over the tooth in order to improve its appearance or give it needed size and strength.

If more than one tooth is missing or damaged, a bridge may be needed. A bridge is a fixed dental prosthesis where at least two teeth are fitted with a crown and fill up the gap between those teeth. Bridges are cemented on the surrounding teeth and are custom fit to your mouth. We’ll work with you to review your treatment options and help you decide if a crown, bridge, implant, or some other procedure is right for you.

Dentures and Partials

No one likes to think about losing their smile. But sometimes, we do lose teeth due to injury, gum disease, or tooth decay. Dentures are a potential replacement for missing teeth and solution to restoring your smile.

Having a full set of teeth is extremely important for your health. Without all of your teeth, you cannot eat properly or speak clearly. Additionally, your remaining natural teeth can move around the spaces left in your mouth, causing problems with tooth crowding and perhaps causing your face to appear misshaped.

Complete dentures are used when an individual has lost all of their natural teeth while partial dentures are used when just some of an individual’s natural teeth are missing. The right set of dentures matches the look of your natural teeth and may even improve your overall look as it gives you the chance to correct any issues you had with your natural teeth.

Children’s Dentistry

Oral health is integral to overall health – and not just for adults. Children of all ages need routine checkups and examinations to ensure that they’re oral health is progressing in the right way. At Inside The Smile we know that children can sometimes be a bit leery of visiting the dentist. Our team of dental professionals makes young ones feel welcome and sets them at ease so that they can get the care that they need.

Our fun, friendly dental team is ready to help provide children with dental care in the highest standard. From first checkups to sealants, interceptive orthodontics, to braces and beyond, we strive to meet the needs of children from birth to adulthood. Click here to learn more how to choose a dentist for your child and why ITS is the choice for your neighbors.

Interceptive Orthodontics

Most people associate orthodontics, or the treatment of irregularities in the teeth and jaws, with young adults. While it’s true that many young adults need braces, there are host of preventive and correctional procedures that start before adulthood. As children grow, they may begin to experience a range of different problems in their teeth and jaws.

Orthodontics at an early age can minimize damage and provide a course for correction so that later procedures are shorter and less complicated. We offer many different types of appliances, both fixed and removable, to help correct a variety of problems like overbite, underbite, spacing, crowding, and more. Treating children early, usually no later than age 7, is especially important since some problems may not be corrected once the face and jaw are finished growing.

Sleep Disordered Breathing Treatment

Sleep apnea is a serious disorder that causes multiple pauses in breathing as you sleep. It affects millions of people and can lead to many different health problems such as snoring, chronic headaches, impaired memory, anxiety, and many other issues. Over time, sleep disordered breathing can result in even more serious issues such as stroke, heart attack, high blood pressure, and even heart failure.

We can consult with you to determine how your sleep is disordered and provide potential solutions. We offer devices that fit over your teeth and hold your jaw forward, preventing your tongue and throat tissue from collapsing into your airway. We’ll make sure you get the right oral appliance that will correct your sleeping issues and ensure that you get healthy, restorative sleep and avoid long-term sleep related health issues.