Your Questions

What are crowns?

Crowns are full coverage restorations, which can restore and add strength to your damaged teeth. Crowns can be used in situations where veneers can't be used, or to aid in the replacement of missing teeth.  Crowns can even achieve a certain amount of tooth straightening.
Crowns may be made of all porcelain materials or from a combination of porcelain and precious metals (such as gold) or of porcelain and composite resin material.

What are veneers?

Veneers are very thin pieces of porcelain or composite material that Dr. Arian can shape to fit your tooth and to blend with your overall smile. After it is shaped, the veneer is firmly bonded to the front of your tooth.  Veneers are often used to cover chipped, stained, discolored, unevenly spaced, or even slightly crooked teeth.

How many appointments do veneers take?

Veneers usually take just two appointments.  That means you can get a brand new, sparkling smile in just a few weeks!

What is a root canal?

A root canal treatment (also called endodontics treatment) helps save your tooth when its nerve tissue has been irreversibly damaged due to decay, trauma or tooth fracture.  In a root canal, the dentist first removes the pulp, then cleans the canal of the root and finally seals the tooth off with a crown.  

Although root canals have gained a bad reputation in the past, today a root canal is generally a simple one or two visit procedure.  And don’t worry--today’s root canal procedures involve little or no discomfort. 

Most important of all, successful root canal treatment saves your tooth so you can keep it for your lifetime.

What is a denture?

Dentures can replace natural teeth when the patient has lost all of them (top, bottom or both) because of injury, accident and/or disease.  Made with state-of-the-art materials and fitted carefully, dentures today are more comfortable than ever.  Patients can chew and speak with ease; they even look younger too, since dentures keep their faces from sagging inwards.

Dentures may be anchored more firmly in place through the use of dental implants, making them feel as close as possible to natural teeth.

What is a partial, or removable partial denture?

A removable partial denture can be used to fill gaps in your mouth where several teeth are missing.  These artificial teeth are held in place by metal clasps that attach on either side to your natural teeth.  Because it is removable, this type of denture is easier to clean than a fixed appliance might be.

Partial dentures will enhance your appearance by filling in any unsightly spaces in your smile.

What is a dry socket?

A dry socket can occur after a person has had an extraction.  A blood clot either doesn’t form properly at the site of the extraction or is somehow dislodged; its absence exposes the bone to air, fluids and food, sometimes causing severe pain.

Dry sockets are most likely to be a problem for smokers, for women taking oral contraceptives and for people who do not follow their post-surgery instructions carefully.