One of the best ways to make sure your child has a healthy smile for life is by establishing a dental home. That means creating a trusting relationship between your child & your family dentist & making sure visits to the dentist are fun & educational.

When you think of braces, you may think of months to years of a mouth full of metal, but just like all other technologies, the technology of straightening teeth has advanced in recent years. There are lots of options for braces these days, some of which you might not even call braces.

Teeth grinding is when you clench your jaw closed & grind your teeth together, whether consciously or unconsciously. Teeth grinding is called bruxism by dentists, & it can cause damage, discomfort & pain.

Bruxism is what dentists call teeth clenching and teeth grinding. The symptoms of bruxism are fairly easy to spot, as are the complications that can result from it.

We know the majority of our patients work during the middle of the day. You may not work 9 to 5 exactly (maybe you work 8 to 4) but chances are that in the middle of the day, your employer or clients expect you to be at work or available. That's why we do our best to offer teeth cleaning appointments that fit your work schedule.

Everyone knows about cavities & how they affect your teeth and your oral health, but you never hear very much about gum disease. What is gum disease? How can you protect your gums and teeth from gum disease? And what causes it anyway?

If you have dental insurance, your insurance company provides you with a certain dental benefits each year. In case you're not very familiar with insurance vocabulary, you can think of an insurance benefit as a dental service that the insurance company pays all or most of the cost of. Most dental plans cover the most common preventive services at 100%, meaning the insurance company pays 100% of the cost & you pay nothing.

Humans have been using toothbrushes to remove food from teeth for thousands of years. Early toothbrushes were sticks with frayed ends, & later brushes were made from bone, wood or ivory & animal hairs. We have come a long way since then, & toothbrushes today are very effective at removing food & plaque & keeping your teeth & gums clean to prevent tooth decay.

The temporomandibular joints are the joints on either side of your head that connect your jaw to your skull & allow you to open & close your mouth, chew, & speak. Because it can move in many different directions, these joints are some of the most complex in your body.

The choice between clear braces or metal braces is becoming an age-old debate at the orthodontist's office or the dentist's office. For many patients who wish to straighten their teeth, the choice comes down to balancing the affect of orthodontics on your appearance, it's impact on your budget, & the expected or desired outcome for your particular case.