Cosmetic & Restorative Dentistry

A crown is built to look and feel just like a natural tooth, and to fit over and cover up your tooth structure. Ceramic porcelain materials are the most popular option as they look and feel just like your natural enamel.

To prepare for a dental crown, your existing tooth structure is trimmed significantly to remove damaged material, and shape the area into a stable, smooth, and strong platform for the crown. The crown is built to cover up this structure and be permanently bonded onto your tooth, covering it up all the way to the gum line.

Once the crown is placed, it will replace your natural tooth, and provide excellent protection for up to 10-20 years or longer, depending on your oral hygiene, how the crown was placed, and a few other factors.

Inlays are used instead of fillings to replace a small amount of tooth structure loss due to decay. Like fillings, inlays fit inside the tooth. the inlays can be made of a tooth-colored material such as ceramic/porcelain or special dental composite. Defective or unsightly "fillings" can be replaced by tooth-colored inlays and bonded to the tooth.

Onlays also fit inside the tooth, but extend onto the chewing surface of a back tooth to replace one or more cusps. Making the onlay of ceramic/porcelain allows the restoration to be bonded to the tooth.

Keeping our teeth their whitest is a lot harder than it sounds. With all the coffee, wine, smoking and other foods that have the ability to stain our teeth on a daily basis, even proper maintenance sometimes leaves them a little lackluster. Teeth whitening is an excellent way to restore the natural color of your teeth or even make them whiter than your natural color if you would like.

To accomplish the whitening of your teeth, we utilize a product called ZOOM!, which is a chairside whitening procedure that uses a safe whitening gel and a low intensity light to activate the gel. This combination allows us to provide you with teeth that are 6-10 shades whiter in about an hour!

Custom whitening trays are created to fit your teeth exactly, which will give you better coverage for applying at-home whitening treatments in between your Zoom?! in office treatments.

Dental fillings can be made of multiple materials such as silver amalgam or tooth-colored composite resin, which resembles the pearly white color of your natural teeth. When used to fill a cavity or prevent new cavities from forming, your dental filling seals the affected area with a strong protective layer that blocks harmful bacteria or decay. After placement, a dental filling can last several years and is a popular form of restorative dental care.

A fixed bridge technique is used to replace a missing tooth or teeth. Teeth on both sides of the space left by the missing tooth are prepared for a crown. Then a false tooth is joined to the crowns, and the entire bridge is cemented to the prepared teeth.

Dental implants are a permanent tooth restoration, built to replace the original root and tooth structure of a missing tooth.

Implants are composed of two primary parts. The post functions as an artificial root. It is implanted into the gum line, and bonds to the surrounding gum and jaw tissue.

After the post has healed, a dental crown that's shaped just like your missing tooth is permanently bonded to the post's abutment.

This tooth is indistinguishable from a natural tooth, providing an attractive and permanent restoration for your missing tooth.

Root Canal (Endodontics)

Root canals occur when the soft inner tissue inside the tooth is diseased or injured. A cracked tooth, deep cavity, complications with a large filling or dental injury can expose the soft inner pulp of the tooth to bacteria, decay and injury. When these inner nerves and blood vessels are affected, you may feel pain in the tooth and throughout the jaw. If left untreated, a root canal can worsen and affect the surrounding teeth or bone in the jaw, resulting in tooth loss or the need to remove a damaged tooth.

Dr. Yap and Dr. Chen will apply a local anesthesia to the affected area to numb the bothersome tooth and remove any pain. Next, a small hole is made into the surface of the tooth to access and remove the infected pulp. The empty root canal is then carefully cleaned with medicine to remove bacteria or infection. It is then filled with a rubber-like substance that shares a similar consistency as the pulp of a regular healthy tooth. Finally, the tooth is sealed with a color matched composite filling or dental crown to maintain the tooth's natural strength and appearance.

A very common reason for tooth extraction involves a tooth that is too badly damaged from trauma or decay to be repaired. A dental extraction (also referred to as tooth extraction, exodontia, exodontics, or informally, tooth pulling) is the removal of teeth from the dental alveolus (socket) in the alveolar bone.

Dr. Yap and Dr. Chen have performed many extractions during their careers for patients of all ages and for many reasons including periodontal issues, crowding, decay, trauma, or wisdom teeth removal.

A dental implant is a surgical component that interfaces with the bone of the jaw or skull to support a dental prosthesis such as a crown, bridge, denture, or facial prosthesis or to act as an orthodontic anchor.

You may need a dental implant if you have missing or damaged teeth, or do not want bridges, dentures, or crowns to replace those teeth.

Learn more and see if you're a candidate for dental implants at a consultation appointment with Dr. Yap.