Other Services

What is Fissure Sealing?
Fissure sealant is a colourless protective material that is applied to the chewing surfaces of your child’s molar teeth to protect susceptible tooth surfaces from decaying. Molars and pre molars have tiny pits or fissures that cannot be reached by brushing. These pits trap food particles which lead to growth of bacteria that cause teeth to decay. Fissure sealants form a shield on the teeth by sealing of the crevices. It is a pain free process in which the tooth surface is first cleaned thoroughly and dried. The Fissure Sealant is coated on the teeth and is then hardened using ultraviolet light beam.

What is the right time to get Fissure Sealing done?
The best time to get fissure sealing done would be when the first molar teeth come through at about six to seven years of age. The second molars appear around eleven to fourteen years and can be fissure sealed then. Fissure sealing is a good preventive option if you have had any restorations done in your mouth.

Would I need an X-ray?
Early stages of tooth decay may not be visible in an oral examination. An X-ray allows your dentist to see in between the hidden surfaces of your teeth and identify decay, abscesses or any other abnormalities like tumours or cysts. X-rays also reveal any changes or infections in the bone and tissue. Determination and treatment of dental problems at an early stage help in saving precious time and money.

When should I get X-rays done?
There is no set time frame to get X-rays done. Your dentist will request you to get an X-ray done the first time you consult him as a part initial exam and to assess your oral health. Subsequent X-rays will be decided based on your age, medical and dental history.

Why do I need a desensitising special tray?

We are all born with white teeth, but years of chewing and gnashing causes the enamel to wear off causing teeth to get stained and discoloured. Teeth can also get discoloured due to smoking, drinking tea, coffee or red wine or due to eating food which has strong colourings. Your dentist can advise what the best whitening option is after he examines your teeth and gums. There are several tooth whitening procedures from over-the-counter whitening trays to professional treatments in a dental office which help you to get back whiter teeth.

The teeth whitening process is simple and painless. A whitening gel is placed into a custom made teeth whitening tray and is placed on your teeth for an hour a day for ten consecutive days. Mild and temporary tooth sensitivity, which ranges from mild tingling to a throbbing pain, is a common side effect of teeth whitening treatment. In order to avoid discomfort caused by sensitivity, desensitising special trays are specially formulated by including desensitising agents. These customised mouth trays whiten all the upper and lower teeth at once and effectively reduce sensitivity of the teeth at the same time.

What is a happy gas?
A caring dentist may not always be able to relieve a patient’s dental anxiety. To enable the patient to cope with his or her fears or phobias, dentists offer sedation by inhalation of Nitrous Oxide, also called happy gas or laughing gas. Nitrous Oxide is usually used in dentistry and surgical procedures for its pain reduction and blocking effects.

How does it work??
Nitrous Oxide is a colourless and odourless gas. It is mixed with oxygen and is inhaled by the patient through a face mask. After about five minutes of breathing the gas, it takes effect and you have a happy, euphoric feeling spreading through your body. Sometimes you may break out in laughter, which is why it is also called laughing gas. Your dentist can conveniently carry out the dental procedure while you are sedated. Under the effect of Nitrous Oxide, you remain conscious of your surroundings. The sedation wears off within three to five minutes of removing the mask, and you are ready to leave soon after the dental procedure is completed.

What is it and when do you need it?
Your teeth are fixed to your jaw bone by their roots. Most of the teeth in the front are held by one root, while the molars and premolars have at least two roots. The area at the end of the roots, called apex, is where the blood vessels and nerves go into the tooth. These nerves find their way into the root canal. When the root canal gets infected, it requires root canal treatment; however, at times this treatment fails to remove the infection if it is situated in the smaller nerve branches, rather than the main ones. This is when you will require an Apicectomy.

What happens during the Apicectomy procedure?
The affected tooth is first numbed, and an incision is made into the gum and lifted to reach the tooth. The infected tissue in the surrounding is removed, and either the root tip or the apex is removed. The area is cleaned and filled to ensure that the root canal is sealed. The entire procedure takes around thirty to ninety minutes depending upon the case.

What are dental or oral cysts?
Dental or oral cycts are a fairly common ailment that inflicts the lining of the cheeks, the tongue and floor of the mouth, around teeth or in the jawbone underlying teeth. Cysts are sacs of fluid and tissue which generally develop as the result of inflammation or infection to the mouth tissues. Periapical or Radicular cysts are most commonly occurring cysts and seen around the root apices of infected teeth. These are caused by infections which spread to the pulp of a tooth. Dentigerous or Follicular cysts are associated with wisdom teeth. Cysts by themselves are not harmful. However, your dentist would advise you to have it removed in order to prevent them from spreading and thereby damaging the surrounding tissue and bone or even affecting the position of surrounding teeth.

How is cyst surgery done?
Cyst removal can usually be done in the dental office under local anaesthesia where your dentist will perform a simple surgical procedure. A large oral cyst can require more extensive surgery since your dental surgeon will also need to reconstruct the bone after removing the cyst. It is recommended to make follow-up visits with your dental surgeon so that you can monitor signs of the cyst growing back.

What is Tooth Abscess?
A tooth abscess is an accumulation of pus which is caused by a bacterial infection in the inner part of your tooth. Bacteria enter the inner tooth area through any cracks in your teeth or through a cavity that has not been treated. A periapical abscess forms when the bacteria affects the bone. A periodontal abscess is formed when the periodontal pocket is infected by bacteria. This mostly affects persons who have periodontitis, which leads to inflamed gums and the formation of the periodontal pocket as well. Root canal treatment followed by a root filling is done to treat periapical abscesses; whereas the periodontal abscess is drained thoroughly, followed by cleaning of the periodontal pocket. Your dentist will recommend treating abscesses with procedures that may include an incision, root canal treatment or abscess surgery depending on the case.

When and how is abscess surgery done?
Abscess surgery needs to be done in case of recurring infection. The surgery will be performed by an oral surgeon. For those of you who have a recurring periapical abscess, your dentist will surgically remove the diseased tissues around the bone. For periodontal abscess, surgery is required to reshape the tissues of the gum and also remove the periodontal pocket so that the infection does not return. Removal of the tooth is required in case the decay or damage to the tooth is so extensive that it cannot be filled.

When do you need an occlusal adjustment?

The process with which you bite and chew is the result of the harmony with which the two opposing surfaces of your teeth join together. When you experience soreness in your jaw and you feel that your bite is uneven, it may be time to visit your dentist. Some other signs that you may notice are a shifting or loosening in your teeth, teeth sensitivity when you eat or drink cold or hot food, grinding your teeth and a pain when you bite.

In order to adjust your teeth so that the occluding or biting surfaces are aligned, your dentist will perform an occlusal adjustment. This procedure involves grinding and reshaping some of your teeth in order to balance the biting and chewing procedure. This is a simple and painless procedure which involves removal of very fine layers of your teeth to the point where the contact between the surfaces is properly in line.

Can laser therapy help heal ulcers?

Ulcers in the mouth, also known as canker sores affect many people and cause great oral discomfort to them. They can be caused due to stress or by trauma. Most often, they heal on their own. A more troublesome and painful form that is known to be recurrent is called aphthous stomatitis. Aphthuous ulcers are caused by a bacterial infection which can cause the skin inside the cheek, floor of the mouth or lips to break down.

Dentists recommend laser therapy for immediate pain relief. The treatment takes a very short time- around five minutes and is absolutely pain free. Laser therapy helps to disinfect the ulcer, reduce the inflammation and quicken the healing process sans pain.

What is a biopsy?
A biopsy is a simple surgical procedure that helps to obtain a section of tissue, tooth or a piece of jaw for pathological examination with an aim to find the source of any abnormality or lesion. Dentists may perform any of the two kinds of biopsies – incisional or excisional – depending on the size and nature of the lesion. In incisional biopsies, only small section of tissue is taken out from the lesion, however in excisional biopsies, the whole lesion is removed.

Why would I need a biopsy?
Your dentist will advise a biopsy to eliminate the risk of a growth or lesion turning out to be cancerous. In the biopsy, the removed tissue will be analysed in the laboratory and a diagnosis will be obtained. Oral biopsies are done under local anaesthesia.

What is a diagnostic model??
A diagnostic model is a planning method or a simulation that is used to inform and educate the patient before any kind of cosmetic dentistry is performed. Impressions of your upper and lower arches are taken and diagnostic models are poured and created.

This enables both the dentist as well as the patient to fully evaluate and customise the final look and correctly align the bite before the procedure starts. Your suggestions and opinions are welcomed and incorporated so that in addition to the procedure functioning properly, you get the smile you always wanted.

How often do you get that sharp, piercing pain when you eat or drink anything cold or hot? Sometimes sweet or sour foods or the act of brushing your teeth could make you stop whatever you are doing and wait till it goes away. Don’t worry, you are not alone, since tooth sensitivity is quite a common problem. However, you don’t need to put up with your sensitive teeth any more.

Loss of tooth enamel or root covering exposes the inner, second layer called Dentin. Dentin has tubules which have nerve cells located inside the tooth. When you drink anything cold or hot, it touches the exposed tubules which in turn stimulates the nerves and causes that sharp pain.

Before prescribing a treatment procedure, your dentist will first evaluate the cause for hypersensitivity. The prescribed desensitising treatment will be done per tooth and will be focused on the root cause which may include poor dental hygiene, decay or teeth erosion and several other factors.

What is laser gingivectomy?
Laser gingivectomy is the procedure in which any excess gum tissue can be removed by using a diode laser. A gingivectomy is performed for reasons that include the following:

• Gum diseases due to which gaps or “pockets” are formed between your teeth and gums. Bacteria may attack these pockets and it may even lead to the loss of a tooth.
• Aesthetic reasons, in order to remove excess gum tissue.
Traditionally dentists used the scalpel to remove excess gum tissue, but these days they use laser gingivectomy because it is one of the safest, most convenient methods in removing infected or excess gum tissue.

Why is laser gingivectomy better for you?
Dentists use lesser local anaesthesia, minimal bleeding, quicker procedure, less painful and the healing process is much faster.

A traumatic injury may cause a foreign body to be lodged in the oral cavity. Your curious child may also have put a part of his toy in his mouth, which may have ended up in getting stuck in the root canal. These objects are a source of infection and should be removed at the earliest to avoid serious complications.

You dentist will study the case after necessary clinical examinations and x-rays are done and then conclude about the location, size and type of the foreign body and also assess the ease in retrieving. The removal of foreign bodies presents a challenge to dental surgeons because of the difficulty in accessing the object due to its proximity to other vital organs.

What is alveolectomy?

As a result of a serious trauma, a severe gum disease or a dental decay, your dentist needs to extract several teeth or in some situations all your teeth. Once this procedure is completed, the remaining bone or the tooth sockets which is called the alveolar process, is uneven and at times sharp. It becomes hard for the patient to wear dentures because of the damage to the soft gum tissues caused by the sharp bones below it.

This situation can be prevented if an alveolectomy is performed during the removal of the teeth, by smoothing and shaping the jaw bone appropriately so that the dentures can fit in comfortably. An alveolectomy, in other words is the removal of a portion of the alveolar process, is done at the time of removal of teeth in order to ensure smooth progress of further dental treatment. Once the procedure is completed, the dentures are placed on the gums, so that that it allows the gums to heal and therefore allowing you to carry on as normal.

A flabby ridge is noticed when fibrous tissue is deposited under the dentures, more frequently in the area of the upper front teeth. This is commonly observed if the patient has lost the upper front teeth early and has used poor quality of dentures. The bone tends to shrink away from the gum and the soft tissue that takes its place causes the dentures to lose stability and shift from its position easily.

There are ways to modify this ridge, which often involves surgery that improves the stability and retention of complete dentures.

Simply speaking, a mandible dislocation refers to when your jaw is “out.” This could happen not only after a trauma or a dental extraction, but also following a big yawn or laughing out loud. You would find it difficult to speak and can also experience a severe pain in the region around your ear. This may also cause your jaw to appear more prominent.

Your dentist would first check for any fractures by obtaining x-rays. He would then proceed to relocate your jaws physically by following the mandible relocation procedure. If this doesn’t work, he would consider carrying out the procedure under local anaesthesia.

Marsupialization is the treatment of a cyst by surgically opening it to convert it from an enclosed sac to a partially open pouch. The next step in this procedure is to evacuate the cyst. Your dentist only removes the part of the cyst in order to create the open pouch. The lining of the cyst is not removed and is retained as it is. This procedure aids in reducing the pressure inside the cyst and also encourages the cyst to shrink. This results in reduction of discomfort to the area.

Marsupialization is a relatively simple procedure which can be done in the dental office under local anaesthesia.

What is pulp capping?
Pulp capping is a procedure that dentists use to prevent the pulp of the tooth from getting decayed. A procedure where an exposed pulp is directly covered with a protective dressing or
cement.

Why do you need direct pulp capping?
In situations when the pulp gets exposed due to trauma or iatrogenic errors, your dentist will proceed to seal the exposed pulp with either medicated or non-medicated material. This procedure can only be done if the width of the exposed area is less than .5mm in diameter.

Pulpotomy is the amputation within the pulp chamber of part of the vital pulp of a tooth. The pulp remaining in the canal(s) is then covered with a protective dressing or cement.

Emergencies have the habit of dropping in unannounced. We understand that dental emergencies can cause you unendurable pain that needs to be attended at the earliest. We offer you after-hours emergency examination and treatment.

Please call us at 02 9637 5376, and we will attend to your urgent needs as quickly as possible.

Looseness of teeth is a frequently observed condition which can be caused by gum diseases. Loose teeth cause great discomfort while eating, since your teeth tend to shift around in your gums. Your loose teeth can be made stable by the process of splinting, which is a procedure in which adjacent teeth are joined to provide mutual support. The procedure requires the subsequent removal of the splinting material.

You will need to take good care of your splinted teeth. They need to be cleaned thoroughly, especially in-between teeth. You will also need to make regular visits to your dentist, once every six months to ensure that your splints are in good condition.