Digital X-Rays

The advancements in dental technology have now made it easier for dentists to deliver efficient care and diagnoses to their patients. One such advancement is digital x-rays, which are becoming a staple in dental practices all over the country. We at All Coast Dental are always looking to stay up to date with the latest technology, products, and treatments. Digital x-rays allow us to look more closely at your teeth than we ever have before!

A digital x-ray takes an image of your teeth and puts it into an imaging program. With special tools exclusive to this imaging program, your dedicated California dentist can take a closer look at your teeth with impeccable accuracy. Digital x-rays emit eighty percent less radiation than a standard x-ray since they are actually sensitive to radiation. This is a great benefit to the patient since the patient is exposed to less radiation. Digital x-rays can be classified as intraoral (inside the mouth) or extraoral (outside the mouth), though intraoral x-rays are the most commonly taken.

Intraoral x-rays allow your us to:

- Observe the status of developing teeth

- Monitor tooth health

- Look at the tooth roots

- Find cavities

- Check the health of the bony area around the tooth

- Determine if there are signs of periodontal disease

All Coast Dental is located at 2180 Garnet Ave., Suite 1-K, in Pacific, CA 92109. For more information about digital x-rays or to schedule an appointment, please visit allcoastdental.net or call 858-270-4904.

 

Use of Retainers

Do you have misaligned teeth that are making you self-conscious? Is it hard to floss because a few teeth are out of place? If so, you may be a good candidate for ClearCorrect orthodontic therapy. At All Coast Dental in Pacific Beach, we use this brand of aligners to help patients achieve perfect smiles. But to get the full benefit of orthodontic therapy, patients need to ensure their teeth stay in place.

One of the most common questions orthodontic patients have is how long they will need to wear their retainer for. The answer is usually going to be for life. Typically, an orthodontic patient would wear their retainer at day and night for a period of time as long as they were undergoing the active part of the therapy. After that, they would transition to only wearing the retainer at night. If they stop wearing it, their teeth may start migrating again. Many people who wear ClearCorrect or other invisible aligners had orthodontic braces as children, but their teeth have since shifted enough to be noticeable. What’s especially convenient about ClearCorrect is that the final aligner doubles as the retainer, so patients will be used to cleaning it and still won’t have any metal in their mouths. As always, the aligner should only be put in after the patient has brushed and flossed, and should be replaced by a dental professional if it breaks or melts.

Drs. Julie and Joseph Boulos operate All Coast Dental at 2180 Garnet Ave, Suite 1-K, Pacific Beach, California, 92109. To schedule an appointment, call 858-270-4904 or visit All Coast Dental and fill out a contact sheet.

 

Can People with Diabetes get Implants?

This National Diabetes Awareness Month, we at All Coast Dental in Pacific Beach wanted to address the impact diabetes has on oral health. People with diabetes have a more difficult time fighting off infections, which puts them at greater risk of developing gum disease and tooth decay. Consequently, their risk of losing a tooth is elevated. However, recent assessments of scientific research have shown that many diabetic patients can be good candidates for endosteal dental implants, allowing them to regain their bite function.

There are a few important reasons why patients with diabetes need extra attention when getting implants. Placing an implant requires that an incision be made in the gum tissue. People with diabetes take longer to recover from incisions than people without, but the evidence shows that they nearly always recover fully. Another issue is that an implant’s stability can be adversely affected by the gum tissue surrounding it becoming inflamed, and people with diabetes get gum inflammation at higher rates. But the same study found that when their blood sugar is well-controlled, diabetic people’s implants survive at the same rate as those in other people for the first six years.

People with diabetes are at slightly greater risk for implant failure over multiple decades, but this risk can be mitigated through proper oral hygiene. We encourage everybody, but especially people with diabetes, to be attentive to signs of gum disease such as redness and bleeding, and to schedule a cleaning with us right away if they see something troubling. With care, diabetic people can enjoy good oral health throughout life.

Drs. Julie and Joseph Boulos operate All Coast Dental at 2180 Garnet Ave, Suite 1-K, Pacific Beach, California, 92109. To schedule an appointment, call 858-270-4904 or visit All Coast Dental and fill out a contact sheet.

 

Panorex Imaging

As a dental office that provides patients with a full range of care options, we at All Coast Dental in Pacific Beach use the latest technology. Monitoring the eruption of wisdom teeth, the integration of an implant, and the health of the jaw bone all require rigorous x-rays. We use the Panorex, a device that provides a panoramic view of the patient’s mouth, allowing us to provide a superior quality of service.

A patient does not need to prepare for examination with a Panorex anymore than they would for a traditional x-ray. They will simply remove jewelry and other objects and then bite down on the plastic bite stopper on the Panorex machine. (The device may be lowered or raised to match a patient’s height.) Panels will then descend and rotate around the patient’s head while the x-rays are emitted. The whole process takes less than twenty seconds.

Images produced by the Panorex are highly detailed. Although they do not show soft tissues well, they allow us to more accurately predict tooth migration and detect changes in the vertical dimension of a patient’s jaw bone. They are commonly used for planning complex extractions and implant placement. They also subject the patient to fewer x-rays than traditional x-ray photographs and don’t require patients to hold film in their mouths.

Drs. Julie and Joseph Boulos operate All Coast Dental at 2180 Garnet Ave, Suite 1-K, Pacific Beach, California, 92109. To schedule an appointment, call 858-270-4904 or visit All Coast Dental and fill out a contact sheet.