At Santa Teresa Smiles, we offer a wide range of restorative solutions to treat tooth decay, dental traumas, and tooth loss. We’re committed to helping patients regain a beautiful, healthy, fully functioning smile. Our experienced, judgment-free team will work hand-in-hand with you to design a restorative treatment plan. Contact us to schedule your consultation!
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After we remove decay from a tooth, there’s often a cavity or misshapen area left behind. To make the tooth look more aesthetically pleasing and to protect it from future decay, we use BPA-free, tooth-colored dental fillings. Our fillings are safe for your mouth and body and are extremely durable. The reason they’re called tooth-colored fillings is that we can match the shade of resin to your tooth so that your filling blends in seamlessly with your smile.
Composite fillings are extremely durable. With proper care, they can last anywhere from 10 to 15 years and even longer. When you receive a BPA-free, tooth-colored filling, you can enjoy the benefits of this discreet restoration for more than a decade.
Yes! Our fillings are made from composite resin which is a completely safe material for your mouth and your overall health.
If your old silver fillings need to be replaced due to decay or wear, we can do so using the Safe Mercury Amalgam Removal Technique (SMART). With this technique, we can safely remove amalgam fillings using our Dent Air Vac that is designed to remove and filter vapors as well as a latex-free rubber dam to isolate the rest of the mouth during removal. After we successfully remove your old fillings, we’ll replace them with our biocompatible, BPA-free composite resin fillings.
LEARN MOREWe utilize a Dent Air Vac that is designed to remove and filter vapors out of the breathing area. We also have an advanced suction system that gathers any amalgam particles during removal. Our team uses water to reduce any heat generating during removal and we always safely dispose and properly recycle amalgam after the removal is complete.
Our office offers biocompatible, BPA(bisphenol A.)-free restorations, such as tooth-colored, composite resin restorations as well as metal-free porcelain crowns. With our biocompatible restorations, we have the opportunity to create beautiful, natural-looking smiles that look just as great as they feel!
Our tooth-colored, BPA and metal-free crowns are tooth-shaped porcelain caps that cover an existing tooth. They can be used to protect cracked or broken teeth, strengthen a weak tooth, support a tooth after a large filling or root canal treatment, and more. In the past, traditional crowns took multiple appointments to complete. Now, our office utilizes advanced CEREC® technology to design, fabricate, and place custom tooth restorations in a single visit!
CEREC stands for Chairside Economical Restoration of Esthetic Ceramics. It uses computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing to create beautiful, high-quality restorations completely in-house. One of the biggest advantages of CEREC is that we can design and fabricate crowns, inlays, and onlays in a single visit. Without CEREC, it usually takes two or more appointments to finish the process.
Every patient is different, and our treatment recommendations take a variety of factors into account. Crowns are a great option for patients with severely damaged or decayed teeth, patients with weak teeth after root canal therapy, and patients with worn down teeth. We’ll examine your smile, discuss your specific concerns, and see if a crown is the right option for you!
Are you missing one tooth or multiple teeth in a row? Our tooth-colored, BPA and metal-free dental bridges are a great tooth replacement solution for many patients. Dental bridges have crowns on each end and false teeth in the middle. To place bridges, the crowns are bonded to existing teeth on either side of the empty space. Once they’re attached, the replacement teeth fit snugly into the gap to fill in the area left behind from your missing teeth.
The price of bridges varies on a case-by-case basis. At your consultation, we’ll be able to provide you with an accurate cost breakdown based on how many teeth you’re replacing and your specific dental needs. We’ll also go over our financial options to help you fit a complete smile into your budget.
Whether you’re missing some teeth or a full arch of teeth, we offer both full and partial dentures to complete your smile. Dentures have gum-colored bases with natural-looking, false teeth attached. The bases are designed to fit snugly and comfortably on the gum line with the assistance of denture adhesives. We carefully craft our dentures to look as close to a set of natural teeth and gums as possible to give patients a discreet, fully restored smile.
Yes! Thanks to advancements in dentistry, traditional dentures are now more comfortable and natural-looking than ever before. When you wear our custom-fitted dentures, you will be able to smile confidently and enjoy the benefits of having fully functioning, beautiful replacement teeth!
We recommend cleaning your dentures daily by soaking them in a denture cleanser and brushing them with a soft-bristled brush. This will help remove any food debris, plaque, leftover adhesive, and bacteria from the dentures.
When patients are allergic to certain foods or are sensitive to certain metals, they tend to stay away from any food or jewelry that may cause a reaction. However, many dental offices use materials like nickel, aluminum, and even silver amalgam fillings that contain mercury, which can be dangerous for patients. Our office is very careful to only use materials that are safe for each individual patient, as once a dental restoration is placed, we want it to last for many years without needing to be modified or replaced. If you have any sensitivities that you are concerned about, we can double-check with BioComp Lab to be absolutely positive that your restorations will be perfectly safe and effective for you.
We take a conservative, total-body approach to dentistry which means that we only perform tooth extractions when they’re absolutely necessary. When an extraction is needed, we thoroughly numb the area to ensure that you can’t feel anything during the procedure and we also offer sedation. One of the most common extractions we perform is wisdom teeth removal. Wisdom teeth, your third set of molars, erupt in the back of your mouth. They can come in at an angle, get stuck under the gums, and crowd your other teeth, making their removal a necessity for safeguarding your smile.
Healing time varies from patient to patient. However, by following the aftercare instructions, you are more likely to have a smooth, speedy recovery. By eating soft foods, thoroughly cleaning the site, avoiding straws, and following any additional instructions, your extraction site will heal quickly!
Dry socket occurs when a blood clot that forms over an extraction site is dislodged before the wound is healed. Dry socket is a painful condition that is often accompanied by infection. One of the easiest ways to prevent dry socket is to avoid using straws while your mouth is healing. Straws are a leading cause of dry socket.
