Advanced Dental Arts NW Blog

The world can come to a screeching halt when you suffer a dental emergency, and amidst the panic, the best course of action might not always seem clear. One inclination that people sometimes have is to rush straight to the emergency room, rather than visit their emergency dentist. But is this wise? Here’s why you should visit your dentist first whenever you experience a dental emergency, along with when it’s best to visit the ER.

If you’ve recently looked in the bathroom mirror and felt that you’re beginning to look older, you might be wondering if there’s anything you can do to turn back the clock and make yourself look a little younger. Fortunately, there is—you can seek out cosmetic dentistry! These treatments can enhance the beauty of your smile, which will lead to newfound confidence coupled with a more youthful appearance. Keep reading to learn more about how this works.

When you have a really serious toothache, it might feel like all you can do to just make it through the day. Even if you’ve already called your dentist and made an emergency appointment, you may have to deal with the pain for a while before you can see them.

After the stress of managing a toothache, you lie down to go to bed, only to find that your tooth feels worse than it did before! You may not be imagining it; here are a few reasons that a toothache could get worse just before bed.

Lots of people think that dentistry is all about teeth, but any dentist will tell you that understanding oral health completely involves so much more than that. In fact, a lot of modern dental research is focused on an apparent connection between infections in the mouth and in the rest of the body.

In particular, there seems to be a strong correlation between gum disease and cardiovascular problems. If you want to know more about this link, here’s how the two appear to be connected.

Fillings have long been one of the best tools in a dentist’s toolbelt for dealing with patients’ oral health problems. The materials have changed in recent years, but the core premise remains the same; within a single appointment, your dentist can fill a hole in your tooth, easing discomfort from cavities or tooth decay.

However, after a few years, it’s possible for a dental filling to come loose. If that happens to you, here are the steps you can take to ease discomfort from losing a filling, and potentially save your restoration.

When you see your dentist for a checkup or cleaning, they will usually also perform an oral cancer screening. This is vitally important, as catching cancer early is the best thing you can do to improve your chances of treating it effectively.

That’s because oral cancer is degenerative, meaning that it gets worse over time if left untreated. That progression happens in stages, with each stage becoming more serious than the last. If you want to learn a little more about how cancer progresses, here’s a guide to each of these stages, from 0 to IV.

Having a toothache can be quite debilitating. It can make it difficult to make it through the day and to get enough sleep at night. Though a toothache may warrant a visit to your emergency dentist, not all dental emergencies will cause facial pain. Continue reading to learn about some of the potential causes of facial pain as well as what your dentist can do to help.

There are several reasons why people can lose teeth, such as sports-related injuries and dental emergencies. Though missing teeth impact the way your smile looks, it also means bad news for your oral health. There are several ways to replace them, but dental implants are a favorite option for many patients. If you’re considering getting them, you may be wondering: are dental implants safe? Continue reading to learn if this treatment is a safe way to replace missing teeth.

   An increasing number of people are getting BOTOX these days, to diminish wrinkles and lines in their faces.  Cosmetics is all well and good (and a big part of our practice), but the largely under-appreciated aspect of BOTOX is its role in treating TMJ and facial pain. 

   This is because BOTOX works on muscles like a dimmer switch on your light bulbs–it simply “turns down” the intensity of the muscle contractions.  As most TMJ (Tempro-Mandibular Joint) issues are in fact muscular in origin, a prudent and localized dose of Botox can dramatically reduce or eliminate the pain problems.  And it lasts for about 90 days.  It is like a miracle.

   But that is not all, by a long shot.  BOTOX also enables us to better diagnose the root problem, to determine if the pain issues are a “Hardware” (meaning within the TMJ itself) or a “Software” (meaning muscular) problem.  Thus, we are able to focus more directly on treating the causes, rather than just the symptoms, of your discomfort.  

   And, of course, you get to enjoy both the significant reduction in pain AND the esthetic benefits, as an additional benefit!  And what could be better than a side-effect like that?

Each year, it seems like sleep apnea is mentioned more on the news and in casual conversations with friends and family. The surge in interest around this sleep disorder is not a coincidence! A recent study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology confirmed that obstructive sleep apnea has grown much more prevalent over the last two decades. In fact, an estimated 22 million Americans are affected by sleep apnea today. Why is sleep apnea in Portland on the rise and what can you do about it? Keep reading to find out.