COMPREHENSIVE
General Dentistry
FOR THE ENTIRE FAMILY
Your smile is often the first thing a person notices about you, so what can you do to protect such an important asset? General dentistry is the first line of protection against oral health issues.
Dr. Adamson provides prevention and maintenance for your smile with the help of her qualified dental team. Whether you are coming in for a dental cleaning or gum disease treatment, we will make your visit comfortable and productive.
Learn more about our general dentistry services or reach out for an appointment.
What Is GENERAL Dentistry?
According to the American Dental Association (ADA), it is important to visit your general dentist at least once every six months, although some patients may benefit from more frequent visits due to genetics or lifestyle variations. Routine dental exams keep your teeth looking great and also prevent issues like gum disease.
At Homer Dental Center, our general dentistry services include:
- Preventative Dentistry
- Mouthguards
- Teeth Cleanings
- Oral Cancer Screenings
- Dental Fillings
These services are often part of many general dentistry services since every patient needs them routinely.
The Difference Between Family Dentistry and General Dentistry
Most family dentists provide general dentistry services, however a family dentist has a couple of special things about it. A family dentistry practice:
- Offers Comprehensive Treatments: Pediatric care, teen care, adult care, and senior care can happen in one office.
- Welcomes Families and Individuals: Anyone who need dental assistance can come here, and we can often schedule families close together.
- Is Comfortable Treating Children: We emphasize continuity of care, so a child can see the same dentist into their adult lifeOffers comprehensive treatments, so pediatric care, teen care, adult care, and senior care can happen in one office
General and family dentistry focuses on preventative approaches to dentistry. We welcome families, couples, and individuals who are looking to receive comprehensive care and preventative treatments.
How Can General Dentistry Help Me?
Oftentimes, people discount how helpful a visit to the dentist can be. But even visits for regular care can offer significant benefits. Participating in general dental care from your local dentist allows you to:
- Be alerted of oral health issues you have with your smile.
- Have your teeth professionally cleaned.
- Fix cavities or other damage quickly.
- Discuss your cosmetic and oral health goals with a trained doctor.
- Receive suggestions for care, and often schedule the appointment right then and there.
General dentistry can help you receive comprehensive treatments and improvements to your smile if you need them, and prevent you from needing future work done. Taking an hour from your day twice a year can help you achieve a healthier body, not just a healthier smile.
© 2003-2021 Terms of use
Is There a Connection Between My Smile and My Health?
Your smile’s health can affect your overall health, and your overall health can also impact how healthy your smile is. For example, periodontal disease is linked to an increased risk of Type 2 diabetes.
That is why ensuring that your oral health is in good standing. If we don’t, it could begin to affect the health of your entire body. Improving your oral health can help you improve your general health.
It is also important to tell your dentist if you are dealing with systemic health issues that could affect your oral health. Sometimes your body will struggle to keep healthy teeth if it is trying to fight off a disease or heal you after surgery. We can be proactive about preventing issues in your smile by recommending products that can help your smile and focusing on other preventative care.
Preventative Dentistry—Fixing Issues Before They’ve Started
Preventative dentistry services help maintain your smile by deterring issues like cavities and gum disease. When you receive preventative dental care at Homer Dental Center, we will help you maintain good dental health habits in your daily life.
Preventative dentistry is both instructive, where the dental staff informs a patient the best way to take care of their teeth or follow up from a visit, and procedural, where a dentist will take action during a visit to prevent further cavities.
Keeping a beautiful, healthy smile requires consistent dental hygiene routines and frequent dental visits.
Preventive Dentistry at Home
In order to prevent cavities and increase the health of your teeth, you can follow some simple tips.
- Brushing Your Teeth: Be sure to brush your teeth at least twice per day. Remember to brush your tongue. You can brush your teeth more often after sugary drinks or acidic foods.’
- Flossing: Flossing is always stressed, but rarely done! Remember flossing should be performed daily—a lot of the harmful bacteria live between your teeth or in places that your toothbrush cannot reach.
- Eat a Balanced Diet: Limiting your sugar intake can reduce tooth decay. Remember, bacteria and infections love sugar. Drink plenty of water, especially after sweets. Increase your intake of vegetables and other foods high in vitamins.
Following these tips can go a long way in protecting your smile, but seeing the dentist routinely is also important.
Learn more about preventative dentistry from our SPEAR Educational video.
© 2003-2021 Terms of use
© 2003-2021 Terms of use
Preventive Dentistry at Homer Dental Center
Although there is plenty to be done at home, some care will be needed in our office. Here are the practices and procedures we employ to ensure you love your smile.
- Regular Visits: You won’t know what needs attention unless you find out. During your visits, you can schedule your next cleaning and check up on the progress of your at-home habits.
- Education: Our friendly and knowledgeable staff will guide you on how to care for your teeth at home and provide any additional instructions based on individual diagnoses and feedback.
- Fluoride: Fluoride helps prevent tooth decay. This painless procedure usually takes less than 15 minutes to perform. We have lots of great flavors!
- Sealants: The surface of your teeth takes a lot of wear and tear, which is why we offer dental sealants to help add an additional layer of protection to your teeth.
- Remineralization Therapy: This has similar benefits to fluoride, but includes more than one mineral, for the teeth that need help maintaining their enamel.
Preventative dentistry is important to maintain a healthy mouth and contributes toward a healthy body, not just a smile.
Dental Cleanings in Homer, AK
What do you do when you wake up and right before you go to bed? If you said brush your teeth, then that’s great! Brushing and flossing twice a day is essential in maintaining your oral health. However, you also need to visit your dentist for a dental cleaning at least twice a year.
Dr. Adamson offers dental cleanings for the entire family.
Why Visit the Dentist for Cleanings?
Visiting your dentist twice a year isn’t just for fun. It is actually an important part of maintaining that healthy, glowing smile. At Homer Dental Center, we utilize special tools that you can’t use at home to ensure you receive a thorough cleaning. With the help of our hygienist, we can properly clean plaque off your teeth and reach every crevice you might miss with a toothbrush.
At each dental visit, we also check the health of your gums to ensure gum disease isn’t a concern for you. Simply put, a dentist’s office can give you a more thorough dental cleaning than you can do at home.
We also provide state-of-the-art dental technology for cleanings, including biofilm-guided therapy. This approach is perfect if you have dental anxiety as it uses a targeted, gentle approach to cleaning teeth.
Guided Biofilm Therapy
Your cleanings can be much more comfortable and effective now, with our state-of-the-art Guided Biofilm Therapy (GBT). This approach uses a mixture of powder, water, and air to clean your teeth, instead of metal dental tools.
It is entirely painless, and removes biofilm, such as plaque, from your teeth very effectively.
Tooth-Colored Dental Fillings
After removing a cavity, a dental filling is used to repair the small hole left behind. Dental fillings are most often UV-hardened resin.
Because the materials used to create fillings are meant to mimic the look and durability of teeth, they can also be used to repair chipped or broken teeth.
After the material is inserted into the cavity, Dr. Adamson uses instruments to shape it to fill the hole or chip in the tooth. We want the shape of your tooth to look natural, matching the color of the other teeth.
Using a special blue light, the dentist will harden the material in a matter of seconds, and then shape and polish the hardened material to complete the restoration.
Watch how our dentist will treat a cavity in your smile.
Most fillings today are tooth-colored to match the rest of your smile, but we do provide other kinds of fillings. Here’s what you need to know about each.
Types of Dental Fillings
Amalgam fillings
Also called silver fillings, these are resistant to wear and highly durable. They aren’t as common anymore.
GOLD FILLINGS
Possibly the most famous of the types of dental fillings, gold fillings are durable and can last up to 20 years. Gold can be an expensive option.
Tooth-colored fillings
Also known as composite fillings, these are the most common type of filling. Made of a resin base, they mimic the exact color of teeth. Composites may wear over time and can also become stained by coffee—just like real teeth!
Porcelain fillings
These types of fillings are produced in a lab and then chemically bonded to the tooth. They will match the color of your surrounding teeth.
For dental fillings, Dr. Adamson will advise you on what option is best for you. Tooth-colored fillings provide a more natural smile that’s strong and functional, so we usually recommend them.
Protect Your Teeth with Mouthguards
Grinding your teeth, during the day or at night, can have major consequences on your oral health. Playing sports and experiencing an injury can be even worse. Luckily, the solution to both problems is a custom mouthguard.
At Homer Dental Center, Dr. Adamson and her dental team create custom mouthguards to prevent tooth grinding or protect teeth during sports.
- Types of Mouthguards
- Why Custom Mouthguards Are Best
- Who Should Wear Mouthguards?
- Mouthguard Care and Maintenance
Types of Mouthguards
- Preformed Mouthguards: Preformed mouthguards are available at sports stores and have a couple of variations of teeth patterns. They are the most affordable version available, but they are not very comfortable unless the wearer has perfectly aligned teeth. There are many people who find these preformed mouthguards painful on the gums.
- “Boil and Bite” Mouthguards: Partially adjustable, “boil and bite” mouthguards are also found at sports stores. They are flat and relatively hard until placed in a pot of boiling water. The user then lets them cool slightly and mold it onto their teeth using their fingers and tongue. These mouthguards are significantly more comfortable than the preformed mouthguards.
- Personalized or Custom Mouthguards: Made in the dental office, personalized mouthguards are often the most safe and comfortable. To make them, Dr. Adamson takes an impression of your teeth. The impression is used to mold a personalized mouthguard from a soft and resistant material. They are unbeatable when it comes to comfort and protection. Personalized mouthguards are highly recommended for patients wearing braces.
Why Custom Mouthguards are best
While you can purchase mouthguards at sporting goods stores, they are often uncomfortable as they don't fit your mouth correctly. Even “boil and bite” options are difficult to mold to your teeth and aren't as durable as custom options.
Custom mouthguards are often more comfortable, but they offer much more than comfort. When you have a mouthguard that is personalized, it is perfectly molded over your teeth, meaning that it offers a higher level of protection against impacts.
Mouthguards that fit your smile are also much less likely to slip or fall out during a game or practice.
Who should wear mouthguards
Many people can benefit from mouthguards—children and adults alike. Mouthguards are especially helpful for:
- Professional Athletes: Those who play any sort of contact sport such as hockey, football, boxing, skateboarding, and many others can protect their teeth with a mouthguard.
- People Who Grind Their Teeth: Bruxism, or chronic tooth grinding, damages the tooth enamel and causes pressure on the jaws. This provokes pain and headaches. A special mouthguard or a nocturnal bite plate can be attached to teeth.
- Temporomandibular (TMJ) Disorders: People with bite problems or symptoms related to TMJ disorder (TMD) can find relief from muscle tension and headaches by wearing mouthguards at night.
If you have questions about mouthguards, call or message our office to learn more.
Mouthguard Care and Maintenance
Care and maintenance of mouthguards is a relatively simple process and does not require a lot of time. The basic rule is to keep it clean!
Here are a couple of tips:
- Rinse your mouth guard or clean it with a mild cleanser after each use and rinse it thoroughly before putting it back in your mouth.
- Store your mouthguard in a ventilated container to prevent damage or odors. If the mouthguard is made of acrylic, it needs to be kept fully immersed in water to maintain its shape and properties.
With the right mouthguard, you will feel confident and protected. They are key to preventing injury and pain.
The Importance of Oral Cancer Screenings
Your smile isn’t our only priority at Homer Dental Center; we are also committed to your overall health.
With oral cancer screenings done right in the office, we can detect mouth cancer early on. As with most cancers, early detection is key and our office is dedicated to taking any symptoms seriously.
Oral Cancer Symptoms
During a dental exam, Dr. Adamson will check for signs of oral cancer. It’s also important to know the signs, which include:
Sores that bleed easily or refuse to heal
Difficulty chewing or swallowing
Ear or jaw pain
Numbness in your mouth
Oral cancer screenings are vital to early diagnosis of cancerous or precancerous conditions. If you are concerned about any symptoms you’ve been having, Homer Dental Center is here for you.
Love Your Smile with General Dentistry Services
Routine dental visits will keep your teeth bright and healthy. At Homer Dental Center, we provide comprehensive general and preventive dentistry for patients of all ages.