Missing teeth, damaged teeth, TMJ disorders (TMD), and even sleep apnea bring dysfunction to the smile. An uneven bite, gaps in the smile, and airway problems create pain and discomfort. Addressing these problems with restorative dental treatments helps restore function to the smile, making everyday life more comfortable for patients. Dr. Jerome Cha is passionate about helping his patients restore functionality and aesthetics to their smiles with the restorative dentistry treatments that he provides patients in his Tulsa, OK, dental office.
Restorative dentistry is part of our comprehensive dental services at our Tulsa dental office. With restorative care, we can renew the full form and function of your teeth and gums.
Restorative Dentistry in Tulsa, OK
Functional tooth problems can make everyday life uncomfortable. Biting, chewing, and even sleeping can be painful if you have untreated dental problems.
Restorative dental care can replace missing teeth, repair damaged teeth, address sleep apnea, and treat TMJ disorders that damage the teeth and jaw. Our restorative dental treatments include:
Dental Bridge
You need a bridge if you have one or more consecutive missing teeth. A dental bridge is a restoration that typically uses dental crowns on either side of a missing tooth gap to secure false teeth. However, we must prepare and reshape natural teeth before we cover them with crowns. If you already have healthy teeth, you don’t want to reshape these teeth.
Instead of crown-capped teeth, we can use implants to secure fixed bridges. Dental implants replace the tooth roots to provide stable support to bridges.
Dental Crown
A tooth crown is a cap that fully covers a tooth. Crowns have many uses. A crown can secure a bridge, cap-off a dental implant, or protect a tooth after root canal treatment. Crowns can also cover worn, damaged, and fractured teeth.
Dental crowns are made of many different materials, including metal, gold, porcelain fused to metal, ceramic, or zirconia. Our office prefers tooth-colored ceramic or porcelain crowns. We also provide same-day crowns. These crowns can help you restore one or more teeth in one office visit.
Dental Implants
Whether you have one missing tooth or all teeth missing, implants can help. Dental implants are small, titanium posts a surgeon places in the jaw bone. Over time, the natural jaw bone grows around the post to provide permanent support to a tooth prosthetic.
Implants can support a single dental crown, bridges, or dentures. Our office will help ensure you are a good implant candidate. If needed, we will recommend bone grafting, root canal therapy, or other treatments to prepare you for implants.
Dentures and Partials
When considering dentures, you may first think of removable false teeth. While traditional dentures restore your tooth’s appearance, they can cause multiple problems. Slipping dentures, trouble eating hard or crunchy foods, and difficulty speaking are common denture problems.
Our office provides dentures and partials supported by implants. Implants are small metal posts that replace the tooth roots. We use multiple implants to keep partials and complete dentures in place. Partial dentures replace rows of missing teeth in different areas of the mouth. Full dentures restore the upper and lower tooth arches.
Sleep Apnea
Do you or your partner snore? Are you waking up multiple times in one night? You may be at risk of sleep apnea.
Sleep apnea occurs when tissues block the airway, leading to pauses in breathing multiple times per night. Your jaw and tongue position can block your airway during sleep. We recommend a sleep apnea appliance to improve the jaw position for patients with mild to moderate sleep apnea.
This alternative to a CPAP machine is portable, quiet, and custom-made to cover your teeth. The appliance keeps the lower jaw forward to open the airway.
Unlike CPAP machines, sleep apnea appliances are more comfortable and easy to clean. These treatments are also custom-made to fit your mouth.
Snap-On Dentures
In addition to traditional dentures, our office provides snap-on dentures. These dentures use support from dental implants.
Unlike implant-supported dentures, snap-on dentures are removable. This means they are implant-secured dentures. Snap-on dentures can use as few as three to four dentures to support a missing tooth arch.
TMJ Treatment
The temporomandibular joints connect the jaw to the skull. They help you bite, chew, and speak. If you injure these joints, or if these joints are under stress, you can develop a TMJ disorder.
If you develop TMD, you can experience teeth clenching and grinding, headaches, jaw pain, and tooth wear. TMJ treatment often includes multiple options that work together to reduce these symptoms.
Night guards help prevent nightly teeth grinding with custom-made appliances. Patients with crooked teeth that contribute to their symptoms can receive treatments like Invisalign to create a balanced bite. In addition, Botox injections help relax facial muscles to reduce headaches and jaw pain.
What is a Full Mouth Restoration?
A full mouth rehabilitation or full mouth restoration uses multiple types of dental restorations to completely transform the smile. These restorative treatments can include treatments for missing teeth, damaged teeth, and even TMD.
To prepare for a full mouth rehabilitation, Dr. Cha thoroughly examines the smile and takes dental X-rays to find problems that he cannot see. Dental X-rays can uncover damage that Dr. Cha may not see with a visual examination.
Dr. Cha will then determine the correct order of restorative treatments. He will utilize multiple restorative treatments to renew the health, function, and appearance of patient smiles. A full mouth restoration can create a comfortable, fuller, and more functional smile.
Request a Dental Appointment Today
Do you need to replace missing teeth, fix an injured tooth, or treat sleep apnea? Contact Hope Restorative and Cosmetic Dentistry for restorative treatment today at 918-347-1114. You can also schedule a dental consultation with Dr. Cha on our website.
We treat patients in Tulsa, Bixby, and other surrounding communities in Oklahoma. Please let us know if you have any questions about your restorative treatment at your next visit to our office. We will be happy to assist you.