ervices

Smiles Dental offers a wide variety of dental services to meet your dental needs. At Smiles Dental your comfort is our chief concern, but even with all our technology you might still be reluctant to visit a dentist. That is why we offer certain non-invasive methods for caring for some of the most common dental problems. Going to the dentist shouldn't be a chore. Come visit us and be cared for like family!

The office for all your family dental needs:

• Treatment of patients of all ages
• Exam & Cleanings
• Extractions
• Root Canals
• Crowns & Bridges

Crowns & Bridges


• Full Dentures
• Partials
• Athletic mouth guards
• Oxyfresh products (oral health care products without alcohol)
• TMJ therapy (treatment for grinding/clenching problems)

The office for all your cosmetic dental needs:

• Tooth Whitening
  
• Deep Bleaching

Deep Bleaching


Deep bleaching (whitening) of teeth always seems to be in the news! We have been bleaching teeth a long time now, but we keep on bettering the systems and improving the results. The systems are better because they are sager and produce less tooth sensitivity than the old systems. We are improving the result by getting brighter and whiter teeth with the results lasting longer.

There are as many different systems to bleach the teeth as there are companies out there selling dental products. We're seeing catchy names for the systems like Zoom, Laser Smile, Sapphire, Whitening Crystals, and Deep Bleaching. Some systems use special lights and some use lasers and some don't use lights at all. There is a lot of discussion out there as to which light/laser is better and of course, each company feels theirs is the best. There's also some discussion about whether it's actually the light that improves the bleaching (or only speeds it up and makes it quicker) or the solutions used and the technique used involving tray fabrication that makes it better. Her are some of my opinions as far as the light or the type of light that is used. Some light systems are prettier and fancier than others or have cuter names, but some studies are showing that it's the higher concentration of bleach used ( in conjunction with the lights) that make the most difference. I believe that the lights do make a difference, but I think the difference is so minimal that it's hard to tell the difference on a regular basis. I believe the psychological impact of having a fancy light certainly affects a patient's perception of the bleaching experience and the results. So, yes we do use a bleaching light with the tray technique and the in office light bleach technique ( both using the very best gels and materials possible) that lead to the very best whitening result. Deep Bleaching's great results are due to several factors: the concentration of bleaching gel and the amount of time the gel is in contact with the tooth structure. The system also increases the permeability of the enamel prior to bleaching (increasing absorption) and creates more pressure on the enamel by the gel (increasing absorption). The combination of tray and power (fast) bleaching techniques lead to these great results. This system combines both the tray technique and the in office light (fast) bleaching technique to achieve the best results. The Deep Bleaching technique gets teeth significantly whiter than ever before possible. Patients who previously were unable to bleach as white as they would have liked (because of 'bleaching resistant teeth') can now bleach significantly whiter. Also, badly tetracyclined stained teeth can be bleached significantly whiter than prior results.

Here's the story behind why "Deep Bleaching" does it better. Everyone's teeth have a natural biologic limit of how white they can get. Historically, once you reached this limit, no amount of additional bleaching would whiten your teeth more. However, this Deep Bleaching system will extend this previous limit and allow significantly more whitening.

The special Deep Bleaching technique of custom-made tray fabrication is one of the reasons that this style of bleaching works so well. The Deep Bleaching trays allow room for the excess bleaching gel, and they seal it at the gum line. Trays often fabricated in dental offices do not seal the bleach at the gum line to keep the bleach in place. The bleach us sucked and washed out of the tray by the saliva very quickly, and very little depth of bleaching occurs. You may have heard that certain types of over-the-counter bleaching gels have acid in them, which may damage fillings, crowns, bondings, and the roots of teeth.

The whitening gel YOU will receive from our office has absolutely no acid whatsoever and will not damage your teeth or restorations.

The first session of Deep Bleaching will start with a bleaching in our office, (fast or light bleaching) which will 'condition' the teeth to absorb oxygen more readily from the bleaching gel in your at-home bleaching trays. Do not expect a tremendous color change from this 'conditioning' first visit. Immediately following the 'conditioning visit,' take-home trays will be worn for 14 consecutive nights. After the 14th night of at-home Deep Bleaching, the final Deep Bleaching will be performed in our office, and will provide significant additional whitening over what will have already been accomplished. The result will be WOW.

You can see that this combination technique of power (fast) light/laser bleaching along with tray bleaching technique combines the best of both types of bleaching available today and leads to a whiter result than has ever been achieved before (and longer lasting)! "Seeing is believing" so pictures are the best way to document the fantastic results achievable with this unbelievable new Deep Bleaching system.

• A 3 week take-home bleach
• A 1 hour in-the-office Power bleaching
• White Fillings

Almalgam Fillings Replaced

 

Occlusal Surfaces (Tops) Established

 

Molar Restored

• Crowns
• Veneers Written by Tod A. Bigelow, D.D.S.

Veneers

Cerinate Non-Reduction Veneers

Q. What is a veneer?
A. A veneer is a laboratory fabricated porcelain facing (rose petal thin) that is
cemented to the front of a tooth to improve its size, shape or color. Cerinate
is merely the name of the porcelain (or lab) used to fabricate the veneer.

Q. What is a non-reduction veneer?
A. On a tooth with reduction veneers we shave about 1 mm of enamel off of the
front of the tooth and take an impression of this reduction to send to the lab for
them to make the veneer. We do this so that when the veneer is cemented the
tooth would be no thicker than it originally was (the amount of reduction will
match the thickness of the veneer). A non-reduction veneer requires no tooth
grinding (no elimination of enamel).

Q. Why is this important?
A. With a non-reduction veneer you don't need to numb (no shot) and there is no
discomfort since there is no drilling. Only an impression of your natural teeth is
needed. There's less discomfort, less chair time and less expense. (non-reduction
veneers are about 2/3 the cost of reduction veneers).

Q. What other benefits are there?
A. Besides the above you get the same cosmetic improvements with less time and
less discomfort.

Q. Are there any negatives?
A. Not all cases can be done with non-reduction veneers and an individual evaluation
of your teeth by your dentist would need to be done to be sure. If there is too
much angulation of the teeth or if the teeth are rotated badly they might not be
able to be done. The non-reduction veneers do thicken your teeth slightly once
cemented but when the right cases are selected the additional thickness is minimal
and usually not noticeable. These veneers are only 0.3-0.5 mm thick (versus
0.8mm-l.5 thickness of reduction veneers), so they don't thicken the teeth much at
all. The veneers can be used to lengthen, widen, or change the appearance or
angulation of teeth as well as to lighten the color (whiten). Gaps (diastema's) can
be closed as well.

Q. How have you liked the results?
A. On correctly selected cases the results are fabulous with 1/3 less cost. I liked them
so much that I have had four non-reduction veneers placed on my front four upper
teeth. And I Love Them! Come on by for a tooth evaluation to see if your are a
candidate for non-reduction veneers.



Written by Tod A. Bigelow, D.D.S.

• Bonding

Your office for these Other Services

• The Wand (computerized technology to give a more comfortable injection)
• Intra Oral Camera (diagnostic camera allowing patients to view their own mouth)
• Breath Treatments
• Nitrous Oxide

Methods of Payment

Payment Charges for professional services are due at the time dental treatment is provided. We will make every effort to provide you with a treatment plan which fits your budget and gives you the best possible dental care. Patients with insurance may pay their portion after the deductible has been met. There are other financial arrangements for payment available upon consultation with the doctor. For your convenience, MasterCard, Visa, Discover and Care Credit payments are accepted.

Insurance

Many of our patients have dental insurance or are receiving dental insurance benefits for the first time. It is important to remember that your dental insurance policy agreement is between you and the insurance company. We are only a third party to this agreement. Dental insurance can be confusing to patients, such as interpreting what services are covered and at what level. In our attempt to relieve the patient of this burden we fill out and submit all insurance forms at no charge to the patient. We accept most types of insurance, decreasing the financial burden for the patient. We ask the insured patient to bring a policy booklet explaining coverage, any special claim forms required, and their membership card on their first visit with the office.

We accept all insurance and file it for you.

We are in-network providers with:

• Active Duty Dental program (ADDP)
• Delta Dental
• Dentemax
• Metlife
• CHIPS
• United Concordia
• Cigna

Because our office is a participating provider with United Concordia, there is no out-of-pocket expense for soldiers and limited out-of-pocket expense for their families.

*Financing Available with Care Credit®

Locate our office

Smiles Dental
4301 Lincoln Road
Hattiesburg, MS 39402
Phone: 601-582-1623
Fax: 601-582-0765

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Our Doctors

Tod A. Bigelow, D.D.S.

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