Making a Difference in Someone's Life with a Front Tooth Crown - a Testimonial

The American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry (www.aacd.com) celebrates 30 Years of Making Smiles this week.  I am forever grateful for the founders and leaders of this organization who inspire and continue to promote the art and science of this aspect of dentistry. Cosmetic Dentistry is not always about creating beautiful smiles with a mouthful of veneers.  In many situations, mastering cosmetic dentistry allows dentists to give back the confidence that people may lose when damage to the front tooth occurs.  We simply want to recreate what nature has intended for the teeth to look like.

I restored this patient's broken front tooth in 2006.  Fast forward eight years, and this is what the patient has to say in a testimonial he posted on 4/30/2014:

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I've been going to Dr. Alex since I was a kid and he's pulled everything from my baby teeth to adult teeth, and even replacing broken ones! He used to be located in Southside San Jose before moving his office to Saratoga, and although it's a further drive and it's out of the way, it's very much worth it.  ..... In 2006, I slipped and fell on my face and fell right on my mouth causing me to break more than 3/5 of my front tooth. My life honestly flash before my eyes that day thinking that I would have to go through the rest of my life looking worse than Jim Carey's character in Dumb and Dumber. Dr. Alex created a crown for me that looked almost identical to how my tooth was before and today you would never know that I have a crown in my smile. He's honestly one of the best out there if he could pull that miracle off, so I'm really glad that he's my dentist. Thank you!

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I have actually wrote a blog entry about this case before here, and the testimonial above was a coincidence and not solicited.  Here is another look at the crown the patient was talking about:

Front Teeth Crown by Alex Nguyen, DDS

 

 

 

Porcelain Veneers with Minimal or Zero Removal of Tooth Structure

A clinical presentation of a porcelain veneers case where I was able to accomplish the smile enhancement with very little or zero tooth structure removal. Due to the extremely thin and transparent pieces of porcelain, this technique cannot be used in cases where the natural teeth are too dark.  In the right clinical situation, these types of porcelain veneers are so realistic looking that it is very hard to notice that the teeth actually had any enhancement done.  This patient has received many compliments for her rejuvenated smile.

Case selection and coordination between the right dentist/ceramist team is crucial in producing a favorable result.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85GcrjTE0ts

Dental Implants Require Proper Bone Width and Height

When a tooth is missing in the jaw for an extended period of time, the bone at that location resorbs in both width and height.  Proper treatment planning is crucial in determining if ideal bone volume is in place before an implant could be placed with predictable long lasting result. In the case below resorption of the bone in three dimensions is observed, and the ideal treatment protocol requires an additional bone grafting procedure to build up the ridge before the implant can be placed.  When required, bone grafting extends the treatment time for dental implant treatments.  Nonetheless the long term treatment predictability merits the extra time and effort in treating everything right from the beginning.

Alex Nguyen, DDS is a Saratoga Dentist who practices General Dentistry, Cosmetic, and Implant Dentistry.  For over 20 years the practice has been serving the residents of Santa Clara County and San Francisco Bay Area.