Dr. Brian Saby's Dental Blog

If you are missing one or more teeth and wish to replace them, dental implants are the first treatment choice.  This innovative technique replaces the root of missing teeth with a titanium appliance that actually fuses to your bone and becomes part of your body.  The single tooth or tooth replacement appliance is then screwed to the implant and acts in a manner similar to natural teeth.

Traditionally, missing teeth were replaced by fixed bridgework, where crowns on teeth adjacent to a space support an artificial tooth.  This works very well for short spans such as one missing tooth.  If more than one tooth is missing or if the missing teeth do not have sound teeth on either side, fixed bridgework becomes more complex.  If the spans are too long or all the teeth are missing, removable appliances such as partial or full dentures were constructed to replace the teeth. 

Anyone who has experienced partial dentures or complete dentures knows that there are all sorts of problems associated with these devices. 

Over 30 years ago, an accidental discovery by Dr. Branemark in Sweden led to the modern dental implants.  Dr. Branemark , an orthopedic surgeon, discovered that titanium screws used to hold bone plates in place were extremely difficult to remove.  Study of this phenomenon revealed that the titanium had fused to the bone and become part of the bone.  This process was called osteointegration.  He postulated that osteointegration of titanium could be used to replace missing teeth. (more…)

Most people are familiar with a dental check up, either having had one themselves or knowing someone who has had one.  While almost everyone is aware that the dentist is looking for cavities in the teeth, there is more to a dental examination than merely looking for holes.

 Today, I would like to walk you through a typical complete dental examination.  Hopefully, this will help you to understand what is going on at your next dental check up.

The first part of the examination involves an interview with the patient, either by the doctor or one of the staff members.  In this interview, we hope to discover what your long term plans are regarding your teeth.  What do you want your teeth to be like in the future, are there any changes you want to make regarding the appearance or function?  Are you currently having any dental problems, and if not, what brought you to the dental office today?  What are your concerns regarding dental treatment?  These are the types of questions that help your dentist establish a treatment plan that custom fits your desires. (more…)

We are very fortunate to live in Canada where our standard of living is amongst the highest in the world.  Our consumer driven economy allows us to have choices in almost every aspect of our life.  We get to decide on what level of service and quality of consumer products we would like to obtain.

Let’s say that you decided you wanted a larger television for the family room.  Not many of us would be happy if the salesperson were to inform us that they had looked at our old television and decided that it was still pretty good and they would not sell us a new television until it quit working completely. 

If you decided to get a new car, you would be shocked if the sales representative told you that you didn’t need a new car right now.  “Your old car is fine, you can probably get another 100,000 km out of it, come back and see me in a few years.” Is something you will not likely hear at your auto dealer.

In dentistry, you also have choices.  (more…)

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