Dental Crowns & Bridges in Glendale CA
When a tooth has been weakened or damaged, it is vulnerable to tooth decay, infection, disease, or more. Additionally, it can look unattractive, stained, or damaged—which can affect your self-confidence and self-worth.
Depending on the damage to your tooth, necessary daily actions like biting down, chewing, and speaking can be challenging and noticeable to others.
At the dental office of Lucio H. Kim, DDS, our priority is to provide beautiful, long-lasting restorations that improve your appearance, smile, and oral health. It's not enough to fix a damaged tooth; we also want to restore the beauty and luster of your teeth so that no one will ever be able to tell that it has been broken or infected.
Our approach is always conservative; we start with low-impact recommendations and inform our patients about every alternative dental treatment that we can provide. Patient education is critical to us; we want our patients to be active in their own oral health while we help guide and inform them.
The Many Benefits of Dental Crowns
Dental crowns are an extremely popular dental restoration that acts as a helmet or cap that is placed over the entire tooth. This cap protects the structure of the tooth and prevents debris, bacteria, or particles from entering the tooth. Our finely crafted dental crowns look, feel, and function just like an existing tooth and restore your ability to bite, chew, and speak.
Glendale dentist, Dr. Kim, may recommend a dental crown for the following:
- Protecting a tooth from bruxism (tooth grinding)
- Protecting a tooth after a root canal
- The visible part of a dental implant
- Restoring a fractured or broken tooth
Dental crowns, or tooth caps, are also recommended to beautify your smile and fix cosmetic flaws like stubborn yellow staining or misshapen teeth. If you are interested in designing an attractive and durable smile, let your knowledgable dental team know that you would like to learn more.
Are You Missing One or Multiple Teeth?
Missing teeth can detract from even the most dazzling of smiles and can impact the way you eat or speak. We recommend replacing a tooth as soon as you can to avoid teeth shifting. Glendale patients can enjoy a full and beautiful smile through dental bridges.
When a tooth is missing, surrounding teeth will gradually drift towards the gap. This movement can lead to tooth shifting and can eventually cause problems like bruxism (grinding your teeth) and even TMJ.
Dr. Kim has used dental bridges to improve your smile, including:
- Restore the tooth to full function
- Fill out the empty space
- Stop remaingin teeth from shifting
- Beautiful alternative to dentures
We attache a quality dental bridge to teeth on either side of your smile gap. Sometimes, we recommend an implant for added stability.
We Customize Your Dental Restorations
We appreciate how busy our patients and their families are, which is why we make scheduling appointments easy and convenient. We value your time and never keep patients wasting time in the waiting room.
If your smile isn't in the condition you want, we can help. We provide multiple treatments that can restore your teeth or fix your smile, depending on your unique needs. Give our dental team a call today so we can schedule an appointment with Dr. Kim to go over your restoration options. If you are looking for a dentist near me in Glendale, we have many dental procedures that can address any oral health situation.
Dental Crowns and Bridges in Glendale: Keep Your Investment Looking Great
Proper daily care and regular professional maintenance will help you keep your crowns and bridges looking and functioning great for many years to come. Here’s how you can do this:
Consistent Daily Cleaning
Brush and floss around crowns and bridges just like you would with your natural teeth. This prevents decay and gum disease.
Professional Cleaning
Regular dental cleanings reach plaque buildup that daily brushing at home can’t get to. This is especially true for restorations.
Address Harmful Habits
Think twice before chewing ice, opening things with your teeth (we’ve all done it), and talk to your dentist if you grind your teeth.
Frequently Asked Questions
Cracked teeth commonly form in the back molars, where the majority of pressure is applied for biting and chewing. There are different levels of severity for cracked teeth, from mild to critical.
As we age, our teeth can start to develop little surface cracks, which are normal and are not typically a cause for concern. These superficial cracks form on the enamel surface from normal wear and tear.
When cracks extend past the surface of the tooth, they may require professional treatment to protect the tooth. Dr. Lucio H. Kim in Glendale, CA, may recommend a root canal to remove any infection and then place a dental crown over the tooth to prevent further weakening. During your regular visits to the dental practice of Lucio H. Kim, DDS, we will monitor your restoration to look for dental abnormalities.
How We Fix a Cracked Tooth
If the tooth can be saved, we will cover it with a dental crown to protect and stabilize it. When the crack has gone beyond the enamel, we may perform a root canal procedure followed by a dental crown. If the crack has gone deep within the tooth, we may need to perform a dental extraction. We do everything we can to save your teeth and repair the damage as much as possible first.
A broken tooth can invite bacteria, food particles, and infection to your tooth without a solid cover. If you have cracked or broken our tooth, your first call should be to our local Glendale emergency dentist.
Do I Have a Cracked Tooth?
Patients with cracked or broken teeth often report sensitivity or pain to hot or cold foods. Biting and chewing can become painful. If your tooth starts to feel painful constantly, especially around the gum line, we recommend coming in to see us as soon as you can.
Generally speaking, anyone with a missing tooth is a candidate for a dental implant! Of course, there are several other important factors that we must take into consideration before we can determine if a dental implant is right for you.
Things to Consider
A major consideration is the presence of sufficient bone in the area where we are planning to place the dental implant. An implant works by integrating with and becoming part of surrounding tissue, so there must be enough bone to support the implanted root.
When a tooth is lost, the bone that surrounds the missing root gradually begins to deteriorate because there is nothing to support it. If this is the case for you, Dr. Kim may recommend bone grafting surgery to build up the area and stimulate your body’s natural ability to regenerate bone in your jaw.
Dental Implants in Glendale
The only way we can know for sure if dental implants are right for you is by scheduling a thorough exam and evaluation with Dr. Kim. While dental implants are preferred by many patients and doctors, we do have other options that may be more appropriate for you.
Please give our office a call and we’ll be happy to schedule a complimentary consultation to get you started.
YES. When needed, though.
Not every single time you come in, or just because the insurance pays for it. But generally, as a first-time patient, we need a reference for where your oral condition is. There is so much that we as dentists cannot see under the gums, under the bone, underneath old fillings, crowns or restorations. It's irresponsible to do any kind of exam without relevant x-rays. Dosage is an issue...we don't want to zap you unnecessarily or too heavily.
Our X-Ray Technology
Our machines are new and calibrated to deliver the minimal dosage required for good image resolution. But we never do them unless we need to. You can't have a physical at the doctor's office without a blood test, right? They can't just look at you and give you an accurate assessment or diagnosis. Neither can dentists. The x-rays provide insight into what's "under the hood," enabling me to offer you the best treatment options and outcomes with minimal surprises.
Professional Dental Exams in Glendale
If you have any concerns or questions regarding x-rays, please call Dr Kim at the office.
Only if they have cavities or fractures in them, or if you really, really, really want to get rid of them for aesthetic or health reasons. They don't cause any kind of health problems at all --none. Anyone telling you otherwise is really not telling you the whole story (lying!!).
If you do need or want to get them repaired or replaced because of cavities or fractures, you do have the choice of redoing them in silver amalgam or using the "white" composite resin fillings. The ONLY advantage the white fillings have is that they look better. But if you want the old fillings replaced because they have the dreaded mercury in them, then you need to know that you are trading the mercury for bisphenols / BPA....cancer causing chemicals. And that's scientific FACT. Not "my opinion", not what "I think" or what "I feel"...it's cold, hard scientific, good old general chemistry FACT.
That being said, there is nothing wrong with either filling...the mercury AS WELL AS the BPA is a non-issue. Choose what is best for your situation or what you want for your mouth. I am here only to provide objective information and give you the best possible treatment outcome for both kinds of filling materials. If you want something to last longer with fewer issues and a longer track record of success, then get the silver fillings.
Filling Options in Glendale
If you don't want to see them and want something more esthetic, get the white fillings. Simple. If you are on the fence or are curious about anything regarding your fillings or your treatment options, call Dr. Kim for a consult and he'll be happy to make sure you leave with more information than questions!
Usually, crowns are needed on teeth that are severely compromised by large fillings, fractures, cavities or root canals. Especially if the teeth are in the back where the bite pressure is the highest, large fillings may not work longterm and may expose the tooth to fracture that would lead to the loss of the tooth.
Call Your Glendale Dentist!
So instead of losing the tooth because of it breaking, we can restore it with a crown that acts as a helmet for the tooth to protect it from splitting apart when you chew.
Meet Our Doctor:
Lucio H. Kim DDS
Dr. Kim obtained his Bachelors of Science degree at UC San Diego in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Dr. Kim attended dental school at the University of Southern California.
After obtaining his DDS at USC, Dr. Kim went on to complete a residency at the highly competitive UCLA Advanced Education in General Dentistry (AEGD) postgraduate program, where he focused on reconstructive, restorative, and implant dentistry.
He has also received advanced training for dental implants at the Misch International Implant Institute and at the Global ...
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