Dental Implants:
These are tiny-diameter, titanium posts placed safely in the jawbone to replace any missing teeth. Dental implants are the closest thing to your existing natural teeth which today’s properly trained and experienced dentists can provide for you. Implants will preserve the empty socket space left behind by a missing tooth or teeth. Atrophy of dental bone can lead to malformations in your mouth and affect the integrity of your jawbone in that missing tooth area. Missing teeth should be replaced.

Digital X-ray:
This is exciting new technology. A digital sensor is gently placed in the patient’s mouth. Almost instantly, a digital image appears on the chair side monitor screen for both patient and doctor to view. There is no more waiting 6-8 minutes for film processing and development. This digital radiographic image also produces 90% less radiation to the patient. This allows for greater patient safety and comfort. The image is subsequently stored in computer memory at higher resolution than conventional X-rays.

Intra-Oral Camera:
A small digital camera, not much larger than the diameter of a pen, can be inserted in a patient’s mouth and capture a digital photo of your tooth or a particular dental condition. This digital photo will instantly be captured in your dental chart and can easily be seen on our large chair side monitor screen so you can fully appreciate and understand what we are looking at. The enhanced image lets you see what the dentist actually sees in your mouth. This will greatly increase your understanding and awareness about your teeth. This allows our patients to make a more informed decision regarding their dental health.

Ultrasonic Instruments (Cavitron):
The Cavitron is a wonderful breakthrough in the field of dentistry. In Dr. Kellner’s office, the dental hygienist uses a Cavitron to gently clean and debride the rough deposits off the surfaces of your teeth. A water-cooled tip irrigates as it removes plaque, tartar and calculus build-up above and below your gumline. In many cases, the Cavitron can reduce the need for hand-held instrument scraping. Much more can get done by our hygienist using this device. You must come in our office and see this thing in action. By the way, Dr. Kellner uses and highly recommends an ultrasonic toothbrush as an adjunct to your homecare. Quite frankly, if you’re not using one of the ultrasonic toothbrushes available in the marketplace today, you’re missing the boat.

Site Specific Antibiotic Therapy:
To improve our dental hygienist’s efforts to get your dental health as optimal as possible, our office recommends Arestin, an OraPharma product. Arestin is a powder-like substance which can be placed into chronic infected gum tissue which helps to improve our scaling and root planning efforts. The antibiotic is not a pill taken by you. The antibiotic is placed into infected gum tissue areas following your cleaning procedure to allow the gums to heal properly. It is a site-specific antibiotic with local effects. It gradually releases its contents over the course of 14 days. This product has only recently been approved by the Food and Drug Administration and shows great promise in the fight against gum infection. Treating periodontal and gum disease can affect your overall health. Recent studies suggest a link between periodontal disease and other diseases, such as diabetes and heart disease.