Tackling Oral Cancer One Step at a Time

If you know anything about Artistic Dental, you know we’re committed to ensuring the utmost care for our patients and their smiles. In April, we’re taking that commitment one step further and putting on our running shoes – because we’ll be taking part in this year’s Oral Cancer Foundation Walk for Awareness!

The Oral Cancer Foundation “is a national public service, non-profit entity designed to reduce suffering and save lives through prevention, education, research, advocacy, and patient support activities.”

Approximately 48,250 people in the U.S. will be diagnosed with oral cancer this year, and sadly the occurrence of this disease is only increasing, with new cases exceeding 450,000 worldwide annually.

While we all know that heavy tobacco/alcohol consumption and poor oral hygiene can be a major cause of oral cancer, studies have also shown increased correlations with aging, a diet low in fruits and vegetables, and the HPV virus. Mouth cancers will be newly diagnosed in about 132 new individuals each day in the U.S. alone.

Early detection of the disease often leads to high survival rates, but many of the cases are unfortunately found at a later stage – when survival rates fall to around 40%. Giving up smoking or tobacco use, reducing alcohol intake and keeping your mouth clean and healthy are all positive steps to preventing oral cancer.

April is also Oral Cancer Month, so the time to spread this message is now. If you’d like to join us on Saturday, April 2 or support our team visit our team page for more details.

The 4 major categories of restorations available for single tooth replacement

If you are facing the decision of dental restoration for a single tooth replacement, you need to understand what your options entail. 

There are four major treatments currently available for single tooth replacement:

1. Bonded (Maryland) dental bridges

2. Cantilevered dental bridges

3. Conventional dental bridges and dental implants

When you are deciding which treatment to undergo, it’s important to discuss with your dentist and not to choose based on the duration of the office visit required, but to choose the treatment option that best fits your dental needs.

Bonded (Maryland) Dental Bridges
These bridges utilize neighboring teeth to run a section of metal along the back of the teeth, and fill a gap with a false tooth. This may be the considered option if the surrounding teeth look great and don’t need restoration. This is not a viable option if you play contact sports or grind your teeth.

Cantilevered Dental Bridges

A cantilevered restoration utilizes a single neighboring tooth to support the missing tooth. This can be considered conservative due to full crowns being used to help support the area. The design is typically useful in replacing missing lateral incisors.

Conventional Dental Bridges

This process uses two or more crowns that hook together to support the area of the missing tooth. The failure rate of these bridges can range from 3 percent to 20 percent over 3-23 years.

Dental Implants

A dental implant is a metal screw (titanium positioned into the bone of the missing tooth. The next step is to make a dental crown on top of the implant. This is the most invasive type due to the possibility of bone grafting to ensure the implant stays connected into the bone, to move neighboring teeth out of the way for an implant.

Making a decision like this can be overwhelming but the dentists and staff at Artistic Dental are here to discuss and explain each process in more detail so you can make an informed decision. Our goal is to work with you to find a solution that is best for you and your dental health, and is aesthetically pleasing.