What to Look for in a Good Dental Practice

Whether you’re looking for a new dental office because you’ve recently moved, your employer switched dental plans, or your current dentist is retiring, there are many simple ways to choose a good dental practice that’s right for you and your family.

Here are 3 things to look for to find a good dental practice:

1. Are They in Your Dental Insurance Network?

Dental insurance, particularly when it comes to preventative dental care, can be a major factor when it comes to choosing a dentist. If you’re unsure of whether or not their practice is within your network, your healthcare provider should be able to give you a list of participating local dentists. This list can typically be found on either your health insurer’s website or through your employer. Determining which dental practices are within your insurance network is a great place to start when searching for the perfect dentist for you and your family.

2. What Do You Expect From Your Dental Visits?

Visiting a dentist that understands and advocates for the link between dental health and overall health is important when it comes to protecting both. Visiting a dental practice that aims to solve problems at their root can be beneficial for your health in the long run.

Besides offering regular checkups, fillings, cleanings, and crowns, your dentist should be able to educate you on how to best care for your teeth between your regular visits. By offering advice and discussing the importance of developing healthy habits, your dentist can help you to improve both your oral health and your overall health.

3. Determine What Kind of Dental Work You’re Looking For

This is vital when it comes to making your final decision on which dentist to choose. Being able to answer which dentist is the best fit for you is directly tied to what you feel are your greatest dental needs. 

If you’re just looking for regular checkups and cleanings, there are tons of options. Focus on finding an office where you feel comfortable with the dentist and staff because they offer a friendly and professional environment. 

Are you looking to focus on your children’s dental care? A pediatric dentist has the same education as any other dentist but their office is tailored to children. Other offices that simply have a focus on family dentistry may be a great fit if there isn’t a specified pediatric dentist in your area. 

If you’re looking for cosmetic work or are looking to address something specific such  as teeth grinding, finding a dental practice that specializes in that area can be an important part of your search. Going online and looking at reviews of the dental practice can be a great way to gather additional input on a dentist.

Veneers vs Invisalign | What You Need to Know

Two of the most common procedures we perform here at Spath Dentistry are dental veneers and Invisalign orthodontics. The most important thing to note is that veneers aren’t meant to move teeth and if your current dentist is using them to move your teeth, this is probably reducing your teeth or grinding on your teeth in order to move them. So, if you come in and the teeth are misaligned, we always recommend Invisalign first.

Now, if your teeth are discolored, misshapenly, or need to be brightened up, that’s when veneers are a great option. Especially if bleaching isn’t doing the trick. Often times we’ll do a little bit of Invisalign to get the teeth positioned perfectly in order to be as conservative as we can when we do the veneers, or even do preface veneers.

Interested in veneers or Invisalign? Schedule a consultation online!

How to Choose the Right Toothpaste

One of the most common questions we get as dentists is what kind of toothpaste we recommend. The answer is that it depends on your current situation. If you’re somebody that gets many cavities, our recommendation is the CTx4 Gel by CariFree. This can come with or without fluoride and is available here in our office. You can also purchase it on Amazon! For everyone else, our recommendation would be the Sensodyne toothpaste. It tends to be nonabrasive and help with sensitivity. Particularly because our diets tend to be very acidic, which creates a lot of sensitivity within the teeth. Sensodyne is very effective for this!

What you really want to avoid is any toothpaste with whitening in it. Whitening toothpaste scrapes off the surface of the tooth over time, and while taking away the stain, also takes away tooth structure. However, you can still whiten your teeth in other ways, but the whitening toothpaste is not an effective or safe way of whitening the teeth.

If you have any questions, stop by and see us or give us a call! (949) 612-2356

Accelerated Invisalign Procedure at Spath Dentistry in Newport Beach, CA

Hello everyone. I wanted to go through one of our more popular procedures, the Invisalign procedure, and why it’s different here than at other dental offices. Invisalign is a set of clear liners that snap onto the teeth and move the teeth to the more ideal position that we’ve predetermined through our software. What makes our Accelerated Invisalign a little bit different here is that we offer something called an AcceleDent.

AcceleDent is a vibrating bite plate that fits between the teeth. The patient wears it for 20 minutes a day and it stimulates the movement of the teeth. This allows the aligners to sit on the teeth even better, allowing for faster, more effective tooth movement. In many cases, we’re actually moving people along almost twice as fast through their Invisalign treatment. Most other dental offices will charge anywhere from $1,000+ for this device. However, we include it at no extra charge for all of our full Accelerated Invisalign cases.

If you have any interest in finding out about Invisalign, schedule a consultation with us online!

~ Dr Andrew Spath, Newport Beach CA Dentist.

How to Determine if Your Crown (or) Veneer Will Fit Right

Hello, everyone. I’m going to let you in on a little secret today. One of the best ways to determine whether your crown or veneer restoration fits before the dentist cements, is have them take an x-ray. You can tell pretty quickly if there is a big gap between the crown or the restoration. At this point you can assess if the fitting needs to be closed more before he cements it. Hopefully that helps some people out and keeps you from getting your crown that doesn’t fit quite right and will lead to problems in the future.

~ Dr Andrew Spath, Newport Beach CA Dentist.