Smile Gallery

This tooth has a developmental defect, which is called a peg lateral. This only occurs in the lateral teeth, one tooth away from the centerline of the mouth on each side. There is nothing wrong with the tooth but the patient wanted to have it treated for cosmetic reasons.

The treatment consisted of shaping the tooth with a composite material to make it look more natural. This procedure took one appointment and was done without any anesthetic. Periodic polishing will help maintain the shine and luster of this restoration for many years.

This is an old tooth-colored filling that has been in place for many years and needs to be replaced because of discoloration as well as wear. The wear may allow bacteria to enter and cause decay if the filling is not replaced.

The filling has been replaced with a newer tooth-colored filling that should last for many years. This restoration was completed in one office visit.

This patient was unhappy with the space between two of her teeth. This was the result of a periodontal (gum) defect between the teeth.

Composite, which is a tooth-colored material, was bonded to both of the teeth. This procedure took one office visit. The result was a more aesthetically pleasing appearance and it gave the patient confidence to smile again.

This patient was unhappy with two issues: the space between her upper front teeth and the different heights of the gum tissue above her teeth, which made the teeth appear to be of different lengths.

Step one of her treatment was to even out the height of the gum tissue. After healing, which took several weeks, the space, which dentists call a diastema, was closed using composites bonded to her teeth.

The lateral, or side tooth, had an old tooth-colored filling that was showing its age. Older composites were much more porous than the newer composites and, therefore, they show more discoloration over time.

In one office visit, the old filling was removed and replaced with new composite bonding material. The result is a much more natural appearance.

This patient had severely chipped teeth and wanted them fixed as soon as possible. The options were porcelain veneers, porcelain crowns, or composite veneers. One of the advantages of bonding is that it can usually be completed in one visit.

The patient chose to go with the composite veneers, which are hand sculpted and bonded in place, because they were the least expensive treatment option. They do have the shortest life expectancy and need periodic polishing, but if they properly cared for, they can last for many years.

This patient did not like the natural gap between his two front teeth.

Composite bonding was placed in one office visit. Bonding takes periodic touch-ups to keep it looking like new.

The dark areas on the teeth are indicative of severe decay caused by neglect. All of the decay must be removed before any restoration of the teeth can begin.

After all the decay was removed, the teeth were restored with composite bonding in one appointment. The ideal treatment plan would have been to place porcelain crowns, but it was not an option due to the patient's finances. The patient was very happy with the results.

This patient was not happy with the color of her teeth. She also disliked the worn edges of her top teeth, related to her teeth-grinding habits.

First, the patient's teeth were lightened with an at-home whitening process. When she was satisfied with the color, composite bonding was added to the edges to restore the natural tooth structure that was lost due to grinding.

This patient had an existing crown on a central incisor and was unhappy with the unrealistic appearance. He was similarly unhappy with the shape, color, and appearance of his other, natural teeth.

The previous crown was removed. At his second appointment, the new porcelain crown and five porcelain veneers were cemented. The teeth are now in harmony and they look very natural.

This is a combination case involving both crowns and veneers. There were old porcelain crowns on the two front teeth. The patient was unhappy with the color, shape, and length.

The treatment involved the front six teeth. The old porcelain crowns on the two front teeth were replaced with new porcelain crowns. Four porcelain veneers were placed on the two teeth on either side of the front teeth. The result is natural-looking and aesthetically pleasing.

This is an extreme close up of two porcelain crowns that were placed by a previous dentist. The patient was unhappy because the crowns were not equal in size and a black edge was visible near the gumline of the crown on the right of the photograph.

Two new porcelain crowns were made and placed with a much better result. They look more natural and life-like than the previous crowns.

The patient was very happy with the results. An implant replaced the broken tooth, the old crowns were replaced, and the bottom teeth were whitened.

This patient's tooth broke off at the gumline. He also had crowns on some teeth that did not fit well and needed to be replaced.

This patient had existing crowns on the front four teeth that were too white (yes, crowns can be too white!). They did not fit the teeth properly and caused the gums to swell and become red. The way in which crowns fit the teeth is as important as the way they look.

The old crowns were replaced with new porcelain crowns. The new crowns appear more natural and fit the teeth properly; evident by the way the porcelain meets the gums.. In cases like these, the gum tissue takes a few weeks to heal.

This patient had crowns and bridges on several teeth that were decayed. This necessitated replacement of the existing work. Her wish list was to improve the aesthetics and the angulation.

The results rejuvenated the patient. In her words, "All I have to do is open my mouth and my teeth are smiling!"

This patient had crowns and large fillings on almost all of her top teeth. She was so unhappy with her current appearance that when asked to smile she said, "I don't have one."

Treatment involved placing ten porcelain crowns. The results are evident in the expression on her lips. The word "smile" was back in her vocabulary.

This is another close up of the front four teeth. The gum tissue is healthy but the patient wanted more natural-looking crowns to replace the old crowns, which were starting to show darkness at the gumline and appeared dull.

The four crowns were replaced with four porcelain crowns that met the patient's desire for them to look like natural teeth.

This is an image of the last three teeth in the lower jaw. They had very old silver fillings. The fillings and the teeth were wearing out.

The treatment consisted of placing porcelain crowns on the teeth. These crowns are more than just for appearance. They returned the teeth to their original height and shape; restoring function.

This patient lost his front tooth in a skateboarding accident. The left front tooth was badly chipped and was repaired with tooth-colored bonding, but the root on the right front tooth was split in two and could not be saved.

We made a temporary retainer with a tooth attached to the wire until the bone healed. After the bone healed, an implant could be placed.

This patient was missing the bottom molars on both sides of his mouth, as indicated by the white arrows.

A removable partial denture was made to restore lost chewing surfaces.

This patient is missing all of his teeth. A traditional full denture is needed.

Dentures are made more realistic by making them slightly less than perfect.

This patient lost all of her teeth with the exceptions of the front four teeth on the bottom and a portion of a tooth, which has a gold crown on top of the root (bottom right of the photo). It is important to save the root of a tooth because it helps preserve the bone, which is critical.

The metal holding the partial denture in place is not visible when the patient speaks or smiles.

This patient had a developmental defect that caused a malformation of the jaws as well as the teeth.

A removable partial denture was made for both the top and bottom to replace the missing teeth and to restore the aesthetics.

These are two old silver fillings that have served the patient well for many years. They are starting to show their age and need to be replaced.

The left tooth was restored with a porcelain onlay, which covers the entire chewing surface of the tooth. The right tooth was restored with a porcelain inlay, which covers only the necessary part of the chewing surface.

This is a back molar with two separate silver fillings that are very old. They need to be replaced.

The tooth was restored with a porcelain inlay, which leaves the cusps of the natural teeth exposed.

This is another silver filling that is showing its age and needs to be replaced.

The tooth was restored with a porcelain onlay since the cusps, which are the tips of the teeth, were too weak to be restored without being covered.

These two teeth had old silver fillings that needed to be replaced.

This is a silver filling that had decay near the gumline and needed to be replaced.

The filling was removed and replaced with a porcelain inlay. The majority of the tooth was healthy and did not need to be restored.

This is a lower molar with a fractured silver filling on the chewing surface and a separate silver filling on the outside portion of the tooth.

The extent of the decay indicated replacement of the entire chewing surface, so a porcelain onlay was used.

This patient lost her front tooth in an ice skating accident. The options were to place a three tooth bridge, which requires the removal of some of the adjacent teeth; an implant; or a removable appliance such as a partial denture. The patient chose to have an implant placed.

The completed treatment appears completely natural. If you did not know that there had been a tooth missing, you would not be able to tell that any treatment had been done.

The most common of the congenitally missing teeth are the upper laterals. This patient was born without an adult lateral tooth.

A single implant was placed and the result is very natural looking. The center tooth, next to the implant, had a veneer placed on it, and the gum tissue was trimmed so that it matched the center tooth next to it.

This patient lost all of his natural teeth many years ago and wore upper and lower full dentures, but had difficulty with his lower dentures staying in place. Implants were placed on the bottom. The patient had no problem with his top denture staying in place so no implants were placed on top.

The lower denture clips onto the bars between the implants and is very stable, yet the patient is able to remove the denture when he needs to brush and clean the implants. The result is a solid chewing surface and the patient can eat whatever food he desires.

This patient had lost all of her natural teeth and had worn dentures for over 20 years. Both the top and bottom dentures were loose because there was not much bone for the denture to sit on. Four implants, two on top and two on the bottom, were placed.

The dentures are removable for cleaning, but they clip onto the implants using rings. They are very stable and natural looking.

This patient was unhappy with her gummy smile. The gum tissues covered up too much of the teeth, making the teeth look too short.

A crown lengthening procedure was performed, which evened the height of the gum tissue across the front teeth. The result was dramatic and the patient was quite pleased.

The yellow arrow above is pointing to an area where this patient has suffered some bone loss. The dark area indicates that the bone is not as dense and without treatment the prognosis for this tooth would be poor.

A bone graft procedure was performed and the yellow arrow above is pointing to the regenerated bone. This area is much denser with bone than the same area in the image to the left. The prognosis for this tooth is now excellent.

This is another case of a gummy smile. The gum tissue covered up too much of the teeth, which caused them to look short.

A crown lengthening procedure was performed, which evened the height of the gum tissue across the front teeth. This type of procedure typically leads to patients smiling with more confidence... and much more often!

What is unusual about this case is the unevenness of the tissue height in the two front teeth.

A crown lengthening procedure was performed to make the height of the tissue consistent on both sides of the upper teeth.

This patient is missing a lot of gum tissue around the neck of the tooth with the white arrow. In this case, it is necessary to do a gingival graft, which requires taking tissue from a site right next to the area missing the tissue or from the roof of the mouth.

This is the result of a gingival graft, which shows the presence of pink and healthy attached gingival tissue around the neck of the tooth. The prognosis for this tooth is excellent and the procedure took one appointment.

The tissue at the gumline of the tooth with the red arrow is not only very red but it is missing what is called the "attached tissue." Without this tissue, bone loss is likely to occur.

Tissue was taken from the roof of the patient's mouth and grafted to the area shown by the green arrows. Compare the image to the right with the image above. The tissue is much pinker and, therefore, healthier in the above image.

The large mass that you see above is simply an overgrowth of bone. It occurs in about 20% of the population. It only needs to be removed for cosmetic reasons, if it interferes with speech, or if a removal appliance such as a denture needs to be made.

This was a one appointment procedure, which was performed because the large overgrowth of bone was affecting speech and eating.

A root canal procedure involves removing diseased tissues (indicated by the yellow arrow), which contain the nerve and blood supply of a tooth, and replacing it with a rubber-type material. The area that is filled is called the "root canal."

This is what the completed root canal looks like on an x-ray. This tooth had three canals, which you can see by the white filling material in the root portion of the tooth.

This tooth has what is called an "accessory canal," which is a canal that splinters off in an unexpected direction. This tooth had to be retreated due to the first root canal failing, which is evident by the dark area, which is where the arrow is pointing.

This is a different tooth that also had an accessory canal, in the area indicated by the red arrow. The prognosis for this tooth is also good, but as with most root canals, a periodic exam and x-ray are needed to monitor for any issues.

This is an example of a back tooth that developed a cyst (the dark area around the tip of the root). A root canal was performed and you can see some of the root canal filling material in the dark area, which represents an accessory canal.

This is another example of an accessory canal in a back tooth. This canal,by the red arrow, was rather large. The prognosis for this tooth is also good because the accessory canal was found and filled.

This is an x-ray of an upper molar with four canals, which is not very common. What makes the treatment of this tooth more difficult is the curvy nature of its canals.

The four canals have been labeled on this x-ray. Canal #1 is very straight but the other three canals, especially #3, are curved. Each canal must be free of any nerve or blood tissue before it is filled to ensure a good prognosis.

Most of the canals, where the nerve and blood vessels of the tooth reside, are narrow like the wick of a candle. Some canals are very wide, similar to this x-ray of a front tooth. This means there is less tooth structure surrounding the canal, which can indicate that the tooth is weaker.

The tooth on the right is what we typically expect to see in regard to a normal root canal anatomy. This tooth has three separate canals. The tooth on the left has only a single canal, which is why the filling material appears so wide.

This is an x-ray of an upper front tooth. The root on this tooth is shorter than normal. The cells of the root of the tooth are being eaten away in a process that is called external resorption.

The treatment is a conventional root canal procedure, which may take one or two visits. This procedure is a last attempt at saving the tooth.

This is an x-ray of a back tooth, known as a molar, which was taken immediately after root canal treatment. The arrow is pointing to a dark area, where there is an infection.

This x-ray was taken approximately one year after the root canal treatment. Notice that the dark area has filled in with bone, indicating that the root canal was successful.

The yellow arrow above indicates internal resorption. This occurs when the cells inside the tooth destroy the root from the inside out. This process usually happens very slowly over a matter of months or years and is usually associated with some sort of trauma to the tooth.

The treatment for internal resorption usually takes a two or more appointments. First, a medicated filling is placed and then, after a few weeks, the medicated filling is removed and the procedure is completed in the conventional way.

This patient was not happy with many things. One of her front teeth was discolored, and she did not like the spaces or the length of her teeth.

This is the result of her treatment after the placement of eight porcelain veneers. The color is very natural, the spaces have been closed, and the teeth have been lengthened.

The main complaint this patient had was spacing, but he also wanted his chipped teeth fixed as part of the treatment plan.

This is the result after the placement of six porcelain veneers, which made the patient very happy. The spaces have all disappeared and his teeth look very natural, giving him a tremendous confidence boost.

This patient had her front teeth bonded several years ago and the bonding was beginning to show its age by having lost some of its luster.

This patient had her front teeth bonded several years ago and the bonding was beginning to show its age by having lost some of its luster.

This patient did not like the color, shape, or spacing of her teeth. She was very self conscious of her smile.

After placement of six porcelain veneers, all of the patient's goals were met and she was very happy with the result.

This patient broke his tooth when he accidentally bit into a fork while eating.

A porcelain veneer was placed and the result appears as if the tooth was never broken!

This patient was not happy with the different lengths of her two front teeth, the basic shape of all of her front teeth, as well as the color.

Five porcelain veneers were placed and the patient was very happy with the results. The canine tooth in the upper left of the photo was an existing crown, which is why five veneers were placed instead of six.

This patient has what we called "mottled" enamel, which can be caused by too much fluoride when the teeth are being formed.

Treatment consisted of placing ten porcelain veneers on the upper teeth, which resulted in a very natural appearance. Treatment required two appointments, a few days apart. The lower teeth were treated with composite bonding due to the patient's financial constraints.

This patient was unhappy with several things. First, she did not like the space between her teeth and was dissatisfied with the uneven lengths and the alignment. If you look carefully at the bottom teeth, you will notice that one tooth is much smaller than the others.

Six porcelain veneers were placed and composite bonding was placed on the retained baby tooth. The result of the treatment gave the patient much more confidence in her smile.

This patient did not like the color, the shape, or the length of his teeth. If length was not an issue, one option would have been to whiten the teeth, followed by orthodontics. Since that would not address the length issue, the treatment of choice was porcelain veneers.

Six porcelain veneers were placed and all the goals of treatment were met. The patient was very happy with the color, shape, and length.