Lisa is originally from Northern Utah and moved to Greeley in 2001. She attended Weber State University and is a recent graduate from BYU Idaho. She has 20 years of dental management and Human Resource experience. She is actively involved with her family. She loves interacting with our patients and creating a welcoming atmosphere in our office.
Kari grew up in Moab, Utah and moved to Greeley in 2001. She has a Bachelor Degree in education from Utah State University and has spent many years in customer service. She has 4 children she is crazy about and recently added a daughter-in-law to her close-knit family. Kari enjoys all things outdoors including gardening, hiking, biking, and camping. Her greatest joy comes from spending time with her husband and kids. All of her children have participated in sports and she has been their biggest cheerleader through the years.
Having spent half of her life in Colorado, Kaitlin considers herself a Colorado halfsie. She is currently a student at AIMS Community College with the dream of becoming a Certified Nurse Midwife. She enjoys going to concerts with her mom, hanging out with her cute husband, and playing card games. She also loves the mountains, being on the farm with her family, and spending time with her nieces and nephews.
Suzanne grew up in Southern California and spent two years at Cal Poly University in San Luis Obispo, California and then finished her Bachelors Degree in Dental Hygiene at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. She loves spending time with her husband, two children, daughters-in-law, and her five grandchildren, as well as her step-son and step-daughter. In her spare time, she loves to quilt, camp at her favorite water skiing lake, and garden. She loves her job, her patients, and helping her patients achieve better oral health.
Jennifer was born and raised in Mississippi where she graduated from Hygiene School in 2008. She and her husband, along with their two dogs, moved to Colorado in 2019. She enjoys hiking, fly fishing, and tropical vacations.
Judy grew up in Wisconsin and graduated in 1978 from the Madison Area Technical College- Dental hygiene program. She is well versed in Dental Hygiene including experience in pediatric dentistry, general practices and periodontal specialties. Her passion for helping her patients attain and maintain dental health is the reason for her long dental career. Judys hobbies include motorcycling with her husband, spending a much time as possible with her grandchildren she adores, and when at home youll find her in her flower garden tending to her beauties. Ministering for Kairos Prison Ministries is her way of sharing her many blessings by inspiring others.
Leti is a Greeley, Colorado native. She graduated High school in 2012, and attended the Academy for dental assistant careers in the summer of 2013, where she got her degree in dental assisting and radiology. She has 3 beautiful children who spend all her time and money. Her hobbies include: Playtime with the kids, baking and going for walks. She also loves listening to music and it plays in the background for the duration of most of these activities.
Arely is a Colorado native and lived in Kersey, Colorado for most of her life, but she now resides in Greeley, Colorado. She graduated from Platte Valley High School in May of 2019 and started working at Ascent Family Dental in September of 2020 as a sterilization tech, but she was soon promoted to hygiene assistant. She has loved working in the dental field and has a certificate in Dental Radiology, which she received on the job. In her free time, she is often binge-watching her favorite TV shows, spending time outside, or hanging out with friends and family.
Julie was born in Nebraska and moved to Colorado in 1983 and Greeley in 2019. She has worked in the dental field ten years and is excited to be our newest Dental Assistant. She enjoys spending time with her three children and three grandchildren. She loves crafting, working in her yard and traveling to see as many waterfalls as possible.
Dentures are a type of prosthesis used to accommodate missing teeth. These devices are typically removable, but some arebondedorimplanted. When all teeth are absent, complete dentures are used. When only some teeth are missing, partial dentures are used. Dentures may be for the maxillary arch, mandibular arch, or both.
Partial dentures, orbridges, are attached to the teeth to fill in gaps where other teeth are missing. Bridges may be removable or may sit in a fixed position using acrown. Bridges help maintain the appearance of a healthy smile while also keeping the remaining teeth in their proper alignment instead of shifting over time.
Flippers are also a type of acrylic removable partial dentures. They are a temporary denture that can be used to fill gaps in your smile. These dentures consist of a retainer with one or more prosthetic teeth, and theyre usually used to replace missing front teeth.
Soreness at the corners of the mouth:If your dentures alter the way your mouth closes, saliva may gather in the corners of the lips. This moisture can, over time, lead to conditions or infections like cheilosis or stomatitis. Your dentist can best determine the cause of soreness and how to alleviate it.
Irritation of the gums:Irritation can be caused by food particles rubbing against the gums after getting trapped under the dentures. Friction can lead to sores or bleeding, and if its persistent, you should see your dentist to rule out other possibilities.
Slippage:If dentures fit appropriately, there should not be an issue with suction. As the mouth changes, the seal between the gums and the device may weaken. If your dentures are not adhering the way they once did, contact your dentist.
At Ascent Family Dental we have modern equipment, a large staff, and multiple operatories in order to help accomodidate seeing your whole family at once if required. Some of our doctors also work later hours so parents and children do not have to miss work or school.
Not so long ago, patients had very few choices in correcting their imperfect smiles. Orthodontic treatment could correct crooked teeth, but not much could be done about teeth that were chipped, oddly shaped, or discolored other than covering them with crowns, a procedure that requires a significant reduction of healthy tooth structure. Today, there are several effective, fast, and minimally invasive options for improving the appearance of teeth.
At-Home Whitening:You can achieve the same whitening results with an at-home kit provided by your dentist, who must first create custom mouth trays for you. These trays are to be filled with professional-grade whitening gel and placed over your top and bottom teeth. After wearing them for a specified time period every day for about two weeks, your teeth will achieve the same whitening results as an in-office treatment.
Anyone with healthy teeth and gums is a good candidate. However, if you have tooth decay, sensitive teeth, gum disease or dental work on your front teeth, youll need to address these issues with your dentist before undergoing professional teeth whitening.
Cosmetic bondingis a procedure that uses composite resin, the same tooth-colored material used forfillings, to alter the shape or color of a tooth. It is placed on the tooth in its soft, liquid form and then hardened.
Bonding is a simple procedure that can be performed in just one visit to your dentist. First, the composite resin material is colored to match your natural teeth. Next, your dentist will place the material, which resembles putty, onto your tooth and mold it into an aesthetically pleasing shape. After the resin is hardened under a special light, your dentist will shape and buff the hard material with a polishing tool until your repaired tooth has the same enamel-like sheen as your other teeth. This procedure can often be done although some patients have issues down the road with the filling material discoloring and staining so it may not be a long-term option for you.
Aveneeris a thin, durable shell made of porcelain that your dentist bonds to the front of a tooth. Veneers can be used to correct the same types of issues as bonding, including broken, discolored, misshapen or widely spaced teeth. They can also be placed over slightly crooked or overlapping teeth to create the appearance of straight teeth, something that normally takes a year or more using braces. They are also meant to last a lot longer than cosmetic bonding.
Veneer placementbegins with your dentist gently buffing away a small portion of the enamel on the teeth being treated. This is done to create room for the porcelain veneers. Next, your dentist takes an impression of your teeth, which he or she will send to a dental lab so that a skilled technician can create your restorations according to the size, color and shape specifications that you have chosen. You may be given temporary veneers to wear while your permanent ones are being constructed. When the veneers have returned from the dental lab, your dentist will affix them to your teeth with a strong bonding material.