Bobette has been a dental assistant for 25+ years and her passion for it shows. It is common for our patients to express how much she has helped them make their dental care a positive experience. Her warm personality and love for people are noticeable from your first encounter. A desire to learn the latest in advancements in dental care and technology are what first attracted her to Advanced Cosmetic Dentistry.

Since joining our team she has completed hundreds of hours in continuing education with Dr. Peterson. Topics including Comprehensive Aesthetic Occlusal Reconstruction, Critical Steps for Physiologic Success, Full Mouth Reconstruction, Practical Advanced TMD, The Physiologic Treatment for OSA, Physiologic Orthodontics, Laser Training and Certification for Er:Yag and Nd:Yag lasers as well as NightLase and SmoothLase Certification.

Originally from Idaho, she has lived in Utah for 28 years now. She is a proud mother of a wonderful daughter who was recently married and lives in Hawaii. We are all exited for her to welcome her first grandchild later this year! In her spare time she loves to ski, golf and travel.

Teresa has received training through the Las Vegas Institute for Advanced Dental Studies, having completed course work in neuromuscular dentistry, metal free restorations, and dynamic team concepts. She is a graduate of the JP Consultants Institute in advanced diagnosis and treatment of periodontal disease. Teresa has studied biological dentistry through the International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology. She has completed laser certification through the Academy of Laser Dentistry, is trained in the use of CO2, diode, Nd:Yag, and Er:Yag lasers to enhance the outcome of periodontal therapy.

You may have heard of the controversy surrounding silver/mercury fillings. There have been many statements made that they may be harmful. I would not have a new silver filling placed in my mouth or that of my family. There are many other restorative materials that are far superior without the worry of mercury toxicity.

If we are placing a restoration in a back tooth, and it is not in an area that takes a great deal of biting force, we will generally place a tooth-colored one (composite resin). These have many advantages over silver fillings. Obviously one tremendous advantage is they look just like the tooth. Also, since they are chemically bonded to the tooth, they do not weaken the tooth like silver fillings can.

We put a lot of effort into our composite restorations. First of all, since it is critical that the area is perfectly isolated we will almost always place a rubber dam on the tooth, which will act like a raincoat. It keeps moisture away from the tooth while we work on it, and it keeps our materials out of your mouth.

Then the bonding process takes about 12 separate steps. These are all very critical and must be done precisely or the bond is weakened. In most of my fillings I am utilizing the Er:Yag Fotona laser. Besides often eliminating the need for you to receive a shot, it has the added benefit of providing a better tooth surface to bond to. When we place the restoration we use 2 4 different types of materials. We place one type in the deeper parts of the tooth to provide ideal strength and others on the chewing surface that polish nicer and do not wear down very easily. These are critical steps to insure the longest lasting restoration, but unfortunately are rarely done by most dentists.

All of these steps take far more skill and more time is involved. This means the initial cost to place a composite restoration may be higher than a silver filling. But in the long term, they will prove to be far more economical since the tooth is less likely to need expensive treatment (such as a crown) at a later date.

We are very excited about the advances in the science of dentistry and work very hard to be able to provide the very latest in techniques and materials for you. We believe that the more you know about what we are doing, the more you will appreciate it.

There has been some increased interest in BPA in dental materials since a small article appeared in USA Today. You may recall that BPA is a chemical that was shown to be released from some water bottles, especially when hot water was placed in them. This chemical has the potential for causing some health problems that could be potentially serious. This is not a new concern for the dental profession since there was a similar article that appeared in the dental literature in 2008.

A couple of points were made in the article that are very important to review. This gets a little complicated, but there are some very important considerations and we are talking about you and your childrens health. In the article they differentiated two different compounds that dental materials could be made from. Bis-Dma and Bis-Gma. In the article they pointed out that only the Bis-Dma seemed to release BPA into the saliva for about 3 hours. BisGma is a completely different molecule and did not break down to BPA.

There are still dental sealants on the market today that contain Bis-Dma (mainly Delton by Dentsply). In Dr. Paul Petersons office we have never used a sealant that contains Bis-Dma. In fact we dont actually use a sealant material for our sealants. We use a permanent restorative material in the form of a flowable composite. Studies have found that it is a stronger material and tends to last longer in the teeth.

I went back to check the materials that we use in our office and NONE of the materials contained Bis-Dma. There is actually a good reason for it that has nothing to do with BPA. The Bis-Gma material have some better characteristics for how we use them and have therefore become much more common in the more expensive materials. Since that is all we use, it has not been an issue in our office.