The highly-skilled dentists at South Gate Dental, your trusted Leesburg dentist, offer a wide range of restorative dental treatments, including dental implant restorations. Dr. Tammy Knapp Heisey and herstaff believe dental implants provide the most natural-looking and functioning tooth replacement choice available today in in Leesburg, VA.
The need for state of the art tooth replacement options begins with tooth loss. Accident, extensive decay, and congenital defect can compromise tooth structure to the extent that extraction is the only course of action. Additionally, advanced gum disease, or periodontitis, remains the number one cause of tooth loss among American adults, according to the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research.
Fortunately, tooth loss--involving one tooth or multiples--does not have to spoil smile aesthetics, facial features, eating or speaking. The dentists at South Gate Dental in Leesburghave the expertise to evaluate prospective implant patients and to place custom-fabricated dental implants and lifelike restorations, such as porcelain crowns, for well-functioning, no-gap smiles.
Sometimes patients require bone grafting from human or animal sources to augment jaw bone weakened by extraction. This relatively quick and comfortable process provides a stable base for in-office insertion of a metal dental implant device.
Composed of titanium, the dental implant screws right into the jaw. The dentists at South Gate Dental use cutting edge BioHorizons dental implants which are known for their design stability and affinity for human bone. Through a process called osseointegration, the dental implant melds with the jaw, providing it with a large measure of strength and density.
After some healing time, the dentist places an extension post on the implant and then a custom-fabricated porcelain crown as the final dental implant restoration. Dental implants and their restorations may be placed singly or in multiples. They also support partial or full dentures for the best fitting, biting and speaking available to the restorative dentistry patient.
Dental implants last for a lifetime, says the Academy of Osseointegration. They do not decay or shift position. The only real threat to their survival is peri-implantitis, a inflammatory and infectious process much like advanced gum disease. Peri-implantitis comes from: smoking or chewing tobacco, poor oral or overall health (uncontrolled diabetes, for example), and negligent dental hygiene.
Waking up from a nights sleep without getting any sleepits a problem. And that problem could be obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). What is OSA? OSA is a sleep disorder, in which case the upper airway is obstructed by excess tissue, airway muscles collapsing and relaxing during sleep, nasal passages and position of the jaw. The word apnea is Greek for without breath. OSA is one of three sleep apnea disorders, the others being mixed and central sleep apnea.
An estimated 18 to 20 million adults in the U.S. are diagnosed with OSA, according to the National Sleep Foundation. Most of these people go undiagnosed for a long time because they are unaware of the symptoms. In most cases, a loved one will have noticed the symptoms before the patient. Common symptoms of OSA include loud snoring, waking up abruptly and gasping for air. When apnea occurs, it sends impulses to the brain to wake a person up, allowing them to restart normal breathing patterns. If there are 30 apneas during an average night of sleep (7-8 hours), a patient can be diagnosed with sleep apnea disorder.
This is a disorder that needs to be diagnosed and treated as soon as possible. If a patient continues without treatment, he/she raises the risk of high blood pressure, heart disease, irregular heartbeat, heart attack and stroke. Also, a person suffering from sleep apnea will have trouble functioning during the day, which could result in accidents and lack of productivity. A sleep study is the only proper way to diagnose OSA.
Oral Appliance TherapyTo treat OSA, there are many different appliances that can help lessen an obstruction to the airways. Oral appliances are a primary treatment for mild to moderate OSA. What does an oral appliance do? It repositions the tongue and lower jaw forward, allowing the airways to remain open. Dentists typically use oral appliances as their main treatment option. And most dentists offer custom-made oral appliances.
Other Treatment for Sleep ApneaThe Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) remains the standard therapy for OSA. A CPAP uses air pressure to keep the airway open. If a patient cant tolerate a CPAP, an oral appliance is the recommended treatment.