Early access to dental care can help your child enjoy strong teeth well into adulthood. Waiting until your son or daughter has a toothache can make it stressful to find the best family dentist. That’s why we’ve brought affordable pediatric dental care to you here at your Bethesda pediatric dentist.Your child can enjoy comprehensive care that eliminates dental diseases early, reduces the number of trips they need to the dentist later on, and decreases the amount that you spend on dental care.

A dental check-up and cleaning every 6 months can help us pinpoint problems when they are small. This prevents waiting to visit our office until there is a large, costly problem to fix. Digital x-rays help our team screen for problems that aren’t yet visible.

Get your children to your caring kids dentist in Bethesda MD. Call us today and let your child smiles a lifetime !

Losing teeth is not something that has to accompany the aging process. In fact, many patients enjoy a lifetime of full, healthy teeth without ever having to replace a single one. Still, tooth loss does occur often enough that it remains one of the more significant problems for patients of all ages. When you’ve lost most or all of your teeth, then the right partial or complete denture(s) can help you regain the beautiful smile of your youth

Types of Dentures

Complete Dentures

A complete denture, or full denture, describes the more popular prosthesis that consists of an entire row of replacement teeth situated neatly on a gum-colored plastic base. The appliance can restore your smile when you’ve lost all of your teeth on your upper and/or lower dental ridges, giving you a beautiful, bright, full, and fully-functional smile once again. Often crafted from porcelain, dentures provide a realistic solution to replacing lost teeth, and in many cases, we may recommend securing your denture(s) to a series of dental implants

Partial Dentures

When your tooth loss doesn’t span your entire dental ridge, but is too extensive for a dental bridge or implant-supported dental crown, then you may benefit most from a partial denture. Like a full denture, a partial denture helps restore your smile’s appearance and function, but is designed to fit around the teeth that remain so as not to disturb your healthy, natural tooth structure. Also like a complete denture, partials can be secured to one or more dental implants for more stable and lifelike support.

When it comes to maintaining how well your bite functions, keeping your teeth clean and healthy may not always be enough. Keeping them strong and properly aligned, and maintaining the health and function of your jaw’s components, are also essential. TMJ disorder and bruxism describe two different, but often closely related, issues that affect your jaw function and the integrity of your oral health.

TMJ Disorder

TMJ disorder, short for temporomandibular joint disorder, can include a number of different issues that affect your jaw joints. Located at the two points where your mandible connects to your skull, TMJs move together to allow your jaw to open, close, and revolve as needed when you bite, chew, and speak. When your bite is not aligned properly, such as if your teeth are crooked or your jawbone is injured/uneven, the joints can become overly-stressed as they try to keep up with each other. The resulting stress can lead to a TMJ disorder, which can lead to:

* Recurring headaches and migraines * Chronic tinnitus (pain and/or ringing in one or both of your ears) * Jaw and facial muscle soreness * A popping sensation when you open and close your jaw

To treat TMJ disorder, many patients benefit from a custom-designed mouthguard that can be worn at night, and helps keep your jaw and TMJs positioned comfortably. To realign crooked teeth, we might also recommend one of our cosmetic braces systems, such as Invisalign, ClearCorrect, or Six Month Smiles.

Bruxism refers to an oral parafunctional activity which occurs in most humans at some point in their lives. The grinding of the teeth and the clenching of the jaw are the two main characteristics of this condition, which can occur either during the day or at night. Bruxism is the clinical name for involuntary teeth grinding, and typically only applies to patients who constantly grind their teeth (often at night). It does not necessarily describe the occasional grinding of your teeth due to stress, anger, pain, or other temporary factors.Bruxism is one of the most common known sleep disorders and causes most of its damage during sleeping hours. The clenching and grinding which accompanies bruxism is symptomatic of a malfunctioning chewing reflex, which is turned off in non-sufferers when sleeping. For sufferers, deep sleep or even naps, cause the reflex nerve control center in the brain to turn off, and the reflex pathways to become active. The consistent grinding can cause your teeth to become worn down, and place excessive stress on your jaw joints and lead to/exacerbate TMJ disorder. If your teeth are not significantly damaged, or after a worn or cracked tooth is restored, your dentist in Bethesda MD may help you alleviate bruxism with an oral appliance that protects your teeth from touching each other.

SLEEP BETTER WITH SNORING/SLEEP APNEA TREATMENT

If you’ve ever wondered how to go about finding relief from chronic snoring, you might be surprised to learn that the answer might be found at youdentist’s office.The factors that usually cause snoring, as well as the related condition, obstructive sleep apnea, can often be addressed with a custom oral appliance provided by Dr. Shawn Samad or Dr. Charles Zebe your dentist in Bethesda MD.

What causes snoring?

Most people can recognize snoring by its sound, but still might not be aware of exactly what the phenomenon is. As you sleep, the muscles and tissues in your throat can over-relax, or may be larger than normal, and can partially block your airway. Snoring is the sound of compressed air and vibrating throat tissues as you are forced to breathe through a smaller airway.

Laser treatment is available at Bethesda Dental Group for certain types of cavities. The way you have a cavity found and a filling completed are different from anything you’ve ever experienced before. We can even treat your gums with our dental lasers.

You no longer need to fear a cavity because a laser takes all the discomfort out of the process for many types of fillings.

Going to the dentist doesn’t have to be uncomfortable. You no longer need to feel nervous about routine restorative procedures, like having a filling, because laser dentistry is here at Bethesda MD.

SEDATION MAKES DENTISTRY MORE COMFORTABLE

Not everyone who receives dental care will need sedation dentistry, though many patients can benefit from it regardless of the dental treatment they are to receive. Monitored in many ways, dental sedation can help anxious patients relax so they can receive the complex treatment they need. It can also help Bethesda dentist to perform extensive restorative procedures faster and more comfortable, minimizing the amount of time that you must spend in the dental chair.

Nitrous Oxide

Nitrous oxide, commonly known as laughing gas, is a mild sedative that is inhaled through a mask, and then exhaled. The sedative effects that nitrous oxide (NO2) produces are mild, and usually wear off immediately after your procedure is completed and the mask removed.

Oral sedation is taken as a pill or liquid, and produces a more potent sedative effect than laughing gas. Depending on the level of sedation you need, you may take a pill the night before your appointment, and then another before the procedure begins. Though more effective than nitrous oxide, oral sedation still allows you to remain conscious and responsive.

Intravenous (IV) Sedation

Intravenous sedation is the most powerful form of dental sedation, and involves delivering the sedative directly into your bloodstream. For optimal comfort and safety, Dr. Shawn Samad or Dr. Charles Zebe best dentist in Bethesda MD works closely with a trained anesthesiologist who will carefully monitor your vital signs and level of sedation throughout your procedure. Though you may feel almost like you are asleep, you will still remain responsive under IV sedation, and able to respond to prompts from the doctor.