Tag Archives:Dr. Antolak
Gum Disease Discussed by Macomb County MI Dentist
Hi. My name is Dr. Robert Antolak, the dentist at thegentledentist.com in Shelby Township in Michigan, and I would like to focus on periodontal disease and what gum disease is.
Gum disease is something that affects about 50% of the adults in the United States. Gum disease is where you start losing bone that is around the teeth. When people have gum disease usually they are not even aware that they have it but they might start getting some areas that where the gums are receding and pulling up. The breath might smell bad. They may have bleeding of their gums when they try flossing, when they brush. These are all signs of gum disease.
Gum disease affects not only 50% of the people, but it’s even more common amongst people who smoke and those who are diabetic. Recently I just got back from a seminar at the University of Michigan and it was a symposium on the current trends and treatments for gum disease. What they had said was, and which confirms a lot of our findings that I have seen, is that those who smoke have gum disease and those who are diabetic and it’s vice versa. One supports the other. So, if someone has gum disease, usually they can have a chance of having diabetes. In fact, the other day I had a patient who I saw, young lady; she had bone loss around her teeth and I had recommended that she does a fasting glucose test through her physician so that they can possibly eliminate her of being a diabetic. She doesn’t have a family history of diabetes and so this is one way we can actually start to diagnose medical conditions.
These systemic conditions definitely affect people and if they can take care of their gum disease, it’ll also help them to regulate their other systemic problems. Gum disease is an infection of the gums, like I said before. Let me just demonstrate here. I have a model that has this pink area. It’s, like, gum tissue here. And so what we do is, we will actually go around each tooth make a measurement of each one. This is called a periodontal probe. A periodontal probe is a mechanical device, and each of those increments is about 3 millimeters. Any area above 3 millimeters where gently probed, if it goes 4, 5, 6 millimeters. That means that you have bone loss around your teeth and when we have bone loss that usually means that the teeth are loose and there’s recession around it, and there’s also bacteria that’s growing below the gum line that causes the gum disease.
It is very important to have that taken care of the entire mouth have what’s called scaling and root planning to treat this. Scaling and root planning is a treatment where we will numb you up, and go around each tooth and clean using what’s called an ultrasonic, which kind of vibrates. And what it does is it uses ultrasonic energy to vibrate and get rid of the tartar and bacterial plaque that forms below the gums.
Another interesting thing about gum disease is there’s a genetic link. You can have a genetic test done to see if you are more predisposed to gum disease. But the only way to positively do that is by going to your dentist and having them use this periodontal probe and going around your mouth and probing and making recordings based on them. If your dentist is not doing that, then I would suggest either that you ask them, and/or get another dentist. Because this is something that needs to be regulated on a regular basis, is to have the gums probed and by usually a registered dental hygienist or the dentist.
Gum Disease Discussed by Macomb County MI Dentist
If this is something that you’re interested in having better health, especially for the new year, I would suggest that you give us a call. Our phone number is 586-247-3500. Our website is thegentledentist.com. Thank you. Have a blessed day.
Macomb County MI Dentist Explains the Importance of Dental Loupes
Hi, my name is Dr. Robert Antolak at thegentledentist.com. We’re located in Macomb County, Michigan, in Shelby Township. In fact our office is on 22 Mile just west of Hayes, which is right on the border of Shelby Township and Macomb Township. So, I would like to talk to you a little bit about the detail that is apparent at our office. I have been wearing what are called dental loupes, which are these, for probably a good 15 years or so. I’m amazed when I hear people ask why I am wearing those or if I find I go to maybe a convention or a seminar and people are not wearing these. It still kind of baffles me. So what I want to do is just describe the benefits of wearing dental loupes and what they do.
Loupes are magnifiers. They allow us as a dentist to see things. These that I’m wearing here are 4 times magnification. So if we see something that’s small, it looks 4 times the size with these magnified areas. Also what it does is it allows for us to sit straight up and have a focal length right at the right distance for our arms when we provide dental care. We can’t get too close that way, because if we get too close, then it gets out of focus. So, it keeps our back straighter because back aches and back problems are probably one of the biggest risks for dentists for longevity. So I’ve been wearing this for a long time and it’s something I’ve gotten used to. But people do get kind of surprised. What I want to do is to demonstrate also with that is an LED light that goes right on the loop and what the LED light does is when we put the loop on, it gives us the ability to show just a very small range here of where things are lit. The importance is these lights are so bright that if it gets into our patient’s eyes then it really hurts them, it hurts their eyes. And, so this allows us to just to focus on my field of vision, which you saw there and that light only what I can see through my eyes. I have no peripheral vision really when I focus to those loops. So it just gives me very narrow area where I focus on.
The benefit of that is that once again that I can see things as it fills up my field of vision. I can focus right on that specifically. In fact, when I’m asked to look at something without them I go, oh my gosh, teeth are really small, you know. Not even realizing that I get so used to and accustomed to using those dental loops. Also, a really good benefit of having the light attached right to where this is here is its right in line with my vision. So for example, if I’m looking down a hole that light actually penetrates that hole in the same line of sight that my eyes are in. Very close to it.
So, that gives me the ability to see things in small areas which typically would be too dark. The light, even the best lights, we have like the best lights that you can get that are attached to go over our patient, these LED lights. They’re really excellent. They’re brand new technology. But they still don’t even come close to the level of vision that you can see with these lights that are mounted right on to the loops.
Macomb County MI Dentist Explains the Importance of Dental Loupes
If this is kind of detail that you would desire for you and your family then please you can feel free to give us a call. If you want to talk to me about more about loops that would be fine too but my phone number is 586-247-3500. At thegentledentist.com, thank you.
Wisdom Teeth Removal in Shelby Township, Michigan – Part 1 Graphic
Dr. Antolak: Hi, my name is Dr. Antolak at thegentledentist.com in Shelby Township, Michigan. Our phone number is 586-247-3500 in case you’re interested in any dental treatment that you want. At our office we provide a full line of services for our patients so that’s basically one-stop shopping. Today Marshall has agreed, that we can go ahead and record this and put it on YouTube. Say hi, Marshall.
Shelby Township Dental Patient: Hello
Dr. Antolak: Marshall has been, is gassed up right now and I just numbed Marshall up. So he’s good and ready to go. And what we’re going to do is, were going to extract some of his wisdom teeth. And if we look here on this x-ray that we took we can see that these are the wisdom teeth, the third molars of the wisdom teeth. These four teeth here we are going to take out today. We got him nice and numbed up and the thing I’m always concerned about with wisdom teeth is that right in here is the nerve that gives sensation to the lip and the teeth. And it comes like this; it comes around like this, okay? And the roots with the teeth of Marshall makes it a good time to do it because the roots aren’t completely formed here. Sometimes if they get really too long like, for example, this one here it can encroach upon where the nerve is and affect the lips having numbness in the lips and the teeth.
So this is the, the right side. This is the left side. Once again, this is where the nerve will traverses down here, and we’re going to remove this. These are called soft tissue impacted because they are actually, encased, currently, within side the bone within side the soft tissue. It’s kind of sitting in there, so we basically have to make an incision and basically like a banana peel if the peel banana backs we need access to where the tooth is.
You can stop this video now, if any bloody things bother you. If not, then right now Marshall is completely numbed up. And basically, I just want to point out where the teeth are going to be removed over the top here. This is first molar, second molar, and the third molar. It is like in this position right here. So actually, right in here, I can fill his tooth right there. This tooth is just broken through the tissue. So we are going to make an incision here, deflect it back, and then move that. It’s the same axis as his left side. And also his right side is the same thing, right back in. So the first thing we’re going to do is we’re going to numb him up. You’re completely numb. Your lip feels real fat, Marshall?
Shelby Township Dental Patient: Mm-hm.
Dr Antolak: Yes, okay. So, I use what’s called a bite block. That’s going to help to open real big for me. What that’s going to do is help to stabilize his lower jaw. Okay Marshall, open up wide, please. And so we are going to create an incision here. And Marshall, you just raise your hand if you need me to stop. Okay, bud? Okay. So right now, we are just going to create a little incision here so we can gain access to it. Okay. So now, I am just. Marshall, you are going to feel some pressure, okay. You are not feeling anything, correct?
Shelby Township Dental Patient: Uh-uh.
Dr Antolak: Okay. Good. Just going to feel lots of pressure now, okay. You get to see this on YouTube. Just think, isn’t that fun? So actually we do actually we put videos on YouTube. It’s one of those top of the ones out there because I know there’s lots of you out there, who have an interest in, or probably have a wisdom tooth that might be bugging you or something. Okay, can you suction? So we are basically going to open this up here a little bit. And turn my light on here. It is just right here in this little socket. Okay. So, it is right there. Some pressure. You may feel a little movement around a little bit here. That is all it is. Okay.
So right now, we have gone ahead and selected the tooth sitting right in here. Right underneath that area, I’m just removing a little of the bone around the crease itself. And then I can basically re-attach. Go ahead and remove that. Hey, Marshall, good. I just want to make sure you are comfy here. We’re just going to create a little bit more of a window there for that. Suction right there. So, a lot of pressure now, Marshall. Are you OK? A lot of pressure. So right now, we are just moving the tooth a little bit. Now it can sit right beneath there.
Here it goes. A lot of pressure. There it is. It is like birthing a baby. There it is. So I am just putting a stitch in here. It is just like basically, doing some sewing here. So of course, Marshall is nice and numb, so the idea of when we put a stitch in like this is if we can approximate that soft tissue that was together there, they’ll go ahead and heal nicely together. That’s good. So then we are just going to take that back here, a little further back. Okay, Retractors please. So we’ve put about four stitches which is in this each area here.
We find it’s better to actually take these wisdom teeth out at a younger age, especially because when it encroaches on upon where the nerve is, then you have an issue. Especially if there is not going to be enough room in the mouth and it starts poking through the gums. Now there are some times when. Okay, go ahead. There are sometimes when we can wait and see if there is enough room in the mouth for them to erupt. In those cases, if there is enough room in the mouth for them to erupt, then we can use them, you know?
Why do some people get wisdom teeth? And some people, they may not erupt all the way? Well, you know, it’s through our micro-evolution, we just don’t have the need any more for to eat these course diets that at one time we did. So now we find that that some people just don’t have them now. It’s interesting because when I go to Haiti, almost every person now in Haiti have their wisdom teeth because their jaw none is actually bigger; because here in America we are a blend of many different cultures in different ethnicity groups, and sometimes you get jaws that are bigger, some are smaller so combination of those two factors affects how much space and room there is actually available.
Now when you see these stitches being done, it might seem like were going high, but we actually have to keep that, that incision towards the cheek side because there’s a nerve that runs through and if we get too close to that, then it effects the nerve to the tongue. I guess we could do it as risk free as possible. Now, go ahead. So, we are going to be done with this site here. So he is done with this lower wisdom tooth on his right side.
End of Part 1
Wisdom Teeth Removal in Shelby Township, Michigan – Part 1 Graphic
Shelby Township Dentist Discusses Cost of Dental Care
Hi, this is Doctor Antolak from TheGentleDentist.com. We’re in Shelby Township, Michigan and our phone number is 586-247-3500. Some of you may know that I have been writing articles for the Senior Living News here in Macomb County and Oakland County, in Michigan. It’s a free newspaper for seniors that want to do things that are relevant for their age group. And I’ve been a columnist for about going on 11 years. And I always ask our senior patients what kind of questions they may have so that I can then create some questions and answers that are relevant. And the most recent questions I did have, and I’ve had it throughout the years is what is the cost of dentistry? Why is dentistry so expensive?
I want to just address that issue in a couple of ways. First of all, I’d like to talk about a little bit about the facet of the expense of providing quality dental care and also from the dentist’s perspective.
First of all, the cost of dental care is much more expensive than one would imagine just kind of walking into a dental office. And they think that there are no additional expenses beyond that. But the reality is it’s furthest from the truth. You know, to provide high quality care, we need really good people who work for us. And to do that they cost money. And every person who works at the dental office is compensated quite well. And now in addition to that, there’s the cost of doing health insurance; you know medical insurance with that and with all the other aspects that come along with employment issues. And those are usually one of our highest expense are the cost of employees.
Now we have also the condition that we have the cost of the facility that we provide our care in. It’s got to be a clean place. It’s got to be kept up to date, so that we are clean and it reflects our values and who we are at our office at The Gentle Dentist in Shelby Township, Michigan. Other things that are really important are to keeping up on high technology. High technology in everything has touched every part of our lives. And because it has touched every part of our lives, and dentistry is no different. You know, we have the technology such as our computers – we have to make things more convenient for you, our patients.
We have a paperless office which requires computers so that it makes it more efficient for you and there’s actually less waste in the environment that way. We have the cost of digital panoramic X-rays. What that does, it saves time and it saves radiation, so you’re not being exposed to that much. That all costs money and how we develop the cost of providing care. We have to provide high quality care for laboratories that we use for us at the office, we use somebody that’s local; actually someone who lives in Macomb Township and he does wonderful work. So, all the work and all the treatment are done with American made products by American.
Unfortunately, sometimes you find out at some of these low-cost clinics, is a lot of times they’ll send all their lab work out to China and then you never know what kind of inferior products you’re going to receive from that, too. In addition to that, the second part of that answer was the dentists themselves. You know as a dentist, I’ve been practicing for 26 years but those dentists who come out of dental school now, are at least 100 to 200,000 dollars in debt before they even begin and so they’re starting way behind the 8 ball. And not only that, is as dentists, number 1 is we go to undergraduate school and we go to graduate school. The combination of those 2 is at least 8 years of school. And so that’s 8 years of being out of the potential earnings that we would make up if we were, if we were employed.
So it may seem like a lot of money and these types of things- it is expensive. I’m not denying that for one moment. But the cost of care, the cost of keeping up with the government regulations, with Obamacare, these things are all impacting us as dental professionals. And by the way, would you want to go to somebody who’s cheap? Because usually what I find is patients who come to see us are those who have been at some of these cheap clinics who provide free care. And the reality is, its inferior products and many, many times it doesn’t work for them and they have continued failures with the process. So, you know you have to ask yourself the question, is it worth your time. Is it worth your money to pay a little bit more to get high quality care that is guaranteed, which we do in our office. And then you know that when you get something, you’re going to know that it’s done right and done well.
Shelby Township Dentist Discusses Cost of Dental Care
So if there are any questions, I’d love to answer them for you. You can contact our office at (586) 247-3500, or you can contact at your website, which is thegentledentist.com. Or if you want to, you can email me, which is drantolak@thegentledentist.com. Thank you and have a blessed day.
Shelby Township Dentist Discusses Cost of Dental Care
Shelby Township, Michigan Dentist Answers: Who Do Dentists See for Dental Work?
Dr. Robert Antolak: Hi. My name is Dr. Robert Antolak at thegentledentist.com in Shelby Township, Michigan. The phone number is (586) 247-3500.
Dr. Gregory Apsey: Hi, I’m Dr. Greg Apsey. I’m practicing in Warren, Michigan. And, did you ever wonder, who your Dentist goes to, for their dentistry? A lot of our patients ask that question.
Dr. Robert Antolak: Well, I can answer that question. I go to see Doctor Apsey
Dr. Gregory Apsey: And of course I go to see Doctor Antolak
Dr. Robert Antolak: And why do we have this relationship? Well, it started back many years ago. I know the type of quality care he does. We actually started in dental school at the University of Michigan in 1983. We sat next to each other alphabetically.
Dr. Gregory Apsey: Right. And so our first impressions were done on each other. Our first injections were done on each other. Yeah. We practiced everything on each other, pretty much. And to this day we still trust each other completely. This is a great guy. A great dentist. Great friend.
Dr. Robert Antolak: And we get asked a lot of types of questions. Well so, who does your dentist work? I say I get my friend, Dr. Apsey. You know, he did a couple veneers for me and 10 years ago at least. And I never even know if they’re on in all my care that he’s provided for me.
Dr. Gregory Apsey: And Dr. Antolak adjusted my bite to perfection and I also have a gold crown which is holding up to this day. It’s been 10 years and going strong.
Dr. Robert Antolak: So when we have the need for any dental care, we provide on each other. And one thing too is, I think it’s worth mentioning, is the fact that, we can’t do dentistry isolated on our own. You know, as dentists, in our profession we are here usually by ourselves and it requires an effort for us to go out and get either a second opinion on something or just to try to consult with each other. And the beauty of having this relationship, this friendship we’ve had for almost 30 years is the fact that we can go out to a dinner, let’s say. We’ll bring some cases with us. We’ll bring models with us. And x rays, digital x rays, that is. And we’re able to then over a meal or whatever, we can talk about a case which is going provide better care for you.
Dr. Apsey: One clear benefit of this friendship to our patient’s has been all the time that we spent together over dinner or just together in each other’s practice, discussing treatments. We dentists tend to practice alone. But you know it’s really better to bounce ideas. When cases are difficult, which they often are, it’s really nice to develop a plan but then have someone to bounce it off of. And my good friend Dr. Antolak has been my go-to guy all through the years. And, and I for him. We get together regularly and discuss your treatment and decide maybe what really the best is. I really value that in our relationship. It’s really been wonderful.You actually have the benefit of two dentists talking and thinking about your treatment as opposed to just one. So, anyways, thanks for being there for me.
Dr. Antolak: That’s true. We’ve been doing this for years. And so we’ll continue to do so, and provide better care for our patients, right?
Dr. Apsey: So, if you happen to live in the Shelby Township area this is your man, Dr. Robert Antolak, he’s the best.
Dr. Antolak: Ditto if you’re in the Warren, Michigan area and you’re in the vicinity please give Dr. Apsey a call, he’s a great guy and you’ll love his dentistry. So, thank you and have a great day.
Dr. Apsey: Thanks for listening.
Shelby Township, Michigan Dentist Answers: Who Do Dentists See for Dental Work?
Dr. Apsey: So, if you happen to live in the Shelby Township area this is your man, Dr. Robert Antolak, he’s the best.
Dr. Antolak: Ditto if you’re in the Warren, Michigan area and you’re in the vicinity please give Dr. Apsey a call, he’s a great guy and you’ll love his dentistry. So, thank you and have a great day.
Dr. Apsey: Thanks for listening.
Shelby Township, Michigan Dentist Answers: Who Do Dentists See for Dental Work?
Doctor Antolak here from thegentledentist.com in Shelby Township, Michigan. Our phone number is 586-247-3500 and today we have our patient Maria and she’s agreed and allowed us to video tape this and put it on YouTube. And what we’re going to do is we’re going to be actually placing a couple of implants in today. She’s got something in her mouth right now; basically we’ve had issues before. We had to take a tooth out before and we had a fixed bridge that was done and you just felt like you had a sucky motion. You just couldn’t get used to having a bridge. Come on over here, I’m just going to point out a couple of things.
First of all, this is a molar tooth that we had to remove previously. We did a bridge. There was a tooth here. But we did a bridge on this before, and she just couldn’t tolerate it, so now there’s no tooth here, so we’re going to put an implant here. And also on her left hand side of her mouth we’re going to put it in place an implant here. So, this is the right in the lower jaw, this is the nerve right here that transverses come down into here and into where the nerve that gives sensation to the teeth and to the lip. But we’re going to have adequate space here to place an implant in both areas. So we’re going to be showing that today. Dental implants are one of two of the most requested ways of replacing missing teeth in Dentistry. And so we’re going to do that today. I know you’re excited right?
Dental Patient: Oh yeah. It’s a first bridge that I could use, right.
Doctor Antolak: Yeah well, sometimes it is, sometimes it isn’t. For you, that was what we tried to do first. And then obviously that didn’t work for you, so we’re going to do the next procedure.
Dental Patient: Now you know the top one work great.
Doctor Antolak: Yeah. So sometimes people have different noise and the lower, you have the tongue that’s there. And your tongue sometimes creates that vacuum. And then that’s where you get that feeling. So you get this in there. So we’re going to go ahead and do is we’re going to create a little incision here. And she’s numb. She says she can’t tell if she has a chin or a tongue. That’s a good sign. And so we just create a bit of an incision here and come down, then we are going to expose this area just like we would, I like to use the analogy of a banana, it’s like doing a banana peel.
So what we do is we just take this tissue back, and she’s numb so she just feels pressure. And she’s breathing in her gas, she’s a happy camper. So we’re going to go ahead and I cleaned everything out there so now we’re ready to just start putting little holes in there for the implant. And so you can see right here is the bone, you can see right here. And then this is the implant we’re going to place in there. I actually placed some holes, called osteotomies in there, and the implant’s going to be about this long, right here, okay? We did remove, in the past we removed a tooth there, so we have kind of a large space that’s there. The larger diameter of an implant we can place, the better we are. The larger it is, like I say, the more that it emulates the natural tooth when we place it in, so we’re just going to put that in, and we’re going to actually torque it in place with pressure.
So we went ahead and made what’s called the osteotomies in her mouth, and now we’re going to place an implant in. This one we’re doing on her left-hand side, and I wanted just to record this portion to see as we concluded. So, now we got basically a hole in there and within in that context of where that’s going to go. Actually this is a little different style.
It’s called a Bicon and it’s actually press fit and we actually will tap it into place. And if you can see right there see over it is going to fit right inside that little hole there and then bone is going to end up growing inside of those little fins that are there, okay. So we’re just going to place it in here a little bit and then, put on pressure, good. Now I’m just going to go ahead and remove this little black element. And then, we’re going to seat that in a little bit better. Can you go ahead and suction again please?
So I’m just going to remove this right now. Okay, so the implant is in there and we’re just going to seep that down a little bit and actually with a little mount that we use. And as Maria’s biting down, use this. So what we’re going to do is we’re just press that in and then over time those fins that are on there, if these represent the fins, the bone is going to grow over each one of these fins and it’s going to create a nice stable foundation for her. This is going to fit like that. You’re going to feel a little tapping sensation and takes just about three months or so for this to heal.
It kind of gives you an idea, to show you what we’re talking about here. So, there you go now we got the implant in place. You can see that. See it right there. And then inside that little well there we’re going to create the crown. And so we’re going to fix it up and we’ll see how it goes. There’s actually some bone that we got when we created the little hole, or osteotomy as we call it. And I’m going to place a little bone around the opening of this. As we allow this to heal, that will create a much better healing environment for the other situation. And actually I am going to use part of this bone for the other implant site that we had done. So we just spread it over the top, and so we are just going to just pack this bone into where the hole was. Now the dental implant is sitting in there, now we are just going to stitch this up.
Doctor Antolak: You sweet thing. Okay. You okay?
Dental Patient: Mm-hm.
Doctor Antolak: Okay, so we’re going to go ahead and we’re just putting a stitch in here. We’re going to close this up, so it’s going to have a good seal. Sometimes we will try to create a tooth in function at the time that we do the surgery, the time that we place the implant. The fact that this is a molar tooth back here, we need to get a lot of strength for that. If this was a front tooth and molar teeth actually take a lot more stress than a front tooth would.
And also this system where we do the pressed fit system like he just showed you. It actually creates a very, very nice result. We don’t actually do it right away. And the benefit also is that these implants can be very short. That is the reason why I used those in this scenario for Maria. Like I showed you at the beginning of this video, we always contend with the fact that the nerve is there. And when we do the top teeth, there’s always the sinus membrane that’s right there too. So we have to be very, very cognizant and aware of all of our anatomy that’s obviously there. So sometimes you use short implants like that, like this Bicon implant that were using, the short ones. Also another issue that we have with the lower jaw is near the tongue, there’s like a concavity there. And whenever we place an implant in there, we have to make sure that that implant is completely surrounded and encased by bone. Sometimes, like in this situation we are currently doing is this one in the area that didn’t have any teeth there at all. So bone filled in here very nicely since her right side, which is the first implant we started. What that one was when that implant was placed, because the bridge, she just had a hard time talking.
There were still some areas where the bone hadn’t completely healed in there, so we had a little different scenario. The nice part is where all the bone was in this case, on her left side we had a lot of good healthy bone that we could actually save. And we’re going to actually, when I get done putting these stitches in on the other side, I’m going to go ahead and just crack that bone all around where that dental implant was placed to create a good environment for bone to heal well in there. So, that’s over here on this side here. I’ll stitch it up a little bit more on that side, but I want to get to this other side first.
It’s going great Maria. Okay? I’m sure you still feel like you don’t even have a lip anymore, right? Okay, I’m going to go ahead and put this bite block in your mouth. Okay, bite down. That will help stabilize your jaw. And so if we come over on this side here, we’re going to have a little bit of a space. So let’s see that foam again. And I’m just going to pack that bone that we got from her other side. And I’m just going to pack it right over the threads of, or over the top of that one implant there. So just go ahead and suction that there for me, please?
Okay so, we’re going to just place this in here, right over the top. I’m just going to pack it right in there and then, it’s going to help that to heal up. And then we’re going to stitch that one up the same way that we did. And we create this little stitch over here, what is nice about that is, sometimes you can get discomfort from the way that the soft tissue is handled. This is actually a gentle way of handling the gum tissue because we’re not getting in there and pushing our instruments all under the flap. But just, actually, if I pull her cheek, it comes back naturally for her. Alright, so we’ll do that and we have a little bit more left here. Were just going to put that in there and stitch you up. There you go. See now as we take this stitch out of here which we started on. This whole thing is going to come right out and literally will heal within week or so and it will all heal. So it’s all going to grow back nicely right over the top, just like that. We’re just going to shut it together. Okay.
We went ahead and finished up. We finished stitching up both left and right sides. We’re going to end up on that right side when she had a fixed bridge. In the fore, we will go ahead and cement that in for her. So then get that. We’ll show what that is. Its right here and this part right here is a place where the tooth was replaced where the implant was placed. If we come up here to the x-ray this is the x-ray of where she is now. This is the implant that has been placed. This is the tooth that has the two. So normally, this bridge is going to fit over the top of it like that. She couldn’t tolerate getting stuff through here, so we’re going to end up taking this eventually and cutting it off here, and cutting it off there, using these two crowns over this and then placing a new dental crown on the implant. And so that’s what we’re going to end up doing. But this is the implant here and that’s going to heal. That’s the one that you saw, the last one we did.
It’s going to take around four months or so for that bone to really heal in there well. Until then, we’ll cement this bridge back on for your right side and that way you can use that. Your left side, it’s the same way it’s been for a number of years, you’re just not going to have anything there for a little while, okay?
What we’ll do, in about that period of time, is we’ll uncover everything and we’ll place what’s called the button on top of that which will simulate, like a tooth that’s been prepared for a crown and we put a cap on the top of that and do both sides for you, okay? It went really well for you. The reason why we had to switch, you asked about that right side when we first did it and she had a pretty bad infection on that tooth when we first did it. Because it was such a large hole we had to kind of switch gears in the middle of using a different implant system. That’s one thing that’s beneficial I think because we use a number of different systems. If there’s a situation that arises we can switch what we do and yet get a favorable result and not have to stop what we’re doing and continue solving it.
No chin. She feels no chin and no tongue. If you have one, in just about one hour or so from now you’ll know if you got one.
Dental Patient: I’ll know if I have anything.
Doctor Antolak: What you’re going to end up doing, you’re going to ice on one side for about half an hour, and then switch it over to the other side for about half an hour, and keep switching back and forth today. Okay? I’ll give you some pain medications and then you should be fine with that. Then we’ll see how you do. How was the experience for you?
Dental Patient: Different, you know? I’ve never had something done like that before, so I think overall, it was all right, and it was not terrible.
Doctor Antolak: Not terrible.
Dental Patient: Not terrible. It was not something I would pick to go through, but it was okay.
Doctor Antolak: Okay. Well, the truth is, is that you’re going to have to go through that one time and then you’ll be done with it. And then you’ll be able to function better, and to chew on both sides, equally. And not have that issue with that sucking thing. Okay. So anyway, if there are any questions our phone number is 586-247-3500. If this is some type of information you are interested, then you can either go under our website thegentledentist.com or call us. Thank you. Have a blessed day.
Dental Implant Placement in Shelby Township, Michigan
Shelby Township Dental Patient Gives Testimony
Hi. This is Doctor Antolak from thegentledentist.com. We’re located in Shelby Township, Michigan. Our phone number, if you’re interested is 586 247 3500. Today, Helene had agreed that we could record this, and then put this on YouTube. And it was interesting. She comes in and about maybe 8 months ago, 10 months ago, we did some dentistry on her and you were just reporting, you came back to get your teeth cleaned and you’re just reporting the situation that took place, and I just asked you, maybe we can just get this, capture this, and you can share that with us. So if you don’t mind just kind of retelling that story, I’d appreciate it.
So where should I start? Well, it had a picture taken for a church directory. And I wouldn’t smile in it, and it really came out awful. And I was very self-conscious because my teeth were all crooked up here, and the one stuck out. And so, it really I paid to have all these pictures taken and they looked awful. I just threw them away after paying a couple hundred dollars. So when I came here, Dr. Antolak said, we can fix those front teeth, and so he did extensive work. It was very comfortable, like I was telling somebody on Sunday, it was really was, you know, I said put a pillow behind my head, and headphones with music and it was really nice it was. It was long, but it I told him, my main concern was pain in the front, and he said, I won’t hurt you, and I said I’ve had dental work done before where I’ve had shots here, and I almost jumped out of the chair. And so, he kept his word, it did not hurt.
It’s really made a difference. I remember the first time somebody came at me with a camera, afterwards. I made a big smile. It’s the first time I’m smiling, because my teeth. And I told them that when they took the picture and then this past Sunday I was having lunch with some friends. After church we meet. And who’s your dentist? I said what? She says I have a friend that needs extensive dental work done and I like yours. I told her you had it done and how nice it looks. In my wallet I did have a card and I gave it to her.
We appreciate that. Yeah. But you know, the part that. I appreciate telling that story, too because I know a lot of times, these can be, be kind of, you know, personal, and a long time. And I know that people who are listening to this, too, that you have issues that feel like I’m not available to be taken care of and rectified, and even the part about numbing you up, I tell the story that 28 years ago, when I was in dental school, that my instructor told me. He said that if you’re going to do the best job that you can with your patients for your career, and that’s been 25 years ago since I graduated, he said numb yourself up here right in the very front and I did. I took his advice. And I realized, you’re right, it hurts. But, it was my desire to not make it hurt. So I figured out techniques that will not make it hurt. We develop trust that you would believe what I say at that point in time. So that’s really important to me, and I appreciate you coming forward and letting me know. Now, as far as your dentistry goes, there are a number of things that can be done in our office. The most important thing is finding out what your needs are and then helping you to solve what the issues are and then allowing yourself to smile again and not feel bad about your smile.
Well, you know, I was concerned also about the cost. And so with making arrangements, through the care credit, that worked out fine too. You know, it is all paid, but I had the opportunity to make payments instead of coming up with money all at once; this economy and everything else that we are in financially.
Shelby Township Dental Patient Gives Testimony
So, if this is the type of care you want someone who’s not going to throw just things at you, but really work with you. I believe that you’d be wise in giving us a call. We’re in Shelby Township, Michigan. 586-247-3500 is our phone number, or thegentledentist.com. Thank you, and have a blessed day. Thank you so much.
Shelby Township Dental Patient Gives Testimony
TMJ is Explained by Shelby Township Dentist
This is Dr. Antolak from thegentledentist.com in Shelby Township, Michigan. 586-247-3500 is our phone number. And I want to just talk a little bit about what TMJ is. As everybody refers to as TMJ.
Well, TMJ is actually a jaw joint. It’s the joint as I’ll show you on the skull right here. It is the joint between the upper jaw here and the lower jaw here. Okay? And so, what happens is, people, if you get a clicking in your jaw, that has to do with the cartilage disc that lies between the lower jaw and the upper jaw that clicks. But also TMJ what people think too, is an issue where they not only have pain up in this area and a clicking but also headaches. So it’s a whole syndrome it’s called TMD which is called temporomandibular dysfunction which is more broadly defined. Right now what I want to do is basically go over some of the issues that you can have with your jaw and why it clicks when opening and closing why you have some pain in the jaw joint.
The temporomandibular joint is the most complex joint in the human body and the reason why that is, is, it has a couple of different functions. One function is it’s used to just rotate like this, just when you minimally rotate your jaw like this, it just acts like a hinge, like a normal hinge, like a normal joint down the body. But then here’s the special part about it, is when, we’ve been designed so that if we, you know? Obviously, we can’t get a whole lot in the mouth. If we can just do that much. But, if we need to open up real wide, what happens is, our lower jaw will start shifting forward, and I’m going to try showing you in this model here. As we open wide, our lower jaw will start shifting forward, as you can see right here. And right on here, how our jaws are designed, is there’s a disc that sits between them, that traverses and goes right. If everything is functioning normally, that disc itself will go right along with this lower jaw here with the joint. It’s called the condyle. And it will function smoothly as it goes up and down. And literally the jaw joint moves forward and backwards right with the disc itself.
Now what happens when it clicks is part of that disc literally, not the whole thing but some part of that disc will actually come off the joint. And it will shift forward. Then you close back and it shifts back on.
This disc is actually contained and supported by ligaments which are attached to muscles. So if you get a lot of stress in your muscles, or if you clench your teeth, then those muscles become activated and hyperactivated. And that hyperactivation makes these very sensitive. So they shorten up real fast and that can create this jaw clicking and so for example if this is your…
I’m going to show this is the lower jaw here. And this is the upper jaw which I just showed you so when you first start off your jaw rotates like this. Okay no problem, then after you open up wide, your jaw comes down like this, like I just demonstrated. If you start moving forward and that disc between it, part of it snaps forward. Then that’s the clicking you get. Then you start moving back a little bit as you close. Then it snaps back on. And so that goes back on and off and on and off. So that can become a problem. So what we need to do many times is to relax the muscles in there.
We do that by using bite spreads, or something called the NTI. Things that can prevent the stresses from going on within the joint itself, and within the muscles that support that jaw joint, that support that disk. As we relax those muscles and they perform more normally, as long as there is not too many problems that have taken place.
With that being said, there are some people who have some more issues, or problems with their jaw joint internally. That’s at the internal joint. So what I do is I have here just a patient that we had seen before in the past. What I want to do is show you a CAT scan that’s made of the joint a little bit more close up. What it will do is, it will show you the space that’s in there is where the disc will actually be. So right now within this CAT scan we’ve got 3 different planes. Right now this is the view which is looking, if you took a section like this, we just took a section, cut through here you can see the jaw joint here and the jaw joint here, and if you look right here, this is that part here which is called the condyle which is the top of it here, that’s what this is and that’s what this is right here. Now, as we as we move up and down.
Up and down, as we move this angle like this up and down, we can see how this is changing. So, as we do that, you can see how its changing it’s shape. Okay, so now as we go up further, now it’s getting into the jaw space right in there. Now, let me show you something right in here. This view here is showing a section like this. Now this section is showing this, which is more of what I was just describing.
This is the part of the jaw joint from side to side, from the right side to the left side here. And now, as we move it forward and backwards we can see the position of this. What this does, this actually allows us to see if there’s arthritis in this space here, or if there are any bony attachments and things like that, that can create pain in the jaw joint itself. And so, as we go through it we can see in this patient, at least in this joint, it looks pretty healthy.
There’s a nice space as we can see here. Let me make this a little bit larger as we look right here. There’s a space between here so this is the space where the jaw joint is actually sitting, that’s why you can’t see it and it continues as we go through here as you see that, you can see there’s a space between the whole thing alright.
Now, on this view here, which interesting now.
We’re looking at it from this view here. So, on the scan. This part right here is actually this. Okay? And this part right here is this part right here at the top part of the, it’s called the maxilla. So you have the superior part and the inferior part and this is where the jaw, this person here, normally this jaw sits up in this region here but to take this, to take this scan he had to move his jaw forward a little bit and you can kind of see right now where this is positioned. This jaw was fitting here, now it’s slide, it’s starting to come forward a little bit.
If this is unhealthy, this disk is going to slide forward. And this space is going to get closer and closer and even grind into, even be bone to bone here. So this is the anatomy of the jaw joint. And a CAT scan like this is really nice because it gives us some abilities to see the health of the joint itself. So if there are problems that can’t be resolved easily, we do a scan like this so we can figure out there might be an anatomical reason for that. Surgery is usually the last thing that anybody wants to do for these. Because it just makes it more difficult and it can become more debilitative with doing surgery for the jaw joint. So we try to do much more conservative treatments. Like I said, splint therapy with bite guards adjusting the bite, things like that. Muscle relaxant sometimes and that type of thing.
TMJ is Explained by Shelby Township Dentist
I have quite a bit of experience with this type of dentistry. So if you do have some jaw problems or headaches, clicking in the jaw, please feel free to call our office in Shelby Township, Michigan at 586-247-3500. Thank you.
TMJ is Explained by Shelby Township Dentist
Shelby Township Dentist Repairs Broken Front Teeth
Dr. Antolak: Hi, this is Dr. Antolak from thegentledentist.com in Shelby Township, MI, and sometimes people have issues with having emergencies where they do some trauma to their front teeth. And, our friend Aaron here, can you describe what happened?
Dental Patient: Well, I was trying to remove a socket from a ratchet, and slammed the ratchet right into my face.
Dr Antolak: And, what happened is right here. These teeth broke off here. So, right now, the most important thing was he saved a couple of fragments. This broke up in to a number of different pieces, but you can kinda see, this is a piece that we’re going to end up using. We’re going to actually bond this segment to his tooth here. And the other one’s going to get bonded to the other tooth. And then we’re going to basically back fill it with the composite materials that we use. Which are light cured. And we will see what that looks like as we do it. But we’re going to take our bonding agent, and prepare both sides of the teeth. And kind of glue it together, and then fill it with other materials. And so we’ll show you what it looks like. Okay.
So we’re going to go ahead and we’re just, that’s the surface of the tooth. Now we’re applying what is called a bonding agent right to it here. What this is going to do, is this is going to make it so that we can bond these segments together in pieces and so even I’ll apply this to the fragment of the tooth. He called yesterday. It was a Sunday and I said store it in water. He doesn’t have any pain so that was good. And so we are just going to apply a little bit of that to it and then we are going to blow up. So right now, those 2 pieces that I had… this is part of.
Here that has broken. We don’t need a light. And the other part is right here and we can see here, these are the 2 pieces. So we’re going to have to try to create some aesthetic appearance now between these segments that are broken so that it looks nice, and finish it up. So we just applied a thin material here and then bonded them together. And then we’re going to make sure they’re done. So, we’ll see what it looks like we’re done. Come in. You ready?
Dental Patient: Mm-hm.
Dr. Antolak: Okay. So we have a base color here that is going to be a little bit darker and we can notice on his teeth, that we have a little white opaque color to it. So we’re going to have to make this into a couple of different colors. This is kinda like taking a wallpaper for example, and part of that wallpaper got torn out. Now we have to, without having any other wallpaper samples now we have to try to make it look good. So as we can see in his teeth he’s got, this is like a base color underneath it we’re going to leave a little bit of a space there. And we’re going to put an opaque white color in there. And to kind of frost it and make it look like it blends in with his other teeth.
So this is called composite material, and, we can, reshape it and it works wonderful. This is actually what we do all our fillings out of, the front fillings or back fillings, and it allows us to give it the natural color of a tooth and yet have very nice aesthetics so it looks good. So we’re going to cure this now with a light. Then we have a special orange shield that we can do over that, so we’re going to just let that harden up. That light hardens it up.
There’s an opaque color to go over that to give it a little bit of different depths. So if we look at this it looks that same color there, but his teeth you can see he’s got where his natural tooth was here, he’s got this white frosty appearance to it, so we’re going to try to duplicate what that looks like a bit more. So we’re going to take a little bit of material here.
And, kind of, get it through the filling itself and, give it a little bit of a speckled look to it. Then we’re going to cure it with a clear material.
Dr. Antolak: So, we went ahead and finished this up we cured it. And did what we could to, kinda, match the colors and make it look more natural for him. And Aaron took a look, and that’s our final result right there, okay.
Aaron’s got his smile back now. We can be happy with that. So now we can put this on YouTube and everybody’s going to see it. You have any thoughts about that, about maybe taking something off of socket?
Dental Patient: Yeah, I’m gonna be careful about that now.
Dr. Antolak: So we’ll do a do that like I told you before is that now that tooth has been kind of traumatized a little bit so we’re going to have to see what happens over time. In a situation like this it’s been hit and jarred pretty hard. So we’re going to see how the nerve responds, if the nerve responds normally. Or it might need to have the nerve removed in the future if it doesn’t. So we’ll keep an eye on that.
Shelby Township Dentist Repairs Broken Front Teeth
If there are any questions about repairs to broken teeth you can call us up 586-247-3500 or thegentledentist.com in Shelby Township, Michigan. Thank you, take care.
Shelby Township Dentist Repairs Broken Front Teeth
Hi, my name is Dr. Antolak from the gentledentist.com located in Shelby Township, Michigan. Phone number is 586-247-3500.
One thing that we want to do in our office is to promote prevention of tooth decay. And one of the products that we do recommend and have in stock available for our patients this is the only way you can get this from dentist this material, it’s called MI Paste. MI Paste is used for the prevention and recovery of teeth that have started to decalcify.
Teeth are made out of enamel, enamel is made mostly out of calcium; but over 90% minerals are contained in the outer layer of a tooth and when the teeth subjected to assets they will eventually start to start to be called decalcified, the layer will become like a whitish layer on the outside of the tooth and that, that is a very beginning phases of the cavity.
If we can take that layer, that whitish layer that’s there and get that to mineralized, then we can reverse the process of decalcification and cavities. That’s actually going to be better in long term.
How this does this is this MI Paste is really good for children who have braces on. Braces obviously contract food around the teeth and when that adequately removed, they will form a white part on the tooth itself. When the braces are already removed, a lot of times we’ll find is that right with that small little part of that bracket is, that tooth will be normal but a rounded would be a whitish color. That whitish color is beginning of the cavity.
This process is can be reversed once again by using a piece like this that can change and add minerals to that area. So, over time it can be brought on each day and over time we can reverse that process. Another person who is really good for this is our senior citizens or somebody who’s at many medications. Medications would dry up the mouth and that drying out process really reduces the effectiveness of the saliva. Saliva has a buffering component to it and, but the saliva will then mineralize teeth naturally as long as there’s adequate amount of saliva. Well unfortunately as people get older, the teeth medication the mouth becomes dry. Sometimes they drink sugary sweet. Sweets, candy, and sometimes even like pop which really destroys the teeth so we have to be careful with that.
We do have someone who has decent control of that and they are trying to really change and we can use this MI paste, what it also does is put a little piece like piece of anything or and rub it on your teeth and that will help to remineralize and strengthen the teeth. So, this is what we recommend for a number of our patients who do have issues with cavities and for those who can, who have them dry out so if you’re interested in that type of process, you can contact us at 586-247-3500 or if you’re interested in this type of, of care we really focus on prevention you can also visit our website at www.gentledentist.com. Thank you.
Hi. This is Dr. Antolak from The Gentle Dentist, located in Shelby Township Michigan. The number is 256-247-3500 and one thing we like to do in our office is really focus on prevention. Prevention is the process of eliminating problems before they actually start. In the mouth, prevention means that we do the best thing that we can to help eliminate cavities from the mouth. And eliminate factors that can eventually cause problems with the teeth or overall health of your mouth and one thing that we know which is really interesting is the use of xylitol gum. Xylitol is an alcohol natural bi-product. It’s from the bark of birch trees actually and Xylitol is a natural sweetener. Xylitol can be used to actually change the process that the bacteria that the mouth do. Normally, the micro-biology is that cavities form when there’s bacteria in your mouth. It’s in everybody’s mouth. There are certain bacteria though that when it’s subjected to sugar and that’s not just sugar from soda pop and things like that, there’s also sugar from things like bread and starches and items that do contain even more complex taste of sugar. This sugar will break down in the bacteria or subjected to the, their byproduct is an acid.
This lactic acid sits on the teeth can create cavities. Well an approach that we do make is people like to chew gums so we have a number of different flavors of this gum that we recommend and whereas is when people chew it, the bacteria are kind of confused. Xylitol alcohol based is not the sugar and so it actually kills off and starves off the bacteria that cause the cavities therefore helping to really prevent decay in a natural process. It’s been used for years and actually in Europe, it’s very highly recommended.
It’s used in a lot more of, of soft drinks and other types of food products. So hopefully one day, we’ll become more acquainted to using xylitol in our products for not only cavity problems but also the IVs and things like that for people.
This is also good for diabetics because they don’t have sugar. So the brand made is actually made in Ohio so it’s a US based product and it’s a really terrific thing because some of the products of the Xylitol were actually made in China. So, this is something that we recommend here and it’s very flavorful and so we would recommend that if you have an interest in using Xylitol Gum. So, if there are any questions, our phone number is 586-247-3500. Thank you.