Fillings
Almost everyone has had to have a filling at one time or another, but the truth is, not all dental fillings are the same. The old-fashioned fillings you probably had placed as a child were dark and made of a metal amalgam that usually contained a combination of metals including Mercury. These metals were not only unattractive, but they could also shift with the changing temperatures that so often occur as you drink and eat hot or cold beverages and foods. Ouch! And when that shifting happened, it exposed the inside of your tooth to bacteria, which is why we so often find more decay under old fillings.
Here at Dental Designs by Alisa Reed, we never place metal fillings in our Woodlands patients’ teeth. Instead, we repair cavities with modern, mercury-free, tooth-colored fillings made of healthier composite materials – the same strong and beautiful material we use for cosmetic composite bonding! They won’t shift or crack, and best of all, these restorations blend beautifully with your smile!
Porcelain Inlays/Porcelain Onlays
If you need a filling or other repair too large to be taken care of with dental composite bonding, but not quite severe enough to warrant an entire dental crown, porcelain inlays or onlays from Dental Designs by Alisa Reed are the perfect solution to beautifully repair your smile.
Porcelain inlays and onlays are similar to dental crowns in that they are created by taking an impression of your tooth and sending it to our world-class lab where a gorgeous and lifelike porcelain restoration is created just for you. Inlays are perfect for repairs inside the cusps (or points) of your tooth when teeth need a little more support than composite alone can offer. Onlays cover a little more tooth, including one or more tooth points and offer structure and augmentation as well as repair. Both options are absolutely beautiful and blend naturally into your smile while offering unsurpassed strength and function.
Crowns/Bridges
When the worst happens, and you face severe damage, lose a tooth, or need a root canal, metal-free crowns and bridges from The Woodland’s own award-winning cosmetic dentist, Dr. Alisa Reed comes to the rescue. Not only are crowns and bridges from our doctors so beautiful and natural-looking that no one will ever see them in your smile, but our 20 years of experience and dedication to excellence, along with the investment in technology, also ensures that you experience an outcome with these superb restorations that will be unsurpassed.
If you need a major repair with a dental crown, we make sure you are absolutely as comfortable as possible from beginning to end. That comfort begins with our digital impressions: No more gooey impression material to bite down or gag on. Instead, we use a CAD/CAM digital scanner wand about the size of a pencil to take your ultra-accurate impressions. Then, instead of mailing bulky impressions to the lab, we simply email them, markedly speeding up the processes. What’s more, because our dental crowns are metal-free, you will never have an unnatural-looking dark line at your gum line.
Crowns can also be used to top a dental implant post or hold a bridge in place. When used to secure a bridge, we simply cement custom-created porcelain dental crowns to the teeth surrounding the area that needs to be filled, and securely holding your prosthetic tooth in place. You will leave with a smile you can show off – day or night!
Dental Implants
Losing teeth – whether it is one or all of them – is one of the most disconcerting and upsetting things that could ever happen to a person. Not only can it fill you with a feeling of self-consciousness (Does everyone notice? What do they think? Do I look strange, sound strange?), missing teeth can affect your health in more ways than one. You probably already know that tooth loss leads to bone loss: Every tooth you lose means the loss of its roots, the roots that keep your bone stimulated and alive. Without those roots, your bone begins to resorb, and that leads to TMJ issues, increased risk of periodontal disease, shifting or loosening of remaining teeth, and facial collapse.
What’s more, missing teeth can make eating and speaking difficult, even when teeth are replaced by traditional dentures and partials. That’s why we recommend dental implants for all of our qualifying patients. Dental implants replace both your tooth and its roots, keeping your bone stimulated – and your teeth firmly in place without the need for gooey and unpleasant adhesives! It really is a life-changer for our Woodlands and Panther Creek patients!
Our dental implant options include:
- Mini-Implants
- Implant-Retained Dentures
- All-on-4
- All-on-6
We can work with one of our trusted dental surgeons for the placement of the titanium posts. Once the posts are healed, the beautiful crowns, denture, or partial will be placed so you can get started on your new life of eating whatever you want, laughing with abandon, speaking with total confidence, and enjoying life day in and day out – no adhesives, no pinching, no slipping, and no embarrassment necessary!
Dentures & Partials
Some of our patients have medical conditions that lead to bone deterioration or brittleness, have already been wearing dentures and partials for decades, or have been dealing with edentulousness for so long that there is too much bone loss to allow proper integration between our dental implants and your bone. Though it is disappointing to discover that dental implants are not an option for you, we have good news – our dentures and partials are different! Unlike denture-mill dentures and partials, our dental prosthetics replace your teeth with beautiful, face-supporting structures that are custom-designed to fit you more comfortably and look more like your own teeth.
Full dentures are used when all the upper or lower teeth have been removed or lost. Partial dentures are the choice for those who have one or more of their own teeth remaining. Both full and partial dentures are held in place with dental adhesives and must be removed for cleaning. If you are missing teeth, don’t qualify for dental implants or implant-retained dentures, or are dissatisfied with your current tooth-replacement options, please talk to your cosmetic tooth-replacement team at Dental Designs by Alisa Reed right here at The Woodlands Dental Group or Panther Creek Drive locations. We can help you find a new smile that will feel, look, and function better than you ever thought possible – and make you feel so pampered you might just forget you are visiting the dentist!
Endodontics
Oh, no! You were just told you need a root canal and now you are completely freaking out. Well, stop that! Root canals have a bad reputation, but both the Woodlands patients and the team here at Dental Designs by Alisa Reed would like to set the record straight: Root canals stop the pain. They don’t cause it. What’s more, root canals are often the last line of defense for saving a badly infected and painful tooth. And since we perform laser-assisted endodontics, our root canals have a great track record of success and comfort. Just ask our root canal patients!
In root canals, we gently open your tooth, the way we would when preparing to treat a cavity, clear away all that painfully infected pulp and nerve tissue– all the way to your tooth roots, fill it with stabilizing material, and seal it all with an attractive and durable crown. Your tooth will feel as good as new!
We have invested in Fotona’s TwinLight® Endodontic Treatment (TET) and PIPS™ (Photon Induced Photoacoustic Streaming) Laser Endo techniques. Combining ER:YAG photoacoustic shock waves and Nd:YAG laser wavelength high peak-pulse power to eliminate bacteria allows us to clean and debride the root canals with minimal invasiveness, unprecedented effectiveness, and long-term success while keeping you completely comfortable. It may sound like science fiction, but in the end, it just means a happier, healthier you!
Oral Surgery
Oral surgery doesn’t have to be a scary proposition when you rely on the caring and compassionate dental team at Dental Designs by Alisa Reed. Our dentists have decades of experience and training in all kinds of oral surgeries including:
- Laser biopsies
- Bone grafts
- Minor dental extractions
- Wisdom teeth extractions including bony impactions
We will always take plenty of time with you to talk over your options before you make any decisions and come up with a plan of action that you are most comfortable with. On the day of your surgery, we will get you all settled in and comfortable with a scented neck pillow and a blanket. Let our aromatherapy soothe your senses while you choose some music to listen to on our noise canceling headphones. And, of course, you can decide whether you prefer Nitrous oxide or oral sedation to help you drift off into a blissful state of relaxation while we take care of you.
In no time, your oral surgery procedure will be completed, and you will be on the mend. If your oral surgery needs are complex or advanced, we prefer to refer you to one of our outstanding colleagues who specialize in oral surgery.
