Grand Rapids Dentistry Services

Smile Design

Every smile should be as unique as the person who wears it. To that end, we use a variety of resources, including photography, imaging and models of your teeth and mouth to produce a smile that uniquely suits you. We listen to your concerns and do not begin dental work until we understand what you are seeking in a new smile. You are actively involved in designing your smile and have access to many books illustrating the variety of natural tooth shapes and colors. Designing a beautiful smile is an artistic and creative process and many factors must be considered to deliver a beautiful smile that is also functional and healthy. We want your temporary crowns to serve as the template for your new porcelain restorations. The shape, length, and position of the temporaries, and their impact on your speech, are all checked before the dental laboratory begins your work. Your feedback is an important part of the process in creating your new smile.

Porcelain Veneers

Porcelain Veneers cosmetically change or enhance your smile by lengthening, lightening and reshaping teeth while conserving tooth structure. The artistry of the doctor in designing the length, shape, color, opaqueness and shading on each veneer is critical to producing a beautiful, natural result. It is also important to work with an artistic dental ceramist who is capable of producing the doctor's design. Porcelain veneers are absolutely beautiful and natural-looking, rivaling the best that nature can provide.

Porcelain crowns

Porcelain crowns are used to cosmetically change or enhance your smile, to restore cracked and fractured teeth and to restore large areas of decay and old amalgam fillings. Since there is no metal in an all-porcelain crown, there is never a dark shadow at the gum line. As with porcelain veneers, the artistry of the doctor in designing the length, shape, color, opaqueness and shading on each crown is critical to producing a beautiful, natural result. It is also important to work with an artistic dental ceramist who is capable of producing the doctor's design. Porcelain crown's are absolutely beautiful and natural looking, rivaling the best nature can provide.

Crown Lengthening

Do you display alot of your gum line when you smile? Crown lengthening can reduce the gummy appearance and lengthen your teeth. Crown lengthening is a very conservative surgical procedure that exposes more tooth by removing excess gum tissue above the tooth. Sometimes crown lengthening is the only thing that needs to be done to dramatically change a condition where too much gum shows and the teeth are too short in appearance. Anesthesia is used during the process and our patients find little discomfort after the anesthesia wears off. This procedure can turn back the clock and help turn an age-worn smile into a more youthful smile.

Teeth whitening

Over the years, teeth can be stained from drinking coffee, teas, wine and sodas, or from smoking. A stained smile can age your appearance prematurely, but is easy to repair. Whitening is a process that oxidizes stains that cause teeth to darken. Vacuum-formed trays are custom made to fit precisely over the teeth. Bleaching gel is placed into the trays and the trays are worn for several hours throughout the day or night. We tailor the strength of the bleaching agent and the amount of time a patient wears their trays based on their individual needs. Teeth progressively become whiter over a period of about two weeks.

Composite Resin Restorations

Do you hate your silver fillings? Thankfully new materials now allow us to repair decayed or damaged teeth with a natural looking material that wears as well as your natural teeth. Composite resin restorations use a tooth-colored filling material to repair areas of decay or replace silver fillings. Composite resin restorations are durable and help bond the tooth together more than metal fillings. Shade selection is varied and a great deal of care is given to selecting the correct shade and matching the existing tooth color.

Bonding

Sometimes, all you need to repair a minor chip or fill in a space is cosmetic bonding. Bonding is a procedure where a tooth-colored filling material (composite resin) is placed and sculpted onto the teeth to produce beautiful, natural and healthy looking teeth. It is a conservative method used to restore decayed, chipped, crooked or discolored teeth, or to close small gaps or spaces between the teeth. When used to improve a smile cosmetically, it can be a labor intensive procedure requiring artistry and skill on the part of the doctor as the composite is layered and the shading varied. Bonding is not as long-lasting or durable as an all-porcelain laboratory fabricated veneer, but it can produce beautiful and natural-looking teeth and give you a gorgeous smile in one office visit.

Implants

If you are bothered by a missing tooth and are looking for a long term solution, consider a dental implant. Implants replace missing teeth by surgically inserting a titanium steel post into the jaw bone several millimeters below the gum surface. After healing, an abutment is screwed into the implant and then a crown is bonded onto the abutment. This provides strength and stability to the implant crown and results in a tooth that is natural in feel and shape, with no metal showing.

Orthodontics

Minor crowding and misaligned teeth can be gently and invisibly corrected with Invisalign. This newer procedure can straighten adult teeth without braces. A series of removable, clear, customized aligners (trays) are designed to slowly move the teeth. These aligners are designed to be worn over the teeth day and night and are removed only at meal time and for cleaning and flossing your teeth. Our patients are amazed at the comfort of the aligners and the fact that their friends can't even tell they are wearing them. Aligners are replaced every two weeks and gradually move teeth to an ideal position. Tooth whitening (bleaching) can be done while wearing the aligners.

Orthodontics-Traditional: With traditional orthodontics crooked teeth are moved to a better, straighter position using conventional metal braces or removable appliances.

Hygeine

Our highly qualified team of dental hygienists is proactive and prevention-oriented. In addition to dental cleanings, digital x-rays and child fluoride, we provide many other hygiene services. Included in those services are treatments for desensitizing sensitive teeth and fluoride trays for aging adults to help prevent root surface decay. We customize the frequency of visits to the needs of each patient.

Periodontal Treatment

Periodontal disease is the most widespread disease among adults today, and can impact the health of your heart and even your unborn baby. Periodontal disease is the presence of infection and tartar build-up around the tooth and below the gum line. In our office, we provide non-surgical care to arrest periodontal disease. Generally, local anesthetic is used during this procedure to keep the patient comfortable. In some instances antibiotics are used to fight the infection.

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Bruce Stewart DDS - Providing services in cosmetic dentistry, porcelain veneers, teeth whitening, dental implants, crowns and bonding to the area of Grand Rapids, West Michigan (MI).