Archives for February 2024

Is a Tooth Infection Dangerous?

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I have been taking an antibiotic for a problem with what I think is my tooth, but it does not seem to be getting any better. A little over a week ago, I broke a molar. I thought it would be okay but I have been having a lot of pain in the jaw area. Then, it started to hurt in my cheek. Today, it started hurting in my sinuses. I don’t understand why this antibiotic is not working. Is this dangerous or should I just keep taking the antibiotic?

George

Dear George,

Man grabbing his cheek in pain

Yes, this is dangerous and I believe your tooth is infected and the infection is spreading. At this point, I would consider it a dental emergency because this seems to be spreading faster than I would expect. You do not want it to reach your brain.

I’m curious as to who prescribed you the antibiotic. If it was a dentist, he or she should have also made sure that you knew there would be a follow up appointment needed. Antibiotics alone do not cure a tooth infection. It is only truly dealt with when a dentist gets in there and removes the infected pulp.

This is done one of two ways. The first is with a root canal treatment. The second is by extracting the tooth. It is ideal if you can save the tooth by having a root canal treatment.

Please do not put this off. If for some reason your tooth cannot be saved and you have to extract it, it will also be important that you replace that tooth. Otherwise, the other teeth will drift or tip into the empty space. This will throw off your bite, which will lead to pain and possibly TMJ disorder.

The best tooth replacement is a dental implant. Hopefully, it will not come to that.

This blog is brought to you by East Cobb Dentist Dr. Cristi Cheek.

Should She Finish this Full-Mouth Reconstruction?

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I had a collapsed bite because of teeth grinding. My old dentist never told me that was going on. I had to see another dentist in the same office because of a toothache and they suggested I get a nightguard for when I am sleeping. I did, but think that I waited too long to start it. I ended up moving to another city and it was the new dentist who said that the condition of the teeth was pretty bad. She’s the one who told me about the collapsed bite. I agreed to the smile makeover. She did the crowns on the bottom first. While everything feels better, two things bother me. First, it is whiter and more perfect than I was hoping for. I liked the quirkiness of my smile. Here is my problem. I am not sure I want the upper ones done. I know it seems silly, but I’ve been really emotional about this. However, my top teeth are now much darker than the bottom ones. What are my options?

Julia

Julia,

An image of a woman happily pointing at her smile

You have a couple of options. First, if you absolutely just do not want to complete the smile makeover, I would recommend simply whitening the upper teeth. You can do that in one appointment with Zoom whitening and then you would not have two arches of teeth looking so drastically different from one another for an extended period of time.

However, before you decide, I want you to consider a couple of things. First, on the practical side, if your teeth are ground down, I am sure it wasn’t limited to the bottom teeth. Plus, the crowns and veneers will be harder on your upper teeth than your natural teeth were, which will cause more damage.

Plus, the procedure was planned with both of them. Doing just half of it could throw off your bite and lead to TMJ Disorder.

I could be misreading things, but it sounded like your main concern was the fact that the teeth were too perfect and you wanted some quirkiness. In that case, I would suggest communicating that to your dentist. Most cosmetic dentists would jump at the chance to add some character to the smile. Too often, they’re stuck making perfect smiles. You would be a welcome change.

I hope this helps.
This blog is brought to you by East Cobb Cosmetic Dentist Dr. Cristi Cheek.

Why Did Smile Direct Club Go Belly Up?

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I had been planning on trying that Smile Direct Club that I kept seeing advertised. Originally, I was going to do Invisalign, but then learned that Smile Direct was much less expensive because you didn’t have to use a dentist. Now they’re no longer in business when I’m finally ready to move forward. Do you know why they stopped and if there is anything else like it?

Penelope

Dear Penelope,

A SmileDirect Club ad with an X through it.

I understand why SmileDirectClub was so appealing to so many patients. It promised Invisalign results at a fraction of the cost. The problem they ran into was two-fold. First, they could not live up to the promises they made. Second, a court case killed their ability to hide that.

The reason Invisalign has you work through a dentist is because the human body is unpredictable. While it is true that an advanced software system designs the treatment, teeth tend to not always go to plan and humans can be forgetful, even with the best of intentions. This can throw off treatments and require adjustments.

Often, things would not go well with a SmileDirect treatment plan. Patients were already at a disadvantage by not having the same software system. Then, without a dentist they were often left floundering. They could complain to the company but there was no one really willing to help them. If they tried to complain publicly, they were told they could only get a refund by withdrawing all complaints and filing a nondisclosure agreement, which of course they did in order to recoup their funds.

Back in June of 2023 a court case forbade them from doing that and ordered they release everyone from their non-disclosure agreements. By September of the same year, SmileDirectClub ended up filing bankruptcy. Even worse that that, they’ve left their customers in the lurch telling them that they will not complete their treatments. If they want their money back they’ll need to get in line. Worse, if they owe SmileDirect payments, they expect the patient to keep paying!

While there are a few similar companies still around, such as Byte, NewSmile, and AlignerCo, they run on the same principles. You will not be seen by a dentist and that puts your treatment, as well as your teeth at risk. You are safer under the care of a dentist. One hidden benefit of Invisalign is the aligners can double as teeth whitening trays. Your dentist will provide you with the whitening gel and then you can wear it in the aligners to whiten your teeth at the same time you are straightening them.

This blog is brought to you by East Cobb Dentist Dr. Cristi Cheek.