As the years roll by, chips, stains, and other imperfections can have a negative impact on your smile. This can be especially troublesome if your chosen profession involves a lot of personal interaction. Fortunately, our Newport Healthy Smiles team is experienced in a wide range of cosmetic treatments.

One of the more popular options we might recommend for restoring your smile is disguising your imperfections with a dental veneer in Newport Beach, California. This treatment often requires two separate appointments for your dentist, Dr. Johnny Wong, to fit your smile with porcelain dental veneers.

The veneers are thin, porcelain shells that are custom-made in a dental lab to fit over the faces of the teeth in your smile. The porcelain material is shaded to look just like natural teeth.

Your dentist will first want to examine your smile to make sure each tooth has sufficient enamel to securely mount a veneer. If one or two of your teeth lack the sufficient enamel to mount a veneer, your dentist might recommend having it restored with a porcelain crown.

Your dentist will then create an impression of each tooth in your smile. This impression will be sent to our state-of-the-art dental lab where your porcelain veneers will be custom crafted.

We will call you back into Newport Healthy Smiles for a second appointment once the lab technician has completed the veneers. To install the veneers, your dentist will remove a small amount of the enamel from the face of each tooth to make room for the veneer. Then, each veneer will be carefully cemented into place.

If you are interested in improving your imperfect smile, you should call Newport Healthy Smiles at 949-642-9928 to see if you’re a good candidate for dental veneers.

Gum disease is a prevalent problem threatening the oral health of millions of Americans. In fact, the American Dental Association estimates that nearly half of the population over the age of thirty have some degree of gum disease. At the same time, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have also found that around 65% of seniors have moderate to severe levels of gum disease.

When plaque and residual food particles are not effectively removed through your daily oral hygiene routine, they can easily harden into tartar. Tartar is a bacterial rich substance that is very hard to remove with brushing and flossing at home. This constant bacterial presence near the gums often leads to the inflammation and eventual infection in the gum tissues–commonly known as gum disease.

Gum disease starts out in the form of gingivitis. Common symptoms often include: gums that can bleed easily when brushing and flossing, as well as issues with chronic bad breath. In many cases, the gums might also look red or inflamed. Improvements to your daily oral hygiene routine and your dental cleaning with Dr. Johnny Wong can often reverse gingivitis.

If gingivitis is allowed to advance unchecked, it will eventually develop into the more serious form of gum disease known as periodontitis. This inflammation and infection causes the gums to slowly pull back from the base of the teeth. In time, pockets of infection form near the roots of your teeth. Periodontitis can even result in a loss of structure in the bones that anchor your teeth to your jaw.

Increased focus on brushing and flossing twice per day is the most effective preventive measure. Be sure to floss along the gum line and behind your last molar. Attending your regular dental checkups with Dr. Johnny Wong will then serve to remove any minor areas of tartar buildup before they become a more serious problem.

If you are concerned that you might be developing gum disease, please contact Dr. Johnny Wong’s office in Newport Beach, California at 949-642-9928 to schedule a checkup. We are happy to help you keep your oral health in tip-top shape!

You probably know that you should start caring for your children’s teeth as soon as they erupt. Similarly, you may have been told that you should start cleaning your children’s gums even before their first tooth comes in. However, do you know when you should start flossing your little one’s teeth?

As you’ve heard, flossing is an important part of anyone’s oral care. It can clean foods and bacteria that you can’t—or at least shouldn’t—with your toothbrush. This can be important because it will help you prevent gum disease and bad breath.

Some individuals argue that you should start flossing your child’s teeth immediately to help them get used to the process. However, it isn’t vital for you to start flossing your child’s teeth until their teeth begin to touch. Usually, this happens sometime between your little one’s second and sixth birthday.

Also, please know that it may take some time for your kids to be able to floss on their own. In other words, flossing their teeth will primarily be your responsibility for the first few years. However, we recommend teaching them a few important things about flossing. First, please teach your child that flossing is extremely important. Second, please teach your child the proper flossing technique so they can follow your example. Also, if their gums start to bleed when you first start, please don’t worry. This is normal, but will usually stop after a few days.

If you have any questions about your child’s dental health, please don’t hesitate to contact us. Our dentist, Dr.  Johnny Wong, and our team will gladly answer any questions you have and examine your child’s mouth. If you would like to schedule an appointment with us, please call Newport Healthy Smiles at 949-642-9928. We are eager to receive your call!

When you need restoration work for your teeth, you’ll often need either a crown or bridge to help you get your smile looking right again.
But what’s the difference between a crown and a bridge? Let’s take a look at the two procedures and the benefits each offers.

Crowns

Most commonly, crowns are used to cover or “cap” damaged or decayed teeth, or a dental implant. Crowns add strength to decayed or damaged teeth, in addition to improving its appearance and alignment within your smile.

Bridges

Bridges are used when you’re missing more than one tooth. When you’re missing multiple teeth, those gaps can cause the other teeth in your mouth to shift into their spaces, resulting in problems with your bite.

A bridge is cemented to natural teeth (or implants) surrounding the empty spaces in your mouth. Then, replacement teeth are put into place and topped with crowns. The process is far more involved than a crown, and only used when necessary.

If you have missing teeth but aren’t sure whether crowns or bridges will best remedy your smile, don’t hesitate to reach out to us today at 949-642-9928 to schedule a consultation appointment.

We all have experienced a time or two when a piece of food got stubbornly stuck between our teeth. In some cases, these things food particles can even become lodged in the gum line. Of even more significant concern, is if you have a bad habit of chewing on objects like pencils and pens and a fragment of the foreign object breaks off!

Sometimes the pressure, discomfort or pain can put you in a state of distress. Here at Newport Healthy Smiles we off a few tips to help you safely remove the object or food particle from your gum line.

You should never attempt to use toothpicks or sharp, pointed tools to pry the object loose. This could seriously injure your gums or the base of your teeth. If your gums are bleeding, you might want to try vigorously rinsing your mouth with salt water. This can help wash away blood, sooth sensitive gum tissues and might even help to loosen the object.

If the object is merely lodged in your gum line, waxed dental floss can sometimes slide up into the gum line to be worked around the foreign object. Make sure not to force the floss into place, as it could seriously injure your gums.

If waxed dental floss can’t dislodge the object you could try dental fountain or oral water jet.

If a foreign object has punctured your gums, you should not attempt to remove it with tools like a tweezers or pliers. Instead it is best to call Newport Healthy Smiles at 949-642-9928 to set up an emergency appointment. Sometimes having an object in your gum line professional removed, proves to be your safest option.