Dental Health Guides
For complete information on dental services, please read Dr. Leaders essays.
What are Lumineers?
Imagine that you don't like how your teeth look. Maybe the color is too dark from medication, age or smoking. Maybe your teeth are chipped, worn or crooked. Now imagine that with little or no change to your own teeth, you can have the beautiful smile you always wanted. Imagine you can meet your dentist one day, and in one or two more visits you can walk out of the office with a smile that is permanently whiter, straighter, and just the way you like it.
Would you like to see how you would look with your new Lumineers? How white should they be? How straight? Dr. Leader's office uses the Smile Pix lab to help plan your smile makeover. Smile Pix helps Dr. Leader instruct the lab exactly how to shape and color your new veneers, Lumineers, and crowns. You will love your new smile even before the treatment begins.
Tooth colored fillings
Many people want to know which is better silver or tooth colored fillings. Silver fillings have been around for over a hundred and fifty years. They are less expensive than tooth colored fillings. They take less time to place in a tooth. The problem is that a silver filling is an inert wedge of metal. Enough force applied to a silver filling may break the tooth it's in. The silver filling in the tooth in the photo was placed almost two and a half years before the photo was taken. There were no visible cracks in the tooth at the time the filling was placed. Biting into something hard caused intense pain. Soon after, when I removed the tooth, it was easy to see the problem. The tooth had cracked across and far down the root on both sides. Not even root canal treatment could have saved this tooth. Tooth colored composite fillings are chemically bonded to the dentin and enamel of the tooth. Teeth with these attractive restorations are much less likely to fracture than those with metal fillings. Should all silver fillings be changed right away for tooth colored composite ones? No, only silver fillings that are defective, very large or especially noticeable should be changed. Even then, patients and teeth should be examined on a case-by-case basis. All fillings, just like all patients, are different.
How important are sports mouthguards?
Meet Peter. That mark on his lip is from a ball that he was trying to field. The ball, rock hard, bounced up and hit his lip hard enough to cause the threads to cut into the skin of his lip leaving their herringbone imprint. Peter came over to me in the stands, showed me his lip and asked if he could go back to playing. Without his Custom Mouthguard I am certain I would have had some bonding and stitching to do. Instead, I sent him back out to the field. I am so serious about providing mouthguards to all children and adults who participate in sports I joined the Mass Dental Society's Grin and Wear It (sm) program.
No Mouthguard?
When you don't wear a mouthguard and your luck runs out, our staff will have you come in as soon as possible. If it can be done, you will leave the office smiling.
Meet Peter's mom. Her tooth was destroyed by a racquetball racquet. It was restored by Dr. Leader with cosmetic bonding. Peter's mother was happy to see that her tooth looks as it did before the accident.
Now, Peter and his mom wear their mouthguards for all of their sports, even during practice.
General and Pediatric Dentistry in Malden Square
Call on us for at home bleaching, cosmetic dentistry, root canal treatment, periodontal (gum) treatment and tooth replacement by implants, dentures and fixed bridgework. We also provide same day denture repairs. Our new associate, Dr. Golnaz Movafaghi is an experienced Pedodontist (children's dentistry specialist). We will always explain our recommendations and offer alternative treatments when available.