Long Island periodontist Dr. Alan H. Farber explains that some patients need periodontal scaling to remove bacteria and promote long-term dental health.

Preventative Care Program

Most of our patients come to see us and their dentist four times a year.  However the more prevention, the more bacteria you keep out of your mouth.  The bacteria that cause gum disease are different from the bacteria that cause tooth decay, and both types are removed when you have a professional cleaning.  The positive result is less gum disease and less decay, which means less need for treatment and lower dental care costs.

Patients at Risk for Disease

However, when patients start to have early breakdown, periodontal pockets start to get a little deeper–beyond the 3mm range.  There can be bleeding on examination and probing, and that is when we need to start with early periodontal disease treatment.  One of the procedures that we utilize is called scaling and root planing. 

Periodontal Scaling

Scaling is the removal of the bacterial toxins on the roots and planing means to smooth off the area, to smooth the root.  This procedure is minimally invasive.  We use a local anesthetic to numb the area for this procedure, so you remain comfortable.  After the procedure there is a little bit of soreness or tenderness that goes away in about 24 hours.  Your mouth feels healthier, your breath is better, and the gums start to heal.

How Often Must Periodontal Scalings Be Done or Redone?

That question is difficult to answer because it really depends on what you do at home.  If you are brushing and flossing every night, then there is less chance that you will need scaling again. 

The bottom line is that the you might never need scaling again, or it could be in a year, or it could be in five years.  So much depends on your daily dental hygiene routine, your immune system, your health condition, and personal habits such as smoking.  The more you do at home to take care of your teeth and gums, the less you have to do in my office.

 

 

 

Periodontal treatment requires the cooperation of the patient, the general dentist, and the periodontist. This collaboration leads to a successful treatment. Dr. Alan Farber explains the process for evaluating a patient to determine their periodontal treatment. 

Evaluation for Periodontal Treatment

We Need to Answer the Following Questions:

• Is the gum tissue tighter around the teeth and do the teeth get tighter? 
• Have we stopped or slowed down the disease process? 

To note, our success rates for accomplishing these objectives are extremely high. 

Questions for Patients:

• Following proper home care?
• Brushing and flossing regularly?
• Coming in every three months routinely for dental hygiene visits?

Importance of Maintenance

In my 28 years of experience with patients I have found that patients who come in like clockwork every three months and are doing their home-care regularly do very well.  Additionally, re-treatment is minimal and the re-treatment can sometimes be a small area, not their entire mouth.

Preventative Care Program

We strongly recommend a preventative care program.  The bacteria that cause gum disease repopulate in about 90 days. That is the reason we recommend the three-month intervals for patients who have a history of periodontal disease and those who are most susceptible.  I always ask patients,  “Would you rather come in every three months and have no other dental treatment, or come in less often but run the risk of needing other treatment?” 

To expand, this preventative maintenance is performed in our office as well as in the general dentist’s office, and most of our patients alternate.  They have four hygiene visits a year: two at our office and two at their general dentist’s office. This allows the best of both worlds. We focus on different parts of the mouth: as a periodontist, I am looking at the gum and bone structure, and the restorative doctor looking at their fillings and their crowns and that part of the tooth. 

Ultimately, with the cooperation of the patient, the general dentist, and the periodontist, periodontal disease can be treated successfully.

 

Although fluoride is not essential to every person, fluoride can be a huge help to those who have periodontal disease.

Every patient we see in our office receives a fluoride treatment unless they do not want it. It helps in the process of fighting gum disease and maintaining your overall oral health.

What Does Fluoride Do?

Throughout the day, minerals from your teeth are lost and gained where acid attacks the teeth. In the areas where minerals are lost, this can cause tooth decay.

A fluoride treatment replaces those minerals you lost during the day from daily activities like eating.

What are the Benefits of This Treatment?

When it is absorbed into your teeth, it helps prevent cavities and reverses decay in the early stages. This can prevent decay on the root surface and the crown. Since the mineral can reach the root surface, this treatment is a great help to patients with gum recession as well.

Fluoride keeps the outer layer of the tooth (enamel) hard and strong. With strong enamel, you can prevent cavities and fight gum disease. Since gum disease can increase your risk of cavities, this treatment can greatly help those with gum disease to further prevent them.

Ultimately, fluoride treatments are part of our process of strengthening not only your oral health, but your total body health.

 

Are you missing teeth? If yes, putting off replacement could mean more than ruining your smile and affecting your self-confidence.

The Many Consequences of Missing Teeth

Your teeth have three primary functions: chewing, helping to pronounce words and making up your smile. When one of your teeth is missing, those three functions are impaired — and your oral health suffers additional consequences in the long run. If you have a number of teeth lost to decay or periodontal disease and live in the Suffolk or Nassau County areas, you owe it to yourself to visit Farber Center for Periodontics & Dental Implants. We strive to offer the best dental implants and All-on-4 Long Island has available.

Not only is a missing tooth or row of teeth troublesome to your physical smile, but you could also suffer from malocclusion which is when your teeth become misaligned. When a tooth goes missing, your teeth eventually move to fill in the open space.

When it comes to missing teeth, it’s a use it or lose it scenario for maintaining bone density and jaw bone. When you need to replace an entire row of teeth, you can help avoid jawbone loss with All-on-4 dental implants.

What You Can Do

Every day, we have help patients regain their confidence and improve their oral health through our variety of tooth restoration services.

At Farber Center, we truly have the best of the best for all of our patients. Missing one or more teeth is not a minor issue and considering the average adult between the ages of 20 and 64 have 3 or more missing or decayed teeth, you are not alone.

Dental Implant Options Can Help Many Patients

Farber Center offers dental implants that provide a foundation for replacement teeth, which look, feel, and function like natural teeth.

For patients with the loss of multiple teeth, Farber Center offers the All-On-4® and 1-Day-Smile, which maximizes the use of available bone allowing for new, functioning teeth the same day as the implant procedure.

How to Prevent Tooth Loss and Periodontal Disease

While we can offer a range of options to replace missing teeth, we encourage all of our patients to take the steps to prevent tooth loss in the first place.

Here are a few key tips:

• Don’t smoke – Tobacco and nicotine linger on teeth and rapidly increase tooth decay.
• Maintain a strict oral hygiene regimen – Brush for at least two minutes, two times a day and floss daily
• Visit your dentist at least every six months
• Eat a well-balanced diet than limits sugar intake

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It is important to recognize that a missing tooth can affect your oral health which can affect your total body health. We look at your total body health to identify issues on a broad spectrum. Remember: oral health begins with total body health. If you’re missing a row of teeth and live in Long Island, All-on-4 from Farber Center is a replacement option worthy of your very close consideration.

 

 

 

Our periodontists help patients who fear the dentist with compassion and new technology. We make it our goal to ensure patients are comfortable during their visits.

Scared of the Dentist?

Sometimes our new patients vocalize their fear of the dentist. If they neglected their oral health care for a long time because of that fear they often feel embarrassed. At Farber Center we demonstrate compassion and put our patients at ease.

“When I sit down with them and get to know them, they start to feel more comfortable expressing their needs, their desires. Patients are often happy and relieved to hear about treatment options that will help them solve their dental problems,” said Dr. Alan Farber.

Unfortunately, many patients have a history of unpleasant dentistry – what Dr. Farber calls antique dentistry. In this scenario a bad experience left a lasting impression on the patient. The memories of one bad dental experience often linger for years. This leaves patients quivering at the thought of sitting in an exam chair.

The Farber Center Solution

Despite these prior experience,  many of our patients say they feel very comfortable in our office environment. Additionally, they express their faith in our team. We go out of our way to get patients numb with minimal discomfort, sometimes with no discomfort.

I have had patients ask me, “When are you going to give me the injection?” and we have already given them the injection and they did not even know it,” said Dr. Farber.

We actually purchase extra small, narrow needles. Although we don’t like using the word “needle,” our special needles make injections much easier for the patients.

Additionally, we use new topical gels that we apply to the gum tissue before giving an injection. These are produced for us by a special pharmacy known as a “compounding pharmacy.” The gel numbs the area and makes the injection much easier for the patient by minimizing discomfort.

Patients in our office find that dentistry can be comfortable because we relate to them personally and do everything possible to give them a pleasant experience. That’s what we’re all about.

 

Getting referrals from our patients is the greatest compliment we could ever receive. Here at Farber Center, we value the opinions of each and every patient.

We continually thank our patients for their trust and appreciation shown to us. Over the past 30 years, we have enjoyed seeing your loved ones. When people refer us to their friends and family it is the greatest compliment we could ever receive. One of our core values at Farber Center is treating every patient with the utmost respect, providing multiple options and giving high-quality care.

When it comes to the dental industry, some may be apprehensive to make an appointment and visit a dental office. Having a trusted friend or family member share their great experience at our Farber Center for Periodontics & Dental Implant offices will put their anxiousness to rest.

Word of mouth is so powerful in our community. The people of Long Island truly care for one another and it’s important to guide others in the right direction. It is especially important that we keep our oral health in mind when it comes to those that are close to us, even if speaking about the dentist is
uncomfortable. We encourage our patients to spread the word about their visit with Farber Center. Your conversation with them could potentially save your loved ones’
life.

We look forward to hearing from your friends and family soon. Feel free to let a friend know about your time with us and have them give us a call today.

longislandperio.com

Hauppauge: (631) 265-442 || Medford: (631) 758-3700

 

 

Dental implants stimulate bone and provide a strong bite.  They are an alternative to removable dentures, which cause bone loss and reduced biting forces. Dr. Alan Farber explains why dental implants are the right choice for optimal oral health.

What’s Wrong with Dentures?

Patients often come to see me with a complete denture that is removable. They complain that they lost much of their chewing force. When people have a healthy set of teeth, their chewing force is strong.  They have the power to bite into any food they want to eat. However, when people replace their teeth with dentures their biting force goes down about 80% or more.  This problem is present even with denture adhesives, which most people do not like.

Dental Implants – A Fantastic Alternative

Dental implants are a great alternative to conventional removable dentures.  We use dental implants to replace an entire arch of teeth–whether it be an upper or lower arch—by supporting a non-removable, permanent bridge.  When implant dentistry is used to replace teeth, the biting force is dramatically increased—almost to the level of having healthy natural teeth.

What’s Going on in My Mouth?

When people lose their teeth the jawbone is not stimulated and the bone starts to shrink.  We call this process of jaw shrinkage “resorption.” Eventually the removable denture that sits on this jawbone will get looser and looser because there is less bone available.  As the process continues, the patient starts to use more denture adhesive and eventually the resorption becomes so severe that the patient cannot wear a denture.  I call these patients “denture cripples.”

Even when patients who suffer from bone resorption are able to wear dentures, they come into my office and say, “What happened to my face?  It’s collapsing!  Now I’m all wrinkled and I look like my face has shrunken.”  This cosmetic problem is due to the loss of teeth and the ensuing loss of bone.

A Happy Ending

With a non-removable denture that is secured by dental implants, the patient has a restoration that does not come out, so there is no wear and tear from something removable putting pressure on the jaw.  The patient does not feel the implants, but they are stimulating the surrounding cells.  The bone cells keep remodeling and replenishing themselves and the bone is well maintained for many years.

 

 

Ceramic implants have specific advantages over metal implants.  They’re not only more aesthetic, but they’re not subject to corrosion and don’t trigger metal allergies.

Ceramic Implants: A Holistic Option

There are two type of dental implants on the market today, ceramic and titanium implants. Ceramic implants have been used in our practice for about five years at this point.  One reason that we would use a ceramic dental implant is by request of the patient who is concerned about metal. Our more holistic patients refuse to have any metal in their mouth because some people report allergies to certain metals.

The ceramic implants are proving to be very durable and an excellent alternative to metal implants.  The mechanical strength of ceramic dental implants has improved greatly over time.  Another advantage of ceramic dental implants is that unlike any metal, ceramic are not subject to corrosion over time.

Another reason that I may use ceramic is that the restorative doctor has requested that type of material in a specific case. Pure or other ceramic implants do not have a metal color showing; there is more of a body color match, which can be more desirable if that is a patient’s concern. Studies out of Europe show extremely high success rates with ceramic implants.  The highest percentage of most of our implants today are still titanium, but the number of ceramics implants being used seems to be on the increase.

However, I do not see ceramic implants taking over and making titanium implants obsolete. There is a limitation of what you can do when it comes to zirconia implants. With zirconia implants the abutment position is very critical.  However, when you are placing a titanium implant you have more latitude as far as the abutment portion is concerned.  You can angle the titanium implant where the abutment comes out of the tissue at a much higher angle than you can on a ceramic implant.

 

 

 

 

Your posture and your bite are closely related. When any part of your body is out of alignment with the other parts, there is a similar chain reaction. When your upper and lower teeth are closed together, each tooth actually forms a skeletal relationship with its opposing tooth. This bite determines the position of your jaw, and in turn, the position of your head on your spine. 

Check Your Posture

To demonstrate this, tilt your head backwards and close your teeth lightly together. Notice that your back teeth hit first. Now tilt your head forward toward your chest and again lightly touch your teeth together. Now the front teeth hit first. These exaggerated movements demonstrate how the bite and head position affect one another.

The teeth are part of the skeletal system. When your teeth are improperly aligned, there is often a compensating effect throughout the postural chain. The body will adjust itself. This can involve muscles in the neck, back, and even those of the pelvis, legs, and feet. Poor posture is not often thought of as a health problem. Over time, however, the consequences of postural neglect can be as damaging as an injury. 

There are specific symptoms of a poorly postured bite such as: Numbing or tingling sensation in one hand, pain in the jaw, head neck, shoulders, back, and difficulty clearing the ears .

When your bite is involved with a postural problem, the dentist must correct it so that the muscles, bones, and teeth can function without strain and tension. Because the postural position of the head, neck, and shoulders is so closely related to the bite, both dental therapy and physical therapy may be needed to correct the bite. Doing so will then frequently relieve seemingly unrelated symptoms such as pain in the head, neck, and back. 

Poor postural habits become more difficult to correct the longer they exist, and they also become more injurious to your body. If you have any of the symptoms described, call us today for a routine check-up. 

 

 

 

Causes of Oral Cancer

• Tobacco use of any kind, including cigarettes, cigars, pipes, chewing tobacco and snuff, among others.
• Heavy alcohol use
• Excessive sun exposure to your lips
• Sexually transmitted virus called human papillomavirus (HPV).

The Good News

If oral cancer is discovered early, the cure rate is nearly 90%. However, if the cancer has already spread before diagnosis, the survival rate is 60% after five years of treatment. The best outcome for oral cancer is always early diagnosis and treatment.

Ways to Prevent Oral Cancer

At Farber Center we have oral cancer screenings included in our routine maintenance, but how can we prevent it?

• Stop smoking or don’t start smoking. If you smoke, quit!
• Drink alcohol only in moderation, if at all. For women, this means one drink a day.
• Choose a healthy diet full of fruits and vegetables.
• Protect yourself from HPV.
• Always brush and floss your teeth regularly.
• Limit your exposure to the sun.
• Replace frying and grilling with baking, boiling or steaming. Use healthy spices like garlic, ginger and curry powder for added flavor.

We are here to help you with any Oral Cancer questions you may have. Visit our website today for more information!