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With all of the hype surrounding dental implants these days, you might have forgotten that other options exist to replace missing teeth. Dental bridges remain a popular choice in our Southport area dental office, especially in a few specific circumstances.

You Want to Avoid Dental Implant Surgery

Some patients would prefer an alternative to dental implants specifically because they prefer to avoid surgical procedures. While dental implants are the gold standard of teeth replacement options, they do require surgery, which means time to heal.

A dental bridge provides outstanding esthetics and keeps your remaining teeth from drifting out of alignment. Dr. Kyle Shank creates gorgeous porcelain bridges that look like your natural teeth.

Medical ...

Patchwork dentistry is something we try to avoid at Shank Dentistry. Rather than placing large fillings, which can destabilize a broken or deeply decayed tooth, we often recommend dental crowns for our Southport and Indianapolis patients.

Why Are Crowns So Popular?

When you break a tooth or have a deep cavity, the enamel surrounding your tooth and providing protection to the underlying nerve becomes unstable. As a result, your tooth could continue to break down from the regular forces of chewing or from a teeth grinding habit. Placing a tooth-colored filling only seals the tooth to keep out bacteria and food particles.

A crown, on the other hand, completely encases the tooth, like ...

At Shank Dentistry, we are committed to presenting all of your treatment options, along with their benefits and limitations. After all, if you are investing in your smile, you should have all of the facts before you commit to a particular treatment. 

Advantages of Dental Implants

When it comes to replacing missing teeth, there is a clear winner when it comes to improving your health and your quality of life. Dental implants are the most reliable and beneficial treatment for replacing missing teeth and are almost like having your natural tooth again. We often recommend to our Indianapolis and Southport patients that they consider investing in dental implants.

#1 Implants Replace the Entire ...

When planning dental implant treatment, we perform a careful evaluation to ensure enough healthy bone structure exists to support the dental implant post and the load caused by chewing that will exert force on the dental implant and bone. 

We use our 3-D cone beam technology to gain accurate information regarding your bone structure, sinuses, and other biological landmarks that might impact the success of your surgery.

If insufficient bone exists, we may recommend bone grafting in our Indianapolis dental office as a solution to make dental implant surgery possible.

Why Bone Grafting becomes Necessary

Losing a tooth can lead to bone loss because the lost tooth is no longer present to stimulate healthy ...

When patients need oral surgery in Indianapolis, it’s tempting to search for a local oral surgeon to complete a necessary procedure. At Shank Dentistry, we provide a number of advanced services without the need for a trip to a specialist.

An evaluation with Dr. Kyle Shank will determine if we can help you right here without the need for a visit to a new dental office. For many of our surgical procedures, we use 3-D cone beam technology for more precise, accurate, and informed procedures that are free of complications.

Replacing Missing Teeth with Dental Implants

Before the prevalence of dental implants, replacing missing teeth involved an artificial tooth or teeth that got ...

Breathing is natural and for many people, it happens without stress or strain. For others, however, nighttime breathing can be a genuine struggle for one of the very necessities of life – air.

Your snoring partner may make you want to run from the room for quiet refuge on the couch. First, be sure to look for the signs of sleep apnea. Your observations could save your partner’s life.

• Loud snoring with intermittent pauses
• Gasping or catching the breath during sleep
• Mood changes – increases in depression or irritability
• Daytime sleepiness
• Fatigue after eight hours of sleep

The only way to find out if you or your partner suffers from sleep apnea is to seek a referral ...

If you have anxiety when it comes to visiting the dentist and it keeps you from getting the dentistry you need to stay healthy, Shank Dentistry provides gentle, compassionate care and a solution for fearful patients. We offer sedation dentistry in our Indianapolis dental office.

It’s easy to avoid unpleasant situations that create unnecessary stress. At Shank Dentistry, we are here to help you discover why your smile is so important, and how you can care for it without the fear you have felt for so long.

What Happens When Anxiety Keeps You from the Dentist

It might start by missing just a few of your routine appointments, or you could have avoided ...