General and Preventive Dentistry

As part of our commitment to providing high-quality, lifelong family dentistry at Lilburn, we are comprehensive in all aspects of the dental care we provide. This is especially true for our exams: every visit, every time. Consider that you and your family are fortunate to be associated with a dental team obsessed with oral health and the health of patients just like you. Your initial comprehensive or new patient exam will likely take the most time. That’s because it’s our opportunity to create a baseline for what’s going on inside your mouth. Then, when or if something changes in the future, we can compare our findings and make appropriate treatment recommendations. During your exam, it’s also the best time to talk with us about your medical history and any medications you’re taking. Then, we’ll also be sure to evaluate your smile for oral cancer at each exam. The earlier we detect any signs of the disease, the better our chances of beating it. We’ll use our advanced training, gentle touch and digital photography to detect any problems we feel need to be addressed. This helps us find signs of infection, decay or damage to your teeth and gums. Your head, neck and jaw, will also be evaluated for signs of bite problems or TMD. Please know that if something is wrong, we will make it right together. We will not recommend anything unnecessary. If we find any problems or early signs of problems, we will create a treatment plan to get you back to health. But we are not dictators. We always work with you to tailor the plan to your physical, financial and scheduling needs. You and your smile are special, and we strive to prove it!

Dental Familia’s oral cancer screenings are saving lives in Lilburn, Lawrenceville and Norcross. Why? Because we are thorough and complete them frequently for every patient who turns to us for high-quality family dental work. During your painless oral cancer screening exam, we perform a visual and manual check for symptoms. We want to find cancer in its earliest stages, when it is easiest to treat and overcome completely. Sometimes, when symptoms have already started to appear, that means the cancer may have spread elsewhere. Keep in mind that when we perform an oral cancer screening test for you or someone in your family, it is not because we believe you are at risk or have the disease. Screening tests are always administered when a person shows no signs of cancer. When a screening test is abnormal, you may need further diagnostic testing. There are several places in the mouth that we like to look a little closer, because oral cancer tends to form there, including the following:

• Lips
• Front of the tongue
• Gums
• Cheek lining
• Roof of the mouth
• Small area behind wisdom teeth

Trust us to keep you and your smile healthy for years to come with regular, reliable oral cancer screenings.

Say what you want about going to the dentist, but you have to admit that some of the technology they use is pretty innovative and amazing. The same goes for your Familia Dental office. We’ve equipped it with some of the best tools that modern dentistry has to offer. This is all because we want every part of your experience with us, every visit, to be comfortable and pleasurable. To that end, we only use safe and effective digital radiographs. They are very helpful in all aspects of dental care and especially in coming up with a personalized treatment plan to address any dental problem. We can easily share with you our findings from digital radiographs! Get an inside view of what’s going on underneath your dental enamel and tissue. We can play detective together, uncovering any problems lurking beneath the surface of your smile. Your Dental Familia dentist can even take digital panoramic x-rays that give us a complete picture of your mouth and jaw. Digital X-rays are highly trusted in dentistry because they are more comfortable for patients of all ages:

• They are more comfortable for patients of all ages.
• Expose you to up to 80 percent less radiation
• Produce clear images
• Are ready instantly, without having to wait to develop films

Learn more about the x-ray options we have available for you and your family today!

What’s the most important benefit of maintaining your regular dental hygiene in Lilburn? That clean, fresh feeling that you and your smile can’t help but love. But why are all these trips to the dentist necessary – it’s all part of our preventive plan! The main reason dental hygiene in Lilburn is so vital is because of one thing: bacteria. These little tooth destroyers love to live in the sticky film that forms on our teeth, which is called plaque. And where there is plaque and bacteria buildup, that means there is also excess acid in the mouth. These acids love to attack your smile and leave you with some expensive cavities to repair. This is just one smile in your home we’re talking about. Can you imagine the amount of fillings you’d pay for if your whole family missed out on dental hygiene in Lilburn? We don’t go wrong when it comes to hygienic cleanings, which is why we invested in an ultrasonic scaler, to avoid scraping with old-fashioned dental tools. Instead, the scaler uses special sound waves to remove hardened tartar above and below the gum line. It’s a much more comfortable and effective way to clean smiles of all ages and stages of life. Doesn’t that sound good?

You can’t provide comprehensive family dentistry to patients in Lilburn, Lawrenceville and Norcross, without offering gentle but effective periodontal therapy. Focusing specifically on the health of your gums, periodontal therapy is designed to get rid of infections using different methods, such as:

• Scaling and root planing
• Gingivitis therapy
• Oral systemic linkage analysis
• OralDNA for non-drug treatments

If you look in your mouth or your child’s mouth and see red or swollen gums, gum disease is most likely the cause. Sometimes periodontal disease can even leave teeth very sensitive to temperatures and sugary foods and drinks. Gum infections and periodontal problems should be addressed as soon as possible. You don’t want to wait and watch them get worse; this only means more problems for your mouth. Gum infections are likely to cause:

• Tooth loss
• Bad breath
• Pain
• Unwanted bleeding

If there are signs of periodontal or gum disease in your smile, don’t worry. After all, you have the entire Dental Familia team to back you up with the expertise and tools you need to get healthy again. We can create a plan of action that will eliminate your problems in no time for renewed wellness and confidence.

Were you or someone in your family recommended a fluoride treatment for your smile? Did you have to bite down on bulky, uncomfortable trays with a fruity paste or gel that oozed everywhere? That’s how fluoride treatments used to be done, but not anymore! At Dental Familia, we recommend that adults who are predisposed to cavities try fluoride varnish therapy to help protect against cavities. The varnish is usually used in conjunction with your regular brushing routine and is applied after completing your dental cleaning with the hygienist. Fluoride varnish is usually white or a very pale yellow and brushes easily onto the teeth to provide instant extra protection against cavities. The gels harden very quickly and allow for fast and comfortable treatment. We carefully apply it to the front, back, top and bottom of each tooth in your smile. The entire process will probably take about two minutes – that’s how long it takes to brush your teeth! The varnish is usually applied to adult patients twice a year when you visit us for your checkups and dental hygiene in Lilburn. Fluoride varnish can give your teeth an opaque white or yellowish color once it is fully applied. There is no reason to worry or panic. The next morning, the varnish will come off and leave a stronger, healthier smile that will shine.

Part of the services we offer through our bilingual family dental treatment is custom mouthguards. You may be wondering what the difference is between our model and the boil-and-bite models at the sporting goods store. The truth is, having the right mouthguard can reduce the risk of your child developing a concussion. You need professional quality material and a professional quality dentist who can help protect your teeth. We offer:

Sports mouthguards – If you have an active sports-loving family, you’ve probably already spent some of your hard-earned money on more than one mouthguard in your life.That’s a good thing! We work hard to take care of your smile with exams, cleanings, etc. We don’t want to ruin our progress with an accident on the playing field. It’s not worth risking your child’s health or yours. Talk to us about all the ways we can make a custom mouthguard fit your budget.
Night guards – Ever heard the term “bruxism?” It’s when a person clenches and grinds their teeth, usually when they are stressed or even asleep. All this constant wear and tear affects the teeth. A night guard can be customized to provide comfort and protect your teeth from further damage.

We meet many new people as we bring these trusted bilingual family dental treatments to Lilburn. One of the things that hurts us the most, are their courageous stories of struggling with dental anxiety or just regular real world worries – no one should feel this way at the dentist or anywhere else! We can assure you that a mild anesthetic like nitrous oxide can completely change how you feel about taking care of your smile at the dentist. But what exactly is nitrous oxide? This special gas that you inhale starts working immediately, making it most useful for nervous dental patients. You may have heard nitrous oxide referred to as “laughing gas” in the past. Depending on your individual level of sedation, we will adjust the ratios of nitrous oxide to oxygen. Everyone feels the effects a little differently, but some of the most common feelings are:

• Lightheadedness
• Giggling
• Calm
• Relaxed
• Warmth throughout the body
• Tingling in arms and legs
• Drowsiness

The great thing about nitrous oxide, is that as quickly as it begins to work, it is similar to how quickly these effects take time to wear off after treatment. Once we start administering pure oxygen, you will feel normal with no downtime.

If you’ve been waking up constantly, feeling tired and unable to concentrate in the morning, you should take some time to talk to your bilingual dentist at Dental Familia. You may wonder why a dentist would be concerned about how you sleep at night, but the truth is that it could be related to something we know a little about called obstructive sleep apnea or sleep apnea. It can be life-threatening and is often accompanied by loud, excessive snoring. However, sleep apnea is more than just snoring at night. Meanwhile, it happens during your rest, At that time, your breathing also stops, and that’s what makes sleep apnea so dangerous to our health. You can stop breathing hundreds of times every night, for two minutes and not even know it. An unhealthy combination of oxygen and REM sleep deprivation can lead to other problems such as:

• Chest pain
• Chronic fatigue
• Headaches and migraines
• Depression and anxiety
• Memory problems and dementia
• Difficulty concentrating

Your friends at Dental Familia want to help. We can perform an in-office sleep apnea screening and partner with a trusted sleep doctor for your personalized treatment. Schedule your no-obligation consultation today!