Learn About Procedures

Dentists and hygienists are responsible for your overall oral care. They provide routine preventive care and are responsible for the diagnosis and treatment planning to promote your overall oral health. General dentists are highly trained and can provide a variety of services including: routine cleanings, fillings, root canals, cosmetic procedures, crowns and bridges, dental implants, dentures, gum disease treatment and more.

Orthodontists are specialists trained to diagnose, prevent and treat dental and facial irregularities including improperly aligned teeth, bite or jaws. An orthodontist has completed between two and four years of additional training after dental school and has a certificate to practice orthodontics. The goal of orthodontics is to straighten and align teeth

Periodontists are specialists trained in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases of the gums (and other structures that support the teeth) including gingivitis, periodontal disease and oral inflammation. Left untreated, these diseases lead to bone loss and tooth loss and are the leading cause of tooth loss in adults. Additionally, periodontists are trained in the placement and maintenance of dental implants. A periodontist has completed between two and four years of additional training after dental school and has a certificate to practice periodontics.

Cosmetic dentistry focuses on improving the appearance of a person's teeth, mouth and smile. Many general dentists can assist their patients in achieving the smile they’ve always wanted by providing teeth whitening, bonding, or veneers.

Endodontists are highly trained dentists who specialize in root canals. An Endodontist has completed between two and four years of additional training after dental school and has a certificate to practice endodontics. Root Canal Therapy is needed once decay has advanced to the nerve chamber. When this occurs, it can result in pain and swelling. The treatment for this is to remove the infected pulp (nerve) from the canals. The damaged nerve tissue is removed, the canals are cleaned and sterilized and are filled with a rubber like material and a filling is placed. Teeth that have been treated with root canal therapy become brittle, therefore a crown should be placed to protect the tooth from fracturing.

A dental implant restores the full function of one or more of your teeth in a permanent fashion. Many of our specialists are trained to place implants. For more complicated cases in which multiple teeth or all teeth are involved, we have opened Vantage Dental Implant Center.

Oral Surgeons specialize in the removal of the third molar (wisdom teeth). An Oral Surgeon has completed four years of additional training after dental school and has a certificate to practice oral surgery. Oral surgery is needed when it becomes necessary to extract a tooth, or teeth. Potential reasons for an extraction would be to remove a tooth that cannot be restored through a filling or crown or to create more space within the jaw to avoid crowding or infection. IV sedation is the preferred and most common method for removal of difficult multiple wisdom teeth. Another common procedure performed by an Oral Surgeon is the placement of implants to replace lost teeth.

Prosthodontists specialize in providing full mouth rehabilitation with use of implants, crown and bridge. In addition they provide full upper and lower dentures. Ultimately, they focus on the esthetic restoration of teeth focusing on acheiving both optimum function and appearance of the smile. A prosthodontist has completed between two and three years of training after dental school and has a certificate to practice prosthodontics.