Kherani Dental at Aspen

Frequently Asked Dental Questions

Dental FAQs

In dentistry, the more experience and motivation to learn the better. Is your dentist involved in research, teaching and continuing education? Do they show you results of their past work and testimonials? Do they assess your unique needs, risks and priorities? Do they use not only modern, but also proven methods? Do they explain treatments in a way that is easy for you to understand? No one receives a “tooth owner’s manual” when we get our teeth—we believe you deserve knowledge, evidence, and complete transparency to make powerful decisions for your own health. We always have time to speak with you, because we prioritize not only your teeth but your entire person.

Most importantly, try to ascertain what drives your dentist to enjoy their profession. Do they show a passion for dentistry and helping people without monetary motivation to run an office as a “chain business”? We believe that dentistry as a business must come second to our ultimate mandate: to bring long-term health and happiness to each and every individual we treat.

No, for a healthy tooth this is absolutely not normal after the first few days. When we bond fillings to your teeth, we do so to a high level of detail that is unfortunately often overlooked elsewhere. Minor adjustments to your bite may be needed, but in the long term we expect no tenderness when chewing or sensitivity to hot and cold.

Tooth colored fillings are made of a material that has the same flexibility as your natural tooth. Once bonded properly, the filling material and the tooth together prevent leakage and fracture, saving you further treatment down the line.

Our lifetimes are extending but our teeth often expose our age. For smile rejuvenation, we use porcelain to recreate your smile to accurately reflect the age you feel. While taking care of the appearance of your teeth, we never sacrifice and even improve your oral health by correcting bite problems that may cause joint tension and teeth wearing. The result is a one-of-a-kind, natural, healthy smile to carry you the entire span of your long life.

Headaches and dentistry are inseparable: how your teeth are positioned determines how your upper and lower jaws come together when you bite. For many people this bite is not in harmony with your muscles, jaw joint and teeth. A “war” ensues: the muscles work harder to allow your jaw to function effectively, which over time often leads to headaches.

In an effort to address this problem, Dr. Kherani and his team share a deep interest and experience in neuromuscular dentistry and TMJ: this term stands for the Temporo-Mandibular Joint that allows the lower and upper jaws to function together. We harness a systems-wide approach to address your health concerns via dentistry and help ensure your mouth or bite today will not cause seemingly unrelated health problems in the future.

A bridge is a fixed prosthetic device cemented onto your existing teeth to strengthen any damaged teeth and keep your teeth and bite aligned. An implant, on the other hand, is an artificial tooth root used to hold a replacement tooth or bridge in place. So, if you are missing a tooth and this space is not right next to another healthy tooth free of decay and restorations, a bridge is not possible. However, if the space is next to a healthy tooth, an implant will help prevent grinding down of this adjacent tooth. In this case, we recommend going with an implant.

However, a bridge becomes a good option if you have crowns—tooth-shaped caps that are placed over damaged teeth to restore strength and appearance. if you have two crowns on either side of your missing tooth space, a bridge may be a very good option if the teeth under the crown are sound enough to support the bridge. This is where the art of dentistry comes into place: our team will solve this type of case by case problem based on extensive experience and research on your individual situation. Please ask what we recommend, and then always ask us why!

In the past, most crowns (tooth-coloured caps to restore strength and appearance) and bridges (fixed prosthetic devices to strengthen teeth and maintain bite alignment) were placed on your teeth using a cement that could soon dissolve and leak. Today, we use resin-bonded cements that create a non-soluble, sealed bond between the restoration and the tooth, leading to a much lower chance of leakage. The process of “bonding” involves a highly detailed series of steps, which Dr. Kherani is passionate about delivering to his patients and teaching this often misunderstood science to other dentists.

We only extract when absolutely necessary: as long as there is a minimum of 2mm of bone all around the tooth, we can administer a root canal and crown. Unfortunately, as of late we are noticing many dentists who are willing to extract teeth before it is necessary, and we hold firm that extractions should not be done indiscriminately.

Far too often, we see patients equate lowest price with highest value. Our extensive experience has proven this correlation faulty. What is your dentist compromising to offer a lower price? Cheaper materials and procedures hurt not only your one tooth, but all surrounding teeth, your bite, your jaw, your head and your overall health. Ten years from now, the cheapest option will likely not prove to be the cheapest after all as numerous follow-up treatments may be needed to correct one initial mistake.

Dental FAQs