What Is General Dentistry?
It is important to protect your teeth and keep them strong through daily brushing, flossing, and regular visits to the dentist. General dentistry involves the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of a variety of dental conditions. It is also about the maintenance of your overall oral health. The comprehensive care from Dr. Slepchik may be the only care you need for your dental needs.
At our Downtown Montreal office, we offer a variety of general dentistry treatments. These include:
What’s The Difference Between General Dentistry And Cosmetic Dentistry?
General dentistry monitors and manages the overall health of your teeth, gums, and jaw. General dentistry addresses issues with decay, gum disease, etc.
Cosmetic dentistry is concerned with the aesthetic appearance of your teeth and overall smile. Cosmetic treatments may whiten stained teeth or use composite resin bonding to mask a chipped tooth. Goals can overlap with general dentistry. For instance, a porcelain crown can save a tooth with heavy decay, but the crowned tooth is now beautiful cosmetically.
Dr. Slepchik uses cosmetic dentistry to improve the patient’s tooth shape, whiteness, alignment, and overall appearance. Do you know what improves right along with those issues? Your confidence in your beautiful, attractive smile.
Complete Dental Exam
When you come to our office, you will meet with one of our dental hygienists for your complete dental exam as part of your New Patient Exam. The goal of the dental exam is for us to understand the dynamics of the muscles in your jaw, how your teeth meet, and verify the health of your gums. During your exam, we will take digital X-rays, examine your mouth, take pictures of your teeth, and answer any questions you may have for us.
"Very welcoming staff. The hygienist deeply cared for my dental health and gave me tips on how it could be improved without having to ask for it. I’ve only been there once, but so far I’d recommend this clinic."
Complete Hygiene Program
After you have your dental exam at our office, we will be able to see any dental problems you may have. Your hygienist will verify the health of your gums to see if you have gum disease, which can occur at any age. For even mild cases of gum disease, you will be invited to be a part of our Complete Hygiene Program. This involves regular dental cleanings every three months at our office, including flossing and brushing to treat gum disease. This program may be repeated every few years if necessary.
Emergency Exams
If you have an emergency dental issue that needs to be fixed, we will arrange to see you as soon as possible. No matter how you find us, we aim to get you to our dental office and treat your problem. When you get here, you will explain the issue and source of pain. We will take digital X-rays, and Dr. Slepchik will diagnose your problem. We will discuss treatment options and the cost with you.
"Fantastic dentist!!! I was visiting from Italy. I started experiencing intense pain in one tooth due to an abscess. I fortunately found Dr. Slepchik. He was absolutely incredible. He fit me into his tight schedule to accommodate an hour-long procedure by giving up his lunch hour. He did a great job and because of him I was able to return home free from excruciating pain. The office staff was also extremely friendly and helpful. I highly recommend this dentist."
Teeth Cleaning
During your teeth cleaning, our dental hygienist will remove any plaque or tartar from your teeth. The hygienist will use a water mist to break up the plaque and dental instruments to remove the tartar from tighter areas. Your teeth will then be polished, leaving your teeth feeling soft and clean. Most patients find cleanings painless, but if you have a lot of sensitivity, we offer topical anesthetics and/or nitrous oxide (a relaxing gas) to make your cleaning appointment easier.
How Should I Care For My Teeth At Home?
Home oral hygiene is simple, and it prevents most dental issues, such as the development of tooth decay; most gum disease starts as a result of poor home hygiene.
Here’s what you must do every day:
Brushing
Brush your teeth twice daily with a soft toothbrush and toothpaste with fluoride. When you brush, do so for two minutes. This can seem like an eternity, especially if you've been a distracted brusher, but that's the time necessary to clean your teeth, gum line, tongue, and mouth's roof. Use a circular motion, working in whatever pattern is best for you.
One good way to become a better brusher is to switch to an electric toothbrush. Health Canada and the ADA have both approved various Oral-B Electric Toothbrushes. Most of these have timers built into them to tell you when you've hit the two-minute mark. Also, studies have shown that brushing with one of these electric toothbrushes improves dental health dramatically.
Flossing
Patients may tell our hygienists and Dr. Slepchik that they floss their teeth regularly, even if they do not. It only takes about 30 seconds to floss between your teeth, and it is important to remove food debris and bacteria from areas your brush doesn’t reach.
Take about 14 to 18 inches of floss and wrap it around both index fingers, leaving about two inches between the fingers. Then, simply run the floss up and down the side of every tooth, including the back of the deepest molar. You don’t have to saw back and forth. Just getting the floss under the gums against the teeth removes what needs to be removed. Plus, it breaks up any bacteria trying to take up residence.
Floss once every day.
Keep Your Appointments
The final key is to keep your twice-yearly or every 3-month visits with Dr. Slepchik and your hygienist for your professional teeth cleanings and exams. By coming regularly, we can monitor your oral health before issues like gingivitis become full-blown gum disease.
Gum Treatment
If you suffer from gum disease, we offer periodontal treatment. It is a deep cleaning and scaling treatment that removes plaque from underneath the gum line. This is the easiest and simplest approach to treating gum disease. This treatment usually takes 3 to 5 visits and is a great way to avoid more aggressive and expensive treatment.
Digital X-Rays
Our office uses digital radiography to take X-rays of your teeth. This allows us to see the X-rays immediately. The X-rays will be displayed on a monitor in front of your view. This makes it easy for you to see any areas of decay. We can discuss what is going on in your mouth together. Our X-rays are stored in the computer so that we can see the changes in your mouth over time, and they can easily be transferred to a specialist if necessary.
"I’ve been going to Dr. Lenny Slepchik. The people are very nice and welcoming. They do an excellent job with cleaning, surgery, and x-rays while making sure you are okay."
Are Digital X-Rays Safe?
At this dental office, our X-ray systems are digital. Digital X-rays deliver such a low dose of radiation compared with old film X-rays that the impact is negligible at best. Don’t believe it? A set of four bitewing X-rays delivers less radiation than a person receives from one day’s exposure to natural background radiation. This background radiation comes from the sun, cell phones, the Earth (terrestrial radiation), and even the air (all air contains radon). It is also about the same amount of radiation exposure as what you receive from a short airplane flight. Oh, and that airport scanner you headed through prior to your flight? It delivers 80 times the radiation you’re getting from your dental X-rays.
Dental X-rays have been shown to deliver the lowest amount of radiation of any X-rays studied. In other words, their benefit for diagnostic use in your future oral health is of extreme value with almost no risk.
How Often Should I Have Dental X-Rays?
The frequency of your dental X-rays varies depending on your age, history with us, and your incidence of decay. For adults with no decay and who have a history of good dental health, we plan on having X-rays every 24 to 36 months. For adolescents in the same situation, every 18 to 36 months. This increasing frequency matches changes in the teeth and the tendency of children to have more cavities.
If a patient is prone to having decay, we reduce the above time frames: 6-12 months for teens and 12-18 months for adults.
White Fillings
If you have cavities, we offer two types of white fillings: resin restorations and porcelain onlays. Resin restorations are bonded to the teeth to provide a seal between a tooth and the restoration. Dental onlays are the best option when the restoration in a posterior tooth is too deep. The onlay will cover the functional parts of the tooth, similar to a crown, but much less invasive.
Free Gingival Graft
Dr. Slepchik removes a small piece of tissue from the roof of your mouth(your palate) and sutures it to the area that needs gum tissue. You likely need this type of graft if your gums need extra tissue to protect against further recession.
Root Canal
Endodontic treatment is necessary when the pulp (the soft tissue inside the root canal) becomes inflamed or infected. The inflammation or infection can have a variety of causes: deep decay, repeated procedures on the tooth, or a crack or chip on the tooth. Any injury to a tooth may cause pulp damage, even if the tooth has no visible chips or cracks. If pulp inflammation or infection is left untreated, it can cause pain or an abscess.
Dr. Slepchik removes the inflamed or infected pulp and carefully cleans and shapes the inside of the canal; then, he fills and seals the space. Later on, you will return to our office to place a crown or other restoration on this tooth to protect and restore it to full function. After restoration, the tooth functions like any other tooth.
Sedation Dentistry
If you are afraid to go to the dentist or fear dental procedures, Dr. Slepchik offers sedation dentistry. When you come to our office, please let us know what you are worried about, and we will find a solution. We offer noise-reducing headphones for those who don’t like the sound of drilling. We also offer nitrous oxide, or laughing gas, to help you feel relaxed and happy. We have Dental Vibe and Wand for the kindest injection you will ever experience for your freezing. Our nervous patients love it.
"Dr. Slepchik and his assistant Carmen immediately understood my fear of dentists and approached me in a friendly but professional manner. I didn’t feel any pain whatsoever during the treatment. Highly recommended!"
Who Is A Good Candidate For Sedation Dentistry?
Some patients mistakenly think that sedation means anesthesia, but that’s not the case. Our patients feel nothing during any procedure due to our anesthetics. Sedation isn’t to handle pain — that’s the role of anesthesia — but to help patients deal with strong feelings of fear and anxiety that arise when they visit the dentist. After receiving sedation and successfully completing their appointment, patients often change the entire way they view dental appointments going forward. Sedation could be a great option if you:
- Have difficulty overcoming anxiety about the dentist
- Have a low pain threshold
- Have very sensitive teeth
- Have a very strong gag reflex
- Need a large amount of work done
- Have long dental appointments
Once you are sedated and comfortable, we then properly numb or anesthetize the area we are working on, ensuring that your procedure is pain-free. We do not start a dental procedure unless our patient tells us they are ready.
How Often Should I Visit Dr. Slepchik?
Health Canada recommends once-yearly visits as a minimum but more if you have a history of gum disease or other dental issues. In the U.S., the American Dental Association typically recommends seeing a dentist every six months for professional cleanings and exams. Depending on your oral health, Dr. Slepchik will have a recommendation for you. But considering it takes just about six months for tartar to build upon your teeth in the usual locations, seeing us every six months is a good idea to keep it under control. Your hygienist, Caroline, along with Dr. Slepchik, will discuss with you how often to come in for your professional dental cleanings and exams according to your specific needs.
Schedule A Consultation
For more information about our general dentistry services, contact Dr. Lenny Slepchik at 514-875-7971 or email our office at reception@smilesbydrslepchik.com. We are located in downtown Montreal, next to the Fairmont Queen Elizabeth Hotel, across from Place Ville Marie.