San Francisco Downtown Dentist, Invisalign,The Marina District Kevin Growney, D.D.S.

ZOOM! Chairside Whitening System

Do you want to Zoom! in one hour?
The Zoom! In-Office Whitening System is a revolutionary tooth whitening procedure. It's safe effective and fast, very fast. In just over an hour, your teeth will be dramatically whiter. Zoom! Whitening is ideal for anyone looking for immediate results. The convenience of Zoom! in comparison to days of wearing trays and gradual whitening makes it the perfect choice for the busy individual. You've seen this same whitening procedure on TV's "Extreme Makeover"!

Before ZOOM!

Get ready to Zoom!
The Zoom! Whitening procedure is simple and painless. It begins with a short preparation to isolate your lips and gums. The Zoom! clinician then applies the proprietary Zoom! Whitening Gel, which is activated by a specially designed light. Teeth typically become at least six to ten shades whiter, sometimes more. A five-minute fluoride treatment completes the procedure. You'll be amazed with the results. In most cases, teeth get even whiter the first few days after the procedure.

After ZOOM!

How the Zoom! In-Office System Works!
The Zoom! light activated gel was developed after years of research by Discus Dental, the leaders in professional take-home tooth whitening. The gel is a scientifically formulated, pH balanced Hydrogen Peroxide that, when activated by the Zoom! light, gently penetrates the teeth to remove deep stains and discoloration. With proper care and an occasional touch-up at home, your whiter smile will sparkle for years.

For more information, visit Discuss Dental

Invisalign

The invisible way to straighten your teeth:

Introducing Invisalign
The invisible way to straighten your teeth, without braces.

Invisalign can give you the beautiful straight teeth you've always wanted. It works through a series of invisible, removable, and comfortable aligners that no one can tell you're wearing. So you can smile during your treatment as well as after.

What is Invisalign?

Invisalign is the invisible way to straighten your teeth without braces.

Invisalign uses a series of clear removable aligners to straighten your teeth without metal wires or brackets.

Invisalign has been proven effective in clinical research and in orthodontic practices nationwide.

How it Works

You wear each set of aligners for about 2 weeks, removing them only to eat, drink, brush and floss.

As you replace each aligner with the next in the series, your teeth will move - little by little, week by week - untill they have straightened to the final position we have prescribed.

You'll visit us about once every 6 weeks to ensure that your treatment is progressing as planned.

Total treatment time averages 9-15 months and the average number of aligners worn during treatment is between 18 and 30, but both will vary from case to case.

Click here for more info!

Which one of us is wearing Invisalign?
WE BOTH ARE!

Tooth Colored Fillings

As you can see, tooth-colored fillings can substantially improve the beauty of your teeth. The above photo also includes the use of a good example of permanently implanting a synthetic tooth to fill a gap.

Porcelain Crowns

Porcelain crowns can make even the ugliest teeth look like a movie star smile and reflect light with a natural healthy glow.

Laminate Veneers

Today we have exciting new biomaterials that can give your smile a lift without invasive treatments.

A veneer is a thin shell of porcelain, fabricated in the dental laboratory, that can close spaces, lengthen, shorten, or straighten teeth, and disguise discolored teeth. Sometimes, it is necessary to extend the restoration to a partial or full porcelain crown. A 'smile lift' may be achieved in less than two weeks.

Ultra-thin porcelain veneers can correct chipped, weakened, or discolored teeth. No more yellow. No more gaps or embarrassing chips. And veneers can return real structural integrity to damaged teeth, while leaving them looking as good (or possibly better) than the originals.

Veneers are custom made to fit over your natural teeth, with a finish more translucent to blend in with surrounding teeth. So people won't notice your tooth, they'll simply see your beautiful, natural smile.

Beautiful Dentures

With so many advances in modern dentistry, fewer people need to wear full dentures. If you have older dentures or think you may need dentures, you're in luck. Denture technology has never been better.

As people age, dentures can cause wearers to look older than they really are and can cause pain when chewing. We can replace worn out dentures with custom made, state-of-the-art dentures that blend with your skin, hair and even eye color. Your dentures will look as natural as possible, even down to the fillings.

Before going to the plastic surgeon, get a 'face lift' with comfortable, attractive dentures.

Dental Implants

A typical implant consists of a titanium screw, with a roughened surface. This surface is treated either by plasma spraying, etching or sandblasting to increase the integration potential of the implant. At edentulous (without teeth) jaw sites, a pilot hole is bored into the recipient bone, taking care to avoid vital structures (in particular the inferior alveolar nerve within the mandible).

This pilot hole is then expanded by using progressively wider drills. Care is taken not to damage the osteoblast cells by overheating. A cooling saline spray keeps the temperature of the bone to below 47 degrees Celsius (approximately 117 degrees Fahrenheit). The implant screw can be self-tapping, and is screwed into place at a precise torque so as not to overload the surrounding bone. Once in the bone, a cover screw is placed and the operation site is allowed to heal for a few months for integration to occur.

After some months the implant is uncovered and a healing abutment and temporary crown is placed onto the implant. This encourages the gum to grow in the right scalloped shape to approximate a natural tooth's gums and allows assessment of the final aesthetics of the restored tooth. Once this has occurred a permanent crown will be constructed and placed on the implant.

An increasingly common strategy to preserve bone and reduce treatment times includes the placement of a dental implant into a recent extraction site. In addition, immediate loading is becoming more common as success rates for this procedure are now acceptable. This can cut months off of the treatment time and in some cases a prosthetic tooth can be attached to the implants at the same time as the surgery to place the dental implants.

Porcelain Inlays, Onlays and Crowns

Durable, metal free, and lifelike, porcelain restorations of the back teeth may include inlays, onlays, partial and full crowns.

Composite Resin Inlays, Onlays, Crowns

Metal free adhesion dentistry offers exciting alternatives to conventional porcelain jacket and porcelain fused to metal crowns. Like porcelain, composite resin restorations offer minimal tooth reduction, biocompatibility with periodontal tissues, and virtually undetectable aesthetics. The bonus is wear resistance similar to enamel making the biting surface kind to opposing natural teeth.

Indirect restorations (fillings) are fabricated by a dental laboratory technician, and later fixed to the teeth by adhesion (bonding) procedures. Temporary restorations protect the teeth between appointments.

Laboratory Processed Metal Free Bridges

Utilizing the attributes of metal free adhesion dental technology, a missing tooth be replaced with minimum reduction of the supporting teeth, without a surgical implant, utilizing porcelain or composite resin materials.

Anterior Bridges

State-of-the-art bonded ceramics combined with augmentive periodontal procedures offers the clinician a strong and aesthetic alternative that can produce magnificent results. Adhesion dentistry using metal free porcelain is natural and lifelike. The 'missing' tooth is undetectable.

Posterior Bridges

Offering the many advantages of composite resins, this 3-unit BelleGlass bridge is undetectable, kind to opposing natural teeth and durable. Utilizing adhesion dentistry, the missing tooth may be replaced with a minimally invasive procedure.

Chairside Composite Resin Restorations (fillings)

Composite resin restorations offer an array of benefits over traditional silver mercury fillings. Since the filling material actually adheres to tooth structure, the preparation procedures are less invasive, without pins or retentive grooves to hold the filling in place. The dentist removes only diseased portions of the tooth, leaving healthy tooth structure intact. The adhesion (bonding) process strengthens the tooth with resilient, long lasting, natural looking restorations.

Over time, amalgam (silver fillings) tend to corrode, allowing a gap, and recurrent decay, at the interface of the filling and tooth. Fillings may be replaced with new composite resins without irritation of sensitive periodontal (gum) tissue, and minimal loss of tooth structure. The natural aesthetics is a bonus.

Incipient decay may be treated with a flowable composite resin that penetrates small pits to conserve natural tooth.

Flowable Composite Resins and Sealants

Flowable composite resins, such as Kerr Revolution, are versatile materials used for a variety of restorative and preventative applications.

A significant advantage of virtually all adhesion dental procedures is conservation of tooth structure. Flowable composite resins are commonly used to penetrate small pits and grooves in teeth, avoiding the need to remove additional tooth structure to accommodate other filling materials. Containing fluoride, these agents are ideally suited as decay prevention sealants, especially for children.

Dental Sealants

Dental tooth decay is more prevalent on the biting surfaces of the posterior teeth. While the proper oral hygiene is essential to prevent decay at times the anatomy of the tooth is such that it is impossible to clean properly. Dental caries is caused by plaque, a sticky film of bacteria that occurs on all teeth. When food is eaten these bacteria eat the food and produce acid which destroys the tooth. While good oral hygiene does not let food remain in the mouth, at times it is impossible to clean the pits, fissures, and grooves of the teeth. These areas can be protected by the application of dental sealants.

A decayed tooth which did not have the benefit of preventive sealants

Isolated tooth with deep grooves with potential for decay

Tooth with white tinted sealant material protecting tooth from decay

Artistic Touchups

Stains, white spots, crooked or uneven teeth and awkward gum contours can detract from a pleasing smile. Simple corrective procedures, alone or in conjunction with other treatment, may yield immediate, dramatic results. The following 'touch-ups' are samples of simple, cost effective dental artistry.

Conservative Adhesion Dentistry ('Bonding')

Enamel recontouring and composite resin bonding of irregular or misshaped teeth may significantly improve a smile in a matter of minutes. Strategic planning and artistry transformed this smile into a masterpiece.

Full Dental Reconstruction

Full Mouth Reconstruction
(Dental Effects of Bulimia)

Patsy presented to the dental office of Aesthetic Dentistry Associates with severely worn teeth and a history of bulimia. Having successfully overcome the ravages of this disease, this patient was determined to restore her smile through the magic of modern dentistry.

Many of the teeth had been worn nearly to the gum line, and numerous pulps (nerve chambers) were exposed. It was necessary to perform multiple root canal treatments that cast posts might be fitted into the roots of the teeth to establish anchorage upon which crowns could be retained.

Porcelain fused to metal restorations were chosen for strength and durability.

Conservative Adhesion Dentistry

Treatment of a Fractured Tooth With Composite Resin

Direct placement composite resin restorations have been used in dentistry since the advent of 'bonding,' a technique to adhere filling material to tooth structure. Now referred to as adhesive dentistry, state of the art materials and decades of refined technique, allow dentists to restore absent tooth structure conservatively, and virtually invisibly. It is another example of the magic of modern dentistry.

Robert presented to the dental office of Gleghorn Cosmetic Dentistry with a fractured lateral incisor, sustained in an accident.

Only minimal reduction of otherwise healthy tooth structure was necessary for placement of a sculpted composite resin restoration, bonded to the tooth. The procedure yielded a cosmetic result in a single visit.

Overcoming Tetracycline Stains

Tetracycline is a common antibiotic that is often used as an alternative to other antimicrobial drugs such as penicillin. Unfortunately, extended use of tetracycline, particularly in expectant mothers or children under the age of six, may cause permanent discoloration of the teeth. Characteristically, tetracycline stain presents as intense yellow, gray or brown bands, often causing long term psychological embarrassment through childhood, teenage and adult life.

Mild cases of staining may be managed with teeth whitening procedures, however moderate to severe tetracycline stain is virtually impervious to conventional bleaching techniques. Aesthetic dental remedies customarily require restorative treatment.

Traditionally, disguising intrinsic tooth discoloration has been a dental challenge. New technology allows the dentist to hide even intense stains with opaque and translucent layers of 'luminary porcelain.' Most commonly achieved with relatively thin porcelain veneers (laminates), millennium dentistry offers the creation of vital, natural smiles with minimum tooth reduction.

Randall presented to the family and cosmetic practice of Dr. Kim Loos yearning for a vibrant, attractive smile. Dr. Loos performed magic.

Smile Enhancements

Many people who come to the dentist feel that obtaining an attractive smile is out of reach. They are often unaware of their cosmetic dental options, or believe that it will be too expensive and cause discomfort. Fortunately, many cosmetic dental procedures are cost-effective, painless, and most importantly, create a beautiful result.

When I met Gaby, she wanted to know if there was a relatively simple, inexpensive way that she could improve her smile. I suggested tooth whitening, gentle shaping of her two front teeth, and white 'resin' fillings to close the gap. It took Gaby only four weeks to achieve an excellent improvement in the color of her teeth, 15 shades, using my simple at-home tooth whitening system. I shaped and closed the gap between her teeth in less than twenty minutes. The procedure was painless, no anesthetic was required, and her 'dental makeover' was accomplished at a modest cost.

Smile Makeovers

The difference between mere attractiveness and truly stunning!

Comprehensive dental care may demand challenging solutions to complex problems, often utilizing multiple dental disciplines. Sarah presented to the office of Dr. Richard Day expressing concern about the appearance of her smile. She was afraid to wear lipstick and draw attention to her teeth. A dentist had removed her upper cuspids (eye teeth) when she was young in an attempt to accommodate her crowded malocclusion. Her deciduous (baby) cuspids were retained, but became loose due to root resorption (dissolution).

Minor orthodontics, crown & bridge dentistry, and restoration of Sarah's bite increased fullness in her upper lips, and dramatically enhanced her appearance. Dr. Day chose all porcelain restorations for the front teeth to optimize esthetics.

Single Tooth Dental Implants

Janet lost her upper lateral incisor in a skiing accident. Her hometown dentist made a removable appliance to replace the tooth, but Janet had difficulty chewing and keeping it in place. When she finally decided to seek help, Dr. Maurice Salama advised her that a Paragon dental implant restoration looks, feels and functions like a real tooth. The implant avoided reduction of her adjacent natural teeth, customarily done for a fixed bridge.

Final restoration with porcelain fused to metal crown. Janet loves her new smile and is glad she chose a dental implant restoration.

Anterior Esthetic Crown Lengthening

Misty presented to the periodontal office of Dr. Eduardo Lorenzana (San Antonio, Texas) after recently completing her orthodontic treatment (Dr. Brad Bruchmiller, San Antonio, Texas). Following removal of the orthodontic appliances, Misty was not completely happy with her smile. Her teeth were straight, but she felt that they looked 'short and fat' and her smile was too 'gummy.' Misty was then referred for a complete periodontal evaluation and treatment.

Misty was diagnosed with Excessive Gingival Display caused by an overgrowth of gum tissue and extra vertical bone height in her upper jaw. Treatment consisted of careful removal of the extra gum tissue and underlying bone (this prevents recurrence/rebound of the extra gum tissue) which revealed the true length of her teeth. This completed and enhanced her already beautiful smile.