Proper Oral Hygiene

Here at Southern Cross Dental, our mission is to help you protect your oral health through comprehensive dental hygiene services.  Besides keeping all our patients informed on the significance of diligent brushing and flossing and a healthy diet, we offer complete dental exam services and periodontal care procedures to keep your mouth free of cavities, decay, infection and periodontal disease. We also offer a full selection of restoration services to correct issues that may be interfering with your ability to perform good dental hygiene.

 

If it’s been a while since your last dental exam and you’re in need of a checkup on the effectiveness of your dental hygiene practices, please arrange an appointment with us Southern Cross Dental. You can visit our website,www.southerncrossfamilydentistry.com for more information about our practice or you can call 719-471-1717 to set up an appointment!  

Athletic Mouth Guards

An athletic guard is a type of mouth guard given to adolescents/adults who play sports in school or for fun. The reason we create these mouth guards is to protect the patient’s teeth and their smile. While there are other uses for a mouth guard, the main function is for protection of not just their teeth, but their head from concussion and brain damage.

 

Our team here at Southern Cross Dental prepares custom athletic guards that fit the patient perfectly so it is comfortable and offers the best protection available. They also don’t have a weird taste or odor. They allow you to breath better and even talk to your team mate as they do not fall out when you talk/laugh/breath or even get tackled.

 

There are many benefits of athletic guards, including protecting their teeth from fracture or loss, preventing expensive dental work later on, and protecting the head, neck and jaw joint from damage during a sport. They also give parents a peace of mind knowing their child is playing the sport they love without risking severe damage to your teeth or mouth. Mouth guards made here in our office fit the patients better, allowing them to breathe easier and have more comfort.

 

If your child plays sports, we encourage you to visit our website,www.southercrossfamilydentistry.com for more information. You can also call our office at (719) 471-1717 to schedule an appointment.

Teeth Whitening

When staining agents such as coffee, wine or acidic foods are able to penetrate the enamel of the teeth, it can be difficult to return to the original teeth shade through brushing and flossing alone. Unlike ineffective, over the counter whitening strips that are messy and tend to slide off teeth, in-office professional whitening provided by our team here at Southern Cross Dental whitens teeth quickly and effectively.

 

Having your teeth whitened with us provides a number of benefits that change the way you think about your smile. The results of this simple procedure can help you feel more confident about your smile and encourage you to show it off, inspiring positive impressions everywhere you go.  We are especially happy to offer teeth whitening as it prompts our patients to take even better care of their teeth to maintain their results.

 

To learn more about the teeth whitening process at our practice and to find out if it’s right for you, please visit www.southercrossfamilydentistry.com or call us today at (719) 471-1717 to schedule a consultation.      

Root Canal Therapy

Endodontics is the dental specialty that deals with the nerves of the teeth, and root canal therapy is the most common procedure within endodontics. Dr. Navid Rahimpour and Dr. Faranak Rahimpour offer root canal therapy to patients with a deep infection in the nerves of their teeth, as an alternative to tooth extraction. During a root canal, the nerves of the teeth are removed, as well as any other infected tissue. Here is a breakdown of the procedure:

 

1. The patient receives local anesthesia so they don’t experience any pain.

2. We drill a small hole into the tooth to reach the canal.

3. Infected tissue and nerves are removed using a special tool.

4. Once the infection is gone, the hole is filled with gutta percha.

5. The patient returns to our office in two weeks to be fitted with a crown.

 

It is important that patients not skip the process of getting a crown, because without nerves, the tooth becomes dead. This makes it susceptible to breaking off, and requiring a bridge or dental implant to replace it. Visit Southern Cross Dental in Colorado Springs, CO to schedule your root canal therapy appointment.

Implant Restoration

There are many options to fill the space left behind from a missing tooth. Dental implants have the greatest potential to be a permanent solution available for replacing missing teeth. Implants are widely considered the modern-day solution to missing teeth as they provide an aesthetically pleasing, potentially permanent answer to a serious problem. The team at Southern Cross Dental provides dental implant procedures to help their Colorado Springs, CO patients restore their smile and fix their bite after implant surgery.

 

When you lose a tooth, it is important to act quickly to fill the space. Apart from the cosmetic issues, patients who have missing teeth will often suffer from compromised chewing efficiency and tooth drifting. The space left behind from a missing tooth causes the other teeth to drift into that space which can lead to misaligned teeth. When teeth become misaligned, they become more difficult to clean, creating areas around the teeth that can collect bacteria. This can cause gum disease and or tooth decay that may eventually lead to additional tooth loss if left untreated.

 

Receiving a dental implant is a surgical procedure and patients may or may not be put under a general anesthetic. A dental surgeon will make an incision into the patients gum line where they will insert the implant. The implant will be secured into the bone where it will need to sit for three to six months so the bone can grow around it, this process is called osseointegration. After the surgery, patients will visit the doctors at Southern Cross Dental to receive a crown over the implant. This is done so the patient’s teeth do not drift and they can eat normally. Once the implant is secured, your doctor will place an abutment on top of the exposed implant that will support a crown.  

Dentures and Partials

Dentures are an option that many of our patients choose at Southern Cross Dental. Available in both full and partial, dentures serve as a removable replacement for missing teeth.

 

If providing patients with conventional full dentures, either Dr. Navid Rahimpour or Dr. Faranak Rahimpour will remove all the teeth from the patient’s mouth. Afterwards, the gums are given time to heal before dentures are placed. The patient would be without teeth during this healing process, which can take a couple months.

 

Immediate full dentures forgo this healing process with no teeth. Prior to having their teeth removed, the dentist takes measurements of the patient’s mouth, so that dentures are ready after teeth have been removed. This type of full denture requires a follow-up visit to refit the dentures wince the jaw bone will slightly change shape as the mouth heals.

 

Partial dentures are another option for those who do not need all their teeth to be removed. This makes them similar to bridges, but partial dentures are not permanent fixtures.

 

Whichever dentures our patients choose, they take time getting used to, and even though they are not real teeth, they should still be cared for as if they were. They should be brushed before removal and should be placed in room temperature water or cleaning solution overnight.

White Fillings

The metal amalgam fillings are rarely used by dentists because of how many disadvantages there are. Our team here at Southern Cross Dental prefers to use white fillings, which are made of sturdy composite resin for a long-standing filling that fills cavities and helps with other imperfections of the tooth. White fillings match the exact shade of the tooth so it doesn’t stick out like a sore thumb.

 

The composite resin of white fillings is first mixed to the right shade, and then molded over the tooth for whatever purpose it is serving. It dries quickly and with the right care, can last about 10-15 years.

Our patients here at Southern Cross Dental have found the following benefits by getting white fillings:

• They are made to match your natural tooth color.
• They do not contain toxic materials or mercury.
• White fillings don’t require enamel removal.
• They do not contract from temperature changes.
• It can solve other problems like gaps, discoloration or chips.

White fillings are used in our dental office as often as possible, providing these and other benefits to our patients.