Comprehensive Exams and Cleanings for Better Oral Health!

Many people don’t realize that dental checkups and cleanings are about more than just getting tartar removed and X-rays performed. While these are key tenets of our routine appointments, they’re also meant to help you stay protected against underlying disease you may not have otherwise been aware of. This is the case even if the condition isn’t directly related to your oral health! Furthermore, you should always feel comfortable asking your dentist questions whenever you’re unsure of something. Contact us today to schedule your first visit at Wingar Dental!

How Technology Enhances Your Dental Care

In order to have a better understanding of what’s happening underneath gum and bone tissue, your children’s dentist in Harker Heights utilizes digital X-rays, the latest in X-ray technology. With it, she can catch problems that are often invisible to the naked eye. For example, X-rays help her examine the path of erupting permanent and wisdom teeth, which is especially important for younger patients.

In the event that you need a better explanation of your current oral health status, intraoral cameras keep patients fully informed during diagnostic procedures. These handheld cameras project live video of all the corners of the mouth onto a nearby screen, making it easier for dentists to express their determinations during exams.

The Dental Examination

Dental exams involve closely examining the teeth, gums and oral structures in order to catch early signs of dental disease, mainly tooth decay and gum disease. However, your dental team is also on the watch for debilitating diseases that would likely cause potential problems later, including oral cancer, temporomandibular joint disorder (TMD), and bruxism, also known as chronic teeth grinding.

In many cases, these conditions can have a lasting effect on your overall health, not just your oral health. Those with TMD are more likely to have issues sleeping or starting the day due to jaw pain, while those with bruxism are likely to experience enamel erosion, sensitivity and eventually tooth loss. Oral cancer claims the lives of approximately 10,000 people annually, but is largely preventable with routine dental visits.

A Truly Professional Cleaning

Finally, our skilled hygienists don’t just remove plaque and tartar from your teeth, but offer advice on the best way to protect your mouth in between your routine visits. They’ll recommend products they believe to be the most effective at protecting your oral structures.

Whether you’re an adult or child, you may also want to consider treatments that offer professional protection as well, including fluoride varnishes and dental sealants. These are ideal if we determine that you’re more susceptible to dental disease than other patients.

After disclosing our findings and completing your cleaning, Dr. Winegar and his team always leaves time to answer questions you have and build a treatment plan that works best for you. After all, treating the source of your dental issue and preventing future issues is the most important step you can take in keeping your smile for life! Contact us today to schedule your routine dental checkup in Harker Heights with Winegar Dental!

Therapeutic Treatment for Sleep Apnea

Are you struggling to keep your eyes open during the day? Keeping your bed partner awake with loud, chronic snoring? Waking with dry mouth or headaches? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you may be suffering from sleep apnea.

This serious sleep disorder can cause a number of health concerns, and without treatment, sleep apnea can impact every aspect of your day to day life.

At Winegar Dental in Harker Heights, TX, we work with patients to get an accurate diagnosis and plan for effective treatment. If you want to learn more about sleep apnea and the therapies available to you, call our Harker Heights, TX dentist and dentistry team today. We’ll be happy to answer your questions or schedule an appointment for you to visit our team.

What is Sleep Apnea?

Sleep apnea is a disorder that causes patients to stop breathing for ten or more seconds at a time during sleep. There are two types of sleep apnea. Central sleep apnea is the rarer of the two forms.

It occurs when the brain fails to trigger the body to breath in and out during sleep. Obstructive sleep apnea is the more common form, and it occurs when the airway is physically obstructed during sleep.

Central sleep apnea needs to be treated with advanced services performed by a sleep doctor and other specialists. Our team offers treatment for those patients suffering from the more common obstructive sleep apnea.

Am I at Risk for Sleep Apnea?

Any patient at any age can suffer from sleep apnea, but some of the factors that increase your risk for this disorder include:

• Being male
• Being over the age of 50
• Having a neck circumference greater than 16 inches
• Having a BMI greater than 35 kg/m2

How Will I Know I Have Sleep Apnea?

In order to determine whether or not you are suffering from sleep apnea, you will need to complete a sleep study. Some of the warning signs of sleep apnea that indicate a need for this sleep test include:

• Loud, chronic snoring
• Excessive daytime sleepiness
• Waking gasping or wheezing
• Chronic morning headaches
• Waking with dry mouth or hoarse voice
• Difficulty concentrating
• Memory loss or difficulty recalling details
• Unexplained changes in mood or behavior

Why Should I Visit a Dentist for Sleep Apnea Therapy?

Many patients find it strange that dentists would offer sleep apnea therapy, but actually, this makes perfect sense. Dentists have advanced training in the way that the oral and facial structures interact. When patients are suffering from obstructive sleep apnea, a skilled dental practitioner can offer effective therapy to open the airway at night. The Winegar Dental team offers custom crafted oral appliances to keep the airway clear during sleep. Oral appliances are crafted to shift the jaw forward. This shift places pressure on the throat muscles to ensure the airway remains open and unobstructed through the night. For some patients, combining a custom oral appliance with the more traditional CPAP system improves the efficacy of treatments, ensuring patients sleep soundly and breathe deeply all night.

Are you suffering from sleep apnea in Harker Heights?

Poor quality of rest can change your day-to-day by affecting your productivity at work, ability to concentrate, and overall mood. An estimated 22 million people in the United States suffer from this condition, but nearly 80 percent of those patients are left undiagnosed, making them have to groggily skate through their everyday responsibilities. At Winegar Dental, we offer oral appliances to open your airway and improve your quality of rest. For your convenience, we’ve compiled some common questions we get about this sleeping disorder below.

Sleep Apnea FAQs

Will my dental or medical insurance cover an oral appliance?

Nowadays, most medical insurance companies are starting to recognize oral appliances as a therapeutic treatment to sleep apnea. Last year, over 50 percent of companies covered the procedure for patients with an obstructive sleep apnea diagnosis. Nowadays, this number has increased. It’s important to keep in mind that in order for your insurance to cover your treatment, you must have a sleep study done and professional diagnosis.

The best way to find out if your dental or medical insurance providers will help cover the cost of an oral appliance is to contact them directly. Our team at Winegar Dental would be more than happy to help you do this.

How is sleep apnea diagnosed?

To receive an official diagnosis, you’ll need to visit a certified sleep specialist. They’ll request a sleep study, which is an overnight evaluation where they’ll examine your breathing patterns and body function throughout the evening. Some specialists even offer at-home testing as well.

If they determine that you have obstructive sleep apnea, they may refer you to other specialists to rule out that there is any issue with your nose or throat. Once you’ve received your final results, you can visit our practice to receive sleep apnea treatment in Harker Heights.

What happens if I don’t treat my sleeping disorder?

Failing Implants? We Can Help

Dental implants will let you eat anything you want, stop your jawbone from deteriorating, and provide your new teeth with a strong, stable foundation; we highly recommend them if you ever find yourself with a gap in your grin. But while implant surgery has a success rate as high as 95%, there is a risk, however small, of failure. At Winegar Dental, we can locate and treat the cause of implant failure, giving us a chance to save your smile! Contact us today to schedule an appointment with Dr. Winegar if you think your new teeth are suffering from complications.

Why Do Dental Implants Fail?

As rare as implant failure is, it can have a few different causes. One of the most common issues is a condition called peri-implantitis. When the gum tissue around the dental implant becomes infected, the bone underneath could break down. As result, the implant post becomes loose and might even de-attach from the jawbone altogether.

If you smoke or have diabetes, your odds of implant failure will be higher than normal. This is because they impede the body’s ability to heal itself; osseointegration (the process of the implant becoming one with the bone) depends entirely on the mouth healing properly.

What are the Symptoms of Failed Dental Implants?

Just as there are different reasons for an implant failing to join properly with your jaw, there are also different signs that such failure has occurred. In many cases, you’ll experience a radiating pain in the area around the implant post. If there’s an infection, you’ll probably see red or inflamed gums. Also, any difficulty chewing or biting could mean that your tooth is not as secure as it should be. Finally, if you can wiggle the implant post even slightly, it’s a sure sign of an issue that needs to be addressed as quickly as possible.

Keep in mind that implant failure can occur shortly after the surgery or several years later.

• Early Dental Implant Failure: Remember that there’s a difference between normal discomfort caused by surgery and the radiating discomfort caused by implant failure. If your pain lasts for more than a few days or grows worse, it’s better to be safe than sorry and call us right away.
• Late Dental Implant Failure: If your implant pain returns long after the procedure, or if you suddenly have trouble chewing foods that never gave you trouble before, you should consider it a possible sign of implant failure.

How Does Dental Implant Salvage Work?

The first step is to examine the implant site and take X-rays of your mouth in order to narrow down exactly what’s wrong with your implants. After that, we can start planning your treatment, which will be different depending on the source of your implant failure. For example, if the gums have been infected, we may be able to leave the implant in place while reducing bacteria levels with antibiotics and good oral hygiene. On the other hand, if a significant amount of bone has been lost, we’ll likely need to perform an advanced procedure such as bone grafting to help the jaw regenerate. In these cases, the implant might have to be removed. Once your mouth is healthy again, Dr. Winegar may be able to try and place a new implant.