Restorative dental care near Newport

What is done here, in one office

Newport sits in eastern Giles County, near the covered bridges, and our office is on Tazewell Street in Pearisburg. For a crown, an implant or a new set of dentures, what matters more than the drive is having the whole job planned and done in one place, with your records and your estimate together.

When a case needs a specialist, we will tell you so and refer you. Otherwise, the restorative work done here includes:

• Crowns and bridges, planned from a digital scan instead of impression putty.
• Non-surgical root canal therapy and tooth extractions.
• Dental implants, from a single tooth to implant-supported bridges and implant-retained dentures.
• Full and partial dentures.
• Gum disease treatment, including scaling and root planing, laser therapy and ARESTIN.
• Invisalign for adults, planned from the same kind of scan.

Crowns and root canals

A crown usually takes two visits. At the first, the tooth is numbed, shaped and scanned with a small digital wand, and you leave with a temporary. At the second, the finished crown from the lab is checked for fit, color and bite before it is fixed in place.

Root canal therapy sounds worse than it is. With the tooth properly numb, it is much like a long filling appointment, and the pain people remember usually came from the infection that sent them in. A back tooth that has had a root canal usually needs a crown afterward, because it becomes brittle, so we plan the two together and you see the estimate for both before you start.

Replacing missing teeth

There is more than one good answer to a missing tooth. The right one depends on how many teeth are gone, how much bone is left, your health and your budget.

Dental implants are placed in this office. The bone, the nerve and the sinus are checked first, and the post goes in under local anesthetic. Most people say the day after feels like having a tooth pulled. Several months of healing follow while the bone fuses to the post, and if the gap shows, you can ask about a temporary tooth for the meantime. Then an abutment and a crown go on top. That is several visits over several months, which is worth knowing when each one means about 22 minutes in the car each way. Smoking lowers the success of implants, so tell us if you smoke.

For some mouths a bridge or a partial denture is the better answer, and if that is true for yours, we will say so rather than steer you to the most expensive option. Full dentures, and dentures held steady by implants, are offered here too.

Straightening teeth as an adult

Invisalign is not just for teenagers. It is planned from a digital scan rather than impression putty, and the aligners are clear and come out to eat and brush.

How long it takes depends on how far your teeth have to move and how consistently the aligners are worn. Anyone who gives you a number before looking at your teeth is guessing.

Staying comfortable

When a tooth needs work, it is numbed properly first, each step is explained before it happens, and you can raise a hand at any point to stop. Nitrous oxide and oral sedation are both available if you want them. If you choose oral sedation, you will need someone else to drive you home to Newport.

Paying for bigger work

You get a written estimate before anything is scheduled. For larger work, we can send a pre-treatment estimate to your insurer first, so you know what they will pay before you commit.

Without dental insurance, look at the Virginia Dental Club, a membership plan built for people in exactly that position. It is not insurance, so a bigger job does not run into a deductible, an annual maximum or a waiting period.

Questions patients ask