Rice Dentistry

Dental implants are a tooth replacement option that is modeled on the structure of your natural teeth. It has a tooth root that is implanted in your jaw. The dental implant procedure sometimes requires the assistance of a bone graft to help secure the implant. The root is normally made of titanium, a biocompatible metal that integrates with your bone. Atop the dental implant root is a dental implant restoration, either an aesthetic dental crown, made of an advanced ceramic that has the appearance of tooth enamel, a dental bridge, or dentures.

Dental implant history has led to many advances in dental implant technology, including the invention of a metal-free dental implant, zygomatic and angled implants, and mini dental implants, which we are happy to offer.

What Makes FOY® Dentures Different
The Denture Fountain of Youth® aka FOY® DenturesFOY® Dentures are different because they are made of the highest quality materials by dental labs that have unique experience in denture fabrication, which gives them the most attractive appearance possible. However, the main difference is that FOY® Dentures are made with an understanding of neuromuscular principles.

Neuromuscular dentistry is the study of your mouth as a whole system, not just your teeth. A neuromuscular dentist looks at the relationships between your teeth, gums, jaws, muscles, and nerves to ensure not just an attractive and healthy smile, but a functional one as well.

Dentures are held in place in large part by the muscles of your jaw, so understanding how those muscles work in your mouth—as opposed to anyone else’s—improves the fit and stability of your dentures. Neuromuscular dentistry also looks at your mouth as a dynamic system—a mouth almost constantly in motion. Designing dentures for your mouth’s movement, not just a static shape, helps them to function better.

Cosmetic dentistry can address almost any complaint you may have about the appearance of your smile. This includes concerns about:

-Discolored teeth
-Chipped or worn teeth
-Small teeth
-Gapped teeth
-Black triangles around teeth
-Crooked teeth
-Crowded teeth
-Missing teeth

With recent advances in cosmetic dentistry, we also usually have more than one solution to your cosmetic concerns. In consultation, we can help you decide among your treatment options.

Usually, people are happy with their veneers. Sometimes, however, old veneers may need to be replaced because of:

-Discoloration
-Scratches
-Chips
-Lost veneers
-Mismatch with other restorations
-Unpleasant odor or taste
-Sensitivity

Typically, veneers are very stain resistant, but some older materials may not be. Some veneer materials may even discolor from within as they age. Over time, toothpaste can also erode the stain resistant glaze that protects veneers, making them more likely to stain.

Veneers are also strong, but they can be chipped or scratched by metal objects or strong bite force. Veneers can also be dislodged. If found, they can be put back in place, but if they are lost or damaged after coming off the tooth, they will have to be replaced.

Porcelain veneers are probably the most versatile treatment in cosmetic dentistry. They can be used to fix most common complaints people have about their teeth, including:

-porcelain veneers model
-Discolored teeth
-Crooked smile
-Gapped teeth
-Chipped teeth
-Small or poorly formed teeth
-Gummy smile
-Old or worn teeth

Invisalign is an alternative to traditional braces that moves your teeth using clear plastic aligners instead of metal brackets and wires. The plastic aligners are like sturdier versions of teeth whitening trays that you just slip over your teeth. These plastic aligners are designed in a precise sequence by a computer to move your teeth through a series of steps to achieve the straight smile you desire. Instead of going to the orthodontist for a tightening appointment, you just replace your aligner every two weeks until you reach the final aligner

We all know the maxim: “Work smarter, not harder. ” That’s what makes Six Month Smiles different: it’s a smarter approach to orthodontic treatment that gives most people just what they want and need: a straighter smile faster.

The reason why most orthodontic treatment takes more than a year is that it focuses on moving all your teeth. This includes not only the crooked front teeth you are wanting to fix, but also all the teeth in the back of your mouth, called molars, that don’t have to look pretty, they just have to do their job. For most of us, those molars are doing their job just fine—they don’t need to be moved, so moving them is just wasted time, effort, and expense. And because those molars are hard and slow to move, that’s a lot of waste.

By focusing on the teeth that you actually need to move, Six Month Smiles gives you the results you want faster and easier with a lower cost.

Metal and PFM Crowns and Bridges
Metal crowns were the best option when ceramic materials were not strong enough to withstand the force of your bite, but advances in material science mean we can now use all ceramic crowns in almost all cases to replace your metal crowns.

Porcelain fused to metal (PFM) crowns were a good compromise to give an attractive crown with the strength of metal. However, over time the ceramic can separate, revealing the metal beneath, and if your gums recede at all, the metal border of the crown can become visible.

Old dental bridges were often made with metal ties or wires. These highly visible portions of the restoration may make you self-conscious, but today they can be replaced with bridges that have no visible wires—or even dental implants!

It’s never too late to get a beautiful smile. Even if your smile has been seriously damaged by decay, trauma, or advanced wear due to a bad bite, reconstructive dentistry can give you an attractive, functional, comfortable smile.

This page describes some of the treatments available to give you an attractive smile, but the only way to know which ones are right for you is to talk to our dentist, Dr. Scott L. Rice. To talk to him about your beautiful smile

Tooth discoloration can be divided into two categories: extrinsic staining and intrinsic staining.
Extrinsic staining is discoloration that comes from outside the tooth, and it includes stains from:

-woman with straight, white teeth
-Smoking
-Coffee
-Black tea
-Colas and other dark sodas
-Red wine
-Berries and other strongly colored fruits and vegetables
-Dark beer
-Chocolate
-Intrinsic staining comes from inside the tooth and includes discoloration due to:

-Dead pulp or tooth nerve
-Injury
-Enamel imperfections
-Tetracycline antibiotics
-Tooth decay
-Thin enamel
Enamel that is naturally less white than you desire
One important limitation to teeth whitening is that it is good on extrinsic stains, but rarely works on intrinsic stains.

TMJ is short for temporomandibular joint disorder (or dysfunction) . It is also sometimes called TMD, or several other names. The temporomandibular joints are on either side of your head, where your jaw meets your skull, and they are responsible for the complex motions of your jaw. In TMJ, these joints do not function properly or are out of harmony with the muscles, teeth, and other bones they must work with.

When your temporomandibular joints are not working properly, the muscles of your jaw put stress on the other muscles they partner with, including muscles in the head and neck, which can create tension. An imbalanced jaw leads to imbalanced forces in your bite, causing excess wear and damage to your teeth. And when your jaw is misaligned, it can put pressure on nearby nerves, causing pain, numbness, and ringing in your ears.

The bacteria that live in your mouth can cause cavities, but they can also cause gum disease. Saliva can kill these bacteria, but they band together in films called plaque for protection. As colonies of bacteria collect in the pockets around your teeth, the acid they excrete damages your gums as well as your teeth. This enlarges the pocket, providing shelter for more bacteria. Above the pocket, calcified bacteria deposits, known as tartar, provide additional protection.

The acid excreted by larger colonies of bacteria not only damage your gums, they can damage your tooth root and even your jawbone, resulting in loose teeth and, eventually, tooth loss. And if you lose teeth to gum disease, you may not be able to receive the best tooth replacement option, dental implants.

Gum disease is a danger not just to your teeth, but to your overall health. It has been associated with other health conditions, such as:

Heart disease
Premature birth
Low birth weight
In addition, gum disease increases your body’s overall bacteria load, which can make it harder for your body to fight off other diseases or infections. You may experience more colds and be more susceptible to food poisoning than other people. You may also be more likely to get acne or infected ingrown hairs.

Sedation dentistry uses relaxing medication to help patients overcome dental anxiety. All you do is take one pill before your dental appointment. Depending on the level and type of your anxiety, you may be given additional medication to help you sleep the night before. Your medication will help you arrive at your dental appointment feeling relaxed and comfortable. You will not be asleep during your dental appointment, you will be awake and able to respond to instructions.

You will need to have someone drive you to and from your dental appointment. Sedation dentistry has an amnesiac effect, so you won’t remember much about your appointment, which can help you overcome your anxiety for future appointments. Because tension increases your discomfort, you will likely experience less discomfort after a sedation dentistry appointment than your previous dental experiences.

Sleep apnea is when your breathing stops during sleep. In order to resume breathing, your brain must awaken slightly. This can happen hundreds of times a night, but you may not be aware of it, or you may think you woke up for another reason, such as having to go to the bathroom. It prevents you from ever reaching the deeper, restorative levels of sleep necessary to your physical and mental health.

There are two types of sleep apnea: obstructive sleep apnea and central sleep apnea. Obstructive sleep apnea is the most common type. In obstructive sleep apnea, your airway collapses during sleep. Because you are lying down, gravity pulls it closed, and when your muscles relax in sleep, they cannot hold it open.

The Inman Aligner is a relatively new orthodontic treatment that has many benefits, including:
-Very fast treatment: only 6-18 weeks for results
- Low cost: usually lower than either traditional braces or Invisalign
- Comfort: the Inman Aligner uses a steady, consistent pressure to straighten your teeth. With traditional braces, you have tightening appointments where force increases and causes discomfort. This is true of aligners, too, every time you switch to a new aligner.
- Removable: a completely removable treatment means you can eat all your favorite foods and just brush and floss your teeth with no special care required.
- Ease: the Inman Aligner doesn’t have to be worn as many hours a day to achieve results

Bulimia is an eating disorder in which a person engages in food binges, then tries to eliminate the calories consumed through a variety of unhealthy means. People with bulimia often also have anorexia, in which a person has an unhealthy fear of weight gain and strives to maintain an unhealthy low body weight. Other times, though, people with bulimia may maintain a normal weight.

There are generally two types of bulimia: purging and nonpurging. In purging bulimia, people strive to eliminate calories by vomiting or the abuse of laxatives. In nonpurging bulimia, people attempt to eliminate calories by fasting, strict dieting, or excessive exercise.

Preventative dental care is the best investment in your health you can make. Procedures like regular tooth cleanings and dental sealants protect your natural teeth so you don’t need restorative procedures. And preventative dental care extends the life of your restorations as well, helping you get decades of life out of your beautifully restored smile. Even better, preventative dental care protects your overall healthy by reducing your risk for periodontal disease and lowering your body’s bacteria load.

You need a root canal if you have an infected tooth. The most common symptoms of an infected tooth are:

-Root canal procedure
-Spontaneous tooth pain
-Severe tooth pain that keeps you awake or wakes you up at night
-Long-lasting pain in response to heat, cold, or pressure
-Tooth that grows discolored in the absence of trauma
-Persistent bad breath
-Swelling or pus in the gums

Although many people think that pain is the only indicator that a root canal is necessary, the amount of pain a person experiences as a result of an infected tooth varies greatly. Some people may experience little or no tooth pain. Other times, you might feel tooth pain as headaches.

White fillings offer a better approach to treating cavities than metal amalgam in many ways. They use more modern technology to achieve:
Irvine White Fillings

-More attractive results
-Less visible treatment
-A tight bond with teeth
-Restorations that don’t oxidize and turn black
-Better resistance to heat and cold
-Less likelihood of cracked teeth

With traditional metal amalgam fillings, it’s obvious to everyone that you’ve had cavities. In fact when the amalgam turns black, people might think you still have cavities. The discoloration from metal fillings can be visible through your teeth, so that sometimes your tooth may look grey or dark because of fillings on the backside of the teeth.

Heat and cold also affect metal fillings differently. In response to heat, such as from a hot beverage, the amalgam fillings will swell faster than the tooth surrounding it. This can lead to small cracks developing in the teeth. These cracks are tiny, but they do weaken the tooth and can lead to secondary cavities or even cracked teeth.

Many people think that the only value of a second opinion is getting a different diagnosis, but that’s not true. A second opinion can help because:

-Confirming a diagnosis and treatment plan can help you commit mentally to what needs to be done.
-You may get more information about the condition or treatment.
- Dental problems can almost always be treated in different ways. You deserve to understand the positives and negatives of all your options.
-Doctors may explain the condition or treatment options differently, which may make it clearer in your mind.

Even if you get exactly the same opinion from the second dentist, you will get value out of a second opinion. Just having a different dentist explain the same information will increase your understanding so you can make the right decision, and believe that it is the right decision. Having full confidence in your treatment plan will make it more effective.

Braces are an old technology, but they are not an outdated technology. We have seen many technologies developed about the same time—or after—braces be replaced, such as metal amalgam fillings and vulcanized dentures. But they continue to be used because they are an orthodontic treatment that offers many benefits.

- Power: Braces have the most “brute strength” of any orthodontic treatment out there. With brackets bonded to teeth and metal wires, they can apply more force to your teeth than other options.
- Control: They are a giant with a silk touch. Their brute strength doesn’t mean your teeth will be brutalized, though. Quite the opposite. While other orthodontic treatments can only apply force in discrete units, such as with each new aligner, braces can be used to apply force in smaller increments, as little or as much as necessary.
- Precision: The level of control allows us to make more precise tooth movements and continue to fine-tune your results until you’re happy with them. This is especially important if we are trying to adjust your bite as part of TMJ treatment. Getting good results from a bite treatment depends on achieving a precise relationship among your back teeth, something braces can accomplish best.
- Speed: With the power, control, and precision comes speed. There are certain limits to how fast we can move your teeth because of your body’s limitations, but within those limits they can often accomplish tooth movements faster. Six Month - - Smiles takes advantage of this to give great cosmetic results fast.
- Predictability: There are benefits to being the oldest orthodontic treatment out there: braces are also the most studied orthodontic treatment. As a result, we know just how your teeth will respond to treatment to a high degree of certainty.
- Flexibility: Braces can be used to perform almost any kind of tooth movement necessary. If teeth need to be tipped, rotated, or raised up, braces are your best option.

Dr. Scott L. Rice has been a practicing dentist for nearly 30 years, helping patients in and around Orange County since 1987. He received his dental degree from the University of Southern California School of Dentistry. Since then he has had additional training from other prestigious dental schools such as:
- Kois Center Dental implants
- Las Vegas Institute for Advanced Dental Studies TMJ treatment
- Pacific Aesthetic Continuum Advanced cosmetic dentistry
- Dental Organization of Conscious Sedation Sedation dentistry
- University of Southern California Sleep apnea treatment

Cosmetic dentist, Dr. Taylor Rice, an Irvine native, proudly graduated from the University Of The Pacific School of Dentistry in San Francisco, one of the top dental schools in the country. Despite the fact that UOP has an extremely rigorous three-year program he chose UOP because of its emphasis on excellence and its highly acclaimed program in dentistry.

Irvine Periodontist in Orange County, Dr. Nicolas RavonDr. Nicolas Ravon practices as a periodontal specialist at Rice Dentistry.
Dr. Ravon has received dental degrees from both European and American institutions, with a Licentiate in Dental Surgery from the Free University of Brussels and a Doctorate of Dental Science from the University of Southern California. He then received his specialist certification in periodontology and his Master of Science in Dentistry from the University of Washington.